Buckles – buttons – clasps – etc. – Bag fasteners – Resilient slot bag tie
Reexamination Certificate
2003-01-22
2004-07-20
Sandy, Robert J. (Department: 3677)
Buckles, buttons, clasps, etc.
Bag fasteners
Resilient slot bag tie
C024S03050R, C024S306000, C024S0170AP
Reexamination Certificate
active
06763554
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND
1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to strap-form wrap ties and closures, specifically to such ties as are used for closing the necks of plastic bags, are releasable, and are used as well for other purposes such as bundling wires, cords and cables, and for like applications.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The present invention makes use of the familiar VELCRO™ brand hook and loop fastening system. Invented over 40 years ago, the extraordinary Velcro system has over the years found literally thousands of applications and uses, and many patents have been issued for products that make use of hook and loop materials. Hence, much of the prior art to which we will refer will be products that employ the hook and loop fastening system.
One version of the Velcro™ type hook and loop fastening system is in the form of a strap wherein the hook component is permanently adhered to one face of the strap (which might be called the gripper face) and the loop component (often wooly in appearance) is permanently adhered to the opposite face of the strap. Such fasteners are often referred to as self-engaging back-to-back fasteners. The Velcro™ company calls this the “One-Wrap Brand” back-to-back fastener. The loop component may be of woven or knit or pile construction, or a web of entangled fibers, and this component is effectively engaged by the hook or gripper component simply by pressing the two components together by hand. The tie thus attaches to itself. The tie is also easy to “untie”. One releases it from its grip on itself simply by peeling it away from itself. The tie holds very effectively for its purpose and it is reusable. It can be fastened and unfastened repeatedly without losing its effectiveness.
One use for a tie made of self-engaging back-to-back hook and loop fastener materials in strap form is for closing plastic bags. In that use, the tie is wrapped around the gathered open end of a bag (which we will call the neck of the bag) to close it effectively. Such closures are also easy to untie and remove and they may be reused repeatedly.
The closing of plastic bags with releasable ties or closures has presented an opportunity that has attracted numerous inventors and innovators. Numbers of patents have been issued for products which address this application.
Another important use for a strap tie is for wrapping and bundling wire, cord, tubing and the like. These strap-type ties and those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,467,132 B1 to Robley (2002), U.S. Pat. No. 6,349,904 to Polad (2002), U.S. Pat. No. 6,205,623 B1 to Shepard and Clune (2001), U.S. Pat. No. 6,044,525 to Sastre et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,802,676 to Tolan (1998), U.S. Pat. No. 5,604,961 to Cole (1997), U.S. Pat. No. 5,168,603 to Reed (1992), U.S. Pat. No. 5,142,743 to Hahn (1992), U.S. Pat. No. 5,048,158 to Koerner (1991), U.S. Pat. No. 4,955,981 to Provost (1990), U.S. Pat. No. 4,939,818 to Hahn (1990), U.S. Pat. No. 4,893,381 to Frankel (1990), U.S. Pat. No. 4,878,274 to Patricy (1989) U.S. Pat. No. 4,815,172 to Ward (1989), U.S. Pat. No. 4,672,722 to Malamed (1987), U.S. Pat. No. 4,149,540 to Hasslinger (1 979), and U.S. Pat. No. 3,000,384to Piers, Jr. (1961) all suffer variously from disadvantages such as complexity, complication, clumsiness in use, the need for accessory products such as buckles, slides and keepers, or the need for special orientation of parts, segments, or components. These disadvantages are in some cases compounded by high cost to manufacture. U.S. Pat. No. 5,913,483 to Polk discloses a shoe lace securing device, illustrated in our
FIGS. 9
,
10
,
11
and
12
. There is a tab shape on at least one end of the device. Attached by adhesive or other means to a first surface of the device at one end only is a patch with loop material on the patch (
FIG. 9-34
and FIG.
10
-
34
). The rest of the first surface is smooth and is used for printing or ornamental decoration. The opposite surface of the device is completely covered with hook material.
FIGS. 13 and 14
show one embodiment of the Polk device being applied to the laces of a shoe. In the installation, the device is placed underneath the shoe laces at the knot, hook surface up. The tab end is folded up and over the shoe lace knot, the hook surface engaging the knot and the adjacent laces, the hook faced tab overlapping and mating with the small loop faced patch on the opposite end of the opposite face of the device, thus securing the knot as well as hiding it—which is its stated purpose.
FIG. 15
shows the finished installation. The attractively decorated face of the tab is outermost, and virtually all that we see. The Polk apparatus has done its job.
The short device of the Polk patent (U.S. Pat. No. 5,913,483) accomplishes its limited purpose quite adequately—which is to secure and cover a shoe lace knot. But it cannot be used, nor was it intended to be used, as an adjustable tie for the broad range of binding tasks for which our tie was designed. Such tasks include adjustably binding bags of many different types, different sizes, different materials, and different neck diameters; as well as adjustably binding a variety of different products such as cords, cables, fibers, tubingand the like in a bundling type of operation—all of these examples being binding tasks for which our tie is eminently well suited. Perhaps the simplest and most popular tie in the general category of strap-form ties is the type illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 5 in U.S. Pat. No. 6,044,525 to Satire and others (2000), and illustrated in our
FIGS. 3A
,
3
B and
3
C. In addition to straps such as those just mentioned, strips cut from sheets of Velcro-type self-engaging back-to-back hook and loop material, as well as the same material in tape form and available in the marketplace, can also be used for the applications already referred to.
However, as useful as the back-to-back strap ties are, there are disadvantages and limitations. Referring again to FIGS. 1 and 5 of U.S. Pat. No. 6,044,525, and illustrated in our
FIGS. 3A
,
3
B and
3
C, referred to in the above paragraph, note that a slot
16
has been cut into the slightly widened end of each strap. This end is wider than the strap body in order to accommodate the slot through which the strap will pass. The first disadvantage of this otherwise very useful tie is that in using the tie for bundling a number of wires, cords or cables, one should (as advised by the manufacturer) first wrap the tie around a single cord or cable, push the tie through the slot, pull it up tight, and then having thus anchored the strap, wrap it around the rest of the bundle, pressing the strap onto itself to complete the tie. This rather cumbersome anchoring step, during which the tie tends to get caught as it passes through the slot shown in
FIG. 3B
, becomes unnecessary, as will be seen, with the tie of the present invention.
The second disadvantage of the strap tie as shown in FIGS. 1 and 5 of U.S. Pat. No. 6,044,525 to Sastre et al. (2000) and illustrated in our
FIGS. 3A
,
3
B and
3
C is that it is not well suited to many binding tasks, being too wide, as presently targeted, for many applications. (If too long, one simply cuts off the excess.) If one prefers not to use the tie in strap form with the slot, and just buy the Velcro™ brand or other brand back-to-back self-adhering material in roll or sheet form, it is available only in ⅝″ minimum width. If one prefers to use a strap in narrower dimension as better suited to the task at hand, he might himself cut, or have cut by a converter, strips of narrower dimensions. However, in wrapping something with a narrow strap, say, ⅜″ wide, there is still a disadvantage. It would be hard to anchor one end of the strap and then wrap it tightly and neatly around an object, because the thumb keeps getting in the way. The wrapping hence becomes awkward, clumsy and unsatisfactory.
U.S. Patents Considered Relevant References
We list below all patents which we have found, or which have been called to our attention, which we consider to be relevant reference
Torrey Lis N.
Torrey Ralph H.
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