Patent Grant
11596208
This application is a 371 national stage application of PCT/JP2018/032039 filed on Aug. 30, 2018, which claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2017 187155 filed on Sep. 8, 2017, the complete disclosures of which, in their entireties, are herein incorporated by reference.
The present invention relates to a fastener for accessories such as necklace, bracelet, anklet, key holder, bag, belt, seatbelt and the like.
One of the conventional fasteners for accessories is disclosed in reference 1. The first reference shows a fastener whose male part can be engaged/disengaged from a female part by twisting the male part almost 90 degrees to a longitudinal direction.
However, the above-mentioned fastener has its disadvantages mentioned below. The fastener shown in reference 1 opens only in an up and down direction and is not a type of fastener, which requires twisting each part. It also does not have a guide part exclusive for engagement/disengagement or an engagement-separating gap inside the female part. Therefore, when it is engaged, the male part has to be rotated 90 degrees to a longitudinal direction and then pushed into the female part. There are two main problems with reference 1. Firstly, the female part is required to have a hole (an eye) in which the male part can move smoothly. In addition, the male part is required to have another part for pinching of fingers since a locking-accepting part at the tip of the male and a locking-frame body need to be inserted into the holding section of the female part. Due to this, the length of the female part and the male part can be almost twice as conventional fasteners. It makes a fastener more costly and heavier because products made from gold/platinum are usually quite expensive. It can also spoil the appearance of the accessories. Secondly, in case a user rotates the male part 90 degrees, a position where the user pinches, is positioned in an axis around where the male part circularly moves. A position, where an opening of the female part contacts a side of the male part, is located outside the axis. As a result, the male part cannot be engaged or disengaged with the female part unless the user pinches strongly. Generally, a fastener for accessories such as a necklace is slippery, since users may apply a cosmetic, hand cream and the like to their hands. Furthermore, since users have to engage or disengage the fastener at the back of his/her neck, it is impossible to check whether the male part rotates 90 degrees or not.
Firstly, a fastener for accessories should be as small as possible. Secondly, a fastener for accessories should be engaged or disengaged without a strong pinching force by the fingers.
More preferably, to handle a fastener for accessories easier, a male part and a female part can be engaged or disengaged with one another by pulling them along a longitudinal direction in almost the same state or by twisting one another.
In order to solve the above-mentioned issues, the fastener for accessories of the present invention comprising a pair of a female part and a male part, wherein the male part comprises a circular locking frame body, which is formed continuously linear or non-continuously linear, a locking accepting part, which is surrounded by the locking frame body, and a locking part, which is located at a tip of the locking frame body, wherein the female part comprises a circular holding frame body, which is formed non-continuously linear, and a holding space, which is surrounded by the holding frame body, wherein the female part further comprises an opening part, which can close elastically, at a tip of the holding frame body, wherein said opening part has a guide part for insertion outside, wherein a length of the opening part of the female par is shorter than a length between the locking frame bodies of the male part, wherein the female part further comprises a engagement-separating gap, which is located at a tip of the opening part or an inner side of said tip, for disengagement in order for the locking part of the male part to move from the holding space to an outer space, and wherein said engagement-separating gap is opened by pulling the female part from the male part while twisting, then the fastener for accessories will be disengaged.
In this fastener for accessories, preferably, wherein the tip of the locking frame body of the male part has a pair of locking parts, and an inner side of the pair of the locking parts has a guide part for engagement/disengagement, wherein a tip of the holding frame body of the female part comprises a pair of opening parts which can close elastically, and wherein an outside of said pair of opening parts comprises a guide part for insertion.
In this fastener for accessories, preferably, wherein a rear part of the female part is connected to a side of a chain, and wherein a cross-section shape of the holding frame body of the female part is characterized in that a ratio of a vertical length is 1 to less than 2 of a horizontal length, or the cross-section shape is characterized in that a ratio of a horizontal length is 1 to less than 2 of a vertical length.
