Information
-
Patent Grant
-
6205627
-
Patent Number
6,205,627
-
Date Filed
Friday, June 18, 199925 years ago
-
Date Issued
Tuesday, March 27, 200123 years ago
-
Inventors
-
Original Assignees
-
Examiners
Agents
- Tarolli, Sundheim, Covell, Tummino & Szabo L.L.P.
-
CPC
-
US Classifications
Field of Search
US
- 024 633
- 024 636
- 024 637
- 024 641
-
International Classifications
-
Abstract
A belt buckle for vehicle safety belts has a load bearing frame and a locking mechanism thereon. A housing encloses the frame and has an insertion slot for an insert tongue acting in conjunction with the locking mechanism. To eliminate any extraneous matter that has entered into the housing through the insertion slot, a channel leads from the insertion slot through the housing and out of the housing, forming a guide for gravity assisted movement of such extraneous matter out of the housing.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a belt buckle for vehicle safety belts.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Belt buckles generally have a load bearing frame attached to the vehicle floor or the like by means of a suitable attachment fitting, a locking mechanism arranged at the frame, and a housing which encloses the frame and which has an insertion slot for an insert tongue acting in conjunction with the locking mechanism. This insertion slot must be free and open so as not to obstruct the insertion of the tongue into the belt buckle when the safety belt is to be used. The open and unobstructed insertion slot, however, also allows the entry of extraneous matter into the inner space of the belt buckle. Examples of such extraneous matter are liquids (drinks), glass splinters (accident, break-in), fruit pips, rice grains, fibres, grit, gravel and the like. Hard matter, in particular, but also sticky liquids can impair or even impede the function of the locking mechanism. If proper locking is not achieved, the safety belt is not capable of fulfilling its protective function. Incomplete locking, also known as “pseudo-locking”, is particularly dangerous, since the vehicle occupants are unable to detect this condition.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention eliminates this safety deficiency inherent in all known belt buckles.
According to the invention, at least one channel leads from the insertion slot for the insert tongue through the housing and out of it in such a way that any extraneous matter which may have entered through the insertion slot is guided out of the housing along the channel as assisted by gravity. Whilst with conventional embodiments of belt buckles the aim was to close the insertion slot through the insert tongue ejector as completely as possible, the invention follows the opposite strategy: Having realized that it is not possible in practice to prevent the entry of extraneous matter through the insertion slot for the insert tongue, the invention makes a point of even favoring such entry of such grit particles and foreign bodies through the channel formed within the belt buckle, so that these may leave the belt buckle housing on a direct route through the channel. It is, in fact, the agglomeration of dirt and other foreign matter in the area of the insertion slot for the insert tongue that will find its way into the interior of the belt buckle housing when the tongue is inserted or the release button is pressed.
In the preferred embodiment of the belt buckle, the insert tongue ejector, as opposed to known embodiments where its width coincides with that of the front end of the insert tongue in order to close up the insertion slot as much as possible when the insert tongue is released, is of reduced width so as to obtain free space on both sides of the ejector for a channel for the elimination of dirt and other foreign matter. The ejector is furthermore provided with guide surfaces at its outer end in order to favor the entry of foreign matter into the two channels.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Further advantages and characteristics of the invention read from the following description of several embodiments, as well as from the attached drawings, to which reference is made, showing in
FIG. 1
a schematic part section of a belt buckle along section I—I in
FIG. 2
;
FIG. 2
a schematic view of a narrow side of the belt buckle;
FIG. 3
a sectional view of a second embodiment along section III—III in
FIG. 4
;
FIG. 4
a schematic side view of the belt buckle embodiment shown in
FIG. 3
, and
FIG. 5
a sectional view along section V—V in FIG.
3
.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
The belt buckle
10
shown in
FIG. 1
serves to lock the insert tongue
12
of a safety belt not shown here. To this effect, the insert tongue
12
is pushed, from the position shown in
FIG. 1
, into the belt buckle
10
and is locked there by means of a conventional locking mechanism which is not shown here. A release button, also of conventional design and not shown here, serves to release the locking mechanism. The belt buckle
10
has a frame
14
which is connected to the vehicle body or to a seat within the vehicle by means of an attachment fitting
16
.
