Patent Application
20240417213
The present disclosure relates to the technical field of lacing systems, and particularly, to a novel lacing device and an anti-reverse mechanism thereof.
At present, most lacing devices on the market use a housing ratchet-elastic pawl structure to achieve unidirectional rotation control. This structure prevents reverse rotation based on the mechanism thereof preventing material buckling. Once a pawl arm buckles, the structure fails. Other anti-reverse mechanisms either have the problem of hard and laborious use, or the problem of poor anti-reverse capability.
Therefore, there is an urgent need for a lacing device with a novel anti-reverse mechanism, which not only has excellent usability, but also has excellent anti-reverse reliability.
The present disclosure provides a novel lacing device and an anti-reverse mechanism thereof, which uses a “swing arm elastic component-stop piece-gap” mechanism as the anti-reverse mechanism, wherein a swing arm head of the swing arm elastic component and an anti-reverse head of the stop piece form a self-locking force, so as to enhance the anti-reverse reliability of the lacing device.
A lacing device includes a rotatable cover, a spool and a housing, the rotatable cover being rotatably set on the housing, the spool being supported by the housing and rotatable relative to the housing, wherein
In the present disclosure, at least one gap is arranged along a circumference, which is referred to as “gap circumference” hereafter.
The deviation includes deflection, swing or bending, and the deviation movement causes the swing arm head to be no longer in the original position but to be inclined or bent to a certain degree.
According to the kinematic pair theory, a motion pair that is locked by means of pushing force, gravity, spring force, gas-liquid pressure, etc. is called force-locking pair. In this disclosure, when the neck joint portion is in contact with at least a part of the anti-reverse head, the tooth portion of the swing arm head cooperate with the gap in a force-locking manner. When the neck joint portion is in contact with the anti-reverse head, a pushing force is applied to the neck joint portion of the swing arm head by the anti-reverse head, and a force applied to the gap of the rotatable cover is also a pushing force. Therefore, the tooth portion of the swing arm head and the gap of the rotatable cover form locking by force and remain engaged under the action of the two pushing forces. At the same time, when the neck joint portion is in contact with at least a part of the anti-reverse head, the neck joint portion of the swing arm head is also in contact with the anti-reverse head of the stop piece in a force-locking manner. The anti-reverse head is a stationary member. When the biasing force, which is applied on the tooth portion of the swing arm head by the gap of the rotatable cover, is transmitted to the neck joint portion, the neck joint portion maintains contact with the anti-reverse head under the action of the biasing force, thereby forming locking by force.
In some embodiments, when the neck joint portion is in contact with at least a part of the anti-reverse head, a force applied onto the neck joint portion by the anti-reverse head has a component force that causes the tooth portion of the swing arm head to abut against the gap. The component force that causes the tooth portion of the swing arm head to abut against the gap includes a component force that causes the tooth tip of the tooth portion of the swing arm head to move towards the vertex of the gap, as well as the component force that causes the tooth portion to abut against the sidewall of the gap. Furthermore, when the vertex of the at least one gap is set along a circumference, the component force that causes the tooth portion to abut against the gap is a radial outward (upward) force passing through the contact point between the anti-reverse head and the neck joint portion along the gap circumference. This component force provides a self-locking force for the force locking between the tooth portion of the swing arm head and the gap, ensuring that they remain engaged at all times.
In some embodiments, the rotatable cover is provided with teeth ring, and grooves between the teeth form the at least one gap. Furthermore, the teeth ring is formed by sloping teeth. In this disclosure, the gap between neighboring teeth of the sloping teeth ring is asymmetric, triangle-shaped. That is, two side walls of the gap have different lengths.
In some embodiments, when the at least one swing arm elastic component is at the original position, the tip of the tooth portion of the at least one swing arm head is arranged along the same circumference, which is referred to as “tooth circumference” hereafter. The “gap circumference” and the “tooth circumference” are concentric circles.
In this disclosure, the neck joint portion of the swinging arm head may also be referred to as “the neck joint portion”; the tooth portion of the swing arm head may be referred to as “tooth portion”.
In some embodiments, a surface of the anti-reverse head adjacent to the neck joint portion is configured as a first facing surface, the first facing surface comprises a self-locking support surface, and wherein the self-locking support surface is configured as a single shaped surface and the single shaped surface comprises an inclined plane, a concave surface or a convex surface.
In some embodiments, the self-locking support surface is configured as an irregular surface formed by a combination of at least two of the single shaped surfaces. The irregular surface formed by a combination of at least two of the single shaped surfaces includes: an irregular surface consisted of inclined planes with different inclinations, an irregular surface consisted of concave surfaces with different curvatures, an irregular surface consisted of convex surfaces with different curvatures, an irregular surface consisted of an inclined plane and a concave surface, an irregular surface consisted of an inclined plane and a convex surface, an irregular surface consisted of concave surfaces with the same curvature, an irregular surface consisted of convex surfaces with the same curvature, an irregular surface consisted of an inclined plane, a concave surface and a convex surface, and etc.
The self-locking support surface is configured that: when the neck joint portion is in contact with any point of the self-locking support surface, the force applied by the self-locking support surface to the neck joint portion at this contact point is either perpendicular to the radial direction of the gap circumference passing through the contact point, or has a component force in a radial and outward direction of the gap circumference passing through the contact point. Under the action of this force, the engagement tooth of the engagement head can always remain engaged in the gap, thereby achieving anti-reverse self-locking function. It should be noted that all points on the self-locking support surface may serve as the contact point for providing self-locking force, but not all points on the self-locking support surface are actual contact points. Only the contact point between the neck joint portion and the self-locking support surface is the actual contact point. That is to say, the actual contact point must be a point on the self-locking support surface, but the point on the self-locking support surface may not be the actual contact point.
