JPH0116164B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a buckle for a push-button seat belt used in automobiles, aircraft, etc., and in particular, the buckle of a push-button seat belt is used to attach and detach a tongue by utilizing the spring function of a built-in spring member. Regarding seat belt buckle.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems]

Generally, the buckle of this type of seat belt is constructed as shown in Japanese Patent Publication No. 48-9024, and by inserting the tongue into the buckle body, the latch engages with the latch engagement hole of the tongue and is locked.
Pulling out of the tongue is prevented.

In this type of seat belt buckle, once the tongue is fully inserted into the buckle body and locked, even if an impact is applied to the buckle, the tongue remains in the locked state without being released from the latch engagement. The problem has been how to configure the latch so that it can be held securely, and furthermore, the push button for releasing the latch can be operated with a light force. Furthermore, the buckle of a conventional seat belt has a very complicated mechanism built in and has a large number of parts, making it difficult to assemble the buckle, leading to high costs.

In addition, in the seat belt buckle described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 48-9024, the ear shaft of the push button is supported in the middle of both side panels of the base, and the free end side of the push button presses the latch plate, so the lever ratio is adjusted. The pushbutton cannot be made large, and the force required to release the buckle is large.Also, the pushbutton is directly supported by holes and notches on both side panels of the base, and concentrated loads are applied to this support area, causing damage to the ear shaft. However, there was a risk that the buckle function would be impaired.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention takes the above-mentioned points into consideration, and provides a seat belt which has a small number of parts, a simple internal structure, and is easy to assemble, and which allows the latch of the tongue to be engaged and released easily and reliably by operating a push button. The purpose is to provide the following buckles.

Another object of the present invention is to improve the support structure of the push button to effectively prevent breakage of the ear shaft, and to create a seat belt buckle that can reduce the buckle release force by increasing the lever ratio. It is on offer.

[Summary of the invention]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the seat belt buckle according to the present invention includes a base having a horizontal plate portion and side plate portions cut and raised substantially vertically on both sides, and a seat belt buckle formed on both side plate portions of the base. a latch whose ears are inserted into support holes and supported so as to be swingable between a release position and a lock position; a spring member attached to the base so as to constantly bias the latch toward the lock position; , a push button having an ear shaft rotatably attached to the front end of both side plate portions of the base, and a tongue inserted along the upper surface of the base and engaged with the latch to be locked; The ear shaft provided at the front end of the push button is supported by the engagement groove of the front opening formed at the front end of both side plates of the base, and the ear shaft of the push button is adjacent to the lower part of the engagement groove. The push button is placed on inner support protrusions bent inward from both side plates of the base, and the push button has an engaging protrusion on the front end side of the latch, which engages the push button. When pressed, the latch swings to the release position against the spring force of the spring member.

[Embodiments of the invention]

An embodiment of a seat belt buckle according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 and 2 are perspective views showing essential parts of the seat belt buckle according to the present invention, and reference numeral 10 in the figures indicates the buckle body of the push-button buckle. The buckle main body 10 has a base 11, and the base 11 has a plate-like horizontal plate portion 12 formed in the center thereof. Both sides of the horizontal plate part 12 are cut and raised substantially vertically to form side plate parts 13. Support holes 14 are formed opposite to each other in front of the intermediate portion of the side plate portion 13, and a bulge portion 15 that bulges outward is formed at the rear of the support hole 14.
The inner side of 5 is configured as a guide groove 17 for guiding a latch 16, which will be described later. The rear part of the guide groove 17 is cut out obliquely upward and is connected to a guide port 18 that opens at the rear end, and the front part of the guide groove 17 is connected to the support hole 14 . The latch 16 inserted through the rear guide port 18 is guided through the guide groove 17 and reaches the support hole 14, and is supported within the support hole 14 so as to be swingable between the tongue release position and the lock position.

The latch 16 is connected to the base plate portion 20 and the balance weight portion 2 as shown in FIGS.
1 are integrally molded into a substantially dogleg shape, and the center portion of the base plate portion 20 is formed with a recessed portion projecting downward, and this recessed portion is configured as a hook 22. A positioning engagement hole 23 is bored approximately in the center of the concave portion, while ears 24 are integrally molded at both ends of the base plate portion 20, and these ears 24 are connected to the support holes 14 of the base 11 described above. It is inserted into and supported on both sides. At that time, both ears 2
The ear axis line (swinging center line) CL connecting 4 is latch 16
The latch 16 is adjusted by the balance weight part 21 so that it passes through the center of gravity of the latch 16, and the ear axis CL of the latch 16 passes through the center of gravity, so that even if an impact load is applied to the base 11, the latch 16 will not be adversely affected by it.

