US3623191A - Seat belt buckle - Google Patents

Abstract

A SEAT BELT BUCKLE CHARACTERIZED IN EMPLOYING A SINGLE WIRE SPRING IN THE BUCKLE BODY COMPRISING A LOCK PLATE ENGAGEABLE WITH A TONGUE PLATE AND A BELT BAR FOR SECURING THE OTHER TONGUE OF THE BELT. SAID SINGLE WIRE SPRING IS ADAPTED TO BE SECURED ON A BASE PLATE AT ITS ONE PORTION AND TO EXERT NO SPRINGLY FORCE ON EACH ELEMENT OF THE BUCKLE BODY BESIDES THE REQUIRED PORTIONS. IT IS SO CONSTRUCTED TO EFFECT TWO INDEPENDENT SPRINGLY ACTIONS THEREBY LIFTING UP THE FREE END OF THE LOCK PLATE AND PRESSING DOWN THE BELD BAR EFFECTIVELY WITHOUT AND AID OF ANY OTHER COMPONENT.

Description

3 1971 YOSHIHIRO HAYASHI 3,623,191

SEAT BELT BUCKLE 3 Sheets-Shoot 1 Filed Dec. 4. 1970 INVENTOR. VOJW/ 14/80 HAY/45f MZMJ 107% Nbv. 30. 1971 YOSHIHIRO HAYASHI 3,523,191

SEAT BELT BUCKLE 3 SheetsSheet 2 Filed Dec. 4. 1970 United States Patent 3,623,191 SEAT BELT BUCKLE Yoshihiro Hayashi, Kasugai, Japan, assignor to Kabushiki Kaisha Tokai Rika Denki Seisakusho, Nishibiwajimacho Nishikasugai-gun, Aichi-Prefecture, Japan Filed Dec. 4, 1970, Ser. No. 95,216 Int. Cl. A44]: 11/26 US. Cl. 24-77 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A seat belt buckle characterized in employing a single wire spring in the buckle body comprising a lock plate engageable with a tongue plate and a belt bar for securing the other tongue of the belt. Said single wire spring is adapted to be secured on a base plate at its one portion and to exert no springy force on each element of the buckle body besides the required portions. It is so constructed to effect two independent springy actions thereby lifting up the free end of the lock plate and pressing down the belt bar effectively without an aid of any other component.

This invention relates to a seat belt buckle, and more particularly relates to a seat belt buckle characterized in comprising a lock plate for interlocking with a tongue plate, engaged with one end of a base plate at its rear end and adapted to move swingably at the forward end thereof; a belt bar securing the other belt tongue in the opposite direction to said tongue plate; and a single wire spring folded over symmetrically and fitted to the base plate thereby to swingably lift up the free end of the lock plate and press the belt bar downwardly.

The structure of the conventional seat belt buckle is such that the lock element for interlocking with a belt tongue is released by rotating the swingable cover plate in an unlocking direction which is operable by the lever pivotally secured to the rear portion of the base plate. The conventional seat belt buckle has defects that the structure is complicated and troublesome in assembling since numbers of components are employed. It has another functional defect that an unexpected disengagement of the tongue from the locked position has been often encountered, since the force of inertia, on collision, is exerted thereupon in a direction of unlocking the tongue.

In view of the defects of such conventional seat belt buckle, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a seat belt buckle which is simply assembled by employing a single wire spring folded into a desirable shape to exert a plurality of springy forces on the required portions respectively.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a seat belt buckle which is free from an unexpected disengagement of the tongue plate from the locked position and disengagement whereof is precisely effected only by pressing the free end of the lock plate with a finger through an aperture formed in a cover plate.

