Locking clip

• US 6,390,562 B1
• Filed: 09/28/2000
• Issued: 05/21/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Combi Corporation (Matsuura Family)
• Original Assignee: Combi Corporation (Matsuura Family)
• Inventors: Yamazaki, Kojiro, Takamizu, Nobuaki
• Primary Examiner(s): Cuomo, Peter M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): EDELL, JOSEPH F
• Application Number:
  US09/671,596
• Time in Patent Office: 600 Days
• Field of Search: 297/250.1, 297/463.1, 297/463.2, 297/483, 246/66, 24/71.SB, 24/71.ST, 24/711
• US Class Current: 297/483
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/2806 for securing the child seat to the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 24/2151 Seat belts
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 24/2164 Midline

Abstract

A locking clip is attached to a seat belt fastening a child car seat to a seat of a vehicle to facilitate tightening the seat belt and to ensure that the seat belt may not loosen. The locking clip is attached to a portion of the seat belt where a waist belt section and a shoulder belt section of the seat belt diverge from each other. The locking clip has a belt clamping mechanism clamping the waist belt section and the shoulder belt section together, and a ratchet mechanism for permitting the shoulder belt section to be pulled only in one direction to tighten the seat belt and to prevent the seat belt from loosening.

Claims

1. A locking clip to be attached to a portion of a seat belt having a waist belt section and a shoulder belt section to allow the seat belt to be securely fastened to a child car seat, said locking clip comprising:

a belt clamping mechanism being operable to clamp the waist belt section and the shoulder belt section, said belt clamping mechanism comprising;

a base; and

a pressing member extending parallel to said base, said pressing member being operable to clamp the waist belt section and the shoulder belt section between said base and said pressing member; and

a rachet mechanism being operable to permit the shoulder belt section clamped by said belt clamping mechanism to be moved in only one direction, said rachet mechanism comprising;

a toothed cam shaft having teeth in a lowermost portion of said toothed cam shaft and an arm projecting from an uppermost portion of said toothed cam shaft, said arm having two grooves of differing width, said toothed cam shaft being rotatably supported on said pressing member, wherein said toothed cam shaft is biased toward said base so that said teeth of said toothed cam shaft engage with the shoulder belt section clamped between said base and said pressing member to permit the shoulder belt section to move in only one direction; and

a locking member supported on said pressing member so as to be advanced into and retracted from a turning region when said arm of said toothed cam shaft is turned, wherein said locking member is moveably inserted into one of the two grooves of said arm, such that said toothed cam shaft is turnable when said locking member is inserted into a wider groove of the two grooves and said toothed cam shaft is unable to turn when said locking member is inserted in a narrower groove of the two grooves.

2. A locking clip according to claim 1, wherein said ratchet mechanism further comprises a guide roller spaced a predetermined distance in a direction in which the seat belt is moved from said toothed cam shaft to guide at least the shoulder belt section in a moving direction of the shoulder belt section.

3. A locking clip according to claim 1, wherein the two grooves differ from each other in depth and width, and the two grooves are disposed in an overlapping relation with each other so that a deeper narrower groove is included in a shallower wider groove.

4. A locking clip according to claim 1, wherein said locking member is biased toward the turning region of said arm of said toothed cam shaft.