Patent Application
20250089859
The present disclosure belongs to the technical field of zippers, and in particular relates to a zipper slider with an automatic resetting and locking function.
Zippers are widely used, common zippers are mostly not provided with a locking structure, and the zippers are easily opened due to an external force such as friction or bumping, thereby causing articles to fall. Also, because there is no difficulty in opening, the articles are easily stolen, and the safety is insufficient, lockable zipper sliders appear. However, most of this type of zipper sliders include a key and a zipper slider provided with a keyhole which are separated, wherein the key needs to be stored additionally by users after locking and needs to be taken repeatedly for both locking and unlocking, which is inconvenient to use, and since the zipper slider itself is a small part, and the corresponding key is smaller in size, inconvenient to store, and easily lost, and the locking function of the zipper slider cannot be properly used.
In order to solve the above problems, the inventor has developed a zipper slider with a locking structure, which is specifically disclosed in the utility model patent with the application number of CN202122662440.1. The zipper slider includes a zipper slider body, an upper plate is provided with an elastic member cavity, and an elastic member is placed in the elastic member cavity; an upper end of the elastic member cavity is provided with a locking member cavity in a stacked manner, an end, away from the elastic member cavity, of the locking member cavity is provided with a through hole penetrating through the upper plate, a locking member is placed in the locking member cavity, one end of the locking member is disposed as an abutting end in contact with the elastic member, and the other end of the locking member is bent downward and is disposed as a locking end; an upper end of the locking member cavity is provided with a conversion block cavity in a stacked manner, the upper plate is rotatably connected with an unlocking member, a bottom surface of the unlocking member is provided with a conversion block which is clamped into the conversion block cavity, an end of the conversion block is provided with an avoidance portion and a downward pressing portion, and by designing the unlocking member to be rotatably connected to the upper plate, the unlocking member does not need to be additionally stored by the users, and the probability of losing the unlocking member is maximally reduced.
However, the inventor found that there is still room for improvement of the product during the iterative process of product improvement: in the prior application, the user needs to specially identify and switch a locked state and an unlocked state, and there is a situation that the user forgets to switch the zipper slider in the unlocked state to the locked state, causing a zipper to be easily opened. Moreover, in actual life, users' use requirements and scenarios for the zipper slider are very single in essence, generally hoping to unlock when pulling the zipper slider and lock when not pulling the zipper slider. The inventor believes that as a daily product, the zipper slider may be subjected to more humanized structural improvement in the prior application to improve the usage experience of the user.
In view of the problems in the related art, the present disclosure proposes a zipper slider with an automatic resetting and locking function to solve the above technical problems existing in the prior art.
The technical solution of the present disclosure is achieved as follows:
Preferably, the zipper slider body is provided with an elastic member cavity penetrating through a top surface of the zipper slider body, and the elastic member cavity is configured to house the first elastic member,
Preferably, the second elastic member is a torsion spring, a sleeve column is disposed above the elastic piece cavity in a stacked manner, a cavity mouth of the elastic piece cavity is opened upward and penetrates through the sleeve column, and the torsion spring sleeves an outer side of the sleeve column,
Preferably, the top of the upper plate is further provided with a circular ring coaxial with the sleeve column, and an inner ring of the circular ring is larger than the sleeve column to form a through slit for allowing the sliding block to pass through, and
Preferably, a top of the inner ring of the circular ring is provided with a slope notch for guiding the hook structure to slide down, an avoidance groove is disposed below the sleeve column at a position opposite to the slope notch, and the avoidance groove is recessed toward an axial center of the sleeve column.
Preferably, the inner ring of the circular ring is outwardly recessed to form a concave arc gap defining the moving path of the torsion arm, and an end of the torsion arm extends into the concave arc gap, and
Preferably, the acting end and the first elastic member are disposed along a center line of the upper plate, two circular-arc sliding rails are provided and disposed at the top of the upper plate in left-right symmetry, and correspondingly, the bottom of the torsion member is provided with two sliding blocks which are in left-right symmetry, and
Preferably, the bottom of the torsion member protrudes downward to form a conversion block, a bottom end of the conversion block is partially concaved upward to form the avoidance notch, the remaining part serves as a downward pressing structure for pressing the acting end downward, and circular arcs on both sides of the avoidance notch are transitioned to the downward pressing structure.
Preferably, a bottom center of the torsion member protrudes downward to form a rotating terminal, a top end of the elastic piece cavity is provided with a terminal cavity adapted to the rotating terminal in a stacked manner, and the rotating terminal extends into the terminal cavity and forms frictional rotating connection with a cavity wall.
Preferably, the elastic piece cavity comprises a transverse groove portion and a vertical groove portion which are crossed, one end of the vertical groove portion is disposed above the elastic member cavity, and the other end of the vertical groove portion is provided with the through hole, and
The present disclosure further discloses another solution, including a zipper slider body, wherein the zipper slider body includes an upper plate and a lower plate which are integrally connected by a support core;
Preferably, the zipper slider body is provided with a first elastic member cavity penetrating through a top surface of the zipper slider body, the first elastic member cavity is configured to house the first elastic member, an elastic piece cavity is disposed above the first elastic member cavity in a stacked manner, a cavity bottom of the elastic piece cavity is provided with the through hole, and the elastic piece cavity is configured to house the elastic piece;
More preferably, a bottom of the operation member is provided with two circlip portions protruding downward corresponding to the first end and the second end of the torsion spring, the circlip portions are located at an outer side of the switching shaft sleeve, and the first end and the second end of the torsion spring are located on moving paths of the circlip portions, so that the torsion spring has a linkage relationship with the operation member,
Preferably, in assemblies of the torsion member, at least the operation member is made of metal or an alloy,
More preferably, the limiting notch is located at an outer side of the elastic piece cavity,
The beneficial effects of the present disclosure are as follows:
The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, rather than all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without making inventive labor belong to the scope of protection of the present invention.