Essentially, according to this invention, there is provided a seat belt buckle which comprises a cover plate secured to a base plate, said base plate being provided on both sides thereof with upstanding and inwardly folded flanges each having a pair of cut-out portions; a lock plate having one end engaged with one end of the base plate at its reentrant edge serving to make the other free end of the lock plate swingable up and down; a belt bar for securing a belt tongue traversing an aperture formed in the base plate; a wire spring formed of a flexible wire and consisting of a traversing portion fitted to a reentrant portion of the lock plate, springy legs formed by almost rectangularly bending the both ends of said traversing ice portion and extending forward to be supported by the front end of the base plate, folded-back portions extending toward the rear end of the base plate under the flanges and second springy legs further folded back at the extending ends of said folded-back portions and extending over the belt bar, said wire spring being provided with ridges on the folded portions between the folded-back portions and the second springy legs respectively for abutting against the under surfaces of the flanges and further provided with stepped portions on the folded-back portions thereby to be firmly secured on the flanges.

The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of this invention will be made apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a seat belt buckle which is one embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the same uncovered and partly cut away;

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the same, sectionally taken along the central plane; and FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a tongue plate.

Referring now to the drawings, there is illustrated a seat belt buckle according to the present invention. Nu-

meral 1 designates a buckle body. Numeral 2 is a base,

plate which consists of upstanding and inwardly folded flange portions 3, 3 on the opposite side confronting each other, a web portion having a reentrant edge portion 4 at the rear end 2a for supporting a lock plate 8, a projection 5 formed integrally therewith for supporting a free end of a tongue plate 33 (FIG. 4) and an aperture 6 for taking out the other belt tongue formed near the front end 2b thereof. Said flanges 3, 3 each have two cut-out portions 7, 7 approximately above the aperture 6 for suspending a belowmentioned wire spring.

Numeral 8 designates a lock plate which has one end fitted to said reentrant edge portion 4 and the length substantially extending over the aperture 6. At the portion thereof corresponding to the middle between the supporting projection 5 and the aperture 6 of the base plate 2, said lock plate 8 is provided with an upstanding bent portion 9. A flat surface extending from the rear end 10 thereof in abutment on the reentrant edge portion 4 is slightly slanted and has a relief aperture 11 for receiving the supporting projection 5 and a lock protuberance 12 which gradually swells from the rear end 10 toward the relief aperture 11 to be most protuberant at the aperture edge. The top of the upstanding bent portion 9 is so adapted as to project from the flanges 3, 3 of the base plate when assembled and forms an operative surface 13 extending therefrom parallel to the base plate 2. The operative surface 13 and the upstanding bent portion 9 provide a reentrant angle 14 therebetween to have a belowmentioned wire spring fitted thereto. A web plate 15 is attached to the operative surface 13.

Numeral 16 (FIG. 3) designates a belt bar traversing the take-out aperture 6. A belt tongue 34 wound around said belt bar is pulled out of the aperture 6 downwardly. Numeral 17 is a nearly channel-shaped fixing member positioned at the front end 2b of the base plate 2 and having two projections 18, 18 which extend over the ends of the belt bar 16 and have respective cut-out portions 19, 19 thereunder for slidably receiving the belt bar 16.

Numeral 20 designates a cover plate of the buckle body fixed thereon covering the upper surfaces of the flanges 3, 3 and the lateral face of the fixing member 17. An operative window 21 is formed on the upper surface of said cover plate at the portion corresponding to the operative surface 13 (and web plate 15) of the lock plate 8 for permitting a direct touch on said operative surface by a finger. It is to be noted that a gap 22 (FIG. 3) is formed between the reentrant edge 4 of the base plate 2 and the rear end of the cover plate 20 so as to permit insertion of the tongue plate 33. Numeral 23 designates a nearly U-shaped spring attached to the supporting projection by way of its fitting element 24 and a free end thereof protrudes through the relief aperture 11 of the lock plate 8 to confront and the lock protuberance 12.

