This application claims priority from Hong Kong Short Term Patent Application No. 09100802.9, filed on Jan. 23, 2009, the content of which is hereby incorporated in its entirety by reference.
The present application relates to a joiner and a slide fastener slider incorporated with the joiner for easy mounting of a pull tab.
The existing slide fastener sliders include two parts, namely, a pull tab and a slider body, wherein the pull tab is always fixedly mounted to the slider and thus cannot be mounted at will according to users' demand. However, with human's endless pursuit for an easy life and for various other reasons, there has been a need to mount the pull tab to the slider by the users themselves, that is, after-manufacture and/or after-market installation of the pull tab. To this end, different types of sliders have been designed to meet this need, such as the slide fastener sliders disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,829,638; 4,624,032 and 5,551,129. However, these designs have issues with complicated structures, low production efficiency and high manufacturing costs. As a result, these slide fastener sliders have not been commonly acceptable in the field.
The object of the present application is to provide a slide fastener slider having a simple structure which can be easily manufactured with low cost and which enables a user to easily mount the pull tab on the slider.
According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a simple joiner for coupling to a lug on the slider of a slide fastener for easy after-manufacture and after-market installation of the pull tab to the slider. The jointer having a proximal end and distal end is a single piece (preferably made of a single piece of metal sheet), easily manufactured with lost production costs, which comprises
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a slide fastener slider comprising:
a slider body having an upper wing and a lower wing, the upper wing and the lower wing being connected by a neck so as to define a channel for the insertion of a slide fastener, a lug being integrally formed on a top surface of the upper wing at one end near the neck and extending towards an opposite end to form a gap between the lug and the upper wing for the insertion of slider-pulling member, and a bore provided on the upper wing;
a joiner being made from a single metal sheet and configured to mount to the slider body, the joiner having a locking arm formed at a middle portion and inserted into the bore of the upper wing, a spring piece and a pair of positioning legs being formed at one end of the joiner, and a pair of position-defining arms being formed at an opposite end of the joiner, a pair of inverse hooks being formed on the pair of position-defining arms respectively and extended towards the locking arm, a semi-enclosed recess being formed between one of the position-defining arms and the locking arm for holding the slider-pulling member;
the lug further having a recess provided at one end near the neck for receiving the spring piece, and a pair of recesses provided on two opposite sides of the spring-piece recess for receiving the pair of positioning legs respectively, and a position-defining element provided at an opposite end of the lug for limiting the displacement of the pair of position-defining arms as the joiner pivots about the pair of positioning legs between a normally closed position where the pair of position-defining arms is in contact with the upper wing and an open position where the pair of position-defining arms is in contact with the position-defining element of the lug.
According to one embodiment, the lug comprises a generally U-shaped portion defining an opening end and a closed end, and the joiner is coupled to the lug through the opening end.
According to one embodiment, the position-defining element is in the form of a pair of slots provided on the lug, and the pair of slots has two opening ends facing the upper wing for receiving the two position-defining arms of the joiner respectively, and two closed ends for limiting the movement of the pair of position-defining arms respectively.
According to one embodiment, the joiner is snap-fitted onto the lug through the opening end of the U-shaped portion.
According to one embodiment, the slider body comprises a pair of position-defining projections provided on the top surface of the upper wing on both sides of the bore respectively for limiting the movement of the pair of inverse hooks.
According to one embodiment, the lug is in the form of a solid lug, and the position-defining element is in the form of a pair of projections projecting outwardly from two opposite sides of one end of the solid lug opposite to the neck.
According to one embodiment, the joiner is snap-fitted onto and substantially covering the lug.
According to one embodiment, the semi-enclosed recess is generally C-shaped.
According to one embodiment, the slider-pulling member is a pull tab having a handle portion and a transverse rod.
Specific embodiments of the slide fastener slider will be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:
The various features of novelty which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of the disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages, and specific objects attained by its use, reference should be made to the descriptive matter in which there are illustrated and to described preferred embodiments of the invention.
