What is this restraint from? Military? Other?

I got pair of the blue 3" lap belt restraints from another HAMBer. They're old, but comparing them to the black restraint it appears as if the design was carried into modern day safety equipment. The black one is one that just happened to be here at the shop and I think is a SIMPSON Racing belt, or at least the shoulders were.

Anyway, can someone identify what the blue one is from? What era and/or vehicle/plane it may have been used on? Navy issue?? And were these used with shoulder belts for the application?

Since it appears to be VERY similar to the modern black latch-link lap belt (except for the clip-in mounting ends) I should be able to get shoulder harnesses for these belts, but it would be cool to find some originals if they were used with them.

Any input you guys might have would be appreciated! THANKS!

 

I have a few pairs of oldies, and they all have dates on em....do you see one anywere on it?

 

It looks like something from a certain guy with a blue coupe's sex swing!!!! he may want it back by friday, scooter you are going hurt yourself!!!!

 

Hmmm... I don't see any dates. Are yours on a tag sewn into the belt or is it stamped on the latch assembly somewhere. The only markings I see on on the receiver side of the latch system and it says "OTT". Embossed on the link side of the latching assembly it says "MARECO". Only clues I have at this point.

 

Ouch! And... uuu... gross!

 

No, my dates are on the actual belt, printed on. Some don't have em, some do...

 

jump seat belts

 

Nope. No paint. Interesting. What date ranges do yours have?? 50's?? Earlier??

 

I'd say the blue one was intended for commercial sale, private pilots,etc. It has had a leather pad, (rivet marks).,,,,,,,,,,,,my 2 cents

 

Do you know if jump seats used shoulders also? Probably did, right? 2" or 3"??

 

My guess is that they arent that old.

I have some ( dryrotted belts and rusty latches ) out of an old racecar, that are a lot narrower than that...

 

Hmmm.... All commercial sales buckles I've seen had the paddle style instead of the latch-link style latching systems. But I haven't looked to much into this either.

 

Every old Stearman I worked on or flew had a set of belts in it just like that. They had multiple uses in military aviation. If the tags are removed then they were determined to be unairworthy. They also do not meet the current criteria for seat restraints in aircraft.

 

Same belts are still used in C-130's and C-17's also used in the UH-1. Standard passenger belts in military applications.

 

Okay! Interesting. So did they have shoulder restraints as well?

 

compare the male part of the latch on the two belts...see the black one is longer, so it will fit thru the shoulder belt parts? and the blue one is too short for anything else to go on it?

 

on mine you can see where the tag was sewn onto the webbing.

 

Yeah, I wondered about that. It's about 3/8" shorter.

 

The latch on the black webbed belt (the one with the leather pad), will work with shoulder harness and crotch belts. Both look like old military. Similar to what I have in my Stearman. If you want to put them into serious use, take them up to Deist, on Sonora Street, in Glendale; and have them rewebbed. They should be done every five years.

 

I can tell you they are not the current belts in any of the US military aircraft in either theater, at least not that I have rode on in the past year. Attached is a pic of me just a couple of weeks ago on a trip in a Blackhawk and another pic I took a few months back in a Chinook. All of the HMMWVs, MRAPs, UH60s, and the removable seats for the C17s use basically the same 4 point belt with the rotating release. The net seats on the C17s, C130s and UH47s use a belt 4 point similar for the pilots as in the pic, and the passengers use basically the same 2 point belt as typical airlines use.

Those may be some of the older belts from our aircraft cause I know Ive buckled with belts like that back in the day, perhaps from a UH1 (but Im pretty sure they had a black plastic adjuster thingy on each end with a yellow nylon tab to lift and adjust). Hope that at least points you in the right direction.

 

Deist makes super nice stuff!!

 

Some interesting replies here. Some say old, some say not that old, some of you saying not military... Anyone actually used these belts at some point in their life and would know the exact application? At some point I actually had a guy tell me that that in this color they were used by the Navy and one other color, but I can't remember what the other one. He said they were aircraft use.

Out of curiosity sake, I went on to Deist and Simpson's website and looked at their latch link systems. The triangular shaped end seems to have stayed the same but retains the leather instead of the latch assembly end like the two I have sitting here. If the black one is a Simpson (has an SFI tag on it) then it must be OLD Simpson stuff.

Just for comparison and discussion sake here's what I got off their websites. Notice how the triangular end remains the same but the latch side loses the mounting for the leather pad.

Deist... (Simpson is the same)

 

interesting, that don't look like the Deist I bought a couple days ago

(pics ain't working right now...I did upload a pic...)

 

Interesting for sure! Does your leather pad attach like the above or like the ones I have?

(while we wait for the picture)

EDIT: I bet that's the 2", not the 3" Looks like they use the same picture for both.

 

Mine has flat stamped latch piece on the male side, and the pad is riveted to the end with the latch lever on it.

 

I was a crew chief in the Army on UH-1H "Huey" helicopters for 6 years before they retired them and they sure look like UH-1 seat belts to me. The clip on ends made it easy to configure different seating arrangements in the Helicopter. I remember them as being grey, (been 10 years now)but through use would turn a dirty dark grey color.

The rear passenger area on a Huey just had lap belts, whereas the Pilot and co-pilot seats had an inertia reel that had a Y belt that would come over the shoulders, and hook to the lap belt with (if I remember right) sewn webbed loops. The inertia reel could be locked through a handle on the side of the pilots seat. If you could wrestle up some old pilot seat belts out of a Huey, it might be a trick setup.

 

You can see one of the belts with the clips next to my son under the laptop. Hope that helps.

 

actually those are almost like the ones we use in the HC-130's. ill try to take a pic tomorrow.

 

Thanks everyone for your input! Sounds like they're used in several applications and I guess it's just logical that old (and new) racing stuff fallows suite with the aviation industry standards.

I was looking at the P32 pictures one day. It has B-17 seats AND belts in it. They look very similar as well...



For the belts that DID run shoulder belts with these large 3" lap belts, did they connect the same as they do today with the stamped steel bracket with the slot in it or were they the loop style?

 

those look a lot like the belts we use in dirt racing they are all 3 inches wide except the sub or crotch dstrap that is an inch and a half exact same latching and and removal set up