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US 4,604,773 AGranted
Automobile seat belt tightener for use with child safety seats
AssigneeThe Regents of the University of Michigan
InventorsKathleen Weber, Joseph B. Benson
Life of this patent
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AssigneeThe Regents of the University of Michigan
InventorsKathleen Weber, Joseph B. Benson
Estimating the term…
A manual two part automobile seat belt tightener which conveniently assembles and disassembles to permit intermediate attachment to a seat belt without the need to pass any of the seat belt buckle parts through the tightening mechanism. The tightener mechanism includes a non-circular bifurcated pin or reel and a complimentary non-circular aperture in the tightener frame to assure that the pin or reel cannot be rotated until the pin or reel is fully inserted in the frame. In particular, in attaching the tightener to an intermediate portion of an automobile seat belt, the tightener ratcheting mechanism cannot be rotated unless the bifurcated pin or reel is fully inserted into the ratcheting mechanism. An additional advantage to the new tightener is the significantly simple and sturdy construction that can make use of a conventional hexagonal ratchet wrench mechanism in the novel combination.
A belt tightening mechanism comprising a generally U-shaped frame, said frame comprising a cross pin and two parallel side portions rigidly affixed thereto, a non-circular aperture extending through one side portion and spaced from the cross pin, a selectably reversible ratchet mechanism on the other side portion, said ratchet mechanism having a socket therein of non-circular configuration substantially identical to the aperture and similarly spaced from the cross pin,
An automobile seat belt tightening mechanism comprising a generally U-shaped frame, said frame comprising a cross pin and two side portions rigidly affixed to the cross pin, a non-circular aperture extending through one side portion and spaced from the cross pin, a ratchet mechanism on the other side portion, said ratchet mechanism having a rotatable socket axially aligned with the aperture and of a non-circular configuration,
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.