In the description of the present invention, it needs to be understood that the terms “center”, “longitudinal”, “transverse”, “length”, “width”, “thickness”, “upper”, “lower”, “front”, “rear”, “left”, “right”, “vertical”, “horizontal”, “top”, “bottom”, “inner”, “outer”, “clockwise”, “counterclockwise”, and the like indicate an orientation or positional relationship based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the drawings, merely for ease of description of the present disclosure and simplification of the description, and are not intended to indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and therefore should not be construed as limiting the present invention.
As shown in
The elastic piece 3 is provided with an acting end 301b and a locking pin end 301a, and the acting end 301b of the elastic piece 3 is disposed above an end of the first elastic member 4 at an upper part of and jacked by the end of the first elastic member 4.
The torsion member 1 is movably connected to the upper plate 201 and located above the elastic piece 3, and a bottom of the torsion member 1 is provided with an avoidance notch 102a adapted to the acting end 301b,
Firstly, in this embodiment, by designing the torsion member 1 to be movably connected to the upper plate 201, the torsion member 1 does not need to be additionally saved by a user, and the torsion member 1 is not easily lost;
In this embodiment, the zipper slider body 2 is provided with an elastic member cavity 205 penetrating through a top surface of the zipper slider body 2, the elastic member cavity 205 being configured to house the first elastic member 4. Specifically, the first elastic member 4 and the second elastic member 5 may be elastic pieces, springs, torsion springs, or the like, as long as they can be installed at a target position and elastically deformed in a target direction.
The first elastic member 4 in this embodiment is a spring that is elastically deformed along its own length direction, and the width of the elastic member cavity 205 is set such that the spring is maintained in a vertical state, so that the spring is maintained in a state of pushing the acting end 301b outward, and the depth of the elastic member cavity 205 is smaller than the length of the spring in an extended state.
An elastic piece cavity 206 is disposed above the elastic member cavity 205 in a stacked manner, a cavity bottom of the elastic piece cavity 206 is provided with the through hole 206c, and the elastic piece cavity 206 is configured to house the elastic piece 3; and
Although the rotary connection structure such as the circumferential sliding rail and the rotating shaft described above can also achieve the conversion function of the zipper slider in this embodiment, since the torsion member 1 can rotate by 360°, the torsion member 1 does not have a positioning prompt function, it is easy to cause over rotation when the user twists the torsion member 1 to switch states, thus damaging the second elastic member 5. Therefore, in this embodiment, a top of the upper plate 201 is provided with a circular-arc sliding rail at an outer side of the elastic piece cavity 206, a bottom surface of the torsion member 1 is provided with sliding blocks 101 protruding downward, the sliding blocks 101 are slidingly connected to the circular-arc sliding rail to achieve movable connection of the torsion member 1 to the upper plate 201, and a rotation angle of the torsion member 1 is limited by the circular-arc sliding rail and is less than 360°; and
Specifically, the second elastic member 5 is a torsion spring, an upper end of the elastic piece cavity 206 is provided with a sleeve column 209 in a stacked manner, a cavity mouth of the elastic piece cavity 206 is opened upward and penetrates through the sleeve column 209, and the torsion spring sleeves an outer side of the sleeve column 209;
In particular, the top of the upper plate 201 is further provided with a circular ring 203 coaxial with the sleeve column 209, and an inner ring of the circular ring 203 is larger than the sleeve column 209 to form a through slit for allowing the sliding blocks 101 to pass through.
A bottom of the circular ring 203 is suspended to form the circular-arc sliding rail, each sliding block 101 is of a hook structure with an outward hook that can undergo elastic deformation, and when the torsion member 1 is pressed downward, the hook structures are elastically deformed so that the hooks pass through the through slit and are then clamped into the bottom of the circular ring 203, and the hook structures can slide along an inner ring wall of the circular ring 203.
In this embodiment, a top of the inner ring of the circular ring 203 is provided with slope notches 203a for guiding the hook structures to slide down, avoidance grooves 208 are disposed below the sleeve column at positions opposite to the slope notches 203a, and the avoidance grooves 208 are recessed toward an axial center of the sleeve column 209, leaving a space for the hook structures that undergo elastic deformation towards the axial center.
In this embodiment, the inner ring of the circular ring 203 is outwardly recessed to form concave arc gaps 2010 defining moving paths of the torsion arms 501, and ends of the torsion arms 501 extend into the concave arc gaps 2010; and
Only disposing one circular-arc sliding rail can also achieve the switching state and automatic reset function of the zipper slider in this embodiment. However, there is only one unlocking direction. In order to make the unlocking direction more flexible, in this embodiment, the acting end 301b and the first elastic member 4 are disposed along a center line of the upper plate 201, two circular-arc sliding rails are provided and disposed at the top of the upper plate 201 in left-right symmetry, and correspondingly, the bottom of the torsion member 1 is provided with two sliding blocks 101 which are in left-right symmetry;
As long as the design of the avoidance notch 102a at the bottom of the torsion member 1 can achieve that the avoidance notch 102a does not press the acting end 301b downward, i.e., a receiving space is reserved for the acting end 301b tilted upward, no receiving space exists in a region that is not the avoidance notch 102a, and the acting end 301b is pressed.
In this embodiment, the bottom of the torsion member 1 protrudes downward to form a conversion block 102, a middle of a bottom end of the conversion block 102 is concaved upward to form the avoidance notch 102a, the remaining part serves as a downward pressing structure 102b for pressing the acting end 301b downward, and circular arcs on both sides of the avoidance notch 102a are transitioned to the downward pressing structures 102b, making the conversion process more smooth.
