We don’t know, dear Polina, whether you will believe us, but they came up with it in 1885. It happened in the USA, where inventor Edward J. Claghorn from New York received the first patent for a seat belt. Which was intended... to secure the coachman of the carriage. At the beginning of the 19th century, English inventor Sir George Cayley proposed using seat belts for airplanes. And in 1913, the belt was first used by Adolphe Pégoud (Célestin Adolphe Pégoud), a French aviation pioneer and one of the first performers of the “dead loop” (he performed it two weeks after Nesterov).

True, on May 11, 1903, the invention of “car safety brackets” for passengers in vehicle Gustave-Désiré Leveau also patented it. And in the same year, the five-point seat belt was invented by Louis Renault.

Inventors invented, changed, improved - but the manufacturers didn’t even want to hear about any belts. Firstly, they were imperfect, and secondly, they had to be additionally attached to the seat. The first car initially equipped with seat belts was the Swedish Tucker Torpedo. Volvo in 1948. In 1959, patented three-point belts became a mandatory feature on the Volvo PV 544 and P120 Amazon, and a couple of years later on many Saab cars. The inventor of the three-point belt was Volvo aeronautical engineer Nils Bohlin, who initially worked for Saab. In 1985, the German Patent Office even noted this invention as one of the eight that brought humanity the most great benefit over the last 100 years.

By the way, in Germany, belts with the sign “Gurt zum Anschnallen, Flugzeugbauart” first appeared in 1957 on serial cars Porsche and Mercedes-Benz W111. On others German cars The officially approved type of three-point seat belts appeared on April 1, 1961.

He appeared and caused a storm of discontent. And not only manufacturers (most cars were not ready to install three-point belts), but also drivers, tightly “shackled by one chain.” Moreover, since 1967, seat belts began to be installed on rear seats cars. But from January 1, 1974, the installation of belts on new German cars became mandatory. Although their use remained voluntary.

It took a long time to persuade the volunteer. In 1972, an inertial belt tensioning mechanism was introduced, providing passengers with more freedom and safety. The belts now have a red release button. American model. A wide campaign was held in the country under the slogan: Erst gurten, dann starten (First buckle up, then start). Nevertheless, as is most often the case, only money could stop the “volunteer’s feat.” On August 1, 1984, driving without a seat belt became punishable - the fine was 40 DM. And the number of drivers and passengers buckling up immediately soared to 90 percent.

By this time, Germany was lagging behind the countries that had passed laws requiring the use of seat belts. The pioneers here were Czechoslovakia (1969), Ivory Coast (1970), Japan (1971), Australia, Brazil and New Zealand (1972). Sweden, by the way, made the use of belts mandatory only in January 1975.

Well, in the USSR mandatory application seat belts on all front seats passenger cars introduced in 1979. Although the belts themselves were introduced back in 1969 on the 412th Moskvich (it appeared in 1973 domestic development, author - Leonid Oskarovich Teder, chief specialist of the Estonian Norma plant, which began producing belts), and since 1977 - at GAZ-24.

In 1985, at the International Patent Conference, the West German Patent Office, on the occasion of its 100th anniversary, named eight of the most important inventions for humanity. Among them was the invention of the Swedish engineer Nils Bohlin.

Bolin was born in 1920 in the small town of Härnesand, received a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering in 1939 and soon found a job at Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget (SAAB). While his colleagues dreamed of making planes more powerful and faster, Nils wanted to make them safer for pilots. Therefore, he took up rescue and ejection systems and would probably have become famous as an aircraft designer if not for one of his compatriots.

In 1956 at Ford cars an unprecedented option appeared - a two-point lap belt designed by the Ligon brothers. In the event of a collision, such a belt prevented the driver from flying through windshield, but sometimes caused serious abdominal injuries. For the President Volvo Gunnar Ingellau was so impressed by this invention that he set himself the ambitious goal of making Volvo cars the safest in the world. To do this, he needed a person from the area where security systems have long ruled the roost - aviation. Ingellau invited Niels Bohlin, who was well acquainted with the overloads experienced by pilots during accidents, to his company, offering him the position of safety engineer and complete carte blanche.

