Indiana Mills & Manufacturing, Inc.

Indiana Mills & Mfg. Co., Inc.

Allan R Lortz

James R Anthony

David D Merrick

Michael A Wiseman

Ronald F Homeier

Jerry D Bougher

Jeffrey E Peterson

Jeffrey L Williams

Chris P Jessup

Guy R Dingman

Jeffrey L Beaver

James R Chinni

Niels Dybro

Brian Nelson Coffman

Yang Tao

William L Clifton, Iii

A buckle has a buckle mechanism with a lock pawl and a latch pin. The latch pin is designed to travel only in a longitudinal or horizontal direction relative to the buckle mechanism. When a latch plate assembly is secured, the latch pin holds the lock pawl in a latched position and prevents accidental release of the latch plate assembly. A release button is coupled to the latch plate retention bar so that all of the effective actuation and other motions are in the longitudinal direction of the buckle mechanism. The buckle mechanism has an ejector mechanism with an ejection spring for ejecting the latch plate assembly.

Seat belt apparatus and buckle

A retractor for controlling the withdrawal of a belt therefrom operated by the locking engagement of a buckle and buckle tongue. A retractor frame having a spring biased rotatably mounted spool wrappingly receives one end of a belt harness, with the opposite end of the belt harness having fixed thereto either a buckle or a buckle tongue. Attached to a seat is either a buckle or a buckle tongue that receives the corresponding mating part of the buckle tongue combination which is attached to the belt harness. A locking bar is engagable with the ratchet shaped end plates of the spool to prevent further withdrawal of the belt harness. The locking engagement of the buckle and tongue causes movement of the locking bar into contact with the ratchet shaped end plates, which prevents the spool from rotating to allow any further withdrawal of the belt harness.

Cable activated harness retractor for child seat

Buckle

A retractor having means for controlling the withdrawal of a belt therefrom operated by a push button. A retractor frame has a spring biased rotatably mounted spool wrappingly receiving one end of a belt harness with the belt harness having an opposite end with buckle members fixed thereto to receive a buckle tongue. A locking bar is engageable with ratchet shaped end plates of the spool. The locking bar is pivotable into the ratchet shaped end plates to prevent further withdrawal of the belt harness. A manual push button control causes movement of the locking bar away from the ratchet shaped end plates to allow withdrawal of the belt harness until the push button is released and the locking bar pivots into its normal position in contact with the ratchet shaped end plates.

Belt retractor with push button controlled locking bar

A pre-emergency delayed locking retractor. A pawl is movably mounted to a retractor frame and is lockingly engagable with spool ratchet teeth with a web wound on the spool. A cam wheel mounted to the retractor frame or a web follower mounted to the pawl are operable to keep the pawl apart from the ratchet teeth until a predetermined amount of web is withdrawn. An inertial device engaged with an end of the pawl forces the pawl away from the ratchet teeth until the retractor frame is moved. The inertial device includes a mass mounted in an unstable fashion to the frame with an upstanding finger contactable by an arm fixedly mounted to an end of the pawl.

Delayed locking retractor

A seat belt assembly includes a tongue, a buckle, a frame mountable to a vehicle seat, linking articles for linking the tongue and buckle to the frame, a retractor assembly operable to pay out and retract linking articles connected with said tongue, the tongue thereby extendable from a retracted position to an extended position lockingly engaged with said buckle. The tongue, buckle, linking articles and retractor assembly are all mounted in operable combination to the frame, the resulting frame means combination being mountable as a unit to a vehicle seat. The seat belt assembly also includes tongue and buckle sleeve assemblies which are mountable to the frame and which cover the linking articles in the retracted position, and which support the tongue and the buckle in a desired user access position.

Seat belt module assembly

A seat belt buckle with a pair of buckle tongues. The buckle includes a spring mechanism movable within the buckle housing from a position blocking engagement of a latch when a single tongue is inserted to a position away from the latch when both tongues are inserted allowing the latch to engage the tongues. In one embodiment, a latch indicator is slidably mounted to the buckle push button in the buckle cover and includes a lower end contacting the latch. The indicator is movable from a position flush with the buckle push button when the latch is not engaged with the tongues to an upraised position over the button when the latch moves up and engages the tongues. The tongues have mating portions, but are separable.

Belt buckle with interlocking dual tongue and floating peg

An adjustable lock infant seat. An infant seat positionable atop an automobile seat, includes a seat belt buckle mounted to the bottom or seat portion of the infant seat. The buckle is lockingly engageable with a tongue slidably mounted to a belt having opposite ends extending through a lower pair of slots or an upper pair of slots extending through the back support of the infant seat. One belt end is fastened to a buckle located on the rearward surface of the back support whereas the opposite belt end extends through a releasably lockable adjuster mounted to the back support. By extending the belt either through the upper or lower slots and by operation of the adjuster, the belt may be sized to fit the infant.