The elastic piece 3 may be a simple strip-shaped piece with one end serving as the acting end 301b and the other end serving as the locking pin end 301a. In this embodiment, the elastic piece cavity 206 includes a transverse groove portion 206a and a vertical groove portion 206b which are crossed, one end of the vertical groove portion 206b is disposed above the elastic member cavity 205, and the other end of the vertical groove portion 206b is provided with the through hole 206c; and
By disposing the transverse groove portion 206a and the corresponding transverse portions 302, the elastic piece 3 cannot undergo excessive displacement in other directions except for pressing downward and tilting upward, ensuring that the elastic piece 3 is always in the correct position to accurately switch the unlocked state and the stopped state of the zipper slider in this embodiment.
In this embodiment, a middle of the elastic piece cavity 206 has an inclined structure, an upper end of the inclined structure extends horizontally and communicates with the elastic member cavity 205, and a lower end of the inclined structure extends horizontally and communicates with the through hole 206c, and disposing the inclined structure can make switching the state of the elastic piece 3 smoother.
In this embodiment, a bottom center of the torsion member 1 protrudes downward to form a rotating terminal 103, a top end of the elastic piece cavity 206 is provided with a terminal cavity 207 adapted to the rotating terminal 103 in a stacked manner, and the rotating terminal 103 extends into the terminal cavity 207 and forms frictional rotating connection with a cavity wall, while defining the moving range of the elastic piece 3 below.
In particular, the locking pin end 301a gradually decreases in width and is biased to one side in the outward direction, ensuring that the locking pin end 301a is correctly inserted between the zipper teeth every time the locking pin end 301a passes through the through hole 206c to play a locking function, otherwise, the locking pin end 301a may be inserted in the middle of left and right zippers that are not closed, and the locking function cannot be achieved.
In actual production, the top of the torsion member 1 can also be connected to a hand-held structure such as a zipper puller and a zipper cord, or connected to a decorative structure or the like.
As shown in
The zipper slider further includes a first elastic member 4 (specifically, a spring), an elastic piece 3 and a torsion member 1 which are installed on a top of the upper plate 201, the elastic piece 3 is provided with an acting end 301b and a locking pin end 301a, the acting end 301b of the elastic piece 3 is disposed above an end of the first elastic member 4 and jacked by the end of the first elastic member 4, and the upper plate 201 is provided with a through hole 206c for allowing the locking pin end 301a to pass through downward; and
A bottom of the operation cover 104 is provided with the switching shaft sleeve 105 protruding downward, the operation cover 104 and the switching shaft sleeve 105 are relatively stationary, the torsion spring 5 sleeves an outer side of the switching shaft sleeve 105, a bottom end of the switching shaft sleeve 105 is located above the elastic piece 3, and the bottom end of the switching shaft sleeve 105 is provided with an avoidance notch 102a adapted to the elastic piece 4 and a downward pressing portion 105a;
Firstly, in this embodiment, by designing the torsion member 1 to be movably connected to the upper plate 201, the torsion member 1 does not need to be additionally saved by a user, and the torsion member 1 is not easily lost;
Finally, since switching to the unlocked state requires a certain twisting operation in this embodiment, the learning difficulty of this operation is extremely low for the user, but this operation is unfamiliar and cannot be intuitively understood by a person other than the user, thereby increasing the unlocking difficulty, reducing the probability of articles being stolen, and preventing the zipper slider in this embodiment from being accidentally opened due to the external force such as friction or bumping.
In this embodiment, the zipper slider body 2 is provided with an elastic member cavity 205 penetrating through a top surface of the zipper slider body 2, and the elastic member cavity 205 is configured to house the first elastic member 4. Specifically, the first elastic member 4 may be an elastic piece, a spring, a torsion spring, or the like, as long as it can be installed in the elastic member cavity 205 and maintained jacking the acting end 301b of the elastic piece 3 upward.
The first elastic member 4 in this embodiment is a spring that is elastically deformed along its own length direction, and the width of the elastic member cavity 205 is set such that the spring is maintained in a vertical state, i.e., the width of the elastic member cavity 205 is slightly greater than an outer diameter of the spring, while the depth of the elastic member cavity 205 is smaller than the length of the spring in an extended state, ensuring that the spring is maintained in a state of pushing the acting end 301b outward.
An elastic piece cavity 206 is disposed above the elastic member cavity 205 in a stacked manner, and a cavity bottom of the elastic piece cavity 206 is provided with the through hole 206c, and the elastic piece cavity 206 is configured to house the elastic piece 3. The elastic piece 3 may be a simple strip-shaped piece with one end serving as the acting end 301b and the other end serving as the locking pin end 301a, in particular, the elastic piece 3 in this embodiment has a cross-shaped structure.
Specifically in this embodiment, the elastic piece cavity 206 includes a transverse groove portion 206a and a vertical groove portion 206b which are crossed, one end of the vertical groove portion 206b is disposed above the elastic member cavity 205, and the other end of the vertical groove portion 206b is provided with the through hole 206c; and
By disposing the transverse groove portion 206a and the corresponding transverse portions 302, the elastic piece 3 cannot undergo excessive displacement in other directions except for pressing downward and tilting upward, ensuring that the elastic piece 3 is always in the correct position to accurately switch the unlocked state and the stopped state of the zipper slider in this embodiment.
In particular, the locking pin end 301a gradually decreases in width and is biased to one side in the outward direction, ensuring that the locking pin end 301a is correctly inserted between the zipper teeth every time the locking pin end 301a passes through the through hole 206c to play a locking function, otherwise, the locking pin end 301a may be inserted in the middle of left and right zippers that are not closed, and the locking function cannot be achieved.
In this embodiment, a middle of the elastic piece cavity 206 is an inclined surface 206d, an upper end of the inclined surface 206d extends horizontally and communicates with the elastic member cavity 205, and a lower end of the inclined surface 206d extends horizontally and communicates with the through hole 206c, and the inclined surface 206d is provided to make switching the state of the elastic piece 3 smoother.
