MANUFACTURE AND USE OF CLOSELY SPACED ATTACHMENTS

Abstract: An assembly of closely spaced attachments (11, 12), a method of manufacturing an assembly of closely spaced attachments and a method of applying interleaved attachments to objects. The assembly has alternating attachments having different types of heads and having different lengths. The shorter attachments (12) may be subsequently stretched to engage the longer attachments (11). In this manner the spacing between attachments can be decreased. One result of using such an assembly with a conventional dispensing device (20) is that the advancing mechanism of the device can advance attachments two at a time by only contacting a single position at every other attachment in the assembly.

Description: MANUFACTURE AND USE OF CLOSELY SPACED ATTACHMENTS Background of the Invention This invention relates to closely spaced attachments, and, more particularly, to their use and manufacture. Attachments are widely used in the coupling of objects. In many cases the coupling is of a price tag to a garment or some other article of merchandise. One type of attachment and dispensing gun found to be particularly suitable and versatile is as shown in U. S. patent 3,103,666, issued September 16, 1963. Individual ones of the attachments are positioned on a " common mounting element to form "a clip", and are spaced from one another according to the interval required for proper operation of the dispens- - ing gun. Each individual attachment in the • 666 patent is formed by a dispensing member, or cross bar, at the base of an elongated filament-like connector which extends to a head or. paddle. Each dispensing member, or cross bar, is joined to a common mounting element of the clip. In the dispensing of individual attachments, the clip formed by the mounting element and the attachments is inserted into the dispenser, and the cross bar of the first attachment is advanced to a position for being dispensed through a slotted hollow needle by a plunger. The slot in the needle permits the elongated fila¬ mentary connector to be expelled at the same time as the cross bar. If the needle has been used to penetrate, for example, a price marking tag and an article of merchandise, expulsion of the attachment causes the cross bar to be released from the needle on the reverse side of the article. When the needle is subsequently withdrawn from the article the connector of the attachment extends from the cross bar through the front side of the article and supports the price marking tag against the head of the attachment. The attachments of the '666 patent can be signficantly SUBSTITUTE SHEET improved by stretching their connectors as disclosed in U.S. patent 3,444,597 which issued May 28, 1969. Such attachments can be manufactured in accordance with U.S. patent 3,380,122 which issued April 30, 1968. In practice, it has been necessary to have a mini¬ mum separation between individual fasteners attached to the common mounting element of the clip. While it would be de¬ sirable to pack the fasteners more closely than in the '666 patent, physical limitations encountered in molding have pre- vented the attainment of tightly packed clips. Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to decrease spacing of individual attachments of clips of attach¬ ments commonly used in the coupling of objects. A related object is to decrease the spacing between attachments over and above that achieved in U.S. patents 3,103,666, 3,380,122 and 3,444,597. If an attempt is made to decrease the spacing of attachments by decreasing the mold distances between indivi¬ dual attachments, there is a physical limitation caused by the need to maintain a finite wall thickness between adjoin¬ ing attachments. This problem is particularly acute at the paddle regions of the attachment, since the paddles involve comparatively large adjoining surfaces. When an attempt is made to decrease wall thickness, compensation is necessary either by seeking to produce molds of more durable materials, or by operating the molds under less rigorous conditions. Since users of attachments prefer thin and flexible connectors, the molds must be operated with comparatively narrow orifices under high pressure. When such molds are fabricated with comparatively thin walls, either the injection pressures must be reduced or the wall strenght- ened in some other fashion in order to prevent internal damage to the mold. Accordingly, it is another object of the invention to decrease the spacing between adjoining attachments of a SUBSTITUTE SHEET clip without requiring unduly thin wall sections in the molds used to form the attachments. A related object is to decrease spacing between adjoining paddle members of a clip of attach¬ ments without the need for excessively thin wall thicknesses in the associated molds. A further object of the invention is to enhance the mold life of molds used to produce clips of closely spaced attachments. A related object is to permit the molding of closely spaced attachments without impairment of the operat- ing parameters used in conventional molding practice. Because of the widespread use and general acceptance of standard fasteners of the type shown