Patent Application
20100115736
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a buckle that can connect or fix a belt by being coupled to the belt, and more particularly, to a buckle equipped with a whistle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a buckle has been widely used in a fastening belt of a climbing knapsack or a school satchel. Particularly, goods using the buckle are used mainly in cases where a user takes activities out-of-door.
In other words, the goods using the buckle are widely used household goods. Particularly, when the user enjoys hiking, boating, camping or climbing in the fields, the user uses goods provided with plural buckles to fasten in various types.
On the other hand, during the outdoor activities, various emergency situations to require urgent rescue may occur. For example, the user's voice may be not transmitted far enough, or the user's voice cannot be heard because of ambient noise. Accordingly, it is desirable that the user participating in the above outdoor activities carry a whistle for safety.
Such emergency may occur to everybody. However, most users do not expect that the emergency happens to himself/herself. Accordingly, the user taking the above outdoor activities does not take care to carry the whistle. Therefore, there have been cases where the user couldn't ask for help because he/she did not carry the whistle when the emergency occurs to the user and thus has an accident.
As described above, the buckle is used to couple various goods to each other, or to fasten the goods to a body of the user. For example, the buckle is used in a shoulder belt, a chest belt, a waist belt, a connection belt and a pocket belt of a knapsack.
On the other hand, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,668,428, there is disclosed a buckle wherein a whistle 12 is integrally provided to a buckle body, particularly, to a female receptacle 11 as shown in
However, when the user wants to use the whistle by using the conventional buckle equipped with the whistle as shown in
In addition, the whistle is always exposed to the outside because the whistle is integrated with the conventional buckle. Thus, appearance of the buckle is degraded.
In addition, as described above, there has been a sanitary problem because the whistle is always exposed to the outside. In other words, the whistle is contacted to a mouth of the user when it is used. Accordingly, the whistle is exposed to various exhaust gas and dusts while the user takes the outdoor activities, which is harmful to the user for sanitary reasons.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a whistle that is attachable to a buckle so as to prevent pollution.
Additional advantages, objects, and features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and in part will become apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned from practice of the invention.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a buckle, which includes: a buckle body coupled to an end of a belt; and a whistle that is detachably mounted on a sliding part provided at one side of the buckle body.
The whistle may include a whistle body to generate sound; and a connection part provided at the whistle body so as to be connected to the sliding part provided at the one side of the buckle body.
The connection part may include an insertion groove into which the sliding part can be inserted and fixed.
The connection part may include a fixing groove into which a projection formed on the sliding part can be inserted and fixed.
The connection part may include: a front surface provided with an insertion groove having the same shape as an one end of the sliding part, where the one end of the sliding part can be inserted into the insertion groove; a right side surface, formed to the right of the front surface, provided with the insertion groove formed in a length direction of the connection part, where the sliding part can be inserted into the insertion groove; a flat surface extended in the length direction of the connection part from an upper part of the front surface; a rear surface formed in a direction opposite to the front surface in order to support the sliding part; and a bottom surface forming a bottom of the connection part.
The insertion groove may be extended toward the rear surface from one side of the right side surface connected to the front surface.
The insertion groove may be extended to a position of the right side surface that is spaced by a predetermined gap from the rear surface.
The insertion groove may be extended to the rear surface from one side of the right side surface connected to the front surface.
The insertion groove may be formed to pass through the front surface, right side surface and rear surface.
At least one of the flat surface and bottom surface may be provided with a fixing groove into which the projection formed on the sliding part can be inserted and fixed.
The fixing groove may be formed at a position near the front surface.
The fixing groove may be formed at a position near the rear surface.
The buckle body may include a male latch connected to a first belt and a female receptacle connected to a second belt in order to receive and fix the male latch.
The sliding part may be formed at the male latch or female receptacle.
The male latch may be separated from the female receptacle by pressing the outwardly projected male latch in a state that the buckle body is received in the female receptacle.
The male latch of the buckle body may be separated from the female receptacle by a pressing unit formed at the outside of the female receptacle.
The buckle body may be formed of single body in order to adjust a length of the belt or control tension of the belt.
The above objects, other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by describing the preferred embodiments thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawing. The aspects and features of the present invention and methods for achieving the aspects and features will be apparent by referring to the embodiments to be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed hereinafter, but can be implemented in diverse forms. The matters defined in the description, such as the detailed construction and elements, are nothing but specific details provided to assist those of ordinary skill in the art in a comprehensive understanding of the invention, and the present invention is only defined within the scope of the appended claims. In the entire description of the present invention, the same drawing reference numerals are used for the same elements across various figures.
