Patent Grant
10856625
This is a non-provisional application which claims priority to a Chinese patent application having an application number of CN 202020867409.4, and a filing date of May 21, 2020, the entire contents of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
The present invention relates to a buckle, and more particularly to a belt buckle comprising a rapid fastening arrangement which is capable of allowing a user to rapidly mount a belt strap on the belt buckle without needing to form fastening holes thereon.
A conventional belt usually comprises a belt strap having a fastening end portion and a connecting end portion, and a belt buckle attached on the connecting end portion of the belt strap for detachably fastening the belt strap on a wearer's body. Conventionally, the belt buckle may comprise a main frame having a through cavity formed thereon, and a fastening pin extended from the main frame along a longitudinal direction of the belt strap. The belt strap has a plurality of fastening holes formed on the fastening end portion. When in use, the fastening end portion is arranged to penetrate through the through cavity while the fastening pin may penetrate through one of the fastening holes for fastening the fastening portion on the belt buckle. As such, the fastening end portion is prevented from detaching from the belt buckle.
A major disadvantage of the conventional belt such as the one described above is the use of fastening holes on the fastening end portion for fastening the belt buckle with the belt strap. First, the production of the through fastening holes on the belt strap is permanent. When the holes are wrongly punched, belt strap cannot be used for fastening on a wearer's body. Moreover, when too less fastening holes are punched on the fastening end portion, a wearer may need to add additional holes on the belt strap. This create much troublesome to the wearer as well as the seller. Conversely, when too many fastening holes are formed on the fastening end portion, they will severely affect the overall aesthetical appearance of the belt.
As a result, there is a need to develop a belt which does not require fastening holes for fastening the belt strap on the wearer's body.
Implementations of the present disclosure provide a belt buckle comprising a rapid fastening arrangement which is capable of allowing a user to rapidly mount a belt strap on the belt buckle without needing to form fastening holes thereon.
Implementations of the present disclosure provide a belt buckle comprising a connector housing which is capable of rotating with respect to a base frame so as to allow a user to selectively expose either one surface of a belt strap. In other words, a wearer of the present invention may select which surface to be exposed to others for aesthetic purpose.
In one aspect of the present invention, it provides a belt, comprising:
a belt strap having a connecting end portion and a fastening end portion;
a belt buckle, which comprises:
a base frame;
a connector housing movably attached on the base frame, the connecting housing having a connecting cavity for detachably receiving the connecting end portion of the belt strap; and
a rapid fastening arrangement, which comprises:
a first fastening member extended from the base frame;
a second fastening member extended above the first fastening member, at least one of the first fastening member and the second fastening member being arranged to be pivotally movable with respect to the base frame so as to form a fastening slot as a space between the first fastening member and the second fastening member for receiving the fastening end portion of the belt strap;
a holding bridge extended from the base frame and having a through securing slot;
a biasing member pivotally supported in the through securing slot; and
a resilient assembly mounted on the base frame and exert an urging force toward the biasing member, in such a manner that when the fastening end portion of the belt strap is received in the through securing slot, the resilient assembly is arranged to drive the biasing member, the first fastening member and the second fastening member to bias against the belt strap so as to securely fasten the fastening end portion on the belt strap.
In another aspect of the present invention, it provides a belt buckle for a belt strap having a connecting end portion and a fastening end portion, comprising:
a base frame;
a connector housing movably attached on the base frame, the connecting housing having a connecting cavity for detachably receiving the connecting end portion of the belt strap; and
a rapid fastening arrangement, which comprises:
a first fastening member extended from the base frame;
a second fastening member extended above the first fastening member, at least one of the first fastening member and the second fastening member being arranged to be pivotally movable with respect to the base frame so as to form a fastening slot as a space between the first fastening member and the second fastening member for receiving the fastening end portion of the belt strap;
a holding bridge extended from the base frame and having a through securing slot;
a biasing member pivotally supported in the through securing slot; and
a resilient assembly mounted on the base frame and exert an urging force toward the biasing member, in such a manner that when the fastening end portion of the belt strap is received in the through securing slot, the resilient assembly is arranged to drive the biasing member, the first fastening member and the second fastening member to bias against the belt strap so as to securely fasten the fastening end portion on the belt strap.
