SEATBELT LOCKING DEVICE

Abstract

Taught herein is a security device that prevents the male and female parts of a vehicular seatbelt buckle from being disengaged solely with a human finger. The device fits over the female part of a seatbelt buckle to prevent a human finger from pressing the buckle's release button once the male and female parts have been engaged, but provides an orifice, through which a key or similar device might be inserted to press the release button.

Description

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent contains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a security device that prevents the male and female parts of a vehicular seatbelt buckle from being disengaged solely with a human finger.

2. Description of Related Art

In most circumstances, a fastened vehicular seatbelt should be easy to unfasten by pressing the release button on the belt's buckle. However, if a law enforcement agent has a detainee buckled in the back of a vehicle, it would be highly desirable to use a seatbelt equipped with a means that could prevent the easy release of the belt. U.S. Pat. No. 4,624,033 teaches a device that is placed over the female part of a seatbelt buckle that prevents release of the buckle by a small child, but does not impede an adult from releasing the buckle. U.S. design patent D496,247 depicts a safety lock for a seatbelt buckle that is unlocked by a key or similar item.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

As the first aspect, the present invention provides a vehicular seatbelt security device that prevents a male part of a seatbelt buckle from being detached from a female part of the buckle which has a release button on its buckle engagement side, in which it is engaged, solely with a human appendage, in particular, a finger. Comprising the device is a housing adapted for substantially covering the top, bottom, and two opposing sides of the female part of the buckle with an open end permitting the housing to be placed over the female part and a partially closed end opposite to the open end, which permits the male part of the buckle to be engaged with the female part engagement side, which substantially covers the release button and has an orifice positioned over the release button small enough to prevent a human finger from sufficiently entering to depress the release button.

As the second aspect, the invention provides a method of preventing a male part of a seatbelt buckle from being detached from a female part of the buckle, in which it is engaged, solely with a human appendage, comprising placing the device of the invention over the female part of the buckle prior to engaging the male and female parts.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates the male and female parts of a typical vehicular seatbelt buckle.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the invention.

FIG. 3 a-3c are elevational views of the invention as indicated in FIG. 2.

FIG. 3 d is a cross sectional view of the invention as indicated in FIG. 3a.

FIG. 4 illustrates how the present invention may be slipped over the female part of a seatbelt buckle.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

While this invention is susceptible to embodiments in many different forms herein will be described certain specific embodiments, with the understanding that the present disclosure of such embodiments is to be considered as an example of the principles and not intended to limit the invention to the specific embodiments shown and described. In the description below, like reference numerals are used to describe the same, similar or corresponding parts in the several views of the drawings. This detailed description defines the meaning of the terms used herein and specifically describes embodiments in order for those skilled in the art to practice the invention.

The terms “a” or “an”, as used herein, are defined as one, or more than one. The term “plurality”, as used herein, is defined as two or more. The term “another”, as used herein, is defined as at least a second or more. The terms “including” and/or “having”, as used herein, are defined as comprising (i.e., open language).

Reference throughout this document to “one embodiment”, “certain embodiments”, and “an embodiment” or similar terms means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, the appearances of such phrases or in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments without limitation.

The term “or” as used herein is to be interpreted as an inclusive “or” meaning any one or any combination. Therefore, “A, B or C” means any of the following: “A; B; C; A and B; A and C; B and C; A, B and C”. An exception to this definition will occur only when a combination of elements, functions, steps or acts are in some way inherently mutually exclusive.

As used herein, the term “seatbelt” means a system of one or more belts and buckles commonly employed to restrain occupants of a vehicle in the event of a collision. It refers to the newer (as of filing) style belt where the release button is on the female part, on the same side and next to the slot for receipt of the male part.

FIG. 1 illustrates the male and female buckle parts as well as the shoulder belt of a vehicular seatbelt typically found in cars and light trucks manufactured within the last few years. Male part 1 consists of blade 3 and grip 5. Shoulder belt 7 passes through slit 8 in grip 5 so that male part 1 is free to slide along the length of shoulder belt 7. Blade 3 typically has one or more openings 9. As seen in FIG. 1, at one end of case 13 of female part 11 is slot 15, into, which blade 3 of male part 1 is inserted, and release button 17 positioned on the same side and next to slot 15. The opposite end of case 13 female part 11 is securely connected through a belt or cable to the frame of the vehicle below the seat cushion. Within case 13 is a spring loaded, locking mechanism (hidden from view in FIG. 1 by case 13) that engages openings 9 in blade 3 as blade 3 is inserted into slot 15, thus locking male part 1 into female part 11.

Typically, shoulder belt 7 is attached to a spring activated coil (not shown in FIG. 1) often located, out of view, behind the seat back to allow shoulder belt 7 to be kept snug around a person, yet comply with the person's normal body movements. However, in case of a strong, abrupt movement, as would happen in a collision, the spring activated coil locks to hold the person firmly in his or her seat.

Depression of release button 17 with a person's finger releases the locking mechanism allowing male part 1 to be disengaged from female part 11, thus freeing the person to exit the vehicle. In most situations, easy disengagement of the male part 1 from female part 11 at the touch of a finger is desirable. However, in a situation where a law enforcement agent has a detainee in custody in a vehicle, such as a police cruiser, freedom from the restraint of a seatbelt by the touch of the detainee's finger is clearly undesirable.

