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:
Aug. 17, 1982
Filed:
Oct. 06, 1980
William Hollowell, Pacific Palisades, CA (US);
Akira Tanaka, Northridge, CA (US);
Avraham Ziv, Sepulveda, CA (US);
Nazareth Stamboulian, Los Angeles, CA (US);
American Safety Equipment Corp., New York, NY (US);
Abstract
An emergency spool release for use with a seat belt retractor mechanism is shown wherein the seat belt mechanism includes a spool for storing a belt which restrains the passenger of a vehicle during an emergency. The belt is urged into a retracted position by spring means while the protracted position of the belt is restrained in an emergency by the automatic engagement of a locking pawl against ratchet teeth found on the periphery of the spool. The automatic engagement is accomplished by an inertia locking system. In some situations, the automatic inertia locking system does not disengage thereby making it difficult to accomplish further protraction of the seat belt in a post emergency situation. The locking pawl in the seat belt mechanism of this invention is capable of a rotational motion to engage the ratchet teeth under the urging of the inertia locking device. It is also capable of a transverse motion under the urging of a manual unlocking device for post emergency release. Transverse motion of the locking pawl is accomplished by a lever which is attached to the locking pawl and spring biased into the automatic position. Actuation of a lever either manually or by a second lever mechanism causes the transverse motion of the locking pawl to unlock the seat belt mechanism in the post emergency condition.