Takata Corporation

Ichiro Nakagawa

Masahiro Tanabe

Hideo Kitamura

Masanaga Tsuchikawa

Hiroshi Takezawa

A tongue plate stopper has a first disc having its webbing side face formed with at least one needle to be inserted through a webbing; and a second disc having a fitting portion for fitting the needle therein. At least one of the first and second discs has its webbing side face formed with a plurality of pins for biting into the webbing. The needle of the first disc projects from the central portion thereof. The fitting portion of the second disc has a hole. The pins include a first set of pins projecting from the circumferential edge of the back face thereof and at a circumferential spacing from one another, and a second set of pins projecting from the middle portion between the needle and the circumferential edge and at a circumferential spacing from one another. The second disc has its webbing side face formed with a first circumferential groove, which extends in the circumferential direction at a radius substantially equal to that of the first set of pins, and a second circumferential groove which extend in the circumferential direction at a radius substantially equal to that of the second set of pins, so that the first set of pins can have their tips engaging with the first circumferential groove whereas the second set of pins can have their tips engaging with the second circumferential groove.

Tongue plate stopper

A vehicle seat belt retractor with a tension-reducing mechanism comprises a main winding spring biasing a toothed wheel in the belt-winding direction and an auxiliary winding spring biasing the reel shaft relative to the wheel. The positions of a stopper pawl biased by an over-center spring are controlled by a clutch plate associated with the wheel such that the wheel is stopped by engagement by the pawl after the belt is pulled out and done up, the slack is allowed to be taken up, and the user pulls the belt out slightly, thereby establishing the reduced-tension state. The pawl is released from the wheel to restore the winding bias of the main spring by a releasing clutch ring if more than slightly less than one revolution of the reel is required to take up slack in the belt after the reduced-tension state is attained.

Growing community of inventors

Shiga, Japan

Ichiro Nakagawa