This invention relates to buckles and safety harnesses. The invention particularly relates to buckles and safety harnesses used by children in motor vehicles, either alone, or in conjunction with a safety seat secured in a motor vehicle.

Such safety harnesses usually comprise two shoulder straps, two lap straps and one crotch strap, one end of each strap being attached or attachable to, a buckle. It is desirable that the buckle retains all of the straps in position whilst not allowing the buckle to operate with one or more of the straps not attached to the buckle. Buckles of this type are commonly referred to s inhibited buckles.

Such buckles usually include some form of blocking mechanism which ensures that the attachment means on, or at the end of the straps of the harness have to be assembled on the buckle in a certain order before any latching means on the buckle can be operated to secure all of the harness straps to the buckle.

Usually each strap of the harness has a tongue attached to it, apart from one of the straps to which the buckle itself is attached. Therefore, the buckle has to accommodate four tongues which have to inserted into the buckle in a certain order otherwise the blocking mechanism will not be displaced and the buckle will not accept all of the tongues, or retain any of thera and thus the straps, on the buckle.

The present invention seeks to provide a simpler form of inhibited buckle and safety harness in which the buckle is attached to at least one strap of the harness and only two tongues need to be inserted into the buckle in a predetermined order, so that both of the tongues and thus the associated straps are secured to the buckle.

Accordingly the present invention provides a buckle and safety harness, the harness comprising two shoulder strap portions, two lap strap portions and a crotch strap portion, the buckle having latching means and blocking means for the latching means, the buckle being securable to at least one of said strap portions at a first location, and the blocking means being displaceable to allow the remaining strap portions to be attached to the buckle at second and third locations on the buckle.

The buckle can have first and second openings arranged to receive respective first and second tongues, the tongues each being attached to at least one of the remaining strap portions, the blocking means being displaceable by one of said tongues and allowing the other one of said tongues to engage the latching means and the first one of said tongues, at least two of said strap portions being attached to one of said tongues.

The blocking means can comprise a blocking member extending transversely of the first opening, the blocking member being located in guideways in the buckle, the blocking member including spring means biased to close off the first opening in the buckle.

In one arrangement, the crotch strap portion is attached to the buckle and each shoulder and lap strap portion is a continuous shoulder and lap strap length, each continuous shoulder and lap strap length being located in an opening of the respective first and second tongues.

One end of each continuous shoulder and lap strap length can include retaining means to secure the said one end to a structure and the other end of the continuous shoulder and lap strap length can include adjustable retaining means to secure the other said end to the structure.

In another arrangement according to the invention, the lap strap portions are formed as a continuous lap strap length, one end of the lap strap length is attached to the buckle together with one end of one of the shoulder strap portions, one end of the crotch strap portion being attached to one of the tongues and the other one of said tongues being attached to the other end of said lap strap length, and one end of the other one of said shoulder strap portions.

The other ends of both shoulder strap portions can be adjustably retained to a structure.

The other end of said lap strap length can be adjustably attached to the other one of said tongues.

Each tongue can include a slot in which one or more of the strap

portions or strap lengths can be located. One of said tongues can be sized to engage in the guideways for the blocking member.

The present invention will now be more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which,

Figure. 1 shows a perspective view of a childs car safety seat including a buckle and safety harness according to the present invention,

Figure. 2 shows a view of the buckle illustrated in figure. 1,

Figure 3 shows a perspective view of a childs car safety seat including a further form of buckle and safety harness according to the present invention,

Figure 4 shows an opposite handed form of the buckle shown in

Figure 3,

Figure 5 shows a perspective view of a childs car safety seat including another form of buckle and safety harness according to the present invention, and

Figure 6 shows an opposite handed form of the buckle illustrated in Figure 5.

Referrring to the Figs. 1 and 2, a childs car safety seat 2 includes a harness 4, having a buckle 6, the seat 2 being securable to a motor vehicle (not shown) by means (not shown) .

The harness 4 has two combined shoulder and lap straps 8 and 10, and a crotch strap 12 which is securely attached to the buckle 6. Each strap 8, 10 consists of a shoulder strap portion 8A, 10A and a lap strap portion 8B, 10B, respectively. The free end of the straps 8, 10 and the free end of the strap 12 pass through openings in the back, sides and bottom respectively of the seat 2,

and each have length adjustment and restraining means 14, so that the length of the straps 8, 10 and 12, can be adjusted to suit the user and to retain the straps on the seat.

Tongue and attachment means 16 and iδ are slideable mounted on the straps 8 and 10. Each tongue and attachment means 16 and 18 is in the form of a T-shaped member in which the plane of the cross piece is normal to the plane of the upright of the T shaped member.

Referring to particularly to figure. 2, the tongue and attachment means 16 has a cross piece 16A in which a slot 16B is formed, and an upright 16C which forms the tongue, and the tongue has a slot 16D, the purpose of which is described below. The tongue and attachment means 18 has a cross piece 18A provided with slot 18B, and a upright 18C which forms the tongue has an opening 18D, which is engageable by latching means (not shown) of the buckle 6.

The straps 8 and 10 pass through the slots 16B and 18B and are thus moveably secured to the respective attachment means 16, 18.

The buckle 6 includes a housing 20 having an opening 22 in one side and an opening 24 in its top.

A blocking member which comprises a bar 26 and coil spring 28 is located internally of the buckle The bar 26 extends transversely of the opening 24 in the buckle and is slideable in guide ways 30 provided internally of the buckle. The tongue 16C is sized to

co-operate with the guideways 30. The blocking member (26, 28) is biased to prevent the tongue 18C from being inserted into the opening 24.

