SLIDE-TYPE FASTENER

Abstract: A slide-type fastener which has mating halves (11a,11b) of which one has an elongate, lengthwise-extending bead (12) and the other has a laterally open elongate, lengthwise-extending recess (13) is adapted to receive said bead (12), the fastener is capable of interengagement such that the bead (12) is introduced laterally into and removed laterally from the recess (13) and is adapted so that when the bead (12) is in the recess (13), applying lateral tension between the said two halves (11a,11b) applies no uncountered force which removes the bead (12) from the recess (13).

Description: This invention relates to slide-type fasteners. An interesting account by Lewis Weiner of the development of slide fasteners from their invention by Elias Howe in l85l is to be found in "Scientific American", June l983, pp. l22-l29. Among the fasteners made by techniques described by Mr Weiner are heavy duty, weatherproof fasteners for harsh environment clothing. Since, however, they consist of individual teeth carried on tapes (stringers) joined side by side, with the teeth intermeshing, by a slide, weatherproofing is problematical. It is a matter of effectively sealing, as by rubberising, the gaps between the teeth as best as one can. No completely satisfactory method of doing this has been found, and the usual resort, for weatherproofing, is to have a flap which covers the fastener and which is secured by a Velcro (RTM) type fastener. Another problem with such fasteners is their tendency to jam by teeth becoming displaced or by intrusion of a thread from the garment or a frayed stringer. One other type of slide fastener not mentioned in Mr Weiner's account comprises intermeshing elongate beads and recesses formed in a polyvinyl chloride or other plastics material film. Such a slide fastener is not extensively used, being mainly found on document wallets and pouches where it is moulded integrally. Various attempts to improve upon this type of continuous head fastener are mentioned in the patent literature, including German Patent Publication 234l452, 2656045 and 270l590 which involve various complicated profiles intended to effect clamping or tongue-and-groove like actions. They all evidently suffer from the disadvantage that the very flexibility that permits the two halves to be engaged also enables the halves to deform under tension forces therebetween so that they can disengage in ordinary use. For clothing and most other applications fasteners comprised of individual teeth mounted on tapes or metal or plastic wire-formed teeth woven or otherwise embodied into tapes are preferred on account of their positive engagement when fastened. The present invention provides an improved slide fastener of this continuous bead type not subject to the problems aforementioned. The invention comprises a slide-type fastener having mating halves of which one has an elongate, lengthwise-extending bead and the other has a laterally open elongate, lengthwise-extending recess adapted to receive said bead, the fastener being capable of interengagement such that the bead can be introduced laterally into and removed laterally from the recess and being adapted so that when the bead is in the recess, applying lateral tension between the said two halves applies no uncountered force which tends to remove the head from the recess. Applying such lateral tension may apply forces opposite to those required to effect such interengagement aforesaid. Extractor means may be provided for extracting said bead laterally from said recess. Said extractor means may comprise a slide of the kind familiar from conventional slide fasteners, which may also serve - or will in most cases also serve - for fastening as well as unfastening the fastener. It may be desired, however, in some embodiments, to have a permanent or semi-permanent fastening. Certain types of fastener according to the invention may be useful in constructional and civil and mechanical engineering applications as a method for joining together panels, or joining panels to supporting members for example. If the fastener is so constructed as by being sufficiently flexible to lock on being merely pushed together, so that a slider is unnecessary for locking, and if such panels or other members are intended to be permanently locked together, then the slider can be dispensed with. A semi-permanent arrangement can be provided in which a slider is associated with the fastener but not necessarily retained therewith. Such a slider can be adapted as a key, and the slider or a part thereof adapted as a co-operating lock, as by the slider having a notched profile and one or both ends of the flexible members having a complementarily profiled opening for insertion of the slider. Said bead and said recess may be similar so that said bead bounds a recess in the said one half that is adapted to receive a like bead which itself bounds the said recess in the other half. Said halves may be similar so that they may be made from a single extrusion. In another arrangement, the invention comprises a slide-type fastener having mating halves of which one has an elongate, lengthwise-extending bead and the other has a laterally open, elongate, lengthwise-extending recess adapted to receive said bead, the said halves being capable of interengagement such that the bead can be introduced laterally into and removed laterally from the recess, the recess being bounded by a latch member for latching the bead into the recess said latch member being biassed