The movable connection between the torsion member 1 and the upper plate 201 can be accomplished by disposing a rotating shaft connecting the torsion member 1 and the upper plate 201, or by disposing a circumferential sliding rail or a circular-arc sliding rail on the upper plate 201. There are various movable connections in the art.
In this embodiment, the top of the upper plate 201 is further provided with an annular portion 2012 coaxial with the switching shaft sleeve 105, a bottom of the annular portion 2012 is suspended as the circumferential sliding rail, and the operation cover 104 is provided with clamping-sliding blocks 104a adapted to the circumferential sliding rail, the clamping-sliding blocks 104a are slidably connected to the circumferential sliding rail to enable the movable connection of the torsion member 1 to the upper plate 201.
The torsion spring 5 has a first end 501a and a second end 501b which extend outwardly and protrude and are symmetrically formed, and the limiting notch 2011 is formed at a top end of the elastic piece cavity 206, and the first end 501a and the second end 501b of the extended torsion spring are respectively clamped into both sides of the limiting notch 2011; and
If the torsion spring 5 is provided so that the first end 501a has a linkage relationship with the operation cover 104, while the second end 501b is restricted by the limiting notch, the automatic rebound locking function in this embodiment can also be implemented. However, there is only one unlocking direction. In order to make the unlocking direction more flexible, in this embodiment, the operation cover 104 is provided with two clamping-sliding blocks 104a corresponding to the first end 501a and the second end 501b of the torsion spring 5, and the first end 501a and the second end 501b of the torsion spring 5 are located on sliding paths of the clamping-sliding blocks 104a so that the torsion spring 5 has a linkage relationship with the operation cover 104; and
In this embodiment, the clamping-sliding blocks 104a are formed by the bottom of the operation cover 104 protruding downward, and each clamping-sliding block 104a is of a hook structure with an outward hook that can undergo elastic deformation; and
Specifically, a top of the inner ring of the annular portion 2012 is provided with oblique notches 2012b for guiding the hook structures to slide down, and the opposite positions of the oblique notches 2012b are provided with avoidance grooves 208 to reserve a space for the hook structures that are elastically deformed inward.
The circumferential sliding rail can achieve the conversion function of the zipper slider in this embodiment, since the torsion member 1 can rotate by 360°, the torsion member 1 does not have a positioning prompt function, it is easy to cause over rotation when the user twists the torsion member 1 to switch states, thus damaging the torsion spring 5. Therefore, in this embodiment, the top of the inner ring of the annular portion 2012 is provided with a limiting arc groove 2012a concaved downward, the limiting arc groove 2012a is in left-right symmetry about the acting end 301b, a bottom surface of the operation cover 104 is provided with a limiting bump 104b protruding downward, the limiting bump 104b can only move inside the limiting arc groove 2012a, and a rotation angle of the torsion member 1 is limited by the limiting arc groove 2012a; and the angle of the limiting arc groove 2012a is less than 360°.
The operation cover 104 and the switching shaft sleeve 105 are integrally formed or separately disposed, in this embodiment, since the operation cover 104 and the switching shaft sleeve 105 are made of different materials, the operation cover 104 and the switching shaft sleeve 105 are separately arranged, the bottom of the operation cover 104 is provided with a clamping slot 104c, a middle of the clamping slot 104c is provided with a mushroom-shaped anti-misplacement bump 7, an upper part of the switching shaft sleeve 105 is adapted to the clamping slot 104c, and a middle position of the upper part of the switching shaft sleeve 105 is provided with a recess 6 adapted to the anti-misplacement bump 7; and
In this embodiment, an outer diameter of the upper part of the switching shaft sleeve 105 is smaller than a diameter of an inner ring of the torsion spring 5, and an outer diameter of a lower part of the switching shaft sleeve 105 is larger than the diameter of the inner ring of the torsion spring 5; and after assembly, the lower part of the switching shaft sleeve 105 prevents the torsion spring 5 from coming out.
After assembly, the first end 501a and the second end 501b of the torsion spring 5 abut against side walls of the two clamping-sliding blocks 104a, respectively to prevent rotation of the torsion spring 5, and fixing the position of the torsion spring 5 is conducive to assembly, and the assembly efficiency can also be improved without affecting automatic rebound.
In this embodiment, first, the torsion spring 5 sleeves the switching shaft sleeve 105, and then the switching shaft sleeve 105 is assembled to the operation cover 104, i.e., the torsion member 1 is assembled, and then the zipper slider body 2 is assembled, i.e., the first elastic member 4 is placed in the elastic member cavity 205, and then the elastic piece 3 is placed in the elastic member cavity 205, and then the assembled torsion member 1 is pressed to be installed on the zipper slider body 2 assembled with the first elastic member 4 and the elastic piece 3.
The bottom end of the switching shaft sleeve 105 is provided with the avoidance notch 102a and the downward pressing portion 105a, and as long as the avoidance notch 102a does not press the acting end 301b downward, i.e., an accommodation space is reserved for the acting end 301b tilted upward, and the downward pressing portion 105a does not have an accommodation space, and the acting end 301b is pressed. In this embodiment, the bottom end of the switching shaft sleeve 105 is composed of an inclined surface and a flat surface which are connected, an edge of the flat surface is connected to a lower end of the inclined surface, the inclined surface serves as the avoidance notch 102a, and the flat surface serves as the downward pressing portion 105a, the structure is simple and the conversion process is smooth.