In order attach the tongues 16C and 18C and thus the lap and shoulder straps 8 and 10 to the buckle 6, the tongue 16C is inserted through the opening 22 of the buckle to displace the bar 26 along the guideways 30 against the force exerted by the spring 28. When the blocking member has been displaced by sufficient amount to allow the opening 16D to be exposed in the opening 24, the tongue 18C can be inserted into the opening 24 and through the slot 16D in the tongue 16C. The latching means (not shown) of the buckle can engage the opening 18D in the tongue 18C.

Thus, both of the tongues 16C and 18C and therefore the associated straps of the harness are secured to the buckle 6, which itself is secured to the remaining strap 12 of the harness. It will also be appreciated that neither tongue 16C or 18C can be attached independently to the buckle 6, and that the tongue 16C must be inserted into the buckle before the tongue 18C can be inserted into the buckle.

Referring to Fig. 3 in which components corresponding to those shown in Figs 1 and 2 have been given identical reference numbers, each combined shoulder and lap strap 8 and 10 is provided with a retainer in the form of a buckle 32 to enable one end of each strap length 8 and 10 to be secured to the seat 2. The restraining means 14 at the other end of each strap length 8 and

10 enable the length of each strap length to be adjusted and to be attached to the seat 2.

The crotch strap 12 is also provided with a restraining means 34 enabling the length of the crotch strap to be adjusted and for the crotch strap to be secured to the seat 2.

Referring particularly to Fig. 4 which is similar to Fig. 2 the attachment means 18 is formed as a flat plate so that there are no projections which could harm the user of the harness 4 and buckle 6.

Fig. 4 shows an opposite-handed form of the buckle 6 shown in Fig. 3. The opening 22 is on the opposite side of the housing 20, and the blocking bar 26 and spring 28 are consequently reversed in position, as are the attachment means 16. 18.

Referring particularly to Fig. 5 the buckle 6 includes a cross-piece 36 having two slots 38 and 40. The lap strap portions 8B, 10B are formed as a continuous lap strap length 42, one end of which 42A is attached to the buckle 6 via the slot 40. One shoulder strap portion 8A is attached to the buckle 6 via the slot 38 in the cross-piece 36.

In this embodiment of the invention there are two tongue and attachment means 44 and 46 which correspond to the attachment means 16 and 18 respectively. The attachment means 44 includes a tongue 44A in which a slot 44B is formed and a flange 44C in which

a slot 44D is formed. One end of the crotch strap portion 12 is secured to the attachment means 44 by means of the slot 44D and the other end of the crotch strap portion is adjustably secured to the seat 2 by means of the restraining means 34.

The attachment means 46 has a cross piece 46A in which a slot 46B is formed, a further slot 46C and associated webbing adjuster 44D, a tongue 46E and a latch slot 46F.

The free end of the continuous lap .strap length 42 is passed through the slot 46C and is adjustably retained on the attachment means 46 by means of the webbing adjuster 46D. One end of the other shoulder strap portion 10A is secured to the attachment means 46 by means of the slot 46B.

Both shoulder strap portion 8A and 10A have a retainer 48 to attach these portions to the seat 2, together with adjusters 50 so that the length of each shoulder strap portion 8A and 10A can be adjusted

The buckle and safety harness according to this embodiment of the invention is operated in a similar manner to that described with reference to the previous figures. The lengths of the shoulder strap portions, the crotch portion and the continuous lap strap portion are adjusted to suit the size of the user and the tongue 44A is first inserted into the buckle 6 in order to displace the blocking bar and allow the tongue 46E of the attachment means 46 to be inserted into the buckle passing through the slot 44B in the

tongue 44A, and allowing the buckle latch to engage the latch slot 46F of the attachment means 46. The straps and strap portions forming the harness 4 are all thereby coupled together by means of the buckle 6.

Fig. 6 shows an opposite handed form of buckle 6, harness 4 and attachment means 44, 46, to that shown in Fig. 5 and corresponding components have been given the same references as those used in Fig. 5. The arrangement shown in Fig. 6 operates in a similar manner to that described with reference to Fig. 5.

Modifications can be made to the various forms of buckle and harness described above, within the scope of the present invention. For example, with reference to Figs. 1 and 2, the shoulder and lap straps 8 and 10, can each be in the form of shoulder and lap strap lengths 8A, 10A, and 8B, 10B. One free end of each of these strap lengths can be secured to the respective attachment means 16 and 18. The strap lengths can be adjusted and retained to the seat 2 by restraining means 14, and 32, 34 (Fig. 3).

Also, referring to Fig. 5, the continuous lap strap length can be secured at one end to the attachment means 46, whilst the free end can pass through an appropriate slot provided on the buckle 6. A webbing adjuster can be provided on the buckle 6 to enable the length of the continuous lap strap to be adjusted and for the lap strap to be locked in position.

Buckles and safety harnesses have been described with reference to a childs safety seat which can be secured in a motor vehicle. Buckles and safety harnesses according to the present invention can also be used, independently of a safety seat, to retain a user, for example, a child, in a motor vehicle.

A fastener according to the present invention provides a simple and effective means of attaching a minimum number of tongues and associated straps of a safety harness, into a buckle in a manner which ensures that the tongues have to be inserted into the buckle in a predetermined order before the harness is securely fastened to the buckle.