1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to automobile passenger protection, and specifically, is a method and apparatus for modifying and adjusting existing shoulder belts to fit passengers who are currently unable to wear them.
2) Discussion of Prior Art
Standard three-point automobile seat belts are only designed to restrain a passenger of average adult size. The shoulder portion crosses the passenger seat, and hence the body of the passenger seated thereon, at a location which is fixed in relation to the passenger seat, not to the passenger. The crossover point is not always properly over the center of the passenger's breastbone, a.k.a. the mesosternum. In fact, this crossover point may even be over the neck or face of a passenger of below average height or size. The result is that such a passenger, e.g., a child, is unable to use standard shoulder belts. It has been thought desirable to adjust the position of the belt and/or passenger so that the shoulder belt would properly cross the mesosternum, and permit the passenger to wear a shoulder belt.
Some devices of the prior art has attempted to lower the shoulder belt crossover point by lowering the "vertical transition point", the point from which the shoulder portion of the belt turns and proceeds diagonally across the passenger. The position of this point is originally located at the "vertical transition member", which is the hardware member, typically a D-ring, to which the shoulder portion of the belt rises and meets the vertical portion of the belt. This vertical transition member is typically mounted in the car's interior near the passenger's shoulder. Providing means to move the vertical transition point by moving the actual vertical transition member necessarily required a substantial modification of the vehicle interior. Hence, such prior art devices could not be used on existing automobiles. Furthermore, they are a cumbersome solution to the problem.
Other prior art attempts attempted to lower the vertical transition point, and hence the point at which the shoulder belt crossed the occupant's chest, without moving the actual vertical transition member. One such approach is shown by Pollitt's U.S. Pat. No. 4,236,755, and Ashworth's U.S. Pat. No. 4,289,352. These provide, along with the standard safety belts, an additional belt mounted about or adjacent to the seat. Further provided is a deflection member, which is adjustably mounted on the belt. The shoulder belt may be deflectively adjusted by the deflection member so as to better cross the occupant's chest. A strong disadvantage shared by Ashworth's and Pollitt's apparatuses is that they each require adding an additional separate, independent belt to the car, upon which their deflection member is mounted. Thus, they cannot use existing belts, but require either retrofitting existing automobiles or redesigning future automobiles to include the extra parts. Furthermore, the deflection members utilized by Ashworth and Pollitt lack a superior means for being securely, yet adjustably, mounted to the belt supporting them, as well as means for optimal torsional positioning of the shoulder belt which they are deflecting so as to lay flat as possible in fullest desired contact with occupant. Furthermore, the devices taught are not substantially co-planar with the interior automobile and belt surfaces, and hence present an additional hazard to the user.
Thus, nothing in the prior art shows, teaches, or suggests the present invention, especially of its: (1) providing a method and means of adjusting the point at which the shoulder belt crosses the passenger by lowering the effective upper end of the diagonal portion of the seat belt by deflecting it towards the vertical portion of the belt itself with a device that is itself frictionally and mechanically bound to the vertical portion of the belt and held to thereby, and (2) providing belt adjustment means which are mounted on the vertical portion of the belt and which engage the shoulder portion of the belt and which are used by sliding them up and down on the vertical portion of the belt so as to raise and lower the effective connection of the shoulder belt to the vertical portion of the belt, and also so as to raise and lower the effective height of the point from which the shoulder belt proceeds diagonally downward and also to raise and lower the point at which the shoulder belt crosses the passenger.
The present invention overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art, and has numerous objects and advantages which will become apparent from the drawings and the ensuing description.