In some embodiments, when the self-locking support surface is an inclined plane, the projection of the inclined plane on the plane where the tooth circumference is located is an inclined line segment, which includes at least one critical point. A radial direction of a circumference passing through the critical point is the critical radial direction. The inclined line segment is collinear with the critical radial direction, or the inclined line segment intersects with the critical radial direction at the critical point and the inclined line segment is located at a side of the critical radial direction in the loosening direction.
A method for determining the critical radial direction when the self-locking support surface is an inclined plane is that: the radial direction of the tooth circumference passing through any other point on the inclined line segment is located at a side of the critical radial direction in the loosening direction.
In this disclosure, when determining “line A is located at a side of line B in the loosening direction”, a portion of the line A, above the intersection point of line A and line B and extending radially and outwardly of the tooth circumference, is taken as the criterion for judgment, wherein the radially outward portion refers to the portion outside the tooth circumference where the intersection point is located. If the portion of line A is located at a side of a corresponding portion of line B in the loosening direction, it is considered that “line A is located at a side of line B in the loosening direction. In this disclosure, the same method is used to determine the relative direction of two tangents and the relative direction between the tangent and the radial direction. Similarly, the same criteria and method are used to determine that “line A is located at a side of line B in the tensioning direction”. The relative position relationship between two radial directions can be directly determined by the clockwise or counterclockwise relative position relationship between the two radii.
In some embodiments, when the self-locking support surface is concave surface or convex surface, the projection of the concave surface or convex surface on the plane where the circumference is located is an arc-shaped line segment, which includes a critical point. The tangent of any other point on the arc-shaped line segment is located at a side of the tangent of the critical point in the loosening direction. The radial direction of the circumference passing through the critical point is the critical radial direction, and the tangent of any point of the curved line segment is collinear with the critical radial direction or located at a side of the critical radial direction in the loosening direction.
In some embodiments, the self-locking support surface may be an irregular surface consisted of any two or more of an inclined plane, a concave surface, and a convex surface that meet the above conditions.
The surface contact means that a combination of contact points forms a continuous surface. The linear contact means that a combination of contact points forms a line, which is straight or curved. The point contact means that there is one or multiple contact points which are independent of each other.
The term “in a manner of shape-fitting” means that two surfaces that are in contact are complement in shapes and fit tightly together. For example, the fitting of flat surface and flat surface, or the fitting of concave surface and convex surface.
In some embodiments, the self-locking support surface is configured as a first inclined plane, and the self-locking cooperating surface is configured as a second inclined plane or convex surface.
In some embodiments, when the neck joint portion is in contact with the anti-reverse head, the first inclined plane and the second inclined plane are parallel. At this point, the first inclined plane and the second inclined plane are in contact with each other. When forming surface contact, the force applied by the anti-reverse head to the neck joint portion is the greatest, this can prevent the tooth portion from disengaging from the gap to the greatest extent possible.
In some embodiments, the self-locking support surface is configured as a convex surface, and correspondingly the self-locking cooperating surface is configured as a concave or inclined plane.
In some embodiments, the self-locking support surface is configured as a concave surface, and correspondingly the self-locking cooperating surface is configured as a convex or inclined plane.
In some embodiments, the anti-reverse head of the stop piece is wedge-shaped.
In some embodiments, a slope surface of the anti-reverse head of the stop piece is adjacent to the neck joint portion of the swing arm head, and the top of the slope surface is deviated relative to the foot of the slope surface towards a side of the anti-reverse head in the loosening direction.
In some embodiments, the swing arm head includes one tooth portion or multiple tooth portions.
In some embodiments, each swing arm head includes two tooth portions. Compared with the swing arm head with one tooth portion, the anti-reverse effect of the swing arm head with two tooth portions is more excellent.
In some embodiments, the tooth portion and neck joint portion of the swing arm head are integrally formed.
In some embodiments, the stop piece is integrally formed with the housing or fixedly connected to the housing.
In some embodiments, the stop piece and the swing arm elastic component are arranged in one-to-one correspondence and separated.
In some embodiments, the elastic component is an elastic base or an elastic arm.
In some embodiments, the swing arm elastic component is fixed to the housing via the elastic component.
In some embodiments, the elastic component is connected to the neck joint portion of the swing arm head directly or indirectly.
In some embodiments, a swing arm beam or a tail of the swing arm head is provided between the elastic component and the neck joint portion of the swing arm head.
In some embodiments, the anti-reverse head further includes a base portion, and the base portion of the anti-reverse head is correspondingly arranged with the swing arm beam or the tail of the swing arm head.
In some embodiments, a plurality of swing arm elastic components is provided and fixed on the housing, and wherein each of the plurality of swing arm elastic components is formed separately and then connected to the housing; or the plurality of swing arm elastic components are integrally formed as one piece and then connected to the housing.
In some embodiments, the elastic component is an elastic arm, a first end of the elastic arm is connected to the swing arm, and a second end of the elastic arm is connected to the housing.
In some embodiments, the elastic component is an elastic arm, a first end of the elastic arm is connected to the tail of the swing arm head, and the base portion of the anti-reverse head is correspondingly arranged with the tail of the swing arm head.
In some embodiments, the first end of the elastic arm is connected to the swing arm head, the second end of the elastic arm is connected to a central ring, and the at least one swing arm elastic component is connected to the housing through the central ring.
In some embodiments, the elastic component is an elastic base, the elastic base is connected to the swing arm beam, and the base portion of the anti-reverse head is correspondingly arranged with the swing arm beam.
In some embodiments, the elastic component is an elastic base, the elastic base is connected to form an elastic ring base, and the swing arm of the at least one swing arm elastic component and the elastic ring base cooperatively form a stretchable swing arm ring which is fixedly connected to the housing through the elastic ring base.
