Patent Application
20050045176
The present invention relates generally to a device for regulating the length of the strap normally attached to a scuba diving mask to enable it to be fitted over the diver's head.
Scuba diving masks are known to comprise a frame, to which one or two lenses are attached with a watertight seal, a soft facepiece extending from the edge of the frame to create a seal against the diver's face, and a flexible strap, the two ends of which are connected to the two opposite sides of the frame, and the length of the strap is adjustable so as to exert sufficient tension to ensure its stable positioning against the diver's face and an adequate watertightness of the facepiece.
The strap's length is still commonly regulated by means of a buckle, although this is somewhat impractical to use, especially when the diver is wearing gloves, or has cold or wet hands. It is also common to find fastenings that enable the length of the strap to be adjusted without the diver needing to take off the mask. A known solution of this kind involves a strap whose ends wrap around pivots located on fork-shaped side portion of the mask. The strap has transverse stop ribbing, which is engaged by a stop tooth projecting from a lever pressed elastically against said ribs. By overcoming its elastic resistance, this lever can be raised by the user, without taking off the mask, to enable the strap to slide into a new position. Said elastic resistance is created by a spring in some cases, while in others the resilience of the lever itself is exploited, as it is flexed to detach the tooth from the strap to enable the latter to slide. Even with solutions of this type, however, although it is not necessary to take off the mask, regulating the strap is still uncomfortable and tricky, especially if it is done with cold, wet hands—and it cannot be done while wearing gloves because a finger tip is needed to lift the lever to which the stop tooth engaging the strap's ribbing is attached.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,956,778, in the name of the same Applicant, discloses a particularly compact device for regulating the strap, suitable for use on swimming goggles. The device comprises a stop lever and a tooth extending from the lever that engages on a rib on the strap wrapped around an underlying pivot integrally attached to a side portion on the goggles frame. The stop lever comprises a first arm (in particular, in the form of a fork), having a first end pivotally connected to the side portion of the frame and a second end abutting against the bottom of a seat provided in the side portion of the frame, and a second arm, from which said tooth extends transversely, having a free first end for its operation and a second end rigidly connected to the second end of the first arm. In particular, the second arm is a tongue that extends so as to be cantilevered and coplanar to the fork forming the first arm, and it has a raised portion at its free end that can be used to lift the tongue and thus disengage the transverse tooth from the rib on the strap, thereby enabling it to slide.
This solution also suffers from the same drawback as other known solutions, however, i.e. it is difficult to operate the stop lever.
The object of the present invention is to provide a device for regulating the length of the strap on a scuba diving mask that can be operated more easily and comfortably than the known devices, even wearing gloves.
This object is achieved by the device for regulating the length of the strap of a scuba diving mask with the essential characteristics set forth in claim 1. Further important features are set forth in the dependent claims.
The invention will now be illustrated in greater detail in the following description of an embodiment thereof, which is to be intended only as a non-limiting example with reference to the enclosed drawings, wherein:
With reference to
The strap 3 has a set of transverse ribs 4 on one side of its terminal portions 3a, which engage in a device for fastening and regulating the length of said strap generically indicated by the numeral 5.
As illustrated in detail in
On the side opposite the transverse tooth 8, there is a column 9 extending from the tongue 7, that is enlarged at one end to form a head 10, on which head (on the side opposite the base 6a of the U-shaped member 6) there is a surface 11 sloping towards the tongue 7.
With reference also to
The seat 12 comes between the two fins 13 and two substantially parallel walls 17 and 18 extending between them. The depth of the seat 12 is such that the base 6a of the U-shaped member 6 abuts against the bottom of said seat and the expanded tips 6c on its brackets 6b abut against ribbing 19 provided along the fins 13 at the inlet to the seat 12, so that once the U-shaped member 6 has snapped into the seat 12, it remains locked therein.
The wall 18, forming the outer side of the seat 12 has a longitudinal slot 20, which is occupied by the column 9 extending from the tongue 7. A further seat 21 is provided beyond the wall 18, contained on the outside by a wall 22 with a relevant longitudinal slot 23 lying above the slot and containing the column 9 so that its enlarged end, or head, 10 projects therefrom.
A plate 24, with one end 25 enlarged in the shape of a button, projects from and is slidingly engaged around the column 9 within the seat 21. Between the button-shaped end and the head 10 situated on the end of the column 9, there is a sloping wall 26 corresponding to the wall 11 under the head 10 and sloping at the same angle. Pressing the button-shaped end 25 of the plate 24 causes the latter to slide in the seat 21, thereby bringing the sloping walls 26 and 11 into contact. Since the head 10 is integral to the lever 16, which cannot slide within its seat 12, said head is forced to slide along the sloping wall 26 of the button 25 with its sloping wall 11, and is thereby lifted. As the head 10 rises, it lifts the tongue 7 and consequently disengages the tooth 8 from the rib 4 on the strap 3, thus enabling the strap to slide around the pivot 15. To return the tooth 10 automatically to engage with the rib 4 when the pressure on the button 25 is released, the plate 24 is elastically forced against the bottom of the seat 21. For this purpose, an arm 27 extends from the end of the plate 24 opposite the button 25 and said arm is bent over to form an arc and suitable for abutting against the bottom of the seat 21 as it flexes under the effect of the pressure induced by the sliding of the plate 24, then returning to its undeformed condition when the pressure is released and thus returning the button 25 to its initial position, when the head 10 is consequently lowered and the tooth 8 re-engages with a rib 4. To prevent the plate 24 from sliding out of its seat 21 at the end of its return stroke, it abuts against the column 9 around which it is installed.
It should be noted that the height of the column 9 is designed so that a minimal effort is needed to make the plate 24 slide and the head 10 rise.
From the above, it is clear that the device for regulating the length of the strap on a scuba diving mask fully satisfies the established aims. In fact, the device can easily be adjusted without taking off the mask, even if the diver is wearing gloves, since the lever that disengages the tooth from the ribbing on the strap is lifted by taking action not directly on the strap, using a tugging action parallel to the movement that disengages the tooth (as in the known solution), but on a button connected to the lever and consequently much more readily accessible in that pressure is exerted in a direction perpendicular to said strap movement, i.e. substantially parallel to the plane on which the end of the strap lies.
It is also worth pointing out that, although the regulating device according to the present invention has been described in relation to a scuba diving mask, it can clearly also be equally advantageously applied to a pair of swimming goggles.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| FI2003U000082 | Sep 2003 | IT | national |