As shown in
An elongated bore 22 is provided at the gap 17 under the lug 16 for the insertion of a locking arm 27 of the joiner 29. A pair of position-defining projections 23a, 23b is provided on the two opposite sides of the bore 22. Three recesses 32a, 32b and 18 are provided near the end of the lug 16 where the lug 16 is integrally formed on the top surface of the upper wing 12. The recess 18 at the outermost end is a spring-piece recess for receiving a spring piece 25 of the joiner 29. The two recesses 32a and 32b provided on the left and right sides of the recess 18 respectively are both positioning-leg recesses for receiving two positioning legs 33a and 33b of the joiner 29 respectively. The joiner 29 can be securely mounted to the lug 16 by means of the resilience generated between the two positioning legs 33a and 33b and the corresponding positioning-leg recesses 32a and 32b.
The lug 16 can have a U-shaped portion defining an opening end 20 and a closed end. The joiner 29 is mounted to the lug 16 through the opening end 20. The joiner 29 can be snap-fitted onto the lug 16 through the opening end 20 of the U-shaped portion of the lug 16. Two slots 26a and 26b are provided on the closed end of the U-shaped portion of the lug 16. The two slots 26a and 26b have two opening ends facing the gap 17 for receiving the two position-defining arms 35a and 35b of the joiner 29 respectively, and two closed ends for limiting the movement of the two position-defining arms 35a and 35b respectively. The displacement of the two position-defining arms 35a and 35b can be limited with the cooperation of the two position-defining projections 23a and 23b.
The joiner 29 can be formed from a single metal sheet by cutting and stamping processes. The locking arm 27 for zipping and unzipping a slide fastener (not shown) in the channel 15 is formed generally in a middle portion of the joiner 29. The spring piece 25 is formed at one end of the joiner 29, referred to herewith as the proximal end. The spring piece 25 is configured to be receivable within the spring-piece recess 18 of the lug 16. The positioning legs 33a and 33b are formed on both sides of the spring piece 25. The positioning legs 33a and 33b are configured to be receivable within the positioning-leg recesses 32a and 32b of the lug 16 respectively.
The two position-defining arms 35a and 35b, which can be inserted into the slots 26a and 26b of the lug 16 and positioned between the position-defining projections 23a and 23b of the lug 16, are formed at the opposite end of joiner 29, referred to herewith as the distal end. A pair of position-defining angles 30a and 30b and a pair of inverse hooks 28a and 28b are formed on the outer and inner ends of the pair of position-defining arms 35a and 35b respectively. The pair of position-defining angles 30a and 30b can be received by and abutted against the closed ends of the two slots 26a and 26b respectively. The pair of inverse hooks 28a and 28b can be received by and abutted against the pair of position-defining projections 23a and 23b respectively.
The joiner 29 can pivot about the pair of positioning legs 33a and 33b between a normally closed position, as illustrated in
As shown in
Although it has been shown that the pull tab 34 has a handle portion and a transverse rod 34a, it is appreciated that the pull tab to be inserted can be any slider-pulling member so long as it has a portion insertable through the gap 17 of the slider body 11 and retainable by the C-shaped recess 31 in the closed position. This allows a user to insert the slider-pulling member by himself/herself and change to another slider-pulling member if desired.
The difference between the first and second embodiments is that the U-shaped portion formed with an opening end 20 in the middle of the lug 16 is replaced by a solid lug 16′ without any opening end. Two projecting projections 36a and 36b are integrally formed and projecting outwardly from two opposite sides at one end of the solid lug 16′ opposite to the neck 14. The dimension of the bore 22′ provided on the upper wing 12′ is increased such that the joiner 29′ can substantially cover the solid lug 16′. The two position-defining arms 35a′ and 35b′ are formed at the end of the joiner 29′ opposite to the neck 14 and are directly positioned in the gap 17′ between the projections 36a and 36b and the top surface of the upper wing 12′. The locking arm 27 at the middle of the joiner 29′ is directly inserted into the bore 22′ such that the pivotal movement of the joiner 29′ can be controlled.
While there have been described and pointed out fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to a couple of preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the embodiment illustrated, and in their operation, may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, it is expressly intended that all combinations of those elements and/or method steps which perform substantially the same function in substantially the same way to achieve the same results are within the scope of the invention
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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09100802.9 | Jan 2009 | HK | national |