Patent Application
20110056058
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for fastening garments, and more particularly to an apparatus and method for securing two or more articles of clothing, such as paired garments together so that they are not lost or separated, illustratively during a laundry process.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is oftentimes difficult to keep pairs of clothing items together when they are laundered or stored, or even when displayed for sale at retail outlets. At times, pairs of clothing items, most commonly socks, will become separated and one of the paired items becomes lost during a laundering process. In addition, while folding socks for storage after laundering, it is often difficult to sort matching pairs together, as there may be only slight variances in color, fabric patterns and/or sizes. Several known devices and innovations for securing garments together, such as socks, have been developed and patented to address these issues.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,051 discloses a nylon loop which has its opposing ends joined to swivel couplings that can be mated together. The swivel couplings include a threaded bore and an opposing screw that is threaded into the bore. During use, holes are formed in sock pairs to receive the projecting end of the screw, and a leading end of the screw threaded into the bore. Although, the holed sock pairs are held together for storing, laundering or like between the swivel couplings, the fabric material of the socks can get wrapped around the threads of the screw, and thereby become permanently damaged as the screw portion is being threaded into the bore.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,503,591 discloses a circular loop made of stainless steel spring wire, which loop has one end mounting a locking member so that the other end of the loop may be inserted in the locking member to lock the two ends together and prevent separation of the articles stored on the loop. The pointed end of the loop slides into a U-shaped channel in the locking member for locking the two ends together, to thereby prevent separation of the articles of clothing. However, the pointed end of the loop can easily become disengaged from the U-shaped channel during the laundry process, which can result in separation of the paired garments, as well as damage to other articles of clothing being laundered.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,775,849 provides a method for releasably binding paired articles together by using short strips or tabs, coated with a film adhesive on one side, adhesively-bonded at both ends to the top outside edge of paired cloth items to form a loop on each item (or garment item). The pair of socks is joined by a connector threaded through the loop on each sock and locked with the anchor through a keyhole. Although this device and technique is suitable for storing paired articles of clothing, the adhesive fabric is not suitable to resist the shearing and centrifugal forces that occur during a laundry process.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,779,076 discloses a metal connecting pin having an eyelet at one end and two elongated leg members extending longitudinally in an opposing direction. The leg members are closely spaced and somewhat flexible to retain paired socks therebetween while being hung from the eyelet along a clothesline. Although this device will retain the paired socks together during a drying process, the paired socks can easily become separated during the washing of the clothing during the laundry process.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,673,639 discloses the use of a single-body clasping device that includes a head section having a narrower neck portion, an opposing end portion, and a body portion connected between the neck portion and the end portion. The body portion includes an opening formed therein which is sufficiently large to admit the head portion. The end portion has a slot which is sized to receive only the neck portion and prevent passage there through of the head portion. A sock pair is laid across the body portion and the head portion is inserted through the body opening such that the neck portion slides through the slot to retain the sock pair together.
Other well known techniques for securing pairs of garments together by the use of a “gun,” “stapler” or other type of machine are illustratively disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,950,901; 6,561,406; 4,483,066; 3,880,339; 3,735,908; and 3,734,375. These mechanical devices insert filaments through the clothing to fasten them together. However, the force exerted by the mechanical devices to insert the filaments can often damage the fabric material of the garments. Moreover, an individual using the mechanical devices may be susceptible to injury during use of such mechanical devices.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an improved laundry fastener that can be easily inserted and pulled by hand through the fabric of clothing without damaging the threads or fibers forming the clothes. Additionally, it is desirable to provide an inexpensive device for maintaining paired articles of clothing, such as socks, gloves or mittens together while being laundered to prevent the misplacement or loss thereof, and without the use of a gun, stapler or other mechanical device to insert the filament into the garments. Moreover, it is desirable to provide a laundry fastener that is user-friendly, reliable, is less costly to manufacture and maintain, and of significantly higher quality than is presently available.
The disadvantages associated with the prior art are overcome by the present invention which provides a laundry fastener to secure together pairs of clothing items or garments, such as socks, gloves or mittens, so that the pairs will not become separated during laundering or drying processes and to provide ease in sorting clothing after laundering or drying, as well as to prevent the pairs from becoming lost or separated during storage. The laundry fastener of the present invention secures pairs of clothing or garments together by means of a filament, which is easily manually inserted through the garments and without the need for complex mechanical devices.
In a preferred embodiment, an apparatus is provided for releasably attaching at least two fabric items together. The apparatus can be used as a laundry fastener that includes a base member and a first filament having a first end, an opposing second end, and an intermediate portion formed between the opposing first and second ends. A second filament has a first end attached to the base member and an opposing second end that is detachably secured to the intermediate portion of the first filament. The second end of the second filament forms a pivotal hinge, such that the first and second filaments are movable relative to each other.
