Fasteners in the broadest sense include nails, screws, bolts, rivets, permanent and releasable adhesives, hook-and-loop materials, zippers, slidingly engaging fasteners, elastics, webs, cinches, ropes and strings and other “cords”, wires, buckles, latches, clamps, crimps, plastic wraps, solder, cement, and many other examples. There are many different kinds of fasteners made of many different kinds of materials and designed for use in fastening together many different types of objects in many different situations subject to many different requirements such as permanence, releasability, load-bearing capability, ease of fastening, ease of unfastening, marine or weather or temperature or other environmental factor resistance, cost, ease of manufacturing, color choices, and flexibility, among others.
Some embodiments are directed to technical problems such as load slippage, odd or varying load sizes, or the inconvenience of tying and/or untying knots. Some embodiments provide an article of manufacture including at least one tape substrate and at least one touch closure fastening means physically connected to the tape substrate. The substrate maybe of fabric, for example, and has at least one side. The substrate has a length-to-width ratio greater than one. The touch closure fastening means serves as a means for releasably touch closure fastening at least one portion of the article to at least one other portion of the article. In some embodiments, the touch closure fastening means includes hooks, mushroom heads, loops, a mat, and/or nanofibers.
In some embodiments, the article includes a tape which in turns includes the tape substrate and the touch closure fastening means, which is formed from the substrate or adhered to the substrate, for example. In some, the tape is laned, striped, staggered, mottled, spiraled around a core, and/or braided; each of these terms has a particular meaning defined in this document. Some embodiments include at least two tapes, which are braided with one another. Some embodiments include suture material in the substrate.
Some embodiments include a grip strip to facilitate multigripping—not only does the article releasably fasten to itself, it also restricts movement of a load or other work piece. In some cases, the tape and the grip strip are braided with one another.
Some embodiments of a tape-built article include at least two tapes, with each tape including a tape substrate and a touch closure fastening means. Each tape substrate has at least one side, and in some embodiments each tape substrate has a length-to-width ratio of at least three. Each touch closure fastening means is physically connected to at least one respective tape substrate. In some embodiments, at least one of the tapes has at least two lanes. In some, at least two of the tapes are braided with one another. In some embodiments, each of at least two tapes has a respective touch closure fastening means that is different from the touch closure fastening means of at least one other of the tapes.
Some embodiments include at least one grip strip, and at least one grip strip and at least one of the tapes are spiraled, or braided, or both spiraled and braided with one another. The grip strip has a mechanical indentation grip, or an adhesion grip, for example.
Some embodiments of a tape-built article include at least one tape, which includes a tape substrate and a touch closure fastening means. The tape substrate has at least one side, and the tape substrate has a length-to-width ratio of at least five. The touch closure fastening means is physically connected to the tape substrate, and at least one grip strip is physically connected to the tape.
Some embodiments include a rope containing the tape and the grip strip. In some, the rope or other article has a length of at least three meters and a length-to-width ratio of at least forty, for example. In some, the grip strip comprises an adhesion grip substance, or an abrasive grip substance, for example. Some articles include at least two grip strips. In some, the substrate includes polypropylene, nylon, or a para-aramid synthetic fiber.
Examples are provided herein to help illustrate aspects of the technology, but the examples given within this document do not describe all possible embodiments. Embodiments are not limited to the specific materials, arrangements, ratios, features, approaches, or scenarios provided herein. A given embodiment may include additional or different technical features, and may otherwise depart from the examples provided herein.
Thus, the examples given are merely illustrative. In particular, this Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter. Rather, this Summary is provided to introduce—in a simplified form—some technical concepts that are further described below in the Detailed Description. The innovation is defined with claims, and to the extent this Summary conflicts with the claims, the claims should prevail.
A more particular description will be given with reference to the attached drawings. These drawings only illustrate selected aspects and thus do not fully determine coverage or scope.
Innovative embodiments presented herein include, for example, new touch closure fastener articles which facilitate new and/or better usage of such familiar fastener mechanisms. We therefore begin by considering some of the touch closure fasteners which can be used as raw material when implementing embodiments described herein.
