Patent US4273301A successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
← Back to Patent Explorer
US4273301A Expired / Lapsed US ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Seat belt retractor with emergency release and reduced spooling

Assignee: Honeywell International Inc
•
Filing: 1980-04-02
•
Granted: 1981-06-16
•
Expires: 2000-04-02
📄 Original PDF 🌐 Google Patents 🔄 Sync Now

Abstract

Abstract A seat belt retractor including a locking member, a release member to move the locking member out of its locked position and a web clamp which is engageable with seat belt webbing on the retractor to limit the spooling effect. A handle actuated mechanism actuates the release member to unlock the retractor and renders the clamp ineffective, whereby the retractor is rendered free spooling.

Inventors

  • 👤 John W. Frankila

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction US
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-10-28 16:19
CPC Classifications
B; B60; B60R; B60R22/00; B60R22/34; B60R22/3416; B60R22/36; B60R22/42

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 21
Claim 1
Independent Claim 103 words
A seat belt retractor comprising: seat belt storage means; seat belt webbing stored on said storage means and adapted to be extracted from and rewound onto said storage means; locking means operable to lock said retractor against movement in a direction permitting extraction of said webbing from said storage means; release means actuatable for releasing said locking means; and clamp means effective to limit withdrawal of said webbing from said storage means, and means responsive to actuation of said release means to render said clamp means ineffective to limit withdrawal of said webbing from said storage means following actuation of said release means.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim 103 words
A seat belt retractor comprising: seat belt storage means; seat belt webbing stored on said storage means and adapted to be extracted from and rewound onto said storage means; locking means operable to lock said retractor against movement in a direction permitting extraction of said webbing from said storage means; release means actuatable for releasing said locking means; and clamp means effective to limit withdrawal of said webbing from said storage means, and means responsive to actuation of said release means to render said clamp means ineffective to limit withdrawal of said webbing from said storage means following actuation of said release means.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 30 words
The retractor of claim 1 wherein said clamp means is effective to limit withdrawal of said webbing from said storage means following locking of said retractor by said locking means.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 23 words
The retractor of claim 1 wherein said release means comprises means to concurrently release said locking means and render said clamp means ineffective.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 38 words
The retractor of claim 1 including means to maintain said clamp means effective to limit withdrawal of said webbing from said storage means, said maintaining means being movable to a non-maintaining position upon actuation of said release means.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim 24 words
The retractor of claim 1 wherein said clamp means is engageable with said webbing to limit withdrawal of said webbing from said storage means.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim 22 words
The retractor of claim 5 wherein said clamp means is engageable with said webbing while said webbing is on said storage means.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim 28 words
The retractor of claim 6 wherein said webbing is stored in a roll on said storage means and said clamp means is engageable with said roll of webbing.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim 14 words
The retractor of claim 1 wherein said locking means comprises pawl and ratchet means.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim 32 words
The retractor of claim 8 wherein said release means comprises a surface for contacting said pawl means and moving said pawl means away from said ratchet means whereby said retractor is unlocked.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim 26 words
The retractor of claim 9 including deceleration sensor means, said pawl means being moved into contact with said ratchet means upon actuation of said sensor means.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim 20 words
The retractor of claim 1 wherein said clamp means comprises a wedge-shaped surface adapted to contact said seat belt webbing.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim 28 words
The retractor of claim 1 wherein said storage means is movable with respect to said clamp means whereby said webbing is movable into contact against said clamp means.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim 17 words
The retractor of claim 12 icluding biasing means biasing said storage means away from said clamp means.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim 22 words
The retractor of claim 1 including load transfer means associated with said clamp means for transferring loads acting on said clamp means.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim 14 words
The retractor of claim 1 including manually actuatable means for actuating said release means.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim 13 words
The retractor of claim 1 including a plurality of seat belt storage means.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim 17 words
The retractor of claim 16 including separate clamp means for each of said seat belt storage means.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim 32 words
The retractor of claim 17 including separate locking means for each of said storage means and wherein said release means comprises a single release member for releasing each of said locking means.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim 42 words
The retractor of claim 18 including separate means to maintain each of said separate clamp means effective to limit withdrawal of said webbing from said storage means, said separate maintaining means being movable to non-maintaining positions upon actuation of said release means.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim 30 words
The retractor of claim 19 wherein said release means comprises means to concurrently release each of said locking means and move each of said maintaining means to their non-maintaining position.

References Cited (Backward Citations)

US4090735A Cited
US4231591A Cited
US4211377A Cited
US4164336A Cited

USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows

Annuity Stage Window Opens Payment Deadline Surcharge Period Until Estimated Fee Status
3.5 Years (Year 4) 1984-06-15 1984-12-15 1985-06-16 $2000.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8) 1988-06-15 1988-12-15 1989-06-16 $3760.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12) 1992-06-15 1992-12-15 1993-06-16 $7700.00 Window Closed / Lapsed

Assigned Categories & Tags

No categories assigned to this patent yet.

Assign Category Tag