Prior to using the laundry fastener to temporarily retain the paired garments together, in one embodiment, the second end of the second filament is positioned substantially normal with respect to the second end of the first filament in a first state. The hinge enables the first filament to be moved to a different position with respect to the second filament while the fastener is being inserted through the paired garments. In an embodiment, the second filament can be positioned substantially parallel to the first filament in a second state. More specifically, the second end of the second filament is positioned substantially parallel to the second end of the first filament in the second state.
Once the garments have been moved past the parallel positioned second ends of the first and second filaments, the resiliency of the filaments biases the second end of the second filament to return to its original orientation which is substantially normal to the second end of the first filament, i.e., in a third state.
In one aspect of the present invention, the first filament is detached at its intermediate portion from the hinge of the second filament in a fourth state. The first end of the second filament can be fixedly secured to the base member. Alternatively, the first end of the second filament is detachably secured to the base member, e.g., as by a weakened section that can be flexed and broken manually, thereby allowing the items to be slipped off the filament.
In an embodiment, the first and second filaments are generally round. Preferably, the first end of the first filament has a tapered tip, the second filament is a U-shaped filament, and the intermediate portion is positioned closer to the second end of the first filament than to the first end of the first filament. Where the first and second garment items include a fabric weaved from a thread-like material, the base is preferably dimensioned greater than the open weave of the fabric to thereby prevent the first end of the second filament from passing through the first and second items of garments.
In yet another embodiment, a method of detachably securing two or more garments together using a laundry fastener is provided, where the laundry fastener includes a base member, a first filament having a first end, an opposing second end, and an intermediate portion formed between the opposing first and second ends; a second filament having a first end attached to the base member, and an opposing second end being detachably secured to the intermediate portion of the first filament, the second end of the second filament being formed as a hinge, and wherein the first and second filaments are movable relative to each other. The method includes pairing a first garment with a second garment, the first and second garments being fabricated from a fabric weave material; inserting the first end of the first filament through the fabric weave materials of the paired garments; detaching the second end of the first filament from the base; sliding the first filament through the fabric weave materials to the intermediate portion of the first filament; moving the second ends of the first and second filaments together at the hinge, wherein the second end of the first filament and the second end of the second filament are substantially parallel; sliding the second ends of the first and second filaments through the fabric materials toward the base; releasing the second ends of the first and second filaments, wherein second end of the first filament returns to a position substantially normal to the second end of the second filament to thereby lock the paired garments between the base, the second end of the second filament and the second end of the first filament.
In one aspect of the invention, the second end of the filament is detached at the hinge from the intermediate portion of the first filament. The garments can then be slidably removed from the second end of the second filament. In another aspect of the invention, the first end of the second filament is detached from the base member. The garments can then be slidably removed from the first end of the second filament. The base can optionally include design patterns and/or contain a trademark or logo relating to the manufacture of the items to which it is attached and/or can be used to receive a price, size identifier, or other relevant information.
In yet another embodiment, an article of manufacture for detachably securing two or more items together includes a base member having at least one socket, a first filament having a first end, an opposing second end, an intermediate portion formed between the opposing first and second ends, a second filament having a first end attached to the base member, and an opposing second end being secured to the intermediate portion of the first filament in a pivotal hinged relation. The first and second filaments are movable relative to each other, wherein the second end of the first filament is sized and configured for insertion into and removal from a first socket of the at least one socket.
In one aspect, the second end of the first filament has a bulbous end-portion. In another aspect, the first end of the second filament is sized and configured for insertion into and removal from a second socket of the at least one socket. In yet another aspect, the first end of the second filament has a bulbous end-portion.
In further embodiments, the fastener of the present invention can be used to temporarily secure a plurality of fabric or textile items together for retail sale and then be easily removed by the consumer after purchase.
Additional objects and features of the invention will become apparent from the detailed description, which follows taken in conjunction with the specification and the accompanying drawings in which a preferred embodiment is depicted for exemplification.
The teachings of the present invention can be readily understood by considering the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
To facilitate an understanding of the invention, the same reference numerals have been used, when appropriate, to designate the same or similar elements that are common to the figures. Unless stated otherwise, the features shown in the figures are not drawn to scale, but are shown for illustrative purposes.
The present invention is a laundry fastener for retaining articles of clothing together. The laundry fastener is especially suitable for temporarily fastening paired garments, such as socks, mittens or gloves together while conducting a laundry process. The laundry fastener is also useful for temporarily fastening articles of clothing during storage thereof.
