The present invention relates to a side release buckle allowing locking from an angular position, and more particularly to a side release buckle having a male member adapted to quickly insert into a female member from an angular position, and non-breakaway structures adapted to prevent the buckle from being easily opened under an unexpected pull.
Side release buckles are widely employed on various apparels and articles, such as backpacks, to detachably connect two ends of a fastening belt. Such buckles usually include a male and a female member connected to the two ends of the fastening belt. By engaging or disengaging the male and female members with or from each other, or depressing or releasing a push element, the two ends of the fastening belt could be connected or separated under control. In addition to control the connection or separation of the two ends of the fastening belt, the buckle also serves as a major supporting means when the fastening belt is subjected to an external force.
In a conventional side release buckle as shown in
The male member A of the above-described conventional side release buckle could be inserted into the female member B only when the two members are generally aligned with each other. The buckle just could not be locked when the male member A is in an angular or biased position relative to the female member B. It is necessary to re-align the male and the female member A, B to lock the side release buckle. The buckle tends to become worn easily when the male and the female member A, B are frequently misaligned and repeatedly operated to lock the buckle.
Moreover, a main force-bearing structure on the conventional side release buckle to prevent the locked male and female members A, B from unexpected separation from each other includes two axially front ends of the two side openings B2 of the female member B, upon which the two outward sprung elastic retaining arms A1 of the male member A abut. Since the two elastic retaining arms A1 elastically exposed from the side openings B2 are subject to inward compression and deformation to easily separate from the axially front ends of the side openings B2, the buckle tends to open unexpectedly to cause inconveniences or even dangers.
A primary object of the present invention is to provide a side release buckle allowing locking from an angular position, so that a male member of the buckle could be inserted into a female member from an angular position.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a side release buckle that has a male member adapted to insert into a female member from an angular position and a first non-breakaway structure to provide the buckle with enhanced force-bearing strength to prevent the male and the female member from easy breakaway due to an unexpected pull of the buckle.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a side release buckle that has a male member adapted to insert into a female member from an angular position and a second non-breakaway structure to provide the buckle with enhanced force-bearing strength to prevent the male and the female member from easy breakaway due to an unexpected pull of the buckle.
To achieve the above and other objects, the side release buckle allowing locking from an angular position according to the present invention mainly includes:
a male member having two spaced elastic retaining arms forward extended from a front end thereof, each of the elastic retaining arms having a curved outer sidewall that is elastically movable under a pressure, and a retaining shoulder portion being formed near a proximal end of each curved outer sidewall; and
a hollow female member having a front opening corresponding to the elastic retaining arms of the male member and having an inner wall surface adapted to compress and guide the curved outer sidewalls on the male member into the female member, and two side openings provided at two lateral sides of the female member to communicate with the front opening; and the two side openings having axially front ends adapted to abut against the retaining shoulder portions at the proximal ends of the curved outer sidewalls on the male member.
A first one of the two elastic retaining arms includes an extended arm that has a predetermined area and is laterally extended from an inner side of the curved outer sidewall of the retaining arm, and a first locating block is downward projected from a tip of the extended arm. And, a second one of the two elastic retaining arms is provided near and below a distal end of the curved outer sidewall with a downward projected second locating block.
The curved outer sidewalls of the two elastic retaining arms respectively have a tip or distal end formed of a bevel angle, so that a clearance is left between the two opposing bevel angles to prevent the elastic retaining arms from contacting or colliding with each other when they are inward compressed.
The female member is provided on a bottom behind the front opening with two projected stoppers for engaging with the first and the second locating block on the two elastic retaining arms of the male member.
The male and the female member are provided at respective rear end with a long transverse slot, through which two free ends of a fastening belt are extended to connect the buckle to the fastening belt.
