The present invention relates generally to ties used to hold together a group of objects. More particularly, the present invention relates to a tie having an improved design which facilitates use of the tie with a single hand.
Cable ties or zip ties, also known as tie-wraps are typically plastic fasteners comprising a head (female end) at one end, a tail (male end) at the other end and a longitudinal strap in between. Zip ties are commonly used for securely holding together two or more objects, such as wires or cables or pipes and also for securing a cable or a wire to another object. For use, reference to
One disadvantage is the need to visually see the entrance point in the head end of the zip tie where the male end goes into the female end. For some people with excellent dexterity and experience, they may be able to feel this entrance with their fingers with some difficulty and by trial and error.
The need to use two hands to use a zip tie is a second major drawback because often size or space or location limitations do not allow use of two hands. Conventional zip ties require the use of two hands, one hand to hold the female end and one hand to hold the male end and then thread the male end through the female clasp end. The threading is delicate and requires delicate hand motions and good sight lines. Either hand may then align the entrance, both vertically and horizontally and then either hand may insert the male end into the female end by threading the tapered entry point of the male end in and forcing or pulling the strap body of the zip tie through to the desired tension.
Finally, another drawback is the need to pull the free end of the zip tie through the locking mechanism head (female clasp end) to the desired tension. The pulling of one end can be difficult because the zip tie offers no material to obtain a firm grasp with fingers or even with pliers. The small amount of a tapered male end which is provided to facilitate threading the female clasp end more easily is, by its very design, tapered and smooth which make it difficult to grasp. Once the small tapered end is threaded through the female locking mechanism, it is also difficult or impossible to grab the tapered end and pull, especially if the user is in a blind, long reach, one handed situation. In this way zip ties are also very limited in that the locking mechanism is unidirectional, one way, and tension must be applied for them to engage, which also requires securing (holding) the head with one hand and inserting and then pulling the free end with another hand.
While some people with exceptional dexterity and strength in their fingers can, with luck and patience, accomplish this task with one hand on smaller zip ties, it is rare and difficult and limited in practice. In fact, in most cases, zip ties are needed in difficult to reach places, often out of sight and at a long arms length away, such as at the back of an automotive engine compartment or at the end of a surgeon's reach and sight inside a body of a human or animal. Often there is no room to put two hands, even if there is a sight line, or vice versa.
The design of the human body, particularly the head, shoulders, arms and hips, in combination with difficult to reach situations such as under or behind an airplane or automotive or boat dash board is such that one hand can often reach the desired work zone on full extension, but the shoulder and tilt of the head prevent the second hand from reaching the work zone and also prevent the eyes from having a direct line of sight due to the tilt of the head. These situations are frustrating for the worker, who can touch the components that are scheduled to be zip-tied together with one hand but cannot bundle them with the zip-tie due to the inability to wrap, feed and pull the zip tie together without the use of second hand or other method.
Thus, there exists a need for a zip tie design which can overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a zip tie which can be used with a single hand.
Yet another object of the present invention to provide a zip tie which enables a user to locate and align the male end with the female end for making a loop around a target object even when the location of use lies out of sight of the user.
A further another object of the present invention is to provide a zip tie which has a bulbus end to facilitate capture and pulling taught by the user's fingers instead of the current state of the art which is a narrowed smooth flat end which is difficult to grab and pull.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a zip tie which requires little effort to tighten the loop made by the zip tie, or requires no effort due to a multidirectional insertion at the desired tension without further tensioning around two or more objects on which the zip tie is applied.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a zip tie which can be used at locations that are not accessible by both hands of a user together.
Details of the foregoing objects and of the invention, as well as additional objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments exemplifying the best mode of carrying out the invention as presently perceived.
The following presents a simplified summary in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the disclosed invention. This summary is not an extensive overview, and it is not intended to identify key/critical elements or to delineate the scope thereof. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.