Many touch closure fastener mechanisms have been known for years. For example, Swiss engineer George de Mestral invented a hook and loop fastener mechanism in 1948. Many variations on the hook and loop fastener mechanism are now widely used, including variations in products commercially available under brand names such as VELCRO® (mark of Velcro Industries, B.V.) or DURAGRIP® (mark of Fastech of Jacksonville, Inc.). Other types of mechanical fasteners are also known, such as slidingly engaging fasteners, other mushroom head closures, releasably adhesive nanofiber surfaces, so-called Metaklett fasteners (from the German “Metall” meaning metal plus “Klettband” meaning hook-and-pile tape), and many others. Some touch closure fasteners utilize mechanical engagement, e.g., a hook partially passed through a loop, a hook partially tangled in a mat, a hook partially passed through an orifice, or mutually engaged mushroom head undersides. Other touch closure fasteners utilize friction, magnetism, or Van der Waals force to releasably hold together two surfaces. These mechanical and other fastening means discussed herein as raw materials for embodiments are collectively referred to herein as “touch closure fastening means” and are referred to herein in smaller groups as “mechanical fastening means”, “frictional fastening means”, “magnetic fastening means”, “Van der Waals fastening means”, “nanofiber fastening means”, “mushroom head fastening means” (including slidingly engaging fasteners and other shapes), and so on.
Some touch closure fasteners and/or variations on them are illustrated in
Each of
However, upon full reading and comprehension of the present disclosure, it will also be appreciated that these figures are not strictly limited to what is already known, and that it would therefore be misleading to label them as mere prior art. Under a second view the
Other touch closure fasteners are illustrated and otherwise described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,196,266 to Lu et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,875,259 to Appledorn. Lu discusses a reclosable mechanical fastener comprising a fastening component having a surface structure by which two such fastening components can become releasably attached. The fastening component is a composite of a tough substrate and a fastening layer that forms said surface structure, which fastening layer is formed from a cured oligomeric resin composition having one or more like or different hard segments, one or more like or different soft segments, and one or more like or different monovalent moieties containing a radiation-sensitive, addition-polymerizable, function group. Appledorn discusses an intermeshable article useful for purposes such as fastening, e.g., closing, coupling and connecting. The article includes a member which has at least one major surface which is a structured surface. The structured surface is made up of a plurality of elements. Each element has at least one side inclined relative to the plane of the member at an angle sufficient to form a taper. Thus, each element may mesh with at least one corresponding element when brought into contact therewith and adhere thereto at least partially because of the frictional force of adherence of the contacting sides. The corresponding element may be the article itself, another similar article or a dissimilar article, such as for example a container having a correspondingly shaped structured surface. In one configuration, the elements are arranged side by side to form a plurality of linear ridges and grooves whereby the sides of adjacent elements form the sides of each groove.
Touch closure fasteners are made from materials which include, for example, nylon, polyester, thermoplastic resin, synthetic resinous fluorine-containing polymers, polytetrafluoroethylene, glass, metal, plastic, textiles, rubbers, nanofibers (which can optionally comprise such materials as, e.g., silicon, glass, quartz, plastic, metal, polymers, TiO, ZnO, ZnS, ZnSe, ZnTe, CdS, CdSe, CdTe, HgS, HgSe, HgTe, MgS, MgSe, MgTe, CaS, CaSe, CaTe, SrS, SrSe, SrTe, BaS, BaSe, BaTe, GaN, GaP, GaAs, GaSb, InN, InP, InAs, InSb, PbS, PbSe, PbTe, AIS, AIP, AISb, SiOl, SiO2, silicon carbide, silicon nitride, polyacrylonitrile, polyetherketone, polyimide, an aromatic polymer, or an aliphatic polymer), a film laminated with an amorphous polymer layer to a prebonded nonwoven web, needle-punched staple fibers to which a foamed acrylic binder has been applied, woven or non-woven fibers, films, Kraft paper, thermoplastic material, ceramics, ultraviolet radiation-curable organic oligomeric resin, and/or carbon nanotubes. Manufacturing processes employed include molding, curing, weaving, cutting, shearing, machining, forming, nanotube functionalizing, growing or depositing nanofibers, heating, and bonding, for example. Tapes taught herein may also be treated with fire retardant, moisture-resistant, corrosion-resistant, waterproof, and/or other sealants, dyes, nanomaterial coatings, or chemical treatments.
