Self locking attaching system

A fastener system for connecting first and second parts together includes a female fastener having a retention slot therein with an entrance portion, a stop portion and a fastener gripping segment located intermediate said entrance portion and said stop portion; a male fastener has an integral extension thereon insertable into said entrance portion and movable laterally of the slot to an interlocked position at the stop portion. The male fastener includes first surface means thereon engageable with the gripping segment for holding the male fastener in a stop position, and said male fastener further includes second surface means thereon to interlockingly connect the female fastener to the male fastener. The component parts of the fastener system are configured to be formed by use of die members separable in a straight draw.

This invention relates to fastener systems and more particularly to 
fastener systems having two parts that are interlockingly engageable with 
each other and suitable for attaching vehicle trim components to panel 
components of a vehicle without use of screws, spin nuts, glue or barb 
head type fastener elements. 
Various proposals have been tested for connecting vehicle trim parts to 
panel portions of a vehicle. 
One example is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 3,115,225 which discloses a 
system for connecting a molding strip to a support panel of a vehicle. The 
fastener includes a stud having step portions thereon that interlock on 
the panel by a snap fit. The fastener includes a head fit in an offset 
hole of a plate member to compensate for manufacturing tolerance 
differences. The fastener surface configuration requires use of lifters or 
slides in the mold tooling. 
Other fasteners are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,670,082 and 3,435,491. 
The arrangements provide for interlocking connection between first and 
second parts. They do not disclose easily manufactured fastener parts 
having a male component which can be molded without use of lifters or 
slides. Further, they do not disclose a male fastener and female fastener 
which join parts and prevent separation of the parts by use of a retention 
slot having combined stop surface reference and gripping surfaces. 
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a low cost, 
easily manufactured fastener system having male and female fasteners which 
are configured to permit insertion and interlocking of the parts by steps 
which include a piloting and stop referencing function and wherein the 
interlocked parts include means for positively gripping the male fastener 
against separation once in interlocked relationship for holding a trim 
part on a vehicle panel. 
A still further object of the present invention is to provide an improved 
fastener system for connecting interior trim products to a vehicle panel 
component by the provision of a female fastener with a retention slot 
having an entrance portion, a stop surface and male fastener gripping 
means intermediate the entrance portion and the stop portion for securing 
a male fastener when in an interlocked relationship therein; the fastener 
system further includes a male fastener having an extension thereon for 
insertion into the entrance portion and including means thereon for 
piloting movement of the extension laterally within the retention slot 
into engagement with the stop portion; and wherein the male fastener 
includes a first surface thereon engageable with the gripping means for 
securing the male fastener against the stop portion and the male fastener 
includes a second surface for capturing a trim component and holding it 
interlocked engagement with respect to the vehicle panel. 
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an improved 
armrest assembly for use in motor vehicles having a rest surface and an 
integral insert with male fastener integrally formed thereon; a vehicle 
panel for supporting the armrest having slot means therein including an 
entrance portion, a stop portion, and fastener gripping means intermediate 
the stop portion and the entrance portion; the male fastener on the trim 
component integrally formed therewith including an extension insertable 
through the entrance portion without being interlocked thereto and the 
extension having piloting means thereon for laterally guiding the male 
fastener within the slot into engagement with the stop portion for 
referencing the trim part on the panel; and the male fastener including 
first and second surfaces thereon respectively engageable with the 
gripping means and with the outer surface of the trim component for 
interlocking it to the vehicle panel. 
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an improved 
fastener system for connecting a vehicle trim component to a vehicle panel 
wherein the vehicle panel includes slots and the vehicle trim component 
includes integrally formed male fasteners thereon which can be formed by 
plastic molding processes requiring no lifters or slides and wherein the 
slots include an entrance portion for receiving the head of the male 
fasteners and an offset stop position and intermediate gripping segment 
that is operative to hold the male fastener in engagement with the stop 
position to reference the trim component with respect to the body portion. 
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a fastening 
system of the type set forth in the preceding object wherein the trim 
component includes surface means thereon in overlying relationship with a 
rough edge of the vehicle panel to cover the rough edge when the trim 
component has been inserted and laterally interlocked with respect to the 
vehicle panel. 
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a two part 
attachment system that is simple and effective for connecting a vehicle 
trim part to a vehicle panel component in locked relationship without any 
movement of the trim component in any direction with respect to its 
supporting panel. 
A further object is to provide a system of the type set forth in the 
preceding object which is capable of attaching armrests to door panels, 
door panels to door sheet metal, and carpet assemblies to doors or 
instrument panel lower panel portions without use of standard fastener 
components. 
Other advantages and a more complete understanding of the invention will be 
more apparent from the succeeding detailed description of the invention 
and the accompanying drawings thereof.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
Referring now to FIG. 1, a vehicle door panel assembly 10 has a female 
fastener component, representatively shown as a plate 12, secured to the 
inner surface of the door panel assembly 10 to form a raw edge 14 on the 
vehicle door panel assembly 10. The plate 12 and rough edge 14 are adapted 
to be covered by an interior trim component which is representatively 
shown as an armrest 16. 
