Automatic retractor inhibitor
AssigneeAmerican Safety Equipment Corporation
InventorAlbert R. Close
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A safety belt retractor is disclosed of the type adapted for mounting in the door of a vehicle and operated by movement of a high inertia mass to lock up only under the influence of high lateral forces such as imposed in an emergency condition. During periods of door opening a superceding fulcrum point about which the high inertia member must rotate to lock up the retractor is imposed whereby undesired lock-up of the retractor during rapid opening of the vehicle door is virtually eliminated. The inhibiting action is directly tied to the door locking mechanism whereby almost instantaneous inhibition is applied upon opening of the vehicle door.
Claims12
In an inertially operated safety belt retractor adapted for mounting in a vehicular door which door has a movable locking member for engaging a mating member on the door frame for holding the door in a closed and locked position, the retractor including a spool rotatably journaled in a retractor frame and having an engaging surface for engagement by a pawl to prevent rotation thereof, a safety belt wound on the spool, a movable pawl for engaging the engaging surface of the spool to prevent protraction of the safety belt, and a high inertia mass contacting the pawl and pivoting about a first fulcrum point disposed horizontally from the center of gravity of the mass to move the pawl into engagement with the engaging surface of the spool during periods of high lateral force on the mass such as imposed in emergency conditions, the improvement for resisting the non-emergency engaging of the engaging surface of the spool by the pawl during normal opening of the vehicle door comprising:
- (a) means for sensing that the vehicle door is being opened;
- and,
- (b) means cooperating with said sensing means for disposing a superceding fulcrum point on which the mass must rotate to move the pawl into engagement with the engaging surface of the spool at a greater horizontal radial distance from the center of gravity of the mass than the first fulcrum while the door is being opened.
In an inertially operated safety belt retractor including a spool rotatably journaled in a retractor frame and having an engaging surface for engagement by a pawl to prevent rotation thereof, a safety belt wound the spool, a movable pawl for engaging the engaging surface of the spool to prevent protraction of the safety belt, an activating member supported for rotating on a first supporting boundary on a base carried by the retractor frame and adapted to move the pawl into engagement with the engaging surface of the spool when rotated, and a high inertia mass carried by said activating member for holding said activating member on said base and for rotating said activating member only in response to a lateral force exceeding a preselected level, the improvement for raising the lateral force in a particular radial direction required to rotate the activating member comprising:
- a support member disposed to support the activating member for rotation at a point beyond the first supporting boundary on a radial line extending through the center of gravity of the mass and the point on the first supporting boundary on which the activating member would normally rotate in response to the application of such force.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.