As shown in
The zipper slider further includes a first elastic member 4, an elastic piece 3 and a torsion member 1 which are installed on a top of the upper plate 201, the elastic piece 3 is provided with an acting end 301b and a locking pin end 301a, the acting end 301b of the elastic piece 3 is disposed above an end of the first elastic member 4 and jacked by the end of the first elastic member 4, and the upper plate 201 is provided with a through hole 206c for allowing the locking pin end 301a to pass through downward; and
A bottom of the operation cover 104 is provided with the switching shaft sleeve 105 protruding downward, the operation cover 104 and the switching shaft sleeve 105 are relatively stationary, the torsion spring 5 sleeves an outer side of the switching shaft sleeve 105, a bottom end of the switching shaft sleeve 105 is located above the elastic piece 3, and the bottom end of the switching shaft sleeve 105 is provided with an avoidance notch 102a adapted to the elastic piece 3 and a downward pressing portion 105a;
Firstly, in this embodiment, by designing the torsion member 1 to be movably connected to the upper plate 201, the torsion member 1 does not need to be additionally saved by a user, and the torsion member 1 is not easily lost;
Finally, since switching to the unlocked state requires a certain twisting operation in this embodiment, the learning difficulty of this operation is extremely low for the user, but this operation is unfamiliar and cannot be intuitively understood by a person other than the user, thereby increasing the unlocking difficulty, reducing the probability of articles being stolen, and preventing the zipper slider in this embodiment from being accidentally opened due to the external force such as friction or bumping.
In this embodiment, the zipper slider body 2 is provided with an elastic member cavity 205 penetrating through a top surface of the zipper slider body 2, and the elastic member cavity 205 is configured to house the first elastic member 4. Specifically, the first elastic member 4 may be an elastic piece, a spring, a torsion spring, or the like, as long as it can be installed in the elastic member cavity 205 and maintained jacking the acting end 301b of the elastic piece 3 upward.
The first elastic member 4 in this embodiment is a spring that is elastically deformed along its own length direction, and the width of the elastic member cavity 205 is set such that the spring is maintained in a vertical state, i.e., the width of the elastic member cavity 205 is slightly greater than an outer diameter of the spring, while the depth of the elastic member cavity 205 is smaller than the length of the spring in an extended state, ensuring that the spring is maintained in a state of pushing the acting end 301b outward.
An elastic piece cavity 206 is disposed above the elastic member cavity 205 in a stacked manner, and a cavity bottom of the elastic piece cavity 206 is provided with the through hole 206c, and the elastic piece cavity 206 is configured to house the elastic piece 3. The elastic piece 3 may be a simple strip-shaped piece with one end serving as the acting end 301b and the other end serving as the locking pin end 301a, in particular, the elastic piece 3 in this embodiment has a cross-shaped structure.
Specifically in this embodiment, the elastic piece cavity 206 includes a transverse groove portion 206a and a vertical groove portion 206b which are crossed, one end of the vertical groove portion 206b is disposed above the elastic member cavity 205, and the other end of the vertical groove portion 206b is provided with the through hole 206c; and
By disposing the transverse groove portion 206a and the corresponding transverse portions 302, the elastic piece 3 cannot undergo excessive displacement in other directions except for pressing downward and tilting upward, ensuring that the elastic piece 3 is always in the correct position to accurately switch the unlocked state and the stopped state of the zipper slider in this embodiment.
In particular, the locking pin end 301a gradually decreases in width and is biased to one side in the outward direction, ensuring that the locking pin end 301a is correctly inserted between the zipper teeth every time the locking pin end 301a passes through the through hole 206c to play a locking function, otherwise, the locking pin end 301a may be inserted in the middle of left and right zippers that are not closed, and the locking function cannot be achieved.
In this embodiment, a middle of the elastic piece cavity 206 is an inclined surface 206d, an upper end of the inclined surface 206d extends horizontally and communicates with the elastic member cavity 205, and a lower end of the inclined surface 206d extends horizontally and communicates with the through hole 206c, and the inclined surface 206d is provided to make switching the state of the elastic piece 3 smoother.
The movable connection between the torsion member 1 and the upper plate 201 can be accomplished by disposing a rotating shaft connecting the torsion member 1 and the upper plate 201, or by disposing a circumferential sliding rail or a circular-arc sliding rail on the upper plate 201. There are various movable connections in the art.
In this embodiment, the top of the upper plate 201 is further provided with an annular portion 2012 coaxial with the switching shaft sleeve 105, a bottom of the annular portion 2012 is suspended as the circumferential sliding rail, and the operation cover 104 is provided with clamping-sliding blocks 104a adapted to the circumferential sliding rail, the clamping-sliding blocks 104a are slidably connected to the circumferential sliding rail to enable the movable connection of the torsion member 1 to the upper plate 201.
Specifically, the operation cover is provided with an annular side wall 104e protruding downward, and the clamping-sliding blocks 104a are formed by the annular side wall 104e protruding in the axial direction;
The torsion spring 5 has a first end 501a and a second end 501b which extend outwardly and protrude and are symmetrically formed, and the limiting notch 2011 are formed at a top end of the elastic piece cavity 206, and the first end 501a and the second end 501b of the extended torsion spring are respectively clamped into both sides of the limiting notch 2011, a rotation angle of the torsion member 1 is limited by the limit notches 2011, and the torsion spring is prevented from being damaged by over rotation,
If the torsion spring 5 is provided so that the first end 501a has a linkage relationship with the operation cover 104, while the second end 501b is restricted by the limiting notch, the automatic rebound locking function in this embodiment can also be implemented. However, there is only one unlocking direction. In order to make the unlocking direction more flexible.
In this embodiment, the operation cover 104 is provided with two circlip portions 104d protruding downward corresponding to the first end 501a and the second end 501b of the torsion spring 5, the circlip portions 104d are located at an outer side of the switching shaft sleeve 5, and the first end 501a and the second end 501b of the torsion spring 5 are located on sliding paths of the circlip portions 104d so that the torsion spring 5 has a linkage relationship with the operation cover 104;
In particular, a top of the outer ring of the annular portion 2012 is provided with a chamfer 2012c for guiding the hook structures to slide down.
