FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH
Not Applicable.
SEQUENCE LISTING OR PROGRAM
Not Applicable.
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to Kits for Buttons Fastening to Garment Cloths.
PRIOR ART
Traditionally buttons are attached to garments by sewing threads. However, sewing buttons is quite slow and laborious. Furthermore, threaded buttons tend to detach and fall frequently. Most garment owners don't know how to refasten and sew fallen buttons. Hence, a Kit for simpler, faster and more robust button re-attachment could be quite useful and can yield a notable improvement. In our search we have found several inventions of button assemblies that were configured for fast button attachment but all of them are not designed for button reattachment. In addition, they are dissimilar to our invention both in their structures and in their principles of operation. Most, if not all of these attachment assemblies rely on some sort of metallic pedestal crimping in order to attach the button to the garment doth. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,033,012 (Jul. 5, 1977) to Kramer et al. teaches a metallic button held by a metallic pedestal that is stapled to the garment doth by a four legged metallic staple that is crimped to hold the pedestal. In U.S. Pat. No. 8,522,404 (Sep. 3, 2013) Matei teaches a button which can be tilted because it is attached to an elongated metallic shaft with ball attached at one end. The ball is housed in a ball bearing cavity included in the mounting base attached to the garment. In US 2005/0188510 (Sep. 1, 2005) Retamal teaches a button attached to an elongated serrated metal shaft which fits into a serrated metal nut attached to the garment. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,751,780 (Feb. 25, 1986) Fukuroi teaches a metal button which is attached to a mounting base by a crimped metal nail. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,512,063 (Apr. 23, 1985) Fukuroi teaches a metal button attachment to a base by a metal rivet. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,575,043 (Nov. 19, 1996) Candotti also teaches a metal button attachment to a base by a metal rivet. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,928,362 (May 29, 1990) Collas proposes to mount a metallic button on a metallic shank which is connected to a disk beneath the garment doth. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,940,940 (Aug. 24, 1999) Tanikoshi teaches a button mounting by crimping a metal tubular rivet. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,975,398 (Nov. 2, 1999) Evans proposed attaching buttons to clothing by H shaped plastic studs which are inserted through the button holes into the clothing. In U.S. Pat. No. 9,820,520 (Nov. 21, 2017) Bolen teaches an attachment system with two parts one part attaches to the clothing side and the other part attaches to the button side and both parts are then coupled by a magnetic twist-lock mechanism. In U.S. Ser. No. 10/004,299 (Jun. 26, 2018) Maussen Teaches a tapered trapezoidal shape buttons which are connected to fabrics using sewing. IN U.S. Pat. No. 3,982,013 (Jul. 1, 1975) Gould teaches a button attachment using a rivet with long serrated shaft that protrudes from the clothing and is attached to a button with fitting aperture. In U.S. Pat. No. 8,938,861 (Jan. 27, 2015) McLendon teaches a removably attachable button using a pair of U-shaped flexible pins with small hooks at their ends, which are inserted through the clothing and through the buttonholes.
All the above inventions are entirely dissimilar to our invention.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
I have several goals in inventing and developing the Button Assembly kit of which some feasible embodiments are illustrated in FIGS. 1-11. The goals are:
- 1. To develop a Button Assembly Kit which facilitates easy manual attachment of the button to a garment doth without any need for sewing, threads or metal crimping.
- 2. To design components of a Button assembly kit which facilitate robust manual Button fastening without needing additional tools or machines.
- 3. To configure a fastening structure which can be attached swiftly, firmly and permanently to cloths.
- 4. To design an anchoring structure (i.e. a structure which anchors the button to the doth) which fastens the button to the doth by trapping the fastening structure that is tied to the button.
- 5. To include trapping mechanisms in the anchoring structure which are configured to trap and hold the fastening structure.
- 6. To design trapping mechanisms which can withstand without detachment strong pulling forces when applied to the button.
- 7. To design a button assembly which could be manufactured inexpensively in mass production from common elastic materials such as plastics.
- 8. To configure an anchoring structure that includes a trapping mechanism which exploits the resiliency of gates made of materials such as plastics to trap a terminal element which is attached to the fastening structure. Thereby, robustly tying the button to the garment doth.