The latch 16 is held on the base 11 by a spring member 25 shown in FIG. 5 so as to be always biased toward the lock position. The spring member 25 is a second
It is configured as shown in FIGS. 3 and 5,
It has side locking portions 26 that lock into the support holes 14 of both side plate portions of the base. The side locking portion 26 has locking claws 26a that protrude outward and upward on both sides.
6a is engaged with the upper engagement groove 14a of the support hole 14 and positioned. The locking portions 26 on both sides are connected by a locking spring portion 27. This lock spring portion 27 is curved downward in an arc shape, and a positioning protrusion 28 is formed in the center thereof and projects downward, and this positioning protrusion 28 engages with the positioning hole 23 of the latch 16 to lock the latch 16. The spring is always biased towards the position side. At that time, due to the above engagement, the latch 1
6 is restricted from moving forward and backward.

Further, a return spring portion 29 extends forward and upward from the center of the lock spring portion 27 of the spring member 25. The spring force of the return spring portion 29 is adjusted by a window hole 29a and a bulging portion 29b formed on the base side, while the bulging portion 29b has its base side and tip side punched out on the window hole side. The connection state is broken by the punched wire 29c, but in order to prevent the spring members 25 from becoming entangled with each other during assembly, the punched wire portions are butted against each other while the spring members 25 are free, so that they are not in the same plane. located in

Further, the return spring portion 29 is in contact with the ventral side of a push button 30, which will be described later, and is constantly biased upward so as to return the push button 30 to its original position.

The push button 30 is shown in FIGS. 3 and 6.
As shown in FIGS. 8 through 8, it is made of a resin material (or a metal material may be used), and its front end is reinforced with a thick portion formed in the width direction. pushbutton 3
A pair of ear shafts 31 projecting laterally are integrally molded on both sides of the front end of the
As shown in the figure, it is rotatably engaged with a pair of engagement grooves 32 formed in the front end portions of the base side plates 13. The ear shaft 31 may be made of a material different from that of the push button 30, such as a metal material. In this case, the ear shaft 31 may be integrally molded by being press-fitted to both sides of the front end of the push button 30.

Further, the engagement groove 32 is open to the front, and the push button 30 is attached and detached from this opening. Push button 30 held in engagement groove 32
is supported on the guide inner support protrusion 33. The inner support protrusion 33 is located opposite to the lower part adjacent to the engagement groove 32, and is formed by bending the front end protrusion of the base inward. Support protrusion 3
3 has an upper surface as a support surface for supporting the ear shaft 31, and a lower surface as a guide surface for guiding insertion of a tongue 38, which will be described later. At this time, if the support surface of the engagement groove 32 that supports the ear shaft 31 is formed into a curved surface structure corresponding to the ear shaft 31, the ear shaft 31 can be easily assembled.

In addition, on the base side abdomen of the pushbutton 30,
A pair of engaging protrusions 34 are integrally molded so as to bulge out on both sides. This engagement protrusion 34 engages with the front end (balance weight part) side of the latch 16, so that when the push button 30 is pressed down, the balance weight part 21 of the latch 16 is pushed down and the latch 16 is brought to the release position. It's getting old.

By the way, the horizontal plate portion 12 of the base 11,
A guide path 39 for guiding the insertion of the tongue 38 is formed between the latch 16, the spring member 25, and the guiding support protrusion 33, and the tongue 38 is inserted and removed through this guide path 39. tongue 38
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the latch 16
It has a latch engagement hole 40 that can be engaged with the seat belt, and a mounting hole 41 that can be attached to the webbing of the seat belt.
By approaching the buckle body 10 from the front and inserting the tongue 38 along its guide path 39, the insertion end of the tongue 38 pushes the base plate portion 20 of the latch 16 open against the spring force of the spring member 25. By further inserting the tongue 38 from this state, the latch 16 engages with the latch engagement hole 40 under the action of the spring force of the spring member 25, and the tongue 38 is locked and completely latched.
This restricts the tongue 38 from being pulled out.

Further, the buckle body 10 is covered with a cover 44 after being assembled as shown in FIG. The cover 44 is constructed as shown in FIGS. 3, 9, and 10, and has an opening 45 at the top for pressing the push button 30. A guide column 46 is suspended from the front top of this opening 45. This guide post 46 passes through a guide hole 47 of the push button 30 and a window hole 29a of the spring member 25 for guidance. Webbing attachment holes 4 are provided at the rear end of the cover 44.
8 is formed, and the seat belt webbing (not shown) is attached by passing through this attachment hole 48 and the attachment hole 49 of the base 11.

