Patent Application
20140259545
1. Field
The subject matter disclosed herein relates to belts and more particularly relates to adjustable reversible belts with popular buckles without having size adjustment holes in the belts.
2. Description of the Related Art
A typical contemporary single-sided or double-sided belt for garment worn around a waist has holes punched in the belt longitudinally spaced one inch apart and uses a belt buckle with either a prong or a rear projection that fits into one such selected hole to fasten the two ends of the belt together. During the course of a day or after a meal the wearer may find the belt slightly too loose or slightly too tight. Unfortunately, such belt only allows one inch adjustment, resulting in either one size too small or one size too large for its wearer.
An adjustable belt according to the present invention includes at least one single-sided or double-sided belt strap without any adjusting hole configured to have a free end portion and a fixed end portion, a belt buckle of frame style or plate style without a prong or projection conventionally used for belt fastening configured to have an outer end and an inner end, and belt fastening means for fastening said belt strap free end portion and said belt strap fixed end portion together. The belt buckle is providable with a retainer loop on the rear side near the outer end to first receive said belt strap free end portion, thereby holding the outer end portion of the belt buckle from dangling. Belt fastening means includes a first fastening element fixedly installed on, for example, said belt strap free end portion underside or double sides depending on whether said at least one belt strap is single-sided or double-sided, an adjustably slidable belt clip of locking type engaging said belt strap fixed end, and a mating second fastening element installed on the first leaf of the belt clip and alignable with the first fastening element for belt fastening by sliding the belt clip along the engaged belt strap fixed end portion manually with force.
In another aspect of the present invention, a system is presented to attach said adjustable belt to an article of garment such as trousers or non-garment such as shoe, wherein each of two separate built-in straps is affixed to the body of the shoe at one end, and at the other ends said straps also have a free end portion and a fixed end portion, respectively. The two ends are fastened together by means of the stationary first fastening element and the slidable second fastening element using a belt clip as a carrier. Said article also has belt attachment support structure. For example, for a waist belt, trousers provide a waist band and sewn-on belt loops therearound. The waist belt may be attached to the trousers through the belt loops.
A method of the present invention is also presented for assembling and disassembling said adjustable belt. The method in the disclosed embodiments substantially includes the steps necessary to carry out the functions presented above with respect to the operation of the described adjustable belt and system. The method includes providing at least one belt strap without any adjusting hole configured to have a free end portion and a fixed end portion, providing a belt buckle of frame style or plate style having no prong or projection used for belt fastening and having an outer end and an inner end, with the rear side configurable to have a retainer loop near the outer end for receiving said belt strap free end portion thereby keeping the belt buckle from dangling, providing a first fastening element and a mating second fastening element, providing an adjustably slidable belt clip of a locking type having a first leaf and a second leaf engageable therebetween to either said belt strap end portion, installing the first fastening element single-sided or double-sided on one said belt strap end portion depending on whether said at least one belt strap is single-sided or double-sided, installing the second fastening element on the first leaf of the belt clip, securing said belt strap fixed end portion to the belt buckle, engaging the belt clip to the other said belt strap end portion, beginning threading said belt strap free end portion through the belt buckle from underside and the retainer loop, if existing, toward an inner end of the belt buckle, extending the travel of said belt strap free end portion for a desired distance beyond the belt buckle, adjustably sliding the belt clip along the engaged belt strap end portion to align the two fastening elements by a manual force, fastening the two fastening elements together, separating the two fastening elements from each other, and retracting said belt strap free end portion out of the belt buckle.
The adjustable belt disclosed is applicable to a single-side belt as well as a reversible belt. Even though the conventional prong and adjusting holes are eliminated, the belt buckle is kept from dangling after the free end portion is threaded through the belt buckle because of the use of a rear retainer loop at the outer end. The new belt fastening means provides unlimited belt size adjustability resulting from a manually adjustably slidable locking belt clip in use. The familiar aesthetic appearance and non-functional significance of popular conventional belt buckles are retained, despite the removal of prongs or projections.
