Seat belt buckle and tongue presenter system
AssigneeBreed Automotive Technology, Inc.
InventorsKenneth H. Kohlndorfer, Mark F. Gray, Markell Seitzman, Mohannad F. Murad, Hossam Almasri, Randal Gosk, Lawrence M. Refior
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system (20) comprising a buckle presenter (100) and/or a tongue presenter (200) and mechanism to activate and control each presenter. The buckle presenter and tongue presenter (200) are used to respectively move a seat belt buckle (26) and a corresponding tongue (24) from a stowed position to activated positions generally in front of the occupant to make the process of inserting the tongue into the buckle more convenient.
Claims10
A seat belt buckle presenting system comprising:
- a seat belt buckle operatively movable about a pivot point, the buckle movable between a first position and a second position, in the first position the buckle is located in a position to protect the occupant during an emergency;
- first means for moving the buckle between the first and second positions, wherein the first means includes;
- a worm gear mechanism comprising a worm gear, pivoted at a first end thereof, the worm gear including a second end;
- a threaded nut movable between the first and second ends as the worm gear turns, wherein the seat belt buckle moves between the first and second positions in correspondence with the motion of the nut;
- a rotating means for rotating the worm gear to cause the nut to move between the first and second ends.
A seat belt presenting system comprising
- a tongue presenter mechanism which is operatively connected to a tongue mounted to the seat belt, the tongue presenter mechanism movable to present the tongue at an activated position and also moveable to a stowed position once the tongue has been moved away from the tongue presenter mechanism;
- wherein the tongue presenter mechanism includes a thin flexible tape for moving the tongue to the activated position and wherein the tongue presenter mechanism includes
- a seat belt retractor with the tape slidably positioned against a frame of the retractor;
- and wherein the retractor includes a movable wheel which when rotated moves the tape into and out of the retractor;
- the tongue connected to one end of a lap seat belt and the other end of the lap belt rolled about a spool of the retractor, the tape operatively connected to the tongue to move the tongue away from the retractor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.