Fastener assembly

Disclosed is a fastener assembly comprising a number of fasteners each comprising a head, a crossbar and a filament interconnecting the head and the crossbar, each adjacent crossbars being interconnected through a connecting element in a manner of not undergoing a change in their relative positions, the number of crossbars in the fastener assembly being arranged in the form of a sheet as a whole.

BACKGROUND 
The present invention relates to fasteners molded from a synthetic resin in 
the form of a one-body assembly and, in use, individually successively 
severed and dispensed for anchoring tags or labels to various consumer 
goods such as clothing for example or for altogether bundling a plurality 
of articles. 
As early as in 1963, U.S. Pat. No. 3,103,666 disclosed a first example of 
fastener assemblies of the sort mentioned, and since then, there has been 
proposed and put for an actual use a number of modified or improved 
fastener assemblies, including the one disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 
3,733,657. 
Plastic-made fasteners in reference are normally of such a small size as to 
be about 30 to 50 mm in length that if they are individually separately 
produced from the outset, their handling is greatly inconvenienced, so 
that they are manufactured in groups or assemblies, each in most cases 
comprising 30 to 50 fasteners or, in some other cases, 75 to 100 
fasteners. 
Thus, in the above referred-to U.S. Pat. No. 3,733,657 for example, a 
fastener assembly is provided, which has a structure as illustrated in 
FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawings: As shown, each fastener of the 
assembly comprises a head 1, a filament 2 connected at its one end to a 
central portion of a side end face of the head 1, and a crossbar 3 formed 
at the other end of the filament 2 and extending in a plane parallel to 
the plane in which the head 1 extends, and a plurality of such individual 
fasteners are altogether connected to their common connecting rod 21 
through their respective connecting necks 20. In this fastener assembly, 
further, heads 1 of each adjacent fasteners are connected to each other 
through a joint member 22 capable of being easily cut so that otherwise 
likely tangling of a first fastener assembly and a second one can be 
prevented from occurring. 
The connecting necks 20 are not only necessary for connecting individual 
fasteners to the connecting rod 21 but also functional as means to be 
engaged by a feeding member of a fastener dispensing machine when the 
fasteners of a fastener assembly loaded in the dispensing machine are 
individually successively delivered to the prescribed shooting position 
within the dispensing machine. 
Then, the connecting rod 21 serves the function of, so to speak, a backbone 
on which to support a plurality of fasteners in an arrangement resembling 
the one in which teeth are formed in a comb. Besides, it is indispensable 
in that in the molding of a fastener assembly, it is formed as a matter of 
course in a mold channel through which a molten synthetic resin is 
supplied. 
Thus, conventional fastener assemblies typically represented by the one 
disclosed in the above considered U.S. Pat. No. 3,733,657 indispensably 
have connecting necks and connecting rods. However, even although these 
are conventionally indispensable to the formation of a fastener assembly, 
the connecting necks and connecting rod are not indispensable constituents 
of fasteners per se, and in addition, they involve various disadvantages 
such as follows. 
With an example of the fastener assembly made of nylon, having 35 member 
fasteners formed on a connecting rod through their respective connecting 
necks and weighing 98 g, the weight of the connecting rod and connecting 
necks amounts to 10.5 to 14.5 g, which equal to about 11 to about 15% of 
the total weight of the fastener assembly. To be particularly noted in 
this connection is that when fasteners are dispensed in attaching tags or 
labels to merchandise, the connecting necks and connecting rod are no 
longer of utility and are simply discarded as waste. Therefore, from an 
economical point of view, it is advantageous to provide a fastener 
assembly having no connecting necks, nor a connecting rod. 
Also, with reference to FIG. 2 of the accompanying drawings, as more 
fasteners are dispensed by a fastener dispensing machine 23, the 
connecting rod 21 is increasingly projected downwardly through a guide 
groove provided in the fastener dispensing machine for therein receiving 
fastener assemblies one at a time, and on the projected portion of the 
connecting rod 21 there are projected a number of connecting necks 20 from 
which individual fasteners have been detached by cutting by a cutter blade 
mounted in the fastener dispensing machine. Those projecting connecting 
necks 20 on the connecting rod 21 have an acute tip end produced by 
cutting by the cutter blade, and when they catch at merchandise, 
particularly fabric-made goods for example, they are likely to damage the 
merchandise, therefore a great care should necessarily be taken in 
performing the fastener dispensing operation or it should necessarily be 
operated to cut away the connecting rod 21 frequently before it has not 
projected a great length through the guide groove. 