- 9. To facilitate easy buttoning by configuring a fastening structure which includes Spacing Rings which introduce a buttoning gap between the button and the clothing.
- 10. To configure piercing cones which are temporarily attached to the bottom face of the terminal elements and facilitate piercing of the garment doth during manual attachment of the fastening structure to the garment doth.
- 11. To consider the option of drilling guiding apertures in the doth in order to facilitate piercing of the doth by the terminal elements during manual attachment of the fastening structure to the doth.
- 12. To configure piercing cones which are temporarily attached to the bottom face of the terminal elements by narrow links which can be broken after the cones have been used for piercing. The narrow links are broken when the user applies manual pressure on the narrow links which presses them onto sharp wedges which are installed behind the narrow links.
In order to achieve the objectives listed above, our method for button fastening to the garment doth is to tie the button to a fastening structure which includes at least two poles which are anchored to the doth by an anchoring structure. In our approach, the bottom ends of the poles of the fastening structure are attached to terminal elements. The fastening of the button to the doth is facilitated by trapping the terminal elements using trapping mechanisms housed at the anchoring structure which is placed beneath the doth. The trapping mechanisms use resilient gating technique where the action of trapping is initiated by a forceful intrusion of the terminal elements each one into a separate trapping mechanism. Each trapping mechanism includes a resilient gate which is attached diagonally to the housing i.e. the left or the right anchoring apertures. The intrusion of a terminal element bends the diagonal resilient gate which resides inside the trapping mechanism which is housed in the anchoring structure beneath the doth. When a terminal element is inserted into its trapping mechanism and reaches its trapping spot, the bent resilient gate is configured to unbend and be released into a cavity which is engraved into the terminal element. The released resilient gate which is stuck into the cavity traps the terminal element inside its trapping mechanism. The trapping mechanisms are designed to act in unisom. The cavities engraved at the terminal elements are configured to move in parallel such that all the cavities reach their trapping spots i.e. reaching below the tips of the maximally bended gates at the same instant. As an upshot, all the resilient gates unbend and are released into their corresponding cavities at the same instant. The released gates unbend due to their elasticity and turn inwards into their corresponding cavities thereby trapping the terminal elements which are tied to the button via the fastening structure. When the terminal elements attached to the ends of the poles of the fastening structure are pushed downwards into the anchoring structure apertures which house the trapping mechanisms, all the terminal elements attached to the poles of the fastening structure are simultaneously trapped. By which the button is fastened to the anchoring structure and to the doth.
The fastening of the button to the garment doth is performed as follows:
The button assembly is configured to be used for fast attachment of the button to the garment doth by placing the anchoring structure below the garment doth such that the anchoring structure's apertures are facing a lower side of the garment doth while placing the fastening structure at an upper side of the garment doth such that its attached terminal elements are situated opposite to the corresponding anchoring structure's apertures. Next, pushing downwards the fastening structure from the upper side of the garment doth is configured to pierce the garment doth by the lower sides of the terminal elements. Further pushing downwards inserts the terminal elements into the trapping mechanisms housed at the anchoring structure's apertures which are situated beneath the lower side of the garment doth. Inserting the terminal elements downwards through the anchoring structure apertures is configured to bend the resilient gates and to trap the terminal elements within the trapping mechanisms inside the anchoring structure apertures when the terminal elements reach the trapping spots in which the resilient gates unbend and their tips are released into cavities which are engraved in the terminal elements. At the completion of the terminal element insertion, it is trapped inside the anchoring structure. At that point, the trapped terminal elements which are attached to the fastening structure, are configured to prevent detachment and separation of the fastening structure from the anchoring structure and from the garment doth. Thereby, completing the attachment of the button to the garment doth by permanently attaching the fastening structure to the garment doth.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 displays a side view of an embodiment of the fastening structure in 3D isometric drawing.
FIG. 2 Depicts in 3D isometric drawing a top view of an embodiment of the anchoring structure which includes two trapping mechanisms inside two apertures. A cross section of the anchoring structure is also displayed.
FIG. 3 Illustrates in 3D isometric drawing a top view of an embodiment of the all the components used in a button fastening to a doth. This includes the fastening structure, the anchoring structure, the button, the spacing rings and a piece of doth.
