American Safety Equipment Corporation

American Safety Corporation

Manfred Wyder

William M Hollowell

A vehicle seat belt utilizing a web guide and emergency locking assembly comprising a mounting frame for mounting the web guide and emergency locking assembly to an interior surface of the vehicle having a front bearing surface of non-chafing material, a retainer guide affixed to the web guide mounting bracket and further comprising a plurality of reaction springs mounted upon a plurality of dimples separated by a stopping means on its top surface, a wedge block slidably mounted upon the retainer guide and pivotly interconnected with the mounting frame having a front bearing surface of non-chafing material, a wedge block actuator resting upon the plurality of reaction springs and enclosing the wedge block, and a camming surface on each interior surface of each side member of the actuator complementary to each pin affixed to each side surface of the wedge block wherein the interaction between the wedge block and the camming surfaces contained on the actuator moves the wedge block towards the mounting frame to lock the seat belt webbing.

Web guide and emergency locking assembly

An emergency locking safety belt retractor having a modular locking pawl actuator subassembly for transferring the rotational movement of a webbing storage reel of the retractor to a locking pawl to move the locking pawl from a deactivated to an activated position in engagement with a locking ratchet to prevent further webbing protractive rotation of the reel. The actuator subassembly includes a shiftable housing containing a vehicle inertia sensor which activates a program pawl to engage a program ratchet which transfers the rotation of the storage reel to the subassembly housing and in turn to the locking pawl to lock the reel in response to an emergency condition.

Inertia reel using modular locking mechanism

An improved dual locking safety belt retractor mechanism is disclosed having a frame, a spool of safety belt webbing rotatably carried with respect to the frame by a reel, the reel being provided with a primary ratchet wheel and a deformable program ratchet wheel. An inertia-activated pawl assembly carries a primary pawl member and a deformable programming pawl for engagement with the ratchet wheels in a programmed manner for preventing false-locking conditions. The pawl assembly is mounted by the shaft of the safety belt webbing reel for limited rotation with respect to the retractor frame between deactivated and activated positions in response to protractive forces exerted on the safety belt. A weblocker is provided in front of the retractor reel in which the safety belt webbing passes between a pair of clamping wedges which when actuated by a weblocker actuator in response to rotation of the pawl assembly to the actuated position causes the clamping wedges to slide along respective inclined surfaces in such manner that the wedges move inward with respect to one-another and effectively and immediately clamp the safety belt webbing passing therebetween against further protractive motion.

Growing community of inventors

Rowland Heights, CA, United States of America

Manfred Wyder