Appeal No. 1999-2781
Application No. 08/656,299
a mechanical toggle switch" is one where the pawl is spring
biased to remain in one of two stable or quasi-stable
conditions and where the pawl is caused to pass through a
metastable position between those two conditions, whereupon it
will flip over to the other condition and remain there under
the bias of the spring until such time that it is again caused
to pass through the metastable position, whereupon it will
return to the first condition and remain there under the bias
of the spring.
Kell, in Figure 11, shows a pawl member (232) which is
biased by a spring (248) such that the tail portion or
abutment (236) is urged towards the ratchet wheel (246) and
the nose portion or tooth (234) of the pawl is held clear of
the teeth of the ratchet wheel. Similarly, Fritsche shows (in
Figure 2) a pawl (17) biased by a spring (22) such that the
tail portion (21) is urged towards the ratchet wheel (18) and
the nose portion (23) of the pawl is held clear of the teeth
of the ratchet wheel. The pawls of both Kell and Fritsche are
clearly biased to assume and remain in a "free" condition
where the reel for the seat belt is permitted to rotate
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