The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company

Gm Global Technolgoy Operations, Inc.

Regis V Pilarski

Robert J Rumpf

Lloyd W Rogers

Wallace C Higbee

Thomas B Blake

Ray V Crawford

Jay Walter Jensen

Gerald A Yates

Melvin Kermit Johnson

Ronald Charles Foster

A vehicle seat adjuster slide assembly. The assembly includes a formed stationary rail for attachment to the vehicle's floor structure and for carrying the remaining components of the assembly. A formed sliding rail mates with the stationary rail and adjustably retains a seat within the vehicle. The two rails are stably and slidably engaged through their respective cross sectional features, rollers and sliding bushings.

Vehicle seat track assembly

The present invention provides a vehicle seat adjuster slide assembly. The assembly includes a sheet metal formed lower rail. The lower rail includes a channel floor with spaced apart upward extending legs to form an inner bay. The legs have outward extending flanges. An upper bearing ball is nested on top of each flange. A lower bearing ball is nested on the bottom of each flange. The adjuster slide assembly also has an upper rail slidably mounted on the lower rail. The lower rail has a ceiling covering the bay and C-shaped side bellies. Each side belly surrounds the nests the upper and lower bearing balls. The ends of the bellies extend under the flanges of the upper rail. The upper rail can slide on the lower rail without contact between the side bellies and the flange except when an excessive force is placed on the upper rail causing the side belly ends to contact the flange to prevent separation of the upper rail from the lower rail.

Apparatus and method of seat adjuster slide

A guide loop assembly for deflecting a restraint belt from a retractor to a diagonal position across the occupant torso includes a guide loop frame having a slot defined by an anvil surface over which the belt slides during winding and unwinding of belt from the retractor. The guide loop frame also has an elongated aperture which receives an anchor bolt to mount the guide loop frame on the pillar for pivotal movement and as well as limited vertical movement. A support frame is pivotally mounted by the anchor bolt and has a clamping bar pivotally mounted thereon for movement between a normal position spaced away from the anvil surface of the guide loop frame and a clamping position clamping the belt against the anvil surface. A spring biases the clamping bar to the normal position spaced away from the anvil surface and also urges the clamping bar against the guide loop frame to position the guide loop frame at the upward limit of its vertical movement. The imposition of an occupant restraint load on the belt moves the guide loop frame vertically downward and pivots the clamping bar downwardly to clamp the belt against the anvil surface of the guide loop frame with a clamping force increasing as a function of the increasing load on the belt.

Belt clamping guide loop

In a seat belt retractor winding prevention mechanism, the winding prevention pawl is mounted upon a collapsible support mechanism which is collapsed by the onset of a sensed vehicle deceleration condition so that force imposed on the pawl by the windup spring shifts the pawl against a cam which moves the pawl axially out of engagement with the ratchet teeth carried by the reel to thereby release the winding prevention mechanism so that the windup spring will rewind the belt to a taut condition about the occupant.

Inertia release for belt retractor winding prevention mechanism

A tilting seat back is mounted on a vehicle by a first hinge member which is pivoted to a second vehicle mounted hinge member. The first hinge member includes a plurality of teeth and a pawl mounted on the second hinge member is engageable with each of the teeth. The first hinge member holds the pawl in the path of one tooth when the seat back is in the upright position for engagement of the tooth with the pawl upon inertia actuated movement of the seat back to a tilted position. The pawl is released and positioned adjacent the rotative path of the other teeth for inertia actuated movement into engagement with the other teeth when the seat back is in a partially tilted position.

Hinge and latch arrangement for vehicle seats

A floating lock mount for a seat belt retractor is provided for application in situations where the seat or seats served by the retractor is shifted forwardly or rearwardly by the user so as to accommodate the positioning of legs and other physiognomy and to adjust the seating to the user. A track is provided which generally parallels the fore and aft movement of the seat. The retractor is attached to the seat frame and is connected to a sleeve operably on the track. As the seat is moved, the retractor and sleeve moves and relocates on the track in accord with fore and aft movement and vertical displacement. A plurality of ratchet teeth are provided on the track and spring means bias the retractor from lock engagement against the teeth. However, under upward stress by the webbing or seat belt, as felt in a sudden deceleration or projection of the body of the user, then the retractor tilts and pawl means connected to the retractor grab the ratchet teeth and secures the retractor against any further movement. Seat belt loads are transferred to the floor of the vehicle and the vehicle frame via the track.

