Inertia sensitive buckle for seat belt pretensioner system
First Claim
1. An apparatus for use with a seat belt, said apparatus comprising:
- a tongue;
a buckle for receiving and retaining said tongue,said buckle including a base, an actuator member movable relative to said base from an unactuated position to an actuated position to effect operation of said buckle to release said tongue for movement from said buckle, a cam connected with said actuator member and having a longitudinally extending surface and an end surface, a mass movable relative to said base, and a cam follower connected with said mass, said longitudinally extending surface on said cam being slidable along said cam follower during at least a portion of the movement of said actuator member between the unactuated and actuated positions; and
a pretensioner connected with said buckle and operable to move said buckle through a pretensioning stroke to remove slack from the seat belt;
said cam follower having surface means for applying force resulting from inertia of said mass to said end surface on said cam to resist movement of said actuator member to the actuated position upon operation of said pretensioner.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A pretensioner (40) is connected with a seat belt buckle (32) and is operable to move the buckle through a pretensioning stroke to remove slack from a seat belt. Movement of an actuator member (36) from an unactuated position to an actuated position under the influence of its own inertia at the end of a pretensioning stroke is resisted by a pair of counterbalance assemblies (162, 164) disposed in the buckle (32). The counterbalance assemblies (162, 164) include masses (168, 176) having inertia which results in the application of force against counterbalance cams (212, 232) connected with the actuator member (36). This force resists movement of the actuator member (36) to an actuated position at the end of the pretensioning stroke. Upon the application of manual force against an outer end portion of the actuator member (36) to release the buckle, the masses (168, 176) are pivoted by the counterbalance cams (232, 212). Cam followers (196) connected with the masses then slide along longitudinally extending side surfaces (216, 240) of the counterbalance cams (212, 232). The counterbalance masses (168, 176) are mounted between elongated sections (132, 134, 148 and 150) of the actuator member (36).
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. An apparatus for use with a seat belt, said apparatus comprising:
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a tongue; a buckle for receiving and retaining said tongue, said buckle including a base, an actuator member movable relative to said base from an unactuated position to an actuated position to effect operation of said buckle to release said tongue for movement from said buckle, a cam connected with said actuator member and having a longitudinally extending surface and an end surface, a mass movable relative to said base, and a cam follower connected with said mass, said longitudinally extending surface on said cam being slidable along said cam follower during at least a portion of the movement of said actuator member between the unactuated and actuated positions; and a pretensioner connected with said buckle and operable to move said buckle through a pretensioning stroke to remove slack from the seat belt; said cam follower having surface means for applying force resulting from inertia of said mass to said end surface on said cam to resist movement of said actuator member to the actuated position upon operation of said pretensioner. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. An apparatus for use with a seat belt, said apparatus comprising:
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a tongue; a buckle for receiving and retaining said tongue; said buckle including a base, an actuator member movable relative to said base from an unactuated position to an actuated position to effect operation of said buckle to release said tongue for movement from said buckle, said actuator member having a manually engageable end portion and first and second sections which extend from said manually engageable end portion of said actuator member in the direction of movement of said actuator member from the unactuated position to the actuated position, and a mass pivotally mounted at a location disposed between said sections of said actuator member; and a pretensioner connected with said buckle and operable to move said buckle through a pretensioning stroke to remove slack from the seat belt, said buckle including means for transmitting force resulting from inertia of said mass to said actuator member upon operation of said pretensioner. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12)
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13. An apparatus for use with a seat belt, said apparatus comprising:
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a tongue; a buckle for receiving and retaining said tongue; said buckle including a base, an actuator member movable relative to said base from an unactuated position to an actuated position to effect operation of said buckle to release said tongue for movement from said buckle; a first mass movable relative to said base, and a second mass movable relative to said base; a pretensioner connected with said buckle and operable to move said buckle through a pretensioning stroke to remove slack from the seat belt; said buckle including first means for transmitting force resulting from inertia of said first mass to a first portion of said actuator member upon operation of said pretensioner and second means for transmitting force resulting from inertia of said second mass to a second portion of said actuator member upon operation of said pretensioner; and said actuator member further including a manually engageable end portion and first and second parallel sections which extend from said manually engageable end portion of said actuator member in the direction of movement of said actuator member from the unactuated position to the actuated position, said first and second sections being disposed in engagement with said base to guide movement of said actuator member along said base, said first mass being pivotal relative to said base between said first and second sections, said second mass being pivotal relative to said base between said first and second sections. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15)
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16. An apparatus for use with a seat belt said apparatus comprising:
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a tongue; a buckle for receiving and retaining said tongue; said buckle including a base, an actuator member movable relative to said base from an unactuated position to an actuated position to effect operation of said buckle to release said tongue for movement from said buckle; a first mass movable relative to said base, and a second mass movable relative to said base; a pretensioner connected with said buckle and operable to move said buckle through a pretensioning stroke to remove slack from the seat belt; said buckle including first means for transmitting force resulting from inertia of said first mass to a first portion of said actuator member upon operation of said pretensioner and Second means for transmitting force resulting from inertia of said second mass to a second portion of said actuator member upon operation of said pretensioner; said buckle further including a latch member which is engageable with said tongue, said latch member being movable relative to said base between an engaged position in which said latch member is effective to block withdrawal of said tongue from said buckle and a disengaged position in which said latch member is ineffective to block withdrawal of said tongue from said buckle, said first mass being pivotally connected at a first location for pivotal movement about an axis which extends perpendicular to the path of movement of said latch member between said engaged and disengaged positions, said second mass being pivotally connected at a second location for pivotal movement about an axis which extends perpendicular to the path of movement of said latch member between the engaged and disengaged positions.