The task turned out to be not an easy one. Bolin later said that the pilots he worked with were willing to wear anything to ensure safety in the event of an accident. But the drivers did not want to endure the inconvenience even for a minute. Therefore, four-point aircraft harnesses, carefully adjusted to fit the body, had to be discarded. For a year Nils experimented intensely with different designs seat belts and eventually found the right solution - a combination of a belt that goes around the driver's hips and a diagonal strap that holds the chest and shoulders. The solution turned out to be very convenient, since combining two straps made it possible to fasten with one hand, and this is what played a huge role. The inventor himself later admitted: “My belt gained public recognition as much because it was comfortable as because it was safer.”

In 1959 three point belts appeared in two Volvo models for the Swedish market - P120 Amazon and PV544, and in 1963 all models were equipped with them. The company made the patent for the belt design free, so soon other manufacturers began equipping their cars with this safety system. Over the years, designers have only added inertial reels, pretensioners and improved the buckle.

The inventor died on September 21, 2002. At his funeral, one of the directors of Volvo said: “A piece of Niels Bohlin is present in every car.”

It is generally accepted that the first one was invented in 1885. It was then that the American Edward Claghorn patented his development, calling it seat belt, intended for tourists traveling in open carriages. Subsequently, the invention began to be used to fix the coachman.

Like many others, today’s conventional seat belts found their initial widespread use in aviation. Thus, in 1913, the French pilot Adolphe Pegu first fastened a seat belt in the cockpit of his aircraft.

Eight years after receiving a patent for a seat belt, Gustave-Désiré Leveau received a patent for the invention of special protective brackets for car passengers. And a little later, the prototype of the current three-point belt was invented.

But despite receiving patents for various seat belt designs, car manufacturers were in no hurry to implement the inventions on their cars. Although in the 1920s some American automakers offered lap seat belts as optional equipment, these essential security elements have not received mass distribution for a long time. Part of the reluctance to use seat belts by the management of manufacturing companies was explained by the imperfect design of the belts, which seriously constrain the driver and passenger. In addition, the inventors of seat belts for a long time could not really work out the attachment points of the belts to the seat.

Perhaps the real full-fledged start to the history of car seat belts was the heyday of the post-war automotive industry. In 1948, the company began standardly equipping several of its models with seat belts.

As for modern three-point belts, they began to be widely used after their introduction in 1959. mandatory use Swedish company . The inventor of the belt, which in its current form is well known to all drivers and passengers, is the Swedish engineer Nils Bohlin. By the time Bolin presented his invention to the wider automotive world, the Swede was already working at Volvo, although Bolin started in as an aeronautical engineer.

Volvo PV 544 became the first production car, on which three-point belts developed by Nils Bohlin were standardly installed. It was at that time that the Volvo concern took the first serious step towards the honorary title of manufacturer of the most safe cars in the world.

It is noteworthy that a kind of impetus for the start of serious developments in the field of automobile safety was a tragic incident that led to the death in a car accident of one of the closest relatives of the then-incumbent general director Volvo company.

By the time of the death of the official inventor of the modern three-point seat belt, Nils Bohlin, who died of a heart attack at the age of 82, marketers from Volvo calculated that the invention had saved the lives of more than a million people around the world in 40 years. And this despite the fact that in many countries until the mid-70s, the installation of seat belts was not mandatory requirement in the manufacture of cars. And the obligation of car owners to use seat belts arose even later. For example, only in the second half of 1984 did punishment appear for an unbelted driver or front passenger. By the way, since that moment the number of belted drivers has increased by 90%.

Security systems are usually divided into active and passive. Active system- this is a set of qualities of a car that reduces the likelihood of a traffic accident. The main components of this system are the components and mechanisms of vehicle control. Simply put, it includes elements that are under the direct control of the driver during movement: steering, brake, other auxiliary units.

A passive safety system is a set of elements designed to minimize the negative consequences of a traffic accident for persons in the car. This includes design features cars, seat belts and airbags, bumpers that absorb impact energy, and specially shaped seats. That is passive system safety does not directly depend on the actions of the driver.

One of the traditional elements passive safety You can name the notorious belts, which were invented about a hundred years ago. This relatively simple device helps prevent sudden movement of the driver or passenger's torso in the event of sudden stop car.

