Device for holding a slider for a slide fastener

A device for holding a slider in position during threading onto a slide fastener chain includes a housing having a support surface for supporting thereon a slider body upside down, and a slit receptive of a pull tab hanging from the slider body. A lever has a pair of juxtaposed first and second arms disposed one on each side of the slit, there being on the first arm a locking projection movable into and out of the slit. The lever is pivotable in the housing between a slider-holding position and a slider-release position. The second arm extends beyond the first arm to such an extent that as the slider is placed on the support surface, the second arm is pressed downwardly by a yoke of the slider to cause the lever to be pivotally moved to the slider-holding position. When a reverse or upward pull is exerted on the slider during the threading of the fastener chain through the slider, the second arm is brought into contact with the slider body, thus preventing the lever from being pivotally moved to the slider-release position.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates to the production of slide fasteners, and 
more particularly to a device for holding a slider in position during 
threading or mounting onto a slide fastener chain. 
2. Prior Art 
In the manufacture of a slide fastener, a slider is held in position by a 
device while a pair of fastener stringers, each stringer having a row of 
coupling elements mounted on a stringer tape, is threaded through a 
Y-shaped channel in the slider; the coupling elements on one tape are 
interengaged with the coupling elements on the other tape as they pass 
through the slider. 
A known slider holding device, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,685,814 
issued Aug. 22, 1972, includes a housing having a support surface for 
supporting thereon a slider body upside down, a slit receptive of a pull 
tab hanging from the slider body, and a lever pivotally mounted in the 
housing and having an upper and a lower projection. The lever is pivotable 
between a slider-holding position in which the upper projection projects 
into the slit for engagement with an opening in the pull tab, and a 
slider-release position in which the upper projection is retracted out of 
the slit for releasing the pull tab and for allowing the pull tab to be 
inserted into the slit. The lever is urged to either the slider-holding 
position or the slider-release position in a known manner. The lower 
projection extends across the slit for being pressed downwardly by the 
free end of the pull tab when the latter is inserted into the slit. This 
downward pressing causes the lever to be pivotally moved to the 
slider-holding position. The prior art device requires a plurality of 
levers of different length for respectively holding pull tabs of different 
lengths. Thus a suitable one of the levers must be chosen depending on the 
length of the pull tab, which is laborious and time-consuming. Otherwise 
the prior device cannot be used for various kinds of sliders having pull 
tabs of different length. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
According to the present invention, a device for holding a slider in 
position for threading onto a slide fastener chain includes a housing 
having a support surface for supporting thereon a slider body upside down, 
and a slit receptive of a pull tab hanging from the slider body. A lever 
has a pair of juxtaposed first and second arms disposed one on each side 
of the slit, there being on the first arm a locking projection movable 
into and out of the slit. The lever is pivotable in the housing between a 
slider-holding position and a slider-release position. The second arm 
extends beyond the first arm to such an extent that as the slider is 
placed on the support surface, the second arm is pressed downwardly by a 
yoke of the slider to cause the lever to be pivotally moved to the 
slider-holding position. when a reverse or upward pull is exerted on the 
slider during the threading of the fastener chain through the slider, the 
second arm is brought into contact with the slider body, thus preventing 
the lever from being pivotally moved to the slider-release position. 
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a slider holder 
suitable to be used for with various kinds of sliders having pull tabs of 
different length. 
Another object of the invention is to provide a slider holder with which a 
slider is held in position without being removed during the movement of a 
slide fastener in either direction through the slider. 
Many other advantages, features and additional objects of the present 
invention will become manifest to those versed in the art upon making 
reference to the detailed description and the accompanying drawings in 
which a preferred embodiment incorporating the principles of the present 
invention is shown by way of illustrative example.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
FIGS. 1 and 2 show a slider holder 10 for holding or retaining a slider 11 
in position for threading or mounting onto a slide fastener chain 12 (FIG. 
7). The slider 11 includes a slider body 13, a yoke or cover 14 mounted on 
the slider body 13, and a pull tab 15 pivotally connected to the yoke 14 
and having an opening 16 adjacent to the yoke 14. 
