Apparel – Garment supporters and retainers – Strip connected spaced holders
Reexamination Certificate
2000-08-29
2002-07-30
Hale, Gloria M. (Department: 3765)
Apparel
Garment supporters and retainers
Strip connected spaced holders
C002S338000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06425139
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a waist adjusting device generally called waist adjuster or belt adjuster, which is capable of adjusting the length of a waist belt in clothes, for example, beltless trousers or skirts.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional waist adjusting device will be described next. A slider is attached by means of a fixing device to a rear face of a waist belt located outside at an overlapping portion of for example, beltless trousers or skirt as shown in FIG.
9
. Then, an adjusting belt having adjusting protrusions arranged at a predetermined interval or if the adjusting belt is attached on the rear face of a narrow foundation
12
, both the adjusting belt and the narrow foundation
12
are inserted through the slider. Both ends of the adjusting belt or narrow foundation
12
are sewed to the waist belt
6
located inside and then, an operating piece having engaging protrusions capable of engaging the adjusting protrusions is inserted into the slider from above. Consequently, the adjustment of the length of the waist is carried out.
An example of the structure of the waist adjusting device has been disclosed in for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 9-273013, as shown in FIG.
31
. The adjusting belt
1
′ has a plurality of adjusting protrusions
11
′ provided at a predetermined interval on the surface thereof and the slider is comprised of a slider body
2
′ having a through hole
20
′ through which the adjusting belt
1
′ is passed and an operating piece
7
′ having engaging protrusions
72
′ capable of engaging with the adjusting protrusions
11
′ of adjusting belt
1
′. The operating piece
7
′ is inserted into an insertion hole
36
′ in the slider body
2
′ by pressing perpendicular to the adjusting belt
1
′ inserted into the slider body
2
′. The operating piece
7
′ inserted into the slider body
2
′ such that it is capable of coming in/out is urged in such a direction that it is protruded from the slider body
2
′ by a wound spring
76
′ mounted near an operating portion
74
′.
In general, in the waist adjusting device of this kind, the slider is attached to a rear face of the waist belt located outside of the beltless trousers by means of the fixing device. The adjusting belt or both the adjusting belt and narrow foundation of which one end is fixed to the waist belt inside are inserted through the slider and then, free ends of the adjusting belt or adjusting belt and narrow foundation are sewed and fixed to the waist belt located inside. Therefore, a work for attaching the waist adjusting device to clothes such as the beltless trousers is very complicated and troublesome.
Particularly, the waist adjusting device shown in
FIG. 35
is composed of an adjusting belt
1
′, slider body
2
′, operating piece
7
′, wound spring
76
′, and a fixing device
4
′ consisting of hook
42
′ and a washer
41
′, so that many components are used thereby leading to an increase in production cost. Further, it takes much time and labor for the production. Meanwhile, the operating piece
7
′ and elastic member are described to be formed by integral molding using resin, its specific configuration has not been explained clearly.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention has been achieved in views of the above problems, and a first object of the invention is to provide a waist adjusting device which allows reduction of the number of components of a product to achieve reduction of production cost and allows the operating piece to exert its elastic performance with respect to a slider body so as to move smoothly, in which the slider body and operating piece can be produced very easily and which can be attached to clothes easily.
A second object of the present invention is to provide a waist adjusting device in which the adjusting belt or the adjusting belt and narrow foundation are attached to an inside waist belt by sewing both ends thereof and a slider fixed on the outside waist belt is attached to the adjusting belt whose both ends are fixed by deforming the slider elastically, thereby making it possible to assemble and attach the waist adjusting device very easily.
A third object of the present invention is to provide a waist adjusting device which can be attached easily to clothes such as beltless trousers and in which the slider can be divided to a surface plate and a rear plate, thereby making it possible to assemble and attach the waist adjusting device very easily. A further object is to provide a waist adjusting device which is composed of a slider which can be divided in different ways and which can be attached to the waist belt easily, so that not only assembly of the waist adjusting device can be carried out easily but also inventory thereof can be controlled easily.
A fourth object of the present invention is to provide a waist adjusting device which allows the operating piece to exert its elastic performance accurately so that the operating piece is capable of coming in and out with respect to the slider body appropriately.
A fifth object of the present invention is to provide a waist adjusting device which allows elasticity to be generated in the operating piece enabling an efficient actuation so that the operating piece is capable of coming in and out effectively.
A sixth object of the present invention is to provide a waist adjusting device which allows elastic leg portions provided to the operating piece to be elastically deformed in a stabilized state.
A seventh object of the present invention is to provide a waist adjusting device in which the operating piece is capable of sliding smoothly and accurately in a stabilized state without any deviation to the slider so that it is capable of coming in and out smoothly.
An eighth object of the present invention is to provide a waist adjusting device which allows the operating piece to exert its elastic performance effectively and accurately by forming the elastic leg portions provided on the operating piece so as not to collide with other member, for example, adjusting protrusions of the adjusting belt.
A ninth object of the present invention is to provide a waist adjusting device which can be produced easily by limiting the material of the waist adjusting device to thermoplastic resin, so that recycling of the material can be achieved.
A tenth object of the present invention is to provide a waist adjusting device which allows the slider body and fixing device to be produced very easily by specifying the configurations of the slider and fixing device, the waist adjusting device being suitable for molding of thermoplastic resin and capable of being attached firmly.
The other objects will be automatically understood by a following description.
To achieve the above object, according to the invention, there is provided a waist adjusting device, in which an adjusting belt has a plurality of adjusting protrusions on the surface thereof at a predetermined interval; a slider body contains a through portion through which the adjusting belt is capable of being inserted; attaching holes for attaching a fixing device are provided on a face of the through portion; insertion holes through which an operating piece is capable of being inserted are provided in upper and lower portions such that it is perpendicular to the through portion; slope portions are provided on both sides of a lower insertion hole; the operating piece has engaging protrusions capable of engaging with the adjusting protrusions provided on a face thereof and elastic leg portions provided integrally on both sides, the elastic leg portions making sliding contact with the slope portion and being capable of sliding thereon; and the operating piece is urged upward so as to allow the adjusting protrusions and the engaging protrusions to engage with each other. Consequently, the number of the compone
Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner LLP
Hale Gloria M.
Hoey Alissa L.
YKK Corporation
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