This summary presented above is provided merely to introduce certain concepts and not to identify any key or essential features of the claimed subject matter.
The following detailed description of the embodiments is the preferred mode of carrying out the present disclosure. The description is not to be taken in any limiting sense. It is presented for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of embodiments of the present disclosure.
It should be appreciated that the terms “install”, “connect”, “couple”, and “mount” in the following description refer to the connecting relationship in the accompanying drawings for easy understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the connection can refer to permanent connection or detachable connection. Furthermore, “connected” may also mean direct connection or indirect connection, or connection through other auxiliary components. Therefore, the above terms should not be an actual connection limitation of the elements of embodiments of the present disclosure.
It should be appreciated that the terms “length”, “width”, “top”, “bottom”, “front”, “rear”, “left”, “right”, vertical“, “horizontal”, “upper”, “lower”, “exterior”, and “interior” in the following description refer to the orientation or positioning relationship in the accompanying drawings for easy understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure without limiting the actual location or orientation of embodiments of the present disclosure. Therefore, the above terms should not be an actual location limitation of the elements of embodiments of the present disclosure.
It should be appreciated that the terms “first”, “second”, “one”, “a”, and “an” in the following description refer to “at least one” or “one or more” in the embodiment. In particular, the term “a” in one embodiment may refer to “one” while in another embodiment may refer to “more than one”. Therefore, the above terms should not be an actual numerical limitation of the elements of embodiments of the present disclosure.
Referring to
The belt buckle 20 may comprise a base frame 30, a connector housing 40 and a rapid fastening arrangement 50. The connector housing 40 may be movably attached on the base frame 30. The connecting housing 40 may have a connecting cavity 43 for detachably receiving the connecting end portion 11 of the belt strap 10.
The rapid fastening arrangement 50 may comprise a first fastening member 51, a second fastening member 52, a holding bridge 53, a biasing member 54, and a resilient assembly 55. The first fastening member 51 may extend from the base frame 30.
The second fastening member 52 may extend above the first fastening member 51, wherein at least one of the first fastening member 51 and the second fastening member 52 may be arranged to be pivotally movable with respect to the base frame 30 so as to form a fastening slot 56 as a space between the first fastening member 51 and the second fastening member 52 for receiving the fastening end portion 12 of the belt strap 10.
The holding bridge 53 may extend from the base frame 30 and may have a through securing slot 531. The biasing member 53 may be pivotally supported in the through securing slot 531.
The resilient assembly 55 may be mounted on the base frame 30 and may be arranged to exert an urging force toward the biasing member 53, in such a manner that when the fastening end portion 12 of the belt strap 10 is received in the through securing slot 531, the resilient assembly 55 may be arranged to drive the biasing member 53, the first fastening member 51 and the second fastening member 52 to bias against the belt strap 10 so as to securely fasten the fastening end portion 12 on the belt strap 10.
According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the buckle strap 10 may be elongated in structure and may be configured from fabric, leather, plastic or other composite materials. The buckle strap 10 may be arranged to wear on a wearer's body. The connecting end portion 11 and the fastening end portion 12 may represent two end portions of the elongated buckle strap 10 respectively.
The base frame 30 may comprise a frame housing 31 having a connecting portion 317 and an opposed fastening portion 318. The fastening portion 318 and the connecting portion 317 may customarily represent a front side and a rear side of the frame housing 31 respectively. The base frame 30 may further comprise two extension members 32 extended from the fastening portion 318 of the frame housing 31 to form an accommodation cavity 33 as the space between the two extension members 32.
Moreover, the frame housing 31 may have a mounting slot 311 indently formed on the connecting portion 317 of the frame housing 31 but along a transverse direction thereof, wherein the connector housing 40 may be movably coupled to the connecting portion 317 of the frame housing 31 through the mounting slot 311. The mounting slot 311 may be surrounded by a curved boundary wall 312.