The present invention provides an outer case, i.e., a housing that easily slides over female part 11 leaving slot 15 free to engage blade 3 but covers release button 17 except for an orifice smaller than a human finger. Therefore, once the present invention has been placed over female part 11 and blade 3 has been inserted into slot 15 with engagement, disengagement can only be accomplished by inserting a smaller-than-a-finger object through the orifice to depress and actuate release button 17. Accordingly, using the present invention in conjunction with a current model standard seatbelt, a law enforcement agent can confidently secure a detainee in a vehicle seat, but release the detainee from the seatbelt when needed.

The present invention is depicted in detail in FIG. 2-FIG. 3d and referenced in FIG. 2 as device 19. In the perspective view of FIG. 2, we see housing 21 having window 23, release button cover 25, orifice 27, and elevational view points A-C corresponding to the elevation views of FIG. 3a-FIG. 3c respectively. FIG. 3d is a longitudinal cross section cut along line D-D of FIG. 3A. The housing may be constructed of any suitable materials known in the art, but conveniently, the material is a metal, a polymer, or combination thereof. Most conveniently, the material is a high density polymer, e.g. Delrin brand of polyacetal. The thickness of the walls of housing 19 is sufficient to prevent crushing or distorting solely by a human hand.

Window 23 is sufficiently wide to allow passage of blade 3, and cover 25 is sufficiently large to shield release button 17 of female part 11. Orifice 27 in cover 25 is sufficiently small to prevent a human finger from entering and pressing release button 17, yet large enough to permit entry of a rod, key or similar device. Conveniently, the orifice at its narrowest point ranges from about 0.1 to about 0.25 inches and at its widest point, from about 0.05 to about 0.38 inches. For example, a vehicular entry or ignition key might be pushed through orifice 27 to press release button 17. The exact shape of orifice 27 is not critical, but conveniently is a regular geometric figure such as a rectangle, circle, ellipse, hexagon, etc. or a variation of such a figure.

FIG. 4 shows how the open end of device 19 may be slipped over the female part 11 of a seatbelt buckle (following the broken arrow) so that window 23 corresponds with slot 15 and release button cover 25 corresponds to release button 17. With device 19 covering female part 11, blade 3 of male part 1 is inserted through window 23 into slot 15 engaging male part 1 and female part 11 securing the buckle. Note that grip 5 (from FIG. 1) prevents device 19 from being removed from female part 11 of the buckle without disengagement of the buckle. Orifice 27 is too small to allow the person wearing the seatbelt to press release button 17 with a finger. However, a rigid object small enough to fit through orifice 27 may be inserted through the orifice to press release button 17.

In practice, a law enforcement agent, who has arrested a person, would remove from that person weapons, along with keys and similar items that might be used as weapons or might pass through orifice 27. The person might then be placed in a vehicle and secured with one of the vehicle's seatbelts with device 19 covering female part 11 of the seat belt's buckles. Additionally, the arrested person may also be handcuffed. Even if the person could touch the buckle, it could not be disengaged with only the person's finger. Thus, device 19 of the present invention would be of great use to law enforcement agents when transporting arrestees, detainees, prisoners, and the like. While the present invention was primary conceived for use with motor vehicular seatbelts, the skilled artisan will appreciate that the invention might be used just as well in water craft, air craft, and other means of transportation that uses the same kind of seatbelt.

Claims

1. A vehicular seatbelt security device that prevents a male part of a seatbelt buckle from being detached from a female part of the buckle which has a release button on its buckle engagement side, in which it is engaged, solely with a human appendage, the device comprising: a housing adapted for substantially covering the top, bottom, and sides of the female part of the buckle, the housing having an open end permitting the housing to be placed over the female part and having a partially closed end opposite to the open end, which permits the male part of the buckle to be engaged with the female part engagement side, which substantially covers the release button and has an orifice positioned over the release button small enough to prevent a human appendage from sufficiently entering the opening to depress the release button.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein the human appendage is a finger.

3. The device of claim 1 wherein the orifice is large enough to permit a vehicular ignition key to be pushed into it to depress the release button.

4. The device of claim 1 wherein the housing is constructed of a material having strength to prevent destruction or distortion solely by a human appendage while the housing is covering the female part of the buckle.

5. The housing of claim 4 wherein the material is selected from a metal or a polymer.

6. The device of claim 1, which is monolithic.

7. A method of preventing a male part of a seatbelt buckle from being detached from a female part of the buckle, in which it is engaged, solely with a human appendage, comprising placing a device comprising a vehicular seatbelt security device that prevents a male part of a seatbelt buckle from being detached from a female part of the buckle which has a release button on its buckle engagement side, in which it is engaged, solely with a human appendage, the device comprising: a housing adapted for substantially covering the top, bottom, and sides of the female part of the buckle, the housing having an open end permitting the housing to be placed over the female part and having a partially closed end opposite to the open end, which permits the male part of the buckle to be engaged with the female part engagement side, which substantially covers the release button and has an orifice positioned over the release button small enough to prevent a human appendage from sufficiently entering the opening to depress the release button;