In some embodiments, a plurality of swing arm elastic components with the elastic arms forms an anti-reverse teeth ring.
In some embodiments, a plurality of swing arm elastic components with the elastic bases forms a stretchable swing arm ring.
In some embodiments, the stop piece further comprises a stop beam, and the anti-reverse head and the stop beam are formed integrally, or the anti-reverse head and the stop beam are formed separately and then arranged at intervals.
In some embodiments, the stop beam is adjacent to at least a part of the elastic arm, and a main extending direction of the at least a part of the stop beam and a main extending direction of at least a part of the elastic arm are configured as equidistant curves.
A curve on which the normal distance of each point on a given curve is equal everywhere is called an equidistant curve. That is, the normal distance between a main extending curve of at least a portion of the stop beam and a main extending direction of the elastic arm is equal everywhere.
The external force in the loosening direction causes the sidewall of the gap to bias the swing arm head to deviate towards a side in the loosening direction, resulting in that the swing arm head is in contact with at least a part of the anti-reverse head of the stop piece. The term “the sidewall of the gap to bias the swing arm head” means that the action point of the force applied on the swing arm head is deviated from an axis of the swing arm head, causing the swing arm head to be both compressed and bent.
In this disclosure, the term “main extending direction” refers to the extending direction or trend of the majority of the projected points of the object on a plane where the tooth circumference or gap circumference is located, allowing for small deformations and protrusions in the middle, but the overall extending direction remains unchanged. For example, the main extending direction of a rectangle is the length direction. It can be understood that the main extending direction of the elastic arm is generally the long axis direction of the elastic arm.
In some embodiments, the main extending direction of the elastic arm is consistent with a circumferential direction of a circumference parallel to a circumference along which the gap is arranged, and the main extending direction of the elastic arm intersects with a centralline or equivalent centralline of the neck joint portion at an angle β, and 30°≤β≤150°.
In some embodiments, the main extending direction of the elastic arm is consistent with a circumferential direction of a circumference parallel to a circumference along which the gap is arranged, and the main extending direction of the elastic arm intersects with a centralline or equivalent centralline of the neck joint portion at an angle β, and 45°≤β≤135°.
In some embodiments, the main extending direction of the elastic arm is consistent with a circumferential direction of a circumference parallel to a circumference along which the gap is arranged, and the main extending direction of the elastic arm intersects with a centralline or equivalent centralline of the neck joint portion at an angle β, and 60°≤β≤120°.
In some embodiments, the main extending direction of the elastic arm is consistent with a circumferential direction of a circumference parallel to a circumference along which the gap is arranged, and the main extending direction of the elastic arm intersects with a centralline or equivalent centralline of the neck joint portion at an angle β, and 80°≤β≤110°.
The midline of the neck joint portion is defined as the line connecting the midpoint of the upper and lower contour lines of a regular-shaped neck joint portion. The upper contour line of the neck joint portion refers to a contour line of the tooth root, and the lower contour line passes through a connection point between the neck joint portion and the elastic arm and is parallel to the upper contour line. When the neck joint portion is generally symmetrical, a line connecting midpoints of the upper and lower contour lines may be taken as the midline of the neck joint portion. When neck joint portion is asymmetric, an equivalent midline may be taken as the midline of the neck joint portion. The so-called equivalent midline refers to a midline of the neck joint portion corresponding to the first tooth portion. The first tooth portion refers to a tooth portion closest to the anti-reverse head, and the neck joint portion corresponding to the first tooth portion refers to a part of the neck joint portion near the anti-reverse head after dividing the neck joint portion along the extension line of the second side wall of the first tooth portion. Then, the equivalent midline can be obtained according to the definition of the midline of the neck joint portion described above. The second side wall of the tooth portion refers to a side wall of the tooth portion subjected to the external force in the loosening direction. If the main extending direction of the elastic arm is curved, the angle β refers to an angle between the tangent at the intersection of the main extending direction curve and the midline/equivalent midline and the midline/equivalent midline.
The main extending direction of the elastic arm forms an angle with the midline/equivalent midline of the neck joint portion. Therefore, the force transmitted to the elastic arm through the swing arm head is a biasing force, which forces the elastic arm to generate elastic deformation. When the external force is removed, the elastic arm can return to its initial state. Especially, when the main extending direction of the elastic arm intersects with the midline/equivalent midline of the neck joint portion at a right angle or substantially at a right angle, regardless of whether the external force applied on the rotatable cover is in the tightening direction or loosening direction, the external force applied by the rotatable cover to the swing arm head through the gap of the teeth ring is a biasing force, and a component force of the biasing force that causes the neck joint portion to deviate or causes the elastic arm to bend and deform is generally the same. Therefore, when the gap of the teeth ring and the tooth portion of the swing arm head are shaped symmetrically, the ability of the swing arm head to deviate relative to its original position in the tightening direction or loosening direction is generally the same. Even if the gap of the teeth ring and the tooth portion of the swing arm head are shaped to be asymmetrical, a difference of the biasing force applied to the swing arm head by the two side walls of the gap is not particularly large. In this situation, if there is no stop piece or anti-reverse head, the “swing arm elastic component-gap” mechanism does not have anti-reverse effect.
In some embodiments, when the gap is subjected to the external force in the loosening direction, the stop piece is located at a side of the swing arm head in the loosening direction, and a side of the swing arm head away from the stop piece is a side in the tightening direction.
In some embodiments, when the swing arm head is subjected to the external force in the loosening direction, the stop piece is located at a side of the swing arm head in the tightening direction, and a side of the swing arm head away from the stop piece is a side in the loosening direction.
The second side wall coincides with the radius or is within a 10° angle range, so that the force applied by the second side wall to the tooth portion has a radially outward component, which constitutes a self-locking force that urges the tooth portion of the swing arm to abut against the gap upwards.