The first seat belts appeared at the very beginning of the twentieth century, and, according to some sources, the first patent for such a device was issued in the United States in 1907. However, attempts to create belts have been made before. Naturally, the form appearance and the level of reliability have changed quite a lot over the past hundred years, but the principle of operation itself has generally remained the same. Today, cars use so-called three-point seat belts, that is, with three fixation points.

Initially car belt The safety harness was the same as in airplanes, that is, two-point, it was attached to the sides and covered the torso at waist level. However, this design had one big drawback: often in a collision on high speeds The belt itself already caused serious injuries to the abdominal cavity and, as a result, damage to internal organs, so the need to improve seat belts arose quite a long time ago.

Particular attention was paid to the problem of motorist safety after the Second World War, when the speed of cars increased noticeably. The fifties of the last century became a turning point in the issue of ensuring the safety of drivers and passengers of vehicles. In 1951, the Y-shaped belly locking belt was invented and widely used in the United States. However, they were also far from flawless and often maimed people wearing them.

In the second half of the 1950s, the familiar seat belts appeared modern type: In 1957, Swedish aeronautical engineer Nils Bohlin improved the two-point belt for automobiles by adding another attachment point, resulting in a more even distribution of the load on the torso during an impact. Since 1959, Volvo has begun serial production machines equipped with belts of this design.

So, the belts have become more reliable, and it has become much more convenient to use them, however, during operation, a major drawback was revealed: in the event of a collision, the fastened driver or passenger would often “dive” under the belt. The fact is that the fastening was static, that is, the tension had to be adjusted manually in advance, adjusting it to a specific person. Helped solve this problem inertial belts, which appeared in the 1970s.

The inertial mechanism made it possible to slowly pull the belt out of the reel to the desired length, thanks to which the driver could bend over and also make other movements. And when the belt was pulled sharply and quickly at the moment of a collision, a latch was activated, which tightly blocked this process. True, the effectiveness of the inertial mechanism is significantly reduced in the presence of thick clothing, for example a winter jacket or down jacket. In this case, a fairly large space remains between the belt and the body, which at the moment of a collision can lead to a strong blow from the belt.

Later, another important improvement appeared - pretensioners. In the event of a collision, the device pressed the belted person tightly against the back of the seat, thus reducing the gap between the torso and the belt, resulting in much less injury to the chest. The pretensioners were activated either by a squib, which is a disposable device, or by an electric drive.

In the Soviet Union there were own developments seat belts. Particularly active research and testing took place in the then Estonian SSR, and in the first half of the 1970s, mass production of seat belts began, the epicenter of which became the Estonian production association Norma. Since 1979, the USSR introduced mandatory use of seat belts - people sitting in the front seats of a car had to wear them.

Today, many drivers and passengers in our country prefer not to use seat belts when driving for a variety of reasons. According to statistics, more than half of such citizens are. Some drivers overestimate their experience and their driving skills; some skeptics believe that seat belts do more harm than good: there is an opinion that after an accident, a fastened seat belt prevents you from quickly leaving a wrecked car, especially if the car caught fire or fell into the water. However, numerous studies and statistics of road accidents still do not confirm these fears; moreover, a jammed belt can be cut if necessary. In any case, there are two points of view on the problem of the effectiveness of seat belts.

And yet, perhaps, it is preferable to get a few bruises than to fly through Windshield, possibly under the wheels of an oncoming car. In addition, a belted driver in most cases is able to maintain control of the car and drive it more or less effectively. This factor is very important when skidding or emergency braking, because maintaining controllability often allows you to save human life and minimize material damage.

In many countries, for example Western Europe, the driver and front seat passengers must wear seat belts while driving. For violators of this rule There are serious fines that can reach several hundred euros. Similar laws exist in most American states.

According to the rules traffic in Russia, the driver and passengers were also obliged “when driving a vehicle equipped with seat belts, to be fastened and not to carry passengers, not fastened with seat belts" (clause 2.1.2). However, in practice, implementation this requirement The rules previously represented the goodwill of the driver and passengers, since the amount of the fine was extremely insignificant. Recently, the penalties for this violation have been greatly increased, but it is too early to judge its effectiveness.

