Patent Application
20110162175
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to safety equipment. The present invention more specifically relates to a securing device for a multiple-belt safety harness that includes a quick-release mechanism.
2. Background Art
Many modes of transportation require securing passenger(s) in place in a vehicle to ensure the safety of the passenger(s). This is especially true when transport may be at high speed or over rough terrain. In such situations, a safety harness with multiple belts is often utilized. The most common multiple-belt safety harness configuration utilizes a five-point attachment.
The five-point safety harness typically includes a central buckle housing that receives five safety belts: a central base belt, two lap belts, and two shoulder belts. Each of the safety belts includes a buckle at a terminal end. The base belt is often designed to pass between the legs of the user. A terminal end of at least one of the belts may be permanently secured in the central buckle. The central buckle housing of the harness is aligned with the midsection of the user when the device is in use and secured.
To secure oneself in a current art safety harness, a user inserts the two lap belt fasteners and the two shoulder belt fasteners into the buckle, and then secures a locking device. While the securing process may be straightforward when a vehicle is at rest, securing all four free ends simultaneously can be difficult if not impossible when the vehicle is traveling at high speed and/or over rough terrain.
This shortcoming can be a major drawback in the prior art multiple-belt safety harness devices. Typically, all the belts inserted into the central buckle housing are locked in place by a single mechanism. A first belt may be locked in place, but the first belt must be released in order to secure a second belt. This can become an issue in instances in which immediate emergency egress from an area is required. The driver of the vehicle may be compelled to put the vehicle into motion before the other passengers are properly secured, and perhaps even before they have entered the vehicle. In such an instance, passengers are left to fumble with a multiple belt device in a vehicle that might be moving at high speed, possibly over rough terrain. Under these conditions, it can be very difficult to secure multiple belts. A passenger might secure a first belt, but then would have to unlock the first belt to attempt to lock a second belt. The motion of the vehicle can dislodge the first belt while it is unlocked in the attempt to secure the second belt. Under rough conditions, the passenger may not be able to re-secure either belt. The harness may therefore be rendered useless.
There is a need in the art for a multiple-belt safety harness device that includes independent locking mechanisms for each belt buckle.
An exemplary embodiment of the present invention is a safety belt fastening device with a quick-release mechanism. The device may receive one or more safety belt buckles. When multiple buckles are utilized in the device, each buckle may be locked in place regardless of the presence or absence of other buckles that may be used in the device. Actuation of a quick-release mechanism simultaneously releases all buckles secured in the housing.
The device includes a housing, a locking mechanism, and a release mechanism. The housing includes at least one tongue receiving channel that receives a tongue of a safety belt. The locking mechanism retains the tongue of the safety belt in the housing when the locking mechanism is in a secured position. The release mechanism moves the locking mechanism from the secured position to a released position when actuated by the quick-release lever.
At least one construction of the locking mechanism utilizes a spring device. The spring device includes a pair of spring arms that are spread by a tapered head of the tongue of a safety belt when the tongue is inserted into the associated tongue receiving channel. A restorative force created in the spread spring arms urges distal ends of the spring arms inward. When the tongue is fully inserted into the housing, locking tabs situated on the distal ends of the spring arms are received in notches in the tongue of the safety belt when the tongue of the safety belt is fully inserted into the tongue receiving slot.
The release mechanism may include a travel plate that functions in cooperation with a lift plate. Lateral motion of the travel plate raises the lift plate to release the locking mechanism. In at least one embodiment, the upward motion of the lift plate separate the spring arms of the locking mechanism, forcing the locking tabs out of the notches in the tongue of the safety belt.
The release mechanism may include a loaded leaf spring or another mechanism that applies pressure to the tongue of the safety belt when the tongue of the safety belt is fully inserted into the tongue receiving slot. When the release mechanism is actuated, the applied pressure ejects the tongue of the safety belt from the tongue receiving slot in the housing.
The release mechanism may be actuated by a quick-release lever mounted on an outer surface of the housing.
