Device for compelling riders to wear seat belts on automobiles

• US 3,866,167 A
• Filed: 05/29/1973
• Issued: 02/11/1975
• Est. Priority Date: 06/01/1972
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Katsumi Hirano
• Original Assignee: Katsumi Hirano
• Inventors: Hirano, Katsumi
• Primary Examiner(s): Caldwell, John W.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nowicki, Joseph E.
• Application Number:
  US05/364,641
• Time in Patent Office: 623 Days
• Field of Search: 340/52E,278 307/1SB 180/82C 280/15SB
• US Class Current: 180/270
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2022/4816 for sensing locking of buckle
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2022/4858 for sensing pressure on seat
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2022/4866 Displaying or indicating arrangements thereof
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2022/4891 preventing use of the vehicle when the seatbelt is not fastened
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 22/48 Control systems, alarms, or interlock systems, for the correct application of the belt or harness

Abstract

A device for compelling riders to wear seat belts in automobiles, in which a keyhole blocking means covering the keyhole of an ignition switch is provided and said keyhole blocking means is displaced automatically by wearing of the seat belts on the riders to open said keyhole.

Claims

1. A device for compelling riders to wear seat belts in automobIles comprising a keyhole blocking means movable between keyhole blocking and opening positions relative to a keyhole of an ignition switch, an armature rod fixed to one end of the keyhole blocking means, an electromagnetic solenoid coil movably supporting the armature rod, the armature rod being movable through the electromagnetic solenoid coil, a spring normally biasing the keyhole blocking means to the keyhole opening position when the solenoid coil is not energized, two lamps disposed in the keyhole blocking means, one of the lamps being for showing a condition where a rider is not wearing a seat belt, the other lamp being for showing a condition where the rider wears the seat belt, a seat switch operably associated with the driver'"'"''"'"'s seat and movable to closed position when the driver sits down on the seat, a change-over switch having a movable contact and two stationary contacts, a circuit including the seat switch, said other lamp, the movable contact and one of the stationary contacts of the change-over switch in series, a detecting circuit including the other stationary contact of the change-over switch and the electromagnetic solenoid coil in series and being connected to the seat switch through the movable contact of the change-over switch in series, and a warning circuit including said one lamp connected to the detecting circuit in parallel.

2. A device for compelling riders to wear seat belts in automobiles according to claim 1, wherein the electromagnetic solenoid coil is secured to the body of an automobile, one end of the armature rod being extended outside of the electromagnetic solenoid coil, the spring being disposed between said one end of the armature rod and the electromagnetic solenoid coil, and the keyhole blocking means being fixed to the opposite end of the armature rod and disposed between the keyhole and the electromagnetic solenoid coil.