Preferably, the gaps may be a circumferential gap or a segmented gap.
Preferably, the gap and the swing arm may be engaged and separated in the axial direction through a mode switcher. The engagement or separation of the gap and the swing arm head in the radial direction is realized by the deviation displacement of the swing arm. The engagement and separation of the gap and the swing arm in the axial direction is a basis for the engagement and separation of the gap and the swing arm in the radial direction. The axial engagement means that the gap and the swing arm are co-located on the same plane. In the present disclosure, when the gap is axially engaged with the swing arm, the circumference of the swing arm is concentric with the circumference of the gap. A mode switcher can provide at least two modes. For example, pressing down the rotatable cover generates a first mode, and the gap is engaged with the tooth portion of the swing arm head. Pulling up the rotatable cover generates a second mode, and the gap is axially separated from the tooth portion of the swing arm head.
Specifically, when the rotatable cover is pressed down, the rotatable cover is matched and coupled with the spool, the gap of the rotatable cover is engaged with the tooth portion of the swing arm head of the housing, and the lacing system is in the first mode at this time. When the rotatable cover is rotated in the tensioning direction, the lace is wound on the spool in the tensioning direction. In this mode, the tooth portion of the swing arm head can only move in one direction due to the restraint of the stop piece, and the rotatable cover cannot be reversed, so as to realize the function of tensioning the lace and preventing loosening.
When the rotatable cover is pulled up, the rotatable cover is disengaged from the spool, the swing arm head is axially separated from the gap, the two are no longer coplanar, and the swing arm is no longer constrained by the stop piece. At this time, both the rotatable cover and the spool can rotate freely clockwise or counterclockwise, so as to automatically loosen the lace.
Preferably, the housing may be directly fixed on an item to be laced. The items to be laced include shoes, clothes, hats, and bags.
Preferably, the lacing device may further include a base. The housing may be fixed on the base. The base may be fixed on the item to be laced.
Preferably, the spool may be integrally formed with the rotatable cover, or fixedly or detachably coupled to the rotatable cover. When the spool is coupled to the rotatable cover, the rotation of the rotatable cover will drive the spool to rotate.
The present disclosure provides a novel lacing device based on a swing arm-stop piece-gap anti-reverse mechanism. The swing arm and the stop piece are located on the housing. The gap is located on the rotatable cover. The rotatable cover is rotatable relative to the housing, that is, the gap is rotatable relative to the swing arm. However, the swing arm is also rotatable relative to the gap. In this case, it is only necessary to arrange the swing arm and the stop piece on the rotatable cover, and arrange the gap on the housing to realize the lacing function.
The present disclosure further provides a lacing device including a rotatable cover, a spool and a housing, the rotatable cover being rotatably set on the housing, the winding spool being supported by the housing and rotatable relative to the housing, wherein
The present disclosure further provides an anti-reverse mechanism for a lacing device, the lacing device having a tightening direction and a loosening direction, wherein the anti-reverse mechanism includes:
In some embodiments, when the gap is subjected to the external force in the loosening direction, the stop piece is located at a side of the swing arm head in the loosening direction, and a side of the swing arm head away from the stop piece is a side in the tightening direction.
In some embodiments, when the swing arm head is subjected to the external force in the loosening direction, the stop piece is located at a side of the swing arm head in the tightening direction, and a side of the swing arm head away from the stop piece is a side in the loosening direction.
In some embodiments, the gap comprises an open end, and the open end comprises two end points;
In some embodiments, the tooth portion is an asymmetric tooth, and matches with the gap by shape-fitting.
In some embodiments, when the neck joint portion is in contact with at least a part of the anti-reverse head, a force applied onto the neck joint portion by the anti-reverse head has a component force that causes the tooth portion of the swing arm head to abut against the gap.
When the stop piece and the swing arm elastic component are located on the same member, it can be ensured that the stop piece and the swing arm elastic component rotate along with this member. When this member is stationary, the stop piece and the swing arm elastic component can also be relatively stationary (excluding deviating motion, bending deformation, etc. of the swing arm elastic component).
The beneficial effects of the present disclosure include the following aspects:
1. The novel anti-reverse mechanism based on “swing arm elastic component-stop piece-gap” is provided, and is applied to the lacing device, which enriches the types of lacing devices and increases the variety of user choices;
2. The ingenious design and cooperation of the anti-reverse head of the stop piece and the neck joint portion of the swing arm head make the rotatable cover form reverse self-locking under the action of the external force in the loosening direction, which further enhances the anti-reverse performance of the anti-reverse mechanism;
3. The self-locking between the anti-reverse head of the stop piece and the neck joint portion of the swing arm head and the self-locking between the tooth portion of the swing arm head and the side wall of the gap constitute a double self-locking effect under the external force in the loosening direction, which greatly enhances the anti-reverse performance of the lacing device. Such design is ingenious and the anti-reverse effect is remarkable.
4. With the deformation ability of the elastic member in the swing arm elastic component, the lacing device has labor-saving operation and excellent hand feeling when tensioning the lace.
The present disclosure will be further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments, in which the same or similar reference numerals represent the same or similar components or components with the same or similar functions throughout. The embodiments described below with reference to the accompanying drawings are exemplary, and are only used to explain the present disclosure but should not be construed as a limitation to the present disclosure.
It should be understood that the terms “upper”, “lower”, “left”, “right”, “front”, “rear”, “length”, “width”, “horizontal”, “vertical”, “top”, “bottom”, “inside”, and “outside” used in the expressions of the present disclosure to indicate an orientation or positional relationship are all based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the accompanying drawings, which are intended to facilitate the description of the present disclosure and simplify the description, and cannot be understood as a limitation that the referred device or component must have a specific orientation or a specific positional relationship.