Furthermore, the frame housing 31 may further have a through mounting hole 313 formed on the curved boundary wall 312 of the mounting slot 311 and extend along a longitudinal axis of the belt buckle 20. The mounting hole 313 may penetrate the curved boundary wall 312 of the mounting slot 311 for coupling with the connector housing 40 (described in more details below).
In addition, the frame housing 31 may have a front wall 315 and a through locking hole 316 formed on the front wall 315, wherein the front wall 315 may extend along a transverse direction of the belt buckle 20 and may be positioned opposite to the mounting slot 311. On the other hand, the through locking hole 316 may extend along a longitudinal direction of the belt buckle 20 and may communicate with the through mounting hole 313. The through mounting hole 313 and the through locking hole 316, however, may have different cross-sectional shape.
As shown in
On the other hand, the connector housing 40 as a whole may have a front portion 45 connecting to the base frame 30, and a rear portion 46 connecting to the connecting end portion 11 of the belt strap 10. More specifically, the connector housing 40 may comprise a first housing member 41 and a second housing member 42 pivotally connected to the first housing member 41 at the rear portion 46 of the connector housing 40. The first housing member 41 and the second housing member 42 may be pivotally moved to toward and away from each other. The connector housing 40 may therefore be operated between a closed configuration and an opened configuration, wherein in the closed configuration, the second housing member 42 may be pivotally moved toward the first housing member 41 so as to form the connecting cavity 43 as a space enclosed by the first housing member 41 and the second housing member 42, and a connector opening 44 communicating the connecting cavity 43 with an exterior of the connector housing 40. The connector opening 44 may be formed at the rear portion 46 of the connector housing 40. In this preferred embodiment, the second housing member 42 may be positioned above the first housing member 41, so that when the connector housing 40 is in the closed configuration, the second housing member 42 may be pivotally moved to overlap on the first housing member 41. The closed configuration may be illustrated in
On the other hand, when the connector housing 40 is in the opened configuration, the first housing member 41 and the second housing member 42 may be pivotally moved away from each other so as to expose the connecting cavity 43 from the front side 45 of the connector housing 40. The connector housing 40 may further comprise a plurality of holding pins 47 extended from the first housing member 41 at positions adjacent to the connector opening 44. Each of the holding pins 47 may upwardly extend from the first housing member 41 and may have top sharp tip 471 for contacting with the connecting end portion 11 of the belt strap 10. The opened configuration may be illustrated in
The connector housing 40 may further comprise at least one locking latch 48 provided on the front portion 45 thereof, wherein the locking latch 48 may extend into and engage with the mounting slot 311 of the frame housing 31 for normally preventing the connector housing 40 from accidentally or undesirably turning into opened configuration. The locking latch 48 may be extended from one of the first housing member 41 and the second housing member 42 so that when the locking latch 48 is engaged with the mounting slot 311, the second housing member 42 is prevented from pivotally moving away from the first housing member 41 so as to retain the connector housing 40 in the closed configuration.
As shown in
The connector member 492 may comprise a connecting head 4921 and a connecting pin 4922 extended from the connecting head 4921. The connecting head 4921 may have a driving slot 4923 formed thereon for engaging with a screwdriver, so that the connector member 492 may be turned by the screwdriver through the driving slot 4923. On the other hand, the connecting pin 4922 may have an extension portion 4924 extended from the connecting head 4921, and a biasing free end portion 4925 arranged to penetrate through the through locking hole 316. Each of the connecting head 4921 and the extension portion 4924 may have a circular cross-sectional shape, in which a diameter of the extension portion 4924 is smaller than that of the connecting head 4921.
