Patent Application
20110099776
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a quick release buckle assembly. In particular, the invention relates to a quick-release buckle assembly that can be used on articles of clothing such as cut away vest that need to be quickly and easily removed by the wearer.
2. The Prior Art
Cut away vests are often worn by members of the military and law enforcement agencies to aid the wearer in carrying gear, as well as to protect against bullets and other impacts. These vests, especially when loaded with armor plating, can be very heavy and cumbersome to wear. Therefore it is a requirement that the vests be easily removable by the wearer, in case the wearer must be mobile in an emergency, and especially in case of submersion in water.
In the past, these vests have been constructed of several separate pieces that are held together by a cable system. An example of this system is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 7,243,376 to Johnson. A strap is threaded through each piece, with a hole in each strap. The holes are then lined up, and a cable is threaded through each hole. A loop on one of the pieces is threaded through the overlapping holes, and a cable is then fed through the loop, keeping all of the pieces joined together. In an emergency, the cable is pulled out, thus releasing all of the pieces simultaneously. This system works well to free the wearer from the vest, but it is extremely difficult to re-assemble the vest after use, so the vests are generally discarded after a single use.
A quick-release buckle system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,487,761. In this buckle, a cable system is directly attached to the locking legs of the male portion of the buckle so that pulling the cable pulls the legs inward. This buckle has the disadvantage that it is difficult to mold, and it compromises the strength of the locking legs, because they have to be made especially flexible to be able to be moved by the cable.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a quick-release buckle system that can be used on articles of clothing that need to be quickly removed, such as a cut away vest, so that the vest can be re-used for further operations. A version of this cut-away vest is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/456,069, the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference. It is another object of the invention to provide a quick-release buckle system that is easy to manufacture and can withstand large forces without breaking.
These and other objects are achieved by a quick release buckle assembly having a male portion that is inserted into a female portion. Each male buckle portion is connected to a cable. A sharp pull on the cable causes the male portion to release from the female portion to separate the buckle assembly.
Each female portion comprises a hollow body with a front wall, a back wall, an open top, a cavity between the front and back walls and at least one locking slot extending through the hollow body and communicating with the cavity. Each male portion comprises a base with at least one locking leg, such that inserting the male part into the open top of the female part causes the locking leg to engage the locking slot to lock the male portion to the female portion, as is the case with traditional side-release buckles. The operation of a traditional side-release buckle, such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,794,316, is well known and not described in detail here. In one embodiment, there are two locking slots and two locking legs, disposed on opposite sides of the male and female buckle portions, respectively. The male portion also be released in the traditional manner: by pinching the locking legs together from outside the female buckle portion until they clear the locking slots in the female portion. However, the buckle used in the present invention has an additional feature: In this buckle, there are means for moving the locking legs inward to release the male portion from the female portion when a cable is pulled.
The means for moving the locking leg toward the central leg can comprise a separate release assembly that is positioned at the tip of the locking legs. The release assembly is a separate piece that is not connected to the locking legs. The release assembly is slidable toward the base of the male portion. This sliding movement causes the locking legs to be pinched inward to release them from the locking slots of the female portion.
The release assembly comprises a horizontal bar with two arms that extend down toward the base of the male portion, so that the release assembly wraps around the tips of the locking legs. The arms have a slanted inner contour, which slants outwards toward the base of the male portion. The locking legs have a rounded or slanted tip, which widens toward the legs, corresponding to the outward slant of the arms of the release assembly. Sliding the release assembly toward the base causes the arms to slide along the tips of the locking legs and press the locking legs inward until they clear the locking slots of the female portion. The tips of the locking legs have a locking element at their widest point, to catch on the edge of the locking slots to keep the male portion firmly secured to the female portion until the release assembly is slid down to press the legs inward.
In one embodiment, the release assembly is connected to a cable running through the male portion, so that pulling the cable causes the release assembly to slide toward the base and push the locking legs inward. In a preferred embodiment, the cable extends through a central leg of the male portion and attaches at a central point of the release assembly. The release assembly can have a cable guide that extends into a channel in the central leg. The cable then connects to the cable guide. This arrangement ensures that the release assembly does not move out of the plane of the buckle assembly, and only moves in its designated sliding direction.
Insertion of the cable into the cable guide is a simple procedure. To attach a cable to the buckle, the release assembly is fully depressed, so that the locking legs are squeezed together. At this point, the end of the cable guide is pushed through the central leg of the male portion and extends beyond the central leg. The cable has an enlarged end section, which is placed in an aperture at the end of the cable guide to secure the cable to the cable guide. The aperture is connected to the end of the cable guide by a slot through which the cable extends. The release assembly is then released back into its resting position, with the cable secured in the cable guide. The cable can then be easily removed in the same way. The release assembly can be fully depressed to reveal the end of the cable in the cable guide. The end is then lifted out of the aperture in the cable guide so that it is released from the cable guide. This feature is particularly helpful when the buckle needs to be replaced in a multiple-buckle system. The rest of the system is not affected, and faulty or broken buckles can be easily replaced.
The buckle assembly according to the invention has the advantage that several buckle assemblies can be connected via their cables, so that a single pull can release all of the connected buckle assemblies at the same time. For example, the cables of each of the male portions can be attached to a single handle, so that pulling the handle releases all of the buckle assemblies simultaneously. This allows a device that is being held together by several buckles to be immediately disassembled with a single motion.
For example, the buckle assembly could be used to secure the front and back sections of a cut away vest to each other, as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/456,069. Pulling the handle causes all of the male portions to simultaneously release from the female portions and release the front portion of the vest from the rear portion, allowing the wearer to be immediately freed from the vest.
In another embodiment, the base of the male buckle portion has a strap securing bar that is connected to the base at one end, and has a releasable latch at the other end. The latch can be secured in an aperture on the base of the male portion to create a secure strap bar on the end of the male portion. This way, the male portion can be attached to a length of webbing without needing a free end of the webbing to thread through a bar on the buckle. This is especially important if the buckle is to be secured to a military vest, because these vests often only have webbing that is secured to the vest on both ends.
Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description considered in connection with the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings are designed as an illustration only and not as a definition of the limits of the invention.
In the drawings, wherein similar reference characters denote similar elements throughout the several views:
Referring now in detail to the drawings,
Release assembly 20 has a horizontal base 21 and two arms 22, 23 extending back toward base 11 of male buckle portion 10. Extending down from horizontal base 21 is a cable guide 24 that inserts into a channel 19 in central leg 16 of male buckle portion 10. Cable 35 extends into central leg 16 and attaches to cable guide 24 of release assembly 20.
Arms 22, 23 of release assembly 20 have a slanted interior surface 25, 26 which is angled outward toward the ends of arms 22, 23, so that the inner contour of release assembly 20 widens as it extends away from horizontal base 21. Locking elements 14, 15 have a curved structure that widens from the tip to the bottom of locking elements 14, 15, which ends in ledges 18, 19. Ledges 18, 19 serve to secure locking elements 18, 19 within locking slots 31 of a corresponding female buckle portion 30, such as shown in
In use, when cable 35 is pulled, release assembly 20 is pulled toward base 11 and presses against locking elements 14, 15 of male portion 10. The slanted inner surfaces 25, 26 slide along the curved outer surface of locking elements 14, 15 and press locking elements 14, 15 inward as the inner contour of release assembly 20 narrows toward the top, as shown in
As shown in
The buckle assembly of the present invention can be used in a multiple-buckle system, where several buckles need to be released simultaneously. In the system, which is shown in
Another embodiment of the buckle assembly is shown in
Accordingly, while only a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it is obvious that many changes and modifications may be made thereunto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
