JP2001354110A - Tongue of seat belt device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a tongue of a seat belt device easily installable again in a buckle. SOLUTION: This tongue 5 has a tongue plate 6 having the tip side installed in the buckle 4 and a synthetic resin body 7 for surrounding the rear part side of the tongue plate 6. A finger engaging part 9 is projected on one side surface of a rear end part of the synthetic resin body 7. This finger engaging part 9 extends in the width direction of the synthetic resin body 7, that is, the almost orthogonal direction to the inserting direction of the tongue 5 into the buckle 4. The tongue 5 can be easily installed in the buckle 4 by pushing this engaging part 9 by fingers.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a tongue of a seat belt device for protecting an occupant of a moving body such as a vehicle at the time of a vehicle collision or the like, and more particularly to a tongue which can be easily attached to a buckle. More specifically, the present invention relates to a tongue of a seat belt device suitable for being applied to an air belt device having an inflatable belt expanded by gas from a gas generator.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an air belt device, at least a part of a webbing of a seat belt device (particularly, a portion that contacts an occupant's body) is formed by an inflatable air belt. The gas generator operates when a vehicle crashes or rolls over,
The air belt expands. As disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-85301 (U.S. Pat. No. 5,346,250), one end of an air belt is connected to a tongue, and gas passages are provided to the tongue and a buckle to which the tongue is attached. And a gas is introduced into the air belt through the gas passage. The other end of the air belt is connected to a webbing similar to a normal seat belt device by sewing, and the webbing is wound around a seat belt retractor. A lap belt made of the same webbing as a normal seat belt is connected to this tongue.

[0003]

The tongue of the air belt device is usually provided with a passage for gas supplied to the inflatable belt, and a conventional non-expandable seat belt (hereinafter sometimes referred to as a normal belt). The tongue is bulkier and heavier than the tongue, and there is some difficulty in handling when attaching to the buckle.

[0004] It is an object of the present invention to provide a tongue of a seat belt device which can be easily re-attached to a buckle.

[0005]

A tongue of a seat belt device according to the present invention is provided in a tongue of a seat belt device in which a tongue plate to be attached to a buckle is provided at a front portion and a webbing is connected or inserted to a rear portion. Is provided with a finger engaging portion that enables the user to press the tongue plate into the buckle by touching the tongue plate when the user attaches the tongue to the buckle.

In the tongue of such a seat belt device, the tip of the tongue plate is applied to the entrance of the buckle, and then the engaging portion is pressed with a finger to smoothly and easily push the tongue plate into the buckle. Can be.

The tongue is provided with a synthetic resin body surrounding the rear part of the tongue plate, and it is preferable that a finger engaging portion is provided integrally with the synthetic resin body. With such a configuration, the tongue with the engaging portion can be easily manufactured, and the durability of the engaging portion is good.

[0008] It is preferable that the engaging portion of the finger is also provided as a ridge extending substantially perpendicular to the direction of inserting the tongue plate into the buckle. Such an engagement portion has a large contact area with the finger, and can very easily push the tongue into the buckle.

In the present invention, the shoulder belt extends from the rear end of the tongue, the lap belt extends from one side surface of the rear part of the tongue, and the locking portion of the finger is provided on the one side near the rear end of the tongue. It is preferable to be provided so as to protrude from the side surface. With such a configuration, when the tongue is mounted on the buckle, the engaging portion of the finger is located at the upper end of the tongue, so that the mounting operation of the tongue is further facilitated.

The present invention is suitable for application to a tongue of an air belt device in which at least a shoulder belt is formed of an inflatable belt, but is also applicable to a case where both a shoulder belt and a lap belt are formed of a normal belt.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an air belt device 1 according to an embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a connecting portion between a belt and a tongue.

In this embodiment, a shoulder belt 2 made of an inflatable air belt is used as a seat belt.
And a lap belt 3 composed of a normal belt. The rear ends of the shoulder belt 2 and the lap belt 3 can be wound around the shoulder retractor 12 and the lap retractor 13, respectively. The retractors 12 and 13 are respectively provided with a return spring that constantly urges the shoulder belt 2 and the lap belt 3 in the winding direction, and an emergency that prevents unwinding of the shoulder belt 2 and the lap belt 3 in the event of a vehicle collision or the like. It has a lock mechanism.

The tip ends of the shoulder belt 2 and the lap belt 3 are connected to tongues 5, respectively. The tongue 5 has a tongue plate 6 whose front end is attached to the buckle 4, and a synthetic resin body 7 surrounding the rear side of the tongue plate 6.

The synthetic resin body 7 is preferably formed by resin molding so as to bury the rear side of the tongue plate 6, for example. May be integrated with the tongue plate 6.

A gas passage for guiding gas from an inflator 10 described later into the shoulder belt 2 is provided in the synthetic resin body 7. Reference numeral 8 denotes a gas receiving portion at the tip of the gas passage.

As shown in FIG. 2, the shoulder belt 2 extends from the rear end surface of the tongue 5 (the upper end surface of the synthetic resin body 7 in FIG. 2), and the lap belt 3 extends from one side surface of the synthetic resin body 7. Is out.

