Patent Publication Number: US-2016219988-A1

Title: Buckle Structure for Safety Belt

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a buckle for a safety belt, and more particularly to a buckle structure for a racing automobile. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     A conventional safety belt is fixed in a vehicle to protect a driver and passenger(s). For example, in a car crash, the conventional safety belt ties the driver and the passenger(s) securely on seats to avoid the driver and the passenger(s) hitting steering wheel and windshield. 
     A buckle is connected with a safety belt and is used for common automobile or racing car. For example, a buckle structure for the racing car contains a buckle piece inserted into a retaining groove quickly, such that the buckle piece is fixed by one of movable bolts, and an end portion of the buckle piece abuts against the elastic member. When desiring to unbuckle the safety belt, a rotating portion drives the one of the movable blots to remove from the buckle piece, and then the elastic member pushes the buckle piece outwardly, thus unbuckling the safety belt. 
     However, the elastic member of the buckle structure has a fitting stem, a spring fitted on the fitting stem, and a sliding block with a shoulder, wherein the fitting stem is fitted into the sliding block, and the elastic member is mounted in a trench of a holder so that the sliding block slides in the trench. Accordingly, the elastic member has many related components, is assembled difficulty and is produced at a high cost. Furthermore, an end portion of the spring gets stuck between the fitting stem and the sliding block to operate the buckle structure roughly. 
     The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a buckle structure for a safety belt in which an elastic member has a sliding block and a resilient element to reduce related components of the elastic member, to assemble the buckle structure easily, and to lower production cost of the buckle structure. 
     To obtain above-mentioned objectives, a buckle structure for a safety belt provided by the present invention contains: a base, a cover, a locking device, and a rotating member. 
     The base includes a plurality of retaining grooves defined around a peripheral side of a top surface thereof, each retaining groove having a slot formed on a central portion thereof to accommodate an elastic member. 
     The cover is covered on the base and includes an accommodating chamber formed therein. 
     The locking device is mounted in the accommodating chamber of the cover and includes a fixing blot, plural movable bolts, a first spring, a driving piece, a rotary shaft, and a positioning disc, wherein the fixing bolt and the plural movable bolts cooperate with a plurality of second springs and are fitted on plural columns of the cover, the first spring and the driving piece are accommodated in the accommodating chamber of the cover, such that the first spring abuts against the cover and the driving piece, and the driving piece has a central hole defined on a central position thereof, a hollow post with two oppositely V-shaped cutouts, and plural gaps formed around a peripheral side thereof to retain with the fixing blot and the plural movable bolts, the rotary shaft extends out of the cover via the central hole of the driving piece and the first spring, the rotary shaft has two opposite tabs arranged on a peripheral side thereof, wherein the two opposite tabs are located at two bottom ends of the two oppositely V-shaped cutouts of the hollow post, and the rotary shaft and the driving piece are pushed by the first spring to move back to an original position, the positioning disc is mounted between the cover and the base and has a plurality of orifices formed adjacent to a peripheral side thereof to insert the fixing blot and the plural movable bolts. 
     The rotating member is disposed on the cover and connects with the locking device, such that the rotating member drives the locking device to rotate. 
     The elastic member has a sliding block and a resilient element, the sliding block has a notch for inserting a first end of the resilient element, and a second end of the resilient element abuts against an inner end of the slot, wherein the rotary shaft has a peripheral rib extending outwardly around a bottom end of an outer wall thereof and fixed above the resilient element which is inserted into the notch of the sliding block, such that the resilient element is limited by the notch of the sliding block and the peripheral rib of the rotary shaft. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view showing the assembly of a buckle structure for a safety belt according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective view showing the exploded components of the buckle structure for the safety belt according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective view showing the assembly of a cover of the buckle structure for the safety belt according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 4  is a perspective view showing the assembly of a driving piece of the buckle structure for the safety belt according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 5  is a cross sectional view showing the assembly of the buckle structure for the safety belt according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 6  is a cross sectional view showing the operation of the buckle structure for the safety belt according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 7  is another cross sectional view showing the operation of the buckle structure for the safety belt according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 8  is also cross sectional view showing the operation of the buckle structure for the safety belt according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     The present invention will be clearer from the following description when viewed together with the accompanying drawings, which show, for purpose of illustrations. only, a preferred embodiment in accordance with the present invention. 