in U.S. atent 3,103,666 and the dispenser disclosed in that patent, an extensive line of modernized dispensing devices has been developed that are based on the original dispenser of that patent. These devices are all designed to be used with clips that have a standard spacing of attachments. It is yet another object of the invention to decrease the spacing of attachments while simultaneously per- mitting such attachments to be used with standard dispensers that are now in widespread use. SUBSTITUTE SHEET Summary of the Invention In accomplishing the foregoing and related objects, the invention provides for decreasing the spacing between adjoining attachments of a clip by molding the attachments with different configurations in which the attachments of one configuration are longer than those of another. In this way the paddle portion of one set of attachments can be dis¬ placed from the paddle portion of adjoining set of attach¬ ments. This permits the close spacing of attachments without having the excessively thin walls Between adjoining paddles that could exist if all of the attachments were initially molded of the same length. In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the attachments of the one configuration are interleaved with those of the other. When the attachments are in linear align¬ ment the result is a molded clip in which the individual attachments alternate in length. In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the attachments which are longer, than the others are re- <■ ■ leasably joined by a common support element. In accordance with a further aspect of the invention, the common support element is joined to the enlarged or paddle portions of the attachments. It is advantageous for the com¬ mon support element to be disposed symmetrically at the top edges of the paddles and be perpendicular to their faces. In accordance with still another aspect of the in¬ vention, selected ones of the attachments are also joined to a common mounting element. For this purpose the joinder may be made by neck elements that extend from the common mounting element to the dispensing members of attachments of either the first or second configuration. Since the attachments with reduced spacing in accordance with the invention are intended to be used with standard dispensing devices, the conne tions* ; tό'vthe!-common' mountinguelen.ent5 esii.aBly. ; have- approximate the " same pitch as conventional clips of attachments. In a EET particular embodiment of the invention, where the spacing is approximately halved, a connection to the common mounting ele¬ ment is made for every other attachment. This connection may be to the longer or shorter individual attachments as desired. In accordance with yet another aspect of the inven¬ tion, the attachments are subjected to stretching which com¬ mences with the stretching of the shorter attachments to be the same length as the initially molded longer attachments. Where desired, the stretching may be continued to stretch the longer attachments as well. The result is a clip of stretched attachments each having the same overall length. Moreover, it is advantageous to promote stretching by tapering the fila¬ mentary connectors so that they have their smallest diameter in the vicinity of their cross bars and their greatestdiameter in the vicinity Of their heads. In accordance with a still further aspect of the in¬ vention, the longer individual attachments are provided with means for engaging and holding the shorter attachments after they, have been stretched into relative alignment with the longer attachments. For that purpose a plurality of protub¬ erances can be provided on the face of each paddle of the longer attachments. A mating protuberence is then included on the face of the adjoining shorter paddle. When the latter is stretched to the level of the longer paddles, an interlock takes place between the adjoining paddles. The protuberences desirably are in the form of cylindrical surfaces which extend along the face of each paddle.. SUBSTITUTE SHEET Description of Drawings Other aspects of the invention will become apparent after considering several illustrative embodiments taken in conjunction with the drawings, in which: FIGURE 1 is a schematic view of: showing a clip of attachments in accordance with the invention being used with a dispensing device; FIGURE 2 is a view similar to that of FIGURE 1 in which the needle of the dispensing device has penetrated the article to be tagged; FIGURE 3 is a view showing the dispensing device of FIGURE 2 after having been withdrawn from the article being marked leaving the article tagged as desired; FIGURE 4 is a schematic view showing a clip of attachments after having been stretched in accordance with the invention being used in a manner similar to that illustra¬ ted in FIGURE 1; FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of a fragmentary clip molded in accordance with the invention; FIGURE 6 is a side view of the clip of FIGURE 5; FIGURE 7 is a view of FIGURE 6 in conjunction with illustrative stretching jaws for producing stretched fasteners in accordance with the invention; FIGURE 8A is a plan view of a portion of the clip of FIGURE 