Seat belt retractor
AssigneeBreed Automotive Technology, Inc.
InventorsDavid Blackadder, Alan George Smithson, Joseph Patrick Harte
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A seat belt retractor has a webbing spool fixed to a ratchet wheel having a plurality of teeth spaced about its circumference. A locking pawl has a plurality of teeth with a pitch less than the pitch of the teeth on the ratchet wheel. The pawl is arranged to pivot into engagement with the ratchet wheel, on activation of a crash sensor. Preferably there are two locking pawls and two toothed ratchet wheels. The two locking pawls may each have the same number of teeth or alternatively one may have an extra tooth which serves as a sensor tooth, engaging first with the spool ratchet wheel and phasing engagement of the other teeth as the load increases.
Claims15
A seat belt retractor comprising:
- a rotatable spool with a seat belt webbing wound thereon;
- a ratchet wheel fixed to the spool, the ratchet wheel having a plurality of teeth spaced about a circumference of the ratchet wheel;
- and
- a locking pawl having a plurality of teeth with a pitch less than the pitch of the teeth on the ratchet wheel and being arranged to pivot into engagement with the ratchet wheel on activation of a crash sensor, the locking pawl being mounted for pivotal movement about a pivot that comprises an elastically deformable bearing.
A seat belt retractor comprising:
- a rotatable spool with a seat belt webbing wound thereon;
- a ratchet wheel fixed to the spool, the ratchet wheel having a plurality of teeth spaced about a circumference of the ratchet wheel;
- and
- a locking pawl having a plurality of teeth with a pitch less than the pitch of the teeth on the ratchet wheel, and being arranged to pivot into engagement with the ratchet wheel on activation of a crash sensor, the spool being mounted for pivotal movement about a pivot that comprises an elastically deformable bearing.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.