With the curved outer sidewalls of the elastic retaining arms, the male member of the side release buckle of the present invention could be inserted into the female member via the front opening from an angular position; and, with the inward compression of the two elastic retaining arms by the inner wall surface of the front opening of the female member when the male member is angularly inserted into the female member, the male member could be quickly guided to a straight forward moving direction into the female member. When the male and the female member are engaged with each other, the retaining shoulder portions on the male member and the axially front ends of the side openings on the female member together provide the first non-breakaway structure for the buckle. And, when the male member is continuously subjected to a pull to result in an elastic deformation of the female member, the first and the second locating block on the male member and the stoppers on the female member together provide the second non-breakaway structure for the buckle of the present invention. That is, there are two non-breakaway structures in the buckle of the present invention to largely enhance the force-bearing strength of the buckle,
The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein
Please refer to
The elastic retaining arms 11, 12 of the male member 10 have curved outer sidewalls 111, 121, respectively, which allow the retaining arms 11, 12 to extend into the front opening 21 of the female member 20 from an angular position. Two retaining shoulder portions 114, 124 are separately formed near a proximal end of the curved outer sidewalls 111, 121 of the two retaining arms 11, 12.
In addition to the front opening 21 that has an inner wall surface 22 capable of compressing and guiding the elastic retaining arms 11, 12 of the male member 10 into the front opening 21, the female member 20 is also provided at two lateral sides with two side openings 23 to communicate with the front opening 21. The two side openings 23 have an axially front end 231, against which the retaining shoulder portions 114, 124 are abutted when the male member 10 is fully inserted into the female member 20.
An extended arm 112 having a predetermined area laterally extends from an inner side of the curved outer sidewall 111 of the retaining arm 11, and has a first locating block 113 downward projected from a tip thereof.
Meanwhile, the retaining arm 12 is provided near and below a distal end of the curved outer sidewall 121 with a downward projected second locating block 123.
Please refer to
As can be clearly seen from
When the curved outer sidewalls 111, 121 of the retaining arms 11, 12 of the male member 10 spring into the side openings 23 of the female member 20, the first and the second locating block 113, 123 of the retaining arms 11, 12 are shifted sideward at the same time to finally closely locate behind the two stoppers 241 in the female member 20 without contacting with them, as can be clearly seen from
When the male member 10 inserted into the female member 20 is unexpectedly subjected to an outward pull as shown in
When it is desired to disengage the male member 10 from the female member 20 and thereby open the buckle, simply depress the curved outer sidewalls 111, 121 of the elastic retaining arms 11, 12 that are exposed from the side openings 23 of the female member 20, and the two elastic retaining arms 11, 12 could be quickly moved backward through the inner wall surface 22 of the front opening 21 and pulled out of the female member 20.
With the curved outer sidewalls 111, 121 of the elastic retaining arms 11, 12, the male member 10 of the buckle of the present invention could be inserted into the female member 20 via the front opening 21 from an angular position; and, with the inward compression of the two elastic retaining arms 11, 12 by the inner wall surface 22 of the front opening 21 of the female member 20 when the male member 10 is angularly inserted into the female member 20, the male member 10 could be quickly guided to a straight forward moving direction into the female member 20. When the male and the female member 10, 20 are engaged with each other, the retaining shoulder portions 114, 124 on the male member 10 and the axially front ends 231 of the side openings 23 on the female member 20 together provide the first non-breakaway structure for the buckle. And, when the male member 10 is continuously subjected to a pull to result in an elastic deformation of the female member 20, the first and second locating blocks 113, 123 on the male member 10 and the stoppers 241 on the female member 20 together provide the second non-breakaway structure for the buckle of the present invention. That is, there are total four resisting points on the buckle of the present invention to largely enhance the force-bearing strength of the buckle.
The present invention has been described with a preferred embodiment thereof and it is understood that many changes and modifications in the described embodiment can be carried out without departing from the scope and the spirit of the invention that is intended to be limited only by the appended claims.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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5465472 | Matoba | Nov 1995 | A |
6052875 | Fudaki | Apr 2000 | A |
6148486 | Uehara et al. | Nov 2000 | A |
6622355 | Buscart et al. | Sep 2003 | B1 |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20060150376 A1 | Jul 2006 | US |