Next, the function of the buckle of the push-button seat belt will be explained with reference to FIG.

Before the tongue 38 is inserted into the buckle body 10, the buckle is held as shown in FIG. The pushbutton 30 has a cover 44
It is maintained at the original position by the stopper action of the stopper portion 44a. On the other hand, the latch 16 is connected to the spring member 25.
The lock spring portion 27 is biased toward the lock position and held at that position.

When the tongue 38 is inserted along the guide path 39 of the buckle body 10 from the state shown in FIG. The tongue 38 is pushed up toward the release position against the spring force of the portion 27, allowing the tongue 38 to be inserted further into the interior. When the tongue 38 is further inserted from this state and the latch engagement hole 40 is inserted to the position corresponding to the latch 16, the latch 16 is pushed toward the lock position by the spring force of the lock spring portion 35 of the spring member 25. , as shown in FIG. 11B, the latch 16
The latch pawl 22 engages with the latch engagement hole 40, and the tongue 38 is locked. This allows tongue 3
8 is fully latched and its removal is reliably and completely prevented. Furthermore, when inserting the tongue 38 into the buckle body 10, the latch 16 is always biased toward the lock position by the spring member 25, so if the tongue 38 is inserted a predetermined amount,
The tongue is positively locked and false latching is completely prevented.

To pull out the tongue 38 from the locked state (fully latched state) shown in FIG. 11B, the push button 30 is pushed down against the spring force of the return spring portion 29 of the spring member 25.
When the push button 30 is pressed down, the push button 30 rotates around the locking protrusion 32 on the base, and the engagement protrusion 34 of the push button 30 presses down the balance weight portion 21 of the latch 16 with a large force on the principle of leverage. The latch 16 is rotated against the spring force of the locking spring portion 27 to the released position as shown in FIG. 11C. This rotation of the latch 16 causes the latch pawl 22 of the latch 16 to
8 is disengaged from the latch engagement hole 40, and the tongue 38 is released. Therefore, the tongue 38 can be easily pulled out from the buckle body 10.

In this case, the latch 16 is connected to the support hole 14 of the side plate 13 of the base 11 so that its pivot axis is
Since CL is supported so as to pass through the center of gravity of the latch 16, even if a large impact load is applied to the base body 10, the latch 16 will not automatically rotate toward the release position due to this impact load. , not affected by impact loads.

Next, a modification of this invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 12 and 13.

The buckle of the seat belt shown in this modification is the ear shaft 31A of the push button 30 and the base 1.
The only difference is the shape of the engagement hole 32A formed at the front end of the first embodiment, and the other members are the same as those described in the first embodiment, so the same reference numerals are given and the explanation will be omitted.

That is, in this modified example, a notch 50 facing diametrically is formed in the ear shaft 31A of the push button 30 along the axial direction, and this notch facilitates attachment and detachment of the push button 30. It is. Therefore, the groove width of the insertion side opening of the push button 30 of the engagement groove 32A corresponds to the notched ear shaft 31A, so that the groove width may be the upper part (or the lower part) of the insertion side opening of the engagement groove 32A. )
A protrusion 51 for preventing popping out is formed. that time,
The notch 50 of the ear shaft 31A is formed so as to form a substantially vertical surface when the push button 30 is inserted and mounted at a predetermined position. As a result, the attached push button 30 is prevented from being pulled out or popped out.

When the push button 30 is to be pulled out, it can be easily pulled out by rotating it approximately 90 degrees around the ear axis, holding it in this rotated state, and pulling it forward.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, the seat belt buckle according to the present invention is basically composed of a base, a tongue, a latch, a spring member, and a push button, and has a very small number of parts, so the structure is simple. It is easy to assemble, can be manufactured at low cost, and is economical.

In addition, since the spring member always biases the latch toward the lock position, when the tongue engaging hole of the tongue is inserted to the corresponding position of the latch, it is reliably locked by the pressing action of the spring force, and the lock is locked. Engagement is prevented in advance and reliably.

Further, the ear shaft provided at the front end of the push button is supported in the engagement groove of the front opening formed at the front end of the side panels of the base, while the push button has an engagement protrusion that engages with the front end of the latch. Because of this, the lever ratio can be increased and the force required to release the buckle can be reduced, and when pulling out the tongue, simply pressing the push button will cause the latch to resist the spring force of the spring member using the lever principle. The tongue can be smoothly guided to the release position, the tongue can be reliably released, and it can be easily pulled out.