The operation cover 104 and the switching shaft sleeve 105 are integrally formed or separately disposed, in this embodiment, since the operation cover 104 and the switching shaft sleeve 105 are made of different materials, the operation cover 104 and the switching shaft sleeve 105 are separately arranged.
An upper part of the switching shaft sleeve 105 is an incompletely circular anti-misplacement bump 7, and the bottom of the operation cover 104 is provided with a recess 6 adapted to the anti-misplacement bump 7, and
the anti-misplacement bump 7 restricts the operation cover 104 and the switching shaft sleeve 105 to only have a unique assembling angle, so that the avoidance notch 102a is located above the acting end 301b after assembly, so as to ensure the locked state at every rebound.
In this embodiment, a middle of the bottom of the operation cover 104 protrudes downward to form a sleeve column, an outer diameter of the sleeve column is smaller than a diameter of an inner ring of the torsion spring 5, a middle of the sleeve column is provided with the recess 6, an outer diameter of a lower part of the switching shaft sleeve 105 is larger than the diameter of the inner ring of the torsion spring 5, the torsion spring 5 sleeves an outer side of the sleeve column, and the lower part of the switching shaft sleeve 105 prevents the torsion spring 5 from coming out after assembly.
After assembly, the first end 501a and the second end 501b of the torsion spring 5 abut against side walls of the two circlip portions 104d, respectively to prevent rotation of the torsion spring 5, and fixing the position of the torsion spring 5 is conducive to assembly, and the assembly efficiency can also be improved without affecting automatic rebound.
In this embodiment, first, the torsion spring 5 sleeves the sleeve column, and then the switching shaft sleeve 105 is assembled to the operation cover 104, i.e., the torsion member 1 is assembled, and then the zipper slider body 2 is assembled, i.e., the first elastic member 4 is placed in the elastic member cavity 205, and then the elastic piece 3 is placed, and then the assembled torsion member 1 is pressed to be installed on the zipper slider body 2 assembled with the first elastic member 4 and the elastic piece 3.
The bottom end of the switching shaft sleeve 105 is provided with the avoidance notch 102a and the downward pressing portion 105a, and as long as the avoidance notch 102a does not press the acting end 301b downward, i.e., an accommodation space is reserved for the acting end 301b tilted upward, and the downward pressing portion 105a does not have an accommodation space, and the acting end 301b is pressed. In this embodiment, the bottom end of the switching shaft sleeve 105 is composed of an inclined surface and a flat surface which are connected, an edge of the flat surface is connected to a lower end of the inclined surface, the inclined surface serves as the avoidance notch 102a, and the flat surface serves as the downward pressing portion 105a, the structure is simple and the conversion process is smooth
As shown in
The metal twisting and locking slider structure also includes a first elastic member 4, an elastic piece 3, and a torsion member 1 which are installed on a top of the upper plate 201, the torsion member 1 is made of a metal or an alloy, and an outer surface of the torsion member 1 can be used to be connected to a hand-held structure such as a zipper puller and a zipper cord, or used to be connected to a decorative structure or the like.
The elastic piece 3 is provided with an acting end 301b and a locking pin end 301a, and the acting end 301b of the elastic piece 3 is disposed above an end of the first elastic member 4 and jacked by the end of the first elastic member 4, the upper plate 201 is further provided with a through hole 206c for allowing the locking pin end 301a to pass through downward.
An outer periphery of the torsion member 1 is provided with a riveting structure, the upper plate 201 is provided with an anti-detachment edge 2014, the riveting structure is bent so that the riveting structure is movably hooked to the anti-detachment edge 2014, and then the torsion member 1 is movably connected to the upper plate 201.
The torsion member 1 includes an operation cover 104, a switching shaft sleeve 105 and a torsion spring 5.
A bottom of the operation cover 104 is provided with the switching shaft sleeve 105 protruding downward, the torsion spring 5 sleeves an outer side of the switching shaft sleeve 105, a bottom end of the switching shaft sleeve 105 is located above the elastic piece 3, and the bottom end of the switching shaft sleeve 105 is provided with an avoidance notch 102a and a downward pressing portion 105a which are adapted to the elastic piece 3.
at least a first end 501a of the torsion spring 5 has a linkage relationship with the operation cover 104, the upper plate 201 is further provided with a limiting notch for at least limiting movement of a second end 501b of the torsion spring 5, and twisting the operation cover 104 can drive the torsion spring 5 to undergo radial elastic deformation.
Firstly, in view of the characteristic that most metal or alloy materials are difficult to deform elastically, this embodiment utilizes this characteristic to design the riveting structure, the torsion member 1 is first wrapped around the zipper slider body, and then the riveting structure is bent so that the riveting structure is movably hooked to the anti-detachment edge 2014 of the zipper slider body, and then the torsion member 1 is movably connected to the upper plate 201, and due to the characteristic that the metal and alloy are not prone to the elastic deformation, the connection is relatively firm, so that the torsion member 1 will not be easily detached from the zipper slider body, and at the same time, the torsion member 1 does not need to be additionally saved by a user, the torsion member 1 is not easily lost, and the exposed structures are also made of the metal or alloy in this embodiment, which can meet the design requirements of certain products for metal texture.
Secondly, referring to
In other words, when the user wants to pull the zipper slider in this embodiment to open or close a zipper, the user only needs to twist the torsion member 1 while pulling the zipper slider in this embodiment. When the user releases the hand and no longer applies a force to the torsion member 1, the zipper slider in this embodiment automatically rebounds to be locked under the action of the torsion spring 5 without the need for the user to intentionally switch to the locked state, which is more in line with the actual usage scenario and enhances the user's experience.
Finally, since switching to the unlocked state requires a certain twisting operation in this embodiment, the learning difficulty of this operation is extremely low for the user, but this operation is unfamiliar and cannot be intuitively understood by a person other than the user, thereby increasing the unlocking difficulty, reducing the probability of articles being stolen, and preventing the zipper slider in this embodiment from being accidentally opened due to the external force such as friction or bumping.
