Patent Application
20210347327
This invention deals with a safety cutting device for vehicle seat belts, in which the device is attached to the insertable tong of such a seat belt. In this manner, the device is always readily available for use in an emergency such as a crash, fire, or the like.
Generally, in crash situations, it is common for vehicles to overturn and maintain belted occupants in an upside-down position in which the occupant literally hangs from the safety belt. In such a situation, it is common for persons involved to become disoriented and not in control of the situation and therefore, not have the wherewithal to locate a device for releasing the seat belt, especially if it is stored in a compartment of the vehicle away from the belt.
In addition, quite often in vehicle crashes, the seat belt mechanism can become jammed or the occupant does not have ready availability to the release mechanism for the belt.
In all such cases, there is a need for a belt release that is attached directly to the working end of a seat belt so that it is handy and readily available to the seat occupant. In addition, there is a need for a device that is easily useable.
Most of the prior art deals with emergency belt release and one such U.S. Patent is U.S. Pat. No. 9,499,122 issued to Nowak, et al on Nov. 22, 2016 deals with a device for emergency cutting off fastened seatbelts featuring a bushing-shaped housing with an explosive charge or a gas generator inside for releasing a cutting mechanism.
U.S. Pat. No. 10,486,643 that issued to Raybon on Nov. 26, 2019 deals with an emergency escape tool which is a housing mounted on the side of the vehicle seat that contains a slot and a blade in the slot to sever the seat belt.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,680,861 that issued on Jul. 21, 1987 to Meurer deals with a cutter that has a flat body portion containing a protected blade that is set into a slit in the flat body.
Thus, what is claimed and disclosed here is an auto safety belt release. The auto safety belt release comprises a housing, wherein the housing has a bottom portion and a top portion. The bottom portion has located in it, supported by a stanchion, a cutting disc, the cutting disc being centered in the housing.
The bottom portion has two parallel sides, each such side having a bottom edge, each bottom edge turned inward to form a narrow lip. The bottom portion has a first elongated channel above each lip and the bottom portion has two elongated grooves, one such groove on either side of the stanchion.
The housing has a cutting track assembly in the bottom portion, the cutting track having a second elongated channel centered in the cutting track assembly. There are two protrusions in a top surface of the cutting track assembly located on either side of the cutting track, wherein there two v-channels are oppositely opposed to the protrusions. The cutting track is slidably held in the first elongated channels.
The top portion of the auto safety belt release is vertically slidable from said bottom portion of the auto safety belt release. The top portion is detachedly locked to the bottom portion by at least two topical lock pins.
The auto safety belt release is attached to a base, wherein the base has at least four through openings for fasteners to attach the base to a safety belt metal tong.
In another embodiment, there is an auto safety belt release as described Supra, in which the top portion has at least two downwardly directed pegs that insert in openings in a base to lock the auto safety belt release in place.
In yet another embodiment, there is a method of releasing an auto safety belt, the method comprising providing an auto safety belt release device as described just Supra, attached to an auto safety belt, lifting the top portion of the auto safety belt release device, and moving the auto safety belt release device across the auto safety belt.
Turning now to
Turning to
There is an elongated groove 16 and 16′, one on either side of the stanchion 6 and above each lip 15 and 15′. These grooves serve to guide the release 1 as it is move d across the seat belt. In addition, the bottom portion 4 has two v-channels 22 and 22′ oppositely opposed to the protrusions 20 and 20′, one on each side of the stanchion 6 as shown in
The housing 2 contains a cutting track assembly 18 in the bottom portion 3. The cutting track assembly 18 has a second elongated channel 19 centered in it to allow for the passage of the cutting disc 5. It has two protrusions 20 and 20′ (
The top portion 4 of the auto safety belt release 1 is vertically slidable from the bottom portion 3 of the auto safety belt release 1. The top portion 4 is detachedly locked to the bottom portion by snap locks 27.
The auto safety belt release 1 is attached to a base 24, wherein the base 24 has at least four through openings 26 for fasteners (not shown) to attach the base 24 to a safety belt metal tong 25 (the tong and safety belt not being part of the instant invention).
In this first embodiment of the instant invention, there is a means of attaching the top portion 4 to the bottom portion 3 which is two topical lock pins 27.
There is a means of retaining the auto safety belt release 1 in the unused position, namely, pegs 23 in cavities 28 as shown in
A safety belt 30, which is not part of this invention is shown in
In use, the auto safety belt release is retained in a position adjacent to a safety seat belt and is securely fastened to the seat belt tong 25. In use, the a person lifts the top portion of the auto safety belt release which releases the auto safety belt from the base and allows the auto safety belt release to move across the seat belt wherein the cutting disc 5 cuts through the belt. If necessary, the device can be moved several times in a pull/push fashion across the belt if needed for full release.