FIG. 4 illustrates in 3D isometric top view a cross sectional view of a collection of components required for a button fastening demonstration. The collection includes the cross sections of the fastening structure, the anchoring structure, the button, the spacing rings and the garment doth.
FIG. 5 Depicts in 3D isometric drawing a top view of an embodiment of the anchoring structure which includes two trapping mechanisms inside two anchoring apertures. A cross section of the anchoring structure is also displayed.
FIG. 6 illustrates in 3D isometric top view a cross sectional view of a collection of components required for a button fastening demonstration. The collection includes the cross sections of the fastening structure, the anchoring structure, the button, the spacing rings and the garment doth. FIG. 6 shows the fastening structure that already has been inserted into the button.
FIG. 7 illustrates in 3D isometric top view a cross sectional view of a collection of components required for a button fastening demonstration. The collection includes the cross sections of the fastening structure, the anchoring structure, the button, the spacing rings and the garment doth.
FIG. 7 shows the fastening structure that already has been inserted into the button and the spacing rings have been installed beneath the button.
FIG. 8 illustrates in 3D isometric top view a cross sectional view of a collection of components required for a button fastening demonstration. The collection includes cross sections of the fastening structure, the anchoring structure, the button, the spacing rings and the garment doth. FIG. 8 shows the fastening structure that already has been inserted into the button and already has been pierced the doth while the spacing rings have been installed beneath the button and above the doth.
FIG. 9 illustrates in 3D isometric top view a cross sectional view of a collection of components required for a button fastening demonstration. The collection includes the cross sections of the fastening structure, the anchoring structure, the button, the spacing rings and the garment doth. FIG. 9 shows the fastening structure that already was inserted into the button and already pierced the doth while the spacing rings were installed beneath the button and above the doth. In FIG. 9 the fastening structure has been installed also in the anchoring structure's apertures and activated the trapping mechanisms as well. In FIG. 9 the piercing cones are still attached to the fastening structure.
FIG. 10 illustrates in 3D isometric side view a cross sectional view of a collection of components required for a button fastening demonstration. The collection includes the cross sections of the fastening structure, the anchoring structure, the spacing rings and the garment doth. FIG. 10 shows the fastening structure that already was inserted into the button and already pierced the doth while the spacing rings were installed beneath the button and above the doth. In FIG. 10 the fastening structure was installed also in the anchoring structure's apertures and activated the trapping mechanisms as well. In FIG. 10 the piercing cones are still attached to the fastening structure.
FIG. 11 illustrates in 3D isometric side view a cross sectional view of a collection of components required for a button fastening demonstration. The collection includes the cross sections of the fastening structure, the anchoring structure, the spacing rings and the garment doth. FIG. 11 shows the fastening structure that already was inserted into the button and already pierced the doth while the spacing rings were installed beneath the button and above the doth. In FIG. 11 the fastening structure was installed also in the anchoring structure's apertures and activated the trapping mechanisms as well. In FIG. 11 the piercing cones are removed from the fastening structure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 displays a side view of an embodiment of the fastening structure 1 in 3D isometric drawing. The two vertical poles 4 have mostly cylindrical shape. The vertical poles are attached at their top ends to a horizontal bar 1 which is used to engage the button 11 from above. At their bottom ends the poles 4 are attached to two terminal elements 2. The left element has an engraved cavity 3 with an opening facing towards the left whereas the right terminal element has an engraved cavity 3 with an opening facing towards the right. The bottom ends of the terminal elements 2 are attached to upper sides of the narrow links 6 which are attached at their bottom ends to upper obtuse ends of two cones 5 which have their pointed ends pointing downwards. The two flat engravings 7 at the sides of the poles were introduced in order to facilitate ejection of the poles 4 from the mold.
FIG. 2 Depicts in 3D isometric drawing a top view of an embodiment of the anchoring structure 8 which includes two trapping mechanisms inside two anchoring apertures. A cross section 13 of the anchoring structure is also displayed. Each of the anchoring apertures have an upper opening 14. Behind each of the upper openings there is a resilient gate 15 which is diagonally attached at its upper side to the walls of the anchoring structure. The lower side of each gate is unattached. The left gate is attached with a rightward diagonal orientation whereas the right gate is attached with a leftward diagonal orientation.
