Cutter for vehicle safety belts

• US 4,134,206 A
• Filed: 03/09/1977
• Issued: 01/16/1979
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/1976
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Martor-Argentax E.H. Beermann KG
• Original Assignee: Martor-Argentax E.H. Beermann KG
• Inventors: Beermann, Ewald H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Watson, Robert C.
• Application Number:
  US05/775,757
• Time in Patent Office: 678 Days
• Field of Search: 30/294, 30/286, 30/289, 30/317
• US Class Current: 30/294
• CPC Class Codes: B26B 5/006 specially adapted for using razor blades as blades B26B5/001 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2022/328 comprising means for cutting the belt
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 22/32 Devices for releasing in an emergency, e.g. after an accident ; Remote or automatic unbuckling devices unlocking devices for retractors B60R22/3416

Abstract

A cutter, especially for release of a passenger in an emergency from a vehicle seat belt, comprises a head gear formed on one end of a handle and having a beak-like formation projecting outwardly from the head toward the handle and defining with the head a converging mouth into which the seat belt can be inserted for engagement by a blade recessed in the head. A slot continues the line of the beak to guide the seat belt into engagement with the blade and a plate is laterally mounted on the head, either the plate or the head being provided with a recess accommodating the blade and dimensioned substantially to conform to the outline thereof.

Claims

1. A cutting device, especially for the cutting of webs such as vehicle seat belts, said device comprising:

an elongated handle;

a head member formed on said handle at one end thereof, said head member having a generally planar surface, and a beak extending downwardly and defining a guide channel for a web to be severed converging toward said surface;

a cover plate member overlying said surface of said head member being provided with a planar face parallel to said surface; and

a flat blade sandwiched between said face of said cover plate member and said surface of said head member and having a cutting edge exposed at an inner end of said channel for severing said webs at least one of said members being formed with a depression accommodating said blade such that no gap between said members is present in the region of said cutting edge to catch pieces of said web, said depression having a depth substantially equal to the thickness of said blade and being formed only in said cover plate member, said head member being formed with a recess provided with said surface at the bottom thereof, said channel opening into a parallel-wall slot extending into said recess, said cover plate member being receivable in said recess and attached to said head member by at least one screw, said cover plate member being provided with a parallel-wall slot aligned with the slot of said head member, said blade having a pair of linear opposite parallel cutting edges one of which is exposed in said slots and is set back from the junction of said slots with said channel away from the beak to preclude contact of said exposed edge with the fingers of the user, said depression having boundaries conforming to the configuration of said blade and surrounding the periphery thereof without play, said head member being formed with a pair of pins rising from said surface, said blade being provided with respective holes traversed by said pins and said cover plate member has a pair of blind bores accommodating said pins, said slots on opposite sides of the device extending into respective ramps inclined away from said blade, said beak, said head member and said handle being formed unitarily from a synthetic-resin.

2. The device defined in claim 1 wherein said blade is generally rectangular and said depression is of corresponding configuration.

3. The device defined in claim 2 wherein said blade has a pair of opposite short ends.

4. The device defined in claim 3 wherein said short ends are outwardly convex.

5. The device defined in claim 3 wherein said short ends are rectilinear and perpendicular to said cutting edges.