Anchoring device for a slidable unit, comprising a tongue, in particular for a passive safety belt device

In an anchoring device for a slidable unit comprising a tongue of use in particular in a passive safety belt device for a seat of a motor vehicle having a frame and a body, the device comprising a strap constituting a shoulder strap, a winder connected to an end of the strap for winding the strap, a buckle carried by a free end of the strap and cooperative with the tongue, a guide and retaining rail fixed to the body of the vehicle, the slidable unit being mounted on the rail to be movable between a standby postion, in which a user has access to the seat, and an active position for retaining the user on the seat, actuating means for moving the slidable unit between the standby position and the active postion and comprising driving means and a belt connecting the slidable unit to the driving means, maintaining means for maintaining the tongue firmly fixed relative to the frame of the vehicle and cooperative with the tongue in said active position so as to resist tensile forces exerted on the tongue, said device comprising means for locking the slidable unit in said active position, adapted to prevent the displacement of the unit in a direction parallel to the guide and retaining rail, and the maintaining means being disposed between the guide rail and the means for driving the slidable unit;

• the improvements wherein the maintaining means comprise a case having a front side, a first lateral side and a second lateral side, the front side defining a slot through which slot the tongue projects, the slot having edges which define two bearing surfaces cooperative with the tongue for withstanding tensile forces exerted on the tongue, a first opening provided in the first lateral side of the case and communicating with the slot and aligned with the guide and retaining rail so as to permit the passage of the slidable unit, a second opening provided in the second lateral side of the case for allowing the passage of a part of the belt, and the locking means comprise at least one cavity provided in the front side of the case, at least one locking element having active portions and disposed in said cavity, the locking element being mounted to be movable between a retracted position, allowing selectively the insertion of the tongue and the withdrawal of the tongue from the active position, and a locking position in which the active portions of the locking element are cooperative with complementary portions of the tongue and with said cavity for retaining the tongue in the active position;
• said device further comprising elastically yieldable means combined with the locking element for biasing the locking element to the retracted position thereof;
• and
• wherein the locking element comprises a metal strip having adjacent a first end thereof a portion bent at 90.degree. so as to form a hook constituting an active portion of the locking element, the tongue having an opening for receiving the active portion of the locking element in the locking position, the strip having, in a central part thereof, an articulation surface, and, adjacent a second end opposed to said first end, a first bearing surface and a second bearing surface, the device further comprising an inner structure mounted inside the case and having a bearing surface on which the articulation surface of the locking element bears, the first bearing surface being cooperative with said elastically yieldable means, and an actuating element connected to the slidable unit being cooperative with the second bearing surface for selectively displacing and maintaining the locking element in the locking position thereof.