Abstract:
A buckle system and mechanism for use in a seat belt vehicle restraint system which provides an interlock for ensuring that the occupant has the correct web position for the lap and shoulder belt portions of a three-point seat belt system. This buckle system permits only one tongue to be inserted in the interlock at a time. Moreover, the insertion of one tongue causes the ejection of the other tongue. Once placed into use, this invention ensures that one of the tongues is latched.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention relates to seat belt restraint systems for vehicle passenger safety. More particularly, this invention relates to seat belt buckle devices. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     It is well known in the prior art to provide a buckle for an automotive or other vehicle seat belt. Typically, such prior buckle devices are simple latch and release devices that do not incorporate an interlock that ensures that only one, and always one, belt system tongue is inserted and locked in the buckle. For general background material, the reader is directed to the following U.S. Pat. Nos.: 3,633,697, 3,648,333, 3,718,902, 3,732,538, 3,744,794, 3,748,640, 3,757,293, 3,770,919, 3,781,967, 3,796,888, 3,831,140, 3,833,781, 3,863,209, 3,864,668, 3,874,474, 3,956,603, 3,969,795, 3,996,648, 4,000,385, 4,015,094, 4,034,931, 4,052,775, 4,060,878, 4,099,306, 4,107,645, 4,136,328, 4,197,919, 4,445,722, 4,480,713, 4,531,762, 4,569,536, 4,637,102, 4,667,336, 4,691,875, 4,742,886, 4,844,196, 4,871,044, 4,915,413, 5,054,171, 5,088,160, 5,098,162, 5,121,527, 5,165,498, 5,292,153, 5,322,348, 5,394,955, 5,395,136, 5,484,190, 5,671,948, 5,685,567, 5,742,986, 5,781,971, 5,881,439, 5,898,366, 5,907,892, 5,944,135 each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for the material contained therein. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is desirable to provide a buckle mechanism that incorporates an interlock to facilitate a detachable seat belt system that ensures the correct placement of the lap and shoulder belt portions of a three-point seat belt system. Moreover, it is desirable to provide a vehicle seat belt restraint buckle that permits only one seat belt web attachment tongue to be latched at any one particular time. 
     Therefore, it is the general object of this invention to provide a vehicle safety restraint seat belt buckle that incorporates an interlock mechanism to permit only one web tongue to be latched at a time. 
     It is a further object of this invention to provide a vehicle safety restraint seat belt buckle that ensures the correct placement of the lap and shoulder belt portions of a three-point seat belt system. 
     It is another object of this invention to provide a vehicle safety restraint seat belt buckle that ensures that the insertion of one web tongue causes the ejection of the other web tongue. 
     It is a further object of this invention to provide a vehicle safety restraint seat belt buckle that, once first used, does not permit a condition where neither of the web restraint tongues are latched. 
     Another object of this invention is to provide a vehicle safety restraint seat belt buckle that requires the buckle be connected to the static tongue in order to permit the release of the restraint tongue. 
     A still further object of this invention is to provide a vehicle safety restraint seat belt buckle that is compatible with existing three-point seat belt restraint systems. 
     These and other objects, advantages, and other novel features of this invention will be set forth in part in the description that follows and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned with the practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of this invention may be realized and attained by the means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. Still other objects of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description and drawings, wherein there is shown and described the preferred embodiment of this invention. This preferred embodiment is presented simply by way of illustration of one of the modes best suited to carry out this invention. As it will be realized, this invention is capable of other different embodiments, and its several details are capable of modification in various aspects without departing from the invention. Accordingly, the drawings and descriptions should be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive. 
     To achieve the foregoing and other objectives, and in accordance with the purposes of the present invention, this seat belt buckle system is provided with an interlocking rocker that is spring loaded to hold a single tongue in place. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The accompanying drawings incorporated in and forming a part of the specification, illustrate a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Some, although not all, alternative embodiments are described in the following description. In the drawings: 
     FIG. 1 is a three dimensional perspective view of the preferred seat belt buckle-interlocking system of this invention. 
     FIG. 2 is a close-up view of the preferred interlocking buckle with the web tongue locked. 
     FIG. 3 is a side view of the preferred interlocking buckle with the web tongue locked and the static tongue in proximity thereto. 
     FIG. 4 is a three dimensional perspective view of the preferred seat belt buckle-interlocking system of this invention, with the buckle locked to the static tongue. 
     FIG. 5 is a side view of the preferred interlocking buckle of this invention, with the static tongue locked and the web tongue in proximity thereto. 
     FIG. 6 is a detailed view of the internal components of the preferred interlocking buckle of this invention locked to the web tongue. 
     FIG. 7 is a detailed view of the internal components of the preferred interlocking buckle of this invention, with the static tongue being inserted and the web tongue about to be released. 
     FIG. 8 is a detailed view of the internal components of the preferred interlocking buckle of this invention, with the static tongue inserted and the web tongue being released. 
     FIG. 9 is a detailed view of the internal components of the preferred interlocking buckle with the rocker in the center point of its rotation. 