In order that the advantages of the embodiments of the invention will be readily understood, a more particular description of the embodiments briefly described above will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments that are illustrated in the appended drawings. Understanding that these drawings depict only some embodiments and are not therefore to be considered to be limiting of scope, the embodiments will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail through the use of the accompanying drawings, in which:
a is a front elevational view of a conventional belt including at least one single-sided belt strap with a frame-style belt buckle having a prong affixed thereto, in both open and closed positions;
b is a front elevational view of a conventional belt including at least one belt strap with a frame-style belt buckle having a center bar and a prong affixed thereto, in both open and closed positions;
c is a front perspective view of a conventional reversible waist belt including one double-sided belt strap with a frame-style belt buckle having a prong affixed thereto, a belt buckle connector, a rotatable belt reverser and a front inner retainer loop, in both open and closed positions;
d is a front perspective view of a conventional reversible waist belt including one double-sided belt strap with a removable plate-style belt buckle having a rear inner retainer loop, in both open and closed positions;
e is a front perspective view of a conventional reversible waist belt including one double-sided belt strap with a plate-style belt buckle having a rear inner retainer loop and a rotatable belt reverser attached to the base thereof, in both open and closed positions;
f is a front perspective view of a conventional reversible waist belt including one double-sided belt strap with another plate-style belt buckle having attached thereto a rotatable belt reverser and a rear inner retainer loop thereunder, in both open and closed positions;
a is a front elevational view of a waist belt attachment system illustrating one embodiment of attaching a reversible waist belt to a garment such as trousers in closed position in accordance with the present invention;
b is a drawing of a belt attachment system duplicated from
c is a fragmentary elevational view of the belt of
d is a fragmentary rear perspective view of the belt of
e represents exploded perspective views of the belt clip of
f is a fragmentary rear perspective view of the belt of
g is a fragmentary rear perspective view of the belt of
h is a fragmentary rear perspective view of a belt resulting from reversing that of
i is a fragmentary front elevational view of the reversed belt shown in
j is a front elevation view of a reversible belt attachment system illustrating one embodiment of attaching the waist belt of
a is a front perspective view of a reversible waist belt including the double-sided belt strap and belt fastening means of
b is a front perspective view of a reversible waist belt including the belt strap and the belt clip of
c is a front perspective view of a reversible waist belt including the belt strap and the belt clip of
d is a front perspective view of a reversible waist belt including the belt strap and the belt clip of
a is a perspective view of a system for fitting a non-garment article such as shoe with an exemplary integral belt fastenable around a wearer's ankle illustrated in closed position in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;
b is an exploded fragmentary perspective view of the integral belt of
c is a drawing similar to
d is a drawing similar to
e is a drawing similar to
f is a drawing similar to
a and 5b are a flow chart diagram illustrating one embodiment of a method for assembling and disassembling a belt such as the waist belt of
References throughout this specification to features, advantages, or similar language do not imply that all of the features and advantages may be realized in any single embodiment. Rather, language referring to the features and advantages is understood to mean that a specific feature, advantage, or characteristic is included in at least one embodiment. Thus, discussion of the features and advantages, and similar language throughout this specification may, but do not necessarily, refer to the same embodiment.
Furthermore, the described features, advantages, and characteristics of the embodiments may be combined in any suitable manner. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize that the embodiments may be practiced without one or more of the specific features or advantages of a particular embodiment. In other instances, additional features and advantages may be recognized in certain embodiments that may not be present in all embodiments.
These features and advantages of the embodiments will become more fully apparent from the following description and appended claims, or may be learned by the practice of embodiments as set forth hereinafter. As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the present invention may be embodied as a system, apparatus, and/or method.
Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” or similar language means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, appearances of the phrases “in one embodiment,” “in an embodiment,” and similar language throughout this specification may, but do not necessarily, all refer to the same embodiment, but mean “one or more but not all embodiments” unless expressly specified otherwise. The terms “including,” “comprising,” “having,” and i variations thereof mean “including but not limited to” unless expressly specified otherwise. An enumerated listing of items does not imply that any or all of the items are mutually exclusive and/or mutually inclusive, unless expressly specified otherwise. The terms “a,” “an,” and “the” also refer to “one or more” unless expressly specified otherwise.
Furthermore, the described features, structures, or characteristics of the embodiments may be combined in any suitable manner. In the following description, numerous specific details are provided for a thorough understanding of embodiments. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize, however, that embodiments may be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or with other methods, components, materials, and so forth. In other instances, well-known structures, materials, or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of an embodiment.
a-1f illustrate widely-used contemporary conventional belts with vast majority of extremely popular belt buckles for use in garments such as trousers, skirts, and coats requiring a waist belt and in non-garment articles such as shoes, watchbands, handbags, strapping and the like requiring strap fastening. Although for those non-garment articles, “straps” are more commonly referred to than “belts”, since those straps with buckles have a belt-like structure, hereinafter they are called belts rather than straps unless otherwise noted. Each of those waist belts usually has five or seven longitudinally spaced through holes punched in a belt strap near the belt tip, and the inter-hole spacing is one inch. A higher priced belt may have three holes instead. These holes allow the belt to be adjusted in circumference by one-inch increment. These holes have been referred to by various names such as punch holes, adjusting holes, size adjustment holes, sizing holes, prong holes, belt holes and so forth. Hereinafter only “adjusting holes” are referred to.
The center hole is usually used to fit one's waist size (for example, 34 inches). Selecting another hole that is closer to or farther away from the tip end, for example, is equivalent to wearing a one-size larger belt (35 inches) or a one-size smaller belt (33 inches), respectively. Such adjustment made after a heavy meal, for example, may make the wearer feel that the trousers are too loose, or in the morning (as opposed to later during the day), they are too tight, since the wearer's weight change then is generally slight, not requiring one-inch adjustment. As a case in point, using a one-size larger belt after a sizable meal is definitely inappropriate as some medical experts note that one-inch gain in waist size is roughly equivalent to a 10-pound total weight gain.
As well known in the art, each shown belt (strap) has a free end (belt tip end) and a fixed end (where the belt strap is generally attached to the belt buckle), and its featured belt buckle has either a prong located on its front side or a projection commonly called peg, stud, or hook, situated on its underside (or the rear side). Properly speaking, the belt buckle is a device for joining the free end portion of the belt and the fixed end portion of the belt together by the wearer, also referred to as user, by inserting the prong or the projection into a selected said hole. Thus, belt's two ends are fastened together through the belt buckle, for example, to hold up trousers when worn around the waist, or tighten up a shoe when worn around foot (or ankle). Although not explicitly shown herein, a type of belt buckles known as “box-out buckles” usually made with strong leather or other synthetic material is increasingly popular after Hollywood began using them in movies for their “fresh and new look”. They make more of a fashion statement than provide functionality. Structurally, they are like plate-style belt buckles, often with a pivotable or hinged retainer loop often made of metal on the inner rear side as seen on plate-style belt buckles.
