Patent ID: 6363591
Filing Date: 2002-04-02
Classification: A44B,Y10T

Abstract:
A buckle for a vehicle safety restraint belt, comprising:a latch moveable between a tongue engaging position in which the buckle is fastened and a tongue disengaged position in which the buckle is open; a button moveable in the direction of tongue insertion to lift the latch into the disengaging position against the action of a biasing spring; securing means mounted in a frame of the buckle and moveable between a position in which it restrains a movement of the latch into the disengaging position and a position in which it does not restrain movement of the latch, the securing means being biased to the unrestraining position by resilient means, the strength of the resilient means being such that biasing action is overcome during a deceleration phase of a pretensioner so that the securing means moves to the restraining position and prevents opening of the buckle, and when pretensioning forces dissipate, the biasing action takes effect again and the securing means moves back to the unrestraining position; wherein the resilient means is a leaf spring held at its ends in slots in the buckle frame and held at its centre by means mounted on the securing means.