To the full extent permitted by applicable laws of the pertinent jurisdiction in which this disclosure document is examined, each of the following US patent documents is incorporated herein to the full extent of its subject matter specifically cited herein and in any case as to its description of fasteners (a.k.a., closures, adhesives, etc.), their manufacture, and their uses: U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,009,235, 3,138,841, 4,290,174, 4,454,183, 4,761,318, 4,775,310, 4,875,259, 4,894,060, 5,067,210, 5,058,247, 5,179,767, 5,196,266, 5,902,427, 5,997,981, 7,132,161, 7,181,811, 7,651,769, 7,972,616, 8,375,529, 8,480,943, 8,549,714, 8,601,648, and 2002/0,037,390.
Many patent documents incorporated herein by reference describe some particular fastening means, some particular methods for manufacturing fasteners and some particular uses for fasteners. Incorporated particularities are interesting, but the present disclosure would not be crippled by non-incorporation (exclusion) of the listed patent documents. By way of analogy, a modern chemical technology patent need not describe how to obtain basic chemical elements, a modern mechanical technology patent need not describe how to make basic components such as screws or springs, and a modern computing technology patent need not describe how to make semiconductor chips or wires or displays, because in each case these items are readily available as raw materials with which to innovate. Similarly, the present disclosure need not describe in great detail how to make hooks, how to make loops, how to make mushroom heads, or how to make nanofibers, for example, because manufacturing methods capable of producing samples like those depicted in
The technical character of embodiments described herein will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art, and will also be apparent in several ways to a wide range of attentive readers. Some embodiments address technical problems such as those evident in or created by work piece slippage, load shifting, odd or varying load sizes, knot complexity, and knot bulk. Some embodiments include technical adaptations such as fasteners configured by blending, laning, striping, staggering, braiding, spiraling, and/or multigripping. Some embodiments modify technical functionality of fastener tape by blending, laning, striping, staggering, and/or multigripping based on technical considerations such as whether a load can be dented or scratched or punctured to be better kept in place, whether load size is predictable, and whether environmental conditions contraindicate use of metal fastener components. Technical advantages of some embodiments include improved usability, increased reliability, lower slippage rate, simplified lashing and unlashing, reduced fastening hardware requirements, faster fastening and unfastening, lower inventory requirements, and smaller device space required.
Reference will now be made to exemplary embodiments such as those illustrated in the drawings, and specific language will be used herein to describe the same. But alterations and further modifications of the features illustrated herein, and additional technical applications of the abstract principles illustrated by particular embodiments herein, which would occur to one skilled in the relevant art(s) and having possession of this disclosure, should be considered within the scope of the claims.
The meaning of terms is clarified in this disclosure, so the claims should be read with careful attention to these clarifications. Specific examples are given, but those of skill in the relevant art(s) will understand that other examples may also fall within the meaning of the terms used, and within the scope of one or more claims. Terms do not necessarily have the same meaning here that they have in general usage (particularly in non-technical usage), or in the usage of a particular industry, or in a particular dictionary or set of dictionaries. Reference numerals may be used with various phrasings, to help show the breadth of a term. Omission of a reference numeral from a given piece of text does not necessarily mean that the content of a Figure is not being discussed by the text. The inventor asserts and exercises his right to his own lexicography. Quoted terms are defined explicitly, but quotation marks are not used when a term is defined implicitly. Terms may be defined, either explicitly or implicitly, here in the Detailed Description and/or elsewhere in the application file.
As used herein, “include” allows additional elements (i.e., includes means comprises) unless otherwise stated. “Consists of” means consists essentially of, or consists entirely of. X consists essentially of Y when the non-Y part of X, if any, can be freely altered, removed, and/or added without altering the functionality of claimed embodiments so far as a claim in question is concerned.
Throughout this document, use of the optional plural “(s)”, “(es)”, or “(ies)” means that one or more of the indicated feature is present. For example, “grip(s)” means “one or more grips” or equivalently “at least one grip”.