The slider holder 10 includes a combined housing composed of a pair of 
first and second housing parts 17A,17B complementary in shape with one 
another and having a combined slider test 18A,18B on which the slider 11 
is to be placed upside down. The first and second housing parts 17A,17B 
are connected together by means of a pair of screws 20,20 extending 
through a pair of holes 21,21 respectively, in the second housing part 17B 
into a pair of threaded holes 22,22, respectively, in the first housing 
part 17A. The slider rest 18A,18B has a combined horizontal support 
surface 19A,19B for supporting thereon the slider body 13. 
The housing 17A,17B has a vertical slit 23 opening into the support surface 
19A,19B for loosely receiving the pull tab 15 hanging from the slider body 
13 supported on the support surface 19A,19B, and the housing further has a 
combined cavity 24A,24B communicating with the slit 23 and opening into 
the support surface 19A,19B. The slit 23 includes a groove formed in the 
second housing part 17B. Alternatively, the groove may be formed in the 
first housing part 17A or may be composed of a pair of vertical groove 
halves formed one in each of the first and second housing parts 17A,17B. 
A lever 25 is pivotally mounted in the housing 17A,17B by means of a pin 
25a extending through a hole 27 in the second housing part 17B and also 
through a hole 28 in the lever 25. The lever 25 is generally U-shaped and 
hence has a pair of juxtaposed first and second arms 29,30 disposed one on 
each side of the slit 23, there being a cutout 31 between the first and 
second arms 29,30. The first arm 29 has an inwardly directed locking 
projection 32 on its upper end 29a, the locking projection 32 thus 
extending toward and terminating short of the second arm 30. The lever 25 
is pivotable between a slider-holding position (FIG. 5) in which the 
locking projection 32 projects into the slit 23 for reception into the 
opening 16 of the slider pull tab 15, and a slider-release position (not 
shown, but the solid line position in FIG. 3 is virtually the same as this 
position) in which the locking projection 32 is retracted out of the slit 
23 for releasing the pull tab 15. 
The second arm 30 of the lever 25 extends beyond the first arm 29 to such 
an extent that as the slider 11 is placed on the support surface 19A,19B, 
the second arm 30 is pressed downwardly by the yoke 14 of the slider 11 to 
cause the lever to be pivotally moved from the slider-release position to 
the slider-holding position, as described below. The second arm 30 has an 
outwardly inclined contact surface 33 which is engageable with the yoke 14 
when the yoke 14 is pressed against the second arm 30. The contact surface 
33 also serves to prevent the lever 25 from being pivotally moved to the 
slider-release position even when a reverse or upward pulling force is 
exerted on the slider 11 during use of the device. 
The locking projection 32 has an inclined contact surface 32a extending 
along a lower side edge thereof for engagement with an opening-defining 
edge 16a (FIGS. 3, 5 and 7) of the pull tab 15 when the lever 25 is in the 
slider-holding position and also when the pull tab 15 is pulled upwardly 
in the slit 23. When the slider 11 is removed from the slider holder 10, 
the pull tab 15 is pulled upwardly to act against the contact surface 32a, 
and therefore it pushes the locking projection 32 out of the slit 23 as 
the lever 25 is pivotally moved to the slider-release position. During 
such removal, the slider 11 is pulled upwardly with the slider body 13 
first tilted so as to be kept off the contact surface 33 of the second arm 
30, thus allowing the lever 25 to be pivotally moved to the slider-release 
position. 
The lever 25 is urged to either the slider-holding position or the 
slider-release position by the following detent structure. The second arm 
30 has at its midportion two pairs of recesses 34,35 and 34,35 disposed 
one pair on each side. The recesses 34,35 of each pair are disposed close 
to one another; the small recess 34 has a frustoconical surface, and the 
large recess 35 has a half-frustoconical surface. Thus the second arm 30 
has a neck portion 36 of generally rhombic cross section (FIGS. 4 and 6) 
having a pair of ridges 37,37 (FIGS. 4 and 5) on opposite sides. A pair of 
balls 38,38 preferably made of steel is received in a pair of holes 39,39, 
respectively, in the first housing part 17A and is urged against the 
ridges 37,37, respectively, of the rhombic neck portion 36 by a pair of 
leaf springs 40,40. Each leaf spring 40 is secured to the second housing 
part 17B by a screw 41 extending through a washer 42 and an opening 43 of 
the leaf spring 40 into a threaded hole 44 in the second housing part 17B, 
as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. Thus, each ball 38, in response to the pivotal 
movement of the lever 25, is receivable in the large or the small recesses 
35,34, at which time the ridges 37 pass between the balls 38. 