In this fastener for accessories, preferably, wherein a tip of the holding frame body of the female part comprises a pair of opening parts, wherein an outside of the opening parts comprises the guide part for insertion, and wherein a tip side of one opening part is opposed to the guide part of another opening part, or the tip side of the one opening part is around a centerline along a longitude axis and is not parallel to the centerline along the longitude axis.
In this fastener for accessories, preferably, wherein the tip of the holding frame body of the female part comprises a pair of the opening parts, and wherein a tip of one opening part of the female part extends longer toward a inner direction than another opening part of the female part.
In this fastener for accessories, preferably, wherein the tip of the holding frame body of the female part comprises a pair of the opening part, wherein an outer side of the pair of the opening part of the female part comprises a guide part for insertion, wherein an inner side of one opening part has a guide part for engagement/disengagement, and wherein a tip side of another opening part of the female part is opposed to a tip of the one opening part of the female part, or the guide part for insertion.
In this fastener for accessories, preferably, wherein the male part further comprises a circular locking frame body, which is formed non-continuously linear, a locking accepting part, which is surrounded by the locking frame body, and a locking part, which can close elastically at a tip of the locking frame body, wherein the male part further comprises an engagement-separating gap at the tip of the locking part or an inner side of the tip of the locking part, and a neck part, wherein the male part further comprises a guide part for engagement/disengagement at the front of the locking accepting part or an inner side of the locking part, and wherein the male part further comprises an outer shell which is formed continuously linear or non-continuously linear.
In this fastener for accessories, preferably, wherein the female part comprises an opening part at the tip of the holding frame body, wherein the opening part has a protrusion extending to the center of the holding space, said protrusion catches the opening part of the holding frame body of the female part inside the locking frame body of the male part, and wherein the female part further comprises a non-return claw which can prevent the holding frame body from opening.
In this fastener for accessories, preferably, wherein the female part comprises opening parts at the tip of the holding frame body, wherein an inner angle between a holding frame body and an opening part is between more than 45 degrees and less than 90 degrees.
For example, as shown in the embodiment 7 below, a fastener for accessories comprises a guide part for insertion located at the outer side of an opening part of the female part, and a guide part at the inner edge of a locking part of the male part. In addition, the male part has an outer shell on a periphery of a locking frame body. The fastener for accessories can be easily engaged by pushing the locking part of the male part onto the guide part for insertion of the female part. On the contrary, twisting and pulling the male part from the female part can easily disengage the fastener for accessories. The present invention has an object to provide a fastener for accessories, which comprises a female part or a male part having an engagement-separating gap inside or a guide part for engagement/disengagement. With this configuration, the fastener for accessories can be smaller and easily engaged/disengaged by pinching the parts lightly.
Referring to the drawings, the Embodiment of a fastener for accessories according to the present invention will be explained. Embodiments 1 to 9 of the present invention will be described hereinafter with reference to the drawings. It is to be understood that the embodiments described herein are not intended as limiting, or encompassing the entire scope of the present invention.
The fastener for accessories according to Embodiment 1 comprises a female part (1) and a male part (2). In case when the female part (1) and the male part (2) are engaged with one another, an outer part of a locking part (21) belonging to the male part (2) is pushed against a guide part (15) or is twisted against the guide part (15). As a result, an opening part (14) of the female part (1) will be opened. Then, the locking part (21) of the male part (2) is pushed into a holding space (13) of the female part (1) and the male part (2) is engaged with the female part (1) in the end.
As shown in
However, in case where the length (B) between the locking frame bodies (22) is longer than the length (A) of the opening part (14) (B is longer than A in
In terms of reference 1, the male part can be engaged with the female part by twisting the male part almost 90 degrees and passing the whole male part through the female part. Therefore, the size of the female part is required to be long enough along the longitude direction for the male part to pass through. In addition, the male part of reference 1 should have a short vertical length against the longitude direction so the female part won't be as long. Furthermore, a pinching part should be longer enough to prevent the male part from rotating. As a result, the male part cannot help being long along a centerline direction of the longitude axis.
