Patent ID: 7793392
Filing Date: 2010-09-14
Classification: A44B,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A buckle comprising a single socket member and at least two plug members, said socket member having a base and at least one projecting member projecting from said base which when combined with the base comprises at least one slot through which at least one strap may be affixed, and further, a separate cavity for each plug member, said cavities having a top wall, a bottom wall, and right and left side walls for connecting said top wall and said bottom wall with a gap therebetween and openings communicating with a cavity inside the socket member and disposed inside from said side walls, each said cavity at a different respective vertical plane, such that respective straps, having respective thicknesses less than respective lengths and widths, attached to each plug lie over each other when viewed in the vertical plane in which the cavities are aligned so that the overlying straps have a combined stack thickness of the sum of thicknesses of the two straps, each of said plug members having a base and at least one arm portion projecting from said base, and a projecting member projecting from said base which when combined with the base comprises at least one slot through which at least one strap may be affixed, said arm portion having an engaging portion at a leading end thereof, said plug member being adapted to be resiliently deformed when inserted into/released from said cavity of said socket member so that a hooking face of the engaging portion of said arm portion releasably engages an end face of each of said opening, and further, where the plane of contact between the engaging portion and the end face of the cavity is perpendicular to plane of motion of the insertion/release direction of said arm portion, wherein a first plug member is releasably engageable when inserted into a first cavity of said socket member, and wherein at least one other plug member is releasably engageable when inserted into at least one other cavity of said socket member, and wherein said first and said at least one other plug member are independently operable without affecting insertion and removal of the other.