GB2223396A

GB2223396A - Safety belt arrangement comprising plural belt reeling means

Info

Publication number: GB2223396A
Application number: GB8918846A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Herbert Just; Hans-Peter Glismann
Original assignee: Autoflug GmbH
Current assignee: Autoflug GmbH
Priority date: 1988-08-20
Filing date: 1989-08-18
Publication date: 1990-04-11
Anticipated expiration: 2009-08-18
Also published as: GB8918846D0; FR2635492B1; IT8921536A0; DE3828389C2; DE3828389A1; GB2223396B; IT1231501B; FR2635492A1

Description

1 54-589.503 22') 7 j Safety Belt Arrangement Comprising Plural Belt

Reelina Means The invention relates to a safety belt arrangement comprising two or more blockable belt reeling at least one of which has a belt strap-sensitive and/or vehiclesensitive control system for blocking feed-out of the belt strap.

In safety belt arrangements of this kind, one separate belt reeling means is associated with each of the individual components of the belt, such as shoulder belts and/or lap belts, each belt reeling means being arranged to retract or release its own associated belt strap independently of the other belt reeling means of the safety belt arrangement, and being arranged to block further feed-out of the belt strap when actuated by a belt strap-sensitive and/or vehicle-sensitive control system provided on the respective belt reeling means.

As the belt reeling means associated with the individual parts of the belt in the safety belt system and their associated control systems operate independently of one another, this known safety belt arrangement has the disadvantage that when the threshold of their control systems is reached, the belt reeling means do not block completely synchronously, which may result in non-uniform restraining of the body of the wearer in question. For example, if the belt reeling means associated with the two shoulder belts do not block synchronously, one half of the upper body of the wearer will be thrown further forward than the other half of the body, and this twisting of the upper body associated with the considerable-accelerative forces occuring in the event of an accident could lead to physical injury.

According to the invention there is provided a g - 2 safety belt arrangement comprising two or more belt reeling means each having a blocking mechanism for blocking feed-out of a respective belt strap in response to a belt strap-sensitive and/or vehicle-sensitive control system, wherein control elements each associated with a respective belt reeling means are arranged to be coupled with the blocking mechanisms thereof, the control elements being operably connected to a transfer element which connects the belt reeling means and is arranged to be actuated when one of the belt reeling means is blocked.

With such a belt arrangement the two or more belt reeling means are blocked synchronously, so that, if for example a separate control system is provided for each belt reling means, then synchronised blocking occurs when the threshold of one such control system is passed. Thus the invention is based on the fundamental idea that automatic blocking of one of the belt reeling means will also necessarily bring about the blocking of the other associated belt reeling means by means of the transfer element.

Although there are known manually operated control shafts by means of which the associated belt reeling means are blocked synchronously once the fastening process has been completed by fastening all the parts of the belt, in this known safety belt arrangement, in contrast with the belt reeling means used in the safety belt arrangement according to the invention, it is not possible during normal use to draw the belt out any further as a result of the permanent blocking of the belt reeling means effected by the hand lever.

The invention offers the advantage that now, even in the case of selflocking belt reeling means, in spite of, e.g. the manufacturing variations in the threshold values of their control systems, absolute synchronism of the blocking motion of all the belt reeling means forming part of the safety belt system is guaranteed 1 3 when the first belt reeling means blocks further feedout of its respective belt strap. Therefore, the system can advantageously be designed with only a few simple mechanical components which can be comparatively light and require little space, as the forces to be transferred are relatively small. Such a simple arrangement can even be easily applied after manufacture of existing safety belt systems comprising several belt reeeling means.

One preferred embodiment of the invention provides that the transfer element is actuated by means of the belt strap tension which occurs when the first belt reeling means to operate is blocked. Thus a belt strap sensor associated with a respective belt reeling means is may be provided on the transfer element, the sensor including guide means for the belt strap fed out from the belt reeling means, the guide means forming a fold in the belt strap which is at least partly straightened out in the event of blocking of the belt reeling means.