    
    
     Reference will now be made in detail to the present preferred embodiment of the invention, an example of which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     FIG. 1 shows a three dimensional perspective view of the preferred seat belt buckle-interlocking system of this invention. A typical vehicle seat  100  is used as the mounting points of the components of this invention. In alternative uses of this system, the components of this invention can also be mounted to the vehicle directly. While the seat  100  shown in this figure is a bench seat, alternative seats, including bucket seats, can be substituted without departing from the concept of this invention. The seat belt retractor  101  is shown mounted on the top rear of the seat  100 , although alternatively, it could be mounted at other positions with the vehicle, such as on the interior of the vehicle roof, either interior side, or a support post mounted within the vehicle, without departing from the concept of this invention. Loaded in the seat belt retractor  101 , is a seat belt webbing strap  106 , on the end of which is a web tongue  102 , locked to which is the interlocking buckle  103  of this invention. The static tongue  104  is provided extending from the seat  100  for connection to the interlocking buckle  103 . A seat buckle  105  is provided also for connection to the web tongue  102  for use when a passenger is seated. 
     FIG. 2 shows a close-up view of the preferred interlocking buckle  103  with the web tongue  102  locked in place. This view shows that the preferred web tongue  102  has a portion  202 , which is loaded into the interlocking buckle  103 , when the buckle is not in use, and has a slot  203  for receiving a catch (shown in FIGS. 6-9) within the interlocking buckle  103 . A strain relief  201  is also provided as an attachment for the belt webbing  106  in the preferred embodiment of the invention. 
     FIG. 3 shows a side view of the preferred interlocking buckle  103  with the web tongue  102  locked within a recess  301  in the buckle  103  and the static tongue  104  in proximity thereto. This view also shows the strap-to-interlocking buckle attachment  302  fixed to the interlocking buckle  103 . 
     FIG. 4 is a three dimensional perspective view of the preferred seat belt buckle-interlocking system of this invention, with the interlocking buckle  103  locked to the static tongue  104 . Besides the components shown and described above, this view shows a second web strap portion  401  extending from the web tongue  102  to the interlocking buckle  103 , which in turn is locked to the static tongue  104 . The web tongue  102  is extended toward the seat buckle  105 , where typically it would be connected to secure the vehicle occupant. 
     FIG. 5 is a side view of the preferred interlocking buckle  103  of this invention, with the static tongue locked  104  within a recess  501  within the interlocking buckle  103  and the web tongue  102  in proximity thereto. 
     FIG. 6 is a detailed view of the internal components of the preferred interlocking buckle  103  of this invention locked to the web tongue  102 . A rocker  601  is provided with a first rocker arm  603 a and a second rocker arm  603 b. The rocker  601  pivots around a pivot point and pin  606 , with a rocker counter-weight  604 . A rocker counter-weight spring  605  is fixed to the rocker counter-weight and the body of the interlocking buckle  103 . A second spring  602  is fixed from the rocker  601  to the interlocking buckle  103 . The rocker count-weight spring  605  and the second spring  602  are provided to assist the release of the web tongue  102  and the static tongue  104 . Although the springs  602 ,  605  are shown as compression springs, alternative spring elements, such as leaf springs, helix springs or other spring types can be substituted without departing from the concept of this invention. A first slot  608  for receiving the web tongue  102  is provided in the interlocking buckle  103 . A second slot  607  is provided for receiving the static tongue  104 . This view shows the web tongue  102  inserted in the first slot  608 . The tongue slot  203  has the first rocker arm  603 a inserted therein. 
     FIG. 7 is a detailed view of the internal components of the preferred interlocking buckle  103  of this invention, with the static tongue  104  being inserted  702  and the web tongue  102  about to be released. This view shows the rocker  601  pivoting  703  around the pivot point pin  606  toward the static tongue  104 , with the second rocker arm  603   b  about to engage the static tongue  104  by insertion into the static tongue slot  701 . Simultaneously, the first rocker arm  603   a  is exiting the web tongue slot  203 , thereby releasing the web tongue  102 . 
     FIG. 8 is a detailed view of the internal components of the preferred interlocking buckle  103  of this invention, with the static tongue  104  inserted and the web tongue  102  being released  801 . In this view the web tongue  102  is fully released and is withdrawing from the web tongue slot  608  of the interlocking buckle  103 . The static tongue  104  is fully inserted in the static tongue slot  607  with the second rocker arm  603   b  inserted in the static tongue slot  701 , thereby locking the static tongue  104  in place in the interlocking buckle  103 . 
     FIG. 9 is a detailed view of the internal components of the preferred interlocking buckle  103  with the rocker  601  in the center point of its rotation. At this point in the rocker  601  rotation both the static tongue  104  and the web tongue  102  are held in place. Although, this position is terminated by either withdrawing the web tongue  102 , and thereby locking the static tongue  104 , or withdrawing the static tongue  104  and thereby locking the web tongue  102  in place. 
     The described embodiment of the invention is to be considered in all respects only as illustrative and not as restrictive. Although the embodiment shown, describes particularly positioning of the components, the invention should not be limited thereto. The scope of this invention is, therefore, indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. All changes, which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims, are to be embraced as within their scope.