Buckles – buttons – clasps – etc. – Separable-fastener or required component thereof – Including member having distinct formations and mating...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-05-04
2002-03-05
Knight, Anthony (Department: 3626)
Buckles, buttons, clasps, etc.
Separable-fastener or required component thereof
Including member having distinct formations and mating...
C024S614000, C024S615000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06351876
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a side release buckle comprising a socket member having openings on sides thereof and a plug member having arm portions which are releasably inserted into the socket member and engageable with the openings. More specifically, the present invention relates to a side release buckle having increased engaging strength and having no risk of a fault operation in inserting the plug member into the socket member.
2. Description of the Related Art
Buckles of various structures have been well known, each of which is comprised of a female member composed of a socket member and a male member composed of a plug member, molded of synthetic resin. Speaking of its basic structure, the socket member has engaging faces, while the plug member comprises arm portions which are adapted to be releasably inserted into the socket member and engaging portions on the arm portion which engage and disengage from the engaging faces of the socket member. Each of the socket member and plug member has a base portion at its one side end thereof. A belt insertion hole is formed in each of the base portions. An end of the belt is inserted through the belt insertion hole and fixed thereto. By engaging/disengaging the socket member and/from plug member, both the belt ends can be connected to or disconnected from each other.
Among these buckles, there is a type in which openings are formed side walls of the socket member, and by fitting the engaging portions formed at front ends of the arm portions of the plug member into the openings, engaging faces of the engaging portions engage the respective parts of the openings, so that the plug member is connected to the socket member. To release this connection, side faces of the engaging portions which engage the openings so as to be exposed outside are nipped with fingers and pushed in so as to deform the arm portions resiliently. Then, the engaging portions are removed from the openings, thus the plug member is pulled out of the socket member.
A general type buckle of this kind has two arm portions extending in parallel from a base portion of the plug member, and shoulder portions are formed at front ends of arm portions so as to be projected outward from side faces of the arm portions. The arm portions are inserted into a cavity of the socket member while being resiliently deformed. When the shoulder portions reach the side face openings of the socket member, the resilient deformation of the arm portions is returned to their original state, and at the same time, the shoulder portions are inserted into the openings so that they engage portions of the opening rear end faces. Because sections of the shoulder portions cannot be formed larger than a section of the cavity, the engagement between the socket member and plug member is achieved by only engagement between the opening rear end faces formed by the right and left side walls and the shoulder portions.
Therefore, when an external force is applied to exposed surfaces of the shoulder portions while the socket member and the plug member are connected to each other, the shoulder portions are resiliently deformed so that they move easily into the cavity of the socket member. Therefore the plug member is easy to slip out of the socket member. Further, when a strong pulling force is applied to both the socket member and plug member in their connection direction, the shoulder portions and portions of the opening end faces of the side walls are damaged, so that the engaging force drops. Thus, sometimes, a sufficient function of the buckle cannot be exerted.
According to U.S. Pat. No. 5,737,810 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 10-117814) or U.S. Pat. No. 5,794,316, (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 10-57114), areas of the engaging faces between the openings of the socket member and the shoulder portions of the plug member are increased so as to increase an engaging force therebetween. Particularly in the latter buckle, such an engaging structure has been proposed that distribution of the areas of the engaging faces is made uniform so as to ensure a desired strength in the engaging portions.
An engaging/disengaging structure of the buckle disclosed in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 5,794,316, will be briefly described. In each of the engaging portions of the plug member, a notch portion is formed between the arm portion and the engaging portion by cutting it out. Thickness of an extended portion of the arm portion is designed to be larger than that of a projecting portion so that a step is formed between the projecting portion and the arm portion. The extended portion in the longitudinal direction of the arm portion and the portion projecting outward are constructed integrally in such a manner that a hooking face composed of lateral V-shaped or lateral U-shaped section which engages the engaging face of the socket member is formed by the step and an outer edge of the projecting portion. Each side wall portion of the cavity of the socket member is substantially the same as a contour of each lateral section of the projecting portion of the plug member. A gap between an upper wall and a bottom wall of the side wall portion is substantially the same as thickness of the extended portion of the engaging portion of the plug member.
According to the aforementioned structure of the buckle disclosed in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 5,794,316, the engaging strength against a pulling increases and the strength of the engaging portion itself is improved as mentioned in the publication. However, a moving distance for the hooking face to slip out of the engaging face of the socket member is almost uniform in an entire portion of the hooking face. Further, when an unexpected external force is applied to the engaging portion of the plug member exposed outside, the projecting portion of the engaging portion is shifted horizontally into the cavity. Therefore, a process in which the engagement is released is determined only by the aforementioned moving distance irrespective of the sectional shape of the hooking face. This moving distance is necessarily limited by a structure of the buckle.
That is, even in the buckle described in the above publication, when the engaging face of the plug member slips out of the engaging face of the socket member, all the engaging faces are entirely unlatched at the same time. As a result, it never happens that even when part of the engaging face is released, the engagement of the other part is not maintained. Therefore, when an unexpected outside force is applied to the engaging portion of the plug member as described above, at the same time when the engaging portion is shifted in the aforementioned limited moving distance, the engagement is released all at once. Thus, it never happens that even when the engaging portion is shifted in such a moving distance, the engagement is still maintained. Therefore, the aforementioned buckle is not different from the conventional buckle in that the plug member easily slips out of the socket member.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention has been achieved to solve the above problems and carry out a further improvement. An object of the invention is to provided a side release buckle in which an engaging strength between the socket member and plug member is secured, strength of engaging portions of the both members is improved, even when an unexpected external force is applied to the engaging portion of the plug member, the engaging portions are more unlikely to be released than the conventional ones and when the plug member is inserted into the socket member, the front and rear sides are not mistaken.
The above object is achieved effectively by the first to seventh aspects of the invention described below.
According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a side release buckle comprising a socket member and a plug member, said socket member including a top wall, a bottom wall, a pair of right and left side walls for connecting said top
Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner L.L.P.
Knight Anthony
Rodriguez Ruth C.
YKK Corporation
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