Safety belt buckle for race car

• US 9,545,133 B1
• Filed: 07/06/2016
• Issued: 01/17/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/06/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Taiwan Racing Products Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Taiwan Racing Products Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Wu, Wen-Yuan
• Primary Examiner(s): Sandy, Robert J
• Assistant Examiner(s): UPCHURCH, DAVID M
• Application Number:
  US15/203,297
• Time in Patent Office: 195 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A44B 11/2542 actuated by a rotatable element, e.g. combined with other actuating means
• CPC Class Codes: A44B 11/2549 Fastening of other buckle elements to the main buckle buckles with several tongues released by the same mechanism A44B11/2507 - A44B11/2542
• CPC Class Codes: A44B 11/2561 Tongue elements

Abstract

A safety belt buckle includes a base unit, a cover covering and combined with the base unit, a locking device mounted in the cover, a torsion spring mounted on the cover, and a driving unit mounted on the cover. When in use, a latch plate of a safety belt is inserted into one of the insertion slots of the base unit. Thus, the user has to apply a determined force to overcome the elastic force of the torsion spring and to drive the driving unit so as to release the latch plate of the safety belt, thereby preventing the driving unit from being driven freely by an external force due to an unintentional touch or hit, and thereby preventing the latch plate of the safety belt from being unlatched easily.

Claims

1. A safety belt buckle comprising:

a base unit;

a cover covering and combined with the base unit;

a locking device mounted in the cover;

a torsion spring mounted on the cover; and

a driving unit mounted on the cover;

wherein;

the base unit includes;

a support base having a top provided with a plurality of slideways; and

a plurality of elastic modules mounted in the slideways;

the top of the support base has a center provided with a recessed flange;

the support base is provided with a plurality of abutting pieces surrounding the recessed flange;

the support base has a periphery provided with a plurality of spacing blocks and a plurality of insertion slots located between the spacing blocks;

the cover has a top having a center provided with a tube and a bottom provided with a receiving space connected to the tube;

the cover is provided with a limit block surrounding the tube;

the limit block of the cover has a top provided with a limit boss;

the receiving space of the cover is provided with a plurality of convex portions, a plurality of concave portions located between the convex portions, and a plurality of pillars located in the concave portions;

the locking device is mounted in the receiving space of the cover and includes;

a fixed post mounted on one of the pillars of the cover;

a plurality of movable posts mounted on the pillars of the cover and corresponding to the elastic modules of the base unit;

a plurality of springs mounted on the pillars of the cover and located in the fixed post and the movable posts;

a conical spring mounted in the receiving space of the cover;

a driven plate mounted in the receiving space of the cover and abutting the conical spring, a rotation shaft mounted on the cover; and

a fixed disk arranged under the driven plate and abutting the spacing blocks of the support base;

the driven plate of the locking device has a central portion provided with a through hole and a hollow lug and has a rim provided with a plurality of clamping grooves for clamping the movable posts;

the hollow lug of the driven plate has a notch;

the rotation shaft of the locking device includes a shaft shank extending through the through hole of the driven plate and provided with a pivot hole, and a pin extending through the pivot hole of the shaft shank and abutting the hollow lug of the driven plate;

the fixed disk of the locking device has a central portion provided with a retaining hole to allow insertion of the abutting pieces of the support base;

the fixed disk of the locking device has a periphery provided with a plurality of passages corresponding to the slideways of the support base;

the fixed post and the movable posts of the locking device extend through the passages of the fixed disk;

the conical spring of the locking device abuts a top of the receiving space of the cover;

the driving unit includes a circular cap and a drive handle extending from the circular cap;

the circular cap of the driving unit has a bottom provided with a receiving chamber for covering the tube, the limit block and the torsion spring;

the receiving chamber of the circular cap has a periphery provided with a limit wall;

the circular cap of the driving unit has a top provided with a fixing hole secured on the rotation shaft of the locking device, and a limit slot for receiving the limit boss of the limit block of the cover;

the fixing hole and the limit slot of the circular cap are connected to the receiving chamber; and

the torsion spring is mounted on the tube of the cover and has two ends abutting two ends of the limit block of the cover and abutting two ends of the limit wall of the circular cap.

2. The safety belt buckle of claim 1, wherein:

the torsion spring is provided with a hollow portion mounted on the tube of the cover;

the torsion spring is made of a wire which is wound successively to form a helical torque portion; and

the torque portion of the torsion spring is provided with two resting sections abutting the two ends of the limit block of the cover and abutting the two ends of the limit wall of the circular cap.

3. The safety belt buckle of claim 1, wherein the support base has a bottom provided with an annular groove, and the safety belt buckle further comprises an annular plate mounted in the annular groove of the support base.

4. The safety belt buckle of claim 3, wherein each of the spacing blocks of the support base is provided with a first bore, the annular plate is provided with a plurality of second bores, each of the convex portions of the cover is provided with a locking bore, and the safety belt buckle further comprises a plurality of fastener members each extending through each of the second bores of the annular plate and the first bore of each of the spacing blocks, and each screwed into the locking bore of each of the convex portions.

5. The safety belt buckle of claim 1, wherein:

each of the elastic modules of the base unit includes;

a support rod;

a slide mounted on the support rod and having a side provided with a stop abutting one of the movable posts; and

a tensile spring mounted on the support rod and biased between the support rod and the slide; and

the slide of each of the elastic modules is provided with an aperture mounted on the support rod.

6. The safety belt buckle of claim 1, wherein the fixing hole of the circular cap is mounted on and combined with a top of the shaft shank of the rotation shaft by a locking member which extends through a washer and the fixing hole of the circular cap and is screwed into the shaft shank of the rotation shaft.

7. The safety belt buckle of claim 6, wherein the top of the shaft shank is provided with a positioning stud secured in the fixing hole of the circular cap to allow screwing of the locking member.

8. The safety belt buckle of claim 7, wherein the shaft shank of the rotation shaft has a bottom provided with an abutting stub inserted into the recessed flange of the support base.

9. The safety belt buckle of claim 8, wherein the base unit 1 further includes a ball received in the recessed flange of the support base and located between the recessed flange of the support base and the abutting stub of the shaft shank.