In addition, if the pivot axis of the latch, which is supported by the support hole formed in the side plate of the base, passes through the center of gravity of the latch, even if a large impact load is applied to the buckle, this impact load will be Therefore, the latch is not brought to the release position and is not adversely affected by impact loads.

Further, the pushbutton is supported by an ear shaft in a front opening engagement groove formed at the front end of each side plate of the base, and the ear shaft is inserted into the front side plate of the base adjacent to the lower part of the engagement groove. Since the push button is placed on the inner support protrusion that is bent in the opposite direction, the push button is supported by the engagement groove and the inner support protrusion, and the support structure of the push button is simple and stable, and the force acting on the ear axis is reduced. It can also be distributed on the inner support projections, effectively preventing damage to the ear shaft and maintaining the buckle function.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the seat belt buckle according to the present invention with the cover removed;
FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the push button removed from the buckle shown in FIG. FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the spring member incorporated in the buckle, FIG. 6 is a plan view of the push button, FIG. 7 is a side view taken along the line - in FIG. 6, and FIG. Bottom view of pushbutton, No. 9
The figure is a bottom view of the buckle cover, Figure 10 is a sectional view taken along the - line in Figure 9, and Figures 11A and B.
and C are simplified diagrams illustrating the attachment and detachment of the seat belt buckle according to the present invention, FIGS. 12 and 13.
The figure shows a modification of the invention. 10...Batsukuru body, 11...Base, 12
...Horizontal plate part, 13...Side plate part, 14...Support hole, 16...Latch, 17...Guide groove, 20...
... Base plate part, 21 ... Balance weight part, 24 ... Ear part, 25 ... Spring member, 26 ...
Side locking part, 27...Lock spring part, 29...Return spring part, 30...Push button, 31,
31A...Ear shaft, 32, 32A...Engagement groove, 33
...Inner support protrusion, 34...Engagement protrusion, 38...
Tongue, 39... Guide path, 44... Cover, 5
0...Notch, 51...Protrusion for preventing protrusion.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A base having a horizontal plate portion and side plate portions cut and raised substantially vertically on both sides, and an ear portion inserted into a support hole formed in both side plate portions of the base, and a release position. a latch supported so as to be able to swing between the latch and the lock position; a spring member attached to the base so as to always spring bias the latch toward the lock position; a push button rotatably attached thereto; a tongue inserted along the upper surface of the base and engaged with the latch to lock; an ear shaft provided at the front end of the push button; The ear shaft of the push button is supported by the engagement groove of the front opening formed in the front end of the side plate portions of the base, and the ear shaft of the push button is bent inward from the side plate portions of the base adjacent to the lower part of the engagement groove. While resting on the inner support protrusion, the push button has an engageable engagement protrusion on the front end side of the latch, which engages the latch with the spring force of the spring member when the push button is pressed. A buckle for a seat belt, characterized in that it swings to a released position against the 2 The ear shaft of the push button is formed with diametrically opposed notches extending in the axial direction, and the width of the insertion groove of the engagement groove is set to correspond to the cut-out ear shaft. Seat belt buckles as described in Scope 1. 3. The seat according to claim 1, wherein a pair of engagement protrusions are integrally molded on the front of the abdomen of the push button on both sides, and the engagement protrusions are engaged with the front end side of the latch. Belt buckle. 4. The latch, which is swingably supported in the support holes of both side plate parts of the base, is configured such that the swing center axis connecting both ears passes through the center of gravity of the latch. Seat belt buckle. 5. The latch is constructed by integrally molding a base plate portion and a balance weight portion in a substantially dogleg shape, and a latch claw that projects downward is formed in the center portion of the base plate, as set forth in claim 1. Seat belt buckle. 6. The spring member includes a side locking portion that is locked in the support hole of both side plates of the base, and a lock spring portion that connects the both side locking portions and biases the latch toward the locked position. Claim 1: The lock spring has a return spring that extends diagonally upward forward from the lock spring to return the push button to its original position, and the lock spring has a positioning protrusion that engages with a positioning hole in the latch. Seat belt buckle as described in section. 7 Both sides of the base have bulges that bulge outward, and the inner sides of both bulges are formed as guide grooves leading to the support holes, and the latch slides through the guide grooves and connects to the support holes. The seat belt buckle according to claim 1, which is adapted to be stored and held.