Because the popular conventional belt buckle types presented are referred to repeatedly in subsequent sections, a brief description of each type herein is in order. However, with similar elements and functions thereof that exist in the various types of belt buckles presented, description repetitions are avoided. In general, the description of each drawing may refer to elements of other previously provided drawings, like numbers referring to like elements.
a is a front elevational view of a conventional belt 100 including at least one single-sided belt strap 120 with a frame-style belt buckle 130 having a prong 106 affixed thereto, in both open and closed positions, as illustrated at (2) and (3), respectively. A rear view of the belt buckle 130 is illustrated at (1). Although the belt buckle body 105 shown is rectangular and of normal size, a variety of other shapes, configurations and sizes are available. The front tip of the prong 106 normally rests on a semi-circular notch 109 on the front part of the belt buckle body 105. The belt buckle 130 has an end bar 103 around which the tail end 107 of the prong 106 is wrapped and bent into a closed loop, making the prong 106 irremovable as illustrated at (1). The belt buckle 130 and the prong 106 are often made from metal although belt buckles made from plastic and other types of material are also available.
The belt 100 as illustrated at (2) and (3) uses either one single-sided belt strap such as usually seen on a waist belt or two singled-sided belt straps such as often seen on footwear or watchband, which has one end of each belt strap affixed to the body of the using article. In either case, the at least one belt strap 120, which may be made of leather, vinyl or other suitable material, has a free end 111 portion at the belt strap tip and a fixed end 112 portion. The fixed end 112 portion is affixed to the belt buckle 130 by folding its belt strap terminal portion back around the end bar 103 with a U-shaped cutout 114, which is used to accommodate the prong 106. Two transverse rows of stitches through the front and back of the fixed end 112 are provided to secure the fixed end 112 to itself, with a keeper 108 located between the two rows of stitches. The combination of the foldback belt strap fixed end 112 portion, the keeper 108 and the two rows of stitches is referred to as keeper assembly.
The keeper 108 typically is a loop made of the same material as the belt strap or metal like that is used by a metallic belt buckle and used to hold the free end 111 portion of the belt strap feeding through the belt buckle 130 flat. The at least one belt strap 120 as shown has edge stitches all around. Longitudinally spaced adjusting holes 115, one inch apart, are punched through the belt strap free end 111 portion as illustrated at (2) and (3). For belt fastening, the free end 111 portion is inserted through the belt buckle 130 from underneath at its outer end and outwardly toward the front of the belt buckle 130, allowing the prong 106 to be inserted into a selected adjusting hole 105 and is further threaded toward an inner end of the belt buckle 130 and through the keeper 108, the end result of which operation is illustrated at (3), wherein a closed position of the belt 100 is shown.
b is a front elevational view of a conventional belt 150 including at least one belt strap 170 with a frame-style belt buckle 180 having a center bar 154 and a prong 156 affixed thereto, in both open and closed positions, as illustrated at (1) and (2), respectively. For use as a waist belt, the belt 150 may include one single-sided or doubled-side belt strap, the latter enabling the belt strap to be reversible. For use as shoe or handbag straps, the belt 150 typically uses two single-side belt straps. Illustrated at (1), like the belt 100 shown in
c is a front perspective view of a conventional reversible waist belt 200 including one double-sided belt strap 230 with a frame-style belt buckle 210 having a prong 206 affixed thereto, a belt buckle connector 220, a rotatable belt reverser 222 and a front inner retainer loop 221, in both open and closed positions, as illustrated at (2) and (3), respectively. The belt strap 230 has side 1 231 (white face) and side 2 232 (black face shown in cross-hatched lines). The belt buckle (frame) 210, the belt buckle connector 220, and the rotatable belt reverser 222 attached thereto, and the front inner retainer loop 221 combined to form belt buckle assembly 235. The belt buckle 210 has a rectangular-shaped belt buckle body 205, an attached prong 206, and an end bar 202, bearing similarity to the belt buckle 130 of
A rear perspective view of the belt buckle assembly 235 is illustrated at (1), wherein the belt reverser 222 is shown to have a belt housing 223. A fixed end 212 terminal portion of the belt strap 230 is inserted into the belt housing 223 and is fastened to the belt reverser 222 from its outside with two screws 225, as illustrated at (2). In one embodiment, the end of this inserted belt strap has a short U-shaped cutout (not shown) used to allow each of this split belt strap end to straddle a short rotatable rod (not shown) inside the belt housing 223, which is extended toward and insertable into the belt buckle connector 220 through a hole thereof (not shown). In general, the belt reverser 222 and the belt buckle connector 220 may be rotatably attached to each other by any suitable arrangement, such as a rivet or eyelet (not shown). By pulling the belt reverser 222 outwardly and rotating it by 180° while holding on to the belt buckle connector 220, the two-sided belt strap 230 can be turned over, so that side 2 232 will be visible in the front (not shown) in place of side 1 231. Thus, either side of the belt strap 230 may be selected by the wearer to be visible when worn.
