PATENT OF THE WEEK – BUCKLE

Today’s Patent was invented by John Greaves and Martin Roberts- Jones on July 7, 2015, bearing patent no. US9072346B2.

This present invention relates to a safety buckle which enables the ends of two or more belt sections of a vehicle safety harness ready to be connected and separated. It enables two or more sections of other types of harness or connectable retainers, such as load straps, ready to be connected and to be separated. It includes a plurality of slots each for receiving an end of a harness belt section and each slot having associated therewith a retainer which is moveable into and out of engagement with an abutment surface defined by the end of a belt section. In this invention, first bias elements normally urge the retainers to move to a position at which they each engage with an abutment surface of the end of a belt section following insertion into a slot. In which at least one of the retainers has associated therewith a lever which is pivotable against the action of the first bias elements to move the retainer to a release position at which it is free from engagement with the abutment surface. And an actuation member is operable to act on each lever whereby each lever moves a retainer to the release position.