Patent Application
20090119887
This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 from French Patent Application No. 0758872 filed on Nov. 8, 2007 in the French Patent Office, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The invention relates to a hook intended to be mounted on the end of a cable or of a strap, and more particularly the end of an elastic cable of a “bungie cord” type. It also relates to a cable or strap provided with at least one such hook at one of its ends.
Bungie cords or elastic cables are well known per se and are used in a large number of applications, such as for example luggage retaining nets, the securing of luggage on a rack, on a trolley, etc. In order to ensure their reversible fastening on such a rack or such a trolley, it is known to add a hook to them.
Such hooks have been well known for a very long time, and conventionally consist of a one-piece portion, optionally made from plastic, and provided with an orifice or bore, generally a through orifice or bore, for allowing the passage and, above all, the joining of the elastic cable at this level.
One of the difficulties encountered for this type of hook resides specifically in this joining, which must at once be simple to apply, compact and, furthermore, satisfactory in terms of mechanical strength, in order to counteract the tensile forces on the elastic cable.
Document FR-2 407 386 for example describes a hook comprising a curved end in the form of an open loop, for permitting the movable fastening of the hook to a hooking place, the other end of the hook constituting a closed loop in which the cable itself forms a loop, the said loop being closed by an attachment. It is clear that this system, already old, takes relatively long to apply and has limited reliability due to the attachment ensuring the fastening of the cable loop to the hook loop.
Also proposed, for example in document FR-2 767 162, is a hook of the type in question, in which the cable is accommodated in a passage having a constriction designed to define a stop for stopping the end of the cable, the latter being enlarged for the purpose. This enlargement of the cable results in particular from the bending back of the end of said cable on itself, this bending being maintained or preserved by crimping by means of a metal clip, such as a steel ring crushed after crimping. Here also, it is clear that while the mechanical strength offered by this assembly method is capable of meeting the tensile strength requirements previously described, so that a nominal tensile load is unlikely to extract the cable from the hook, on the other hand, the production of the enlarged end of the cable demands a meticulous operation, relatively lengthy to carry out, and therefore time-consuming and hence incurring additional costs.
Document FR-2 881 488 proposes a hook of the type in question, in which the cable is fastened to the hook by means of a clip provided with two branches which cooperate with the cable at the bore with which the hook is provided. While this fastening method is also likely to provide the nominal tensile strength, on the other hand, it presupposes the preparation of through orifices in the actual hook, thereby entailing an additional step for the production of the cable in question.
The invention proposes a hook of the type in question, that is both simple to use, easy to fabricate, having sufficient mechanical strength, and whose fabrication does not consume an excessive length of time that is liable to affect its production cost.
This fastening hook, designed to be mounted at the end of a cable, in particular an elastic cable, includes an insert defining a bore into which said end of the cable is introduced. This end is traversed by a pin above the bore defined within the insert thereby defined. The assembly thereby constituted is overmolded in a synthetic material and in particular a plastic, typically polypropylene, polyoxymethylene or polyacetal (POM) or polyamide.
In other words, the invention consists in joining the end of the cable to an insert by a simple pin, and then in overmolding the assembly in a synthetic material, the assembly thereby becoming completely embedded in the synthetic overmolding material, moreover conferring the final shape on the hook.
According to an advantageous feature of the invention, this insert is metallic.
According to another feature of the invention, the insert is curved in such a way that during the overmolding, it substantially matches the shape of the hook, but with the exception that its base is thicker.
The invention also relates to a cable, elastic or not, whereof at least one of the ends comprises a hook as previously described.
The manner in which the invention can be implemented and the advantages thereof will appear clearly from the illustrative but non limiting embodiment that follows, in conjunction with the appended figures.
According to the invention, the hook first comprises an insert 1, typically metallic, adopting the general shape of the hook and in particular a conventional curved shape.
The base 2 of the insert 1 extends along a substantially perpendicular plane to the rest of the hook. This base 2, which is substantially circular, defines a bore 3, designed to accommodate the end 5 of a cable 4, particularly an elastic cable.
The end 5 is secured at this level by the insertion of a pin 6, for example a metallic pin, projecting on either side of the end 5 in order to rest after insertion on the upper surface of the of the base 2 near the bore 3 of the insert 1.
This makes it clear that there is no need to proceed with any enlargement of the end 5 of the cable 4 to permit its positioning and retention at this level.
The assembly thereby constituted, that is the insert 1 plus the cable end 5 and the pin 6, then undergoes an overmolding step in an appropriate mold, to confer its final shape on the hook. This overmolding is carried out with plastic and in particular with polypropylene, polyoxymethylene or polyacetal (POM) or polyamide.
It is thus observed, for example in
This demonstrates the advantage of the hook according to the invention, primarily due to its simplicity of assembly, and also due to the enhanced securement of the joining method, which eliminates any risk of accidental escape of the end 5 of the cable 4 from the hook.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0758872 | Nov 2007 | FR | national |