Like the belt 100, the belt 200 has five adjusting holes 215 for the prong 206 to choose from. The manner of fastening a free end 211 portion of the belt strap 230 and the fixed end 212 portion of the belt strap 230 together is similar to that of the belt 100 of
d is a front perspective view of a conventional waist belt 300 including one double-sided belt strap 330 with a removable plate-style belt buckle 340 having a rear inner retainer loop 308, in both open and closed positions, as illustrated at (2) and (3). The belt buckle 340 has a front face 305, which has the two ornamental characters V and K, and a plain rear face 304, which is illustrated in a rear perspective view of the belt buckle 340 at (1). On the rear face 304 adjacent its edge at an outer end 301, a projection 306 with an enlarged head 307 is located at a mid-point widthwise, which is usually an integral part of the belt buckle 340. The projection 306 is also referred to as peg, stud, and hook, the latter being configured accordingly. Also shown is the inner retainer loop 308, which includes two spaced legs 306 and 307 perpendicularly mounted on the rear face 304 at an inner end 302 and joined by a transverse cross bar 309. The legs 306 and 307 are in vertical alignment and parallel to each other and perpendicular to the cross bar 309. The cross bar 309 extends between the portions of legs 306 and 307 remote from the belt buckle rear face 304, thereby forming a loop structure for the retainer loop 308.
As illustrated at (2), the belt strap 330 has a free end 311 portion and a fixed end 312 portion. The free end 311 portion of the belt strap 330 has longitudinally spaced adjusting holes 315 at one inch interval. The fixed end 312 portion of the belt strap has one attachment hole 335 as shown at (4), which is inserted into by the projection 306 with the enlarged head 307 as the fixed end 312 portion of the belt strap is passed underneath the belt buckle's front face 305 all the way from the inner end 302 through the inner retainer loop 308 toward and extended beyond the outer end 301 for a short distance, as illustrated at (2). Thus, the fixed end 312 portion of the belt strap 330 is attached to the belt buckle 340, making it removable or, in other words, the belt buckle 340 removable.
With reference to the illustration at (3), to fasten the belt 300, the free end 311 portion is passed from the outer end 301 through the belt buckle's 340 rear face 304 from underneath and extended through the inner retainer loop 308 and beyond the inner end 302, underlapping the fixed end 312 portion of the belt strap 330 (with the free end 311 shown with dotted lines), and along the way the selected adjusting hole 315 is inserted into by the projection 306 with the enlarged head 307 underneath the fixed end 312 portion, which can be best seen in illustration at (4), as descried below.
Illustrated at (4) is a sectional view taken substantially along the line 2-2 of the illustration at (3), with the belt buckle 340 being turned upside down. As shown, the projection 306 with the enlarged head 307 is inserted into the attachment hole 335 in the fixed end 312 portion of the belt strap 330 and at a higher point inserted into the selected adjusting hole 315 of the free end 311 portion of the belt strap 330. Both belt strap portions are passed through the retainer loop 308 and extended beyond the inner end 302 to the right, with the free end 311 portion ending up being behind the fixed end 312 when viewed from the front in a normal closed position. As inferred from the illustration at (4), the belt buckle 340 is removable from the belt strap 330, and then the belt strap 330 may be turned over 180° and re-inserted into the belt buckle 340, so that either side of the belt strap 330 may be made visible in a front view. A front view of the belt 330 in closed position is illustrated at (5), which is how the belt 300 normally appears on the wearer as seen by the viewer, with the free end 311 portion hidden behind the fixed end 312 portion. A significant number of custom-made belt buckles with various designs, configuration and shapes follow this style.
e is a front perspective view of a conventional reversible waist belt 350 including one double-sided belt strap 380 with a plat-style belt buckle 360 having a rear inner retainer loop 358 and a rotatable belt reverser 372 attached to the base thereof, in both open and closed positions, as illustrated at (2) and (3), respectively. The belt buckle 360, the rear inner retainer loop 358 and the belt reverser 372 form a belt buckle assembly 385. The front face 355 has two exemplary ornamental characters N and Y. The rear inner retainer loop 358 located at an inner end 352 resembles that of the belt buckle 340 shown in
f is a front perspective view of a conventional reversible waist belt 400 including one double-sided belt strap 430 with another plate-style belt buckle 410 having attached thereto a rotatable belt reverser 422 and a rear inner retainer loop 408 thereunder, in both open and closed positions, as illustrated at (2) and (3), respectively. The belt buckle 410, the rear inner retainer loop 408 and the belt reverser 422 form a buckle assembly 435, similar to the buckle assembly 385 of
a is a front elevational view of a waist belt attachment system 500a illustrating one embodiment of attaching a reversible waist belt 520 to a garment such as trousers 504 in closed position in accordance with the present invention. The description of the waist belt attachment system 500a refers to elements of
The belt buckle 510 resembles the conventional belt buckle 130 of
As well known, contemporary conventional belt buckles are used not only for fastening trousers (or shoes), for example, by necessity, but also as fashion and trend-setting accessories, self-expression and communication pieces, and emblems of nationalism, as well as for well-established military, religious, sports purposes and so on. The foregoing discussion indicates that the belt buckle 510 has no prong, and the belt strap 519 has no adjusting holes, the two items being shown with the conventional waist belt 100, for example, for use in fastening its free end 111 portion and fixed end 112 portion of the belt 100 together. The belt buckle 510 herein and other types of popular belt buckles described in following sections are used for all but belt fastening purposes, thus only retaining the traditional aesthetic appearance and all associated significance of the conventional belt buckles that have historically gained tremendous popularity for use in belts for a long time.