In addition, the terms “first” and “second” are only used for the purpose of discriminative description, and have no connotation of relative importance, nor do they indicate or imply the number of technical features. Thus, a feature defined with “first” or “second” may expressly or implicitly that there are one or more features including that feature. In the description of the present disclosure, “a plurality of” means two or more, unless otherwise specifically defined.
Unless otherwise specified, terms such as “connection” and “fixed” in the present disclosure should be understood in a broad sense, for example, it may be a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral forming; it may be a direct connection, or an indirect connection through an intermediate medium. Those of ordinary skill in the art may understand specific meanings of the foregoing terms in the present disclosure based on a specific situation.
A novel unidirectional anti-reverse mechanism based on the swing arm-stop piece-gap and a novel lacing device including the same in the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.
As shown in 1, a novel lacing device includes a base 1, a spool component A, a housing 4, a retractable swing arm ring 5, and a rotatable cover 6. The base 1 may be fixedly arranged on the upper, tongue, clothes, hats, or bags. A top end face of the housing 4 is fixedly connected to the swing arm ring 5 through a snap structure 42. The spool component A includes an elastic stop pin 2 and a spool 3. For the structure of the spool component A and a connection method with the rotatable cover 6, reference may be made to the content of the patent document CN202121933315.3.
As shown in
When the lacing device is assembled, the end face of the annular platform 43 of the housing 4 and the snap of the retractable swing arm ring 5 are fixed, and then the rotatable cover 6 is fixed with the engaging teeth and then pressed and buckled on the housing 4. Then, the spool component A is loaded into the housing 4 from the bottom of the housing 4 (the housing 4 has an inner cavity). One end of the elastic stop pin passes through a central through hole of the housing 4. Finally, the lace is threaded, and the housing 4 is fixed with the base 1, and the lacing device is assembled.
When the lacing device is in use, the rotatable cover 6 is pressed down hard, and a “click” sound can be heard, such that the engaging teeth on the rotatable cover 6 is meshed with the engaging teeth on the spool 3, and the rotatable cover 6 can rotate to drive the spool 3 to rotate together at this time. The rotatable cover 6 is rotated in the tensioning direction, and a crisp “click” sound can be heard. At this time, the tooth portion 5211 of the swing arm head is engaged with the gap on the rotatable cover, and the engaging teeth on the rotatable cover and the end face of the spool are meshed. The rotatable cover 6 drives the spool 3 to rotate in the tensioning direction, and the lace is wound in the channel of the spool 3 round by round. The item to be laced is slowly tensioned by the lace until tightness is suitable. If the lace is too tight, the rotatable cover 6 can be pulled up, and the engaging teeth on the rotatable cover and the end face of the spool are disengaged. At this time, the tight lace will reverse the spool to loosen the item. Then the rotatable cover 6 is pressed down, the previous tensioning action is repeated, and the tightness of the item to be laced is adjusted to a suitable level.
With reference to
In combination with
On the other hand, a straight line BL2 of the second side walls of any two adjacent gaps and radii R1/R2 corresponding to their respective second end points DD2 have an included angle θ=10° separately. Therefore, the biasing force F2 applied by the second side wall BL2 of the gap to the swing arm tooth will have an upward radial component force F22 in the direction of the radius R1 or R2 where the second end point DD2 is located. The upward radial component force also makes the swing arm tooth push against the side wall of the gap to form a second self-locking force for engagement of the swing arm tooth with the gap of the rotatable cover. In this way, the double self-locking forces and the reverse swing limit are integrated, which greatly enhances the anti-reverse performance of the lacing device. A single stop piece can achieve an anti-reverse effect superior than that of the structure with two stop pieces corresponding to one swing arm. The design is ingenious and the anti-reverse effect is remarkable.
In the comparative example of the swing arm-stop piece-gap mechanism shown in
When the rotatable cover is rotated in counterclockwise direction, the second side wall BL2 of the gap 6512 applies an extrusion force to the second tooth wall TS2′ of the swing arm tooth 5212′. Although the extrusion force has a radially outward component force, this component force is very small, most of which are circumferential component forces. When the applied external force in the loosening direction is small, the swing arm cannot move away from the gap due to the obstruction of the stop piece 44′, so the rotatable cover cannot rotate in the clockwise direction. With reference to
In other preferred embodiments, the swing arm head may only include one tooth portion 5211′, as shown in
In other preferred embodiments, the counterclockwise direction can also be set as the direction of tensioning the lace, and the clockwise direction can be set as the direction of loosening the lacing. At this time, the stop piece should prevent the swing arm from swinging in the clockwise direction. Therefore, it is necessary to reasonably arrange the arrangement position of the stop piece according to the actual situation.
The structure of the present embodiment is basically the same as that of Embodiment 1. The only difference is that the arrangement positions of the swing arm-stop piece and the gap are exchanged, that is, in the present embodiment, a swing arm X52-stop piece X44 mechanism is arranged on the rotatable cover, and the gaps K6511 and K6512 are arranged on the housing. In actual use, the swing arm X52-stop piece X44 mechanism rotates with the rotatable cover. The gaps K6511 and K6512 are stationary, and the side walls of the gaps K6511 and K6512 generate resistance to the movement of the swing arm tooth, which makes the swing arm bend and deform to swing and give way. As shown in
The difference between the present embodiment and Embodiment 1 is that in the present embodiment, the rotatable direction of the rotatable cover is opposite to that of the swing arm, while in Embodiment 1, the direction in which the swing arm can swing and give way is the same as the rotatable direction of the rotatable cover. The reason for this difference is related to which of the gap and the swing arm is arranged on the driving part, because the force forcing the lateral deviation of the swing arm comes from the pressure of the side wall of the gap on the swing arm tooth. When the gap is arranged on the driving part, the pressure is basically the same as the applied external force, so the deviation direction of the swing arm is the same as the rotatable direction. When the swing arm is arranged on the driving part, the pressure is a reverse force, so the deviation direction of the swing arm is opposite to the rotatable direction.
