Safety belt tension reducing means
First Claim
1. In a safety belt retractor having a belt storage reel biased toward a belt wound condition, an emergency locking means for preventing a further unwinding movement of said belt when it is unwound to a position of use and an emergency condition exists and a separately acting belt tension reducing means for reducing the tension on said belt when in use due to the rewinding bias of said reel, the improvement in said belt tension reducing means comprising the provision of:
- counter biasing means for biasing said reel in a belt unwinding direction when connected thereto; and
means for releasably connecting said counter biasing means to said reel.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A safety belt retractor has a belt storage reel biased toward a belt wound condition, an emergency locking means for preventing a further unwinding movement of the belt when it is unwound to a position of use and an emergency condition exists and an improvement in belt tension reducing means for reducing the tension of the belt when in use due to the rewinding bias of the reel. The improved belt tension reducing means includes counterbiasing spring means for biasing the reel in a belt unwinding direction when connected thereto and means for releasably connecting the counterbiasing means and the reel in response to belt movement during protraction and retraction. Ratchet means connected to the reel are adapted to be engaged by pawl means pivotally mounted on a pawl carrier means which is in turn rotatably mounted to the retractor and biased counter to the reel bias by the counterbiasing spring. Frictionally driven camming disc means are provided for deactivating the pawl means to prevent the connection between the counterbiasing spring and reel through the pawl carrier, pawl means and ratchet means until there is a slight retraction movement of the webbing following a protraction thereof toward a position of use.
-
Citations
10 Claims
-
1. In a safety belt retractor having a belt storage reel biased toward a belt wound condition, an emergency locking means for preventing a further unwinding movement of said belt when it is unwound to a position of use and an emergency condition exists and a separately acting belt tension reducing means for reducing the tension on said belt when in use due to the rewinding bias of said reel, the improvement in said belt tension reducing means comprising the provision of:
-
counter biasing means for biasing said reel in a belt unwinding direction when connected thereto; and means for releasably connecting said counter biasing means to said reel. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
-
-
5. In a safety belt retractor having a belt storage reel biased toward a belt wound condition and an emergency locking means for preventing further unwinding of the belt when it is in use and an emergency condition arises, the improvement comprising the provision of:
belt tension reducing means for reducing the tension on said belt applied by the reel bias toward wound condition comprising spring means for urging said reel in an unwind direction when activated and means for activating said spring means upon a slight retractive movement of the belt after being unwound toward a position of use.
-
6. Safety belt tension reducing means for safety belt retractors having a belt storage reel and biasing means for normally biasing an said belt storage reel toward a belt retracted condition when the associated safety belt is protracted to a position of use, said tension reducing means comprising:
-
counter biasing means for biasing said reel in a belt protracting direction when connected to said reel; means for releasably connecting said counter biasing means to said reel; and means for automatically operating said means for releasably connecting to connect said counter biasing means to said reel upon a slight retractive movement of the belt following a protraction thereof. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8)
-
-
9. Tension relieving means for safety belt retractors having a belt storage means and biasing means for normally biasing said belt storage means toward a belt retracted condition when the associated safety belt is protracted, said tension relieving means comprising:
-
pawl carrier means mounted to said retractor for movement independently of but in like directions of movement provided for said belt storage means during belt protraction and retraction; ratchet means associated with said belt storage means for movement therewith under the action of said biasing means; pawl means moveably mounted to said pawl carrier means for movement therewith and relative thereto between ratchet means engaging and disengaging positions; counter-biasing means for biasing said pawl carrier means in a direction of movement therefor counter to the direction of movement said storage means is biased by said biasing means; and means for operating said pawl means into engagement with said ratchet means whereby the counter biasing force of said counter-biasing means acts through said pawl carrier means, pawl means and ratchet means against the bias of said biasing means to produce a reduced retractive tension on said belt. - View Dependent Claims (10)
-
Specification