Patent GB-1186680-A (GB)
Title: Safety Belt Buckle-Assembly
Inventor: CARTER ANDREW GRAY
IPC: A44B11/25
Filed: 1967-04-06
Abstract: 1,186,680. Buckles. A. G. CARTER. 6 April, 1967 [15 April, 1966], No. 15946/67. Heading E2A. A safety belt buckle assembly includes two buckle sections one section being a coupling member 28 for attachment to the first belt section 29 and the other section including a frame 20 securable to a second belt section 53, locking means 31 mounted on said frame to maintain releasable engagement between said coupling member and frame and a handle 47 mounted on said frame for movement in two opposite directions .said handle being operatively associated with said locking means to move the same. In the construction shown the handle is sleeve shaped and surrounds the frame 20, which is channel shaped, having a base 23 and two flanges 21, 22; the locking means 31 has end extensions 32 which are slidable in slots 33, 34 of the flanges 21, 22 and it is biassed by a leaf spring 35 which is trapped between the locking means 31 and a bar 36 to the locking position in which it overlies abutment forming means 24, 25 which, as shown, are pressed up from the base 23 and which engage apertures 26, 27 in the coupling member 28. The bar 36 is located in notches 39, 40 in the flanges 21, 22. The handle has a ridge 46 which engages a portion 45 of the locking means 31 which, as shown, is a slide member and the handle has recesses (not shown) in which the extensions 32 of the slide member are received, the ends of the recesses engaging the extensions 32 at about the same time as the ridge 46 engages the portion 45 of the slide member; the recesses extend to one end of the handle to enable the handle to be slipped over the frame. A belt clamping means for the second belt section 53 comprises a hollow bar 52 and a deformed portion 56 of the frame and the second belt section passes around the bar 52 and between the bar and the deformed portion 56 so that tension between the belt sections jams the second belt section between the bar 52 and the deformed portion 56; friction can be supplemented by providing the portion 56 with a knurled surface and also by knurling the rounded portions at the sides of the bar 52. The bar 52 slidably contains two plugs 60 and 61 (not shown) which are urged apart by a spring 57, the plugs having end projections 62 which are received in offset portions of the recesses in the handle, the projections 62 serving to prevent release of the handle from the frame although enabling it to be initially engaged with the frame, and the engagement of the projections with the shoulders of the recesses when the handle is moved to the left carrying the bar away from the portion 56 and releasing the second belt section; the bar 52 is biassed to the right by a leaf spring 73 which is trapped between the bar 36 and a slidable shoe 68, the shoe engaging the second belt section; the shoe has end portions 69 and 70 received in slots 71 and 72 of the frame flanges. A central lug 82 formed from the material of the base 23 of the frame has an offset end portion capable of entering an opening 84 in the slide member 31 and engaging a portion 85 of the slide member to inhibit any tendency of the slide member to bow upwardly and thus accidentally release the coupling member 28. In a modification instead of the bar 52 being provided with spring loaded plugs 60 and 61 the projections 62 of which engage the recesses in the handle, the handle is provided with slots through which plugs are passed to engage the bar. In a second modification instead of the base having a raised portion 56 a bar is provided having square ends which engage similarly formed openings in the side flanges of the frame. In a further modification the left hand end of the frame base is continued beyond the side flanges of the frame to decrease any tendency of the coupling member 28 to tilt. A construction is also described in which the clamping means for the second belt section is omitted and instead the base is provided with a slot through which the belt section is passed to be secured by sewing. In this construction the handle is held in position by a detent which has a tubular housing a fixed end plug and a movable end plug biassed by a spring end extension of the plug engaging the handle recesses. In this construction slots in the base and the coupling member for receiving the strap sections each have an arcuate edge to relieve the belt stresses near the edge of the belt. A one piece buckle for adjusting the length of one of the sections similarly has slots with arcuate edges.