GB2402370A

GB2402370A - Buckle head and strap arrangement

Info

Publication number: GB2402370A
Application number: GB0312820A
Authority: GB
Inventors: John Bell; Martyn Neil Palliser; Brian Jack
Original assignee: Breed Automotive Technology Inc; Joyson Safety Systems Inc
Current assignee: Joyson Safety Systems Inc
Priority date: 2003-06-04
Filing date: 2003-06-04
Publication date: 2004-12-08
Anticipated expiration: 2023-06-04
Also published as: GB2402370B; DE202004001993U1; GB0312820D0

Abstract

A buckle head 1 comprises a buckle housing, an attachment bracket 2 and a strap 4, wherein the attachment bracket has a hole through which the strap passes, and the strap comprises a length of flexible woven webbing material having a width less than the width of the buckle housing. The strap is folded back and is stitched through at least two layers of material. Two such buckle heads may be mounted to a mounting bracket 3 for attachment to a vehicle and hook and loop fasteners 9 may connect them back to back.

Description

BUCKLE ASSEMBLY

DES rC,,ffipTION The present invention relates to a buckle assembly, particularly to a buckle assembly for use with seat belt safety restraints for vehicles, and more particularly to a buckle assembly for use in the rear passenger seat of a vehicle.

Traditionally rear seat buckles are mounted to the floor pan of a vehicle and the buckle head is stowed in a pocket in the seat cushion. The mounting must be strong enough to withstand crash forces and the buckle head is usually attached to the floor pan mounting by a steel strap.

However, this can cause discomfort to the rear passenger particularly in certain seating positions.

In addition the steel strap makes it more difficult to fold the seat down smoothly when access to the rear storage compartment is required because the steel inhibits the buckle from folding with the seat. Steel straps also do not flex easily around the side of a child seat resulting in the buckle being pulled at an offset angle and ultimately weakening the buckle mechanism and degrading its performance.

It would be preferable to use a flexible material to attach the buckle head to the mounting but a very strong material is needed. The strong woven webbing traditionally used for the seat belt itselfhas been tried but it has not been satisfactory because it has been found that a minimum length of around 200mm is needed to ensure sufficient space to attach the webbing to the buckle effectively and safely and this tends to be too long to allow the strap to fit easily into the stow pocket. Also traditional webbing is relatively stiffin the direction of its width so the buckle will not bend easily in the direction of the width of the webbing. In addition,it is necessary to fold such webbing longitudinally to fit it into the mounting brackets.

According to the present invention there is provided a buckle assembly comprising a buckle head comprising a buclcle housing, an attachment bracket and a strap, wherein the buckle housing has a predetermined width and the attachment bracket has a hole through which the strap passes, and the strap comprises a predetermined length of flexible woven webbing material having a width less than the width of the buckle housing, and a predetermined thickness, and is stitched through at least two layers of material with a predetermined stitch length.

Preferably the strap is formed of webbing which is around half the normal width of seat belt webbing, ie around 25mm wide instead of the usual 48mm. This results in an overall length for the assembly of less than 140mm, and even around 130mm, which compares favourably with the previous minimum of 200mm achieved with traditional webbing.

Preferably the strap thickness is about twice that of traditional seat belt webbing, ie about 2.3mm instead of 1.15mm.

The length ofthe stitches used to secure the webbing strap is preferably around 14rnm to 20mm and even more preferably about 16mm to 18mm and most preferably about 17mm.

Stitches in traditional seat belt webbing have been around 37mm across the webbing (in the weft direction) and 28mm along the webbing (in the warp direction).

Two such buckle heads may be mounted to a mounting bracket by passing the straps through holes in the bracket and stitching through 3 layers to form a figure of eight in side view.

Complementary re-usable fastening sections, such as hook and loop fasteners, may be affixed to the sides ofthe buckle heads to fasten them together in an upright configuration for ease of use.

For a better understanding of the present invention and to show how the same may be carried into effect, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows a traditional buckle arrangement.

Figure 2 shows a buckle arrangement according to the present invention.

Figure 3 shows the buckle arrangement of figure 2 inside view.

In the known arrangement of figure 1 a buckle head 1 is shown fixed to an attachment bracket 2 and connected to a idling bracket 3 by a strap comprising a length of traditional seat belt webbing 4. The webbing 4 passes through holes in each of the two brackets 2 and 3 and is stitched through three layers in a stitch pattern 5. The webbing 4 is wider than the buckle head 1 and the mounting brackets and is folded across its width in the region of the brackets so that it fits through the holes. This restricts movement of the buckle head 1 in a lateral direction and limits the space available for the stitch pattern 5. Traditionally the webbing 4 is about 48mm wide and about 1.15mm thick. The stitches in the stitch pattern would typically be about 37mm long in the direction of weft fibres, ie across the webbing, and about 28mm in the warp direction (along the webbing length) and the pattern comprises ten rows each of ten or eleven stitches across the webbing and one line of stitches in the length direction.

The mounting bracket 3 has a second hole to which a similar arrangement is attached to form a double buckle head arrangement for fixing into the middle of a rear passenger seat in a vehicle. The mounting bracket 3 also has a Young hole for attaching it to the vehicle for example with a bolt. The minimum overall length of such a known arrangement from the top of the buckle head to the mounting bracket is 200mm.