On one side surface of the rear end portion of the synthetic resin body 7, a finger engaging portion 9 is protruded. In this embodiment, the finger engaging portion 9 extends in the width direction of the synthetic resin body 7, that is, the direction substantially perpendicular to the direction in which the tongue 5 is inserted into the buckle 4. The engaging portion 9 is formed integrally with the synthetic resin body 7 by injection molding or the like.

The shoulder belt 2 includes a bag and mesh webbing that covers the bag. The bag is formed in a long bag shape from a material that does not allow gas to pass at all or hardly any gas (for example, a cloth coated with a resin). This bag is folded into an elongated band.

The mesh webbing covers the folded band-shaped bag. This mesh webbing is made of a knitted fabric which hardly expands in the longitudinal direction, but can flexibly expand in the widening or enormous directions. When gas is introduced into the bag, the bag expands.

In this embodiment, only the shoulder belt 2 is expandable, but the lap belt 3 may be expandable.

The buckle 4 is connected to an inflator 10 and has a gas outlet 11 for allowing gas from the inflator 10 to flow toward a gas receiving unit 8.

When the air belt 1 is worn by an occupant, as shown in FIG. 4, the tongue 5 is gripped and the shoulder belt 2 and the lap belt 3 are moved along the front of the occupant's body. To the tongue plate insertion opening of the buckle 4. Then, the thumb is put on the finger engaging portion 9 of the tongue 5, and the tongue 5 is pushed down. As a result, the tongue plate 6 is pushed into the buckle 4, and the tongue 5 is mounted on the buckle 4. As described above, the operation of pressing the tongue 5 downward with the finger is extremely simple, and the posture during the operation is also easy. Reference numeral 31 in FIG. 4 indicates a B pillar of the automobile.

When the vehicle collides with the tongue 5 mounted on the buckle 4, the inflator 10 blows out gas and the shoulder belt 2 expands. Further, the retractors 12 and 13 are locked, and the shoulder belt 2 and the lap belt 3 are prevented from being pulled out.

Although not shown, the air belt 1 and the tongue 5
Alternatively, the buckle 4 is provided with a vent hole for releasing gas in the bag, and when the upper body of the occupant leans on the inflated shoulder belt 2, the gas flows out little by little from the vent hole, and the impact applied to the occupant is reduced. Absorbed.

In the above embodiment, the seat belt is an air belt, but may be a normal belt that extends from a shoulder belt to a lap belt. Third
The figure is a perspective view of the tongue 20 according to the embodiment in which the normal belt 19 is passed. The tongue 20 has a tongue plate 21, a synthetic resin body 22 surrounding the rear side of the tongue plate 21, and a hook 23 for the belt 19. The normal belt 19 is freely inserted through the opening 23. The normal belt 19 can be wound by a retractor with an emergency locking mechanism from the tip on the shoulder side.

The finger engaging portion 2 is integrated with the synthetic resin body 22.
4 are provided. The engaging portion 24 is provided with the engaging portion 9.
Similarly, it is provided as a ridge extending in a direction substantially perpendicular to the direction of inserting the tongue 20 into the buckle. The engaging portion 24 protrudes laterally from the side of the rear end of the tongue 20 where the lap belt extends.

The tongue 20, like the tongue 5, can be easily attached to the buckle by pushing the engaging portion 24 with the thumb as shown in FIG.

Although not shown, in the present invention, it is possible to make the fingertips less slippery by providing dents, minute irregularities or projections in the finger engaging portions.

In the above embodiment, the finger engaging portion is provided so as to protrude laterally from the side surface of the rear portion of the tongue. However, the tongue is formed so that the synthetic resin body of the tongue becomes thicker toward the rear. The resin body may have a wedge shape with a wide rear end surface, and this rear end surface may be used as a finger engaging portion.

[0030]

As described above, according to the present invention, there is provided a tongue which is extremely easy to be attached to a buckle.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a seat belt (air belt) device provided with a tongue according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the tongue of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a tongue according to another embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a mounted state of a tongue.

[Description of Signs] 1 air belt device 2 shoulder belt 3 lap belt 4 buckle 5 tongue 6 tongue plate 7 synthetic resin body 8 gas receiving part 9 finger engaging part 10 inflator 12, 13 seat belt retractor 20 tongue 21 tongue plate 22 synthesis Resin body 24 Finger engagement part

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A tongue for a seat belt device in which a tongue plate to be attached to a buckle is provided at a front portion and a webbing is connected or inserted to a rear portion, wherein a user's finger is applied when the tongue is attached to the buckle. A tongue of the seat belt device, comprising a finger engaging portion for enabling the tongue plate to be pushed into the buckle. 2. The tongue according to claim 1, wherein the tongue includes a synthetic resin body surrounding a rear portion of the tongue plate, and the finger engaging portion is provided integrally with the synthetic resin body. The tongue of the seat belt device. 3. The seat belt device according to claim 1, wherein the engaging portion of the finger is provided as a ridge extending substantially perpendicular to a direction in which the tongue plate is inserted into the buckle. Tongue. 4. A shoulder belt according to claim 1, wherein a shoulder belt extends from a rear end of the tongue, and a lap belt extends from one side surface of a rear portion of the tongue. A tongue for a seat belt device, wherein the tongue is provided so as to protrude from the one side surface near a rear end of the tongue. 5. The seat according to claim 4, wherein at least the shoulder belt is an inflatable belt that expands when gas is introduced, and the tongue is provided with a gas passage for guiding the gas. Belt device tongue.