The armrest 16 includes an outer skin 18 such as polyvinyl chloride backed 
by a layer of resilient urethane foam 20. The armrest 16 further includes 
an insert 22 therein which is formed in accordance with the present 
invention to have a pair of spaced male fasteners 24, 26 integrally formed 
on the insert 22 in accordance with certain principles of the present 
invention. 
Referring more specifically to FIG. 6, the male fasteners 24, 26 are each 
configured to be formed from simple, straight draw mold dies that do not 
require the use of lifters or slides to form the male fastener surface 
configurations. More particularly, each of the male fasteners 24, 26 
includes a central stem portion 28 that extends from the inboard surface 
30 of the insert 22. 
The central stem portion 28 is connected to a fastener head or cap 32 which 
has a circular peripheral surface 34 thereon. The head or cap 32 includes 
a ramp surface 36. A pair of spaced ribs 38, 40 are located on opposite 
sides of the central stem portion 28 as best seen in FIG. 3. They bridge 
tool openings 41, 42 in the insert 22 to connect the stem 28 to the insert 
22. 
The head or cap 32 further includes an inboard surface 43 thereon that is 
adapted to interlockingly engage the inner surface 44 of the plate 12 as 
shown in FIG. 4. 
The fastener slots 46, 48 are spaced to receive heads 32 of the male 
fasteners 24, 26. Each of the fastener slots 46, 48 include an entrance 
portion 50 that has a peripheral wall 52 thereon that is of circular shape 
sized slightly greater than the outer circular peripheral surface 34 on 
each of the male fasteners 24, 26 for ease of insertion into the plate 12. 
In accordance with the features of the present invention, slots 46, 48 
further include a stop portion 54 therein which is located on one side of 
the entrance portion 50. The slots 46, 48 further include gripping 
surfaces 56 therein which are intermediate the entrance portion 50 and the 
stop portion 54. 
The gripping surfaces 56 are a slightly lesser diameter than the stems 28 
and thereby grip the male fasteners 24, 26 when they are shifted to the 
lock position shown in FIG. 4. 
The ramp surfaces 36 pilot the male fasteners with respect to the plate 12 
and will cause edge portions 58, 60 on the trim component to be held on 
side surfaces 62, 64 of the door panel assembly 10 so as to cover the raw 
edge 14. 
Once the fasteners 24, 26 are ramped and shifted laterally with respect to 
the plate 12, the inboard surface 30 of the insert 22 will be located in 
juxtaposed relationship with the outer surface 65 of the plate 12. The 
ribs 38 will be engaged with the stop surface 54 to reference the armrest 
on the door panel to assure that the raw edge is covered. Engagement of 
stop surface 54 and rib 38 also assures that the central stem portions 28 
are snapped into and gripped by the gripping surfaces 56 of the fastener 
slots 46, 48. Accordingly, the two bodies represented by the door panel 
assembly 10 and the armrest 16 are locked together without movement in the 
lateral direction or in the vertical direction. 
The armrest 16 is also secured against outward pull from the door panel 
assembly 10 by engagement of inboard surface 43 on each of the male 
fasteners 24, 26 and the surface 44 of the plate 12. 
The engagement between surfaces 43 and surface 44 causes the plate 12 to be 
captured between the head or cap 32 of each of the male fasteners 24, 26 
and the inboard surface 30 of the insert 22 to securely hold the armrest 
against pull apart separation from the door panel assembly 10. 
In accordance with certain other principles of the present invention, the 
male fasteners 24, 26 have outboard openings 41, 43 formed therein which 
enables the male fasteners 24 to be formed by a simple straight pull mold 
configuration having a die member 72 located in the holes 41, 43 to form 
ribs 38, 40, stem 28 and ramp 34. A second die member 74 is configured to 
form head 32. Die members 72, 74 are shown in broken outline in FIG. 6. 
Likewise, the retention slots 46, 48 can be readily formed by injection 
molding techniques which can be formed in a straight line of draw and 
which require no lifters or slides (as in the case of the male fasteners 
24, 26). 
The plate 12 can be formed readily from plastic, steel or hardboard. 
INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY 
While the present invention has been discussed with respect to a vehicle 
trim part in the form of an armrest connected to a door panel, it is 
equally applicable to carpet assemblies having integral male fastener(s) 
of the aforedescribed type which can be fastened to a retention slot(s) on 
a door panel component; or the invention is applicable to a door panel 
having integral male fastener(s) formed thereon which will interlockingly 
connect to retention slot(s) in an inner sheet metal frame member portion 
of a vehicle. Finally, other components can have integral male fasteners 
of the aforedescribed type formed thereon to connect a first component to 
a second components. 
The system enables first and second body portions including trim parts and 
vehicle body segments to be interlocked and joined by simply inserting and 
shifting parts relative to one another and to accomplish such 
interconnection by a system which will prevent movement of the fastened 
part in any direction once it is interlocked in place. 
While representative embodiments of the present invention have been shown 
and described, those skilled in the art recognize that various changes and 
modifications may be made within the scope and equivalency range of the 
present invention as set forth in the following claims.