The new design can be seen in figures 2 and 3. The buckle heads 1 are each connected to the mounting bracket 3 by lengths of webbing 4. However, the webbing 4 is much narrower and thicker than in the arrangement of figure 1. It is typically about 25mm wide, which is less than the width ofthe buckle head, and about the same width as the hole in the attachment brackets 2, and about 2.3mm thick. The attachment brackets 2 can only just be seen in figure 2 because the narrow width ofthe strap 4 enables them to be more neatly tucked into the buckle head 1 and yet still allows more movement of the strap in the direction of the arrow 6 than for the buckle of the arrangement shown in figure 1.

The stitch patterns 5 can be clearly seen in figure 2 and again each comprises a grid of ten stitches and ten rows. However, the stitches are much smaller; about 1 7mm in each direction.

Hence the same number of stitches requires less space. This arrangement allows the overall length from the top of the buckle head to the mounting bracket to be decreased to about 140mm or 130mm.

The new arrangement of figures 2 and 3 is at least as strong as the known arrangement of figure 1 but is more compact and versatile since more movement of the buckle heads is possible.

A mounting hole 7 forms part of the mounting bracket 3 and this can be clearly seen in figure 2. The strap recensing holes are typically closed slit shaped features but may take any form provided they are suitable for receiving and retaining the strap. The hole may form a closed or an open loop or may comprise a bar spaced from the body of the respective bracket. This hole 7 enables the bracket 3 to be fixed by a bolt to a load bearing part of a vehicle. In figure 2 it is also seen that complementary sections of hook and loop fastening materials 8 and 9 are attached to sides of the buckle heads. This may for example be the proprietary material known by the registered trade mark VELCRO, or any other re-usable fastening material. When the buckle arrangement is fixed in place in the vehicle, these sections allow the two buckle heads to be fastened together as shown in figure 3 and thus to sit up vertically above seat pads so as to present the buckle head opening in a more convenient position for the passenger to insert the buckle tongue. This is encouraged by the compact nature of the arrangement and the relative rigidity ofthe straps in the length direction. In the previously known arrangement shown in figure 1 the arrangement did not easily sit up vertically and tended to get lost between seat pads.

Claims

(IT HATES 1. A buckle head comprising a buckle housing, an attachment

bracket and a strap, wherein the buckle housing has a predetermined width and the attachment bracket has an opening for receiving the strap, and wherein the strap comprises a predetermined length of flexible woven webbing material having a width less than the width of the buckle housing, and a predetermined thickness, and is stitched through at least two layers of material with a predetermined stitch length, to retain the strap on the attachment bracket.
2. A buckle head according to claim 1 wherein the strap is formed of webbing having a width less than 48mm.
3. A buckle head according to claim 2 wherein the width is less than 40mm.
4. A buckle head according to claim 3 wherein the width is less than 30mm.
5. A buckle head according to claim 4 wherein the width is less than about 25mm.
6. A buckle head according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the thickness of the webbing for the strap is more than 1.2mm.
7. A buckle head according to claim 6 wherein the thickness is more than 1.5mm.
8. A buckle head according to claim 7 wherein the thickness is more than 2mm.
9. A buckle head according to claim 8 wherein the thickness is more than about 2.3mm.
10. A buckle assembly according to clann 9 comprising complementary sections of re-usable fastening material on facing sides of the two buckle heads.

1 1. A buckle assembly substantially as herein before described with reference to figures 2 and 3 of the accompanying drawings. (

10. A buckle head according to any one ofthe preceding claims wherein the stitch length is less than 25mm.

11. A buckle head according to claim 10 wherein the stitch length is less than 20mm.

12. A buckle head according to claim 11 wherein the stitch length is less than about 17mm.

13. A buckle head according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the strap is stitched through 3 layers.

14. A buckle head according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the strap passes through an opening in a mounting bracket and forms a figure-of-eight shape in side view.

15. A buckle head substantially as before herein described with reference to figures 2 and 3 of the accompanying drawings.

16. A buckle assembly comprising two buckle heads according to any one ofthe preceding claims wherein each strap is connected to a mounting bracket for attachment to a load bearing part of a vehicle.

17. A buckle assembly according to claim 16 comprising complementary sections of re-usable fastening material on facing sides ofthe two buckle heads.

18. A buckle assembly substantially as before herein described with reference to figures 2 and 3 of the accompanying drawings.

Amendments to the claims have been filed as follows:

1. A buckle head comprising a buckle housing, an attachment bracket and a strap, wherein the buckle housing has a width and the attachment bracket has an opening for receiving the strap, and wherein the strap comprises a length of flexible woven webbing material having a width less than the width of the buckle housing, and a thickness of more than 2mm, and is stitched through at least two layers of material with a stitch pattern length of less than 20mm to retain the strap on the attachment bracket.

2. A buckle head according to claun 1 wherein the strap is formed of webbing having a width less than 48mm.

3. A buckle head according to claim 2 wherein the width is about 25mm.

4. A buckle head according to claim 1, 2 or 3 wherein the thickness ofthe webbing material is more than 2.3mm.

5. A buckle head according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the stitch length is less than about 17mm.

6. A buckle head according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the strap is stitched through 3 layers of material.

7. A buckle head according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the strap passes through an opening in a mounting bracket and forms a figureof-eight shape in side view.

8. A buckle head substantially as herein before described with reference to figures 2 and 3 of the accompanying drawings.

9. A buckle assembly comprising two buckle heads according to any one of the preceding t 4't claims wherein each strap is connected to a mounting bracket for attachment to a load bearing part of a vehicle.