Seat belt buckle

1. An improved seat belt buckle assembly for use with a tongue of a seat belt, the seat belt buckle assembly comprises:

a frame;

a latch attached to the frame and being moveable from a latched position to an unlatched position, a forward portion of the latch being configured to engage a portion of the tongue inserted into the frame as the latch moves into the latched position;

a moveable control lever positioned above the latch, the control lever being substantially U shaped, having a central portion with two lever arms extending from opposite ends of the central portion, the central portion of the control lever having a contact surface contacting an upper surface portion of the latch and a projecting tab extending from the central portion for receiving an upper spring;

a locking bar connected to the control lever being moveably in an L-shaped slot on vertical sides of the frame; wherein the latch is moved into engagement of the inserted tongue by an initial downward movement of the locking bar in the L-shaped slots followed by horizontal forward movement causing the control lever to pivot about the locking bar pushing the latch into a latched position;

the upper spring urging the control lever and locking bar to push the latch downwardly into the latched position;

an ejector slidably mounted in a bottom of the frame for ejecting the tongue moveable in a horizontal direction within the frame;

a mass moveable with the ejector;

a lower spring for biasing the ejector in an outward direction connected to the frame and the mass which compresses relative to the frame;

a release button slidably mounted onto the frame which moves the locking bar in the L-shaped slots unlatches the latch when depressed allowing the ejector and the mass to move forward ejecting the tongue from the buckle; and

wherein the control lever has stop surfaces on each end of the lever arms that move downwardly as the locking bar moves into a vertical portion of the L-shaped slots allowing the latch to move in the unlatched position during normal use locking the latch and control lever in the unlatched position, but when the buckle assembly is latched and exposed to a rapid deceleration the mass slides compressing the lower spring into the frame moving the mass to occupy a space directly under the stop surfaces of the control lever arms of the control lever blocking downward movement and preventing the locking bar from leaving horizontal portions of the L-shaped slots preventing movement of the latch into the unlatched position.

2. The seat belt buckle assembly of claim 1 wherein the upper spring is compressible between a rear fixed bracket attached to the frame and the projecting tab of the control lever, wherein in the unlatched position the upper spring is compressed as the control lever rests on an upper surface of the latch when the locking bar is moved into the vertical portions of the L-shaped slot.

3. The seat belt buckle assembly of claim 2 wherein the upper spring is held in place at each forward and rear end, the rear end held by a cylindrical projection concentrically inside the upper spring and the forward end held by the projecting tab on the control lever eccentrically holding the upper spring extending inside an upper portion of the upper spring and providing a downward force on the control lever and latch to assist movement in the L-shaped slot upon tongue insertion while allowing the upper spring to bend along a non linear path.

4. The seat belt buckle assembly of claim 1 wherein the frame is a single piece construction having a U shaped cross sectional shape.

5. The seat belt buckle assembly of claim 1 wherein the mass is attached to the ejector, the ejector fits into a slot in the mass and extends into a pair of horizontal slots on the frame, one horizontal slot being on each vertical side of the frame, the ejector securing the mass in the frame limiting the mass to horizontal forward and rearward sliding movements.

6. An improved seat belt buckle assembly for use with a tongue of a seat belt, the seat belt buckle assembly comprises:

a frame;

a latch attached to the frame and being moveable from a latched position to an unlatched position, a forward portion of the latch being configured to engage a portion of the tongue inserted into the frame as the latch moves into the latched position;

a moveable control lever positioned above the latch, the control lever being substantially U shaped, having a central portion with two lever arms extending from opposite ends of the central portion, the central portion of the control lever having a contact surface contacting an upper surface portion of the latch and a projecting tab extending from the central portion for receiving an upper spring;

a locking bar connected to the control lever being moveably in an L-shaped slot on vertical sides of the frame; wherein the latch is moved into engagement of the inserted tongue by an initial downward movement of the locking bar in the L-shaped slots followed by horizontal forward movement causing the control lever to pivot about the locking bar pushing the latch into a latched position;

an ejector slidably mounted in a bottom of the frame for ejecting the tongue moveable in a horizontal direction within the frame;

a mass moveable with the ejector;

a lower spring for biasing the ejector in an outward direction connected to the frame and the mass which compresses relative to the frame;

a release button slidably mounted onto the frame which moves the locking bar in the L-shaped slots unlatches the latch when depressed allowing the ejector and the mass to move forward ejecting the tongue from the buckle;

the upper spring urging the control lever and locking bar to push the latch downwardly into the latched position; and

wherein the upper spring is compressible between a rear fixed bracket attached to the frame and the projecting tab of the control lever, wherein in the unlatched position the upper spring is compressed as the control lever rests on an upper surface of the latch when the locking bar is moved into vertical portions of the L-shaped slot, the upper spring being held in place at each forward and rear end, the rear end held by a cylindrical projection concentrically inside the upper spring and the forward end held by the projecting tab on the control lever eccentrically holding the upper spring extending inside an upper portion of the upper spring and providing a downward force on the control lever and latch to assist movement in the L-shaped slot upon tongue insertion while allowing the upper spring to bend along a non linear path.

