Land vehicles – Wheeled – Attachment
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-01
2001-02-27
Rice, Kenneth R. (Department: 3611)
Land vehicles
Wheeled
Attachment
Reexamination Certificate
active
06193275
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to vehicle occupant restraints. More specifically this invention relates to seat belt restraints and still more particularly to seat belt extenders to ease the location and buckling of seat belt devices.
2. Description of Related Art
A variety of seat belt devices are well known in the prior art, however, most prior primary vehicle occupant restraint systems employ anchors fixed in location and do not address the ease of use requirements of large or heavily clothed occupants.
For general background material, the reader is directed to the following United States patents, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference for the material disclosed therein.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,854,749 describes a safety belt installation designed to enable a vehicle user to accede to and leave his seat easily and to ensure that the user is necessarily wearing his safety belt when he is seated, with no catch or buckle being required.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,552,381 describes a passenger restraint safety system for a passenger type automobile having a chassis, a passenger seat and a door providing access to said passenger seat.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,796,915 describes a seat belt extender for positioning a seat belt being unwound from a seat belt retractor, that includes two or more multiplastic sleeves telescopically slidable relative one another between retracted and extended positions and having belt passages through which the belt passes from the retractor toward the occupant.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,061,012 describes a child car seat having an improved restraint system in which the restraint system may be easily connected and disconnected, automatically placed about the child in the proper position, and automatically adjusted to properly secure the child within the seat.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,123,673 describes a seat belt system for use with a vehicle seat, which includes a three point belt system forming a lap belt and a shoulder belt and further includes a second shoulder belt to form a four point system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,431,446 describes a seat belt presenter for an active seat belt system for restraining a vehicle occupant that includes a guide having surfaces, which surround opposite major side surfaces of belt webbing.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,570,933 describes a seat belt assembly in a vehicle for restraining an occupant that includes a lap-shoulder belt assembly and a lap-shoulder belt extender assembly.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is desirable to provide an occupant belt presenter that enhances a vehicle occupant's comfort when using a safety restraint device. Moreover, it is desirable to provide an occupant safety belt presenter that will extend or present the unbuckled safety belt restraint to the occupant in a manner that makes the safety belt buckle visible and easily obtainable for eventual buckling and to reduce the inconvenience to the occupant of buckling the seat belt restraint, thereby encouraging the use of seat belt vehicle safety restraints.
Therefore, it is a general object of this invention to provide an occupant seat belt presenter that enhances the occupant's convenience and comfort when using the vehicle occupant restraint.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an occupant seat belt presenter that extends or presents the unbuckled restraint to the occupant in a manner that makes it visible and easily obtainable for eventual buckling.
It is another object of this invention to promote occupant use of vehicle seat belt restraints by providing an improved opportunity to locate, reach and buckle the restraint properly with minimal effort.
Another object of this invention is to provide an occupant seat belt presenter that is capable of being adapted into integrated vehicle seat systems.
A further object of this invention is to provide an occupant seat belt presenter that can interact easily with existing power seat drive mechanics.
A still further object of this invention is to provide an occupant seat belt presenter that can serve as a belt slack take up drive and thereby result in optimized restraint comfort and performance.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an occupant seat belt presenter that utilizes outboard lower seat track mounting for the extend and retract drive mechanics.
Another object of this invention is to provide an occupant seat belt presenter that permits the seat belt restraint to be simply and easily removed in the event of a system malfunction.
These and other objects of this invention are intended to be covered by this disclosure and are readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon review of the drawings, detailed description, claims and abstract of this disclosure.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3854749 (1974-12-01), Fieni
patent: 4531762 (1985-07-01), Sasaki et al.
patent: 4552381 (1985-11-01), Schlanger
patent: 4629214 (1986-12-01), Föhl
patent: 4796915 (1989-01-01), Kaurich et al.
patent: 5061012 (1991-10-01), Parker et al.
patent: 5087075 (1992-02-01), Hamaue
patent: 5123673 (1992-06-01), Tame
patent: 5431446 (1995-07-01), Czarnecki et al.
patent: 5538283 (1996-07-01), Townsend
patent: 5570933 (1996-11-01), Rouhana et al.
Autoliv ASP Inc.
Brown Sally J.
Rice Kenneth R.
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