Buckles – buttons – clasps – etc. – Separable-fastener or required component thereof – Including member having distinct formations and mating...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-18
2001-10-09
Sakran, Victor N. (Department: 3626)
Buckles, buttons, clasps, etc.
Separable-fastener or required component thereof
Including member having distinct formations and mating...
C024S2650CD, C024S701000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06298528
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Various luggage items, such as briefcases, tote bags, duffle bags, and garment bags, are often provided with shoulder straps that can be completely detached. Similarly, the lower ends of the shoulder straps of backpacks often can be detached from the lower sides of the backpack body and stowed in a storage pocket. Detachable straps afford the user the option of carrying the luggage item by hand and permit the item to be transported as checked luggage on buses, trains, watercraft and aircraft with the straps stowed, thereby reducing the risk of damage due to the shoulder strap getting caught on conveyor equipment or other articles or objects during handling.
The predominant way of providing for detachment of shoulder straps of luggage items is by D-rings that are affixed to the body of the luggage item and capture hooks that are affixed to the straps. The D-rings are usually made of bent steel wire and the hooks of a cast metal, such as ZAMAC. The hardness of the cast metal hooks is significantly less than that of the steel D-rings, and the difference in hardness results in a high rate of wear of the portion of the hook that engages the D-ring. Over time, the wear produces a notch in the hook, which is a zone of stress concentration and weakness. It is not uncommon for the hook to break at the notch.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to completely eliminate the wear of a hook of a relatively softer material that is used with a D-ring of a relatively harder material and thereby prevent weakening and a risk of breakage of the hook.
The foregoing object is attained, in accordance with the present invention, by a D-ring and grommet in which the D-ring is of metal wire and is specially shaped to accept and retain the grommet, which is of a hard, wear-resistant polymeric material. The D-ring has a base leg, a pair of side legs joined to opposite ends of the base leg and converging toward each other from junctures with the base leg, and a substantially arcuate head joined to the side legs at junctures forming a neck opening that is constricted relative to a head opening defined within the head. The grommet is received within the head opening and neck opening of the D-ring, and has a hole adapted to receive a hook and a peripheral groove that is in captured engagement with the head of the D-ring and with the junctures of the head and the leg portions. Portions of the groove located at the neck opening of the D-ring are deepened relative to portions of the groove within the head opening so as to retain the grommet while enabling the grommet to be pressed endwise into the head of the D-ring.
The hardness, wear, and friction properties of the grommet are such as to virtually eliminate wear of the cast metal hook. Moreover, the grommet itself is resistant to wear. The grommet can be manufactured at a relatively low cost and is easy to assemble to the D-ring by being press-fit endwise into the head opening of the D-ring through the neck opening. The grommet is retained in the head opening by the mutual resiliency of the D-ring and the grommet acting at the regions of engagement between the constricted neck portion of the D-ring and the corresponding deepened portions of the groove in the grommet. The endwise press-fitting feature of the D-ring and grommet allows the groove in the grommet to be relatively deep and thus permits the faces of the grommet to overlie the faces of the head of the D-ring and prevent the hook from at any time directly contacting the D-ring. The deep grooves also ensure that the grommet cannot become dislodged from the head of the D-ring. The hole in the grommet captures the hook and prevents the hook from at any time engaging the side legs or base leg of the D-ring. If the grommet becomes dislodged from the head of the D-ring by being pulled out endwise through the neck opening of the D-ring, the user can easily push it back into place. Inasmuch as the load transfer from the hook to the grommet is normally toward the head of the D-ring, the grommet is very unlikely to become dislodged from the neck of the D-ring. In the unlikely event that the grommet is damaged, it can readily be replaced by the user. The capture of the hook in the hole in the grommet and the lack of any metal to metal contact between the hook and the D-ring prevents marring of the finishes of the D-ring and hook.
Preferred embodiments of the D-ring and grommet of the present invention include the following further characteristics:
The grommet is substantially D-shaped in plan;
The hole in the grommet is defined by a surface having a convex curvature in cross section;
The hole in the grommet is round in plan;
The hole in the grommet is round in plan and is concentric to the head opening of the D-ring;
The grommet in plan has a substantially semi-circular head portion and a substantially rectangular base portion;
The grommet is of nylon, such as ST-801 nylon; and
The groove in cross-section is arcuate and has a radius substantially equal to one-half the diameter of the wire of which the D-ring is formed.
REFERENCES:
patent: 0657683 (1900-09-01), Swearingen
patent: 1143837 (1915-06-01), Kozlowski
patent: 1502316 (1924-07-01), Mosgrove
patent: 1622735 (1927-03-01), Noelting et al.
patent: 2403057 (1946-07-01), Davis
patent: 3905526 (1975-09-01), Tomatsuri
patent: 4270285 (1981-06-01), Antonious
patent: 4504168 (1985-03-01), Miller
patent: 4685173 (1987-08-01), Pavur
patent: 5660423 (1997-08-01), Herman et al.
Baker & Botts L.L.P.
Sakran Victor N.
Tumi, Inc.
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