Seat belt buckle

• US 4,733,444 A
• Filed: 04/29/1987
• Issued: 03/29/1988
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/1986
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Juichiro Takada
• Original Assignee: Juichiro Takada
• Inventors: Takada, Juichiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Dorner, Kenneth J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Brittain, James R.
• Application Number:
  US07/044,046
• Time in Patent Office: 335 Days
• Field of Search: 24/633, 24/637, 24/641, 24/643, 24/644, 24/645, 297/468, 280/801
• US Class Current: 24/641
• CPC Class Codes: A44B 11/2523 acting parallel to the main plane of the buckle and in the same direction as the fastening action
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 24/45665 for shifting pivotally connected interlocking component
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 24/45686 and position locking-means therefor

Abstract

A seat belt buckle comprises a pivoted latch plate biased to a latched position and kept in that position by a control member slidably carried on the latch plate and biased to a position in which blocking portions cover notches at the edges of the latch plate. Control projections on the sides of a channel-shaped frame are engaged by the blocking portions in the latched position but accept the notches in the latch plate when the control member is moved by a release button to uncover the notches. Cam surfaces on the frame sides coact with cam follower surfaces on the control member to lift the control member and latch plate when the release button is depressed. Anchor projections on the frame sides are received in the notches in the latch plate in the latched position and transfer loads from the latch plate to the frame.

Claims

1. In a seat belt buckle for selectively retaining a buckle tongue in a latched position and having a generally channel-shaped frame that includes a base and a pair of side walls, a latch plate pivotably supported by the frame adjacent one end for movement between a latching position in which a latch projection thereon is received in a hole in the buckle tongue and in which the tongue is confined in a tongue-receiving space defined by the base of the frame and the latch plate, and a release position, in which the latch projection is disengaged from the hole in the buckle tongue, a release button received by the frame for movement substantially parallel to the base of the frame, a control member slidably carried by the latch member and engagable by the release button for movement therewith, the control member and frame having co-acting elements adapted to prevent movement of the latch member out of the latching position when the push button is in a first position and to permit movement of the latch member to the release position when the push button is depressed to a second position, and an ejector member continuously biased to eject the buckle tongue from the receiving space, the improvement wherein the latch plate has a lateral portion along each side located proximate the corresponding side wall of the frame and remote from said one end of the latch plate, wherein each lateral portion has a notch, wherein each side wall of the frame has a control projection configured and positioned to be received by the corresponding notch when the latch plate is not in the latched position, wherein the control member has a blocking portion on each side that closes the corresponding notch and engages the corresponding control projection to prevent the latch plate from moving out of the latched position when the release button is in said first position, each blocking portion being configured and positioned to be clear of the corresponding notch when the release button is depressed to the second position, wherein a spring is interposed between the frame and the release button and control member continuously biassing the control member and release button to the first position thereof, and wherein there are cam means coacting between the control member and the frame for pivoting the control member and latch plate to the release position when the control member is moved in response to movement of the release button to the second position.

2. The improvement according to claim 1 and further comprising an anchor projection on each side of the frame configured and positioned to extend into the corresponding notch on the latch plate when the latch plate is in the latching position, each anchor projection being spaced apart from the corresponding control projection to allow the blocking portion of the control member to be received between said projections.