into latching relationship and being swingable against the bias substantially out of such latching relationship for mating and separating the two halves, the halves having further abutting surfaces held together by the bead being latched in the recess. Two beads and two recesses may be symmetrically disposed either side of common such further abutting surfaces so that said halves are similar so that they may again be made from a single extrusion. The fastener may comprise lever means with said latch member adapted to be engaged by cam means of a fastener slide for swinging said latch member. Said latch member may be an integral part of said half and be swingable by elastic bending thereof about a pivot point in the said half. The fastener may comprise flexible flaps and cooperating bead and recess fastening therefor by which the flaps can be fastened over sewing holes. Embodiments of slide-type fasteners according to the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure l is a perspective view showing the cross-section of a first embodiment and showing in full line the two halves mated together and in broken line the two halves immediately prior to coming together (or immediately after separation), Figure 2 is a perspective view of a slider suitable for use with the fastener illustrated in Figure l, Figure 3 is a view like Figure l of a second embodiment, Figure 4 is a view like Figure l of a third embodiment, and Figure 5 is a perspective view showing the cross-section of a fourth embodiment. The drawings illustrate slide-type fasteners ll having mating halves lla, llb. In each case the halves lla, llb are similar so that they can be made of the same extruded section, for example. For the moment, however, for ease of understanding the principles of construction, they will be described as if they were not necessarily similar. In each case, one half, lla, has an elongate, lengthwise-extending bead l2 and the other has a laterally open, elongate, lengthwise extending recess l3 adapted to receive said bead l2. The fasteners are adapted for interengagement such that the bead l2 can be introduced laterally into and removed laterally from the recess l3. By this is meant that the two halves lla, llb can be mated and separated while remaining side-by-side in the manner of a regular slide fastener, without having to slide the one lengthwise into or out of the other to engage or disengage the bead l2 and recess l3. The fasteners are further adapted so that when the bead l2 is in the recess l3, applying lateral tension (ie in the directions of arrows l0) between the two halves lla, llb applies no uncountered force which tends to remove the bead l2 from the recess l3. Forces are in fact applied between the bead l2 and the recess l3 opposite to those required to effect such interengagement aforesaid. The effect of this is, of course, that the fastener cannot become undone under the sort of tension forces to which it will be subjected in ordinary use. Previous attempts to make continuous bead type slide fasteners have suffered from the disadvantage that tension forces between the two halves can effect deformation permitting them to separate. Of course, excessive tension forces, above what can normally be anticipated, may break or cause deformation of various parts of the fasteners even of the present invention and such excessive forces must be discounted in looking at the performance of the present invention as compared with the prior art. The two halves lla, llb in the embodiment illustrated in Figure l have, when the bead l2 is in the recess l3, a common principal plane P-P, the bead l2 comprising the free end of a hook-like formation l4, viewed in cross-section, which hook-like formation l4 twice crosses the principal plane P-P, once at X and again at Y. The bead l2 and - in this case, the two halves lla, llb being symmetrical - are flexible, and capable of deformation such that the bead l2 can be introduced laterally into the recess l3. The position of maximum such deformation is shown in broken line in Figure l, in which the bead l2 and the recess l3 are both opened out so that the one can be introduced into the other simply by moving the two halves lla, llb towards one another. Such movement, as well as the reverse movement for separation of the two halves, is effected by a slider 2l as shown in Figure 2, which has a wide end 22 and a narrow end 23, the wide end 22 being that at which the two halves lla, llb are separate, and the narrow end 23 being that at which the two halves are interengaged with the bead l2 in the recess l3. The slider has front and rear faces 24, 25 respectively which are connected together at the wide end 23 and over a part, for example about half the length "l" of the slider 2l, by a bridge 26 which has cam members 27 for opening out the bead and recess l2, 23 of the two halves of the fastener ll. The slider 2l has the usual hinged tag 28 for manipulating it along the fastener ll - actually, because of the symmetrical arrangement, a tag might with advantage be put on both sides. It will be seen that deformation of the bead l2 and recess l3 can only be effected by the slider 2l - ­ tension forces in the direction of the arrows in Figure l will urge the deformable parts - namely the bead l2 and recess l3 - into ever closer and tighter engagement, and will militate against any tendency of the two halves lla, llb to "roll out" as will be the case with conventional such elongate bead type fasteners. Moreover, the arrangement also forms