Winding – tensioning – or guiding – Reeling device – With spring motor
Patent
1996-03-06
1997-09-23
Darling, John P.
Winding, tensioning, or guiding
Reeling device
With spring motor
2423841, B60R 22405, B60R 2241
Patent
active
056695730
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention relates to a belt retractor for an occupant restraining system in vehicles comprising a belt drum rotatably mounted in a frame and acted upon by a wind-up spring, a locking mechanism for the belt drum and adapted to be activated by the pivoting, caused in a manner responsive to the vehicle and/or the belt webbing, of at least one actuator pawl, and catch elements pivotally mounted on the belt drum and able to rotate in relation to the drum, said catch elements and the actuator pawl being able to assume, by rotation of the belt drum in the wind-up direction, a first position in relation to each other in which the catch elements engage the actuator pawl and prevent pivoting thereof, and by rotation in the unwinding direction a second position, in which the catch elements clear the actuator pawl.
In such a belt retractor an unintended locking of the belt drum may occur, if the retraction operation is abruptly terminated, for example because the male lug of the safety belt strikes an obstruction or catches in the belt diverter fitting, or if the termination of the retraction operation coincides with vibration of the belt retractor, as for example on folding back a rear seat bench, should the belt retractor be mounted adjacent to the rear luggage space of a vehicle. In such cases owing to sharp deceleration of the belt drum locking of the drum will be caused in a manner sensitive to the belt webbing, or owing to vibration in the drum, in a manner sensitive to the vehicle with the result that later draw off of belt webbing is prevented.
Various different measures have already been proposed to avoid such undesired locking. Such measures do however involve relatively high costs of manufacture and assembly; nevertheless in the case of a particularly sudden termination of the wind-up movement of the belt drum or in the case of heavy vibration of the belt retractor it is impossible to prevent locking thereof reliably.
The present invention is to provide a belt retractor, in the case of which such undesired locking is prevented using simple means, a small number of additional components and without adjustment after assembly. In the belt retractor of the invention a rotation of the belt drum through a predetermined angular range of at least approximately 10.degree. is necessary for the transition from the first into the second position. This ensures that even in the case of an abrupt termination of the wind-up movement of the belt webbing or in the case of powerful vibration or shaking of the belt retractor unintended locking of the belt drum is reliably prevented. The avoidance of locking of the belt drum for the predetermined angular movement is without any effect on the proper functioning of the belt retractor, since in the case of an optimum setting of the belt retractor as well the belt drum must perform a certain degree of rotation for initiation of locking thereof in a manner responsive to the belt webbing or to the vehicle.
Preferably there is a provision such that the predetermined angular movement lies between approximately 20.degree. and approximately 25.degree..
In the case of one possible embodiment of the invention there is the provision that the actuator pawl is pivotally mounted on one side of the belt drum and may be brought into engagement with internal tooth means of an activating ring, which is rotatably mounted on the frame, by means of a control cam, which is formed on a control disk, which is mounted on the belt drum for limited rotation, that the actuator pawl possesses a head and that the catch elements comprise a brake disk rotatably mounted on the belt drum, which brake disk is retarded by friction between it and the frame and possesses a catch part, which in a first position engages the head and in the second position releases same. The components called for in addition to those necessary for a conventional belt retractor, namely the brake disk and the friction element, may be readily integrated in already existing systems and hardly cause any additional costs. Since the fricti
REFERENCES:
patent: 4570873 (1986-02-01), Kurtti
patent: 4729523 (1988-03-01), Saitou et al.
patent: 5169085 (1992-12-01), Kalbantner et al.
Darling John P.
TRW Occupant Restraint Systems GmbH
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