The present invention relates to the field of what are called “zip fasteners”, in other words fasteners which can be opened and closed by pulling on either one of two tabs connected on opposite sides, by means of their rings, to a slider, in other words to the member which joins and disengages the teeth of the fastener.
An example of such a slider is described in the patent EP 204 186 B1 held by YKK, and another example is illustrated in Swiss patent application 01697/03 filed by the present applicant.
In both of the examples, the slider is locked in its position by means of a pointed member which penetrates between the teeth of the fastener, and in order to move the slider it is first necessary to disengage this member, which can also be called a “pawl”, from the teeth.
To ensure that this locking operation can be performed by pulling as stated on either one of the two tabs connected to the slider, the terminal rings of the tabs are connected to two levers, located inside the hollow body of the slider on opposite sides of the plane of the fastener, and interconnected by contact or by means of suitable return members. One of these levers is connected integrally to the aforesaid pawl, and the levers are designed and positioned in such a way that a pull on either one of the two tabs will directly or indirectly cause the movement of the pawl in such a way as to disengage it from the teeth of the fastener.
The manufacture of the levers described above and of the corresponding actuating systems entails production and assembly costs which, given the intrinsically relatively low value of a slider with two tabs, have a significant effect on the final cost.
Moreover, since an increase in the number of parts of an assembly also increases the potential causes of malfunction, the reliability of sliders made as described above can some times be inadequate, and in order to achieve correct operation it is necessary to use more costly methods and materials, which in turn have an additional effect on the price.
The inventor of the slider with two tabs according to the present invention has devised a solution in which the aforementioned two levers form a single piece, and more specifically a single fork whose two prongs perform the function of the two levers. This fork, connected by means of the aforesaid prongs to one of the sliders and to the pawl described previously, is pivoted within the hollow body of the slider, and is shaped and positioned in such a way that, by pulling as stated on either one of the two tabs, the user can act on the pawl in such a way that it is disengaged from the teeth of the fastener so that the slider can be moved.
Like all sliders with two tabs, the slider according to the invention, as described below, comprises elastic means for keeping the pawl inserted between the teeth of a fastener until, when the prongs are acted on, these means are deformed elastically to a sufficient degree to disengage the pawl.
The object of the present invention is therefore a slider for fasteners with two tabs as described in the attached Claim 1.
Two examples of embodiment of the slider according to the invention will now be described, with additional reference to the attached drawings, in which:
With reference initially to
The tab 2 in the upper part of the drawing is connected by its ring 2a to the strip 8 in such a way that pulling the tab (see
The tab 3 in the lower part of the drawing is connected by its ring 3a to the prong 6 in the lower part of the drawing, and pulling this tab causes a rotation (arrow R in
It should be noted that, whereas the tab 2 in the upper part of the drawing acts directly by traction on the strip 8, the tab 3 in the lower part of the drawing acts on the prong 6 by pressing with its ring 3a on a surface with inclined planes S in such a way as to cause the rotation R of the fork 10.
This system of connection by means of inclined planes is known to those skilled in the art.
In this case, however, the pawl 7 does not form part of a separate member, but is formed integrally on the free end 15t of a prong 15, which is drawn in the upper part of the figure.
As shown in
In this case, the elastic force which keeps the pawl 17 inserted between the teeth Zi is provided by a spring 9 interposed between the fork 20 and the hollow body 4 of the slider 11, the spring being positioned and designed in such a way as to oppose the rotation 0 of the fork 20.
In both embodiments described above, a slider 1, 11 according to the invention is provided, this slider consisting of a smaller number of components and being consequently more reliable and less expensive to produce.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
1839/03 | Oct 2003 | CH | national |
This application is a division of application Ser. No. 10/757,423, filed on Jan. 15, 2004 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,017,242, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2349580 | Marinsky et al. | May 1944 | A |
2405875 | Carlile | Aug 1946 | A |
2405883 | Gould | Aug 1946 | A |
2423210 | Ulridh et al. | Jul 1947 | A |
2657444 | Bashover | Nov 1953 | A |
2839806 | Moser | Jun 1958 | A |
2953831 | Morin | Sep 1960 | A |
3006050 | Brown | Oct 1961 | A |
3038227 | Godfrey et al. | Jun 1962 | A |
3129480 | Carlile | Apr 1964 | A |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20060112524 A1 | Jun 2006 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
Parent | 10757423 | Jan 2004 | US |
Child | 11327309 | US |