The sectional view of
FIG. 1
furthermore shows a housing half
18
which partly surrounds the frame
14
. As with conventional belt buckles, the housing surrounding the frame
14
consists of two halves, of which only one, that is the half-housing
18
, is shown in the illustrations. An insert tongue ejector
20
, which is pre-tensioned against the insert direction of the insert tongue
12
by means of a compression spring
22
, is arranged centrally within the frame
14
of the belt buckle
10
. As the insert tongue
12
is inserted into the belt buckle
10
, the insert tongue ejector
20
is moved downwards, and the compression spring
22
is compressed. When the locking mechanism of the belt buckle
10
is unlocked by pushing the release button, the insert tongue ejector
20
pushes the insert tongue
12
out of the belt buckle
10
, so that the corresponding safety belt is released.
As can be seen from
FIG. 2
, the belt buckle
10
has an insertion slot
24
for both the insertion and the ejection of the insert tongue
12
. The frame
14
of the belt buckle
10
is made up of two parallel plates
26
and
28
, between which the insert tongue ejector
20
is movably arranged. The plates
26
and
28
are arranged at a distance from each other which essentially corresponds to the thickness of the insert tongue
12
, making sure that it is guided between the plates
26
and
28
in a safe way. When the insert tongue
12
is not inserted, that is in the condition illustrated in the Figures, the insertion slot
24
is open and dirt and foreign bodies are free to enter into the insertion slot
24
.
Such foreign bodies
30
are shown in FIG.
1
. The foreign bodies
30
enter the inside of the belt buckle
10
via the insertion slot
24
. Channels
32
lead from the insertion slot
24
through the belt buckle
10
, and the intruding foreign bodies
30
are made to travel through these channels
32
and consequently through the belt buckle
10
in the direction of the arrow indicated in FIG.
2
. Since the foreign bodies
30
are conveyed through the belt buckle
10
to be then expelled from it, no jamming of the locking mechanism can occur and malfunctions of the belt buckle
10
, in particular the condition of pseudo-locking, are prevented.
As is shown again in
FIG. 1
, the foreign bodies
30
which have entered through the insertion slot
24
are made to move along the channel
32
, assisted by their gravity and by the vibration of the vehicle, and are then conveyed through the channel
32
and expelled from the belt buckle
10
and the housing of the belt buckle, respectively, through an opening
34
of the housing, which is essentially opposite the insertion slot
24
. The channels
32
are formed between the parallel plates
26
and
28
of the frame
14
and on both sides of the insert tongue ejector
20
. To this end, the insert tongue ejector
20
is made relatively narrow with respect to the width of the insertion slot
24
, which corresponds essentially to the width of the insert tongue
12
. At its end facing the insert tongue
12
and the insertion slot
24
, respectively, the insert tongue ejector
20
is rounded and therefore provided with guide surfaces
36
which open out into the channels
32
. Any foreign bodies
30
that enter are guided sideways by these guide surfaces
36
and into the channels
32
. Embossments
38
are provided in the parallel plates
26
and
28
of the frame on both sides of the insert tongue ejector
20
. By these embossments
38
, guide surfaces
40
are formed between the plates
26
and
28
, so that the channels
32
in the area of the insert tongue ejector
20
are delimited by its lateral surfaces
42
, the facing inner surfaces of the plates
26
and
28
, as well as by the guide surfaces
40
formed by the embossments
38
. The embossments
38
extend not only over the area of the insert tongue ejector
20
, but further through the belt buckle
10
and thereby delimit the channels
32
also in their further extension. The channels
32
are then delimited in the lower area of the belt buckle
10
by the lateral surfaces
44
of the attachment fitting
16
and by the guide surfaces
46
formed on the plates
26
and
28
. Once the foreign bodies
30
have passed the belt buckle
10
through the channel
32
, as shown in
FIG. 1
, these then leave the housing of the belt buckle
10
adjacent to the attachment fitting
16
. In order to ensure that even fairly large foreign bodies, such as apple pips or glass splinters, are able to leave the belt buckle
10
through the channels
32
, the channels
32
are designed to have a cross section of approximately 4 mm
2
to 10 mm
2
.
