Land vehicles – Wheeled – Attachment
Patent
1988-10-26
1990-05-29
Marmor, Charles A.
Land vehicles
Wheeled
Attachment
296 651, 297468, B60R 2222
Patent
active
049289926
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a seat belt buckle arrangement and more particularly relates to a seat belt buckle arrangement intended for use in motor cars.
It is now conventional to provide seat belts for use in a motor car, the seat belts each being provided with a tongue which is to be inserted into a respective buckle.
Where such a seat belt is fitted to the front seats of motor vehicles, it is common for the buckle to be mounted on a rigid steel strap, or on a substantially rigid wire, so that the buckle is always in a suitable position, adjacent the side of the seat, with an open mouth of the buckle being readily accessible to facilitate the insertion of the tongue into the buckle.
It is now becoming more common to fit seat belts to the rear seats of motor vehicles. It is also becoming common for the rear seats of vehicles to be adapted to be folded down to increase the load-carrying capacity of the vehicle. Such folding seats are present in motor cars of the "estate car" type and are also present in motor cars of the "hatch back" type. Indeed such seats are sometimes found on motor cars of the type which have a separate boot.
When a safety belt system is fitted to a rear seat of this folding type it is not possible to utilise a rigid steel plate or a substantially stiff wire to hold the buckle for the safety belt in such a position that the mouth of the buckle is presented in such a way that the mouth is readily accessible to receive the tongue of the safety belt. Instead it is conventional for such safety belts to be mounted on portions of webbing strap, often made of the same material as the rest of the safety belt. The buckles thus lie relatively loosely on the seat, which facilitates the folding of the seat, but does not facilitate the introduction of the tongue into the safety belt. Indeed, with the buckles lying loosely on the seat it is often the case that a person getting into the rear seat actually sits on the buckle, and may not then be able to fit the tongue into the buckle without significant inconvenience. In such a case the person may not even bother to wear the safety belt, which is clearly undesirable.
It is also to be understood that the rear seats of motor vehicles are often designed to accommodate three people, and if such a seat is provided with safety belts, with buckles substantially rigidly mounted in position protruding above the level of the seat squab, any person who is to occupy the middle seat must effectively climb over at least one projecting seat belt buckle. This can be very inconvenient.
Thus the present invention seeks to provide a seat belt buckle arrangement intended especially for use in the rear seat of a motor vehicle which overcomes the disadvantages of prior proposed buckles as described above. However, a seat belt buckle arrangement of the invention may be used with a buckle on any seat.
According to this invention there is provided a safety belt arrangement incorporating a buckle defining an open mouth to receive a tongue, the buckle comprising means to retain the tongue therein, the buckle being connected by a flexible connection to an anchoring point on a motor vehicle, there being a resilient member between the anchoring point and the buckle adapted to hold the buckle in a position in which the open mouth of the buckle is presented to receive the tongue. Preferably said flexible connection comprises two or more interconnected rigid links. Advantageously the link furthest from the buckle is associated with a bolt to secure the flexible connection to an anchoring point.
In one embodiment the links form a chain, one end of which is connected to a buckle. Alternatively one link is an apertured plate secured to the buckle and a second extends link through the aperture. Preferably the second link comprises an element which is secured to the anchoring point and which has a projecting bight with two substantially parallel arms, the bight passing through the aperture. Conveniently the element is associated with a base plate, the arm of the bight remote from th
REFERENCES:
patent: 2904347 (1959-09-01), Tucker
patent: 3482872 (1960-12-01), Chamberlain
patent: 4129320 (1978-12-01), Fancy
patent: 4133556 (1979-01-01), Glinski
patent: 4199190 (1980-04-01), Linblad
Andersson Tommy
Eksell Lennart
Qvint Peter
Finlay Tamara L.
General Engineering (Netherlands ) B.V.
Marmor Charles A.
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