5 ms·

Does a strap across the shoulder really warrant a patent? Am I just having good hindsight? I guess I need to think about this more, but the more I read about

by cgag 13y ago

Does a strap across the shoulder really warrant a patent? Am I just having good hindsight? I guess I need to think about this more, but the more I read about things that are patentable the less I think I believe patents should exist at all.

aleyan 13y ago
I am rather certain if I was designing an across the shoulder seatbelt without having seen a modern 3-point seat-belt, it would end with the seat belt strangling or decapitating people.
- GravityWell 13y ago
  Apple has patented virtual page turning, rubber banding, pinch to zoom, and probably other more frivolous things that I'm not aware of. I think Apple would quickly patent the 3 point seatbelt if they could.
  - markshepard 13y ago
    Only Apple? When I worked at IBM, we were encouraged to patent every little thing possible (You get 750$/patent). I dont believe this is an apple problem but more of tech industry problem.. Didn't Google just buy massive amount of Lucent network patents?
  - lostlogin 13y ago
    There were a lot of clever people working on smart phones and tablets prior to Apple products appearing on the market. How did they all miss these obvious seeming options? Apple do seem to have screamed BAGSY on a few key things, which ones that matter did they not grab and now pay to license?
- frost_knight 13y ago
  http://www.theonion.com/articles/chrysler-halts-production-of-neckbelts,810/ http://www.theonion.com/articles/chrysler-halts-production-o...
chiph 13y ago
It's not just the strap across the chest - that existed before with the four and five-point belts used by racers and pilots. It was the addition of the mid-point buckle that let the belt adjust to people of different sizes, plus the inertia reel in the B-pillar that made it acceptable to the consumer, and work as a safety device.
- mzs 13y ago
  The reel was later idea.
205guy 13y ago
I haven't looked it up, but the patent probably covers the ratcheting mechanism which allows the belt to adapt to any body size, retract when not in use, and locks upon impact. A simple fixed (or manually adjustable) 3-point belt would be just as effective, but very impractical because it needs to be adjusted for each driver, and it would always hang and get slammed in the door.
- miahi 13y ago
  I remember that safety belts on older cars did not have this retractable and locking mechanism you see in cars today. They were fixed - as you also see in the article's photo.
mzs 13y ago
In fact there were seat belts and three point seat belts slightly before, even one patented in the mid fifties in USA. But there was a lot of variation. The early ones did not have reels, but what was the latch like? Do you adjust near the top or near the lap? Are there two buckles or one? In fact Volvo went through three pretty different styles before adopting the more modern sort that spool - the one in the image, the one right after that in the later PVs, 120, and 220 series that had the red levers, and the one in 140 and later Amazons with the hoops. So it was sort of a moot point really. Auto manufacturers would not have much trouble at all to come-up with their own three point belts that were different enough, and really they were all pretty different than those Volvo style front ones, some early Mercedes ones were similar in latch but different in many respects too. What was unique about Volvo was that they had a study to see if they were efficacious and how quickly they adopted them because of the leadership and goals of the company at the time. Their promise that this was an open patent could be seen as part of that. /edit: full disclosure, happy Volvo owner: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-rasUCODYVHc/UHQj2hJsoDI/AAAAAAAAFB4/r0G9-73_lSk/w506-h750/IMG_6345_2.jpg https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-rasUCODYVHc/UHQj2hJsoDI/A...

by cgag 13y ago

aleyan 13y ago

I am rather certain if I was designing an across the shoulder seatbelt without having seen a modern 3-point seat-belt, it would end with the seat belt strangling or decapitating people.

GravityWell 13y ago
Apple has patented virtual page turning, rubber banding, pinch to zoom, and probably other more frivolous things that I'm not aware of. I think Apple would quickly patent the 3 point seatbelt if they could.
- markshepard 13y ago
  Only Apple? When I worked at IBM, we were encouraged to patent every little thing possible (You get 750$/patent). I dont believe this is an apple problem but more of tech industry problem.. Didn't Google just buy massive amount of Lucent network patents?
- lostlogin 13y ago
  There were a lot of clever people working on smart phones and tablets prior to Apple products appearing on the market. How did they all miss these obvious seeming options? Apple do seem to have screamed BAGSY on a few key things, which ones that matter did they not grab and now pay to license?
frost_knight 13y ago
http://www.theonion.com/articles/chrysler-halts-production-of-neckbelts,810/ http://www.theonion.com/articles/chrysler-halts-production-o...

chiph 13y ago

It's not just the strap across the chest - that existed before with the four and five-point belts used by racers and pilots. It was the addition of the mid-point buckle that let the belt adjust to people of different sizes, plus the inertia reel in the B-pillar that made it acceptable to the consumer, and work as a safety device.

mzs 13y ago
The reel was later idea.

205guy 13y ago

I haven't looked it up, but the patent probably covers the ratcheting mechanism which allows the belt to adapt to any body size, retract when not in use, and locks upon impact. A simple fixed (or manually adjustable) 3-point belt would be just as effective, but very impractical because it needs to be adjusted for each driver, and it would always hang and get slammed in the door.

miahi 13y ago
I remember that safety belts on older cars did not have this retractable and locking mechanism you see in cars today. They were fixed - as you also see in the article's photo.

mzs 13y ago

In fact there were seat belts and three point seat belts slightly before, even one patented in the mid fifties in USA. But there was a lot of variation. The early ones did not have reels, but what was the latch like? Do you adjust near the top or near the lap? Are there two buckles or one? In fact Volvo went through three pretty different styles before adopting the more modern sort that spool - the one in the image, the one right after that in the later PVs, 120, and 220 series that had the red levers, and the one in 140 and later Amazons with the hoops. So it was sort of a moot point really. Auto manufacturers would not have much trouble at all to come-up with their own three point belts that were different enough, and really they were all pretty different than those Volvo style front ones, some early Mercedes ones were similar in latch but different in many respects too. What was unique about Volvo was that they had a study to see if they were efficacious and how quickly they adopted them because of the leadership and goals of the company at the time. Their promise that this was an open patent could be seen as part of that. /edit: full disclosure, happy Volvo owner: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-rasUCODYVHc/UHQj2hJsoDI/AAAAAAAAFB4/r0G9-73_lSk/w506-h750/IMG_6345_2.jpg https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-rasUCODYVHc/UHQj2hJsoDI/A...