As used herein “blending” or “blended” or “blend” means that both hooks/mushrooms and loops/mat are attached to each instance of a substrate of a fastener material, and any given 0.5 by 0.5 cm or larger surface area of the blended material includes hooks and/or mushroom heads and also includes loops and/or mat. Moreover, in operation of a touch closure fastener produced by blending, at least some of the blended hooks and/or mushroom heads of each instance of the substrate releasably engage at least some of the blended loops and/or mat attached to the other instance of the substrate. Hooks may be shaped like candy canes, like partial coils, like duck head profiles, or like a portion of an arch, for example. In blended embodiments, as in other embodiments, the ratio of hooks to loops (or hook area to mat area, for example) is not necessarily 1:1.
“Microblending” or “microblended” or “microblend” means the same thing as “blending” or “blended” or “blend”, except that the size requirement is 0.05 by 0.05 cm rather than 0.5 by 0.5 cm.
“Macroblending” or “macroblended” or “macroblend” means the same thing as “blending” or “blended” or “blend”, except that the size requirement is 1.5 by 1.5 cm rather than 0.5 by 0.5 cm.
Some embodiments do not qualify as macroblended but are better described as “mottled” (with “mottling”, in a “mottle” arrangement) than as having lanes. For example, in some mottled embodiments the various touch closure fastening means are arranged in a checkerboard pattern, or arranged in a random or semi-random tiled pattern.
As used herein, “tape” means an article or a portion of an article which (a) has at least one side, (b) if laid on a flat surface would have a length-to-width ratio of at least four unless otherwise expressly stated, i.e., would be at least four times as long at its maximum length as it is wide at its maximum width unless otherwise expressly stated, and (c) includes a touch closure fastening means extending from, formed from, integral with, and/or adhered to, at least one of its sides. Other length-to-width ratios which may be expressly stated include three, two, five, seven, ten, twenty, thirty, forty, and fifty.
As used herein, “touch closure fastening means layer” means a hook layer, a loop layer, a mat layer, a blended hook and loop layer, a blended hook and mat layer, a mushroom head layer, an orifice layer, a Van der Waals layer, a microfiber layer, a nanofiber layer, or another interfacing portion of a touch closure fastening means.
As used herein, “grip” or “grip layer” or “grip substance” refers to material which (a) is not a touch closure fastening means layer, and (b) when placed adjacent to a work piece or other item tends to reduce movement of the item through friction, mechanical indentation, and/or adhesion. Some examples of mechanical indentation grip substances are grits used on sandpaper or used by mechanical sanders or grinders, spikes, and teeth. Some examples of frictional grip substances are rubber and antiskid or antislip plastic or composite materials. Some examples of adhesion grip substances are removable glues, gummy materials, and tacky materials.
As used herein “laning” or “laned” or “lane” refers to a side of a tape (as defined above), in which the tape side is divided longitudinally, i.e., parallel to the long axis of the tape, into at least two regions referred to herein as “lanes”. Each of the pertinent lanes includes a touch closure fastening means layer extending from, formed from, integral with, and/or adhered to, the region of the tape side which lies within the lane, and at least two different touch closure fastening means layers are present. For example, one lane may include hooks while another lane of the same side of the same tape includes loops, or one lane may include mushroom heads while another lane of the same side of the same tape includes a mat. Either or both sides of the tape may be laned. A laned side may have two, three, or more lanes. Lanes may be different widths. Lane edges need not be perfectly straight, but are generally longitudinal. A given touch closure fastening means layer can be used in only a single lane of a tape side, or it may be used in more than one lane of a given tape side. Not every lane need include a touch closure fastening means layer, but at least two different touch closure fastening means layers will be present when the lanes of a given side are considered as a group; a tape having only hooks on one side and having only loops on the other side, for example, is not laned.
As further illustration of grips, cross-sectional view
As a further example, it will be understood that a ball whose exterior has only a mat is not laned, a target which has only hooks is not laned, and the ball-plus-target combination is likewise not laned, because in this case no single side bears multiple different touch closure fastening means layers. Similarly, a human-wearable suit which has only loops is not laned, a wall-mounted sheet on which a jumper wearing the suit can land and stick is not laned, and the suit-plus-sheet combination is likewise not laned, again because no single side bears multiple different touch closure fastening means layers.
