Manually operated locking device of seat belt retractor for vehicles

Claim 1

In a seat belt retractor having a winding shaft upon which webbing is wound by motor means, inertia sensing means actuated by deceleration of the vehicle installed with said retractor and locking means to prevent said winding shaft from rotating when said sensing means is actuated, said locking means including a ratchet wheel and a pawl pivoted to move from a first position out of contact with said ratchet wheel allowing said wheel to rotate in either direction to a second position in contact with said ratchet wheel that locks said wheel against rotation in the webbing protraction direction while allowing rotation of said wheel in the webbing retraction direction, the improvement which comprises: a pivoted lever mounted to move from an unlocking position to a locking position associated with said pawl so movement of said lever from said unlocking position to said locking position moves said pawl from said first position to said second position, manually operable latch means mounted for movement to move said lever between said unlocking and locking positions, a mechanical connection between said lever and said latch means comprising a resilient means, said resilient means being structured to apply a biasing force to urge said lever in the direction of said locking position, said force being sufficient to hold said pawl, when said lever is in said locking position, in said second position, but insufficient to cause said pawl when so positioned to prevent said wheel from rotating in the webbing retraction direction.