As an alternative to conventional way of waist belt fastening, in general, a different belt fastening means provided herein uses a stationary first fastening element affixed on one end (free end 511 or fixed end 512) portion of the belt strap 519 at an arbitrarily selected point and a mating, co-acting second fastening element affixed on front outer surface of the belt clip 528 engaging the opposite end (fixed end 512 or free end 511, respectively) portion lockedly, with the belt clip 528 being adjustably slidable along the belt strap 519. As well known, a variety of belt clips with locking mechanisms includable are commercially available in use on carrying cases (or holsters) for attaching objects such as cellular telephone, smartphone, small firearms to waist belts worn by the wearers. Unfortunately, the locking mechanisms on those belt clips are complex, some spring-loaded, expensive to build and lacking user-friendliness.
For example, a self-locking belt clip made by Nite Ize Inc. known as eCLIPse has multiple interacting members, which may include a tongue on one member and biasing mechanism on another, and a pressing surface. Although it provides auto-locks, the construction of this device is complex, and its cost can be high. Furthermore, despite a claimed quick-release feature, it is not easy to release the clip. On the other hand, the two-leaf belt clip 528 provided herein has met certain selection criteria such as simplicity in structure, adjustable slidability, self-locking, and ease of operation. The belt clip 528 is a single-piece spring clip, has an inward portion usable for clipping over the wearer's belt 520 against the waist band 501 of the wearing trousers 504 for the entire width of the belt strap 519, locks the engaged portion of the belt strap 519 in place, but is manually slidable longitudinally along its belt strap 519 such as by hand with a slight force. Thus, the belt clip 528 provides unlimited desired belt size adjustability without clip release or reengagement, to align with the first fastening element for fastening the two fastening elements to each other, thereby fastening the belt 520.
In a preferred embodiment, the first fastening element is placed on the free end 511 portion of the belt strap 519, and the second fastening element carried by the belt clip 528 is attached to the opposite end, namely fixed end 512, portion of the belt strap 519. In one embodiment, snap fasteners are chosen as fastening elements. For a reversible waist belt such as the belt 520, the first fastening element uses double-sided snap fasteners. As shown, a removable decorative cap 517 is placed over a snap fastener (not shown) on the belt strap free end 511 portion at a midpoint widthwise on side 1 521, so that the snap fastener lying underneath is not visible. The double-sided counterpart snap fastener located on side 2 522 (not visible) is to be fastened to the mating snap fastener (not visible) attached to the first leaf 513 of the belt clip 528, which slidably engages and then locks the engaged belt strap fixed end 512 portion in place, once an alignment is made between the two fastening elements.
This location arrangement of the fastening elements of
b is a drawing of a belt attachment system 500b duplicated from
In ensuing sections,
c is a fragmentary elevational view of the belt 520 of
Also illustrated at (1) are snap fastener 516a disposed on the belt strap side 1 521 at the midpoint widthwise adjacent the tip of the free end 511 and its mating snap fastener 515 disposed on the first leaf 513 of the belt clip 528 at a corresponding position. Speaking of the width of the belt strap 519, it is indicated as W. To determine said corresponding position on the belt clip 528, a quick way is to assume that the belt clip 528 may take on a U shape and the lower edge of the engaged belt strap settles down at the lowest point inside a U-shape bend of the belt clip 528. Measured from the lowest point on the outer surface of the belt clip 528, which is held in a vertical upright orientation, a point thereon at a height of ½ W can be obtained and a horizontal line can be drawn across said outer surface. The midpoint of the line may be a candidate for said corresponding position. To account for the thicknesses of coverings that need to be provided for the belt clip 528, the candidate's position needs to be raised up slightly. A more precise determination of a center of the first leaf 513 will be discussed in a subsequent section. In one embodiment, the length L of the belt clip 528 as measured from the highest point to the lowest point within its inner surface areas with sewn-on coves, as shown in
Note that in depicted embodiments, the belt clip 528 has an outer cover placed over its entire outer surface and an inner cover placed over its entire inner surface with edge stitches, indicating that the covers are sewn together, much like the counterpart used on contemporary cellular telephone case, so that the surface of the engaged portion of the belt strap 519 may be protected from deep scraping by the belt clip 528. The outer cover also allows the second fastening element to be secured thereon. The cover material may be leather, vinyl or other suitable material. Snap fasteners 516a and 516b are double-sided snap fasteners as illustrated in
Snap fasteners 516a, 516b and 515 may be of sewn-on type or press type with two prongs built in, for example. One skilled in the art is familiar with method and tool for installing these snap fasteners. In one exemplary embodiment, double-sided snap fasteners each with two prongs may be installed on the doubled-sided belt strap 519 using a special press tool, with one snap fastener's prongs spread out to the two sides within the layers of the belt strap 519 longitudinally and the other's, transversely. In certain embodiments, a fastener such as the snap fastener 515 may need to be installed on the belt clip's 528 cover before it is sewn onto the belt clip 528. Magnetic snap fasteners (not shown) may also be used, preferably with male parts installed on the belt strap 519 double-sided and the thicker female part installed on the outer surface of the first leaf 513 of the belt clip 528.