As used herein “striping” or “striped” or “stripe” refers to a side of a tape (as defined above), in which the tape side would be laned if rotated relative to its longitudinal axis while maintaining the position of the touch closure fastening means layers, and resized to fit the tape's size. Alternatively, in a computer graphics model of the tape, the stripes could be rotated as a group to bring them into parallel alignment with the longitudinal axis of the tape section. For convenience, striping can be thought of as a rotated and possibly enlarged or reduced version of laning.
As used herein “staggering” or “staggered” or “stagger” refers to a side of a tape (as defined above), in which lane segments are positioned with the end of a given lane segment located partway along an adjacent lane segment. Staggered lane segments are thus reminiscent of brick arrangements in brick walls; bricks are often laid with the end of one brick located partway along an adjacent brick.
Moreover, the order in which touch closure fastening means layers appear in staggers as one traverses a lane may be regular or randomized, an embodiment may include grip substances in zero or more staggers, and the touch closure fastening means layer and/or grip substance within a stagger may fill all or only a substantial portion (namely, at least three-quarters) of the area of a stagger, in a particular embodiment. In some embodiments, for example, touch closure fastening means layers and in some cases a grip substance appear in the staggers of a lane in at least one of the following periodic sequences, or in the reverse order of at least one of these sequences:
hook, mat, grip, hook, mat, grip, hook, mat, grip, . . .
hook, loop, grip, hook, loop, grip, hook, loop, grip, . . .
hook, mat, hook, mat, grip, hook, mat, hook, mat, grip, . . .
hook, loop, hook, loop, grip, hook, loop, hook, loop, grip, . . .
hook, mat, hook, mat, hook, mat, . . .
hook, loop, hook, loop, hook, loop, . . .
hook, grip, mat, grip, hook, grip, mat, grip, hook, grip, mat, grip, . . .
hook, grip, mat, grip, hook, grip, loop, grip, hook, grip, mat, grip, . . .
hook, mat, grip, hook, loop, grip, hook, mat, grip, hook, loop, grip, . . .
mushroom head, grip, mushroom head, grip, mushroom head, grip, . . .
blend, grip, blend, grip, blend, grip, . . .
mushroom head, grip, blend, grip, mushroom head, grip, blend, grip, . . .
As another example,
The foregoing examples focus largely on tapes, but some embodiments include spatial arrangements other than simple flat tapes. For example, long narrow tapes may be braided or spiraled, as shown in
As used herein “spiraling” or “spiraled” or “spiral” refers to an article (a.k.a. device) or portion thereof having at least one length of tape (as defined above to include at least one touch closure fastening means) which is wrapped around a core without overlapping itself, without overlapping another length of tape, and without being overlapped by another length of tape. The core may be formed of one or more materials, which are not necessarily suitable for forming tape, and which do not necessarily include any touch closure fastening means.
As used herein “braiding” or “braided” or “braid” refers to an article (a.k.a. device) or portion thereof having a tape (as defined above to include at least one touch closure fastening means, and as illustrated by examples herein) and in which (a) at least part of the tape overlaps itself, (b) at least part of the tape overlaps at least part of another tape, (c) at least part of the tape is overlapped by at least part of another tape, (d) at least part of the tape overlaps at least part of a strip of another material which meets the size requirements to qualify as a tape but lacks any touch closure fastening means, and/or (e) at least part of the tape is overlapped by at least part of a strip of another material which meets the size requirements to qualify as a tape but lacks any touch closure fastening means.
As used herein “multigripping” or “multigripped” or “multigrip” refers to an article (a.k.a. device) or portion thereof having both at least one tape and also having at least one grip to which the at least one tape is (a) braided, (b) spiraled, (c) formed integrally with, and/or (d) permanently adhered or otherwise permanently secured, e.g., clamped, stapled, or riveted. The tape can releasably fasten to itself or another tape of the article, whereas the grip helps releasable secure a work piece. A grip strip can physically connected to a tape by virtue of being spiraled around a core that the tape is also spiraled around, by virtue of being braided with the tape, or by virtue of being glued to the tape's substrate, for example. A grip strip may be continuous or punctuated.
