Safety belt devices for vehicles

• US 3,933,369 A
• Filed: 10/30/1972
• Issued: 01/20/1976
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/1971
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Tokai RIKA Denki Seisakusho
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Tokai RIKA Denki Seisakusho
• Inventors: Nishikawa, Takehiko, Teraoka, Fuminori, Kubota, Tatsushi, Kaneko, Yuichiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Song, Robert R.
• Application Number:
  US05/301,796
• Time in Patent Office: 1,177 Days
• Field of Search: 280/150 SB, 180/82 C, 180/112
• US Class Current: 280/803
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 22/04 Passive restraint systems, i.e. systems both applied and removed automatically, e.g. by movement of the vehicle door

Abstract

A safety belt device for use in vehicles, having at least one belt extending across the body of a passenger sitting on a seat, in which the belt is held in a disengaging position forwardly of the seat irrespective of the door opening and closing operation when the passenger is not sitting on the seat, providing for the passenger to get into the vehicle, and is placed in an engaging position when the passenger has sat down on the seat and closed the door, restraining the body of the passenger, and is retracted to the disengaging position when the passenger sitting on the seat has opened the door providing for alighting of the passenger from the vehicle.

Claims

1. A safety belt device for vehicles, comprising:

a first safety belt retractor provided on the inner surface of a door of a vehicle at a location opposite the outer side of a seat adjacent said door;

a second safety belt retractor fixed to the central portion of a vehicle body;

a first safety belt having one end connected to said first retractor and extending from said first retractor across said seat with the other end thereof secured to the inner side of the seat;

a second safety belt having one end connected to said second retractor and extending obliquely from said second retractor across the chest portion of a passenger with the other end thereof secured to the upper portion of a door framework of the vehicle; and

a belt driving mechanism wholly positioned in a portion of the door and including a motor which drives a pulley drum and a cup ring, a first drawing member connected to said first safety belt and moved by said motor around said pulley drum and two other pulley drums spaced apart from each other, a second drawing member connected to said second safety belt and moved by said motor around said cup ring and along the door framework of the vehicle at the same time said first drawing member is moved, a door switch incorporated in a door lock for controlling the direction of rotation of said motor, a seat switch provided below the seat and actuated to close a motor driving circuit when a passenger sits down on the seat, a first stop swich for controlling said motor in cooperation with a first actuator and a first stopper which is fixed to said first drawing member at a predetermined location between one of said two other pulley drums and said first actuator, and a second stop switch for controlling said motor in cooperation with a second actuator and a second stopper which is fixed to said first drawing member at a predetermined location between the other of said two other pulley drums and said second actuator, and said motor being set in motion by said door switch in timed relation with a door opening operation, whereby when the door is closed, said first safety belt and said second safety belt are retracted into said first retractor and said second retractor, respectively, and placed in their engaging position to restrain the waist and the chest portions of a passenger sitting on the seat.

2. A safety belt device for vehicles as defined in claim 1, in which said first safety belt comprises a waist belt and said second safety belt comprises a shoulder belt.

3. A safety belt device for vehicles as defined in claim 1, in which said first drawing member extends partially in a first guide rail and said second drawing member extends partially in a second guide rail.

4. A safety belt device for vehicles as defined in claim 1, wherein said first drawing member and said second drawing member comprise belts.

5. A safety belt device for vehicles as defined in claim 1, wherein said first drawing member and said second drawing member comprise wires.