JPH021047Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed explanation of the idea] [Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to a seat belt buckle that has a function to prevent accidental release due to collision of an occupant's elbow with a lock release button.

[Prior art]

Among the seatbelt buckles that make it easy to put on and take off the vehicle seatbelt, it is supported by the upper end of the stalk part that stands up on the floor in the center of the car body, and the tongs attached to the tip of the seatbelt can be held with one hand. In a buckle that can be inserted and removed by operation, a push button for releasing the tongs from the buckle is usually provided so that it can be pushed and slid against the buckle body along the direction of inserting and removing the tongs, and the push button is placed with the push button facing upward. Consideration has been taken to improve operability.

[Problem that the invention attempts to solve]

However, in this type of conventional seat belt buckle, the pressing operation surface of the tongue release slide button faces forward and upward, making it easy to press the button with the thumb. It comes into contact with the pressing operation surface of the slide button,
There was a risk that the slide button would be pushed in unexpectedly, causing the tongue to separate from the buckle, making it impossible to ensure the safety of the occupants through the seat belt. In order to overcome the problem of erroneous buckle operation due to elbow collision, a buckle is provided in which a cover member around the pressing operation surface of the slide button is provided with a rib-like protrusion to prevent the passenger's elbow from directly contacting the slide button.

[Refer to Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 58-68106] and a buckle in which a portion of the slide button other than the pressing operation surface is surrounded by a fixed cover member has been proposed. However, even with a buckle that has measures to prevent erroneous operation as described above, although it is possible to avoid erroneous operation due to elbow collision, the cover member around the slide button gets in the way of pressing operation, making it difficult to release the buckle in an emergency such as a vehicle overturning. There were concerns that this would be a hindrance, and there was room for immediate improvement in this regard. The present invention focused on the problem of erroneous operation due to elbow collision, which conventional seat belt buckles had, and was developed with the aim of solving the problem. By utilizing the difference in the direction of the force applied to the slide button when the slide button is operated and when an elbow or the like accidentally collides with the slide button, the movement preventing means is engaged when the slide button is displaced in a direction other than the normal pressing operation direction. In addition, the slide button is prevented from moving in the tongue release direction, and erroneous operation is prevented without interfering with finger operation.

[Means to solve the problem]

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a seat belt buckle in which a buckle body elastically supports a slide button for releasing a tongue in a manner movable along the tongue insertion/removal direction. At least one of the buttons is provided with a movement preventing means that engages when the slide button is displaced in a direction other than the normal pressing operation direction and prevents the slide button from moving in the tongue release direction. be.

【Example】

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a side cross-sectional view showing an example of the seat belt buckle of the present invention, and FIGS. 2 and 3 are explanatory views of the function of the buckle. In these figures, 1 is a buckle body supported on the floor of a vehicle such as an automobile via a stalk member 2, 3 is a buckle base with a U-shaped cross section and constitutes a strength member of the buckle body 1, and 4 is a buckle base 3. A slide button for releasing the tongue is disposed between both side walls of the seat belt 5 and is movable along the insertion/removal direction of the tongue 6 connecting the seat belt 5, and the slide button 4 is connected to the rear end and the buckle base. A compression spring 8 is compressed between a spring receiving member 7 fixed to a spring member 3 and is constantly biased in the direction of the arrow U, and the pressing operation surface 9 at the front end is pressed against the compression spring 8 in the direction of the arrow U. When pressed and moved in the v direction, the tongs 6 engage with a known latch mechanism provided on the buckle base 3, release the latch mechanism, and move the tongs 6 to the buckle body 1.
It is designed to make people move away from it. Reference numeral 10 denotes a cover member attached to surround the outer periphery of the buckle base 3 and the slide button 4, and the front surface of the cover member 10 has a locking tongue portion of the tongue 6 inserted into the latch mechanism. An opening 11 is formed, which includes a tongue insertion part 11a for inserting the slide button 4, and a button operation part 11b for exposing the pressing operation surface 9 and a part of the outer peripheral surface of the slide button 4 to the outside. The buckle with the above configuration has a stepped portion 12 on the upper edge of the side wall of the buckle base 3 that is inclined upward along the pressing operation direction of the slide button 4, and a step portion 12 on the side surface of the slide button 4. A protrusion 13 with a downwardly inclined surface corresponding to the stepped portion 12 is provided in a protruding manner. Note that the pressing operation surface 9 of the slide button 4
is inclined at an angle θ with respect to the pressing operation direction v, and when the slide button 4 is pressed with a force F with a finger S as shown in FIG. A component force that causes a phase shift between the buckle base 3 and the stepped portion 12