Referring to
The first and second filaments 104 and 112 preferably have circular cross-sectional areas, although such circular shape is not considered as being limiting. The first filament 104 preferably has tapered or pointed tips at the opposing ends 106 and 108. Preferably, at least the first end 106 has a pointed tip that can readily pierce or otherwise be inserted through the fabric weave of the garments. A person of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that such tapered shapes are not considered to be limiting. For example, the tips can be rounded or any other shape that will diminish snagging of the fabric material of the garments 130. The laundry fastener 100 is preferably fabricated by injection molding from a flexible plastic material, such as polyvinylchloride (PVC), or any other plastic material that has the characteristics of being lightweight, heat resistant, and water resistant. Further, the first and second filaments 104 and 112 are resilient such when an external force is applied thereon they will flex, and then return substantially to their original shape when the application of the external force is removed.
The base member 102 is illustratively shaped as a pair of socks, although such shape is not considered as limiting. Rather, the base member 102 can have any curvi-linear shape (e.g., spherical, oval, star-shaped, rectangular, and the like). The base member 102 is sized greater than the diameter of the first and second filaments 104 and 112. The larger sized base serves as a stop-member or anchor to prevent passage of the fabric material of an article of clothing past the first end 114 of the second filament 112, as described in greater detail with respect to
In the preferred embodiment of
Preferably, the first end 114 of the second filament 112 is fixedly attached to the periphery of the base member 102. Alternatively, the first end 114 of the second filament 112 can be detachably coupled to the periphery of the base member 102, as described with respect to
Referring to
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In an alternative embodiment, the first end 114 of the second filament 112 can be detached from the base 102 instead of the detachment at the hinge 120. The detachment at the base is provided by applying a shearing and/or normal force to the first end 114 of the second filament 112 with respect to the base member 102. Once the first filament 104 is separated from the base member 102, the garments 130 can be removed (e.g., pulled through) from the second filament 112 of the laundry fastener along the path designated by arrow “G”. The base member 102 and first filament 104 of the laundry fastener can then be discarded.
The hand held fastener of the present invention can be used for securing a pair of socks, gloves or any other garment that is often found in pairs together so that they do not become lost or separated during storage or especially during a laundering process. Advantageously, machine devices are not required to force a filament through articles of clothing to secure them together have long been utilized. Rather, the laundry fastener that can be easily inserted and pulled (or pushed) manually by hand through the fabric of clothing without damaging the threads or fibers (i.e., fabric weave) forming the cloths. Additionally, the laundry fastener of the present invention is user-friendly, reliable, is less costly to manufacture and maintain, and of significantly higher quality than presently available products.
Referring to
In one aspect of the present invention, the base member 102 includes a first bore or socket 502 sized and configured to receive the second end 108 of the first filament 104 in a snap-fit, socket-like arrangement. In one embodiment, the second end 108 of the first filament 104 includes a bulbous end 504 sized and configured to be detachably inserted into and out of the socket 502. Although the second end 108 of the first filament 104 is illustratively described as being bulbous in shape, such shape is not considered as limiting. For example, the second end 108 can be circular, rectilinear, triangular and/or any other shape or keyed configuration that can be tightly or snugly snap-fitted and retained in the socket 502 by at least frictional forces. Accordingly, the second end 108 of the first filament 104 can be repeatably attached to and detached from the first socket 502 of the base member 102 to permit the first and second filaments 104, 112 to be inserted through the fabric material of the items of clothing 130 as described above.
In another aspect, the base member 102 includes a second bore or socket 506 sized and configured to receive the first end 114 of the second filament 112 in a snap-fit, socket-like arrangement. Preferably, the first end 114 of the second filament 112 includes a bulbous end-portion 508 that is sized and configured to be inserted into a second bore or socket 506 formed in the base member 102 in a snap-fit, socket-like arrangement. As described above, the first end 114 of the second filament 112 can be circular, rectilinear, triangular and/or any other shape or keyed configuration that can be tightly or snugly snap-fitted and retained in the socket 506 by at least frictional forces. Accordingly, the first end 114 of the second filament 112 can be repeatably attached to and detached from the second socket 506 of the base member 102 to permit the removal of the second filament 112 from the fabric material of the items of clothing 130 as described above with respect to
Referring to
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Removal of the garment fastener 500 can be performed in a reverse operation or path along which the garment fastener 500 was inserted though the fabric material of the garments. Specifically, removal of the garment fastener 500 can be performed by detaching the second end 108 of the first filament 104 from the first socket 502 and sliding the fabric material over the first and second filaments, across the hinge 120 and then over the free end 106 of the second filament. The second end 108 of the first filament 104 can then be reinserted into the first socket 502 of the base member 102 for future use.
Referring to
Although various embodiments that incorporate the teachings of the present invention have been shown and described in detail herein, those skilled in the art can readily devise many other and varied embodiments that incorporate these teachings, and the scope of the invention is to be determined by the claims that follow.