FIG. 3 Illustrates in 3D isometric drawing a top view of an embodiment which includes all the components used in a button fastening to a doth. This includes the cross sections of the fastening structure 1, the anchoring structure 8, the button 11, the spacing rings 10 and a piece of doth 12. The fastening structure's left and right poles 4 have a vertical orientation. The anchoring structure 8 is depicted below the fastening structure 1. The button 11 is lies horizontally on the right hand side of the fastening structure. As shown in FIG. 3 the button 11 has four apertures 9. The two spacing rings 10 are displayed on the right-hand side of the button 11 and the piece of doth 12 is displayed on the left hand side.
FIG. 4 illustrates in 3D isometric top view a cross sectional view of a collection of components required for a button fastening demonstration. The collection includes the cross sections of the fastening structure 1, the anchoring structure 13, the button 11, the spacing rings 10 and the garment doth 12. The fastening structure's left and right poles 4 have a vertical orientation and are connected on their top ends to the horizontal bar 1. The anchoring structure 13 is depicted below the fastening structure cones 5 which are attached to the bottom of the narrow links 6. The upper sides of the narrow links 6 are attached to the lower sides of the terminal elements 2 which are attached to the bottom of the poles 4. The button 11 is lies horizontally on the right hand side of the fastening structure 1. As shown in FIG. 3 the button 11 has four apertures 9. The two spacing rings 10 are displyed on the right-hand side of the button 11. The piece of doth 12 is displayed at the left-hand side of the fastening structure 1.
FIG. 5 Depicts in 3D isometric drawing a top view of an embodiment of the anchoring structure 8 which includes two trapping mechanisms inside two apertures. A cross section of the anchoring structure 13 is also displayed. The cross-sectional view of the anchoring structure 13 displays the two upper openings 14 and two resilient gates 15, which are diagonally attached to the walls of the anchoring structure 13. The sharp wedge 16 is situated behind the resilient gates 15 and are configured to facilitate breaking of the narrow link 6 when the user wants to disconnect the cones 5 from the fastening structure 1. The left anchoring aperture and the right anchoring aperture have depressions 17.
The left depression 17 is configured to facilitate breaking of the left narrow link 6 by providing a sufficient bending space for the right narrow link 6. The right depression 17 is configured to facilitate breaking of the right narrow link 6 by providing a sufficient bending space for the right narrow link 17.
FIG. 6 illustrates in 3D isometric top view a cross sectional view of a collection of components required for a button fastening demonstration. The collection includes the cross sections of the fastening structure 1, the anchoring structure 13, the button 11, the spacing rings 10 and the garment doth 12. The fastening structure's left and right poles 4 have a vertical orientation and are connected at their top ends to the horizontal bar 1. A cross section of the anchoring structure 13 is depicted below the fastening structure cones 5 which are attached to the bottom to the bottoms of the narrow links 6. The upper sides of the narrow links 6 are attached to the terminal elements 2, which are attached to the bottom of the poles 4. The button 11 has been already installed at the top of the fastening structure poles 4. The poles 4 occupy 2 apertures 9 out of the button's four apertures 9. The two spacing rings 10 are displayed on the right-hand side of the button 11. The piece of doth 12 is displayed at the left-hand side of the fastening structure 1.
FIG. 7 illustrates in 3D isometric top view a cross sectional view of a collection of components required for a button fastening demonstration. The collection includes the cross sections of the fastening structure 1, the anchoring structure 13, the button 11, the spacing rings 10 and the garment doth 12. The fastening structure's left and right poles 4 have a vertical orientation and are connected at their top ends to the horizontal bar 1. The cross section of anchoring structure 13 is depicted below the fastening structure cones 5 which are attached to the bottom of the narrow links 6. The upper sides of the narrow links 6 are attached to the bottoms of the terminal elements 2, which are attached to the bottoms of the poles 4. The button 11 has been already installed at the top of the fastening structure poles 4. The poles 4 occupy 2 apertures 9 out of the button's four apertures 9. The two spacing rings 10 have been already installed on the poles 4 below the button 11. The piece of doth 12 is displayed at the left-hand side of the fastening structure 1.
