Patent ID: 7802818

Claim:
A belt brake for a safety belt serving to protect occupants in a vehicle, which belt can be wound onto and from a belt drum mounted rotationally about a belt shaft, comprising: at least one braking means displaceably mounted longitudinally to the belt shaft, connected to the belt shaft in a rotationally fixed manner and located between a first and a second thrust bearing; means, connected to at least the first thrust bearing, for forcibly guiding the first thrust bearing along the belt shaft in response to a winding or an unwinding of the safety belt onto or from the belt drum, to transfer the first thrust bearing from a first position at which the safety belt is wound onto the belt drum and at which an axial distance a 1 exists between the braking means and at least one of the first and second thrust bearings, to a second position at which the safety belt is at least partially unwound from the belt drum and at which an axial distance a 2 exists between the braking means and the at least one thrust bearing, with a 2 <a 1 ; and at least one actuator element which, when actuated in the second position, produces a braking force which acts longitudinally on the belt shaft between the first and second thrust bearings and which is directed towards the at least one braking means.