[fA] has come into play. The seat belt buckle of the present invention has the above-mentioned configuration. Next, its function will be explained. First, when the tongue 6 is fitted into the buckle main body 1 as shown in FIG. 6, when the pressing operation surface 9 of the slide button 4 is pressed with the finger S as shown in FIG.

Due to [fA], the phase of the protrusion 13 is shifted from the phase of the stepped portion 12 on the buckle base 3 side, and engagement between the two is avoided, and the component of the pressing operation force F is

[fB] is pushed in the direction of arrow v to release the latch mechanism and detach the tongue 6 from the buckle body 1. Next, when the tongue 6 is engaged as shown in FIG.
Assuming that an object T with a spherical surface of mm collides with the slide button 4, the slide button 4 will receive a component of the acting force F'.

[f′A] is pressed to the buckle base 3 side, and at the same time component force

Slide button 4 is pushed in the direction of arrow v by [F′B].
The protrusion 13 on the side is the step part 12 on the buckle base 3 side.
Since the latch mechanism is not activated, the tongue 6 is prevented from coming off unexpectedly, and the safety of the occupant due to the seat belt 5 can be ensured.

[Effect of the idea]

As mentioned above, the seat belt buckle of the present invention has a
Movement preventing means for the slide buttons that engage with each other when the slide buttons are displaced in a direction other than the normal pressing operation direction are interposed, and when the slide buttons are operated in the normal pressing operation direction with a finger, the movement preventing means are prevented from engaging. The tongue can be easily released from the buckle by the same operation as a normal buckle, and it also prevents the slide button from moving in a direction other than the normal pressing direction if the occupant's elbow or the like collides with the slide button in a vehicle collision, etc. When the slide button is displaced, the movement of the slide button is blocked by the movement prevention means to prevent the tongue from unexpectedly detaching from the buckle body. This eliminates the inconvenience of surrounding cover members interfering with operation, making operations smoother during emergency evacuation, and, in combination with the malfunction prevention effect of the movement prevention means, ensuring the safety of vehicle occupants due to the seat belt. Demonstrates excellent effects.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a side sectional view showing one embodiment of the seat belt buckle of the present invention, Fig. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the action during the tongue release operation, and Fig. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the action when preventing malfunction due to collision with elbows, etc. It is. 1...Batsukuru body, 4...Slide button,
6...Tongs, 12...Steps, 13...Protrusions.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] 1. A seatbelt buckle in which a slide button for releasing the tongue is elastically supported by the buckle body so as to be movable along the tongue insertion/removal direction,
A stepped portion 1 is formed on one of the buckle body and the slide button and slopes from the front end of the slide button toward the rear end of the slide button along the pressing direction of the slide button.
2, and the other one of the two is provided with a protrusion 3 having an inclination corresponding to the stepped portion 12 and capable of engaging and detaching from the stepped portion 12 when the slide button is pressed, and the sliding The button has a pressing operation surface 9 that slopes downward from the front end of the slide button toward the rear end, and when the pressing operation surface is pressed in parallel to the tong insertion direction, the component of the pressing operation force that acts on the slide button The engagement between the stepped portion 12 and the protrusion 13 is disengaged, allowing the slide button to move in the tongue release direction, and when the upper end of the pressing operation surface 9 is pressed from diagonally forward and upward, the protrusion 13 engages with the stepped portion 12. A buckle for a seat belt, characterized in that it prevents a slide button from moving in the tongue release direction. 2 Utility model registration claim 1, characterized in that when the tongs are inserted and engaged with the buckle body, the distance between the top surface of the tongs and the top end of the pressing operation surface of the slide button is not more than 20 mm. Buckles for seat belts.