Patent Application
20110047759
This invention relates to closures, magnetic snap fasteners and mechanical snap fasteners, and in particular to closures having ornamental cap or button castings, and methods for creating crimped locking bores therein. Such closures or fasteners may be utilized in connection with sheet materials, bags, garments, and other articles.
It has become fashionable and desirable recently to attach ornaments or buttons to various products such as articles of clothing, bags, purses, and the like. Such products also often include a closure apparatus for securing an opening of a bag or for fastening an article of clothing about a wearer's body. Present ornaments for attaching to sheet materials of products such as garments or bags are generally either attached separately to the products from closure components or are attached to a closure component by a threaded or open rivet connection.
However, attaching an ornament or button to a product separately from closure components is undesirable for several reasons. For example, when an ornament is desired to be affixed to one side of a sheet material directly opposite a closure affixed to the opposite side of the sheet material, substantial care is required during manufacturing of the product to accurately align the ornament and the closure. Such care and accuracy is costly and inefficient to consistently reproduce during manufacturing.
Additionally, present ornaments which may be attached to a closure component through a material of the product by a threaded connection are costly to reproduce, time-intensive to install and exhibit a tendency to unscrew over time due to normal use of the product.
It also has been proposed to fasten objects to sheet materials using open or crush rivets. However, these rivets often leave exposed a surface of the rivet which is often sharp and, if the object or rivet has been coated or plated, exposing the underlying material. Often, the underlying material is one that is subject to oxidation, leading to the problems of discoloration, staining, and loss of fastener strength. Also, crush rivets are susceptible to significant manufacturing defects because of the uncontrolled nature of the deformation of the shafts during installation. Examples of closures secured by open or crush rivets include U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,722,126, 5,933,926, 6,647,597, 6,836,935 and 6,892,428, all of which are incorporated herein by reference.
It has also been proposed to fasten objects to sheet materials using a press-fit connection between the object and a backer object. However, the geometric tolerances and assembly accuracy required to reliably employ this method are costly, time intensive, and require a level of skill on the part of the installer. Additionally, press fit connections are susceptible to pullout failure, especially when the two parts being connected are of different materials.
Thus, there is a need for a simple, attractive and inexpensive means to accurately and permanently affix an ornamental button or other object to sheet material in conjunction with fastening components.
In one embodiment, a closure comprises a first section having a portion defining a bore, said bore comprising an opening at one end, the opening having a dimension smaller than a dimension of an inner portion of the bore; and a second section having a portion defining a shaft, the shaft comprising a deformable portion. The first section is adapted to be mounted on a first surface and the second section is adapted to be mounted on a second surface opposite the first section. The shaft is configured for insertion through the second surface, the first surface and into the inner portion of the bore, and the deformable portion of the shaft, when deformed inside the inner portion of the bore, expands to have a dimension larger than the dimension of the opening of the bore whereby the second section is locked to the first section.
In another embodiment, a magnetic snap fastener for releasably connecting a first material and a second material comprises a closure consisting of an ornamental cap having a bore, the bore comprising an opening, an inner portion having a dimension larger than a dimension of the opening; a second section, the second section including a shaft, the shaft having a deformable portion to lock the closure to the first material; a first magnet having a magnetic field; and a magnetically attracted surface. The closure is assembled by inserting the shaft of the second section through the first material and into the bore of the first section and deforming the shaft inside the bore. The first magnet is attached to one of the first material and the second material, the magnetically attracted surface being attached to the other of the first material and second material. The first magnet attracts the magnetically attractive surface to releasably connect the first material and the second material. The first magnet may be toroidal or ring shaped and have a central hole. In this embodiment, the shaft of the second section may be inserted through the hole in the magnet prior to deformation of the shaft.
In yet another embodiment, a snap fastener for releasably connecting a first material and a second material comprises a closure consisting of an ornamental cap having a bore, the bore comprising an opening, an inner portion having a dimension larger than a dimension of the opening; a second section, the second section having a shaft, the shaft including a deformable portion to lock the closure to the first material; a female snap component; and a male snap component configured to reversibly deform at least a portion of the female snap component and be releasably retained by the female snap component. The female snap component is attached to one of the first material and the second material and the male snap component is attached to the other of the first material and second material. Either the female or male snap component may be affixed to the first material by the closure.
