Emergency locking retractor for vehicle seat belts

An emergency locking retractor for a seat belt of a vehicle comprising, in combination:

• a frame adapted to be secured to the vehicle;
• a drum rotatably supported by said frame and having one end of the belt anchored thereto for winding and unwinding the same, said drum having an axis of rotation oriented at an angle other than zero relative to the horizontal;
• first biasing means for causing said drum to rotate in the belt winding direction;
• a locking wheel rotatable in unison with said drum;
• detent means pivotable about an axis parallel to the axis of drum rotation between an operative position where said detent means engages said locking wheel to lock said drum against rotation in the belt unwinding direction, and an inoperative position where said detent means is disengaged from said locking wheel;
• second biasing means for biasing said detent means from the inoperative toward the operative position;
• acceleration sensing means including an inertial element normally held in a predetermined position so as to be displaceable relative to said frame in response to acceleration of the vehicle;
• and actuator means interposed between said sensing means and said detent means and having a first end disposed under said inertial element to be urged downwardly thereby, and a second end disposed for abutting contact with said detent means to hold the latter in the inoperative position against the bias of said second biasing means;
• said actuator means including a mechanism for converting upward displacement of said first end in response to displacement of said inertial element into a displacement of said second end in a direction which is substantially the direction from the inoperative toward the operative position of said detent means and which is different from that of the displacement of said first end, whereby upon displacement of said first end, said second end permits said detent means to move from the inoperative to the operative position under the bias of said second biasing means.