Buckles – buttons – clasps – etc. – Separable-fastener or required component thereof – Including member having distinct formations and mating...
Reexamination Certificate
2002-02-21
2003-09-16
Sandy, Robert J. (Department: 3677)
Buckles, buttons, clasps, etc.
Separable-fastener or required component thereof
Including member having distinct formations and mating...
C024S625000, C280S033993
Reexamination Certificate
active
06618915
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to a child seatbelt assembly with a child resistant buckle and, in particular, to an improvement in the type of buckle commonly used in many children's safety seats, strollers, baby carriages, shopping cart seat belts, etc. A prior art buckle for use with a seatbelt assembly is made, for example, by Illinois Tool Works (ITW) and others and is well known. Referring to
FIG. 7
, a prior art buckle has two latch members
10
of a male part
20
that slide into a slot
12
of a female part
30
and have barbed ends
14
that engage in female part
30
. The prior art buckle can be manipulated, by some young children, in a way that permits the buckle to be undone. As is well known, the two barbed ends
14
are pressed toward each other to allow male part
20
of the buckle to be removed from female part
30
.
Others have attempted to provide a child resistant buckle for use with a seatbelt assembly. For example, see Gallbreath, U.S. Pat. No. 5,991,985 which provides a third fastening element and includes a depressable button to allow the third fastening element to be undone. This buckle is cumbersome because it requires that the user learn an additional motion in order to undo it, i.e., the user must at the same time depress the side latches and the center button to undo the buckle and release the seatbelt strap.
Retainer strap seatbelt assemblies with conventional buckles are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,101,687 and 6,101,690, which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. These seatbelt assemblies are typically used in shopping carts to help restrain children in the carts and prevent injury. Accordingly, child resistant buckles are an important feature of these seatbelt assemblies.
When the types of buckles and straps described above are used in an environment where the buckles are typically subjected to high impact and compression forces, the buckle can be damaged. A typical application for the buckles and straps are on child safety restraints, or seatbelts, used on grocery shopping carts. When carts are nested together with one another for storing large numbers of carts easily, for example, the buckles can be caught between the carts and be subjected to high impact and compressive forces. Impact forces like these tend to cause the buckle to crack or even shatter. Compressive forces can deform the buckle beyond a point of elastic resilience, resulting in an unworkable buckle.
In addition, the seatbelt assembly is sometimes misused in connecting grocery carts together. These occasions of misuse can produce high tensile strain on the buckle, causing the buckle to fail and resulting in damage to buckle components.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to overcome the drawbacks associated with the prior art.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a simple seatbelt assembly with a child resistant buckle while maintaining design and operating features similar to those provided in the prior art.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a seatbelt assembly that is resistant to high tensile, impact and compressive forces.
Briefly stated, according to the present invention there is provided a seatbelt assembly with a buckle with male and female mating parts, in which the male and female parts include features to prevent disengagement operation by a child. The child resistant features include added ribs, webbing in the form of flanges or struts, or barbs or prongs that increase the difficulty for disengaging the buckle. The buckle can be operated easily by an adult, while remaining secure from disengagement by a typical child. The female part has an arcuate outer profile to improve the structural integrity of the overall buckle. Both the male and female parts can have thickened portions to permit the seatbelt assembly to be child resistant, while improving resistance to tensile, impact and compressive forces.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5263726 (1993-11-01), Wood
patent: 5465472 (1995-11-01), Matoba
patent: 5546642 (1996-08-01), Anscher
patent: 5791026 (1998-08-01), Anscher
patent: 6101687 (2000-08-01), Giampavolo et al.
patent: 6148486 (2000-11-01), Uehara et al.
patent: 6263549 (2001-07-01), Uehara
patent: 6446314 (2002-09-01), Anscher
patent: 0221956 (2002-03-01), None
US 2002/0017011 A1, [Kavamura] filed Jun. 28, 2001, published Feb. 14, 2002.
LandOfFree
Seatbelt with child resistant buckle does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Seatbelt with child resistant buckle, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Seatbelt with child resistant buckle will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3064822