a watertight/airtight arrangement - always provided manufacturing tolerances are appropriate - which is reinforced by normal usage tensions between the two halves lla, llb, unlike conventional toothed slide-type fasteners, which require special proofing techniques. Additional proofing can be had by the provision of flexible flaps l5 which can be bent back and snapped on to beads l6 to cover up any sewing holes. Figure 3 illustrates another embodiment of fastener ll according to the invention, in which the bead l2 and recess l3, in fact the entire hook l4, are rigid. Interengagement is by way of starting from a position as shown in broken line and moving as indicated by the compound arrow "A". Resilient spring members 3l (which can be extruded integrally with the rest of the section in plastics material for example polyester or polyamide) are pushed back by such movement but spring out to the position illustrated in full line to hold the two halves lla, llb in interengagement. It will be seen that tension forces between the two halves lla, llb canot disengage them, since the hook parts l4 are essentially rigid and are held together by spring forces from the members 3l, which are not affected at all by the tension forces. Such an arrangement - depending entirely on the degree of rigidity of the hook parts l4, everything of course being relative - may not need or even admit of the use of a slider. The fastener could, however, be engaged and released by a compound movement according to arrow A however effected This arrangement might well be suitable for fastening together rigid plates or panels which might themselves be of a synthetic material so that the fastener halves lla, llb might be formed in them by for example running a profiling tool down an edge. The spring members 3l are of course not necessary if the fastener is not required to be unfastened once fastened. The arrangement could be wedged or filled with a sealant to form a permanent connection. The embodiment illustrated in Figure 3 has a different locking arrangement designed to help maintain the fastener closed under forces other than in the direction of arrows l0 acting in the principal plane P-P. Flexible flap members 4lb, 42b on half llb surround the "blunt" end 43a of the hook part l4 of half lla and have locking ribs 44b which engage in correspondingly profiled grooves 45a of half lla in the blunt end 43a aforesaid thereof The flap members 4lb, 42b can flex on deformation by the slider to open or close the fastener into a void 46b in the half llb. Since the halves lla, llb are symmetrical, there are corresponding flaps 4la, 42a on half lla with locking ribs 44a engaging in grooves 45b in the blunt end 43b of the hook part l4 of half llb. As before, it is the bead and recess arrangement l2, l3 that tends to resist separating deformation under principal plane P-P forces. The engagement of the ribs 44a, 44b in the grooves 45b, 45a respectively tends to hold the main bead/recess arrangement l2, l3 together even under the action of bending and shear forces perpendicular to the principal plane P-P. Moreover, they reinforce the sealing action by providing additional sealing regions which tend to come together even more tightly on deformation - other, of course, than on deformation occasioned by the passage of the slider. Figure 5 illustrates a slide-type fastener ll having mating halves l2, l3, of which one has an elongate, lengthwise-extending bead l4 and the other has a laterally open, elongate, lengthwise-extending recess 15 adapted to receive said bead l4, the said halves l2, l3 being capable of interengagement such that the bead l4 can be introduced laterally into and removed laterally from the recess l5, the recess l5 being bounded by a latch member l6 for latching the bead l4 into the recess l5 said latch member l6 being biassed into latching relationship and being swingable against the bias and without deforming the recess out of such latching relationship for mating and separating the two halves l2, l3, the two halves having further abutting surfaces l7, l8 held together by the bead l4 being latched in the recess l5. The fastener ll comprises two beads l4 and two recesses symmetrically disposed either side of the abutting surfaces l7, l8 so that said halves l2, l3 are similar so that they may be made from a single extrusion. The fastener ll comprises lever means l9 with said latch member l6 adapted to be engaged by cam means of a fastener slide for swinging said latch member l6. The action of the slide is to bend said lever means l9 in the direction shown by the arrows thereby. Said latch member l6 is an integral part of said half and is swingable by elastic bending about a pivot axis 2l in the said half. The fastener ll has edge portions 22 by which it can be sewn to parts of a garment or other article. On the edges 22 are flexible flaps 23 and cooperating bead 24 and recess 25 fastening therefor by which the flaps 23 can be fastened over sewing holes in the edges 22. The fastener ll can be made of any suitable material including synthetic plastics materials and metals. Additional sealing and interlocking to make a more impermeable fastening may be effected by a labyrinth arrangement 28 intermediate the abutting surfaces l7, l8. As mentioned previously the embodiments are symmetrical, and this is clearly advantageous from the point of view of economy of manufacture and use, though it is not necessary and advantages for special applications might be had from an asymmetric arrangement.