A wide variety of work pieces 2500 can be secured in whole or in part by tapes 708 and/or by tape-built articles such as articles created by spiraling and/or braiding tape(s) 708. Some of the many examples of work pieces include pipes, logs, tubing, lumber, leather goods, textile goods, items containing plastic, items containing wood, and flesh. Some of the many examples of uses for tape 708, braided tape articles, and spiral tape articles include securing a flashlight to one's forearm, lashing goods together, medical uses noted below, tasks which might otherwise be performed using ropes knotted to themselves and/or to one another and/or to other items, tasks which might otherwise be performed using bungee cords, and tasks which might otherwise be performed using cargo covers or netting. For tasks in which tape-built articles replace or supplement conventional ropes, the tape-built articles may have dimensions similar to the conventional ropes, in terms of width or length or both. For example, some tape-built ropes are at least three meters long, and some are at least six meters long.
Before turning to
U.S. Pat. No. 8,030,376 to Kurz, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety in jurisdictions permitting such incorporation, describes processes for dispersing a plurality of unaggregated particles, such as nanoparticles and microparticles, in a viscous medium. The dispersions can be used for making a variety of useful materials, such as carbon nanotube composites.
For example, one process discussed in Kurz includes: providing a nanocarrier dispersion comprising a dilute concentration of individual nanoparticles dispersed or dissolved in a nanocarrier solvent, the nanocarrier solvent characterized as being soluble in a viscous medium, the nanocarrier dispersion having a viscosity substantially lower than the viscosity of the viscous medium; contacting the nanocarrier dispersion within the viscous medium, at least a portion of the nanocarrier solvent diffusing out of the nanocarrier dispersion and into the viscous medium; and continuously removing the nanocarrier solvent from the viscous medium to give rise to a plurality of nanoparticles dispersed or dissolved in the viscous medium. Another method of dispersing particles in a viscous fluid includes: providing an particle solution comprising solvent, particles, and polymer, the particle solution being characterized as comprising well dispersed individual particles and said solvent characterized as being more soluble in water than in the viscous fluid; continuously contacting droplets of the particle solution with the viscous fluid in a droplet contact zone to form a mixture comprising the particles, the solvent, and the viscous fluid; transporting the droplets of the particle solution away from the droplet contact zone, the transported droplets being richer in solvent exterior to the droplet zone, the particles and polymer entering the viscous fluid; and contacting the viscous fluid with an aqueous phase at an interface zone located exterior to the droplet contact zone while simultaneously extracting at least a portion of the solvent out of the viscous fluid. Another method of dispersing particles in a viscous medium includes: providing an particle solution comprising a plurality of particles and a solvent, the particle solution being characterized as comprising essentially well dispersed individual particles, and said solvent characterized as being more soluble in water than in the viscous medium; contacting the particle solution with the viscous medium in a dispersion zone to form a one-phase mixture comprising the particles, the solvent, and the fluid medium; and contacting said one-phase mixture with an aqueous phase at an interface zone located exterior to the dispersion zone while simultaneously extracting at least a portion of the solvent out of the one-phase mixture and into the aqueous phase. A method of dispersing particles in an fluid medium includes: providing an particle solution comprising a plurality of particles and a solvent, the particle solution being characterized as comprising essentially well dispersed individual particles, and said solvent characterized as being more soluble in water than in the fluid medium; contacting the particle solution with the fluid medium in a dispersion zone to form a one-phase mixture comprising the particles, the solvent, and the fluid medium, said contacting occurring while simultaneously sonicating both the particle solution and the fluid medium in the dispersion zone; and contacting said one-phase mixture with an aqueous phase at an interface zone located exterior to the dispersion zone while simultaneously extracting at least a portion of the solvent out of the one-phase mixture and into the aqueous phase.
More generally, familiar processes for creating nanohooks, nanosized mushroom heads, nanoloops, and/or nanomat can be combined with familiar processes for depositing nanotubes on material which is safe for a patient if left inside after surgery, or familiar processes for forming such nano features on such safe materials, or with familiar processes for adhering a touch closure fastening means to a substrate. As a result, one can obtain surgical grade tape strands which self-adhere in a releasable manner.
Some embodiments address technical problems evident in or created by work piece slippage or load shifting, by providing tapes 708 which not only releasably adhere to themselves or another constituent tape of a braided or spiraled article, but also restrict or inhibit slippage and shifting by pressing one or more grips 1402 against the work pieces 2500 or other parts of a load.