In actual application, the first elastic member 4 may be an elastic piece, a spring, a torsion spring, or the like, as long as it can be installed in the elastic member cavity 205 and maintained jacking the acting end 301b of the elastic piece 3 upward.
The first elastic member 4 in this embodiment is a spring that is elastically deformed along its own length direction, and the width of the elastic member cavity 205 is set such that the spring is maintained in a vertical state, i.e., the width of the elastic member cavity 205 is slightly greater than an outer diameter of the spring, while the depth of the elastic member cavity 205 is smaller than the length of the spring in an extended state, ensuring that the spring is maintained in a state of pushing the acting end 301b outward.
In this embodiment, the upper plate 201 is provided with an elastic piece cavity 206 recessed downward from a top surface of the upper plate 201, the elastic piece cavity 206 is configured to house the elastic piece 3, a cavity bottom of the elastic piece cavity 206 does not exceed a bottom of the upper plate 201, the cavity bottom, corresponding to the position of the combined chain channel, of the elastic piece cavity 206 is provided with the through hole 206c, and the bottom cavity, corresponding to the position of the support core 204, of the elastic piece cavity 206 is recessed downward to form an elastic member cavity 205, the elastic member cavity 205 is configured to house the first elastic member 4, and the elastic member cavity 205 is located inside the support core 204 and does not exceed a bottom of the lower plate 202.
When the torsion member 1 covers the upper plate 201, the end of the switching shaft sleeve 105 extends into the elastic piece cavity 206 to be in contact the elastic piece 3; and
The operation cover 104 is provided with a panel portion and an annular side wall 104e located at one side of the panel portion, a cavity that opens towards the zipper slider body is formed in the operation cover 104, an end of the annular side wall 104e is provided with the riveting structure, and the riveting structure includes a plurality of riveting terminals 104g circumferentially distributed, and the single riveting terminal is an arc-shaped strip disposed along the end of the annular side wall 104e; and
It should be noted that the rotational connection between the riveting structure and the anti-detachment edge 2014 has various implementation forms, for example, the rotational connection can also be achieved by forming a groove in a side wall of the anti-detachment edge 2014 in a radial direction and bending the riveting structure into the groove. In this embodiment, the reason that the riveting position is particularly disposed at the bottom of the anti-detachment edge 2014 that is suspended is as follows: firstly, the structure is more in line with the action of riveting equipment; secondly, the operation cover 104 is provided with a side wall having a relatively large area for the user to grip for twisting; thirdly, the appearance of the metal twisting and locking slider structure in this embodiment is relatively simple and smooth by reducing the exposed structures of the zipper slider body through wrapping
If the torsion spring 5 is provided so that the first end 501a has a linkage relationship with the operation cover 104, while the second end 501b is restricted by the limiting structure, the automatic rebound locking function in this embodiment can also be implemented. However, there is only one unlocking direction. In order to make the unlocking direction more flexible and convenient for users to use, in this embodiment, the torsion spring 5 has a first end 501a and a second end 501b which extend outwardly and protrude and are symmetrically formed, a top surface of the upper plate 201 protrudes upward to form two bosses 2013, the limiting notch is formed in a radial space between the two bosses 2013, and the first end 501a and the second end 501b of the extended torsion spring 5 are clamped between the two bosses 2013 in the radial direction.
After the torsion member 1 is assembled to the zipper slider body, the circlip portions 104d are located between a body of the torsion spring 5 and the bosses 2013,
Since the metal twisting and locking slider structure in this embodiment is a small micro-part as a zipper slider, the operation cover 104 is of a small and thin cover structure after forming, and the structural strength at a turning point of the cavity is slightly insufficient. Therefore, in this embodiment, the bottom of the cavity protrudes along the annular sidewall 104e to form a reinforcing ring portion 104h to raise the structural strength at this position, thereby preventing the operation cover 104 from being easily deformed due to the impact of the external force.
Further, since the torsion member 1 can rotate by 360° in essence, i.e., the torsion member 1 does not have a positioning prompt function, it is prone to over rotation when the user applies a force to twist the torsion member 1, and then the torsion spring 5 is damaged, therefore, an inner ring wall of the reinforcing ring portion 104h protrudes toward the axial center to form a limiting bump 104b, and the limiting bump 104b is located between the two bosses 2013 in the radial direction after the torsion member 1 is assembled to the zipper slider body, and the limiting bump 104b can only move between the two bosses 2013, i.e., a rotation angle of the torsion member 1 is limited by the two bosses 2013 to avoid over rotation.
In this embodiment, an outer surface of the operation cover 104 is provided with a marking bump 104i which is located on the same side as the downward pressing portion 105a or the avoidance notch 102a and corresponds to the center position of this portion. The marking bump 104i allows an assembling apparatus to recognize the assembling direction, or a worker can directly judge the assembling direction by touching the marking bump 104i when grasping the torsion member 1 during assembly, which has a relatively fast assembly speed compared with assembly by viewing the orientation of the switching shaft sleeve with an eye.
The bottom end of the switching shaft sleeve 105 is provided with the avoidance notch 102a and the downward pressing portion 105a, and as long as the avoidance notch 102a does not press the acting end 301b of the elastic piece 3 downward, i.e., an accommodation space is reserved for the acting end 301b tilted upward, and the downward pressing portion 105a does not have an accommodation space, and the acting end 301b of the elastic piece 3 is pressed. In this embodiment, the bottom end of the switching shaft sleeve 105 is composed of an inclined surface and a flat surface which are connected, an edge of the flat surface is connected to a lower end of the inclined surface, the inclined surface serves as the avoidance notch 102a, and the flat surface serves as the downward pressing portion 105a, the structure is simple and the conversion process is smooth.
