Buckles – buttons – clasps – etc. – Cord and rope holders – Pivoted part
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-24
2001-10-02
Brittain, James R. (Department: 3626)
Buckles, buttons, clasps, etc.
Cord and rope holders
Pivoted part
Reexamination Certificate
active
06295700
ABSTRACT:
This invention is directed to a tensioning device. More specifically, this application relates to a buckle which can be used to maintain tension in a serpentine article.
There are situations in which there is a need to quickly establish and maintain a tensile force in a serpentine article drawn (e.g. suspended) between two points or attached at one end to an object. In other situations, it is desired to establish and maintain a tensile force between one end of a serpentine article and some other portion of the same serpentine article. Depending on the particular end-use, it may be desired to maintain the force indefinitely or it may be desired to release the force at some time.
Buckles should function under a wide variety of end-use situations in which they will be exposed to extremes of environmental conditions; for example dry, sub-zero, arctic-like conditions, or wet, tropical, marine conditions. The buckles may also be subject to mechanical abuse and, because they perform very basic functions, their maintenance is easily overlooked. Thus, the invention provides buckles of robust design.
Buckles for maintaining tension in serpentine articles have application in diverse situations. For example, in the marine market they are useful for handling and securing dock lines, tow lines, and on straps for flotation devices. On sailboats they are useful as components of rigging, including on down hauls and preventers and for securing sails, furled or unfurled, to the boom, the deck, or to themselves.
In markets for sporting or recreational goods, buckles find use in combination with straps for tents, backpacks (including straps to secure items to the backpack), fanny packs, sleeping bags, and climbing harnesses and with ropes for climbing lines. Snowshoes, ski boots, hiking boots, and skates can be snugly secured to the foot with the aid of buckles.
In transportation, buckles can be used to tension hold downs for roof racks, ski racks, bicycle racks, and canoes. Buckles can be advantageously used in belt-like products for securing loads in or on a trailer, securing batteries and battery covers, lashing-down motorcycles or lashing equipment to motorcycles, securing convertible soft-tops, securing boats to trailers (e.g. so-called belly bands).
In medical markets, buckles can be used as components in traction devices (for treating muscular-skeletal injuries), in abdominal and thoracic binders, in sphygmomanometer cuffs, in retaining or securing orthopedic devices (including splints and casts), and as components of a tourniquet assembly.
Buckles are also used in goods for the home. For example, buckles are useful for holding Christmas trees in Christmas tree stands as described in copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/676,714 which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
There is a plethora of uses to which buckles can be put. Applicant has developed a robust buckle which can be used widely.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A buckle for maintaining tension in a serpentine article includes a static main buckle structure having a coupling portion and an interior chamber, which can be a through aperture, and a rotatable cam, hinged or rotably coupled to the main buckle structure within the interior chamber of the latter. The cam has end surfaces and an operating surface. The interior surface of the chamber defines at least one load bearing portion, denoted a main buckle structure load bearing portion. The operating surface of the cam also defines at least one load bearing portion, denoted a cam load bearing portion.
The cam is cylindrically, prolate, or irregularly shaped and in use it can rotate about an axis of rotation relative to the main buckle structure between closed and open positions. In the closed position, at least one load bearing portion of the cam is so juxtaposed to at least one load bearing portion of the main buckle structure that a serpentine article adapted to pass between the load bearing portions of the main buckle structure and the cam is pinched between at least one load bearing portion of the main buckle structure and at least one load bearing portion of the cam. In this way, a serpentine article is pinched between load bearing portions of the cam and main buckle structure and is securely arrested by and in the buckle and a tensile force or tension in a so adapted serpentine article is imparted to the coupling portion of the main buckle structure. Conversely, in the open position, load bearing portions of the main buckle structure and load bearing portions of the cam are so juxtaposed that a serpentine article adapted to pass through the buckle between the load bearing portions of the main buckle structure member and the load bearing portions of the cam can slip through the buckle. Preferably, the at least one cam load bearing portion remains in the interior of the buckle when in the closed or open position, or when rotated between the two positions.
The cam can be provided with a handle portion which can be used to rotate the cam away from the closed position by applying a force to the handle portion. The handle portion can be a cantilever arm having a channel through which a serpentine article, with which the buckle is used, can pass. The cam can also be provided with an elongated groove of variable cross sectional area, which runs from a point distal to at least one load bearing portion of the cam to a point proximal to a load bearing portion of the cam.
The interior chamber of the main buckle structure can also be provided with curvilinear guide surfaces to assist in threading a serpentine article through the buckle.
The buckle can be coupled at the coupling portion of the main buckle structure to another structure, such as a buckle hinge or main buckle support arrangement or structure, or to an end of a serpentine article, using suitable means.
A buckle of the invention can be combined with, for example, a serpentine article adapted to pass between the cam and main buckle structure to make a device suitable for coupling, holding, or teathering an object to a main buckle support arrangement, or for holding one object alone or a bundle of two or more objects by creating a tensile force in the serpentine article which tensile force acts in a direction substantially parallel to the free exterior surface or surfaces of the object or objects to be held. The free exterior surface of an object is a surface, or portion thereof, that is not in contact with the exterior surface, or portion thereof, of another object. If the object being held has a circular cross section, the tensile force in the serpentine article is a hoop stress.
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Brittain James R.
Dechert
Design Research & Development Corporation
LandOfFree
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