Belt Buckle Having a Fastening Device for a Cable

Abstract

Belt buckle (1) for a seat belt system. A cable (6) fastens the belt buckle (1) to a vehicle by a fastening device (7) riveted to the buckle housing (3). The fastening device (7) having a plate-like base (8) from the base surface (9) with a contact projection (11) having a radial arcuate contact surface (12) for a loop (13) formed by the cable (6) protrudes. A pin (14) protrudes from the contact projection (11) which is offset eccentrically in relation to a vertex (15) of the arcuate contact surface (12) of the contact projection (11) around which the cable (6) wraps. A distance (16) of the vertex (15) of the contact surface (12) to a center (17) of the pin (14) is smaller than a radius of curvature (18) of the contact surface (12) at the vertex (15).

Claims

1. A belt buckle for a seat belt system of the type including a spring-loaded latch mechanism for latching a belt tongue inserted into a buckle housing, a push button that is disposed on the buckle housing and can be displaced via spring effect for the impact on the latch mechanism required for unlatching the belt buckle, wherein a cable, which attaches the belt buckle to a vehicle, is attached by a fastening device affixed to the buckle housing, comprising the fastening device includes a plate-shaped base body, wherein an abutment projection, which protrudes in an axial direction from the surface of the base body, having an arcurate abutment surface for a loop formed by the cable, and a pin extends in the axial direction from the abutment projection, the pin is offset eccentric to an apex of the arcurate abutment surface of the abutment projection, around which the cable wraps, wherein the distance of the apex of the abutment surface to the center point of the pin is less than the radius of curvature of the abutment surface at the apex.

2. The belt buckle as per claim 1, further comprising in that the abutment surface in the form of a circular arc.

3. The belt buckle as per claim 1, further comprising in that the abutment surface in the form of an arc of an ellipse.

4. The belt buckle in accordance with claim 1 further comprising in that at least one cable bracket is formed on the fastening device, which cable bracket is disposed opposite the abutment surface at a distance of at least the diameter of the cable.

5. The belt buckle in accordance with claim 1 further comprising in that the base body has a rectangular basic shape and a longitudinal side of the base body aligns with a region of the abutment surface of the abutment projection.

6. The belt buckle in accordance with claim 1 further comprising in that the fastening device is formed as one part.

7. The belt buckle in accordance with claim 1 further comprising in that a recess is disposed in the base body, which recess is configured for obviating mounting errors.

8. The belt buckle in accordance with claim 1 further comprising a pair of brackets extending from the surface of the bore body for engaging the cable and maintaining the cable against the arcuate abutment surface.

9. The belt buckle in accordance with claim 1 further comprising wherein the pin has a circular cross-section having a radius of curvature wherein the radius of curvature of the abutment surface is greater than the radius of curvature of the pin.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019] The invention as well as the technical environment will be explained below with reference to the figures, wherein it should be noted that the figures show advantageous embodiments of the invention, but the invention is not limited to them.

[0020] FIG. 1 shows a belt buckle from the state of the art with a fixing device,

[0021] FIG. 2 shows a first embodiment of a fixing device on a cable,

[0022] FIG. 3 shows the fixing device from FIG. 2 in a perspective view,

[0023] FIG. 4 is a top view of a second embodiment of a fixing device,

[0024] FIG. 5 shows a third embodiment of the fixing device,

[0025] FIG. 6 shows a fourth embodiment of the fixing device, and

[0026] FIG. 7 shows a fifth embodiment of a fixing device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0027] FIG. 1 shows a belt buckle 1 from the state of the art with a lock housing 3 in which a locking mechanism 2 having a locking bar 23 is arranged. In a locking position of the belt buckle 1, a belt tongue 4 is fixed in the lock housing 3 by the locking bar 23. By actuating a push button 5 that is displaceably mounted on the lock housing 3, the locking mechanism 2 is actuated, so that the belt tongue 4 is released. The exact functioning of the locking mechanism 2 is thoroughly described in the state of the art and is not significant for the present invention.

