The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 12, 1977
Filed:
Jan. 12, 1976
Robert C Fisher, West Palm Beach, FL (US);
Cecil A Collins, Pontiac, MI (US);
Other;
Abstract
An automatic locking seat belt retractor is disclosed. The seat belt is wound on a spring-actuated spool which exerts a constant belt retracting force on the belt while allowing it to be protracted manually off the spool. A mechanism is provided for locking the belt against protraction at any desired degree of extension by locking the spool against unwinding rotation. The locking mechanism operates in response to a limited retracting movement of the spool and consists of a pawl and ratchet normally biased to an engaging position to prevent unwinding rotation of the spool. An indexing finger is attached to the pawl and a grooved plate is attached to the spool. The free end of the indexing finger is in contact with the grooved plate, the grooves thereon indexing the finger to a desired position according to the protracted or retracted condition of the belt. The position of the pawl is controlled relative to the ratchet in accordance with the position of the indexing finger on the grooved plate.