5 after molding and before stretching; FIGURE 8B is a plan view corresponding to FIGURE 8A after stretching • FIGURE 9A is a plan view of a portion of an alterna¬ tive clip in accordance with the invention after molding and before stretching; FIGURE 9B is a plan view corresponding to FIGURE 9A after stretching; FIGURES 10A and 10B are plan view*of a further alter¬ native clip respectively before and after stretching; and FIGURES 10C and 10D are side views corresponding to FIGURES 10A and 10B. SUBSTITUTE SHEET -1- Detailed Description With reference to the drawings, FIGURE 1 shows a clip 10 of attachments in accordance with the invention in position for use with a dispensing device 20 to tag an arti- cle of merchandise 30 with a price ticket 40. •The clip 10 includes individual attachments 11- I through 11-n, and 12-1 through 12-n. The attachments of the "11" series have connectors llσ which are longer than the corresponding connectors 12c of the shorter attachments of the "12" series. The entire set of individual attachments II and 12 is secured to a mounting bar 13, with the longer attachments.11 connected directly- to the mounting bar 13 by a/dispensing element or cross bar lib, and the shorter attach¬ ments 12 are indirectly connected at their cross bar 12b through the longer attachments as more specifically described below. The clip 10 is applied to the dispenser 20 by inser¬ tion of the mounting bar 13.into an internal channel 21. The first undispensed attachment 11-1 is noved into the channel 21 into position for being dispensed with its dispensing mem¬ ber or cross bar lib (not visible in FIGURE 1) in alignment with the bore of a slotted hollow needle 24. The tag 40 is positioned on the needle 24 and the desired dispensing then takes place by compressing the lever actuator 25 of the dis- penser 20. The dispenser 20 is then as shown in FIGURE 2 with the cross bar lib in the course of being emitted from the needle. Expulsion of the cross bar lib causes it to adopt its original orientation relative to the connector lie on the reverse side of the article 30 as shown in FIGURE 3, with the price tag 40 on the connector lie. The foregoing cycle is then repeated for another article, causing the feed of the next attachment 12-1 in the same manner described previously except that the attachment 12-1 is shorter than the attachment 11-1 and is indirectly SUBSTITUTE SHEET connected to the mounting element 13. As indicated in FIGURE 1 the attachments 11 are directly connected to the mounting element 13 by short necks lln. These necks lln are spaced from one another on the . mounting element 13 by an interval which allows the clip 10 to be accommodated by conventional dispensers such as the dispenser 20. The inclusion in the clip 10 of the shorter, element 12, however, represents a 50 percent reduction in the spacing between adjoining attachments. To allow the more closely spaced attachments to be fed by conventional dispensers, the conventionalneck con¬ nectors lln are retained. The dispenser 20 is nevertheless able to feed the interspersed attachments 12 because, although the feed mechanism acts against the next neck lln of the next elongated attachment, e.g. 11-2, the forward rotation of the feed mechanism is temporarily terminated when the shorter attachment, e.g. 12-1, has its dispensing member or cross bar 12b positioned at the mouth of the dispensing needle" 24. The " feeding of the next longer attachment 11-2 is then completed after the shorter attachment 12-1 is expelled. As a result, the invention is able to provide for the feed of closely spaced attachments by a standard dispenser. For the alternative embodiment of the clip 10* in FIGURE 4, the method of feed is as described above. Details for the clip 10' are set forth below. SUBSTITUTE SHEET As more clearly indicated in FIGURE 5, the clip 10 as molded is formed by a mounting element 13 which supports two sets of individual attachments 11 and 12. The attachments of the first set 11 are longer than those of the second set 12. The latter are interleaved between adjoining individual attach¬ ments at the first set 11. By making the alternate attachments 12 shorter than the adjoining attachments 11 there is a desired separation of their corresponding paddles lip and 12p which permits the mold that is used to form the clip 10 to have a suitable wall thickness between the paddles lip and 12p. This allows the close spacing of the attachments 11 and 12 and simultaneously permits the attachments to be produced by in¬ jection molding using customary pressures and temperature. As explained above, the shorter attachments 12 are joined to neighboring attachments 11 at their cross bars 12b by narrow connectors 12k, there being one such pair of con¬ nectors for each of the individual attachments 12. Details for the connectors 12k are shown below. A side view of the clip 10 of FIGURE 5 is shown in FIGURE 6. This view emphasizes the separation between the paddles lip and 12p that is achieved in accordance with the invention. This separation is not sufficient to interfere with the usage of the clip 10 as shown in FIGURE 1. The only consequence is that alternate attachments are slightly shorter than