A method for constricting the size of a portion of a straight-walled bore is disclosed that comprises the steps of inserting a tongue, such as a pin or a rod, having a predetermined peripheral dimension or diameter into the straight-walled bore, deforming or crimping a portion of the sidewalls of the bore inwardly against the tongue which acts to establish or to limit the size of the deformation, and withdrawing the tongue from the bore, whereby the peripheral inner dimension of the deformed portion of the bore remains substantially equal to the predetermined peripheral outer dimension of the tongue. In one embodiment, the method comprises extruding a hollow cylindrical stem defining the straight-walled bore from a cap forming part of a closure, and the deforming step consists of pressing the open end of the stem into a cavity having inwardly tapering walls. The cavity is formed within a tool or punch element. The tapered walls of the cavity deform or crimp the open end of the stem such that its peripheral dimension or diameter is less than the diameter of other sections of the bore. The tongue extends from the center of the tool cavity into the bore and, by engagement with the crimped portions of the stem opening, controls the size of the constricted or crimped opening to the bore relative to other sections of the bore. In an embodiment, the method may consist of extruding the stem from a die-cast ornamental cap or from a forged ornamental cap.
Various additional features may be added to the ornamental cap to influence the deformation of the shaft. For example, a bore of an ornamental cap may further include a raised feature for directing the material of the shaft outwards within the bore when the shaft is deformed. The shaft may also include features to influence deformation, such as a channel or slit within the shaft.
The features of the present application can be more readily understood from the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:
a and 2b are cross sectional elevational views of the closure of
a and 3b are cross sectional elevational views of an exemplary technique for forming a crimped locking bore as described herein.
c and 3d are cross sectional elevational views of another exemplary technique for forming a crimped locking bore as described herein.
a is a cross sectional view of one embodiment of a locking bore as described herein.
b is a cross sectional view of another embodiment of a locking bore as described herein.
c is a cross sectional view of still another embodiment of a locking bore as described herein.
Referring now to the drawings, and in particular to
The closure components may be joined through one or more different sheet materials in order to permanently fasten the sheet materials together. The sheet material may be a component of an article of clothing, bag, purse, or the like. Examples of types of sheet material compatible with an ornamental cap closure as described herein include any type of fabric, leather, simulated leather, plastic, foam, rubber, metal, cardboard, and any combination of such materials.
In the embodiment of
With reference to
In this embodiment, the method for creating a crimped locking bore comprises utilizing a deforming tool 302 having a tapered hole 304. The method consists of moving the cap 102 or the deforming tool 302 to cause the open end of the bore 306 of the stem 308 to enter the tapered hole 304 by a predetermined amount, depending upon the extent of the desired deformity in the sidewalls of the stem. Upon entering the tapered hole 304, the sidewalls at the opening of the stem 308 are compressed inwardly, or crimped, by the tapered sidewalls of the hole 304, thereby creating shaped sidewall portions 116 defining the overall shape and the size of a crimped opening 118 of the bore 306 (
With reference to
To perform the deforming operation, the cap 102 with its open straight-walled cylindrical stem 308 and the deforming tool 314 are pressed or punched together so that the stem 308 is forced to enter the tapered bore 304 of the tool 314. At the same time, the tongue 316 enters the bore 306 through the open end of the stem 308. In this embodiment, the tool 314 is then pressed or struck to force the movable tongue 316 against the bottom 320 of the cylindrical bore 306 defined by the sidewalls of the stem 308 so that it can move no further inwardly relative to the cap 102. However, relative movement of the cap and tool toward each other may continue, as desired, due to the force on the tool. Once the tongue 316 has been jammed against the bottom 320 of the bore 306, further movement of the tool 314 relative to the cap 102 may occur because of compression of the spring 318. Such relative movement stops when the tapered sidewalls of the bore 304 of the tool 302 have deformed or crimped the side walls of the opening to the stem 308 sufficiently to press them against the outer surface of the tongue 316. Accordingly, the diameter of the movable tongue 316 defines the crimped diameter of the opening to the bore 306 of the stem 308. In this embodiment, precise control over the extent of relative movement of the cap and tool to obtain the desired crimped opening to the bore 306 is provided simply by the diameter of the tongue 316.
The first section 102 of the closure need not be integrally formed. For example an insert part may be affixed to a body part to form the first section. In one example, the first section may be formed by overmolding the body part around an insert part in an injection molding process. As another example, the insert part could be affixed to the body part by a deforming operation which deforms the body part or insert part to fix the two parts together. In yet another example, the insert part may be pressed into a receiving feature in the body part. The insert part may be heated prior to being pressed into the body part to facilitate easier insertion if the body part is formed of a thermoplastic material.