The present invention is directed to a zip tie which can be used by a user with a single hand and even when the zip tie remains out of sight of the user. The zip tie comprises a clamshell type head having a channel defined by semicircular recesses which are disposed on inside of a first half and a second half of the clamshell type head and an elongated member disposed at one end of the clamshell type head. One or more male locks are disposed on a first half face of the first half and one or more recesses disposed on a second half face of the second half. The channel is configured to receive the elongated member longitudinally and form a loop when the first half and the second half are in open position. The one or more recesses are configured to receive and mate with the one or more male locks when the first half and the second half are closed. It results in locking the channel around the elongated member and preventing loosening of the loop by causing engagement of one or more teeth disposed on recesses inside the channel with a plurality of serrations disposed over said elongated member. A user can then pull the elongated body further to tighten a loop made by the elongated body around one or more objects. In another embodiment the improved zip tie comprises a head with locking halves that optionally require no pulling to facilitate final location.
To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, certain illustrative aspects of the disclosed invention are described herein in connection with the following description and the annexed drawings. These aspects are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles disclosed herein can be employed and is intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents. Other advantages and novel features will become apparent from the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the drawings.
In order to describe the manner in which features and other aspects of the present disclosure can be obtained, a more particular description of certain subject matter will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments that are illustrated in the appended drawings. Understanding that these drawings depict only typical embodiments and are not therefore to be considered to be limiting in scope, nor drawn to scale for all embodiments, various embodiments will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail through the use of the accompanying drawings in which:
In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures and components have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the present invention.
In the interest of clarity, not all of the routine features of the implementations described herein are shown and described. It will, of course, be appreciated that in the development of any such actual implementation, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made in order to achieve the developer's specific goals, such as compliance with application- and business-related constraints, and that these specific goals will vary from one implementation to another and from one developer to another. Moreover, it will be appreciated that such a development effort might be complex and time-consuming, but would nevertheless be a routine undertaking of engineering for those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure.
The elongated member 201 has a generally round cross section body and it can be of any desired length. In prior art zip ties, a generally flat planar shaped strap is used and the male end of the strap requires proper alignment with the female end of the zip tie for making a loop and this task cannot be completed with a single hand of the user. The tip of the male end of prior art is of particularly poor design—smooth and narrowed to facilitate pulling the main strap body through the narrow opening in the head to tighten the strap around the desired materials. This narrowed and smoothed tip design is necessary due to the poor design of the clasp head, and is also simultaneously very difficult for the human hand to grasp and pull. The round cross-section body of the elongated member 201 of the present invention facilitates easy insertion of the elongated member 201 and particularly 206 into the head 210 in a parallel top down motion, called top access, as no specific orientation of the cylindrical body of the elongated member 201 and specifically 206 is needed with respect to the head 210 for insertion. The elongated member 201 comprises a proximal section 202 and a distal section 203. The proximal section 202 may have serrations (204) or it may have a smooth outer surface. The proximal section may be manufactured from a variety of materials including Nylon with a durometer of 60 to 90 hardness. The distal section 203 comprises a main section 204 which may be optionally provided with serrations over it, a free tail 206 and a pull tab or bulb 208. The main section 204, when serrated, possesses a series of transversely spaced peripheral projections which longitudinally extend throughout the serrated section till the start of the free tail 206. The free tail 206 (also referred to as Starter Cord 206 alternatively) has a cross-section substantially smaller than the cross section of the proximal section 202 or main section 204. Also, in a preferred embodiment, the starter cord 206 is made of more flexible material than the material of the rest of the sections of the elongated member 201, such as rubber or nylon with a durometer of 30 to 60 to facilitate one or two fingered manipulation around a bundle of materials with very little effort. The pull tab 208 (also referred to as bulb 208) is disposed at the free end of the starter cord 206 and the pull tab 208 is configured to be graspable by a user's fingers. Dimension-wise the pull tab 208 is bigger in cross-section compared to that of the starter cord 206 so that it can be gripped properly with the fingers of a user's hand unlike the prior art straps of zip tie which are gradually tapered toward the fee end and, thus, does not offer any grip to a user's fingers.
