This application is a U.S. National Phase application of International application No. PCT/CN2021/082959, filed Mar. 25, 2021, which claims the benefits of priority of CN application No. 202120353704.2 filed on Feb. 8, 2021, the content of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present disclosure relates to a fastening device, and more particularly, the present disclosure relates to a fastening device for being installed at an article.
Generally, a wearable article may include a first side and a second side, the second side may be opposite to the first side, and the first side and the second side may be close to each other to secure the wearable article at the worn portion. Taken a shoe as an example, it can further include a tongue, the tongue is located between the first side and the second side, and the shoe further includes a plurality of eyelets arranged at the first side and the second side, and a conventional shoe lace may be knotted after passing through the eyelets to fasten the article.
However, the shoe lace has to be loosened before the shoe is taken off, the shoe lace has to be knotted again as the shoe is put on, and therefore lots of inconveniences come. In order to solve the aforementioned problems, some practitioners developed a fastening device, which may be disposed at the tongue and coupled to a lace, and the lace may pass through the eyelets to substitute for the shoe lace. Through operating the fastening device, the lace may be rapidly tensioned or released, and the shoe may be easily taken off or put on.
Unfortunately, this kind of fastening device is secured at the tongue during the post process of the shoe. In other words, if the shoe itself is not configured to be a state that includes the fastening device, it is hard for a user to couple the fastening device to the shoe. Therefore some practitioners developed another new fastening device, which includes a positioning sheet, the positioning sheet includes a plurality of positioning holes, the lace may pass through the eyelets and the positioning holes, and then be coupled to the reel member of the fastening device, and the fastening device can be coupled to the shoe. However, as the user releases the lace, a gap is generated between the positioning sheet and the shoe, and a vibration occurs, thereby bringing inconveniences in usage.
In order to solve the problem, some practitioners drill holes on the shoe, and then the fastening device is secured at the shoe, but the types or the thicknesses of the shoes are different, there are problems of lacking installation stability and flexibility, and the aforementioned problems also exist in other wearable articles in addition to the shoes.
Based on the aforementioned, how to improve the structure of the fastening device and the flexibility and stability thereof as being installed at the articles becomes a target that those in the field pursue.
According to one embodiment of the present disclosure a fastening device is provided, which is applied for being installed at an article, and the fastening device includes a base, a coupling member and a reel member. The base is located at the article and includes a bottom cover and a rotating plate, the bottom cover includes a bore, and the rotating plate is movably coupled to the bottom cover. The coupling member inserts an installing hole of the article and the bore, the coupling member is coupled to the rotating plate, and the reel member is coupled to a lace and disposed at the base. The rotating plate is rotated to move the coupling member in the bore, thereby narrowing a gap between the base and the article.
The embodiments of the present disclosure will be illustrated with drawings hereinafter. In order to clearly describe the content, many practical details will be mentioned with the description hereinafter. However, it will be understood by the reader that the practical details will not limit the present disclosure. In other words, in some embodiment of the present disclosure, the practical details are not necessary. Additionally, in order to simplify the drawings, some conventional structures and elements will be illustrated in the drawings in a simple way; the repeated elements may be labeled by the same or similar reference numerals.
In addition, when an element (or mechanism or module) in the present disclosure is referred to as being “connected to”, “disposed on” or “coupled to” another element, it can be directly connected to, disposed on or coupled to another element, or it can be indirectly connected to, disposed on or coupled to another element, that is, intervening elements being present between the element and the another element. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directly connected to”, “directly disposed on” or “directly coupled to” another element, there are no intervening elements present between the element and the another element. The terms first, second, third, etc. are used herein to describe various elements or components, and these elements/components should not be limited by these terms. Consequently, a first element/component discussed below could be termed a second element/component. Moreover, the combinations of the elements/components/mechanisms/modules are not well-known, ordinary or conventional combinations, and whether the combinations can be easily completed by the one skilled in the art cannot be judged based on whether the elements/components/mechanisms/modules themselves are well-known, ordinary or conventional.
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Therefore, through the configuration of the bottom cover 122, the rotating plate 121 and the coupling member 110, the gap G1 between the base 120 and the article S1 may be narrowed, which fabricates for the fastening device 10 to be installed at the articles S1 with different types or thicknesses, and in addition to increase the installation flexibility, the installation stability may also be increased. The details of the fastening device 10 will be described hereinafter.
The bottom cover 122 may include a covering portion 1223 and two blocking sheets 1224, the inner region of the covering portion 1223 forms a lower chamber for receiving the rotating plate 121, the two blocking sheets 1224 respectively extend radially and inward from a bottom edge of the covering portion 1223 and are arranged symmetrically, and the two bores 1225 respectively penetrate the two blocking sheets 1224.