Particular attention should be paid to the safety of children; in an accident they can be seriously injured. serious damage, due to the characteristics of the physique. For example, a child’s head is much heavier relative to the body compared to similar proportions of an adult, but the cervical vertebrae, on the contrary, are much weaker. For this reason, children's injuries are often more severe.

According to recently adopted changes to the Traffic Rules, transportation of children is permitted only if there is special device, that is, a child's car seat. Such a seat must be correctly installed and correspond to the anthropometric data of the child.

As we can see, the issue of ensuring safety has been before car designers since the invention of the car. Over the decades since then, a number of serious successes have been achieved along this path. The speeds developed by cars are increasing every day, so manufacturers are paying more and more attention to safety. The largest automobile concerns Every year, millions of dollars are spent annually on the development of new designs and components; new products are tested using crash tests, the results of which are carefully studied. And today modern car is very complex technical mechanism, equipped with numerous units designed to provide maximum comfort and the safety of people in the cabin.

The belt has long become a permanent accessory in the wardrobe of a modern person. This item not only performs the function of holding trousers in the required position, but can also become an indicator of status and a reflection of the individuality of its owner. There are several types of belts, each of which has its own purpose. In addition, there are belts designed separately for women and men.

The history of belts dates back to the distant past, presumably to the very beginning of the Bronze Age. According to scientists, around this very time, one of the primitive people thought of girding the skin draped over the body with a piece of vine. However, it could equally well have been a strip of bark or a piece of other skin. It is difficult to say more precisely, for obvious reasons. However, a precedent was created - wearing a skin tied with an improvised belt made it both warmer and more comfortable to move while hunting.

And some tribes of Africa, South America and Oceania still use similar devices.

The invention of leather processing technology gave impetus to the development of an entire manufacturing industry. Armor, clothing, and shoes were made from leather. And from the remaining scraps - . Dating around 2000 BC, clay cuneiform tablets telling about the life of the ruling dynasty of ancient Babylon, Hammurabi, contain detailed descriptions the process of tanning leather and making various products from it, including belts. It is known that the ancient Sumerians, Assyrians and Persians used belts and belts for more than just holding up their pants. Weapons and wallets were attached to the belt, and secret pockets were sewn on. The Scythians, for example, wore small belt bags to store various household items, which was very convenient during their nomadic life.

In Ancient Greece and Rome, the most common clothing were tunics and togas. Ordinary residents also used belts, but according to ancient fashion, they did not wear them for show, but hid them under the folds of their clothes. The situation was different in military units. Legionnaires wore the belts openly, as part of their armor. For Roman gladiators, the belt was more like a corset - wide, with sewn metal plates, it served the function of protecting the abdominal muscles.

Among many peoples, a belt was considered a very significant item. For example, the Mongol tribes, when concluding an allied treaty, sealed the oath of allegiance by exchanging belts. And the Franks were convinced that if you capture the enemy’s belt, you can deprive him of his strength, and for this reason they often stole belts from their rivals. The ancient Greeks had similar prejudices, which was reflected in their myths. During one of his twelve labors, Hercules stole the belt of the Amazon queen Hippolyta, thereby depriving her of invulnerability and mystical power.

By the way, regarding the differences between a belt and a belt. It is generally accepted that the first one is necessarily equipped with a buckle with which it is fastened. It also makes it possible to adjust the length of the belt. The belt does not have a buckle, and is usually tied, leaving the ends free. As for the decoration of both, embroidery, decorative cords, and, of course, inserts from precious metals and stones.

The belts of the aristocracy, kings and emperors were especially lavishly decorated. By the way, the material for belts was not only leather or fabric. The belt of the Assyrian ruler is known, entirely made of bronze, decorated with forging.

Emperors wore belts embroidered with gold embroidery and precious stones, emphasizing the status of the sovereign ruler. The vizier's gold belt with preserved enamel inserts has survived to this day.

But such exquisite accessories were still rare. In the Middle Ages, the belt became primarily part of the equipment of the military class. Helmets, armor, leggings - all these elements of armor were secured to the knights with belts. And weapons were hung from the waist belt - swords, daggers, broadswords. Since it all weighed quite a bit, the straps had to be strong enough. Therefore, they were made mainly from cowhide.

Of course, the most striking element of the belts was. The material for them could be either simple or precious metal, and the buckles themselves often turned into real objects of art, reflecting the status of their owner.