The descriptions of the first side and the second side of the swing arm and the gap in the present disclosure are consistent. The orientation is based on the assembled state of the rotatable cover and the housing. In other words, the orientation of the actual use state of the swing arm-gap structure is used as the reference. The first side of the gap corresponds to the first side of the swing arm, and the second side of the gap corresponds to the second side of the swing arm. For example: if the left side of the swing arm is identified as the first side, the right side of the swing arm can be identified as the second side.
In other preferred embodiments, three retractable swing arms can also be arranged at intervals, and each retractable swing arm is individually fixed to the housing or the rotatable cover. An excellent anti-reverse effect can also be achieved.
As shown in
In this embodiment, the position of the stop pin is different from that in the first embodiment. In the first embodiment, the elastic stop pin 2 is set on the end face of the spool 3. In this embodiment, as shown in
In the following description, the analysis of rotating the rotatable cover in the tightening direction and loosening direction is based on the state where the position of the stop pin relative to the retaining ring is at the first position. Furthermore, the spool structure of this disclosure is not limited to the structures disclosed in the first and third embodiments and the mode switcher of this disclosure is not limited to the stop pin-retaining ring structures disclosed in the first and third embodiments. In addition, a position of the mode switcher should not be limited to the specific positions disclosed in the first and third embodiments as long as it can cooperate with relevant components to achieve the mode switching function. Other mode switcher capable of realizing the mode switching function is also applicable to present disclosure, and other spool structures capable of realizing the lacing take-up function are also applicable to the lacing device of the present disclosure. Or, other combined structures of spool and mode switcher capable of realizing the mode switching function and the lacing take-up function are also applicable to the lacing device of the present disclosure.
As shown in
The housing 30 is provided with a stop piece 31, which includes a stop beam 311 and an anti-reverse head 312. In this embodiment, the housing 30 is provided with three stop pieces 31, which are integrally formed with the housing 30 as one piece. The three stop pieces 31 and the three swing arm elastic components 21 are correspondingly arranged one by one. The anti-reverse head 312 and the stop beam 311 are integral structure, wherein the stop beam 311 is set to be adjacent to at least a part of the elastic arm 213. A main extending direction of the stop beam 311 LZ1 and a main extending direction of the elastic arm 213 LZ2 form equidistant curve (please referring to
As shown in the figure, in this embodiment, each swing arm head includes two tooth portions 2111, 2112. Each tooth portion 2111, 2112 may be shaped to engage into or disengage from the gap 12 (gaps 121, 122) of the rotatable cover 10 (as shown in
A first end of the elastic arm 213 is connected to the swing arm head, and a second end of the elastic arm 213 is connected to the housing 30 through the central ring 22. The stop piece 31 is located at a side of the swing arm head in the counterclockwise direction. As shown in the figure, in this embodiment, the loosening direction of the lacing device is counterclockwise direction. The anti-reverse head 312 of the stop piece 31 is adjacent to the neck joint portion 212, wherein a surface of the anti-reverse head 312 adjacent to the neck joint portion 212 is defines as a first facing surface NS1, and a surface of the neck joint portion 212 adjacent to the anti-reverse head is defines as a second facing surface NS2 (please referring to
When the lacing device is assembled, firstly, an end face of an annular platform of the housing 30 and the anti-reverse teeth ring 20 are fixed by snap-fitting; then, the rotatable cover 10 is pressed and buckled on the housing 30; then, the spool 40 is mounted into the housing 30, wherein the housing 30 has an inner cavity; and finally the lace is threaded and the housing 4 is fixed with the base 50, thereby finishing the assembly of the lacing device. The method of wearing the lace and the structure of the lacing device for coupling the lace may refer to patents CN202211616513.6 and CN202321495677.8. The adjustment process for tightening or loosening the lacing device is the same as that of the first embodiment.
As shown in
When the rotatable cover 10 is rotated in clockwise direction, the gaps 121, 122 are subjected to a clockwise rotating force. As the rotating force continues to be applied, the first side walls C1, C2 of the gaps 121, 122 compress the first side walls B1, B2 of the tooth portions 2111, 2112 of the swing arm elastic components 21, respectively, forcing the elastic arm 213 and the tooth portions 2111, 2112 to be deviated to give way in the direction of an extrusion force. Specifically, a direction of the extrusion force is perpendicular to the first side wall B1, B2, being radially and inwardly.
Such extrusion force includes a circumferential component force in clockwise direction and a radial component force along a radial and inward direction of the gap circumference. Therefore, under the action of the extrusion force, the swing arm elastic component 21 is deviated not only circumferentially in clockwise, but also radially and inwardly along the radial direction of the gap circumference, so as to reach position A2. The radial component force along the radial and inward direction of the gap circumference is transmitted to the elastic arm 213 through the swing arm head, which forces the elastic arm to move radially and inwardly, and in turn drives the swing arm head to generate radial displacement. The elasticity of the elastic arm 213 makes the displacement of the swing arm head smoother, and the stop piece 31 does not block the displacement of the swing arm elastic component 21 in the radial and circumferential directions. The first side walls B1, B2 of the tooth portions 2111, 2112 of the swing arm head slide along the first side walls C1, C2 of the gaps 121, 122, respectively.