[0028] The belt buckle 1 is fixed to the vehicle by means of a cable 6. The cable 6 is guided inside the lock housing 3 as a loop 13 and is riveted by means of a fixing device 7 by a riveting pin 14 of the fixing device to the lock housing 3. The fixing device 7, as well as the cable 6 engaging therewith, is described in more detail in the following exemplary embodiments.

[0029] A first embodiment of a fixing device 7 is shown in the FIGS. 2 and 3, whereby in FIG. 2 a cable 6 having a cable diameter 20 is also shown. The fixing device 7 includes a base body 8 having a base surface 9 from which a contact projection 11 projects in an axial direction 10. The contact projection 11 has on its circumference a radial arcuate contact surface 12 against which an inner side of a loop 13 formed by the cable 6 abuts. In turn, from the contact projection 11, a rivet pin 14 projects in the axial direction 10, by which the fixing device 7 is riveted to the lock housing 3. According to the present invention, the pin 14, with a center 17, is now eccentrically offset toward an apex 15 of the contact surface 12. The apex is here defined as the point at which the center of the cable section abutting the contact surface 12 abuts. The distance 16 of the center 17 of the pin 14 to the apex 15 is thus smaller than a radius of curvature 18 of the contact surface 12 at the apex 15. Because in this embodiment the contact surface 12 has an arcuate cross section, the radius of curvature 18 at the apex 15 corresponds to the radius of the circular arc.

[0030] In addition, two cable mounting brackets 19 extending in the axial direction 10 are formed on the base body 8. The distance between the cable mounting brackets 19 and the contact surface 12 is such that the cable 6 is fixed between the contact surface 12 and the cable mounting brackets. Furthermore, a recess 22 that prevents assembly errors is configured in the base body 8.

[0031] FIG. 4 describes a second embodiment of a fixing device 7, whereby here particular attention is given to the differences compared with the first embodiment. The fixing device 7 has a base body 8 with a circular cross sectional area. A contact projection 11 that also has a circular cross sectional surface projects from a base area 9 of the base body 8. A riveting pin 14 projects in turn from the contact projection 11. It can be seen that the pin 14, with its center 17, is radially offset toward the center of the circular cross sectional surface of the contact projection 11. The distance 16 between the center 17 of the riveting pin 14 and the apex 15 of the contact surface 12 is thus smaller than the radius of curvature 18 of the contact surface 12 at the apex 16.

[0032] FIG. 5 shows a third embodiment of a fixing device 7. The fixing device 7 includes a rectangular plate-shaped base body 8, a contact projection 11 that is elliptically shaped in cross section projecting from its base area 9. The contact projection 11 has a contact surface 12. The contact surface 12 is flush with the apex 15 of a longitudinal side 21 of the rectangular base body 8. A pin 14 projects from the contact projection 11; the center 17 of the pin is axially offset toward the apex 15 of the contact surface 12 of the contact projection 11. The radius of curvature 18 of the contact surface 12 in the apex 15 is larger than the distance from the center 17 of the pin 14 to the apex 15 of the contact surface 12.

[0033] Two embodiments of a fixing device 7 are shown in the FIGS. 6 and 7, in which these embodiments differ from the third embodiment in FIG. 5 in the design of the cable mounting brackets 19. The cable mounting brackets 19 are arranged at a distance from the elliptically shaped contact surfaces 12 of the contact projection 11 such that the cables 6 that are shown, with the cable diameters 20, are fixed between the cable mounting brackets 19 and the contact surfaces 12. With the embodiment in FIG. 6, the cable mounting brackets 19 have a circular cross section, whereas with the embodiment in FIG. 7, the cable mounting brackets 19 have a triangular cross section.

[0034] With the present invention, due to the radically eccentric offset of the pin 14 in the direction of the apex 15 of the contact surface 12, belt buckles 1 can be made with a smaller extension in the displacement direction of the push-bottom.

[0035] While the above description constitutes the preferred embodiment of the present invention, it will be appreciated that the invention is susceptible to modification, variation and change without departing from the proper scope and fair meaning of the accompanying claims.