Abstract: An inertial reel assembly for use with a safety belt. The reel assembly includes a spindle portion rotatably mounted within a housing for take up and pay out of the safety belt. The spindle is formed with plurality of teeth which engage and lock with the plurality of teeth formed within the interior of the housing. The spindle is mounted to move along an arc passing through its center point so that the spindle teeth may lock with the housing teeth. The housing teeth may include a flat section formed at the tips of the housing teeth for preventing the engagement of the spindle teeth with corresponding housing teeth when the spindle teeth are angularly misaligned with respect to the housing teeth.

Abstract: A belt clamping apparatus is provided for a seat belt system comprising a belt retractor and a device which is controlled by at least one acceleration sensor and serves to lock gears which are connected to the reel shaft of the belt retractor. The clamping apparatus comprises a clamping wedge, which is guided on a sliding surface that is fixed to a housing to move parallel to a back-pressure plate which is fixed to the housing, and together with the clamping wedge defines a gap for the passage of the belt, and an actuating member, which is movable by the locking device and displaces the clamping wedge to its clamping position. The actuating member is rotatably connected at one end to the housing and is pivoted at its other end to the clamping wedge, when the belt is being extracted further after the gears have been blocked by the actuating member in response to the movement of the reel shaft and imparts a translational movement to the clamping wedge.

Abstract: The tongue at the free end of a safety belt in a motor vehicle is releasably connected to the buckle by a coupling member which can be disengaged from the tongue by a reciprocable release member. The latter can be depressed by hand to thereby pivot (either entirely or in part) prior to completing a translatory movement which results in disengagement of the coupling member from the tongue. If the buckle is abruptly accelerated during an accident, the release member tends to carry out the translatory movement without a preceding pivotal movement whereby a stationary blocking element intercepts a blocking element on the release member and holds the latter against movement to a position in which the coupling member is caused or permitted to release the tongue. Alternatively, the release member is mounted for translatory movement to thereby disengage the coupling member from the tongue.

Abstract: The frame of the motor vehicle carries a vertical rail defining an elongated track for a plastic slide which carries a first pivotable lever serving as a means for releasably coupling the slide to the rail. A pivot member which secures the first lever to the slide carries a deflector for the shoulder belt of the occupant restraint system, and the first lever has a tooth which is biased against one of two sidewalls of the rail to enter into one of a row of sockets in the one sidewall. A second lever or a wheel is provided to extract the tooth from a selected socket and to thus enable the slide to move along the track to a different position in which the tooth is aligned with a different socket. The first lever is centered between the two sidewalls which flank the track for the slide. The central portion of the first lever resembles or constitutes a disc with two convex surfaces which are closely adjacent the respective sidewalls and have centers of curvature on or close the pivot axis of the first lever.

Abstract: An acceleration sensor for safety systems such as seat belt systems in motor vehicles, particularly so-called buckle-connected tighteners, comprises a sensor mass which is generally held in a position of rest but is capable of displacement in response to a predetermined critical acceleration to activate the safety system. In one embodiment, an inertial force sensor consists of a sensor lever pivoted to a part fixed in the vehicle, said sensor lever carries at its upwardly protruding free end an inertial mass, preferably in the form of an enlarged head, the sensor lever being held by a spring which urges said sensor lever toward its vertical stand-by position, and being connected by levers and/or links to a release mechanism for releasing a spring-loaded tie rod or the like or a blocking device.

Abstract: In a device for coupling and locking a bracket, which is provided with a buckle of a seat belt, in case of danger to a retaining member, which is fixed in a vehicle, the bracket, or a housing part or the like which is connected to the bracket, is connected to a movable coupling member, which in a guide of a seat frame plate or the like is guided in such a manner or by a linkage is so connected to said seat frame plate or the like that a tension exerted on the buckle will cause the latter to be coupled to the retaining member, which is fixedly mounted in the vehicle.