Floating lock mount for a seat belt retractor

A passive restraint harness system is provided for deployment of a safety belt. The safety belt is a piece of webbing forming a lap belt portion and a cross chest portion. An upper anchor connects one end of the webbing to the upper rear edge of a vehicle door and a lower anchor connects to the other end of the webbing to the lower rear edge of the same vehicle door. A vehicle sensitive seat belt retractor located adjacent the seat of the user of the belt and inboard of the user is slidably connected to the piece of webbing forming lap and chest portions and urges it under a spring bias toward the retractor. This forms the lap belt portion and the shoulder or cross chest portion in respect to a seated user. A track is vertically oriented on the inner door face and fastened to the lower anchor. A slider is also on the track and the slider is over the webbing above the lower anchor. A traveler linkage is supported on the rear of the track and connected to the slider. The traveler linkage is connected by a cable element from the track to the hinge edge of the door. As the door is opened, the slider is raised on the track elevating the lap belt portion which is swung free with the cross chest portion of the webbing from across the user as the door is opened.

Passive restraint system

A cable lock storage structure adapted for selective mounting as upon a bicycle frame and having a locking cable stored on a spring loaded reel retractor assembly provided therein. The cable is selectively extendable from the housing so as to be wound through the bicycle frame and around an adjacent fixed structure so as to shackle the two together. The free end of the cable is adapted for selective locking engagement with a cable lock mechanism integrally provided in the housing so that the cable forms a closed loop locking assembly with the housing. A pawl lock mechanism is integrally provided in the housing to selectively and lockably engage the reel retractor so as to prevent retraction of the extended cable. The pawl lock mechanism is adapted to selectively be disengaged to permit retraction of the cable into the housing for storage when not in use.

Cable lock storage structure

A retractor for safety belt webbing as used in automobiles which includes a frame and a pair of retractor spools journalled in the frame and the spools biased to reel in loose webbing. The spools extend and retract harness webbing against the bias and both spools include ratchet faced rotating end flanges. Between the spools a pawl is located. The pawl is double edged for simultaneous engagement, on tilting, with the ratchet teeth of the ratchet flanges of both spools. The pawl is in a bar form supported in the frame and upon tilting locks the retractors against withdrawal of webbing spooled thereon. A sensor activates or tilts the pawl and may act remotely on the pawl as by a lever. The sensor may be inertial and omnidirectional and reacts to changes in acceleration rate of the frame and vehicle to which it may be attached.

Dual spool retractor

A carrier support apparatus is provided for attachment to a bicycle frame and connection to auxiliary structures such as baskets, hampers and the like and which comprises a horizontally oriented support rack adapted for mounting on the rear portion of a bicycle frame. The support rack is provided with an integral biased buttress-engaging latch in the forward narrow neck portion thereof, the sides of the rear portion thereof are tapered rearwardly and outwardly so as to form a wide tapered rear support platform. An auxiliary detachable bicycle seat or carrier element is provided which is adapted for selective snap engagement with the support rack. The bottom portion of the bicycle seat or carrier element is provided with a downwardly extending support rack engaging channel portion adapted for selective mating engagement with the tapered portion of the support rack. A downwardly extending buttress element is provided on the bottom portion of the bicycle seat ahead of the channel portion and is adapted to lockably engage the upwardly biased latch provided on the support rack so as to lockably retain the bicycle seat on the support rack with the tapered portion of the support rack in mating locked engagement within the tapered channel portion. Various carrier elements with identical support rack channel structure are useable interchangeably with the seat.

Carrier support apparatus

An integrally formed sensing switch for use with a seat belt retractor assembly and having a housing portion provided with an integrally hinged seat belt follower push arm plate adapted for pivotal movement in association therewith. The push arm plate has a fixed actuator pin extension on the lower surface thereof which selectively extends into the housing in response to movement of the push arm plate and depresses a spring leaf contact element provided in the housing portion so as to selectively open and close an electrical sensing circuit made thus responsive to spool condition as webbing is extended or webbing is retracted. The upper surface of the push arm plate engages the outer surface of seat belt webbing coiled on the retractor spool and is biased to move therewith as the seat belt pays into and out of the retractor assembly.

Integral hinge sensing switch

An integrally formed low friction anchor ring guide having a flat anchor tab upper end portion with an anchor bolt opening therethrough, a transversely bent central portion having a seat belt webbing slot with curved end portions, and a lower rolled end portion aligned with the webbing slot so that tangential entrainment of seat belt webbing occurs over the rolled portion as the webbing passes through the webbing slot. A tension stop lock-out block may be pivotally secured to the rolled end portion of the ring guide. The tension stop block includes a central jaw portion provided with gripping teeth adapted to lockably engage the webbing upon selective rotation of the lock-out block.

Growing community of inventors

Utica, MI, United States of America

Regis V Pilarski