Then, there has been an attempt made to connect each adjacent crossbars 3 
and 3 at a point along the length thereof so as to obtain a fastener 
assembly with which the disadvantageous connecting necks and connecting 
rod are effectively disposed of. With the fastener assembly then produced, 
however, although the above indicated disadvantages due to the connecting 
necks and connecting rod can be effectively cancelled, a new difficulty 
ispresented such that since adjacent crossbars are joined together only at 
a point or, more specifically at a central point along the length thereof, 
they cannot maintain a constant relative position or they are allowed, 
during a normal handling of the fastener assembly, to undergo pivotal 
motion with the point of their joint as the center of the motion, 
resulting in that their joint becomes broken. Once the connection between 
adjacent crossbars is broken, member fasteners of the fastener assembly, 
having no connecting necks nor a connecting rod and connected altogether 
only through their crossbars, become individually severed, whereby it no 
longer is feasible to load the fastener assembly in a fastener dispensing 
machine and eventually the individually severed fasteners have to be 
discarded as waste. 
Also with the fastener assembly in which member fasteners are altogether 
connected only through their crossbars, it is likely that when a portion 
of the fastener assembly is permitted to catch at an item of merchandise 
during shooting operation of fasteners by a fastener dispensing machine, 
the connection between crossbars 3 and 3 becomes unintentionally broken. 
SUMMARY 
Accordingly, it is a first object of the present invention to provide a 
fastener assembly which does not include connecting necks and a connecting 
rod present in conventional fastener assemblies. 
A second object of the invention is to provide a fastener assembly which 
can be produced without a wasteful consumption of a synthetic resin in 
that it is devoid of a connecting rod and connecting necks which are 
eventually discarded as waste. 
A third object of the invention is to provide a fastener assembly in which 
crossbars of each adjacent member fasteners are connected to each other in 
a manner capable of stably maintaining their relative positions and at a 
strength of connection which can be easily overcome in shooting individual 
fasteners by a fastener dispensing machine. 
A fourth object of the invention is to provide a fastener assembly which is 
less likely to cause a damage to merchandisc relative to which the 
fasteners are dispensed than conventional fastener assemblies having a 
connecting rod and connecting necks which, during the fastener dispensing 
operation, become protruded out of the fastener dispensing machine and are 
likely to catch at merchandise. 
A fifth object of the invention is to provide a fastener assembly in which 
a number of member fasteners are closely or densely arranged in a row 
without a connecting rod and connecting necks which are likely to obstruct 
the handling and the fastener dispensing operation and are to be 
eventually discarded as waste, and which has such a compact arrangement of 
member fasteners that transportation and handling of fastener assemblies 
can be greatly facilitated. 
A sixth object of the invention is to provide a fastener assembly which can 
be manufactured at a remarkable production efficiency.

THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
The fastener assembly indicated at T in FIGS. 3 and 4 which represent a 
first embodiment of the present invention is molded as an integral device 
from a synthetic resin and comprises a plurality of individual fasteners 
t, each of which comprises a head 1, a crossbar 3 and a filament 2 
connecting together the head 1 and the crossbar 3. Each adjacent crossbars 
3 are connected to each other through a connecting element 4 of a film or 
thin sheet, and in the fastener assembly T, crossbars 3 are as a whole in 
the form of a sheet. 
Each adjacent heads 1 may be either connected to each other or not, but in 
order to avoid possible tangling of heads, they should preferably be 
joined together in a manner as shown in FIG. 3: As shown, each of the two 
side faces of the head 1 is so formed as to protrude or bulge from edges 
towards a central portion so as to provide an apex 5, and adjacent heads 1 
are mutually connected through their facing apeces 5 in a manner capable 
of being easily disconnected by cutting. 
FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 are taken to illustrate crossbars 3 and their connecting 
elements 4, and as shown, while adjacent crossbars 3 are formed in an 
extremely close arrangement to each other (they are almost contacting with 
each other), they are connected through the connecting element 4, which is 
provided throughout the length of the crossbar 3 as shown in FIGS. 6 and 
7. The elements 4 are formed in mold channels for molten synthetic resin 
for the molding of crossbars, and by positively (but not too strongly) 
connecting adjacent crossbars 3 together, exhibit the function of 
compactly forming the fastener assembly T. 
In connection with connecting elements 4, a few important requirements 
should be answered, such as follows. 
The elements 4 should not be liable to breakage during molding of the 
fastener assembly, and packing and transportation of product fastener 
assemblies, and yet can be easily cut upon shooting of fasteners by a 
fastener dispensing machine. 
Also, they should have an enough strength to maintain crossbars 3 which 
they connect together, in the form of a sheet as a whole, and not to 
permit each adjacent crossbars 3 to change their positions relative to one 
another. 
Moreover, they should be so small in width that when they are cut upon 
shooting of fasteners, their divided portions remaining on the sides of 
each crossbar are only of an extremely limited width, so that upon 
shooting the crossbar through an article, the latter would never be 
damaged. 
The longitudinal sectional shape of the connecting element 4 is not 
particularly limited in that it may be of a constant thickness in the 
longitudinal direction of the crossbar 3 and correspond to a section of a 
film of a constant thickness as shown in FIG. 8 or of varying thicknesses 
which are smallest at ends and gradually increasingly larger towards the 
center at which the element 4 crosses the center line C of the filament 2 
as shown in FIG. 9. 
However, it is limiting that the element 4 has a sufficient length for 
securely supporting its neighboring crossbars 3 in the form of a sheet: 
This is because if the element 4 is not formed substantially throughout 
the length of the crossbar 3 or its length is insufficient, crossbars 3 
are prone to undergo a change in their relative positions. 
In the case of connecting elements 4 having a flattened diamond shape in 
longitudinal crosssection as shown in FIG. 9, an advantage is realized 
such that upon completion of the molding, release of mold members can be 
facilitated in the directions of arrows E and F in FIG. 9, and this is 
highly advantageous particularly when fastener assemblies are manufactured 
at a high speed. A same advantage as above is realizable also where as an 
alternative of the flattened diamond shape illustrated in FIG. 9, the 
sectional shape of the element 4 may comprise a flattened triangle. 
Further concerning the connecting element 4, it may comprise a 
thickness-constant thin film as shown in FIG. 10 or, more preferably, it 
should be so formed as to have thickness reduced ends at which it is 
connected to neighboring crossbars 3, when it is advantageously met that 
in the fastener dispensing operation with use of a fastener dispensing 
machine, the element 4 can be readily and completely removed away before 
each crossbar 3 is driven into a hollow needle mounted at the nose end of 
the fastener dispensing machine. 
Although the length of the element 4 should most preferably be such as to 
substantially correspond to the full length of crossbar 3 as illustrated 
in FIGS. 7 and 8, a main or basic function assigned to the element 4 is to 
stably support two adjacent crossbars 3 so that their relative positions 
can be positively fixed and so that in the fastener assembly, the heads of 
member fasteners can be stabilized in position, therefore insofar as the 
element 4 can fully exhibit such function, its length is not specifically 
limited and may for example 1/2, 1/3, 2/3, 3/4 and so forth of the length 
of the crossbar 3. In this regard, the element 4 should extend in the 
longitudinal direction of the crossbars 3 to a point spaced from each side 
of the longitudinal center of said crossbars (near the intersection of the 
filament 2 and the crossbar 3), such points being at such distances from 
longitudinal center of the crossbars as are sufficient to maintain 
constant the relative position of the adjacent crossbars. In any event, 
essential are that connecting elements 4 serve to provide a more or less 
solid assembly of fasteners, that upon dispensing of fasteners they can 
with ease be cut and that they can be cut and removed as completely as 
possible. 
As before stated, in the fastener assembly according to the present 
invention, a number of crossbars 3 are highly closely arranged to one 
another or even in a virtually contacting arrangement with one another, 
and they are positively but severably connected to one another through 
connecting elements 4, to the form of a sheet (as in the case of stapling 
needless to be dispensed by a stapler). 
