Anchorage for a seat mounted seat belt

• US 4,482,188 A
• Filed: 12/01/1982
• Issued: 11/13/1984
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/1982
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: General Motors Corporation (Motors Liquidation Co. GUC Trust)
• Original Assignee: General Motors Corporation (Motors Liquidation Co. GUC Trust)
• Inventors: Rogers, Lloyd W. Jr., Tilly, Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): McCall, James T.
• Application Number:
  US06/445,910
• Time in Patent Office: 713 Days
• Field of Search: 297/468, 297/473, 297/479, 297/470, 297/216, 280/801, 280/806, 248/429, 248/424, 248/393, 248/394, 248/395, 248/412, 308/3 R
• US Class Current: 297/473
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 22/26 secured to the seat

Abstract

A vehicle seat is mounted on the vehicle floor by a seat adjusting mechanism permitting fore and aft adjusting movement of the seat. A channel member is connected to the vehicle floor behind the seat and extends forwardly along the path of longitudinal seat adjustment movement. The channel member has opposed facing walls which are slidably engaged by a pair of wedge members having associated ramp surfaces. A seat belt is connected to the rearward one of the wedge members so that an occupant restraint load imposed upon the seat belt induces longitudinal forward movement of the rearward wedge member into locking engagement with the forward wedge member and the walls of the channel member so that the seat belt is fixed relative to the channel member and the occupant restraint load is transmitted through the channel member to the vehicle floor. A lost motion connection selectively and alternately connects the seat with the forward wedge member upon forward seat adjusting movement and with the rearward wedge upon rearward seat adjusting movement to establish the wedge members in non-locking positions relative the channel member and thereby enable longitudinal adjusting movement of the wedge member and the seat belt with the seat so that the seat belt is always carried at a certain position relative to the vehicle seat notwithstanding adjustment of the seat relative to the vehicle floor.

Claims

1. In combination with a longitudinally adjustable vehicle seat mounted on a vehicle floor, a seat belt anchorage comprising:

a member connected to the vehicle floor and having walls extending along the path of longitudinal seat adjusting movement;

first and second wedge members normally longitudinally slidable relative the walls of the member and having associated ramp means by which movement of the wedge members toward one another moves the wedge members into locking engagement with the walls of the member to thereby lock the wedge members against longitudinal movement relative the walls of the member;

means operatively connecting the seat belt with one of the wedge members so that an occupant restraint load imposed upon the seat belt induces longitudinal movement of the one wedge member toward the other to move the wedge members into locking engagement with the walls of the member whereby the seat belt is fixed relative to the member and the occupant restraint load is transmitted through the member to the vehicle floor; and

means operatively connecting the seat with both the first and second wedge members so that adjusting movement of the seat in either direction will move one of the wedge members longitudinally away from the other wedge member to establish non-locking positions of the wedge members relative the member to enable longitudinal adjusting movement of the wedge members and the seat belt so that the seat belt is always carried at a selected position relative to the vehicle seat notwithstanding adjustment of the seat relative the vehicle floor.

2. In combination with a longitudinally adjustable vehicle seat mounted on a vehicle floor, a seat belt anchorage comprising:

a member connected to the vehicle floor and having spaced apart opposed facing walls extending along the path of longitudinal seat adjusting movement;

first and second wedge members longitudinally slidable within the walls of the member and having mating ramp surfaces by which movement of one of the wedge members toward the other spreads the wedge members into locking engagement with the walls of the member to thereby lock the wedge members against longitudinal movement within the walls of the member;

means acting between the wedge members and normally establishing the wedge members in non-locking positions relative the walls of the member to enable longitudinal adjusting movement of the wedge members relative the walls of the member;

means operatively connecting the seat belt with one of the wedge members so that an occupant restraint load imposed upon the seat belt induces longitudinal movement of the one wedge member to spread the wedge members into locking engagement with the walls of the member whereby the seat belt is fixed relative to the member and the occupant restraint load is transmitted through the member to the vehicle floor; and

means operatively connecting the seat with both the first and second wedge members so that adjusting movement of the seat in either direction will move one of the wedge members longitudinally away from the other wedge member to establish non-locking positions of the wedge members relative the member to enable longitudinal adjusting movement wedge members and the seat belt so that the seat belt is always carried at a selected position relative to the vehicle seat notwithstanding adjustment of the seat relative the vehicle floor.

3. In combination with a longitudinally adjustable vehicle seat mounted on a vehicle floor, a seat belt anchorage comprising:

a rectangular channel member connected to the vehicle floor and having opposed facing spaced apart walls extending along the path of longitudinal seat adjusting movement;

forward and rearward wedge members longitudinally slidable within the walls of the channel member and having mating ramp surfaces by which forward movement of the rearward wedge members toward the forward wedge member spreads the wedge members into locking engagement with the walls of the channel member to thereby lock the wedge members against longitudinal movement within the walls of the channel member;

means operatively connecting the seat belt with the rearward wedge member so that an occupant restraint load imposed upon the seat belt induces forward longitudinal movement of the rearward wedge member to spread the wedge members into locking engagement with the walls of the channel member whereby the seat belt is fixed relative to the channel member and the occupant restraint load is transmitted through the channel member to the vehicle floor; and

lost motion correcting means selectively connecting the seat with the forward wedge members upon forward seat adjusting movement and with the rearward wedge member upon rearward seat adjusting movement to effectively establish the wedge members in non-locking positions relative the channel member and enable longitudinal adjusting movement of the wedge members and the seat belt so that the seat belt is always carried at a selected position relative to the vehicle seat notwithstanding adjustment of the seat relative the vehicle floor.