Note that in a preferred embodiment, the second fastening element required by belt fastening means herein, whatever the device may be, is installed on the belt clip 528 single-sided, such as on the outer surface of the first leaf 513 at its center, for example, for manufacturing cost savings. In an alternate embodiment, a fastener such as the snap fastener 515 may be installed at the center of the second leaf 514 of the belt clip 528 instead. A method of locating the center of a belt clip's 528 leaf is provided in the description of
d is a fragmentary rear perspective view of the belt 520 of
As mentioned previously, for the belt clip 528 to align with the snap fastener 516b may require manual maneuver by the wearer for sliding the belt clip 528 to the right or to the left along the belt strap 519 depending on the relative position of the belt clip 528, which operation is best illustrated in
By now it is clear that because of the absence of a prong as mentioned in foregoing discussion, the rear outer retainer loop 530 as illustrated in
e represents exploded perspective views of the belt clip 528 of
The cap 513′, the plateau 514′ and the abutment 514″ have the same width as that of the first leaf 513 or the second leaf 514, and each of their length may be 3/16 of an inch or less, for example, in a certain embodiment. A transverse gap (open space) defined between the cap 513′ and the plateau 514′ is a lateral belt strap entrance 526, which is large enough to accommodate the typical thickness of a double-sided belt strap such as the belt strap 519 for insertion of its lower edge into a forced opening of the belt clip 528. Following the insertion through the belt strap entrance 526, the lower edge of the belt strap fixed end 512 portion is inserted between the inner surface of the first leaf 513 and the outer surface of the abutment 514″ all the way downwardly to the inside lowest point of the U-bend 535, which engages the lower edge of the inserted portion of belt strap 519. The inner surface of the cap 513′ engages the upper edge of the inserted portion of the belt strap 519. Movement of the engaged portion of the belt strap 519 is opposed by frictional forces between the engaged portion of the belt strap 519 and the first leaf 513 and between the engaged portion of the belt strap 519 and the abutment 514″. In one embodiment, the width of the belt clip 528 may be comparable to that of a contemporary cellular telephone case belt clip.
Illustrated at (1) is a perspective view of the belt clip 528 as seen by the wearer in the direction X, which is taken toward the belt buckle 510, as shown in
In one embodiment, with a cover installed all around the belt clip 528 as discussed previously, the inside length L of the belt clip 528 as measured from the highest point at the inner surface of the cap 513′ to the lowest point located at the center of the inner surface of the U-bend 535 is made substantially equal to the width W of the belt strap 519. Although a portion of the belt strap fixed end 512 stays inside of the belt clip 528 between the inner surface of the first leaf 513 and the outer surface of the abutment 514, the entire width of inserted belt strap 519 portion is captured inside the belt clip 528 from its upper edge to its lower edge with little or no clearance. The upper edge of the inserted belt strap 519 is substantially in contact with the inner surface of the cap 513′. Afterwards, the belt clip 528 does not permit relative movement of the belt strap 519 on its own, so that once fastened, the circumference of belt strap 519 around the waist is not allowed to be expanded even when the wearer sits down, for example. However, as shown in
In a preferred embodiment, to locate the center of the outer surface of the first leaf 513 of the belt clip 528, which is substantially a rectangle, have it imaginarily extended straight downwardly at its lower end to the lowest point of the belt clip 528 instead of curving into a U-bend, with the belt clip 528 placed in a vertical orientation. Then, a horizontal line may be drawn from the midpoint of one long edge of the resultant rectangle across to the other long edge and a vertical line may be drawn from the midpoint of one short edge of the rectangle across to the other short edge. The intersection of the two lines is the center of the rectangle or the center of the first leaf 513 outer surface. The second fastening element mentioned previously may be installed at this center point. To locate the center of the second leaf 514 outer surface for installing the second fastening element, a similar method may be taken to form a larger rectangle, except that the upper end of the straight part of the leaf 514 is imaginarily extended up to the same height as that of the leaf 513 (up to the cap 513′) in addition to extending its lower end in the same manner as the first leaf 513.
f is a fragmentary rear perspective view of the belt 520 of
Similarly, as illustrated at (3) in
g is a fragmentary rear perspective view of the belt 520 of
Alternatively, the belt clip 528 may be removed from the belt strap 519 by sliding the belt clip 528 all the way out of the free end 511 portion of the belt strap 519 completely (not shown) before the belt strap 519 is turned over. Once the belt clip 528 is removed from the belt strap 519, to turn over the belt strap 519, the wearer performs the following steps:
h is a fragmentary rear perspective view of a belt 520″ resulting from reversing that of
i is a fragmentary front elevational view of the reversed belt 520″ of
j is a front elevation view of a reversible belt attachment system 500c illustrating one embodiment of attaching the waist belt 520″ of
According to the present invention,
a is a front perspective view of a reversible waist belt 600 including the double-sided belt strap 519 and elements of belt fastening means 528, 516a and 516b of
The dashed-dotted line arrow at (1) indicates a belt buckle insertion path of the free end 511 portion, which represents that the free end 511 portion is to be first threaded through the rear outer retainer loop 630, extended outwardly through the open space 643 created by the belt buckle 630, and then continued through the front retainer loop 621. Illustrated at (2) is open position of the belt 600 with the belt strap 519 attached to the belt housing 623 of the belt reverser 622, the belt clip 528 engaging the belt strap fixed end 512 portion, the snap fastener 515 installed on the outer surface of the first leaf 513 of the belt clip 528, and the mating snap fastener 516b secured to the belt strap free end 511 portion on side 2 522 with its double-sided counterpart 516a (hidden from view) installed on side 1 521. The belt 600 closed position is illustrated at (2) and (3), with the belt clip 528 being slid along the belt strap 519 appropriately so that the snap fastener 515 may be aligned with and fastened to the snap fastener 516b. The decorative cap 517 is placed over the snap fastener 516a, like the belt 520 shown in
b is a front perspective view of a reversible waist belt 700 including the belt strap 519 and the belt clip 528 of
The belt buckle 740 resembling the conventional belt buckle 340 includes a plate front face 705, which has two characters V and K, a plain rear face 704 and a rear inner retainer loop 708 adjacent an inner end 702 as illustrated in a rear perspective view of the belt buckle 740 at (1). Like the belt buckle 340, on the rear face 704 adjacent an outer end 701, a projection 706 with an enlarged head 707 is located at the midpoint of the outer edge and perpendicular to the rear face 704. In addition to all said parts, which the belt buckle 340 also has, the belt buckle 740 has a rear outer retainer loop 730 adjacent the outer end 701 on the rear face 704 and to the right of the projection 706, including two spaced parallel legs 731 and 732 perpendicularly mounted on the rear face 704 and a transverse cross bar 733 joining them at their other ends and situated at a more remote point from the rear face 704 than the projection 706. The rear outer retainer loop 730 may be made an integral part of the belt buckle 740. As mentioned previously, said retainer loop holds the outer end 701 portion of the belt buckle 740 from dangling after the belt strap free end 511 portion is inserted through the belt buckle 740. The dashed-dotted lined arrow at (1) indicates the path of such insertion, that is, first through the rear outer retainer loop 730 and then through the rear inner retainer loop 708.