The rotating plate 121 may include a disc 1215 and two wings 1216, and the two wings 1216 are connected to two sides of the disc 1215 and arranged symmetrically. The rotating plate 121 may further include a guiding curved-hole 1212 and an engaging thread 1213, the guiding curved-hole 1212 is configured for the coupling member 110 to insert thereinto, the engaging thread 1213 protrudes from an inner wall (not labeled) of the guiding curved-hole 1212 and is coupled to the coupling member 110, the engaging thread 1213 includes a higher end P2 (labeled in
Precisely, a number of the guiding curved-holes 1212 is two and the guiding curved-holes 1212 respectively penetrate the two wings 1216, a number of the engaging threads 1213 is two, the two engaging threads 1213 respectively protrude inward from the inner side walls of two sides of the guiding curved-hole 1212, and each engaging thread 1213 climbs upward from a bottom of the inner side wall along an axial direction I1 (labeled in
As shown in
The top of the covering portion 1223 is depressed inward to form an upper chamber, the upper chamber is for the reel member 130 to be installed therein, and the central hole 1221 penetrates a bottom wall of the upper chamber to allow the upper chamber to be communicated with the lower chamber. The rotating plate 121 may further include a boss 1217, the boss 1217 is located on the disc 1215 and is higher than a top surface of the disc 1215, a number of the at least one pawl arm 1214 is two, and the two pawl arms 1214 are respectively connected to two sides of the boss 1217 and arranged symmetrically. As the user exerts a force to rotate the rotating plate 121 in a first direction R1 (labeled in
The rotating plate 121 may further include a locking hole 1211, which is disposed at the boss 1217, the locking hole 1211 may be configured for an engaging projection T12 (shown in
As assembling the rotating plate 121 and the base 120, the wings 1216 and the blocking sheets 1224 are mismatched to each other, the rotating plate 121 may be put upward into the lower chamber of the bottom cover 122, at this time the boss 1217 and the pawl arms 1214 protrude into the central hole 1221, the two pawl arms 1214 are engaged with two depressions 1222, rotating the rotating plate 121 in the first direction R1 may allow the wings 1216 to align with the blocking sheets 1224, and separation of the rotating plate 121 may be avoided, thereby allowing the bore 1225 to be respectively communicated with the guiding curved-hole 1212 at the same time.
In the first embodiment, the coupling member 110 may include an engaging cavity 113, and the engaging cavity 113 is coupled to the engaging thread 1213, thereby fabricating for the association between the coupling member 110 and the guiding curved-hole 1212. The coupling member 110 may further include a head portion 111 and a bar portion 112, the bar portion 112 is connected to the head portion 111, a diameter of the bar portion 112 is smaller than a diameter of the head portion 111, such that the head portion 111 has a restricting function, and the engaging cavity 113 is located at the bar portion 112 and is far away from the head portion 111.
Please refer to
As shown in
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If the fastening device 10 is removed from the article S1, the reel member 130 may be separated from the base 120 first, the tool T1 may then be inserted, since the tool T1 includes the two finger portions T11 for deflecting the pawl arms 1214 to prevent the pawl arms 1214 to engage with the depressions 1222, rotating the tool T1 may rotate the rotating plate 121 in the second direction R2 (labeled in
Please refer to
The central protrusion 2221 protrudes upward from a bottom wall 2223 of the bottom cover 222, and the two bores 2225 penetrate the bottom wall 2223 and are arranged symmetrically. The rotating plate 221 includes a central through hole 2211, a number of the pawl arms 2214 is two and the pawl arms 2214 protrude inward from an inner surface of the central through hole 2211. During installation, the rotating plate 221 may be directly put into the bottom cover 222, the central protrusion 2221 protrudes into the central through hole 2211 to allow the pawl arm 2214 to engage with at least one of the depressions 2222, and rotating the rotating plate 221 or the bottom cover 222 may align the guiding curved-hole 2212 with the bore 2225, thereby configured for the coupling member 210 to insert into the guiding curved-hole 2212 and the bore 2225. Other details similar to the first embodiment will not be repeated.
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The bottom cover 322 includes a central cavity (not labeled), a plurality of depressions 3222 and two bores 3225, the depressions 3222 are located at a top end of an inner annular wall 3221 of the central cavity, the two bores 3225 are respectively located at two sides of the central cavity and penetrate a bottom wall (not labeled) of the bottom cover 322, and one of the bores 3225 may be communicated with an inner region of the central cavity.