In this embodiment, an outer diameter of the upper part of the switching shaft sleeve 105 is smaller than a diameter of an inner ring of the torsion spring 5, and an outer diameter of a lower part of the switching shaft sleeve 105 is larger than the diameter of the inner ring of the torsion spring 5, the torsion spring 5 sleeves the upper part of the switching shaft sleeve 105, and after assembly, the lower part of the switching shaft sleeve 105 prevents the torsion spring 5 from coming out.
In practical applications, the operation cover 104 and the switching shaft sleeve 105 may be formed integrally or may be separately disposed in a relatively stationary manner. In this embodiment, the operation cover 104 and the switching shaft sleeve 105 are separately disposed based on the above assembly structure design, and the torsion spring 5 is sleeved with the upper part of the switching shaft sleeve 105 from a position above the separated switching shaft sleeve 105 when the torsion member 1 is assembled.
A fool-proof bump and a recess which are adapted to each other are disposed between the operation cover 104 and the switching shaft sleeve 105, the fool-proof bump restricts the operation cover 104 and the switching shaft sleeve 105 to only have a unique assembling angle, and the avoidance notch 102a is located above the acting end 301b after assembly.
In particular, the bottom of the operation cover 104 is provided with an incompletely circular clamping opening 104j, and the upper end of the switching shaft sleeve 105 is provided with a clamping portion 105b adapted to the shape of the clamping opening 104j, and the incompletely circular shape allows only one correct assembly angle between the clamping opening 104j and the clamping portion 105b.
In practical applications, the elastic piece 3 may be a simple strip-shaped piece with one end serving as the acting end 301b and the other end serving as the locking pin end 301a. Specifically, in this embodiment, the elastic piece 3 has a cross-shaped structure having transverse portions 302 and a vertical portion 301, and two ends of the vertical portion 301 are disposed as the acting end 301b and the locking pin end 301a, respectively.
The elastic piece cavity 206 includes a transverse groove portion 206a and a vertical groove portion 206b that intersect and communicate with each other, the transverse portions 302 are placed in the transverse groove portion 206a, the vertical portion 301 is placed in the vertical groove portion 206b, and a bottom of one end of the vertical groove portion 206b is downwardly recessed to form the elastic member cavity 205, and the other end of the vertical groove portion 206b is provided with the through hole 206c.
By disposing the transverse portions 302 on the elastic piece 3 and designing the corresponding transverse groove portion 206a, the elastic piece 3 cannot undergo excessive displacement in other directions except for pressing downward and tilting upward, ensuring that the elastic piece 3 is always in the correct position to accurately switch the unlocked state and the stopped state of the metal twisting and locking slider structure in this embodiment.
In particular, the locking pin end 301a gradually decreases in width and is biased to one side in the outward direction, ensuring that the locking pin end 301a is correctly inserted between the zipper teeth every time the locking pin end 301a passes through the through hole 206c to play a locking function, otherwise, the locking pin end 301a may be inserted in the middle of left and right zippers that are not closed, and the locking function cannot be achieved.
In this embodiment, a middle of the elastic piece cavity 206 is an inclined surface 206d, an upper end of the inclined surface 206d extends horizontally and communicates with the elastic member cavity 205, and a lower end of the inclined surface 206d extends horizontally and communicates with the through hole 206c, and the inclined surface 206d is provided to better support the tilting upward or downward pressing action of the elastic piece 3, avoid deformation in the switching process and make switching smoother.
The top end of the elastic piece cavity 206 is provided with a shaft sleeve cavity 2015 adapted to the switching shaft sleeve 105 in a stacked manner to facilitate alignment assembly and fit the moving path design of rotary switching, and the lower part of the switching shaft sleeve 105 extends into the shaft sleeve cavity 2015 to be in contact with the elastic piece 3.
Referring to
Considering that the surface of the operation cover made of the metal or alloy is smooth and the gripping area is small, and it is easy to slip off when the operation cover is pinched by a hand, the rubber sleeve is designed to increase the friction force and gripping area during gripping; at the same time, the rubber sleeve has many designable styles and colors, and the die sinking cost is low, which can enrich the appearance style of the metal twisting and locking slider structure in this embodiment. If a front surface of the operation cover 104 is designed with a trademark, a characteristic pattern, and the like, the transparent rubber sleeve makes the operation cover 104 still visible, thereby avoiding occlusion.
The specific assembly steps of the metal twisting and locking slider structure in this embodiment are as follows:
It should be specially noted that in the present invention, if the torsion spring is not provided, the zipper slider will become a manually locked/unlocked zipper slider (as shown in the schematic structural diagram of Embodiment 3 in
At the same time, an outer contour of the operation cover can be arbitrarily designed, for example, an oval shape, a triangular shape, a square shape, an irregular pattern, etc., and the outer surface of the operation cover may be designed with raised patterns, recessed patterns, laser patterns, customized logos, etc., or the operation cover may be additionally provided with an anti-slip structure, a friction-increasing structure, etc., or the operation cover may be subjected to twice injection molding to match different materials, patterns, etc., to enhance the visual effect of the metal twisting and locking slider structure of the present disclosure and beautify the appearance.
Variations and modifications to the described embodiments may be made by those skilled in the art in view of the above disclosures and teachings. Therefore, the present invention is not limited to the particular embodiments disclosed and described above, but that modifications and variations of the present invention will come within the scope of the appended claims. Furthermore, although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 202320850989.X | Apr 2023 | CN | national |
| 202321406157.5 | Jun 2023 | CN | national |
The present application is a Continuation application of PCT Application No. PCT/CN2024/076618 filed on Feb. 7, 2024, which claims the benefit of Chinese Patent Application Nos. 202320850989.X filed on Apr. 14, 2023 and 202321406157.5 filed on Jun. 2, 2023. All the above are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | PCT/CN2024/076618 | Feb 2024 | WO |
| Child | 18964729 | US |