This also offers the advantage of very simple and effective detection of the blocking movement of the first belt reeling means to be blocked, which can then be transferred directly to the other belt reeling means by means of the transfer element, which might be in the form of a rotatable shaft. The coupling of the rotatable shaft acting as the transfer element and the blocking mechanisms of the respective belt reeling means is realised according to an advantageous embodiment of the invention by forming the control elements as latches secured to the shaft, which. when the shaft rotates, engage the external toothing of a control cam or wheel provided for the vehicle-sensitive control of the belt reeling means. This refers so far to a known design of self-locking belt reeling means.

However, the invention also extends to the use of belt reeling means having other blocking systems, wherein, e.g. the latches provided on the shaft can also 4 be adapted to engage directly toothing rotating with the belt winding shaft, provided that the shaft toothing can be supported in a corresponding manner on a component secured to the housing.

According to one particularly important embodiment of the invention, the rotatable shaft selected as the transfer element can be flexible, so that the belt reeling means connected to the transfer element can be disposed in a vehicle in accordance with local requirements, even at an angle and at arbitrary points in relation to one another. The distances between the respective belt reeling means are also arbitrary.

in a preferred embodiment, the transfer element is coupled with manually operated means, by means of which both or all of the belt reeling means forming part of the safety belt arrangement can be permanently blocked after the fastening process, so that to that extent the belt strapsensitive and/or vehicle-sensitive control systems of the belt.reeling means are taken out of operation. A free-wheeling or one-way coupling may be included in the coupling of the transfer element and the manually operated means, so that when the arrangement is not in the permanently blocked condition and then blocking occurs, the position of the hand lever does not obstruct rotation of the transfer element, and the hand lever does not come into the "blocked" position.

Owing to the synchronous control of the blocking mechanisms of the belt reeling means, it can also be provided according to one embodiment of the invention that only one safety belt reeling means within the safety belt arrangement is provided with a belt strapsensitive and/or vehiclesensitive control system and that independent control of the blocking mechanisms of the other belt reeling means is dispensed with, as the blocking of only one belt reeling means adapted therefor is sufficient to block all the other belt reeling means forming part of the safety belt arrangement.

A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example and with reference to the following drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows a schematic representation of a safety belt arrangement comprising two self-locking belt reeling means, and Figure 2 shows an extracted and enlarged representation of the coupling of the transfer element and the manually operated means.

In Figure 1, two self-locking belt reeling means 10 are coupled together by means of a transfer element in the form of a shaft 11.

6 The belt reeling means 10 operate according to the prior art, i.e. according to the radial locking principle which does not form part of the subj ect matter of this invention, and according to which a locking member positively connected to the belt winding spindle of the belt reeling means is guided by means of a control system operating in a belt strap-sensitive and/or vehicle-sensitive manner radially into the internal toothing of a thrust collar 13 connected to the belt reeling means housing 12. Part of the control system is a cam disc 14 which, with respect to the belt strap-sensitive control, is acted upon by a G-value spring 15 and is provided with external toothing 16 f or cooperation with a vehicle-sensitive sensor which is not shown. Stopping the cam disc 14 which rotates with the belt winding spindle during normal operation of the belt reeling means leads in the manner known per se to radial deflection of the locking member and to the blocking of further unreeling of the belt strap 17 from the belt reeling means 10.

The two belt reeling means 10 illustrated are coupled together by means of a shaft 11 provided at its outer end, via a freewheeling coupling 18, with a Bowden cable 19 which can be actuated by a handle 20. To this end, a claw member 21 is fixedly attached to the shaft 11, said claw member 21 having a counter- member in the form of an associated claw member 22 mounted so that it can rotate freely on the shaft 11, and for its part being connected to the Bowden cable 19 by means of a lever-like arm 23. The associated claw members 21, 22 have a free-wheeling range in the operative direction of rotation of. the shaft 11.

The belt strap 17 unreeling from the belt reeling means 10- is30 guided in a loop-shaped fold by means of a belt strap sensor 24 7 fixedly connected to the shaft 11, wherein a crosspiece 25 for guiding the unreeling belt strap 17 is provided on the belt reeling means housing 12 offset with respect to the sensing plane of the sensor 24, the belt strap guide planes 24, 25 being offset with respect to one another in such a way that the belt strap 17 is tightened by removing the fold in the plane of the belt strap guiding edge of the crosspiece 25 by means of a swivel movement of the sensor 24 and thus rotation of the shaft 11.