Described herein is a safety belt fastening and quick-release device 100. The device 100 may be utilized in situations where multiple-belt passenger restraint systems are required. Examples of such situations include, but are not limited to, travel in aircraft, military vehicles, and emergency vehicles. The device may receive and secure multiple safety belts. Each safety belt may be secured regardless of whether any or all of the other belts are fastened. Additional belts may be fastened without releasing a previously secured belt.
As shown in
Each present tongue receiving channel 202 in
An ejecting mechanism is included in the device 100. The ejecting mechanism illustrated in
A release mechanism may also be situated in the interior of the housing 110. The release mechanism may include a lift plate 216 and a travel plate 218. The travel plate 218 may have a width less than that of the housing 110 so that the travel plate 218 may move from side to side within the housing 110. The width of the lift plate 216 may be substantially equal to that of the housing 110.
The lift plate 216 of
The travel plate 218 as illustrated in
It should be noted that each tongue receiving channel 202 may be associated with a locking mechanism. When multiple locking mechanisms are present in the device, each locking mechanism operates independent of the others. Each buckle tongue 160 may be locked in place as it is received in the locking mechanism, the presence or absence of other buckle tongues having no effect on the locking mechanism. If a user is unable or chooses not to insert all present buckle tongues into the housing, those buckle tongues that the user does insert may remain secured in a locked position. Securing successive buckle tongues does not require releasing earlier secured tongues.
When a buckle tongue 160 is inserted into a tongue receiving channel 202, the tapered head 204 spreads the spring arms 206 of the spring device 208 as the midsection of the head 204 comes into contact with the locking tabs 210. As the buckle tongue 160 moves toward a fully inserted and locked position in the housing 110, the leading edge of the head 204 applies a pressure load to the leaf spring 212. The loaded leaf spring 212 therefore applies an expulsive force to the head 204 that urges the head 204 backward out of the receiving channel 202.
When the buckle tongue 160 is fully inserted into the housing 110, the locking tabs 210 are urged into the notches 214 by a restoring force from the spread-apart spring arms 206. The engagement of the locking tabs 210 with the notches 214 secures the buckle tongue 160 in a locked position in the spring device 208.
The device is shown in the locked position in
Locked buckle tongues 160 may be released by actuation of the quick-release lever 120. Prior to actuation, the quick-release lever 120 rests on the upper surface of the housing 130 in the position shown in
Lifting the quick-release lever 120 to the release position causes the pivot axle 140 to rotate. A boss 410 that extends downward from the pivot axle 140 moves when the pivot axle 140 is rotated.
The lateral movement of the travel plate 218 imparts upward movement to the lift plate 216. As the travel plate 218 moves laterally within the housing 110, pins 226 of the lift plate 216 are driven upward in the angled slots 224. To provide the upward movement of the lift plate 216, lateral movement of the lift plate 216 is restricted. One method of inhibiting lateral movement of the lift plate 216 is to construct the lift plate 216 with a width that is substantially equal to that of the housing 110.
As the lift plate 216 moves upward, contact arms 220 contact inner sides of spring arms 206. The curvature or angle of the contact arms 220 causes the contact arms 220 to spread the spring arms 206.
When the spring arms 206 are spread sufficiently, the locking tabs 210 are released from the notches 214. When the locking tabs 210 are released, the force from loaded leaf spring 212 ejects the buckle tongue 160 outward through the tongue receiving channel 202, thereby releasing the associated safety belt.
The embodiments described herein are illustrative of the present invention. As these embodiments of the present invention are described with reference to illustrations, various modifications or adaptations of the methods and or specific structures described may become apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the descriptions and illustrations herein. All such modifications, adaptations, or variations that rely upon the teachings of the present invention, and through which these teachings have advanced the art, are considered to be within the spirit and scope of the present invention. Hence, these descriptions and drawings should not be considered in a limiting sense, as it is understood that the present invention is in no way limited to only the embodiments illustrated.