As the rotating force continues to be applied, the tooth portions 2111, 2112 slide along the first side walls C1, C2 of the gaps 121, 122 to first end points DD1, DD2 of the gaps 121, 122, respectively, reaching position A3, as shown in the figure. At this time, the tooth portions 2111, 2112 are deviated to give away to the maximum extent and reach a critical position, which is unstable. Under the restoring elastic force of the elastic arm 213, the tooth portions 2111, 2112 are driven to be engaged into next gaps 120, 121 quickly, reaching a re-engagement position A4. At this time, the gap 12 is advanced one step in the clockwise direction. By means of repeating the previous tensioning action, rotation of the rotatable cover 10 and the spool 40 round and round may be achieved.
As shown in
The radial component force f1 causes the tooth portions 2111, 2112 to be engaged into the gaps 121, 122 of the rotatable cover 10. The outward, radial component force f1 makes the tooth portions 2111, 2112 abut against the side walls C3, C4 of the gaps 121, 122, respectively, forming a first self-locking force to maintain engagement of the tooth portions 2111, 2112 with the gaps 121, 122 of the rotatable cover 10.
On the other hand, under the action of the circumferential component force f2, the tooth portions 2111, 2112 is deviated in the counterclockwise direction until the neck joint portion 212 of the swing arm head abuts against the anti-reverse head 312 of the stop piece 31. The first facing surface NS1 is parallel to the second facing surface NS2, and the first facing surface NS1 and the second facing surface NS2 are in surface contact. When the first facing surface NS1 is in contact with the second facing surface NS2, the first facing surface NS1 applies an extrusion force F2 onto the neck joint portion 212, which forms a second self-locking force to maintain engagement of the swing arm head and the gaps 121, 122 of the rotatable cover 10.
A combined action of the extrusion force F2 and the biasing force F1 causes the swing arm head to abut against the gaps 121, 122 of the rotatable cover 10 radially and outwardly. As shown in
As shown in the figure, a top view of the self-locking support surface 313 (a projection on a plane where the tooth circumference is located) is an inclined line segment, which is collinear with a radial line R0 of a circumference passing through an end point of the inclined line segment. Therefore, in this embodiment, the force F2 applied to the neck joint portion by the self-locking support surface is perpendicular to the self-locking support surface and points towards the neck joint portion. Although there is no outward, radial component in such force, it may also prevent the tooth portion from disengaging from the gap. After all, there is no inward, radial component that causes the tooth portion to have a tendency to disengage from the gap, making the engagement of tooth portion and the gap have a stable tendency.
Referring also to
Due to the reaction force of the elastic arm 213 onto the swing arm head, it can prevent further deviation to give way of the swing arm head, making the swing arm head be engaged with the gap of the teeth ring stably. In this way, double self-locking forces and excessive deformation limit to the elastic arm by the stop beam are integrated, which greatly enhances the anti-reverse performance of the lacing device. An anti-reverse effect, under a large loosening force, can be achieved by a single stop piece. Such design is ingenious and the anti-reverse effect is remarkable.
In this embodiment, the first facing surface may serve as the self-locking support surface. The term “radial direction” in the radial component force of the biasing force F1 applied on each tooth 2111, 2112 corresponds to the radial direction passing through the acting point of the force on each tooth 2111, 2112. The term “radial direction” in the radial component force of the extrusion force F2 applied on the second facing surface NS2 of the neck joint portion 212 by the first facing surface NS1 refers to the radial direction at the contact point, that is, the direction indicated by P1 in the figure. In the description of this embodiment, the same structure is marked with the same reference number. If there is no corresponding reference number in a single figure, reference may be made to other figures with the corresponding structure reference number.
In this embodiment, the main extending direction of the stop beam 311 is aligned with or generally parallel to the main extending direction of the elastic arm 213 of the swing arm elastic component 21, which enables the stop beam 311 to limit the bending deformation of any bending portion of the elastic arm 213 when the loosening force is further increased, and prevents further deformation of any portion of the elastic arm 213. Other structural cooperation manners between the stop beam 311 and the elastic arm 213 may be selected, as long as they can achieve the position limit function of the stop beam 311 on the elastic arm 213.
In a preferred embodiment, as shown in
According to the rules for determining the direction of elastic force between various contact surfaces, in this embodiment, the self-locking support surface and self-locking cooperating surface are in plane-to-plane contact, and the neck joint portion is subjected to force. Therefore, the direction of the force applied onto the neck joint portion by the anti-reverse head is perpendicular to the self-locking support surface 313 and points towards the neck joint portion, as indicated by Fz of
In other embodiments, the self-locking cooperating surface may be a curved surface or an irregular surface, and may be in contact with the self-locking support surface in a manner of linear contact or point contact. According to the rules for determining the direction of elastic force between various contact surfaces, whether the surface subjected to force is in contact with the plane which applies the force in the form of linear contact, surface contact, or point contact, the direction of the subjected force is passing through the contact point, perpendicular to the plane and pointing towards the object subject to force. Therefore, when the self-locking support surface is an inclined plane, the direction of the force applied to the neck joint portion is passing through the contact point, perpendicular to the self-locking support surface, and pointing towards the neck joint portion.
Only when the force has an upward, radial component force along the radial direction of a gap circumference where the contact point is located (i.e., the radial direction shown in
In other preferred embodiments, the self-locking support surface may be a convex surface, as shown in
For example, as shown in the figure, the intersection point of the tangent TD5 of point D5 with the critical radial direction R02 is J, and a circumferential arc passing through the point J is y1. According to a part of the tangent TD5 above its intersection point J with the critical radial direction R02, i.e., a part of the tangent TD5 outside the circumferential arc y1, the tangent TD5 is located at a side of the critical radial direction R02 in the counterclockwise direction side. The position relationship between the tangent of other points and the tangent of the critical point may be determined by the same method.