A latch 26 is moreover fixedly secured to the shaft 11 in the plane of the control system of the belt reeling means 10. said latch 26 having a swivel range such that when released the latch 26 engages the external toothing 16 of the cam disc 14 of the belt reeling means 10 and in its inoperative position releases the cam disc 14 for rotation of the latter with the belt winding spindle of the belt reeling means 10.

Owing to the fact that whenthelatch 26 is actuated by engaging a tooth of the external toothing 16 of the cam disc 14 of the first belt reeling means. it is possible that the corresponding latch 26 of another belt reeling means will be located in a tooth gap of the external toothing of the associated cam disc. so that this belt reeling means is not immediately blocked, it can be provided that the latches 26 are mounted on the transfer element 11 in such a way that they can swivel slightly, or that they themselves are of resilient construction.

As is not shown in more detail, the shaft 11 is loaded into its inoperative position by means of a return spring, in which position the unreeling belt strap 17 is guided in the loopshaped fold by means of the belt strap guide 24, 25.

8 The operation of the safety belt arrangement described hereinabove is based on the principle that in normal operation of the self-locking belt reeling means 10, the belt strap can unwind freely from the belt reeling means 10 in spite of the visible folded guiding arrangement, as the return spring loading the shaft 11 into its inoperative position is sufficiently strong.

If, when blocked, one of the self-locking belt reeling means 10 is actuated, thus blocking further unreeling of the belt strap, the belt tension. acting On the belt strap 17 leads to tightening" of the folded guiding of the belt strap by the bE,,lt strap sensor 24, so that the shaft 11 in the representation of Figure 1 is rotated a certain amount in an anti-clockwise direction. This rotation is sufficient to swivel the latches 26 fixedly secured to the shaft 11 into the external toothing 16 of the cam discs 14 of the other belt reeling means 10, thereby preventing further rotation of these cam discs and thus also activating the blocking system of the other belt reeling means 10. In this way, it is guaranteed that virtually immediately upon actuation of the first of the belt reeling means 1..0 associated with the safety belt arrangement, the belt reeling means moreover connected to the blocking belt reeling means 10 by means of the shaft 11 will also block.

The rotation of the shaft 11 is picked up in the region of the freewheeling coupling 18 to the manually operated means 23 by means of the free-wheeling path provided there between the claw members 21r 22, so that the rotation of the shaft 11 is not also converted into an adjustment of the manually operated means 23. On the other hand. however, intentional adjustment 9 of the manually operated means 23 by means of displacement of the Bowden cable 19, leads to swivelling of the claw member 22f which then leads to rotation of the shaft 11 into its direction of operation defined by the locking position of the latches 26.

If the belt tension built up in the belt strap 17 of the individual belt reeling means 10 is reduced after said belt reeling means are blocked, the return spring acting on the shaft 11 guides the shaft 11 back into its starting position. so that the locking latches 26 also release the cam discs 14 of in the belt reeling means 10 once again, after which the safety belt arrangement is returned automatically to an operative initial state.

As can be deduced immediately from the embodiment of the invention shown in the drawings, the invention is not limited 15 to the arrangement consisting of only two belt reeling means disposed on a shaft 11. but rather several belt reeling means can be connected to the relevant transfer element within the context of a more extensive safety belt arrangement. The coupling of several safety belt arrangements, each comprising 20 several safety belt reeling means, is also conceivable.

As the shaft does not need to be rigid and straight as shown, but can also be flexiblei the blocking movement of one of the belt reeling means forming part of the safety belt arrangement can also be transferred to belt reeling means disposed spatially at an angle thereto or at a greater distance. provided that the rotational movement of the transfer element defined by means of folds, curved guiding and greater distances can be transferred.

Furthermore, it is not necessary for all of the coupled belt reeling means in the context of a safety belt arrangement or several safety belt arrangements coupled together to have its own individual belt strapsensitive and/or vehicle-sensitive blocking system, but rather, in the context of several arrangements coupled together, one single belt reeling means with associated control systems is sufficient also to block the other coupled belt reeling means in the event of release.

