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US 2014/0047682 A1Published application
Water Activated Restraint Release System
AssigneeCarleton Technologies, Inc.
InventorsDonald Blackman, Brian Ford, Tom Yandle
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Disclosed is a water activated restraint release that is designed to be retrofitted onto an existing restraint system. Upon detecting the presence of water, the restraint releases a buckle mechanism to thereby release a passenger.
Claims13
A system (10) for releasing a passenger restraint in the presence of water, the system comprising:
- a first buckle (20) having forward and rearward ends, a fixed tang (24) secured to the rearward end and a releasable tang (26) secured to the forward end, the fixed tang (24) having a first locking aperture (24a), the releasable tang (26) having first and second locking apertures(26a/26b), the first locking aperture (26a) of the releasable tang (26) being secured to the passenger restraint;
- a release mechanism (30) positioned within the first buckle (20), the release mechanism (30) including pivotal locking pawl (28) and having a locked orientation wherein the locking pawl (28) engages the second locking aperture (26b) and an unlocked orientation wherein the locking pawl (28) is disengaged from the seconding locking aperture (26b) to permit the releasable tang (26) to be removed from the first buckle (20), a spring (38) for urging the locking pawl (28) into the locked orientation;
- an actuator assembly (40) positioned within the first buckle (20) and including a spring (44) and a pusher pin (48), with spring (44) biasing the pusher pin (48) into an extended orientation, the actuator assembly (40) having an actuated state wherein the spring (44) is permitted to engage the pusher pin (48) and wherein pusher pin (48) pivots the locking pawl (28) and brings the release mechanism (30) into the unlocked orientation, the actuator assembly (40) also having an un-actuated state wherein the spring (40) remains compressed such that the pusher pin (48) does not pivot the locking pawl (28), a bobbin (52) that collapses in the presence of water, the bobbing (52) keeping spring (44) biased and release mechanism (30) in the un-actuated state while not in the presence of water, the bobbin (52) collapsing in the presence of water to release spring (44) and actuate the release mechanism (30);
- a second buckle (22) including an internal pawl for permitting the second buckle (22) to be releasably secured to the first locking aperture (24a) of the fixed tang (24);
- a color indicator (64) for visually signifying whether the actuator assembly (40) has been actuated.
2 more elements
A system (10) for releasing a passenger restraint in the presence of water, the system comprising:
- a buckle (20) having forward and rearward ends, a releasable tang (26) secured to the forward end, the releasable tang (26) having first and second locking apertures(26a/26b), the first locking aperture (26a) of the releasable tang (26) being secured to the passenger restraint;
- a release mechanism (30) positioned within the buckle (20), the release mechanism (30) including pivotal locking pawl (28) and having a locked orientation wherein the locking pawl (28) engages the second locking aperture (26b) and an unlocked orientation wherein the locking pawl (28) is disengaged from the seconding locking aperture (26b) to permit the releasable tang (26) to be removed from the first buckle (20), a spring (38) for urging the locking pawl (28) into the locked orientation;
- an actuator assembly (40) positioned within the buckle (20) and including a spring (44) and a pusher pin (48), with spring (44) biasing the pusher pin (48) into an extended orientation, the actuator assembly (40) having an actuated state wherein the spring (44) is permitted to engage the pusher pin (48) and wherein pusher pin (48) pivots the locking pawl (28) and brings the release mechanism (30) into the unlocked orientation, the actuator assembly (40) also having an un-actuated state wherein the spring (40) remains compressed such that the pusher pin (48) does not pivot the locking pawl (28), a water activated release means operating to keep spring (44) biased and release mechanism (30) in the un-actuated state while not in the presence of water, the water activated release means collapsing in the presence of water to release spring (44) and actuate the release mechanism (30).
A system for releasing a passenger restraint in the presence of water, the system comprising:
- a buckle having forward and rearward ends, a releasable tang secured to the forward end;
- a release mechanism positioned within the buckle, the release mechanism including a locked state wherein the releasable tang is locked within the buckle and an unlocked state wherein the releasable tang can be withdrawn from the buckle;
- an actuator assembly positioned within the buckle, the actuator assembly having an actuated state wherein the release mechanism is brought into the unlocked state, a water activated release means operating to keep the release mechanism in the un-actuated state while not in the presence of water, the water activated release means collapsing in the presence of water to bring the release mechanism into the unlocked state.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.