The rotating plate 321 is received in the inner region of the central cavity, and the coupling member 310 (shown in
Specifically, the rotating plate 321 includes a top portion 3212 and a shaft portion 3211, the shaft portion 3211 is connected to the top portion 3212, a diameter of the top portion 3212 is wider than a diameter of the shaft portion 3211, and as the rotating plate 321 is put into the central cavity, the space between the shaft portion 3211 and the inner annular wall 3221 forms a winding track 3213.
The rotating plate 321 may further include an inserted passage 3215, which is communicated with the bore 3225 and an external ambience (not labeled), and the inserted passage 3215 is configured for receiving the coupling member 310. As shown in
In addition, the rotating plate 321 may include two pawl arms 3214, the two pawl arms 3214 are respectively connected to two sides of the top portion 3212 and selectively engaged with at least one of the depressions 3222, and the relation between the pawl arm 3214 and the depression 3222 is similar to the relation between the pawl arm 1214 and the depression 1222, which will not be repeated.
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Continuously, the two ends of the coupling member 310 are knotted to form knots 311, 312, the knot 311 may be restricted in the large-diameter region to allow the coupling member 310 to couple to the rotating plate 321, the knot 312 may be restricted at the bore 3225, and the coupling member 310 may not separate from the rotating plate 321 and the bottom cover 322. Meanwhile, the user may use a tool (not shown in
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The base 420 includes a bottom cover 422 and a rotating plate 421, the rotating plate 421 is assembled with the bottom cover 422, the rotating plate 421 may include a plurality of grooves 4211, and the grooves 4211 are disposed at the disc 4215 of the rotating plate 421 and arranged in two rows. The housing 431 includes two engaging tabs 4311, the two engaging tabs 4311 extend downward from a lower edge of the housing 431 and are arranged symmetrically, and as the housing 431 is assembled with the base 420, the two engaging tabs 4311 respectively correspond to two grooves 4211.
Therefore, after rotating the rotating plate 421 to adjust the height of the coupling member 410, through the engagement relation between the engaging tabs 4311 and the grooves 4211, the rotating plate 421 may be positioned, and relative movement between the rotating plate 421 and the bottom cover 422 may be avoided.
The rotating plate 421 may further include two elastic arms 4212 connected to the disc 4215 of the rotating plate 421, which may abut against the blocking sheet 4224 of the bottom cover 422 after the rotating plate 421 and the bottom cover 422 are assembled, thereby prohibiting the rotating plate 421 to separate from the bottom cover 422, one of the elastic arms 4212 is a left rotation limit for the rotating plate 421 to rotate relative to the bottom cover 422, and the other one of the elastic arms 4212 is a right rotation limit for the rotating plate 421 to rotate relative to the bottom cover 422.
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In the installing step 710, a base and a coupling member of a fastening device is coupled to an article, and the coupling member is inserted into an installing hole of the article and a bore of the base.
In the adjusting step 720, the coupling member is moved in the bore, thereby narrowing a gap between the base and the article.
In the reel member coupling step 730, a reel member of the fastening device is coupled to the base.
The fastening device installing and adjusting method 70 will be described in detail with the first embodiment of
In the adjusting step 720, the rotating plate 121 may be rotated to move the coupling member 110 in the bore 1225, and the coupling member 110 is lifted to narrow the gap G1. Precisely, the tool T1 may be coupled to the rotating plate 121, such that at least one pawl arm 1214 of the rotating plate 121 is disengaged from at least one depression 1222 of the bottom cover 122, and then the tool T1 is rotating to rotate the rotating plate 121. Hence, the coupling member 110 may be guided by the engaging thread 1213 to move upward, switching from the lower end P1 to the higher end P2, and thereby the gap G1 between the base 120 and the article S1 is narrowed. As further shown in
In addition, in the reel member coupling step 730, the reel member 130 may be coupled to a lace, and then the reel member 130 is connected to the base 120. The reel member 130 may include a knob (not labeled) and a spool (not shown), the knob may be operably coupled to the spool, the spool is for the lace to be wound therearound, and rotating the knob may tension or release the lace.
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Although the present disclosure has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain embodiments thereof, other embodiments are possible. Therefore, the spirit and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the embodiments contained herein. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present disclosure without departing from the scope or spirit of the disclosure. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present disclosure cover modifications and variations of this disclosure provided they fall within the scope of the following claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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202120353704.2 | Feb 2021 | CN | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/CN2021/082959 | 3/25/2021 | WO |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO2022/165945 | 8/11/2022 | WO | A |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
5333398 | Seo | Aug 1994 | A |
10413019 | Soderberg | Sep 2019 | B2 |
11547182 | Chen | Jan 2023 | B2 |
20080172848 | Chen | Jul 2008 | A1 |
20210196000 | Trudel | Jul 2021 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20240122302 A1 | Apr 2024 | US |