As described in
The buckle body 210 is mounted on an end of a belt attached to goods such as a knapsack, a school satchel or a helmet in order to connect or separate two belts from each other. As shown in the drawing, the buckle body includes a male latch 211 and a female receptacle 212. It is desirable that the male latch 211 and female receptacle 212 are made of plastic for elasticity. Generally, the belt is attached to the knapsack or school satchel as described above. For example, in the knapsack, the belt is variously used as a shoulder belt, a chest belt or a waist belt. Hereinafter, the belt will be used to mean the various kinds of belt as described above. On the other hand, a sliding part is provided at one side of the buckle body. The whistle can be mounted by sliding on the sliding part. The sliding part may be formed at one side of the male latch 211, or at the female receptacle 212. In the embodiment of
The whistle 100 generates sound by air passing through a flue when a user breathes out. The whistle 100 is used to alarm emergency to other person when emergent situation occurs during outdoor activities as described above. On the other hand, the whistle used in the present invention can be used in a state that it is mounted on the buckle body 210. The whistle includes a whistle body to generate sound and a connection part provided at the whistle body, where the connection part is coupled to the sliding part formed at the buckle body.
In other words, in the buckle according to the embodiment, the connection part of the whistle 100 is attachable to the sliding part formed at the buckle body 210. Particularly, in the embodiment, the buckle body 210 is comprised of the male latch 211 and female receptacle 212 wherein the sliding part is formed at one side of the male latch. The buckle equipped with the whistle according to the one embodiment will be explained in more detail below with reference to
Referring to the front view of
The whistle body 110 may be formed in various shapes so as to generate sound. In addition, the whistle body 110 can be moved with being connected to the buckle body through the connection part and thus may be formed in various sizes according to the buckle body.
The connection part 120 is formed at one side of the whistle body and connected to the sliding part of the buckle body. The connection part of hexahedron shape is shown in
The front surface 121 is a surface projected vertically from one side of the whistle body 110 as shown in
Accordingly, the insertion groove is formed at the front surface in the same shape as one end of the sliding part. The shape of the insertion groove 122 formed at the front surface may not be same as the shape of the one end of the sliding part. However, it is desirable that the shape of the same as the shape of the one end of the sliding part so as to connect the sliding part to the connection part tightly.
In addition, for the same reason, it is desirable that the insertion groove has a size enough for insertion and movement of the sliding part.
The right side surface 123 provides a space by which the sliding part inserted into the connection part through the front surface. For that purpose, the insertion groove 122 is formed in the length direction of the connection part or sliding part. In other words, the insertion groove is extended toward the rear surface 124 from one side of the right side surface connected to the front surface 121. However, the insertion groove 122 is extended to the position of the right side surface 123 spaced by a predetermined gap from the rear surface 124, thereby preventing the sliding part from passing through the rear surface.
In other words, the sliding part is moved along the right side surface with being inserted into the connection part through the insertion groove of the front surface and right side surface and stopped by being supported by the insertion groove that is formed up to the rear surface. However, when an additional unit to fix the sliding part at a predetermined position, for example, a fixing groove is provided, the insertion groove 122 may be formed also at the rear surface 124 similarly to the front surface 121. In this case, the insertion groove may be formed at the right side surface 123 so as to be extended from the front surface to the rear surface. On the other hand, when the insertion groove is formed also at the rear surface, the sliding part may be inserted into the front surface or rear surface.
The flat surface 125 supports the right side surface 123 with the front surface 121, rear surface 124 and bottom surface 127. Particularly, as shown in
In addition, the fixing groove 126 may not necessarily be formed by one. Accordingly, the fixing groove 126 of more than two may be formed at the positions near the front surface and rear surface. In this case, a plurality of projections corresponding to the positions and number may be formed at the sliding part. However, it is desirable that the fixing groove and projections are formed by the proper number, for example, one or two in order to separate the connection part and sliding part from each other, in addition to fixing them to each other.
The rear surface 124 is a surface facing the front surface. Generally, the rear surface may be formed of a plate that is not provided with the insertion groove as shown in
The bottom surface 127 is a surface facing the flat surface and supports the front surface, rear surface and right side surface. On the other hand, the fixing groove 126 may not necessarily be formed at the flat surface. Accordingly, the projection of the sliding part may be formed at the position corresponding to the position of the fixing groove of the bottom surface. In addition, the fixing groove may be formed at both of the flat surface and bottom surface. However, in this case, it is desirable that the fixing groove of the proper number is formed at the flat surface and bottom surface in order to separate the connection part from the sliding part smoothly.
On the other hand, the sliding part formed at the buckle body 210 is inserted into the connection part 120. The insertion groove having the shape similar to the sliding part is formed at the connection part in the length direction of the connection part or sliding part. However, the shape of the connection part is not limited the hexahedron shape. In other words, the connection part may be formed in various shapes such as a round shape that can include the insertion groove 122.
In the one embodiment, the buckle body 210 includes the male latch 211 and female receptacle 212. The male latch 211 includes a first end 217 coupled to the end of the belt, a guide projection 213 projected from the middle of one side of the first end, a pair of hooks 214 projected from the one side of the first end about the guide projection, and the sliding part 215 that is projected from the other side of the first end and inserted into the connection part 120.
The first end 217 is a portion of the male latch that is coupled to the end of the belt.
The guide projection 213 is provided between the pair of hooks so as to fix a reference position by which the hooks are inserted into the female receptacle.
The hooks 214 are projected from both sides of the first end about the guide projection. The hook 214 is substantially coupled to the female receptacle by being inserted therein. The hook may include an arm extended from the first end and a projected part having three end surfaces projected from three sides of the end of the arm. The projected part may be formed in various types.