FIG. 8 illustrates in 3D isometric top view a cross sectional view of a collection of components required for a button fastening demonstration. The collection includes the cross sections of the fastening structure 1, the anchoring structure 13, the button 11, the spacing rings 10 and the garment doth 12. The fastening structure's left and right poles 4 have a vertical orientation and are connected on their tops to the horizontal bar 1. The cross section of the anchoring structure 13 is depicted below the fastening structure cones 5 which are attached to the bottom of the narrow links 6. The upper sides of the narrow links 6 are attached to the bottom of the terminal elements 2, which are attached to the bottoms of the poles 4. The button 11 has been already installed at the top of the fastening structure poles 4. The poles 4 occupy 2 apertures 9 out of the button's four apertures 9. The two spacing rings 10 have been already installed on the poles 4 below the button 11. The piece of doth 12 has been already pierced by the poles 4 and situated beneath the spacing rings 10.
FIG. 9 illustrates in 3D isometric top view a cross sectional view of a collection of components required for a button fastening demonstration. The collection includes the cross sections of the fastening structure 1, the anchoring structure 13, the button 11, the spacing rings 10 and the garment doth 12. The fastening structure's left and right poles 4 have a vertical orientation and are connected on their tops to the horizontal bar 1. The cross section of the anchoring structure 13 is depicted below the fastening structure cones 5 which are attached to the bottom of the narrow links 6. The upper sides of the narrow links 6 are attached to the bottom of the terminal elements 2, which are attached to the bottoms of the poles 4. The button 11 has been already installed at the top of the fastening structure poles 4. The poles 4 occupy 2 apertures 9 out of the button's four apertures 9. The two spacing rings 10 have been already installed on the poles 4 below the button 11. The piece of doth 12 has been already pierced by the poles 4 and situated beneath the spacing rings 10. The fastening structure 1 is already installed inside the anchoring structure 13. The two diagonal gates 15 inside the anchoring structure 13 are already trapping the fastening structure 1 by occupying the terminal elements' cavities 3.
For better detail, FIG. 10 illustrates in 3D isometric side view of a cross sectional view of a collection of components required for a button fastening demonstration. The collection includes the cross sections of the fastening structure 1, the anchoring structure 13, the button 11, the spacing rings 10 and the garment doth 12. The fastening structure's left and right poles 4 have a vertical orientation and are connected on their tops to the horizontal bar 1. The anchoring structure 13 is depicted below the fastening structure cones 5 which are attached to the bottom of the narrow links 6. The upper sides of the narrow links 6 are attached to the bottom of the terminal elements 2, which are attached to the bottoms of the poles 4. The button 11 has been already installed at the top of the fastening structure poles 4. The poles 4 occupy 2 apertures 9 out of the button's four apertures 9. The two spacing rings 10 have been already installed on the poles 4 below the button 11. The piece of doth 12 has been already pierced by the poles 4 and situated beneath the spacing rings 10. The fastening structure 1 has been already installed inside the anchoring structure 13. The two diagonal gates 15 inside the anchoring structure 13 have been already trapping the fastening structure 1 by occupying the terminal elements' cavities 3.
For better detail, FIG. 11 illustrates in 3D isometric side view of a cross sectional view of a collection of components required for a button fastening demonstration. The collection includes the cross sections of the fastening structure 1, the anchoring structure 13, the button 11, the spacing rings 10 and the garment doth 12. The fastening structure's left and right poles 4 have a vertical orientation and are connected on their tops to the horizontal bar 1. The cross section of the anchoring structure 13 is depicted below the fastening structure cones 5 which are attached to the bottom of the narrow links 6. The upper sides of the narrow links 6 are attached to the bottom of the terminal elements 2, which are attached to the bottoms of the poles 4. The button 11 has been already installed at the top of the fastening structure poles 4. The poles 4 occupy 2 apertures 9 out of the button's four apertures 9. The two spacing rings 10 have been already installed on the poles 4 below the button 11. The piece of doth 12 has been already pierced by the poles 4 and situated beneath the spacing rings 10. The fastening structure 1 has been already installed inside the anchoring structure 13. The two diagonal gates 15 inside the anchoring structure 13 has been already trapping the fastening structure 1 by occupying the terminal elements' cavities 3. In FIG. 11 the cones 5 were removed by breaking the narrow links 6 which connected the cones 5 to the terminal elements 2. The broken narrow links are denoted by 19.