Buckles – buttons – clasps – etc. – Separable-fastener or required component thereof – Including member having distinct formations and mating...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-10-11
2003-12-23
Sandy, Robert J. (Department: 3677)
Buckles, buttons, clasps, etc.
Separable-fastener or required component thereof
Including member having distinct formations and mating...
C024S625000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06665915
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a buckle for engagement with fastening belts or bands for a various types of bags such as a mountain-climbing bag, a sports bag and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A widely used conventional buckle of this type is illustrated in
FIG. 12
, by way of an example. Referring to this figure, the conventional buckle consists of a male section
10
and a female section
20
that are detachably mated to each other. In such conventional buckle it is common that the male section
10
and the female section
20
are each integrally molded of any suitable materials such as plastic. The male section
10
includes a resilient latch portion
11
at the front end thereof for detachably mating with the female section
20
. The male section
10
further includes an engagement portion
12
at the rear end thereof for adjustably engagement with a fastening belt or band for a bag. On the other hand, the female section
20
includes a mating recess
21
at the front end thereof for detachably receiving the resilient latch portion
11
of the male section
10
. The female section
20
further includes an engagement portion
22
at the rear end thereof for fixedly engagement with a fastening belt or band for the bag. In more detail, the engagement portion
12
of the male section
10
includes an engagement rod
12
A, a base rod
12
B, and through-holes
12
C,
12
D formed at forward and back sides of the engagement rod
12
A. The engagement portion
22
of the female section
20
includes an engagement rod
22
A and a through-hole
22
B formed at forward side of the engagement rod
22
A. In actual the base rod
12
B is provided with a tapered top surface
12
B′ downwardly extending toward the engagement rod
12
A, and a corrugated bottom surface for preventing any slippage of the belt.
The conventional buckle described above is illustrated in
FIG. 13
, as being used for one type of a bag, for example, a sports bag. Such bag has an adjustable fastening belt
32
secured at one end to a bag body
31
, and a fixed fastening belt
34
secured at one end to a cover
33
of the bag. The fastening belts
32
and
34
are engaged with the conventional buckle in the following manner. A free end of the adjustable fastening belt
32
is passed through the through-hole
12
C from back to front side, and then it is passed through the through-hole
12
D from front to back side. As the result the belt
32
is wound around the engagement rod
12
A. Now the adjustable fastening belt
32
becomes adjustably engaged with the male section
10
of the buckle. Similarly, an end of the fixed fastening belt
34
is passed through the through-hole
22
B from front to back side so that the belt
34
is wound around the engagement rod
22
A. Thereafter, both ends of the belt
34
are secured to the cover
33
by a sewing process, for example. Now the fixed fastening belt
34
becomes fixedly engaged with the female section
20
of the buckle.
In this manner the bag body
31
is provided with the adjustable fastening belt
32
having the male section
10
of the buckle adjustably engaged therewith, and the cover
33
is provided with the fixed fastening belt
34
having the female section
20
fixedly engaged therewith. Then an active length of the adjustable fastening belt
32
ranging from one end portion thereof secured on the bag body
31
to a point where the belt
32
is wound around the engagement rod
12
A is adjusted to suit to the thickness of the bag body
31
or the amount of goods within the bag at that moment. Thereafter the resilient latch arms
11
of the male section
10
are snapped into the mating recess
21
of the female section
20
to connect the both fastening belts
32
and
34
to each other. As the result the cover
33
is reliably fastened to the bag body
31
to close the bag.
When it is desired to open the bag or to separate the cover
33
from the bag body
31
, the resilient latch arms
11
of the male section
10
are resiliently biased toward each other. Then, they are pulled out from the mating recess
21
of the female section
20
to disconnect the adjustable fastening belt
32
and the fixed fastening belt
34
from each other.
The conventional buckle having the components as described above is sufficiently effective in that fastening or separating of the bag body to or from the cover can be made simply by connection or disconnection of both fastening belts. Furthermore, adjustment of said active length of the adjustable fastening belt is facilitated to suit to the amount of goods within the bag. The conventional buckle functions satisfactorily without any problem in the normal condition wherein when the male and female sections are mated together some pulling or tensile force is exerted between the adjustable fastening belt on the male section and the fixed fastening belt on the female section.
It has been found, however, that the conventional buckle may cause some problems in the following cases. Reference is made to
FIG. 14
that is a side view partially representing the relation between the bag body
31
and the cover
33
, as illustrated in the perspective view of FIG.
13
. As is apparent in
FIG. 14
, when the male section
10
having the adjustable fastening belt
32
engaged therewith (with the active length adjusted) is mated to the female section
20
having the fixed fastening belt
34
engaged therewith to fasten the bag body
31
to the cover
33
, then it may happen that the engagement portion
12
of the male section
10
slightly projects beyond the bottom surface of the bag body
31
due to the thickness of the bag body
31
or the amount of the goods within the bag at that moment. In this condition, even if any pulling force indicated by an arrow “F” is applied to one end of the adjustable fastening belt
32
, such pulling force “F” may not act to oppose the pulling force on the fixed fastening belt
34
. Because of such pulling force “F” substantially perpendicular to the direction of the engagement portion
12
of the male section
10
, it may act to gradually unwind the adjustable fastening belt
32
from the engagement rod
12
A of the engagement portion
12
. Even in such condition there is no possibility that the resilient latch portion
11
of the male section
10
completely disengages from the mating recess
21
of the female section
20
. However, it may possible that the active length of the adjustable fastening belt
32
ranging from the end portion thereof secured to the bag body
31
to a point where the belt is wound around the engagement portion
12
of the male section
10
becomes gradually increased. This gradually decreases the fastening force of the cover
33
relative to the bag body
31
to such degree that there is no effective fastening force exerted. If the entire length of the adjustable fastening belt
32
is relatively short then the free end of the adjustable fastening belt
32
may completely disengage from the engagement portion
12
of the male section
10
so that the male section
10
may drop off, in the worst case.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the above one object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved buckle in order to solve the problems in the prior art.
To attain such object the present invention provides a buckle comprising a first section including an engagement portion for engagement with a belt-like, flexible, adjustable fastening member and a latch portion, and a second section which is structured to detachably mate with said latch portion of said first section, said engagement portion being capable of pivotally moving to said latch portion.
According to one embodiment of the present invention said first section is a male type and said second section is a female type.
According to another embodiment of the present invention said first section is a female type and said second section is a male type.
According to further embodiment of the present invention said latch portion includes pivot shafts a
Camel Co., Ltd.
Cohen & Pontani, Lieberman & Pavane
Sandy Robert J.
LandOfFree
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