Since the entire male part (2) of the present invention is not necessary to pass through the female part (1), the size of the fastener for accessories according to the present invention can be much smaller than reference 1. The male part (2) is not required to rotate 90 degrees, so the length of the pinching part for the present invention can be the same as conventional ones. In other words, although the appearance of the present invention may be similar to reference 1, a vertical/horizontal ratio of the male part (2) and female part (1) according to the present invention is very different from reference 1. The length of the male part (2) and female part (1) according to the present invention is also very different from reference 1. If the holding frame body (12) of the female part (1) becomes longer, a closing force of the opening part (14) will be lessened (the closing force is in inversely proportion to the length of the holding frame body (12)). If the closing force is weak, there is a risk that disengagement could often happen. Or, the thickness of a fastener should be thicker for reinforcement. In order to make the fastener for accessories smaller, the present invention compares the length between the locking frame parts (22) of the male part (2) with the length of the opening part (14) of the female part (1) and limit said lengths. Furthermore, how to engage/disengage is limited to twisting and the position of the engagement-separating gap is limited to the female part (1) or the inside of the male part (2).
In the industry of jewelry, although small parts are required, large parts are not. Herein, the length of the opening part (14) is defined as a length vertically against the centerline of the longitude axis of the female part (1). The length between the locking frame bodies (22) of the male part (1) means the maximum length among lengths vertically against the centerline of the longitude axis of the male part (2). A guide part for insertion or a guide part for engagement/disengagement is a part, which is not parallel against the centerline of the female part (1) or the male part (2). The guide parts are the parts that can cause insertion or engagement/disengagement between the female part (1) and the male part (2).
A fastener for accessories according to embodiment 2 of the present invention comprises a pair of a female part (1) and a male part (2). An inner side of a locking part (21) of the male part (2) has a pair of guide parts (23) for engagement/disengagement. The tip of the two guide parts (23) for engagement/disengagement is situated near a centerline of a longitude axis of the male part (2).
On the other hand, the female part (1) comprises a pair of opening parts (14), which can close elastically, and a pair of guide parts (15) for insertion around an outer side of the opening parts (14).
Since the male part (2) comprises a pair of guide parts (23), which is longer than a pair of the opening parts (14) of the female part (1) for engagement/disengagement, the fastener for accessories can smoothly be engaged/disengaged whether it is rotated to the right or the left (refer to
In case when a user takes off a necklace, the user cannot check by looking properly, because the user has to handle the necklace at the back of the neck. Some people like to rotate to the right, while others like to rotate to the left. Therefore, the fastener for accessories, which can be engaged/disengaged by twisting both to the right and the left rotation, can be very convenient.
A fastener for accessories according to embodiment 3 of the present invention comprises a pair of a female part (1) and a male part (2). In terms of a cross-section shape of a holding frame body (12) of the female part (1), the ratio of the vertical length of the cross-section shape is 1 to less than 2 of the horizontal length of the cross-section shape. Or the ratio of the horizontal length of the cross-section shape is 1 to less than 2 of the vertical length of the cross-section shape. The opening part of reference 1 has only an opening/closing movement in a vertical direction. The back part around the centerline of a longitude axis has a thick wall part in a vertical direction. However, since a wall part in a horizontal direction is thin, a metal fatigue fracture may be generated in the horizontal direction by twisting the fastener. In other words, the aperture width in the vertical direction will be the same as the aperture width in the horizontal direction when they are twisted. Therefore, the thickness in the vertical direction should be the same as the thickness in the horizontal direction.
A fastener for accessories according to embodiment 4 of the present invention comprises a pair of a female part (1) and a male part (2). The tip side of one opening part (14) of the female part (1) is opposed to an outer guide part (15) for insertion of another opening part (14), or is not parallel to the centerline along a longitude axis. An unexpected force for engagement/disengagement works parallel to the centerline along the longitude axis. If an engagement-separating gap is not parallel, the structure has a high friction coefficient and occurs an unexpected disengagement. In addition, the tip of the opening part (14) is formed at a sharp angle in general to avoid an unexpected disengagement. However, metals such as gold and platinum are easily bendable while using. Therefore, this will lead to defective products. In Embodiment 4, the tip of the opening part (14) is formed in a round shape in order to prevent deformation of parts. In addition, since the opening part (14) is not parallel to the centerline along the longitude axis, the fastener can prevent an unexpected disengagement.