Furthermore. the invention is not limited to the embodiment of a belt strap sensor shown in the drawing. Other constructions -are possible here, in which the belt strap tension building up in the associated belt strap after one of the self-locking belt reeling means is blocked is used to actuate a transfer element. In this case, the corresponding sensor devices do not necessarily have to be disposed on the discharge side of the belt strap of the belt reeling means, but instead can also be disposed elsewhere according to the arrangement of the belt reeling means and the corresponding belt strap guide, if desired. still with the loop- shaped guiding of the belt strap, separated from the belt reeling means housing.

Finally, it is also possible with this invention to guide a belt strap by means of a sensor device designed in such a way that the corresponding transfer elements are actuated in different directions of rotation. so that to that extent there is a greater degree of freedom in the spatial arrangement of the safety belt reeling means with respect to one another and with respect to the safety belt arrangement itself. ' 11 It is to be clearly understood that there are no particular features of the foregoing specification, or of any claims appended hereto, which are at present regarded as being essential to the performance of the present invention, and that any one or more of such features or combinations thereof may therefore be included in, added to, omitted from or deleted from any of such claims if and when amended during the prosecution of this application or in the filing or prosecution of any divisional application based thereon. Furthermore the manner in which any of such features of the specification or claims are described or defined may be amended, broadened or otherwise modified in any manner which falls within the knowledge of a person skilled in the relevant art, for example so as to encompass, either implicitly or explicitly, equivalents or generalisations thereof.

12

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A safety belt arrangement comprising two or more belt reeling means each having a blocking mechanism for blocking feed-out of a respective belt strap in response to a belt strap-sensitive and/or vehicle-sensitive control system, wherein control elements each associated with a respective belt reeling means are arranged to be coupled with the blocking mechanisms thereof, the control elements being.operably connected to a transfer element which connects the belt reeling means and is arranged to be actuated when one of the belt reeling means is blocked.

2. A safety belt arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein the transfer element can be actuated by means of the belt strap tension which occurs when one of the belt reeling means is blocked.

3. A safety belt arrangement as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein a belt strap sensor associated with a respective belt reeling means is provided on the transfer element, the sensor including guide means for the belt strap fed out from the belt reeling means, the guide means forming a fold in the belt strap which is at. least partly straightened out in the event of blocking of the belt reeling means.

4. A safety belt arrangement as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the belt reeling means have an externally toothed cam disc as part of the belt strap-sensitive and/or vehicle-sensitive control system, and wherein the control elements each consist of a latch provided on the transfer element and adapted to engage the external toothing of the cam disc.

5. A safety belt arrangement as claimed in claim 3 and i 13 4, wherein the transfer element consists of a rotatable shaft connecting the belt reeling means. the belt strap sensors and the latches each being fixedly disposed on said shaft.

6. A safety belt arrangement as claimed in claim 5, wherein the latches are themselves of a slightly resilient construction.

7. A safety belt arrangement as claimed in claim 5, wherein the latches are disposed on the transfer element with slight rotational play.

8 A safety belt arrangement as claimed in claim 5,6 or 7, wherein the shaft is rigid.

9. A safety belt arrangement as claimed in claim 5, 6 or 7, wherein the shaft is flexible.

10. A safety belt arrangement as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the transfer element is coupled with manually operated means for blocking both or all the belt reeling means.

11. A safety belt arrangement as claimed in claim 10, wherein a freewheeling coupling is provided between the manually operated means and the transfer element.

12. A safety belt arrangement as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the transfer element is guided and mounted in respective housings of the belt reeling means.

13. A-safety belt arrangement as claimed in any preceding claim. wherein the transfer element is springloaded into its starting and inoperative position.

14 14. A safety belt arrangement as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein only one of the belt reeling means connected to the shaft has a belt strap-sensitive and/or vehicle-sensitive control system.

15. A safety belt arrangement substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

7 Published 1990 at The Patent Office, State House. 66'71 High Holborn. London WC1R 4TP. Further copies maybe obtainedfrom ThePatentOffice Sales Branch. St Mary Cray. Orpington. Kent BR5 3RD. Printed by Multiplex techniques ltd, St Ma-,:y Cray. Kent. Con. 1 87