Claims: 1. A slide-type fastener having mating halves of which one has an elongate, lengthwise-extending bead and the other has a laterally open elongate, lengthwise-extending recess adapted to receive said bead, the fastener being capable of interengagement such that the bead can be introduced laterally into and removed laterally from the recess and being adapted so that when the bead is in the recess, applying lateral tension between the said two halves applies no uncountered force which tends to remove the bead from the recess. 2. A fastener according to claim l, in which applying lateral tension between the said two halves applies forces between the bead and the recess opposite to those required to effect such interengagement aforesaid. 3. A fastener according to claim l, in which extractor means are provided for extracting said bead laterally from said recess. 4. A fastener according to claim l, in which said bead and said recess are similar so that said bead bounds a recess in the said one half that is adapted to receive a like bead which itself bounds the said recess of the other half. 5. A fastener according to claim 4, said halves being similar so that they may be made from a single extrusion. 6. A fastener according to claim l, in which the said two halves, when the bead is in the recess, have a common principal plane, the bead comprising the free end of a hook-like formation, viewed in cross-section, of the beaded half of the fastener, which hook-like formation twice crosses said principal plane. 7. A fastener according to claim l, in which the said recess and/or the said bead are flexible, and capable of deformation such that the bead can be introduced laterally into the recess. 8. A fastener according to claim l, in which said recess and said bead are rigid and said halves are capable of resilient deformation otherwise than at said bead and said recess which are urged mutually together by the resilience. 9. A fastener according to claim 8, in which said bead comprises a hook-like formation which can deform the said other half so that the point of the hook-like formation clears the opening of the recess and can be moved into alignment with the recess at right angles to the direction in which lateral tension forces are applied, and is then urged into the recess by said resilience. l0. A slide-type fastener having mating halves of which one has an elongate, lengthwise-extending bead and the other has a laterally open, elongate, lengthwise-extending recess adapted to receive said bead, the said halves being capable of interengagement such that the bead can be introduced laterally into and removed laterally from the recess, the recess being bounded by a latch member for latching the bead into the recess said latch member being biassed into latching relationship and being swingable against the bias and without substantially deforming the recess cut of such latching relationship for mating and separating the two halves, the halves having further abutting surfaces held together by the bead being latched in the recess. 11. A fastener according to claim l0, comprising two beads and two recesses symmetrically disposed either side of common such further abutting surfaces so that said halves are similar so that they may be made from a single extrusion. 12. A fastener according to claim l0, comprising lever means with said latch member adapted to be engaged by cam means of a fastener slide for swinging said latch member. 13. A fastener according to claim l0, said latch member being an integral part of said half and being swingable by elastic bending thereof about a pivot axis in the said half. 14. A fastener according to claim l0, comprising flexible flaps and cooperating bead and recess fastening therefor by which the flaps can be fastened over sewing holes.

Inventors: KEIGHLEY, JOHN HEWITT, ROBSON, PETER MAXWELL
Applicants: KEIGHLEY, JOHN HEWITT, ROBSON, PETER MAXWELL
Application year: 1986
Main classification: A44B19
IPC codes: A44B19