Lock-type seat belt retractor of automobile

Claim 1

A lock-type seat belt retractor mounted on an automobile, comprising: a housing for mounting on the automobile; a ratchet mechanism including a reel rotatably supported in said housing and urged in a direction to retract and wind a seat belt, a ratchet wheel fixedly secured to said reel, a pawl supported in said housing and normally kept disengaged from said ratchet wheel; a means for sensing shock, said sensing means having an inertia member which moves relative to said housing in response to the shock; a means for transmitting the movement of said inertia member to said pawl; said transmitting means having a support member mounted in said housing so that, in operation, the support member does not displace as much as said inertia member in the same direction, a lever pivotably mounted in said housing, a rod supported by said support member so as to be movable along the axis thereof, said rod resting on said inertia member so as to move in response to the movement of said inertia member, the top end of said rod being in contact with said lever, so that, when said inertia member moves in response to the shock, displacement of said rod is transmitted to said lever, whereby said lever pushes up said pawl so as to engage with a tooth of said ratchet wheel; said support member having a spherical outer surface which is in slidable contact with said housing, so that said support member is rotatable relative to said housing; and said lever has a spherical inner surface which is concentric with said outer surface of said support member.