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17. An apparatus for use with a seat belt, said apparatus comprising:
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a tongue; a buckle for receiving and retaining said tongue; said buckle including a base, an actuator member movable relative to said base from an unactuated position to an actuated position to effect operation of said buckle to release said tongue for movement from said buckle; a first mass movable relative to said base, and a second mass movable relative to said base; a pretensioner connected with said buckle and operable to move said buckle through a pretensioning stroke to remove slack from the seat belt; said buckle including first means for transmitting force resulting from inertia of said first mass to a first portion of said actuator member upon operation of said pretensioner and second means for transmitting force resulting from inertia of said second mass to a second portion of said actuator member upon operation of said pretensioner; said buckle further including a first cam connected with said actuator member and having a longitudinally extending surface, a first cam follower connected with said first mass, said longitudinally extending surface on said first cam being slidable along said first cam follower during at least a portion of the movement of said actuator member between the actuated and unactuated positions, a second cam connected with said actuator member and having a longitudinally extending surface which is parallel to the longitudinally extending surface of said first cam, a second cam follower connected with said second mass, said longitudinally extending surface on said second cam being slidable along said second cam follower during at least a portion of the movement of said actuator member between the actuated and unactuated positions. - View Dependent Claims (18)
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19. An apparatus for use with a seat belt, said apparatus comprising:
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a tongue; a buckle for receiving and retaining said tongue; said buckle including a base, an actuator member movable relative to said base from an unactuated position to an actuated position to effect operation of said buckle to release said tongue for movement from said buckle; a first mass movable relative to said base, and a second mass movable relative to said base; a pretensioner connected with said buckle and operable to move said buckle through a pretensioning stroke to remove slack from the seat belt; said buckle including first means for transmitting force resulting from inertia of said first mass to a first portion of said actuator member upon operation of said pretensioner and second means for transmitting force resulting from inertia of said second mass to a second portion of said actuator member upon operation of said pretensioner; said first mass is movable relative to said base from a first position to a second position and said second mass is movable relative to said base from a third position to a fourth position, said buckle including first means for moving said first mass from the first position to the second position during an initial portion of the movement of said actuator member from the unactuated position toward the actuated position and for maintaining said first mass in the second position during a second portion of the movement of said actuator member from the unactuated position toward the actuated position, said buckle including second means for moving said second mass from the third position to the fourth position during the initial portion of the movement of said actuator member from the unactuated position toward the actuated position and for maintaining said second mass in the fourth position during the second portion of the movement of said actuator member from the unactuated position toward the actuated position. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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21. An apparatus for use with a seat belt, said apparatus comprising:
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a tongue having an opening; a buckle, said buckle including a base lying in a plane which intersects opposite sides of said buckle, said buckle including a latch movable in a first direction into said opening to latch said tongue in said buckle and movable in a second direction opposite said first direction to release said tongue for movement from said buckle; an actuator member movable in a direction parallel to the plane in which said base lies from an unactuated position to an actuated position to move said latch in said second direction out of said opening to release said tongue for movement from said buckle; a first mass movable relative to said base, and a second mass movable relative to said base; a pretensioner connected with said buckle and operable to move said buckle through a pretensioning stroke to remove slack from the seat belt; said buckle further including a first means for transmitting force resulting from inertia of said first mass to a first portion of said actuator member upon operation of said pretensioner and a second means for transmitting force resulting from inertia of said second mass to a second portion of said actuator member upon operation of said pretensioner; and means supporting said first mass and said second mass for pivotal movement about an axis which is parallel to the plane in which said base lies and transverse to the first direction of movement of said latch into said opening.
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Specification