In order to make the slider holder 10 suitable to be used for a variety of 
sliders 11 (only one illustrated) having pull tabs 15 of different length, 
the slit 23 has a length longer than that of the longest one of the 
different pull tabs, the cutout 31 of the lever 25 extending downwardly 
beyond the slit 23. 
In operation, the slider 11 is placed upside down on the slider rest 
18A,18B with the pull tab 15 inserted into the slit 23, the lever 25 being 
held in the slider-release position. In the slider-release position, the 
locking projection 32 on the first arm 29 is retracted from the slit 23, 
the second arm 30 projects beyond the support surface 19A,19B, and each 
ball 38 is disposed in the small recess 34. The yoke 14 of the slider 11 
is then pressed against the contact surface 33 as shown in FIG. 3. The 
second arm 30 is thereby pushed downwardly to cause the lever 25 to be 
pivotally moved clockwise in FIG. 3 until each ball 38 rides over the 
ridge 37 into the large recess 35. As a result, the lever 25 has come to 
the slider-holding position (FIG. 5) in which the locking projection 32 
projects into the slit 23 to enter the opening 16 of the pull tab 15. 
With the slider 11 thus held on the slider rest 18A,18A, a slide fastener 
chain 12 (phantom lines in FIG. 7) is threaded through the slider body 13. 
More specifically, a pair of disengaged fastener stringers 12a,12a of the 
fastener chain 12 is threaded through the slider body 13 from its flared 
or front end 13a (FIGS. 3, and 5). As the fastener chain 12 is moved 
rightwardly in FIG. 7, the pair of disengaged fastener stringers 12a,12a 
is progressively interengaged. If misinterengagement of the fastener 
stringers has occurred, the fastener chain 12 is pulled back leftwardly or 
moved reversely as shown in FIG. 7, at which time a pull is necessarily 
exterted on the slider body 13 as indicated by an arrow 45. The pull tab 
15 is thus pulled upwardly to cause the lever 25 to be pivotally urged 
counterclockwise. The contact surface 33 of the second arm 30 is brought 
into contact with the slider body 13 on its rear end 13b, and further 
pivotal movement of the lever 25 in the counterclockwise direction is 
thereby prevented. 
For removal from the slider holder 10, the slider 11 is pulled upwardly 
with the slider body 13 first tilted leftwardly so as to be kept off the 
contact surface 33 of the second arm 30, thus allowing the lever 25 to be 
pivotally moved to the slider-release position as the locking projection 
32 is pushed by the pull tab 15 out of the slit 23 to release the pull tab 
15. 
Since the pivotal movement of the lever 25 from the slider-release position 
to the slider-holding position is caused by the slider body 13 rather than 
the pull tab 15, the slider holder 10 is suitable to be used for various 
kinds sliders having pull tabs of different length. Further, with this 
arrangement, it is possible to hold or retain a slider in a position 
reliably in a single simple snap action. 
In the illustrated embodiment, the second arm 30 of the lever 25 projects 
beyond the support surface 19A,19B as the lever 25 is in the 
slider-release position. However, if a slider (not shown) in which a yoke 
coextends with a slider body is to be held by the slider holder 10, the 
top of the second arm 30 may be disposed below or in the same plane as the 
support surface 19A,19B, when the lever 25 is in the slider-release 
position. 
Although various minor modifications may be suggested by those versed in 
the art, it should be understood that I wish to embody within the scope of 
the patent warranted hereon, all such embodiments as reasonably and 
properly come within the scope of my contribution to the art.