Images of heraldic animals, family coats of arms, inlay with gold, silver, enamel and precious stones - the higher the title of the belt bearer, the richer it was decorated.

Perhaps the most famous is the one dating from the 17th century. n. e. coronation belt of the Shah of Iran - embroidered with gold threads and small precious stones, and topped off with a buckle with a huge 175.5 carat emerald surrounded by 60 cut diamonds and 145 smaller pink diamonds.

As for women's fashion, at that time the belt in a woman's wardrobe, although it served more of a decorative function, was in no way inferior to a man's in terms of the richness of its decoration. And under certain financial possibilities owner, and became a real masterpiece. And we are not talking about the infamous “chastity belt” here. Judging by the samples that have come down to us, as well as medieval engravings and portraits, ladies' belts of that era were embroidered with beads, pearls, precious stones, and their long ends were often equipped with fringe or tassels.

The Age of Enlightenment brought its own changes in the evolution of belts. The nobility still wore richer belts, but now ruffles came into fashion, and the ends of ladies' belts became shorter.

Commoners dressed more simply, or even wore a rope around their waist. But significant changes have occurred in military uniforms. Lighter swords and espadrons, which replaced heavy swords, were now attached to special belt slings. This design was worn over clothing and was equipped with loops for securing bladed weapons. The pistols that appeared at that time were also worn on belts or behind it, and additionally pockets for gunpowder, wads and bullets were attached to it.

Improved methods of tanning leather also determined its choice for making bandages. The everyday versions of baldrics depicted in paintings and engravings, as well as those made of finer leather, richly embroidered and decorated ceremonial outfits, have survived to this day. Specimens preserved intact can be seen in museums. Of course, such things were not cheap at that time, so sometimes you had to save money. And how can one not recall Porthos with his ill-fated baldric from Dumas’s novel “The Three Musketeers”.

At the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries, high-waisted trousers with a large number of buttons came into fashion. A little later, suspenders appear. All these innovations have slightly replaced the usual belts and belts. Of course, they did not disappear completely and were present to a certain extent in men's costumes, especially among the nobility and the military. In a lady's wardrobe, the belt rather emphasized the waist, already tightened by a corset. In the second half of the 19th century, ladies' belts even became an element of outerwear.

Interest in belts resumed in the second half of the 19th century. With the beginning of the Crimean War, and later large-scale hostilities in the Balkans during the next Russian-Turkish war of 1877-78, sword belts appeared in the military uniforms of the highest army ranks - belt slings similar to those worn by musketeers.

Sabers and checkers, tablets with documents were attached to the waist belt, and another one or two belts crossed the upper part of the officer’s body vertically or crosswise.

It was convenient to attach a cloak or cloak to them, so initially such equipment was worn mainly in cavalry units.

A little later, copies appeared for specialized purposes. For example, team sports were very popular among aristocrats at the end of the 19th century. The team uniforms included belts.

In everyday life, fashion also dictated its terms. Changed clothing styles - lower waisted trousers, the emergence of three-piece suits led to the fact that a belt turned out to be a more convenient option than suspenders. And finally, women's dresses began to be supplemented with separate removable belts.

In the 20th century, the belt completely entered people's lives. Tapered trousers with a wide belt equipped with a massive buckle are a distinctive element of casual clothing at the beginning of the century. Emancipation led to the fact that even ladies began to wear trousers. The development of the fashion industry has prompted the creation of new types of belts: combined, woven, twisted.

Thin belts for formal suits appeared. And Coco Chanel's famous black dress was in perfect harmony with a thin leather strap with an elegant buckle. The belt becomes a distinctive element in a woman's wardrobe.

Women's belts were originally thinner than men's. However, when choosing a belt to match a women's suit or jeans, the same rules apply as for men.

As for dresses, here designers most often focus on beauty. Usually the width of ladies' belts is from 1 to 2.5 cm, but they are made of leather and, as well as in the form of chains, or combined with other materials. Buckles can be either openwork and elaborate, or the most ordinary. In this case, the belt may become bright accent in an outfit, it’s so easy to complement it.

Having passed long haul The belt has remained a popular and sought-after accessory in the modern wardrobe. And apparently, it will remain there for a long time.