Safety belt clamping device

A vehicle safety belt retractor, comprising:

• a. a housing;
• b. a winding drum being rotatably mounted on said housing;
• c. belt means attached to said winding drum for protraction and retraction with respect thereto;
• d. clamp means for clamping said belt to prevent sudden protraction thereof, said clamp means including
• (i) a first fixed planar clamping surface carried by said housing;
• (ii) a lever pivotally mounted at one end thereof on said housing;
• and
• (iii) a second displaceable planar clamping surface carried by the intermediate portion of said lever for movement from a rest position toward said fixed clamping surface to clamp the belt therebetween;
• e. resilient means coupled to said lever for biasing said lever for movement about its pivot in a direction to move the second clamping surface carried by said lever away from said first clamping surface;
• f. first guide means carried by said housing for guiding said belt means;
• g. second, displaceable, guide means carried by the other end of said lever for entrainment of said belt means thereabout, and operating in response to preselected abnormal tension of said belt to pivot said lever and thereby move said second clamping surface toward said first clamping surface;
• said belt means normally extending off said winding drum to said first guide means, past said pivot thence between said clamping surfaces without contacting same and thence over said second guide means whereby in normal operation the retractor allows always free winding and unwinding of the belt between said clamping surfaces without contact therewith, but where a predetermined abnormal tension on the belt applies a force substantially perpendicular to said lever to actuate said lever into its clamping position against the bias of said resilient means in a substantially normal direction with no wedging action, said planar clamping surfaces being substantially parallel to the plane of the web at the point of contact therewith;
• said belt in its operative condition extending away [fronm] from said second guide means in a direction substantially perpendicular to its path as it approaches said guide means.

A seat belt clamp apparatus comprising:

• a housing;
• a lever pivotably mounted in said housing, said lever having a clamping position and a non-clamping position with respect to a seat belt which is movable through said clamp apparatus;
• means biasing said lever to its non-clamping position;
• means responsive to a force above a predetermined amounted applied to said belt in a first direction to move said lever toward said belt to its clamping position against the force of said biasing means;
• clamping means provided on said lever for clamping said belt to resist movement of said belt in said first direction in response to said force above a predetermined amount;
• first and second opposite surfaces on said clamping means;
• means on said first surface of said clamping means defining a planar contact area for contacting said belt, said first surface normally being out of contact with said belt;
• and
• means for pivotably mounting said second surface of said clamping means on said lever, said second surface of said clamping means being pivotable with respect to said lever about a pivot axis directly opposite to said contact area, whereby said contact area is moved into substantially parallel engagement with the major plane of said seat belt in response to said force above a predetermined amount, thereby resisting movement of said belt in said first direction.