Patent Application
20100005635
This invention relates to fastener clips for product packaging. In particular, this invention is an improvement over the clips shown and described in Khachadourian et al U.S. Pat. No. 6,412,153 and Liverman et al U.S. Pat. No. 7,240,406, owned in common with the invention described here, to which the interested reader is referred, and which are hereby incorporated by reference into this disclosure.
As the prior art clips have been widely and successfully used, efforts have been made to assure that product packages secured together by such a clip will remain securely assembled. That has been done heretofore by providing a latch structure which engages one of a plurality of pivoting legs as the clip is installed. In the previously patented clip, the engagement is between a single projection or “tooth” of the latch member and a cooperating ledge or notch formed in one pivoting leg (See Column 2 of the '153 patent, beginning at line 54 and Column 2 of the '406 patent, beginning at line 30).
The clips of the prior patents were originally developed for packages which were expected to be handled in palletized systems. In such an application, the clips are at least somewhat protected against being grossly mishandled and the imposition of destructive forces. However, the applications for the clips have broadened into use in packages of smaller sizes (although sometimes of greater weight for the size of the package) which are handled in small parcel shipping modes where mishandling is much more likely and happens much more frequently. In these newer uses, clips have been found to be missing from delivered packages or broken due to the stress imposed on the latch mechanism.
With the foregoing as background, the present invention provides a latching mechanism which is much more secure than the mechanism heretofore disclosed and used. In particular, the latch mechanism is now formed using a locking plate with at least one through hole or opening into which locking tabs are trapped. This more positive lacking provides advantages of reducing clip failure during handling.
Some of the purposes of the invention having been stated, others will appear as the description proceeds, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:
While the present invention will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which a preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown, it is to be understood at the outset of the description which follows that persons of skill in the appropriate arts may modify the invention here described while still achieving the favorable results of the invention. Accordingly, the description which follows is to be understood as being a broad, teaching disclosure directed to persons of skill in the appropriate arts, and not as limiting upon the present invention.
Referring now to
In accordance with an important feature of this invention, the latch member or locking plate 26 has at least one locking opening 28 (and preferably a plurality of such openings, as the two shown in
Preferably, and in accordance with this invention, the clip is formed by molding a plastic material. As indicated, the present invention contemplates that the socket and plug bodies may be formed integrally one with the other as in the case of the prior patent disclosures. In this case, the bodies are hingedly connected along one side edge of the planar portions, as shown.
In the drawings and specifications there has been setforth a preferred embodiment of the invention and, although specific terms are used, the description thus given uses terminology in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.
