Belt retractor with a child lock

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9409545-B2
Application number	US-201214115637-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 7, 2012
Priority date	May 12, 2011
Publication date	Aug 9, 2016
Grant date	Aug 9, 2016

Abstract

A belt retractor ( 10 ) for a vehicle seat belt includes a frame ( 12 ) provided with plural blocking teeth ( 22 ), a belt reel ( 14 ) which is rotatably supported in the frame ( 12 ) and includes a blocking tooth system ( 24 ), and a control mechanism by which the belt reel ( 14 ) can be moved from a home position in which it can freely rotate in the frame ( 12 ) into a blocking position in which its blocking tooth system ( 24 ) engages in the blocking teeth ( 22 ) of the frame. The control mechanism includes a locking lever ( 80 ) adjustable between a release position and a locked position in which it locks rotation of the belt reel ( 14 ) relative to the control mechanism so that the belt reel ( 14 ) can be moved into the blocking position by a tensile force acting in the webbing.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A belt retractor ( 10 ) for a vehicle seat belt comprising a frame ( 12 ) provided with plural blocking teeth ( 22 ), a belt reel ( 14 ) that is rotatably supported in the frame ( 12 ) and has a blocking tooth system ( 24 ), and comprising a control mechanism which supports the belt reel ( 14 ) for movement relative to the frame from a home position in which the belt reel freely rotates in the frame ( 12 ) into a blocking position in which the blocking tooth system ( 24 ) engages in the blocking teeth ( 22 ) of the frame, wherein the control mechanism includes a locking lever ( 80 ) adjustable between a release position and a locked position in which the locking lever locks rotation of the belt reel ( 14 ) relative to the control mechanism so that the belt reel ( 14 ) moves into the blocking position, the locking lever being mounted for movement with the belt reel and the control mechanism relative to the frame when the belt reel moves between the home position and the blocking position.

2. The belt retractor according to claim 1 , wherein the control mechanism includes a control lever ( 28 ) and that the locking lever ( 80 ) is pivoted on the control lever ( 28 ).

3. The belt retractor according to claim 1 , wherein the control mechanism includes a control disk ( 50 ) coupled to the belt reel ( 14 ) and interacting with the locking lever ( 80 ).

4. The belt retractor according to claim 3 , wherein the control disk ( 50 ) is coupled to the belt reel ( 14 ) by means of a reduction gear unit ( 56 , 58 , 60 , 64 ).

5. The belt retractor according to claim 4 , wherein the reduction gear unit comprises a stepped gearwheel ( 58 , 60 ) driven by a pinion ( 64 ) coupled to the belt reel ( 14 ) and engaging in an internal tooth system ( 56 ) provided at the control disk ( 50 ).

6. The belt retractor according to claim 3 , wherein the control disk ( 50 ) has two concentric guide grooves ( 70 , 72 ) with which a guide element ( 74 ) of the locking lever ( 80 ) can interact, one of the guide grooves defining the release position of the locking lever and the other defining the locked position.

7. The belt retractor according to claim 6 , wherein a change-over mechanism ( 86 , 92 ) is provided which is adapted to transfer the guide element ( 74 ) of the locking lever ( 80 ) from the one guide groove to the other.

8. The belt retractor according to claim 7 , wherein the change-over mechanism includes an activating element ( 86 ) associated with the release guide groove ( 70 ) and being adapted to transfer the guide element ( 74 ) from the release guide groove ( 70 ) into the locking guide groove ( 72 ), when the control disk ( 50 ) overruns the guide element ( 74 ) in a direction corresponding to wind-up of the webbing.

9. The belt retractor according to claim 8 , wherein the activating element comprises an elastically resilient lug at the control disk ( 50 ).

10. The belt retractor according to claim 8 , wherein the guide element ( 74 ) of the locking lever ( 80 ) can be elastically deflected in parallel to the pivot axis of the locking lever ( 80 ).

11. The belt retractor according to claim 7 , wherein the change-over mechanism includes a deactivating element ( 92 ) which transfers the guide element ( 74 ) from the locking guide groove ( 72 ) into the release guide groove ( 70 ) when the guide element ( 74 ) has reached the end of the locking guide groove ( 72 ).

12. The belt retractor according to claim 11 , wherein the deactivating element comprises an elastically resilient lug at the control disk.

13. The belt retractor according to claim 6 , wherein the guide element ( 74 ) is arranged at a guide arm ( 76 ) which is elastically connected to the locking lever ( 80 ).

14. The belt retractor according to claim 1 , wherein the blocking teeth are stationary relative to the frame.

15. The belt retractor according to claim 1 , wherein the blocking tooth system is fixed for rotation with the belt reel relative to the frame.

16. A belt retractor for a vehicle seat belt comprising:
a frame having a plurality of blocking teeth;
a belt reel onto which belt webbing is wound, the belt reel being rotatable relative to the frame;
a blocking tooth system fixed for rotation with the belt reel relative to the frame, the blocking tooth system engaging the blocking teeth of the frame to prevent relative rotation of the belt reel relative to the frame;
a control mechanism supporting the belt reel for rotation relative to the frame and configured to support the belt reel for movement relative to the frame from a home position where the belt reel rotates relative to the frame to a blocking position where the blocking tooth system engages the blocking teeth, the control mechanism including a locking lever pivotable between a release position that allows rotation of the belt reel relative to the frame and a locked position that prevents rotation of the belt reel relative to the control mechanism such that the belt reel moves to the blocking position, the locking lever being mounted for movement with the belt reel and the control mechanism relative to the frame when the belt reel moves between the home position and the blocking position.

17. The belt retractor according to claim 16 , wherein the control mechanism includes a control disk that interacts with the locking lever and is coupled to the belt reel by a reduction gear unit.

18. The belt retractor according to claim 17 , wherein the locking lever has a guide element that interacts with concentric guide grooves provided on the control disk, a first groove of the guide grooves defining the release position of the locking lever and a second groove of the guide grooves defining the locked position of the locking lever.

19. The belt retractor according to claim 18 , wherein the control disk is provided with a change-over mechanism that transfers the guide element between the first groove and the second groove, the change-over mechanism including an activating element associated with the first groove and being adapted to transfer the guide element from the first groove to the second groove when the control disk overruns the guide element in a webbing wind-up direction.

20. The belt retractor according to claim 19 , wherein the change-over mechanism includes a deactivating element that transfers the guide element from the second groove to the first groove when the guide element reaches an end of the second groove.

Assignees

• Michel Frederic
• Patyk Pawel
• Trw Automotive Gmbh

Inventors

• Michel Frederic
• Patyk Pawel

Classifications

• B60R22/38 Primary

  responsive only to belt movement · CPC title

• B60R22/415 Primary

  with additional means allowing a permanent locking of the retractor during the wearing of the belt · CPC title