Seat belt buckle assembly
AssigneeIndiana Mills & Manufacturing, Inc.
InventorJerry D. Bougher
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A seat buckle assembly including a buckle and a mounting bracket, a pair of sliding members coupled with one another, and a webbed belt looped through the members and connecting the buckle with the bracket, the sliding members having a first position in which the buckle is in a relatively retracted position and a second position in which the buckle is in a relatively extended position, the assembly including a pair of springs urging the members to the first, retracted position, the application of an external pulling force on the buckle moving the connecting members and buckle against the spring force and into the second, relatively extended position, the connecting members and buckle returning to the first, retracted position upon release of the external force.
Claims15
A seat belt buckle assembly which comprises:
- a mounting bracket;
- a first belt connector lockable with a second belt connector to form a tongue-buckle combination;
- a first connecting member connectable with said bracket;
- first connecting means for connecting said first connecting member with said bracket;
- a second connecting member connectable with said first belt connector;
- second connecting means for connecting said second connecting member with said first belt connector;
- said first connecting member being coupled with said second connecting member and being movable relative said second connecting member between first and second positions, said first belt connector being retracted relative said bracket in the first position, said first belt connector being extended relative said bracket in the second position;
- and,
- means for normally maintaining said first belt connector and said bracket in the first position and for exerting a predetermined force to retain said first and second members in the first position, said maintaining means also being for permitting said first belt connector and said bracket to move under resistance from the first position to the second position in response to an external force exceeding the predetermined force, said maintaining means also being for returning said first belt connector and said bracket from the second position to the first position upon decrease of the external force below the predetermined force, said maintaining means comprising at least one biasing member connected between said first and second connecting members and exerting a predetermined force urging said first and second connecting members in the first position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.