The head 210, as illustrated in
On both sides of the top access 214 as shown in
210. Similarly, the end wall 240 (as shown in
Inside the channel 216, one or more barbs or teeth or pawls 222 (as shown in
In another embodiment, reference to
bendable extensions that can enclose and be wrapped around the clam shell body to hold the halves together. These extensions can be made of flexible metal co-molded with polymer with optional hook & loop fasteners or adhesive or any other suitable method used to retain the bendable extensions around the body in their final locking position providing an even easier locking of the clam shell in blind situations.
The elongated member 502 has a generally round cross section body and it can be of any desired length. In some embodiments, the elongated member 502 comprises a plurality of serrations 503 transversely spaced along the longitude axis of the elongated member 502. Also, optionally, a pull tab 509 configured to be graspable by a user's fingers may be provided at the free end of the elongated member 502.
In some embodiments, one or more barbs or teeth or pawls 514 are disposed on the inner walls of the first semicircular recess 518 and second semicircular recess 520 transverse to the longitudinal axis of the channel 508. The size and shape of the plurality of teeth or barbs 514 are configured in such a way that they get engaged with the plurality of the serrations 503 when the elongated member 502 is inserted in the channel 508 and both the halves of the clamshell type head 504 are closed. Alternatively, the channel can have moulded ramps that interact with the serrations (503) in lieu of or addition to the teeth. The engagement of the teeth 514 with the serrations 503 can ensure that the movement of the elongated member 502 inside the channel 508 is uni-directional only.
For use, the elongated member 502 can be looped around a bundle of objects and one end of the elongated member can then be placed inside the channel 508 as shown in
In another embodiment, as shown in
The female end 704 comprises a channel 714 of U-shaped cross section defined by a first wall 705 and a second wall 707. The U-shaped channel 714 can insertably accommodate main body 706 of the male end 702 between the proximal end 712 and distal end 718. The first wall 705 and the second wall 707 originate from the middle section 710 where the main body 706 of male end 702 meets the female end 704. The top surfaces of the walls 705 and 707 protrude inward to form an initial capture clasp 720 which helps preventing the main body 706 from escaping out of the channel 716 through its open end. An optional bump (708) can be molded into the head to add leverage when pulling or placing (702) through.
Inside the channel 716, one or more locking barbs or teeth 714 are disposed transverse to the longitudinal axis of the channel 716 to further locate and lock the main body. The size, shape and rigidity/hardness of one or more teeth 714 are configured in such a way that they can bite into the main body 706 when the main body 706 is inserted into the channel 716 In an alternative embodiment the teeth may be replaced by other locking or friction inducing mechanisms such as a ribbon of adhesive placed on the inner sides or bottom of the channel (716). For use, the zip tie 700 can be looped around a bundle of objects 810 as shown in
The use of the terms “a” and “an” and “the” and similar referents in the context of describing the invention are to be construed to cover both the singular and the plural, unless otherwise indicated herein or clearly contradicted by context. The terms “comprising,” “having,” “including,” and “containing” are to be construed as open-ended terms (i.e., meaning “including, but not limited to,”) unless otherwise noted. The terms “affixed”, “fitted”, “attached”, “tied” are to be construed as partly or wholly contained within, attached to, or joined together, even if there is something intervening. All methods described herein can be performed in any suitable order unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context. The use of any and all examples, or exemplary language (e.g., “such as”) provided herein, is intended merely to better illuminate embodiments of the invention and does not pose a limitation on the scope of the invention unless otherwise claimed. No language in the specification should be construed as indicating any non-claimed element as essential to the practice of the invention.
This application is a divisional patent application of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/706,865 filed Sep. 18, 2017, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety for all purposes.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20210155387 A1 | May 2021 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 15706865 | Sep 2017 | US |
Child | 17163938 | US |