Buckles – buttons – clasps – etc. – Zipper or required component thereof – Slider having specific configuration – construction,...
Reexamination Certificate
2002-12-23
2004-05-18
Brittain, James R. (Department: 3677)
Buckles, buttons, clasps, etc.
Zipper or required component thereof
Slider having specific configuration, construction,...
C024S429000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06735827
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a slider for a zip fastener.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
As known in prior art, the slider of the zip fastener is a part which is formed by a slider body and a pull tab and which moves on the zip fastener. The slider opens the zip fastener by separating opposite rows of teeth from each other and, in a corresponding manner, closes the zip fastener by engaging the rows of teeth with each other. The slider of the zip fastener generally comprises 2 to 5 components. Since the slider of the zip fastener is formed of small, separate components, it always involves a separate assembly operation, which is complicated and time-consuming and thus it also increases manufacturing costs.
In prior art there are known many types of zip fastener sliders which are conventionally divided into the groups: retainer sliders, which include automatic lock sliders and pin lock sliders, and non-retainer sliders. Different zip fastener types are described, for example. in the SFS Standard 4330 “Slide fasteners. Terminology and definitions”.
In the applications known in prior art, for example, the tab holder part of the slider on the zip fastener must be bent to bring the pull tab of the zip fastener into its position because, in the assembly stage of the zip fastener, the tab holder of the body is open and the pull tab is threaded into its position and after that the tab holder is pressed to its proper position. In automatic lock sliders and pin lock sliders, many different arrangements are known in which the locking operation is provided by means of small spring parts and the like.
Finding a separate slot in the zip fastener itself for the tip of a locking pin or a locking spring in the zip fastener itself is usually a problem in the prior art sliders provided with a retainer.
OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the invention is to provide a zip fastener slider which is simple in structure and in its mode of assembly yet offers numerous possibilities of producing different lock types.
An object of the invention is to provide a zip fastener slider having a pull tab which remains in connection with the slider when the zip fastener is in place in the slider of the zip fastener.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a zip fastener slider whose tab holder need not be bent for disposing a pull tab in place in connection with manufacture.
It is also a further object of the invention to provide a zip fastener slider which is provided with a retainer and in which locking operates without a slot intended for the tip of a locking pin or a locking spring in the zip fastener.
An important object of the invention is also to provide a zip fastener slider in which a spring effect is produced without a spring. In prior art there is known a “pin lock” whose pin tip is rounded, but in that connection a tooth made of metal or another material is pressed against the zip fastener without a spring effect, with the result that the operation of locking is forced. In these known applications, finding a slot in the zip fastener for the locking tip is problematic because it is difficult to find it and it may break the zip fastener.
What is new and inventive in the zip fastener slider in accordance with the invention is particularly that the pull tab is threaded into its position through a threading gap/threading point between the tail of a tab holder/the tail of a rail part and the body of the slider outside the body of the slider and the throat of the slider. The zip fastener slider in accordance with the invention provides numerous locking alternatives for the zip fastener slider, the flexibility of which alternatives is easily and reliably adjustable, by placing the threading point/threading gap, a retainer head, a snap point and/or textile material in the ways in accordance with the different embodiments of the invention. The flexibility of the zip fastener slider in accordance with the invention and its applicability to different types of locking alternatives can thus be adjusted and accomplished without separate spring parts and the like and without a hole intended for a locking pin in the cover plate (upper cover) of the slider.
It is the wide range of locking in particular that is new and inventive in the zip fastener slider in accordance with the invention. By means of the zip fastener slider in accordance with the invention, locking can be provided by pressing a locking head into some suitable slot or against a locking surface, which can be the surface of a tooth or the surface of the entire tooth system or the surface of a textile tape, the surface of the textile tape outside the tooth system or the sides of the tooth system may even be used.
In accordance with the invention, a spring effect without a spring is produced by means of a snap slot located under a tab holder or a rail or by means of another equivalent recess. The spring effect can also be produced by means of a retainer head. The retainer head can be made of a hard or flexible material or it can be shaped to be flexible.
When the pressing stage of the retainer head takes place outside the throat of the slider, a smaller or greater spring effect is produced in which the tab holder can behave flexibly, in which the retainer head can behave flexibly and in which the zip fastener
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behaves flexibly, which flexible behaviours and the dimensioning of lever arms serve to provide a locking head that is positioned beyond the dead centre. This kind of locking can be absolutely tight, while, for example, the prior art locking accomplished by a spring is hardly ever so tight; or it can be even very light locking according to the need of dimensioning in each particular case.
It is not necessary to use more than one of the above-mentioned flexible elements at a time.
In accordance with the invention, a spring effect is produced without a spring by shaping the members of the slider of the zip fastener in a suitable manner. In accordance with the invention, for example, under the tab holder there is a snap slot or the tab holder or the retainer head of the pull tab is shaped to be flexible or the retainer head is made of a flexible material. It is also possible to produce the spring effect such that the zip fastener is made flexible within the throat of the zip fastener slider, for example, by making a hole in the lower cover of the zip fastener slider, thereby producing a spring effect without a spring made of a steel or other material. Thus, in accordance with the invention, compression locking is achieved in a simple manner and which does not cause any problems in finding a locking location for the zip fastener and does not damage the zip fastener. The spring effect in accordance with the invention is also operative inside the top plate and the throat of the zip fastener slider.
In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, a slider for a zip fastener is provided in which locking operates outside the cover plate without an opening (hole) in the cover plate.
Further, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention, a slider for a zip fastener is provided in which locking operates by pressing the zip fastener outside or from outside the rear of the slider throat and in which said pressing force and location can be adjusted by dimensioning, shaping, and selection of materials of the parts, without a spring usually needed in the sliders of zip fasteners.
In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, a slider for a zip fastener is provided in which the location of pressing may be any part of the zip fastener. The location may be teeth of the zip fastener, a gap in the teeth, or pressing may be directed at edges of the teeth or at both the teeth and the textile tapes of the zip fastener or even at the textile tapes of the zip fastener alone.
The zip fastener slider in accordance with the invention is simple in construction and in its mode of assembly, and it is substantially formed of two parts: a slider body and a pull tab. A tab holder part formed in connection with the slider
Brittain James R.
Steinberg & Raskin, P.C.
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