Numeral 25 designates a Wire spring of a flexible Wire folded into a desired shape as depicted in the drawings. Said Wire spring 25 consists of a traverse portion 26 adapted to fit to the reentrant portion 14 of the lock plate 8, springy legs 27, 27 formed by almost rectangularly bending the both ends of said traverse portion 26 and extending over the upper surface of the fixing member 17 to be supported by the front end 2b of the base plate 2 through said fixing member 17, folded- back portions 28, 28 backwardly extending toward the rear end 2a of the base plate under the flanges 3, 3 and the second springy legs 30, 30 further folded back at the extending ends of said folded- back portions 28, 28 and extending over the belt bar 16. There are provided on said folded- back portions 28, 28 respective stepped portions 31, 31 to permit partial appearance of the flexible wire above the flanges 3,3 between each pair of cut-out portions 7, 7. There are further provided ridges 29, 29 respectively on the folded portions between the folded- back portions 28, 28 and the second springy legs 30, 30 for abutting against the under surfaces of the flanges 3, 3. In case that the fixing member 17 is omitted, another pair of ridges may be provided on the folded portions between the first springy legs 27, 27 and the folded- back portions 28, 28 to directly abut upon the base plate 2. The use of the explained wire spring is illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3.

According to the present invention, as set forth hereinabove, the folded- back portions 28, 28 of the wire spring 25 extending under the flanges 3, 3 are adapted to be firmly secured on said flanges 3, 3 by way of the cut-out portions 7, 7 at the stepped portions 31 thereof and to exert no springy force on each element of the buckle body besides the required portions. The first and second springy legs 27, 27 and 30, 30 are adapted to exert independent springy forces for lifting up the lock plate 8 and pushing down the belt bar 16, respectively.

Operation will be described with reference to FIG. 3 of the drawings.

If the tongue plate 33 with an aperture 35 near the front free end thereof is inserted into the buckle through the gap 22 along the under surfaces of the flanges 3, 3, the front free end of the tongue plate 33 passes inwardly beyond the lock protuberance 12 of the lock plate 8 slidably pressing said lock protuberance by the under surface thereof, until the aperture 35 gets engaged with the lock protuberance 12, thereby locking the tongue plate within the buckle body.

If, in order to release the tongue plate 33 from the locked position the operative surface 13 (and web plate 15) of the lock plate 8 is pushed down by a finger inserted through the operative window 21 of the cover plate, a swing motion takes place on the entire lock plate 8 supported at the reentrant portion 4 to push the lock protuberance 12 downwardly below the upper end of the supporting projection 5, whereby the aperture 35 of the tongue plate 33 is disengaged from the lock protuberance 12 of the lock plate, thus effecting release of the tongue plate from the buckle.

As described hereinbefore, the seat belt buckle of the present invention has such notable features that the aforesaid two independent spring actions can be easily attained by configuring a single wire to effectively prevent any other movement of the lock plate 8 except a swing motion and invertion of the belt bar 16, and that the construction of the buckle body is extremely simple.

What is claimed is:

1. A seat belt buckle which comprises a cover plate secured to a base plate, said base plate having a reentrant edge at its rear end and being provided on both sides thereof with upstanding and inwardly folded flanges each having a pair of cut-out portions; a lock plate having one end engaged with one end of the base plate at its reentrant edge to make the other free end of the lock plate swingable up and down; a belt bar for securing a belt tongue and traversing an aperture formed in the base plate; a wire spring formed of a flexible wire and consisting of a traverse portion fitted to a reentrant portion of the lock plate, first springy legs formed by almost rectangularly bending the both ends of said traverse portion and extending forward to be supported by the front end of the base plate, folded-back portions extending toward the rear end of the base plate under the flanges and second springy legs further folded back at the extending ends of said folded-back portions and extending over the belt bar, said wire spring being provided with ridges on the folded portions between the folded-back portions and the second springy legs respectively for abutting against the under surfaces of the flanges and further provided with stepped portions on the folded-back portions to be firmly secured on the flanges, thereby effecting two independent springy forces respectively for lifting up the free end of the lock plate and pressing down the belt bar.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS BERNARD A. GELAK, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 24-230

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