Referring to
The sliding part 215 is formed at the other side of the first end and inserted into the connection part 120 of the whistle 100. In other words, the first end 217 basically has a structure to be connected to the end of the belt. The guide projection 213 and hook 214 are formed at one side of the first end. The sliding part 215 is formed at one side opposite to the side where the guide projection and hook are formed.
On the other hand, a projection 216 is formed on the surface of the sliding part 215, where the projection 216 is inserted into the fixing groove 126 of the connection part.
As described above, the position and number of the projection 216 may be variously set according to the position and number of the fixing groove 126.
The hooks are inserted and fixed in the female receptacle 212. The female receptacle 212 includes a second end to be coupled to the belt, an insertion part formed at a side opposite to the second end so as to receive the pair of hooks (and guide projection) of the male latch, and a receiving part to fix each of the projected parts that are formed at the pair of hooks inserted through the insertion part, where the receiving part allows the projected parts to be projected to the outside.
On the other hand, the sliding part 215 is formed at the male latch 211 in the above description, but not limited thereto. In other words, the sliding part may be formed at the female receptacle. In this case, it is desirable that the sliding part is formed at the side of the second end opposite to the side where the insertion part is formed.
In other words, the buckle body 210 comprised of the male latch 211 and female receptacle 212 couples two ends of the belt to each other. Any one of the male latch 211 and female receptacle 212 is provided with the sliding part 215 to be inserted into the connection part of the whistle.
In other words, in the buckle equipped with the whistle of the embodiment, the buckle body 210 is comprised of the male latch 211 and female receptacle 212. The sliding part 215 is formed at the male latch 211. The buckle body and whistle are coupled to each other by inserting the sliding part 215 of the buckle body into the connection part 120 of the whistle 100.
In this time, the whistle can be coupled to the buckle body at the fixed position by inserting and fixing the projection 216 of the sliding part 215 into the fixing groove 126 formed at the flat surface 125 of the connection part.
A method of using the buckle equipped with the whistle according to the one exemplary embodiment will be explained below.
When the user wants to enjoy climbing or camping, the user takes goods, for example, a knapsack provided with the buckle according to the embodiment. In this case, the user can start on climbing or camping with the whistle without additional preparation.
In this time, the user gets away from the crowded city. During movement, emergency to require the whistle does not usually occur and the whistle may be polluted by exhaust fumes and dusts. Accordingly, the user can separate the whistle from the buckle body and store it in the pocket or knapsack until it is necessary to use the whistle.
When the user arrives at the place such as mountain, sea and park for outdoor activities, the user can use the whistle anytime by connecting the whistle to the buckle body again.
When emergency occurs during the outdoor activities, the user can quickly use the whistle by separating the whistle attached to the buckle of the knapsack, etc. from the buckle body.
The buckle includes a sliding part at a buckle body 220 to 320 connected to a belt and a whistle attachable to the buckle body through the sliding part. The buckle body may be formed in various shapes.
For example, the buckle body includes a male latch and a female receptacle similarly to the above embodiment. The belt can be locked or unlocked by coupling or separation of the male latch or female receptacle. The male latch and female receptacle may be formed in various types according to use thereof. On the other hand, in the case where the buckle body is comprised of the male latch and female receptacle, the sliding part may be formed at any one of the male latch or female receptacle.
On the other hand, the buckle body comprised of the male latch and female receptacle may be divided into open type and closed type according to construction thereof.
In other words, according to the open type buckle body, similarly to the above embodiment, both hooks 214 of the male latch are inserted into an insertion part of the female receptacle 212 and fixed in a receiving part that are opened at both sides of the insertion part. Then, the male latch and female receptacle are separated from each other by pushing the hooks fixed in the receiving part.
In addition, according to the closed type buckle body 250 shown in
The buckle body comprised of the male latch and female receptacle may be formed to have various functions and shapes.
In addition, as shown in
In other words, the buckle may be mounted on a chest belt (A), a waist belt (B), a shoulder strap (C, D) or other various belts (E).
The buckle according to the still another embodiment includes a sewing insertion part 330 formed at one side, a sliding part formed at the other side and a whistle attachable to the buckle body through the sliding part, where the sewing insertion part 330 can be sewn along a sewing line of fabrics of the knapsack, clothes or bag. The buckle body may be formed in various types.
It should be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various replacements, modifications and changes in the form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims. Therefore, it is to be appreciated that the above described embodiments are for purposes of illustration only and are not to be construed as limitations of the invention.
The buckle equipped with the whistle according to the present invention produces following effects.
First, the user can easily use the whistle without unlocking the buckle because the whistle is detachable.
Second, the whistle can be separately kept when it is not necessary because the whistle is detachable. Thus, appearance of the goods can be kept good.
Third, it is possible to prevent the whistle from being polluted by keeping the whistle separately when it is not necessary because the whistle is detachable.
It should be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various replacements, modifications and changes in the form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims. Therefore, it is to be appreciated that the above described embodiments are for purposes of illustration only and are not to be construed as limitations of the invention.