Reverting to FIGS. 8 and 9, the crossbar 3 is therein shown to have 
inclined end faces 6, which are formed so that a cutter blade mounted in 
the fastener dispensing machine for cutting at the connecting element 4 
can be guided with an advanced ease into a small gap between adjacent 
crossbars 3. 
In conventional fastener dispensing machines, which are often referred to 
also as guns, the crossbar 3 is cut just before it is driven into a hollow 
needle mounted at the front or nose end of the gun by a cutter blade such 
as a knife disposed in the vicinity of the rear end of the hollow needle. 
In a relatively lately developed mechanism, cutting of crossbars takes 
place as follows. With reference to FIG. 10, which shows an operation 
condition in which a fastener assembly having crossbars A, B, C and so 
forth interconnected by elements 4 is fed in a guide groove 7 in a 
fastener dispensing gun in the direction shown by an arrow X and the first 
or the leftmost located crossbar A is about to be driven into a hollow 
needle 8, the crossbar A is then pushed up in the direction of an arrow Y 
to come to align in center with the opening of the hollow needle 8 by a 
piston operated by a lever of the dispensing gun. In the above, the 
crossbar A is forced in the direction of the arrow Y in the condition in 
which the succeeding crossbars B, C and so forth are held in position in 
the guide groove 7, so that the element 4A connecting the crossbar A to 
the next succeeding crossbar B becomes forcibly cut. 
FIG. 12 represents a second embodiment of the invention, and in this 
embodiment, the crossbar indicated at 3a has a tapered configuration in 
plan view, which is broadest at the longitudinal center of the crossbar 
and gradually narrower towards ends thereof. Thus, the connecting element 
formed in the gap between each adjacent crossbars 3a and shown at 4a has 
an acute triangular configuration. If the connecting element 4A is made 
having an end face which is U shaped in plan view, by this the guidance of 
a cutter blade into the gap between adjacent crossbars 3a and the cutting 
of the element 4a by the cutter blade can be greatly facilitated. 
In the illustration of the second embodiment in FIG. 12, the tapering of 
crossbars 3a is depicted in exaggeration, and although the connecting 
element 4a is therefore seen to have a relatively broad area, in an actual 
fastener assembly this area should preferably be suppressed to minimum so 
that cut portions of the element 4a present on the sides of crossbar 3a 
are substantially free of a detriment. 
FIG. 13 illustrates a third embodiment of the invention, and the crossbar 
according to this embodiment, shown at 3b has an expanded portion 3c at a 
longitudinally central part thereof. Expanded portions 3c of neighboring 
crossbars 3b are in contact with each other or alternatively they are 
closely located to each other. If the connecting elements shown by 4b are 
of an extremely small thickness, likely is that fasteners can hardly be 
maintained in an assembled state as prescribed. In order to prevent such 
difficulty from occurring, in accord with the present embodiment crossbars 
3c are formed with expanded portions 4c and the latter are contacted with 
each other or closely arranged to each other to provide a strength or 
solidity as required of the fastener assembly. 
FIG. 14 illustrates a fourth embodiment, in which adjacent crossbars 3 are 
interconnected by a pair of connecting elements 4c which comprise strap 
type members and are spaced from each other in the longitudinal direction 
of the crossbar 3. 
FIGS. 15 to 17 altogether represent a fifth embodiment, in which the 
crossbars 3 have different shapes in crosssection from the round ones of 
the foregoing described embodiments. 
In the instance of FIG. 15, the crossbars indicated at 3A have an oval 
crosssection, and their ends 10 in the direction of their larger diameter 
are interconnected through elements 4. Then, with the embodiment of FIG. 
16, each crossbar 3B is triangular in crosssection, and corners 11 on the 
bottom side of each adjacent crossbars are interconnected by connecting 
elements 4. Further, FIG. 17 shows crossbars 3C, each of which has a 
hexagonal shape in crosssection and which are interconnected at their 
corners 12 by connecting elements 4. 
Common to the all three instances of the above described fifth embodiment 
of the invention, the width of connecting elements 4 is advantageously 
suppressed and, in addition, the elements 4 are now made able to be cut 
with an advanced ease by the cutting mechanism before described with 
reference to FIG. 10. Width of the element 4 being reduced, portions of 
the element which remain present on the sides of the crossbar when the 
element has been cut are advantageously reduced in width. 