     With reference to  FIGS. 1 to 5 , a buckle structure for a safety belt according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises: a base  1 , a cover  2 , a locking device  3 , and a rotating member  4 . The base  1  includes a plurality of protrusions  11  separately arranged around a peripheral side of a top surface thereof, wherein between any two protrusions  11  is defined a retaining groove  12 , the retaining groove  12  has a slot  14  formed on a central portion thereof to accommodate an elastic member  13 , and the elastic member  13  has a sliding block  131  and a resilient element  132 , wherein the sliding block  131  has a notch  1311  defined on an inner end thereof to insert a first end of the resilient element  132 , and a second end of the resilient element  132  abuts against an inner end of the slot  14 , wherein the resilient element  132  is a compression spring. The cover  2  is covered on the base  1  and is screwed by at least one screwing element, and the cover  2  includes an accommodating chamber  21  formed therein, the accommodating chamber  21  has a plurality of recessed portions  211  arranged on an outer rim thereof, and each recessed portion  211  has a column  22  extending downwardly therefrom. The cover  2  also includes a limiting projection  23  arranged on a top surface thereof. The locking device  3  is mounted in the accommodating chamber  21  of the cover  2  and includes a fixing blot  31 , plural movable bolts  32 , a first spring  33 , a driving piece  34 , a rotary shaft  35 , and a positioning disc  36 , wherein the fixing bolt  31  and the plural movable bolts  32  cooperate with a plurality of second springs  37  and are fitted on plural columns  22  of the cover  2 , the first spring  33  and the driving piece  34  are accommodated in the accommodating chamber  21  of the cover  2  so that the first spring  33  abuts against the cover  2  and the driving piece  34 , and the driving piece  34  has a central hole  341  defined on a central position thereof, a hollow post  342  with two oppositely V-shaped cutouts, and plural gaps  343  formed around a peripheral side thereof to retain with the fixing blot  31  and the plural movable bolts  32 . The rotary shaft  35  extends out of the cover  2  via the central hole  341  of the driving piece  34  and the first spring  33 , such that the driving piece  34  and the first spring  33  are fitted on the rotary shaft  35 . The rotary shaft  35  has two opposite tabs  351  arranged on a peripheral side thereof, wherein the two opposite tabs  351  are located at two bottom ends of the two oppositely V-shaped cutouts of the hollow post  342 , and the rotary shaft  35  and the driving piece  34  are pushed by the first spring  33  to move back to an original position. The rotary shaft  35  has a peripheral rib  352  extending outwardly around a bottom end of an outer wall thereof and fixed above the resilient element  132  which is inserted into the notch  1311  of the sliding block  131 , such that the resilient element  132  is limited by the notch  1311  of the sliding block  131  and the peripheral rib  352  of the rotary shaft  35 , the resilient element  132  presses, expands, and abuts against the inner end of the slot  14  and the inner end of the notch  1311  of the sliding block  131  to avoid elasticity fatigue. The positioning disc  36  is mounted between the cover  2  and the base  1  and has a plurality of orifices  361  formed adjacent to a peripheral side thereof to insert the fixing blot  31  and the plural movable bolts  32 . The rotating member  4  is disposed on the cover  2  and includes a recess  41  defined on a central position of a bottom end thereof to fit with an upper end of the rotary shaft  35 , and the rotating member  4  is screwed with the rotary shaft  35  by ways of a screw, such that the rotating member  4  drives the rotary shaft  35  of the locking device  3  to rotate. The rotating member  4  includes a circular trench  42  formed on the bottom end thereof, and the circular trench  42  has two affix portions  421  fixed therein to match with the limiting projection  23  of the cover  2 , thus limiting a rotating angle of the rotating member  4 . 
     In operation, as illustrated in  FIG. 6 , a buckle piece  5  is inserted into the retaining groove  12  of the base  1  and its front end pushes the sliding block  131  of the elastic member  13  into the slot  14 , such that the sliding block  131  slides into the slot  14 , and the resilient element  132  is pressed by the sliding block  131 . After the buckle piece  5  is positioned, one of the plural movable bolts  32  of the locking device  3 , which corresponds to the buckle piece  5 , inserts into an aperture  51  of the buckle piece  5  by using one of the plurality of second springs  37 , thus buckling the buckle piece  5 . 
     As desiring to unbuckle the safety belt, as shown in  FIGS. 7 and 8 , the rotating member  4  drives the rotary shaft  35  to rotate, and the rotating angle of the rotating member  4  is limited since the two affix portions  421  engage with the limiting projection  23  of the cover  2 , hence the two opposite tabs  351  of the rotary shaft  35  slide toward two edges of the hollow post  342  from the two bottom ends of the two oppositely V-shaped cutouts of the hollow post  342 , and the driving piece  34  is pushed upwardly by the two opposite tabs  351  to press the first spring  33 , to push the plural movable bolts  32  upwardly, and to press the plurality of second springs  37 . Thereafter, the one of the plural movable bolts  32  disengages from the aperture  51  of the buckle piece  5 , the resilient element  132  of the elastic member  13  pushes the sliding block  131  to move outwardly, such that the sliding block  131  pushes the buckle piece  15  out of the retaining groove  12 , thus unbuckling the buckle piece easily. After unbuckling the buckle piece, the first spring  33  and the plurality of second springs  37  push the driving piece  34  and the plural movable bolts  32  back to the original position, hence the rotary shaft  35  and the rotating member  4  reversely rotate back to an original angle. 
     Accordingly, the buckle structure of the present invention has advantages as follows: 
     The elastic member  13  of the buckle structure has the sliding block  131  and the resilient element  132 , the first end of the resilient element  132  inserts into the notch  1311  of the sliding block  131 , and the second end of the resilient element  132  is limited by the peripheral rib  352  of the rotary shaft  35 , such that the resilient element  132  abuts against the inner end of the slot  14  and the inner end of the notch  1311  of the sliding block  131  to avoid elasticity fatigue, to reduce related components of the elastic member  13 , to assemble the buckle easily, and to lower production cost of the buckle structure. 
     While various embodiments in accordance with the present invention have been shown and described, it is clear to those skilled in the art that further embodiments may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.