Buckles – buttons – clasps – etc. – Separable-fastener or required component thereof – Including member having distinct formations and mating...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-15
2001-04-24
Sakran, Victor N. (Department: 3626)
Buckles, buttons, clasps, etc.
Separable-fastener or required component thereof
Including member having distinct formations and mating...
C024S631000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06219890
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to safety apparatus and method of use.
More particularly, the present invention relates to safety apparatus for vehicles.
In a further and more specific aspect, the instant invention concerns apparatus and methods for escaping from vehicles.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In many instances occupants of a vehicle, such as an automobile, a truck, etc., may be trapped inside the vehicle with the doors and windows inoperative. This is especially true in modern vehicles operated to a great extent electrically. For example, when an automobile is submerged in water for some reason, the electrical system is immediately inoperative and if the windows are electrical they cannot be opened. Even in many types of crashes, the doors and windows may be physically jammed so they cannot be opened by normal methods.
In such instances it is necessary to break a window so that egress or escape can be performed through the broken window. Windows in automobiles are constructed sufficiently thick and hard so that they cannot be inadvertently broken by slamming doors, minor bumps and crashes, etc. Thus, to break a window so that egress can be accomplished requires the use of some relatively heavy tool, such as a hammer, wrench, etc. The problem is that most people do not keep such equipment handy within their vehicles. While a tool specifically for this purpose could be stored in a convenient place within the vehicle, it could be difficult to acquire the tool under some circumstances. Also, at the specific times when such a tool is needed, because of the normal panic involved, it may be difficult to remember that the tool has been supplied or where it was stored.
It would be highly advantageous, therefore, to remedy the foregoing and other deficiencies inherent in the prior art.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide new and improved vehicle safety escape apparatus and a method of use.
Another object of the invention is to provide new and improved vehicle safety escape apparatus and a method of use which is always handy and readily available.
And another object of the invention is to provide new and improved vehicle safety escape apparatus which is inexpensive.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide new and improved vehicle safety escape apparatus which is easily installed in new or already operating vehicles.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide new and improved vehicle safety escape apparatus and a method of use which is incorporated into a normal operating procedure.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Briefly, to achieve the desired objects of the instant invention in accordance with a preferred embodiment thereof, provided is a method and apparatus for escaping from a vehicle when windows and doors are difficult or impossible to open. Safety escape apparatus is provided which includes a safety belt having a buckle on a free portion of the belt long enough to allow an exposed edge of the buckle to be placed in contact with a window of the vehicle. The buckle has an exposed edge with a tip harder than glass affixed to the exposed edge so as to extend outwardly therefrom. Escape is performed by disengaging the seat belt from a safety engaged position around an occupant, gripping the buckle with the tip extending outwardly, and forcibly driving the tip into an adjacent window to break the window and allow egress through the window.
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Burns Doane Swecker & Mathis L.L.P.
Egression Technologies, L.L.C.
Sakran Victor N.
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