GB1030244A - Automatically releasable buckle for a safety belt - Google Patents

Abstract

1,030,244. Buckles. R. F. GOINARD. Feb. 14, 1963 [Feb. 14, 1962; July 30, 1962], No. 6080/63. Heading E2A. An automatically releasable buckle for joining two ends of a safety belt includes a housing 6 securable at one end thereof to one end of the belt, guiding means 7 provided at the opposite end of the housing and defining a bore leading into the housing, rod means 8 securable to the other end of the belt and adapted to slide within said guiding means, a securing member 13 within said housing mounted for sliding movement in the same direction as the rod means and for pivotal movement about an axis transversely of said direction and adapted to engage said rod means, spring means 23 between said housing and the securing member for urging said securing member into a position in which said rod means is firmly engaged thereby and resiliently actuated cam means 29 positioned within the housing and co-operating with the securing member so as pivotally to disengage said securing member from the rod means when said securing member is returned towards a normal position by the spring means after the rod means and securing member have been displaced relatively to the housing by a strong force exerted on the belt. In the construction shown the rod means 8 is part of an element 2 which includes an elongated ring 4 to which one end of the safety belt is attached and the housing is part of an element 1 which also includes an elongated ring 3 for the other end of the belt. The rod means 8 is grooved and a pin 9 in the guiding means prevents its rotation relative to the housing. The rod means 8 carries a pin 19 which is engageable by a hook 17 of the securing member 13 which is mounted for the sliding and pivotal movement, on a pin 14 which engages a slot 15 in the member 13. When there is no force exerted on the belt and the member 13 is engaged with the pin 19 its end portion, on the opposite side of the pin 14 to the hook 17, is in a groove 35 of the cam means 29. The cam means 29 is slidable in a part 27 transversely of the housing 6 and it is biased by a spring 32. When force is exerted on the belt the rod means 8 is partially withdrawn from the housing 6 until the movement is limited by the pin 14 coming into contact with the end of the slot 15. This movement of the member 13 moves its end portion out of the groove in the cam means 29 and the cam means then moves transversely of the housing under the pressure of its biasing spring 32. When the force is removed from the belt the spring 23 moves the member 13 towards the cam means and its end 21 which is bevelled comes into contact with a surface of the cam means 29 and this pivots the member 13 so that the hook 17 becomes disengaged from the pin 19 to free the rod means 8 which can then be withdrawn from the housing. The cam means 29 can be restored to the position in which the member 13 engages its screw 35 by manual pressure through an aperture 30 in the housing.