In the embodiment of
With reference to the embodiments of
The deformable shaft 104 may be cylindrical or may have a non-circular cross sectional profile, such as a rectangular profile. The profile of the bore 114 may match that of the shaft 104. If the profile of the bore 114 is cylindrical, the shaped sidewall surface 116 may define a frustum having its smaller diameter end oriented in the direction of the opening 118 of the bore 114, as shown in
Similar to the bore 114, the deformable shaft 104 may be provided with features which influence the character of the deformation during installation. For example, the deformable portion of the shaft 112 or the entire shaft 104 may be partially or fully hollow or tubular. Similarly, as shown in
The shaft 104 and base section 122 need not be integrally formed. For example, they may be formed separately, from the same or different materials, and may be attached to each other by processes such as gluing, welding, brazing, soldering, and other mechanical means. Some examples of mechanical joining methods include swaging, self clinching, broaching, press fitting and flaring. As another method for attaching the base section 122 to the shaft 104, a feature on either the shaft 104 or the base section 122 may be deformed to capture a cooperating feature of the other part. In one example, a non-ferrous metal shaft 104 may be fastened to a base section 122 made from ferrous metal, ferrous metal being responsive to a magnetic field.
The shaft 104 need not have a constant cross section. For example, as shown in
As shown in
As shown in
The female portion comprising the magnet 1002 enclosed in the housing formed by the cover plate 1008 and second washer 1006 may be attached to the sheet material 1004 by gluing, sewing, or any other method of attaching an object to a material. As another example, the magnet 1002 and housing may be attached to the second material 1004 by a closure of the type disclosed herein. As one example of such a closure, the magnet 1002 may be a toroidal magnet enclosed by a second washer 1006 and a cover plate 1008 having an outer flange 1010 crimped to retain the magnet 1002 and the second washer 1006. The second washer 1006 and cover plate 1008 provide the benefits of protecting the magnet 1002 from damage as well as allowing for easy fixation of the magnet 1002 to the second material 1004. The cover plate 1008 should be formed of a material that is not responsive to magnetic fields, such as brass.
The female portion comprising the magnet 1002, cover plate 1008, and second washer 1006 may be affixed to the sheet material 1004 by a deformable shaft 1012 extending through the magnet 1002 and sheet material 1004 to lock into a suitable bore in the cap 1014, thereby forming a closure of the type described above. The base section 1016 of the shaft 1012 is configured to have an outer dimension smaller than the dimension of a hole in the cover plate 1008 and the magnet 1002, but larger than the dimension of a hole in the second washer 1006. When the shaft 1012 is inserted through the hole in the cover plate 1008, the hole in the magnet 1002, the hole in the second washer 1006, a hole in the sheet material 1004 and finally into a bore in the cap 1014, the magnet 1002 may be affixed to the sheet material 1004 by deforming the shaft 1012 inside a bore formed in the cap or plate section 1014 as in the above embodiments.
Once installed, in one embodiment, the washer 904 is attracted by the magnet 1002 and the sheet materials 108 and 1004 are releasably connected, with the top surface 1015 of the cover plate 1008 residing against the bottom surface 906 of the washer 904, and with the base section 122 attached to the shaft 104 partially entering the hole of the cover plate 1008 and optionally the hole of the magnet 1002.
Additionally, the shaft 104 and base section 122 may include the hole or bore 602 extending through their entire length, as discussed above with reference to
In another example, shown in
As shown in
In one embodiment, the end of the shaft 104 or the bore 114 of the first section 102 may be configured to cut, punch or shear a portion of the sheet material 108 corresponding to a cross sectional profile of the shaft 104 as a result of the application of the compression force 202 during installation of the shaft 104 to the first section 102. The shape of the bore 114 and the shape of the end of the shaft 104, in this example, are configured to result in a sheared-off portion of sheet material 108 being present inside the bore 114 after installation. A closure according to this example would eliminate the need for a hole to be added to the sheet material 108 prior to installation of the components.
In another closure embodiment, the first section or cap 102 may include two or more bores 114, each bore 114 having an enlarged inner portion as described herein in which a shaft deforms to lock the shaft to the bore. In this example, individual shafts 104 may be provided for each bore 114 of the first section 102 or a single component having two or more shaft portions may be provided to mate with the various bores of the first section.
As shown in
With reference to
As an additional step, lubricant may be added to the bore 114, the shaft 104 or both prior to the deformation of the shaft 104. The addition of lubricant reduces the frictional forces generated during deformation, reducing the overall compression force necessary to deform the shaft 104.
In describing examples and exemplary embodiments, specific terminology is employed for the sake of clarity in this disclosure. However, the disclosure of this patent specification is not intended to be limited to the specific terminology so selected and it is to be understood that each specific element includes all technical equivalents that operate in a similar manner.
In addition, the embodiments and examples above are illustrative, and many variations can be introduced on them without departing from the spirit of the disclosure or from the scope of the appended claims. For example, elements and/or features of different illustrative and exemplary embodiments herein may be combined with each other and/or substituted for each other within the scope of this disclosure.