7. The seat belt buckle assembly of claim 6 wherein the frame is a single piece construction having a U shaped cross sectional shape.

8. The seat belt buckle assembly of claim 6 wherein the mass is attached to the ejector, the ejector fits into a slot in the mass and extends into a pair of horizontal slots on the frame, one horizontal slot being on each vertical side of the frame, the ejector securing the mass in the frame limiting the mass to horizontal forward and rearward sliding movements.

9. The seat belt buckle assembly of claim 6 wherein the control lever has stop surfaces on each end of the lever arms that move downwardly as the locking bar moves into the vertical portion of the L-shaped slots allowing the latch to move in the unlatched position during normal use locking the latch and control lever in the unlatched position, but when the buckle assembly is latched and exposed to a rapid deceleration the mass slides compressing the lower spring into the frame moving the mass to occupy space directly under the stop surfaces of the control lever arms of the control lever blocking downward movement and preventing the locking bar from leaving horizontal portions of the L-shaped slots preventing movement of the latch into the unlatched position.

10. An improved seat belt buckle assembly for use with a tongue of a seat belt, the seat belt buckle assembly comprises:

a frame;

a latch attached to the frame and being moveable from a latched position to an unlatched position, a forward portion of the latch being configured to engage a portion of the tongue inserted into the frame as the latch moves into the latched position;

a moveable control lever positioned above the latch, the control lever being substantially U shaped, having a central portion with two lever arms extending from opposite ends of the central portion, the central portion of the control lever having a contact surface contacting an upper surface portion of the latch and a projecting tab extending from the central portion for receiving an upper spring;

a locking bar connected to the control lever being moveably in an L-shaped slot on vertical sides of the frame; wherein the latch is moved into engagement of the inserted tongue by an initial downward movement of the locking bar in the L-shaped slots followed by horizontal forward movement causing the control lever to pivot about the locking bar pushing the latch into a latched position;

the upper spring urging the control lever and locking bar to push the latch downwardly into the latched position;

an ejector slidably mounted in a bottom of the frame for ejecting the tongue moveable in a horizontal direction within the frame;

a mass moveable with the ejector;

a lower spring for biasing the ejector in an outward direction connected to the frame and the mass which compresses relative to the frame;

a release button slidably mounted onto the frame which moves the locking bar in the L-shaped slots unlatches the latch when depressed allowing the ejector and the mass to move forward ejecting the tongue from the buckle; and

wherein the mass is attached to the ejector, the ejector fits into a slot in the mass and extends into a pair of horizontal slots on the frame, one horizontal slot being on each vertical side of the frame, the ejector securing the mass in the frame limiting the mass to horizontal forward and rearward sliding movements.

11. The seat belt buckle assembly of claim 10 wherein the control lever has stop surfaces on each end of the lever arms that move downwardly as the locking bar moves into a vertical portions of the L-shaped slots allowing the latch to move in the unlatched position during normal use locking the latch and control lever in the unlatched position, but when the buckle assembly is latched and exposed to a rapid deceleration the mass slides compressing the lower spring into the frame moving the mass to occupy a space directly under the stop surfaces of the control lever arms of the control lever blocking downward movement and preventing the locking bar from leaving horizontal portions of the L-shaped slots preventing movement of the latch into the unlatched position.

12. The seat belt buckle assembly of claim 11 wherein the frame is a single piece construction having a U shaped cross sectional shape.

13. The seat belt buckle assembly of claim 10 wherein the upper spring is compressible between a rear fixed bracket attached to the frame and the projecting tab of the control lever, wherein in the unlatched position the upper spring is compressed as the control lever rests on an upper surface of the latch when the locking bar is moved into a vertical portions of the L-shaped slot.

14. The seat belt buckle assembly of claim 13 wherein the upper spring is held in place at each forward and rear end, the rear end held by a cylindrical projection concentrically inside the upper spring and the forward end held by the projecting tab on the control lever eccentrically holding the upper spring extending inside an upper portion of the upper spring and providing a downward force on the control lever and latch to assist movement in the L-shaped slot upon tongue insertion while allowing the upper spring to bend along a non linear path.