their predecessors. In the general tagging of merchant dise this is unobjectionable. For those situations where it is desired to provide for the tagging of merchandise with 'individual attachments of equal length the invention makes use of the stretching technique illustrated by FIGURE 7. In accordance with FIGURE 7, the clip 10 is inserted in a stretching machine of which only illustrative stretching jaws J-l and J-2 are shown. It will be understood that any convenient form of stretcher may be employed. In order for stretching to take place the attachments STITUTE SHEET of the clip 10 must be molded of stretch reorientable material, for example by the injection molding of plastics such as nylon, polypropylene and the like. When the clip 10 is subjected to relative separation of the jaws J-l and J-2, initial stretch- ing takes place only for the shorter attachments 12. Once the attachments 12 have been stretched so that their paddles 12p are in alignment with the paddles lip of the initially longer attachments, any further spearation of the jaws will stretch both the attachments 12 and the attachments 11. The stretching may be continued until the connectors 12c are fully stretched. If the connectors 12c are molded with the same relative diameters as the connectors lie, the complete stretch¬ ing of the connectors 12c will leave an unstretched buffer zone on the initially longer connectors lie. In addition, further control of the stretching is provided by the extent to which the connectors lie and 12c are tapered increasingly from their corresponding cross bars lib and 12b. A plan view of the molded, unstretched attachments of FIGURES 5 through 7 is shown in FIGURE 8A. The paddles 12p of the shorter attachments 12 include a cylindrical rib 12r which extends laterally across the face of the paddle and provides a protuberence that is engageable by corresponding ribs llr-1 and llr-2 shown on the paddle lip of the longer, unstretched attachments 11. In addition, a support element " 15 is joined to the paddles lip of the longer attachments 11. As illustrated in FIGURE 8A, the support element 15 is para¬ llel to the mounting element 13.and is symmetrically posi¬ tioned along the top edges of the paddles lip. The connectors SUBSTITUTE SHEET 15k that join the support element 15 to the paddles lip are substantially the same as the connectors 12k that join the cross bars 12b of the shorter attachments 12 to the adjoining attachments 11. When the clip 10 of FIGURE 8A is subjected to stretc ing as described previously, the paddles 12p of the initially shorter attachments 12 come into engagement with the paddles lip of the initially longer attachments 11 as illustrated in FIGURE 8B for the stretched clip 10'. As shown, the pro- tuberence portion of the ribs 12r becomes interlocked between the protuberence portion of the other ribs llr-1 and llr-2. In an illustrative clip 10 produced by injection, molding, the connectors lie and 12c had an illustrative mini¬ mum diameter of 0.035 inches at their cross bars lib and 12b. The connectors lie and 12c further had a taper extending out¬ wardly from their positions of attachment to their respective cross bars providing an angle of taper of about 12 minutes and 21 seconds. The shorter connectors 12c had an unstretched length of approximately 0.739 inches, while the longer connec¬ tors lie had a length of approximately 0.902 inches. The additional connector 15k and 12k that joined the support ele¬ ment 15 to the paddles lip, and the cross bars 12b to the adjoining cross bars lib had a maximum thickness of 0.005 inches and were either square or circular. The support ele- ment 15 had a diameter of 0.03.0 inches, while the mounting element 13 had a diameter, of 0 . 060 inches. The necks lln had a diameter of0.025 inches, and a length, from the center of the connectors 12k to the center of the mounting element 13, of 0.116 inches. The paddles had a thickness of 0.028 inches and the ribs 12r, llr-1 and llr-2 had a diameter of 0.045 inches and where separated on a paddle, e.g. the paddle lip, had a distance of separation of 0.028 inches. The paddle had a maximum width of 0.400 inches and a height of 0.187 inches . SHEET su BSTΓΓUTE A plan view of a portion of an alternative clip of unstretched attachments in accordance with the invention is shown in FIGURE 9A. As before, the individual attachments are in two groups 11 and 12 with the individual attachments 11 being molded with a longer length than the shorter inter¬ leaved attachments 12. This permits the close spacing of the attachments as desired without requiring excessively thin mold walls in the regions of the paddles lip and 12p. Unlike the configuration of FIGURE 8A, however, the attachments of the second set 12 are directly connected to the mounting element 13. With this arrangement the interbar connections 12k of FIGURE 8A are no longer needed and have been eliminated. When the unstretched individual fasteners of FIGURE 9A are stretched in accordance with procedure described pre- viously, the result is as shown in FIGURE 9B. Since the ..