A fastener for accessories according to embodiment 5 of the present invention comprises a pair of a female part (1) and a male part (2). The tip of one opening part (14) belonging to the female part (1) extends longer toward the inner direction than another opening part (14) belonging to the female part (1). In other words, there is a step at the tip of said opening parts (14). A locking part (21) of the male part (2) cannot stop between the opening parts (14) even if an unexpected force is applied to the fastener for accessories. This structure can prevent the fastener for accessories from slipping down on accident.
A fastener for accessories according to embodiment 6 of the present invention comprises a pair of a female part (1) and a male part (2). At the inner part of one opening part (14) belonging to the female part (1), an angle formed by a holding frame body (12) and a guide part (19) for engagement/disengagement is set to an obtuse angle. At the inner part of another opening part (14) belonging to the female part (1), an angle formed by a holding frame body (12) and the front part of a holding space (13) or an inner side (17) of the another opening part (14) is set to an acute angle. The tip of the other opening part (14) is opposed to the tip of the one opening part (14) or an outer guide part (15) for insertion. Even if an unexpected force is applied to the fastener for accessories, the inner side of a locking part (21) of the male part (2) can move through an engagement-separating gap (18) along the guide part (19) for engagement/disengagement at the obtuse angle side. Then it moves toward the front part of a holding space (13) at the acute angle side or the inner side (17) of the opening part (14) and stops. Since the engagement-separating gap (18) can be a passing point with little frictional resistance, an unexpected engagement/disengagement will not occur.
A fastener for accessories according to embodiment 7 of the present invention comprises a pair of a female part (1) and a male part (2). The male part (2) comprises a circular locking frame body (22), which is formed non-continuously linear, a locking accepting part (25), which is surrounded by the locking frame body (22), and a neck part (26), which is located at the back of the locking frame body (22). The periphery of the neck part (26) of the male part (2) has an outer shell (57), which is formed continuously linear or non-continuously linear. In addition, the tip of the locking frame part (22) has a locking part (21), which can close elastically. The inner side of the locking part (21) has a guide part (23) for engagement/disengagement. Even if an unexpected force is applied to the fastener for accessories, the outer shell (57) can prevent the locking part (21) of the male part (2) from opening so that this can prevent the fastener for accessories from disengagement. When it is engaged/disengaged, since the male part (2) comprises the guiding part (23) inside the locking part (21) of the male part (2), by twisting the male part (2) toward the opposite direction against when it is engaged and pulling the male part (2), the locking part (21) of the male part (2) will be opened. Then the female part (1) and the male part (2) can be pulled toward a disengagement direction resulting in an engagement between the female part (1) and the male part (2) released.
In terms with a fastener for accessories according to embodiment 8 of the present invention, a non-return claw (14) (sometimes called a lobster claw) means that an inner angle between a holding frame body (12) and the opening part (14) is from 0 degrees to 90 degrees.
A fastener for accessories according to embodiment 9 of the present invention comprises a pair of a female part (1) and a male part (2). The fastener for accessories is characterized in that an inner angle between a holding frame body (12) and an opening part (14) of the female part (1) is between more than 45 degrees and less than 90 degrees. When it is engaged/disengaged, if the inner angle is less than 45 degrees, frictional resistance can be too large to handle smoothly. Because the fastener for accessories is too small to check by looking, a smooth operation is indispensable.
Herein, a fastener for accessories shown in
The fastener for accessories according to the embodiments of the present invention can be applied to all kinds of accessories, which have a connection part for connecting parts, such as a necklace shown in
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| JP2017-187155 | Sep 2017 | JP | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2018/032039 | 8/30/2018 | WO |
| Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| WO2019/049759 | 3/14/2019 | WO | A |
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