According to the rules for determining the direction of elastic force between curved surfaces, the force Fz applied onto the neck joint portion by the self-locking support surface is passing through the contact point, perpendicular to a common tangent plane of the contact point, and pointing towards the neck joint portion, which may refer to the force analysis at points D3, D5, and D4 in
Furthermore, since the force applied to the neck joint portion by the self-locking support surface is perpendicular to the tangent T of the contact point, regardless of the shape of the self-locking cooperating surface, as long as there is a contact point between the self-locking support surface and the self-locking cooperating surface, the convex self-locking support surface can provide an effective self-locking force to the self-locking cooperating surface in any shape.
Similarly, in other preferred embodiments, the self-locking support surface may be a concave surface, as shown in
According to the rules for determining the direction of elastic force between curved surfaces, the force applied onto the neck joint portion by the self-locking support surface is passing through the contact point, perpendicular to a common tangent plane of the contact point and pointing towards the neck joint portion, which may refer to the force analysis at points D6, D8 and D7 in
Furthermore, since the force applied onto the neck joint portion by the self-locking support surface is perpendicular to the tangent T of the contact point, regardless of the shape of the self-locking cooperating surface, as long as there is a contact point between the self-locking support surface and the self-locking cooperating surface and at least one contact point is not the end point of the concave arc-shaped line segment, the concave self-locking support surface can provide an effective self-locking force to the self-locking cooperating surface in any shape.
In other embodiments, the self-locking support surface of the anti-reverse head is not limited to the single shaped surfaces such as the inclined plane, convex surface, and concave surface described above, and may be an irregular surface formed by a combination of single shaped surfaces that meet the above conditions.
In the present disclosure, it is a gradual process for the self-locking support surface of the anti-reverse head and the self-locking cooperating surface of the neck joint portion from an initial mating to stable mating. Due to the shape configuration of the self-locking cooperating surface and self-locking support surface, as well as the application method of the external force in the loosening direction, there may be transitions between different contacting forms such as point contact, linear contact and surface contact, before reaching the final stable state. Even if it reaches a temporary stable state, the contact form may also change with changes in external forces during use. However, regardless of the contact form, as long as there is an effective contact point, the self-locking support surface can apply an effective self-locking force to the neck joint portion to prevent the lacing device from rotating in the loosening direction. Among these three types of contact manners, surface contact has the most contact points, providing the strongest self-locking force and the best anti-reverse effect.
In other preferred embodiments, the self-locking support surface is a part of the first facing surface of the anti-reverse head, and there is another part of the first facing surface that cannot provide self-locking force. As shown in
In other preferred embodiments, the swing arm head may only include one tooth portion, as shown in
In the above embodiments, as shown in
In all embodiments of the present disclosure, the main extending direction of the elastic arm intersects with a centerline line of the neck joint portion at an angle β, wherein the angle β ranges from 30° to 150°, i.e., 30°≤ B≤150°. As shown in
Because the main extending direction LZ4 of the elastic arm is curved, the angle β is an angle between the tangent T of an intersection of the curve LZ4 and centerline ZL and the centerline ZL. In
For the case where the swing arm head has two tooth portions, as shown in
Preferably, in the embodiment shown in
In other embodiments, the elastic arm 213 and the stop beam 311 may be wave-shaped or similar to a spiral structure, wherein the main extending directions of the stop beam 311 and the elastic arm 213 should meet the position limit function of the stop beam 311 on the elastic arm 213. In other embodiments, the number of swing arm elastic component(s) 21 and stop piece(s) 31 may be one or multiple, and multiple swing arm elastic components 21 may be formed separately and then connected to the housing 30.
In other embodiments, the stop piece 31 is formed separately and then fixedly connected to the housing 30.
In other preferred embodiments, the counterclockwise direction may be set as the direction of tensioning the lace, and the clockwise direction may be set as the direction of loosening the lace. At this time, the stop piece 31 should be set to prevent the swing arm elastic component 21 from deviating in the clockwise direction. Therefore, the position of the stop piece 31 should be reasonably set according to actual situation.
It can be seen that, from
The structure of this embodiment is generally the same as that of the third embodiment, excepts that the positions of the teeth ring 11, the anti-reverse teeth ring 20, and the stop piece 31 are different. That is, in this embodiment, the teeth ring 11 are set on the housing, the swing arm elastic component 21 and the stop piece 31 are set on the rotatable cover, and the stop piece 31 is set at a side of the swing arm head of the swing arm elastic component 21 in the tensioning direction.
In actual use, as shown in
As shown in
In this embodiment, the rotation direction of the rotatable cover is opposite to the deviating direction of the swing arm head of the swing arm elastic component 21. In the first embodiment, the rotation direction of the rotatable cover is the same as the deviating direction of the swing arm head of the swing arm elastic component 21. The reason for this difference is related to which one of the teeth ring 11 and the swing arm elastic component 21 is set on the active member, because the force that forces the swing arm head of the swing arm elastic component 21 to deviate laterally comes from the biasing force of the sidewall of the gap on the tooth portion. When the gap 12 is set on the active member, the direction of the biasing force is consistent with the direction of the external force, so that the deviating direction of the swing arm head of the swing arm elastic component is consistent with the rotary direction of the rotatable cover. When the swing arm elastic component 21 is set on the active member, the direction of the biasing force is opposite to the direction of the external force, so that the deviating direction of the swing arm head of the swing arm elastic component is opposite to the rotary direction of the rotatable cover.
The above descriptions are only preferred embodiments of the present disclosure, which are further detailed descriptions of the present disclosure in conjunction with specific preferred embodiments, and it cannot be considered that the specific implementation of the present disclosure is limited to these descriptions. Any modifications, equivalents, improvements, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present disclosure shall all fall within the protection scope of the present disclosure.
The present application is continuation in part application of application Ser. No. 17/956,895, filed on Sep. 30, 2022, which claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202210068932.4, filed on Jan. 21, 2022, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 17956895 | Sep 2022 | US |
| Child | 18817278 | US |