• initially longer attachments 11 are not stretched to the same extent as the shorter attachments 12, there is a residual buffer region llf between the adjoining,paddles lip and the stretched connector lie' . In the case of FIGURE 9B, the shorter attach- ments 12 also are incompletely stretched so that they too include a buffer region 12f between their paddles 12p and their stretched connectors 12c'. ... In addition, the interengagement of the paddles lip and 12p is achieved in the case of the embodiment of FIGURES 9A and 9B by the substitution of hook members llh and 12h for the protuberences llr and 12r shown in FIGURES 8A and 8B. Each of the hook members llh and 12h has an inclined face, with respect to the longitudinal axis of the attachment, that produces the coupling engagement shown in FIGURE 9B. With this arrangement the support element 15 of FIGURES 8A and 8B is unnecessary and has therefore been removed from the embodi¬ ment of FIGURES 9A and 9B. SUBSTITUTE SHEET A plan view of a portion of a further alternative clip of unstretched attachments in accordance with the inven¬ tion is shown in FIGURE 10A. As in the case of the embodiment of FIGURE 9A, the interbar connectors 12k of FIGURE 8A have been eliminated. Instead, the attachments of the shorter group 12 are connected to an auxiliary mounting element 13a that is positioned between the main mounting element 13 and the row of cross bars lib and 12b. The auxiliary mounting element is approximately of the same diameter as the associated neck connectors lln-1 and lln-2, in the case of the longer attach¬ ments 11, and the neck 12n-ι2 inthe case of the shorter attach¬ ments 12. In an illustrative embodiment of the invention the auxiliary mounting element 13a had substantially the same dia¬ meter as the support element 15. In one usage of the clip 10 lv the attachments 11 and 12 are advanced by a feed heel, or other feed mechanism, which acts successively upon the necks lln-2. - i The auxiliary mounting element 13a gi es ' support to the closely spaced .attachments 11 and 12 and p f v_5c_es a connection to the shorter attachments 12. The second alternative clip 10 iv after stretching has the form 10 v as shown in FIGURE 10B. The corresponding side view for respective FIGURES 10A and 10B are shown in FIGURES IOC and 10D. SUBSTVTUTE SHEET

Claims: 1. An assembly of attachments comprising a plurality of attachments having parts of a first .type with enlarged faces, with each part joined by an elongated connector to a dispensing member; a plurality of attachments having parts of a second type with enlarged faces at different positions than said parts of said first type, with each part joined by an elongated connector.to a dispensing member; and means for Integralling connecting said attachments to one another by way of their dispensing members? the attachments of said first type alternating with and immediately following those of said second type with their enlarged faces in different planes. 2. An assembly of attachments.inaccordance with claim 1 wherein the dispensing member of the second type of attach- ment is joined directly to adjoining dispensing members of each first type of attachment. 3. An assembly of attachments in accordance with claim 1 wherein each dispensing member of a first type is joined to adjoining dispensing members of the second type by way of a mounting element for the two types of attachments. 4. An assembly of attachments in accordance with claim 1 wherein each dispensing member of a first type is joined to a dispensing member of a second type by way of an auxiliary mounting element having the length of said assembly and is disposed between a main mounting element for said attachments of said first type and the dispensing members of the two types of attachments. SUBSTITUTE SHEET 5. An assembly of attachments in accordance with claim 1 wherein the attachments are selectively connected to one or more assembly length mounting elements. 6. An assembly of attachments- in accordance with claim 1 wherein said parts of said first type include means for engaging and non-integrally holding a part of said second type. 7. An assembly of attachments in accordance with claim 6 wherein the holding means comprise a plurality of interlocking protuberences. 8. An assembly of attachments in accordance with claim 1 molded from thermoplastic material with the attachment of said second type shorter and thereafter stretched to make it substantially the same length as the attachment of the first type. 9. An assembly of attachments in accordance with claim 1 wherein the attachments of the first and second type are molded from thermoplastic material and are thereafter stretched un¬ equally to substantially the same overall length. 10. The method of manufacturing an assembly of attach¬ ments which comprises the steps oft (a) molding a first attachment having a dispensing member with a connector extending to a further, member at the opposite end of said connector; (b) molding a second attachment which is shorter than said first attachment and having a further member which is engageable with said further member of said first attachment and being joined to said first attachment; and

Inventors: LANKTON GORDON B, LANKTON, GORDON, B.
Applicants: NYPRO INC
Application year: 1985
Main classification: A45B9
IPC codes: G09F3