Some embodiments address technical problems evident in or created by odd or varying load sizes, by providing tapes 708 and tape articles which self-adhere along their length. Bungee cords, tarps, and ratchet straps each presume a particular load size and shape, whereas tape ropes 1900, for example, are much more flexible in accommodating odd or varying load sizes and shapes. Like conventional ropes, tape ropes can be snugged against a load in a manner limited to a large extent only by rope length, but unlike conventional ropes, tape ropes can be fastened without knots, and some of them—those including grips—also help hold the cargo from slipping or sliding. Problems caused by knot complexity or knot bulk are avoided by using a tape rope's touch closure fastening means instead of tying knots, in situations where that is safe and effective. If a load can be scratched or indented or punctured, then tape rope including a corresponding grip can be used to help secure the load. For example, framing lumber and firewood can be scratched without harming them, so an abrasive grip embedded in a tape rope can be used. Carpets can be punctured without harming them, so a spike grip embedded in a tape rope can be used to help secure them. Tape ropes made with materials suitable for marine use, such as polypropylene, nylon, and Kevlar® para-aramid synthetic fiber material (mark of E. I. DuPont de Nemours and Company), can be enhanced as taught herein with embedded touch closure fastening means and/or grips.
Although particular embodiments are expressly illustrated and described herein as devices, or processes for using devices, it will be appreciated that discussion of one type of embodiment also generally extends to other embodiment types. For instance, the descriptions of fastening devices also help describe processes for using such devices, and vice versa. It does not follow that limitations from one embodiment are necessarily read into another.
Reference herein to an embodiment having some feature X and reference elsewhere herein to an embodiment having some feature Y does not exclude from this disclosure embodiments which have both feature X and feature Y, unless such exclusion is expressly stated herein. The term “embodiment” is merely used herein as a more convenient form of “device, process, system, article of manufacture, and/or other example of the teachings herein as applied in a manner consistent with applicable law.” Accordingly, a given “embodiment” may include any combination of features disclosed herein, provided the embodiment is consistent with at least one claim.
Not every item or feature shown in the Figures need be present in every embodiment. Conversely, an embodiment may contain item(s) and/or feature(s) not shown expressly in the Figures. Although some possibilities are illustrated here in text and drawings by specific examples, embodiments may depart from these examples. For instance, specific technical effects or technical features of an example may be omitted, renamed, grouped differently, arranged differently, repeated, instantiated in different materials, or be a mix of effects or features appearing in two or more of the examples. Functionality shown at one location may also be provided at a different location in some embodiments; one of skill recognizes that functionality can be obtained in various ways in a given situation without necessarily omitting desired technical effects from a collection of interacting devices and other items viewed as a whole.
Reference has been made to the figures throughout by reference numerals. Any apparent inconsistencies in the phrasing associated with a given reference numeral, in the figures or in the text, should be understood as simply broadening the scope of what is referenced by that numeral. Different instances of a given reference numeral may refer to different embodiments, even though the same reference numeral is used.
As used herein, terms such as “a” and “the” are inclusive of one or more of the indicated item or step. In particular, in the claims a reference to an item generally means at least one such item is present and a reference to a step means at least one instance of the step is performed.
Headings are for convenience only; information on a given topic may be found outside the section whose heading indicates that topic.
All claims and the abstract, as filed, are part of the specification.
While exemplary embodiments have been shown in the drawings and described above, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that numerous modifications can be made without departing from the principles and concepts set forth in the claims, and that such modifications need not encompass an entire abstract concept. Although the subject matter is described in language specific to structural features and/or procedural acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific technical features or acts described above the claims. It is not necessary for every means or aspect or technical effect identified in a given definition or example to be present or to be utilized in every embodiment. Rather, the specific features and acts and effects described are disclosed as examples for consideration when implementing the claims.
All changes which fall short of enveloping an entire abstract idea but come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope to the full extent permitted by law.
The present application incorporates by reference the entirety of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/146,704 filed Jan. 2, 2014, and also claims priority thereto. To the full extent permitted by law, the present application also hereby incorporates by reference the entirety of PCT/US2015/010005 filed Jan. 1, 2015 and claims priority to it.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 14146704 | Jan 2014 | US |
Child | 14722290 | US |