The projecting stud 715 may be any one of those commercially available studs used on articles such as buckle-less belts, handbags, gun slips, cartridge bags, and so forth. For discussion herein, a Sam Brown screw stud is chosen. Illustrated at (3) is an enlarged perspective view of one embodiment of a Sam Brown stud 715 with a screw back 713, wherein the Sam Brown stud includes a head 710, an internally threaded shaft 711 and a base ring 712 connected to the shaft 711. The screw back 713 is screwed into the center of the base ring 712 for fastening the two halves of the Sam Brown screw stud together. After installation at the center of the first leaf 513, the Sam Brown stud 715 is visible on the outer surface of the covering for the first leaf 513 of the belt clip 528 whereas the screw back 713 stays on the inner surface of the covering of the first leaf 513, which is hidden from view. One skilled in the art, who is familiar with stud attachment methods and tools, can attach this fastener to the belt clip 528 for engaging the through hole 716 to fasten the belt 700 before the coverings of the belt clip 528 are finally stitched. This kind of stud may be made from nickel-plated sheet metal, brass or gold and comes in various lengths, for example, 5-6 mm. Note that it is not advisable to have such studs attached to both leaves of the belt clip 528 because an unused stud may make the wearer uncomfortable.
Illustrated at (4) is a front perspective view of the belt 700 in closed position, wherein the free end 511 portion lies behind the fixed end 512 portion, with the projecting stud 715 engaging the through hole 716, most likely only the head of the projecting stud 715 being visible, after the projecting stud 715 is aligned with the through hole 716 by adjustably sliding the belt clip 528 along the free end 511 portion of the belt strap 519. The illustration at (5) gives a sectional view taken substantially along the line 2′-2′ of the illustration at (4) with the belt buckle 740 turned upside down. As shown, the projection 706 with the enlarged head 707 is inserted into the attachment through hole 735 in the fixed end 512 portion of the belt strap 519. Both said belt strap end portions are passed through the rear outer retainer loop 730 and extended through the rear inner retainer loop 708 and beyond the inner end 702 of the belt buckle 740. The belt clip 528 engaging the free end 511 portion of the belt strap 519 has its projecting stud 715 (of a Sam Brown stud type) inserted through the through hole 716 on the fixed end portion of the belt strap 519. A part of the U-bend 535 of the belt clip 528 is visible. Illustrated at (6) is a front elevational view of the belt 600 fully assembled in closed position, showing the top edge and the bottom edge of the belt clip 528 and the presence of the head of the projecting stud 715. This appearance resembles that of the conventional belt 300 of
c is a front perspective view of a reversible waist belt 750 including the belt strap 519 and the belt clip 528 of
Like the conventional belt buckle assembly 385 of
Illustrated at (3) is a front perspective view of the belt 750 in closed position. To reach that position, the free end 511 portion passes through the rear outer retainer loop 780 first and then through the inner retainer loop 758 to maintain a parallel relation with the fixed end 512 portion of the belt strap 519 but overlaps the latter, with the button 765 fastened to the buttonhole 766, possibly requiring the belt clip 528 to adjustably slide along the belt strap 519 to allow the button 765 to align with the buttonhole 766 first. Illustrated at (4) is a sectional view of the belt 750 in closed position taken substantially along the line 3-3 of the illustration at (3) and directed toward the distal end of the belt buckle 760, showing edges of the first leaf 513 and the second leaf 514 of the belt clip 528, with the button 765 from the belt clip 528 put through the buttonhole 766 on the free end 511 portion. A front elevational view of the belt 750 fully assembled is illustrated at (5), which resembles that of the conventional belt 350.