Adjustable lock infant seat

A seat belt buckle with a pair of buckle tongues. The buckle includes a spring mechanism slidably movable within the buckle housing from a position blocking engagement of a latch when a single tongue is inserted to a position away from the latch when both tongues are inserted allowing the latch to engage the tongues. In one embodiment, a latch indicator is slidably mounted to the buckle push button in the buckle cover and includes a lower end contacting the latch. The indicator is movable from a position flush with the buckle push button when the latch is not engaged with the tongues to an upraised position over the button when the latch moves up and engages the tongues. The tongues have mating portions, but are separable.

Belt buckle with interlocking dual tongue

A seat belt buckle with a pair of buckle tongues. The buckle includes a spring mechanism slidably movable within the buckle housing from a position blocking engagement of a latch when a single tongue is inserted to a position away from the latch when both tongues are inserted allowing the latch to engage the tongues. An indicator is slidably mounted to the buckle push button in the buckle cover and includes a lower end contacting the latch. The indicator is movable from a position flush with the buckle push button when the latch is not engaged with the tongues to an upraised position over the button when the latch moves up and engages the tongues. The tongues have mating portions, but are separable.

A seat integrated seat belt system. A three point seat belt system includes a belt having one end affixed to the seat and an opposite end mounted to a retractor secured to the seat. A seat belt tongue is mounted to the belt intermediate the belt ends and is releasably lockable with a belt buckle on the opposite side of the seat thereby pulling one portion of the belt across the passenger lap and another portion of the belt across the passenger upper torso. The belt extends through a guide located at the top of the seat. A seat tether includes a second belt having one end attached to the seat at the location of the guide and a second end mounted to a second retractor located beneath the seat. The second retractor is operable to limit motion of the seat thereby minimizing the impact of vehicle motion on the first belt securing the passenger to the seat.

Seat integrated seat belt system

A seat belt buckle has a plastic outer body of a color and style suitable for the intended environment, with a formed steel inner frame having horizontally-spaced upturned sides having two parallel pairs of in-turned flanges serving as crush inhibitors, release slide guides, and tongue receiver guides. An upturned frame front flange cooperates with the sides and flanges as a wrack resistor and tongue retainer. The body front has a trough-shaped entrance to admit a latchable tongue, one margin of the entrance being provided by the sloped front of an end-release operating slide. A removable slide front button is curved to assist finding for release. A pivoting latching member with a latching pawl thereon is spring-urged into position latching the pawl with the tongue, and released by a cam on the slide, with a shallow ramp for ease of intentional release. A tongue ejector holds the pawl in unlatched position when the tongue is out of the buckle. Ribs on sides of the release slide and on the latching member inhibit dirt fouling.

Safety belt buckle

A seat belt system which incorporates a seat belt assembly including a buckle and mounting brackets, a tongue, a retractor, and webbed belting is disclosed in combination with a member for collecting a predetermined amount of slack in the system in lieu of its collection by the retractor. The member for collecting slack having a relatively retracted first position and a relatively extended second position and including a feature to urge the member to the first position. The application of an external force of sufficient magnitude causes the member to move to the second position, but when the force is withdrawn, the member returns to the first position. When used in a system which also incorporates a retractor assembly, the seat buckle assembly overcomes the tendency of the system to cinch down on the user.

Anti-cinch seat belt system

An automatic locking retractor for a vehicle seat belt has a pawl which is held for limited pivoting movement within a floating pawl retention cradle. The cradle is mounted within the frame of the retractor for limited sliding movement within a pair of aligned arcuate slots, the pawl and cradle combination sliding within the slots to permit limited retraction of the seat belt when the pawl is lockingly engaged.

Anti-cinch automatic locking retractor

A seat belt buckle has a plastic outer body of a color and style suitable for the intended environment, with a formed steel inner frame having horizontally-spaced upturned sides having two parallel pairs of inturned flanges serving as crush inhibitors, release slide guides, and tongue receiver guides. An upturned frame front flange cooperates with the sides and flanges as a wrack resistor and tongue retainer. The body front has a trough-shaped entrance to admit a latchable tongue, one margin of the entrance being provided by the sloped front of an end-release operating slide. A removable slide front button is curved to assist finding for release. A pivoting latching pawl is spring-urged into latching position, and released by a cam on the slide, with a shallow ramp for ease of intentional release. A tongue ejector holds the pawl in unlatched position when the tongue is out of the buckle.

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Carmel, IN, United States of America

Allan R Lortz