GB860980A - Improvements relating to reels and safety devices incorporating such reels - Google Patents

Abstract

860,980. Spring drum apparatus. AMERICAN SEATING CO. June 29, 1959 [April 15, 1959], No. 22272/59. Class 78 (2). [Also in Group XXVI] Should the pay-out rate from a housing 10 ... 17, Fig. 1, of a seat safety-strap 19 suddenly increasesuch as when the occupant of the seat is jerked forward during a crash-a pawl 37, Fig. 7, is thrust into teeth 30 of a ratchet-wheel 32 rotating with the shaft 18 from which the strap is unwinding and the movement is arrested. The pawl 37 forms one arm of a two-armed lever 34 keyed on a shaft 33 and is normally held away from the ratchet by a toggle mechanism mounted between a disc 49, also keyed to the shaft 33, and a post 40 rigidly attached to the base-plate 10 of the housing. The disc 49 is biased from the post 40 by a spring 50, the pressure being adjustable by a screw 44 threaded through the post 40 to engage a lever 42 of the mechanism. During normal strap pay-out, against a re-winding spring 27, the mechanism holds the other arm 38 of the lever 34 against the wheel 32 and this arm is designed to ride over the teeth until a predetermined strap-shaft angular velocity is reached when it will be impelled from the ratchet to throw the pawl 37 into the teeth. In a modified apparatus, the lever 34 may be manually-operated by connecting an actuation-rod 51, Fig. 8, to the disc 49.