d is a front perspective view of a reversible waist belt 800 including the belt strap 519 and the belt clip 528 of
Like the conventional belt buckle assembly 435 of
Illustrated at (3) is a side cross sectional view of the double-sided hook fasteners 816a (and 816b) disposed on both sides of the fixed end 512 portion of the belt strap 519 taken along the line 7-7 of the illustration at (2). As shown, hook fastener strip 816a lies on front side of the belt strap 519 and hook fastener strip 816b, on the opposite side. Illustrated at (4) is a front perspective view of the belt 800 in closed position. To reach that position, the free end 511 portion passes first through the rear outer retainer loop 830 and then through the inner retainer loop 808, such as indicated with dashed-dotted line arrow at (1), to reach a parallel relation with the fixed end 512 portion of the belt strap 519 but underlaps the latter, with the loop fastener strip 815 fastened to the hook fastener strip 816b (not visible herein but shown at (5)), possibly requiring the belt clip 528 to adjustably slide along the belt strap 519 to allow the loop fastener strip 815 to align with the hook fastener strip 816b first. Illustrated at (5) is a sectional view of the belt 800 in closed position taken substantially along the line 5-5 of the illustration at (4) and directed toward the proximal end of the belt buckle 810, showing the exterior of the U-bend 535 of the belt clip 528, with the loop fastener strip 815 fastened to the hook fastener strip 816b, with the hook fastener strip 816a, the double-sided counterpart of the hook fastener strip 816b, exposed, which is shown at (4). Also shown at (4), is a decorative strip 817 with Velcro® loops on its underside standing by to be placed over the hook fastener strip 816a with a matching size, so that said fastener strip is concealed from front view. A front elevation view the belt 800 fully assembled is illustrated at (6), which resembles that of the conventional belt 400. Note that in certain embodiments, a hook-and-eye type of fasteners may be used instead of hook-and-loop fasteners.
a is a perspective view of a system 900a for fitting a non-garment article such as shoe with an exemplary integral belt 980a fastenable around a wearer's ankle illustrated in closed position in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The description of
b is an exploded fragmentary perspective view of the integral belt 980a of
Like the conventional belt buckle 180 of the belt 150, the belt buckle 930 has a first outer end 971 and a second outer end 972 in addition to the inner end 973. In addition, the belt buckle 930 has an elongated belt buckle body 955, which has an opening being divided by the center bar 954 into two slots 952 and 953, bounded by sides bars 957 and 958, respectively. In a similar manner to that used by the belt 150, the free end 911 portion is inserted through the belt buckle 930 first through the slot 952 from the underside to the outside, extended over the center bar 954 and then back to the underside through the slot 953 and beyond. Unlike the belt buckle 180, the belt buckle 930 has no prong. Belt fastening for the belt 980a makes use of a stationary first fastening element, which uses the snap fastener 926, and a co-acting second fastening element, which uses the snap fastener 925 carried by the belt clip 928, which is adjustably slidable longitudinally along the belt strap 920b to align with the snap fastener 926, like belt fastening means used by the waist belt 520 of
Except for different sizing required by shoe belt fastening, the structure and functions of the belt clip 928 are essentially the same as those of the belt clip 528 illustrated in
Although not shown but alluded to, a belt buckle like the type of the belt buckle 930 herein can also be used on a single-sided as well as reversible waist belt in accordance with the present invention. As explained in the description of a conventional waist belt 150, the free end of a reversed reversible belt strap can be threaded through the belt buckle from the second outer end 972 toward its inner end 973. This type of belt buckle 930 without a prong is basically a tri-glide buckle, currently widely used in industry for clothing, handbags, travel bags and so on. As mentioned previously, because of its inherent structure, this type of belt buckle requires no outer retainer loop on the rear side like that of the belt buckle 510 shown in
c and 4d and
a and 5b are a flow chart diagram illustrating one embodiment of a method 1000 for assembling and disassembling a belt such as the waist belt 520 of
The method 1000 proceeds to affix 1035 the first fastening element, which is the snap fastener 516b in this case, to the underside 522 of one belt strap end portion, which is the free end 511 portion of the belt strap 519, at a midpoint widthwise, and its double-sided counterpart snap fastener 516a to the front side 521 at the same position since the belt strap 519 is double-sided, as illustrated in
The method 1000 proceeds further to secure 1045 the fixed end 512 portion of the belt strap 519 to the belt buckle 510. The method 1000 engages 1050 the belt clip 528 to the other belt strap end portion, which is the fixed end 512 portion, facing the snap fastener 516b that is to be fastened to, as illustrated in
With all elements of belt fastening means put in place, the method 1000 begins threading 1055 the free end 511 portion of the belt strap 519 through the belt buckle 510 from underside thereof and through the rear outer retainer loop 530 at the outer end 506a toward the inner end 506b, as shown in
According to the present invention, a belt normally used on a garment such as trousers or a non-garment article such as footwear can be provided with at least one belt strap having no adjusting holes coupled with a popular conventional buckle without its prong or projection that is used to fasten the belt strap free end portion and fixed end portion together for a convention belt. Required prevention of the outer end portion of the belt buckle from dangling after belt buckling in the absence of a prong or projection, however, is made possible by providing a retainer loop on the rear side of the belt buckle near the outer end to receive the free end portion firstly. Although not for the same purpose, this kind of retainer loops have been widely utilized on a variety of popular conventional belt buckles. To fasten the new hole-less and prong-less belt with remaining parts of a popular belt buckle retained for its familiar aesthetic appearance and well-known non-functional significance, replacement belt fastening means includes a stationary fastening element and a co-actable mating fastening element carried by an adjustably slidable self-locking belt clip, engageable on the free end portion or the fixed portions of the belt strap. For an equally adjustable reversible belt, the stationary fastening element is installed double-sided although the slidable mating fastening element may optionally remain single-sided as it can be manually reoriented after a belt strap reversal. A variety of fastening device pairs and ornaments are provided for selectability so as not to compromise aesthetic appearance of the reversible belt. Consequently, unlimited belt size adjustability for single-sided and reversible belts is provided as desired by the user, and the problem of wear and tear of the belt strap resulting from use of prong and adjusting holes may be eliminated. The embodiments may be practiced in other specific forms. The described embodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the invention is, therefore, indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. All changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope.
