Patent Application
20160183637
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a buckle, especially to a side release buckle.
2. Description of the Prior Arts
With reference to
When in use, the male buckle member 92 is pushed toward the opening 911 of the female buckle member 91, such that the pressing arms 921 are mounted into the inner space of the female buckle member 91. The pressing arms 921 are pressed to be slightly and inwardly deformed, and then the abutting segments 922 are respectively mounted in and abut the abutting recesses 912 of the female buckle member 91. Therefore, the male buckle member 92 and the female buckle member 91 are engaged together. To separate the male buckle member 92 and the female buckle member 91, the pressing arms 921 are inwardly pressed to depart the abutting segments 922 from the abutting recesses 912. Then the male buckle member 92 is removed from the female buckle member 91 when the pressing arms 921 remain pressed.
However, the conventional side release buckle has the following shortcomings.
First, the easiest way to enhance the engagement strength between the male buckle member 92 and the female buckle member 91 is to thicken the pressing arms 921 or to install an outer structure to make the pressing arms hard to be pressed, thereby preventing the male buckle member 92 and female buckle member 91 from easily separating from each other. However, the hard-to-press pressing arms 921 also pose difficulty for a user to separate the male buckle member 92 and female buckle member 91. In particular, the pressing arms 921 are usually pressed by the thumb and the forefinger, which is a laborious way to apply force.
Second, when the male buckle member 92 and the female buckle member 91 are separated, the abutting segments 922, which protrude from the outer surface of the pressing arms 921, may easily contact and rub against other objects and thus get worn. The wear of the abutting segments 922 may affect the engagement between the abutting segments 922 and the abutting recesses 912, and further lowering the engagement strength between the male buckle member 92 and the female buckle member 91.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides a side release buckle to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.
The main objective of the present invention is to provide a side release buckle that can enhance the engagement strength between the male buckle member and the female buckle member, and the male buckle member and the female buckle member also can be separated conveniently.
The side release buckle has a male buckle member and a female buckle member. The female buckle member has an inner space, an opening, and two abutting segments. The opening is formed in a longitudinal direction of the female buckle member and communicates with the inner space. The abutting segments are respectively formed on two transverse sides of an inner surface of the female buckle member. Each abutting segment has an abutting segment slope. The abutting segment slope is formed on the abutting segment, and is inclined transversely outward toward the opening of the female buckle member. The male buckle member is selectively mounted into the female buckle member, and has two pressing arms. The pressing arms are respectively formed on two transverse sides of the male buckle member, protrude in a same direction, and are selectively mounted in the inner space of the female buckle member. Each pressing arm has an abutting recess. The abutting recess is formed in a transverse outer surface of the pressing arm, is selectively disposed around the abutting segment, and has an abutting recess slope. The abutting recess slope is formed in an inner surface of the abutting recess, is inclined transversely inward toward the opening of the female buckle member, and selectively abuts the abutting segment slope. When the abutting recesses of the male buckle member are disposed around the abutting segments of the female buckle member and the male buckle member is pushed toward the female buckle member, the abutting recess slopes slide along the abutting segment slopes to transversely bend the pressing arms inward and deform the pressing arms.
To separate the male buckle member and the female buckle member, the male buckle member is further pushed toward the female buckle member, and the abutting recess slopes of the pressing arms respectively slide along the abutting segment slopes to transversely bend the pressing arms inward and deform the pressing arms while the abutting segments are still mounted in the abutting recesses. At this time, the abutting segments can depart from the abutting recesses by further slightly pressing the pressing arms, and then the male buckle member may be removed when the pressing arms remain in the foregoing status. Pushing the male buckle member toward the female buckle member is accomplished by the force of the wrist and the arm of the user, which is an easy way to apply force. In addition, when the user further presses the pressing arms by the fingers, the pressing arms have been bent and deformed, such that the user does not have to spend much physical effort pressing. Even if the pressing arms are strengthened in structure to enhance the engagement strength between the male buckle member and the female buckle member, the male buckle member and the female buckle member also can be easily separated by the way mentioned above.
In addition, since the concaved abutting recess is disposed in the pressing arm and the protruding abutting segment is disposed in the inner surface of the female buckle member, the abutting segment does not easily contact or rub against other objects and get worn, thereby avoiding affecting the engagement between the abutting segment and the abutting recess.
Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
With reference to
With reference to
The male buckle member 20 is selectively mounted into the female buckle member 10, and has two pressing arms 21 and a guiding arm 22. The pressing arms 21 are respectively formed on two transverse sides of the male buckle member 20, protrude in a same direction, and are selectively mounted in the inner space of the female buckle member 10 from the opening 11. Ends of the pressing arms 21 respectively and selectively abut the stops 12 of the female buckle member 10. Each pressing arm 21 has an extending segment 211, a strengthening rib 212 and an abutting recess 213. The extending segment 211 and the strengthening rib 212 are formed on a transverse inner surface of the pressing arm 21. The extending segment 211 is disposed adjacent to the end of the pressing arm 21. The strengthening rib 212 is connected to the extending segment 211, and is thinner than the extending segment 211 in vertical thickness. The strengthening ribs 212 transversely strengthen the structure of the pressing arm 21, thereby preventing the pressing arm 21 from being easily bent transversely and deformed. The abutting recess 213 is disposed adjacent to the end of the pressing arm 21, is formed in a transverse outer surface of the pressing arm 21, extends into the extending segment 211, is selectively disposed around the abutting segment 13 of the female buckle member 10, and has an abutting recess slope 214. The abutting recess slope 214 is formed in an inner surface of the abutting recess 213, is inclined transversely inward toward the opening 11 of the female buckle member 10, and selectively abuts the abutting segment slope 14 of the female buckle member 10. The guiding arm 22 protrudes from a center of the male buckle member 20 in a direction same as the protruding direction of the pressing arms 21, and is selectively mounted into the female buckle member 10 and between the supporting ribs 15 of the female buckle member 10.
To assemble the male buckle member 20 and the female buckle member 10, the male buckle member 20 is pushed toward the opening 11 of the female buckle member 10. A relative insertion angle between the male buckle member 20 and the female buckle member 10 may be adjusted by the cooperation of the guiding arm 22 and the supporting ribs 15. Then, the ends of the pressing arms 21 respectively slide along the abutting segment slopes 14 of the female buckle member 10 to slightly bend the pressing arms 21 inward, such that the ends of the pressing arms 21 can pass the abutting segments 13. Finally, the abutting recesses 213 of the pressing arms 21 are respectively disposed around the abutting segments 13, and the assembling of the male buckle member 20 with the female buckle member 10 is completed.
With reference to
Even if the pressing arms 21 are strengthened in structure to enhance the engagement strength between the male buckle member 20 and the female buckle member 10, the male buckle member 20 and the female buckle member 10 still can be easily separated by the way mentioned above.
In addition, since the concaved abutting recess 213 is disposed in the pressing arm 21, and the protruding abutting segment 13 is disposed in the inner surface of the female buckle member 10, the abutting segment does not easily contact or rub against other objects and get worn, thereby avoiding affecting the engagement between the abutting segment 13 and the abutting recess 213.
In another preferred embodiment, the abutting recess and the extending segment can be non-adjacent to the end of the pressing arm, and is disposed adjacent to the middle part of the pressing arm, which also has the same merits mentioned above.
Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and features of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only. Changes may be made in the details, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.