Further, the crosssectional shape of the crossbar may be other than those 
of the above described embodiments and may comprise for example a 
semicircular one or a more or less flattened semicylindrical one insofar 
as it is met essentially that connecting elements can exhibit a strength 
enough to positively interconnects the plurality of crossbars in the form 
of a sheet or thin plate as a whole and yet to be cut by a cutter blade 
without difficulty. 
FIGS. 18 and 19 represent a further and a sixth embodiment of the 
invention, and in this embodiment, the connecting elements interconnecting 
crossbars 3, shown at 4B, comprise a rod type member in contrast to a film 
type member in the afore-described first embodiment. Also, the elements 4B 
of this embodiment is not so formed as to extend over the entire length of 
the crossbar 3. 
The connecting element 4B comprising a rod type member, it now is more 
positively secured than otherwise that each adjacent crossbars 3 are 
prevented from changing their relative positions. Also, it being more 
rigid than for example a film member, the rod type element 4B can be cut 
away from the crossbar 3 with an increased ease and with an enhanced 
certainty, whereby it results in that there is substantially no cut 
portion of the element 4B remaining present on the sides of each crossbar 
3 applied to an item of merchandise, so that the danger is cancelled of 
accidentally damaging merchandise, particularly those of a fine and soft 
texture such as clothing for example. 
The connecting element 4B of the embodiment under consideration is of a 
more or less greater mass than the comparable elements in the other 
embodiments, and it certainly is disadvantageous in that the amount of 
material to be discarded as waste is unavoidably increased in comparison 
to the cases of a film type connecting elements. However, this rod type 
element 4B is more advantageous than disadvantageous in that the plurality 
of crossbars 3 in a fastener assembly can be stably maintained in the form 
of a sheet by the elements 4B, and also in that it comprising a rod, the 
element 4B can be separated from the crossbar 3 by cutting in an 
advantageous manner of producing no bur on the crossbar 3. 
As described in detail above, the fastener assembly according to the 
present invention, which comprises a plurality of fasteners each 
comprising a crossbar, a filament connected to and extending from the 
crossbar, and a head formed at the opposite end of the filament relative 
to the crossbar, is characterized in that each adjacent crossbars are 
interconnected through a connecting element so that the plurality of 
crossbars in the fastener assembly are arranged in the form of a sheet as 
a whole and also in that the connecting elements are capable of being 
easily cut by a cutter blade. 
Accordingly, the invention can bring about the following advantageous 
results. 
(1) The fastener assembly can be devoid of connecting necks and a 
connecting rod which are unavoidable in conventional fastener assemblies 
for arranging a plurality of fasteners to a comb-like assembled form. 
Thus, according to the invention, it is feasible to curtail the use amount 
and the cost of a material synthetic resin. 
(2) By the connecting elements, each adjacent crossbars are positively 
interconnected and can stably maintain their relative positions, so that 
it is effectively prevented from occurring that during manufacture of the 
fastener assembly and/or during transportation of product fastener 
assemblies, individual fasteners become separated from one another or that 
when the fastener assembly is permitted to touch merchandise during the 
fastener dispensing operation, the connection between adjacent crossbars 
is easily broken and fasteners become severed individually. 
(3) With conventional fastener assemblies which have connecting necks and a 
connecting rod, it takes place that as more fasteners are dispensed by a 
fastener dispensing machine or gun, the connecting rod becomes 
increasingly projected below the gun, and it then is likely that the 
connecting rod or a cut portion of a connecting neck projected on the 
connecting rod catches at and damages an article such as a fabric-made 
article. Such a danger is completely cancelled with the fastener assembly 
of the present invention, which is devoid of the connecting rod and 
connecting necks. 
(4) When heads of adjacent fasteners are interconnected as in the above 
described first embodiment of the invention (FIGS. 3 and 4), a great 
number of fasteners can be highly densely arranged to a compact assembly 
form. Such a fastener assembly is advantageous in that in the manufacture 
thereof, the flow of a molten synthetic resin takes place with an advanced 
ease and that the temperature control of the mold can be easily performed, 
whereby it is feasible to manufacture fastener assemblies precisely and at 
a high production efficiency. 
(5) The fastener assembly being of such a compact arrangement of member 
fasteners as stated above, packing and transportation of a number of 
fastener assemblies can be facilitated.