As shown in
The connection between the frame housing 31 and the connector housing 40 may be configured as follows: the first resilient element 493 may be mounted on the extension portion 4924 of the connecting pin 4922 of the connector member 492. The extension portion 4924 of the connecting pin 4922 may be arranged to penetrate through the through coupling slot 4911 of the tubular connector 491 and the mounting slot 311, while the biasing free end portion 4925 may also penetrate through the through coupling slot 4911, the mounting slot 311, and the through locking hole 316, so that the biasing free end portion 4925 may be exposed out of the frame housing 31 from the fastening portion 318 thereof. The connecting head 4921 may still be retained in the connecting cavity 43.
At the same time, the tubular connector 491 may be rotatably inserted in the through locking hole 316 until the locking latch 48 is engaged with the mounting slot 311. When the connector member 492 is inserted into the through locking hole 316, the biasing free end portion 4925 may be properly aligned with the through locking hole 316 (i.e. aligning with the curved top edge 3162 and the curved bottom edge 3163) so that biasing free end portion 4925 may be arranged to penetrate through the through locking hole 316.
In order to securely couple the connector housing 40 with the frame housing 31, the connector member 492 may be rotated at 90° such that the biasing free end portion 4925 may no longer be aligned with the through locking hole 316. In this position, the biasing free end portion 4925 may align with the vertical side edges 3161 of the through locking hole 316. The result is that the biasing free end portion 4925 may bias against a front biasing surface 319 of the frame housing 31 because a width of the biasing free end portion 4925 is larger than a maximum vertical height of the through locking hole 316. Due to the urging force exerted by the first resilient element 493, the connector housing 40 may normally be pulled toward the frame housing 31 and the connector housing 40 may be retained in the closed configuration.
When a user would like to turn the connector housing 40 into the opened configuration, he or she can pull the connector housing 40 away from the frame housing 31. Since the biasing free end portion 4925 is locked by the front biasing surface 319, pulling the connector housing 40 away from the frame housing 31 may extend the first resilient element 493 and allow the locking latch 48 to disengage from the mounting slot 311. When the locking latch 48 has disengaged from the mounting slot 311, the user may manually rotate the connector housing 40 and pivotally open the second housing member 42 from the first housing member 41. This turns the connector housing into the opened configuration.
When the user finishes opening the connecting cavity 43, he or she may pivotally move the second housing member 42 toward the first housing member 41 and turn the connector housing 40 back to the closed configuration. After that, the user may rotate the connector housing 40 until the connector housing 40 aligns with the frame housing 31 again. At this position, the first resilient element 493 may exert elastic urging force toward the connector housing 40 so as to force the connector housing 40 to move toward the frame housing 31 until the locking latch 48 re-engages with the mounting slot 311 again.
One skilled in the art may appreciate that by rotating the connector housing 40 with respect to the frame housing 31, one may selectively expose either one of the surfaces of the belt strap 10 to ambient environment so that the a wearer may selectively choose which side of the belt strap 10 to be used. In other words, the belt buckle of the present invention may allow dual use of the belt strap 10 in the sense that both sides of the belt strap 10 may be selectively exposed to an observer.
Referring to
On the other hand, the second fastening member 52 extend above the first fastening member 51. The second fastening member 52 may comprise a third longitudinal arm 521 and a fourth longitudinal arm 522 frontwardly extended from the base frame 30 along a longitudinal direction of the belt buckle 20. Moreover, the second fastening member 52 may further comprise a third transverse arm 523 and a second transverse arm 527 extended between the third longitudinal arm 521 and the fourth longitudinal arm 522 along a transverse direction of the belt buckle 20. The third longitudinal arm 521 and the fourth longitudinal arm 522 may be arranged and positioned to correspond to the positions of the first longitudinal arm 511 and the second longitudinal arm 512 respectively. Thus, when the second fastening member 52 is pivotally moved to overlap on the first fastening member 51, the protruding portions 55 may be arranged to bias against the third longitudinal arm 521 and the fourth longitudinal arm 522 respectively. The third transverse arm 523 may be positioned to correspond to the first transverse arm 513, while the second transverse arm 527 may be positioned to correspond to the fourth transverse arm 514.
