Bus seat safety restraint
OwnerAdrian Corbettinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An Improved Bus Seat Safety Restraint is disclosed. The preferred safety restraint comprises a padded U-shaped bar that has indexed stops at stowed, in-use and lower locked positions. The bar locks and restrains the passenger when the vehicle experiences a side or front collision, or if the vehicle rolls over. The bar preferably has a single, fixed pivot point. The bar further comprises a padded thigh pad that is height-adjustable to provide greater comfort to a wide variety of body shapes and sizes. Still further, the restraint bar system is installable and easily aligned on both new and existing buses and other mass transportation vehicles.
Claims11
An improved passenger safety restraint for vehicles having a column of at least two seats, each said seat defined by a frame, and each pair of said seats having a front seat and a rear seat, said vehicles configured to travel along a geometric plane, comprising:
- a pair of hinge assemblies, each said assembly comprising a shaft pivotally attached to said front seat to rotate about a fixed axis, and further comprising indexing means for providing indexed stops in the rotation of said shaft;
- a restraint bar attached to said shaft for restraining a passenger seated in said rear seat, said restraint bar further comprising a U-shaped bar, comprising:
- a center section having ends;
- a pair of arms, each said arm extending from one said end and terminating in a hinge adapter;
- and
- an adjustable thigh pad attached over said center section;
- sensing means for sensing acceleration to the vehicle along the vehicle's driving plane and further sensing when said vehicle is tilting;
- and
- locking means for preventing said shaft from rotating, said locking means responsive to said sensing means.
A safety restraint for buses having columns of seats, comprising:
- a U-shaped restraint bar defining a center section, said center section further defined by a thigh pad, said thigh pad having a generally oblong cross section, and said thigh pad being further configured to be rotatable about the axis of said center section, said restraint bar further comprising two ends extending perpendicularly from said center section;
- a pair of hinge assemblies attached to one said seat in said column, each said assembly further including a shaft attached one said end, said shaft further configured to be releasibly held in a stowed position and an in-use position, and configured to permit said restraint bar to rotate about said shaft axis on a fixed rotation axis, said rotation permitting said center section to be positioned over a second seat in said column, each said hinge assembly further comprising a pendulum assembly, each said pendulum assembly being configured to lock said rotation when forces incident upon said seats exceed predetermined settings, two said predetermined settings being when said bus is involved in a collision or is excessively tilted, said exceeding of settings is indicated when said pendulum assembly defects to an engagin position, said engaging position defined as being some predetermined distance from a rest position.
A safety restraint system for bench seats, said seats comprising seatbacks and said seats being aligned in at least one column, comprising:
- a pivotal restraint bar;
- a locking means, sensitive to lateral acceleration and tilting, for locking said pivotal motion;
- and
- a thigh pad rotatably attached to said restraint bar, said thigh pad comprising a substantially flat upper surface and a substantially oblong cross section.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.