Stock material or miscellaneous articles – Structurally defined web or sheet – Including fastener for attaching to external surface
Reexamination Certificate
2000-10-13
2003-03-25
Thomas, Alexander S. (Department: 1772)
Stock material or miscellaneous articles
Structurally defined web or sheet
Including fastener for attaching to external surface
C428S099000, C428S120000, C428S126000, C428S900000, C024S442000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06537643
ABSTRACT:
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
The present invention concerns an adhering closure element with a carrier strip with meshing parts arranged on it and with a cover strip, which covers the carrier strip on the side turned away from the meshing parts, which is wider than the carrier strip, so that free side edge areas of the cover strip extend beyond the correlating longitudinal edges of the carrier strip, on both sides.
Adhering closure elements of this type, in which a large number of one-piece meshing parts in the form of stems with thickened sections are located at the meshing or front side of the carrier strip, are common on the market. DE 198 28 856 C1 describes a process for producing the carrier strip of such adhering closure elements. In this process, a thermoplastic, in particular, polyolefin or polyamide, is conducted to a slot, in a plastic or liquid state, between a pneumatic tool and a molding tool, wherein a screen with continuous cavities is used as the shaping element on the shaping tool and the meshing parts are formed by solidifying the thermoplastic, at least partially, in the cavities of the screen. In this way, a so-called microadhering closure with 200-400 meshing parts per cm
2
is formed. Instead of the mushroom-type meshing parts hereby formed, a carrier strip in the form of a textile material can also be provided, in which the meshing parts are formed by a tubular material, which forms one piece with the textile carrier strip, for example. Instead of the tubular material, a tuft or a felt structure can also be used.
Adhering closures formed in this manner are used in many different ways, for example, in the motor vehicle industry, floor covering technology, for clothing of every type and for special applications in machine construction. The adhering closures have proved to be a good technique for detachable and functionally reliable connections and closures in these fields.
If such adhering closure elements are used for airplane and motor vehicle passenger seats, they are used to affix seat covers to foam body parts, wherein one of the adhering closure elements is also foamed into the upholstery foam material during production of the individual seat, and the adhering closure element with the corresponding meshing parts is affixed, especially, sewed, on the upholstery cover material. For the production of the foam body parts, the adhering closure parts are introduced into so-called receiving pipes in a foam mold, and by the introduction of foam material into the free cross sections of the foam mold, preferably, polyurethane foam, the adhering closure elements are affixed to the foam body parts during the foam process. As a rule, the used pipes extend beyond the other walls of the foam mold and thus later form groove-like recesses in the foam body part, into which the upholstery cover material with the other corresponding adhering closure element then meshes. In this way, it is possible to reconstruct the sewing and shaping configurations on the individual seat.
So as to prevent foam material from penetrating the area of the meshing parts during the foaming of the foam mold, wherein their meshing effect would be nullified, the adhering closure elements, which are commercially common for such applications, are provided with a cover strip on the back side of the carrier strip, which is turned away from the meshing parts, which is wider than the carrier strip, so that free side edge areas of the cover strip protrude laterally beyond the carrier strip on both sides (for example, corresponding to the subsequently published German Patent Application No. 199 56 011.0). The protruding side edge areas serve to form a foam barrier in that these side edge areas are adjacent to the mold walls of the foam mold, which surround a mold trough, in which the carrier strip with the meshing parts is taken up. By securing the adhering closure element to the wall of the foam mold, which can be done, for example, by means of magnetic fixing agents, the adjacent location of the side edge areas of the protruding cover strip blocks the access of foam to the mold trough which takes up the meshing parts.
On the basis of this state of the art, an object of the present invention is to improve the known adhering closure elements of the aforementioned type to the effect that the foam barrier formed by the side edge areas of the cover strip attain a particularly reliable sealing effect.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The above and other objects of the invention can be achieved by an adhering closure element having a carrier strip with meshing parts arrayed on a surface thereof and with a cover strip covering the carrier strip on a side of the carrier strip that is turned away from the meshing parts. The cover strip is wider than the carrier strip so that free side edge areas of the cover strip extend, on both side edges, beyond the correlated longitudinal edges of the carrier strip.
A feature of the invention is that both free side edge areas of the cover strip are folded over themselves, in the direction of the carrier strip along a fold line which runs in the longitudinal direction, so that the end edges of the free side edge areas of the cover strip face the longitudinal edges of the carrier strip.
Since, in accordance with the invention, the two free side edge areas of the cover strip are folded around itself in such a way that the end edges of the free side edge areas are turned toward the longitudinal edges of the carrier strip, the cover strip on both sides forms a kind of sealing-lip, which extends along the area with the meshing parts and is adjacent to the wall parts of the foam mold which surround the mold trough, in which the meshing parts are taken up during the foam process. This sealing lip is pressed against facing wall parts of the mold by the foam material introduced into the foam mold, wherein the sealing lip presses close to the wall areas forming the sealing surface because of a certain pliability in the area of the fold line, so that the desired improvement of the sealing effect of the foam barrier is attained.
Preferably the fold lines are placed into the side edge areas of the cover strip in such a way that the side edge areas are subdivided into equal halves, and the end edges of the cover strip are therefore essentially flush with the longitudinal edges of the carrier strip.
In a preferred embodiment, the cover strip has ferromagnetic properties, at least in its free side edge areas, so that the adhering closure element can be held in position with the aid of a magnetic holding device on the foam mold, for example, by permanent magnetic strips, which are embedded in the foam mold or the receiving pipes of the foam mold in line with the side edge areas of the cover strip.
Preferably the cover strip has a fleece with embedded ferromagnetic particles, which is connected with the side of the carrier strip via a connecting device, which is turned away from the side with the meshing parts.
The connecting device can be formed from an adhesive layer. In order to impart a certain flexural strength to the adhering closure element, which facilitates the handling of the adhering closure element when it is placed in the foam mold, and in particular, when prespecified lengths of the adhering closure element, in complicated three-dimensional structures, must be placed into the pertinent foam mold, a stiffening profile can be embedded into the adhesive layer which is located between the cover strip and carrier strip. This may be an iron wire, which is provided with a coating, in particular, is zinc-coated, against corrosion. When using a ferromagnetic stiffening wire, this can also contribute to the magnetic securing of the position of the adhering closure element to the foam mold.
The meshing parts of the adhering closure element, in accordance with the invention, can be formed from hook-, tube-, tuft-, or mushroom-like closure heads.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4709523 (1987-12-01), Broderick et al.
patent: 4784890 (1988-11-01), Black
patent: 5945193 (1999-08-01), Pollard
patent: 198 28 856
Gottlieb Binder GmbH & Co.
Smith , Gambrell & Russell, LLP
Thomas Alexander S.
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