Each of the third longitudinal arm 521 and the fourth longitudinal arm 522 may have an elongated curved structure so as to form the fastening slot 56 as a space enclosed by or within the first longitudinal arm 511, the second longitudinal arm 512, the third longitudinal arm 521 and the fourth longitudinal arm 522.
According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the second fastening member 52 may further comprise a pivot base 524 pivotally connected to the base frame 30, wherein the second transverse arm 527 may extend from the pivot base 524, while the third longitudinal arm 521 and the fourth longitudinal arm 522 may upwardly and frontwardly extend from the second transverse arm 527. When the pivot base 524 pivotally moves with respect to the base frame 30, the second fastening member 52 as a whole may pivotally move with respect to the base frame 30 and toward and away from the first fastening member 51 as described above. The pivot base 524 may have an elongated structure and may be connected to and extend between the extension members 32 of the base frame 30 in a pivotally movable manner. In other words, the pivot base 524 may be accommodated in the accommodation cavity 33.
The holding bridge 53 may upwardly extend from the frame housing 311 of the base frame 30 so as to create the through securing slot 531 for allowing the fastening end portion 12 of the belt strap 10 to pass therethrough. Moreover, the through securing slot 531 may communicate with the fastening slot 56 so that the fastening end portion 12 of the belt strap 10 may first pass through the fastening slot 56 and then the through securing slot 531 when the belt is worn on the wearer's body. The holding bridge 53 may be configured as having a U-shaped cross-sectional shape when viewed from the front.
As shown in
The resilient assembly 55 may further comprise a third resilient element 528 provided in the storage compartment 5241 of the pivot base 524 for exerting an urging force toward the biasing member 54. In this preferred embodiment, the third resilient element 528 may be coupled to the pivot shaft 526 at a position adjacent to the second resilient element 525. Each of the second resilient element 525 and the third resilient element 528 may be configured as a compression spring.
The biasing member 54 may comprise biasing portion 541 and two coupling portions 542 downwardly and spacedly extended from the biasing portion 541 to connect with the pivot shaft 526. The pivot shaft 526 may be arranged to penetrate through the coupling portions 542 of the biasing member 54 while the second resilient element 525 and the third resilient element 528 may be coupled to the pivot shaft 526 at a position between the two coupling portions 542. The biasing member 54 may be pivotally mounted to the second fastening member 52 in such a manner that the biasing member 54 may pivotally move with respect to the second fastening member 52. Furthermore, the third resilient element 528 may bias against the biasing portion 541 of the biasing member 54 so as to exert an urging force thereto. The biasing portion 541 may be configured as having a curved biasing surface 5411 which may be arranged to pivotally move to bias against the fastening end portion 12 of the belt strap 10 when the fastening end portion 12 pass through the through securing slot 531. The curved biasing surface 5411 may be made to have high frictional force so as to increase a grabbing force on the fastening end portion 12 of the belt strap 10.
From the above descriptions, one may appreciate that when the fastening end portion 12 may be fastened by the raid fastening arrangement 50, the fastening end portion 12 may be secured by the biasing force exerted between the protruding portions 515 and the second fastening member 52, and also by the biasing force exerted by the biasing member 54. As such, the fastening end portion 12 may be securely fastened to the belt buckle of the present invention so that the belt strap 10 may form a loop for fastening on the wearer's body. Furthermore, the connecting end portion 11 may also be secured in the connector housing 40. Therefore, no hole is required to be formed or punched on the belt strap 10. In connection with this feature, the belt buckle of the present invention may therefore allow rapid adjustment of a loop size of the belt strap 10 because a user may simply need to actuate the second fastening member 52 for fastening or loosening the belt strap 10 by adjusting the position of the fastening end portion 12.
Referring to
Embodiments of the present disclosure, while illustrated and described in terms of disclosed embodiments and several alternatives, is not limited to the particular description contained in this specification. Additional alternative or equivalent components could also be used to practice embodiments of the present disclosure.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 2 0867409 U | May 2020 | CN | national |
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