A further embodiment of the belt buckle according to the invention, similar in design to the belt buckle shown in
FIGS. 1 and 2
, is illustrated in
FIGS. 3
to
5
. Here, the belt buckle
50
also has a frame consisting of two parallel plates
52
and
54
which are connected to a vehicle structure by means of an attachment fitting
56
. The belt buckle
50
has a plastic housing consisting of two housing halves, of which only one housing half
58
is shown in the illustrations. Channels
62
are formed on each side of the movably provided insert tongue ejector
60
positioned between the plates
52
and
54
, through which channel any foreign bodies
64
which have penetrated the belt buckle
50
are once more expelled, gravity assisted, from the belt buckle
50
and its housing. The plates
52
and
54
have embossments
66
in the area of the insert tongue ejector
60
which act as lateral limits to the channel
62
, so that the channel
62
is of width b. The width b of the channel
62
also remains essentially constant within the further extension of channel
62
through the belt buckle
50
, since the embossment
66
is followed by an angled sheet metal lug
68
, forming an integral part of plate
52
and constituting a further guide surface to delimit the channel
62
.
In the lower section of the belt buckle
50
, the channel
62
is delimited in its longitudinal direction by a ramp
70
formed to the housing half
58
, which extends from the housing half
58
to the plate
54
through the plate
52
and the channel
62
. As can be clearly seen from
FIG. 4
, the ramp
70
is positioned at an angle to the longitudinal direction of the channel
62
, so that any foreign bodies
64
moving along the channel
62
are deflected from the longitudinal direction of the channel
62
and are expelled from the housing of the belt buckle
50
through an opening
72
provided in the housing half
58
in the direction indicated by an arrow in FIG.
4
.
Claims
- 1. A belt buckle for vehicle safety belts, comprising a load bearing frame, a locking mechanism on the frame and a housing enclosing the frame, said housing having an insertion slot for an insert tongue cooperating with the locking mechanism, at least one continuous channel within said housing flowingly connecting said insertion slot through and out of the housing, said channel forming a guide for gravity assisted movement of extraneous matter penetrating into the housing through said insertion slot to remove said extraneous matter from said housing.
- 2. The belt buckle according to claim 1, wherein said channel is formed between two parallel plates of the frame.
- 3. The belt buckle according to claim 2, wherein the channel is formed between embossments of the frame plates.
- 4. The belt buckle according to claim 1, wherein the channel is formed adjacent to an insert tongue ejector.
- 5. The belt buckle according to claim 4, wherein said insert tongue ejector is provided with guide surfaces (36) leading into the channel.
- 6. The belt buckle according to claim 1, wherein one said channel is formed on each of two sides of an insert tongue ejector.
- 7. The belt buckle according to claim 1, wherein the channel has an outlet from the housing adjacent to an attachment fitting connected to the frame.
- 8. The belt buckle according to claim 1, wherein the channel leads out of the housing at an opening in a housing wall near an attachment fitting connected to the frame.
- 9. The belt buckle according to claim 8, wherein guide structures are integrally molded with at least one housing wall.
- 10. The belt buckle according to claim 1, wherein said channel has a cross-sectional area of approximately 4 to 10 mm2.
Priority Claims (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
298 10 954 U |
Jun 1998 |
DE |
|
US Referenced Citations (8)
Foreign Referenced Citations (4)
Number |
Date |
Country |
90034422 |
Jul 1990 |
DE |
0131255 |
Jan 1985 |
EP |
0318031 |
May 1989 |
EP |
2211242 |
Jun 1989 |
GB |