Abstract:
An assistive device for releaseably engaging a button and manipulating it into and out of a button hole is disclosed. The device is preferably provided as a continuous metal wire structure. The structure defines a receiving aperture for receiving and slideably engaging a button between the lower surface of the button and the fabric on which the button is affixed by means of threaded button stitches whereby the threaded stitches slide between one of a pair of opposing sets of rails, thereby permitting the user to easily manipulate the button into and out of a button hole.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit of U. S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/511,864, filed on Jul. 26, 2011, entitled “E-Z Button-Up, Aids in Buttoning a Shirt or Blouse,” pursuant to 35 USC 119, which application is incorporated fully herein by reference. 
     
    
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 
       [0002]    Not applicable 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0004]    The invention relates generally to the field of buttons and buttoning accessories. More specifically, the invention relates to an assistive device for releaseably securing a button and passing through a button hole. 
         [0005]    2. Description of the Related Art 
         [0006]    Buttons are among the most common of clothing and fabric fastening devices due in part to their simplicity, low cost, durability and functionality. As is well known, a button is typically affixed to a fabric surface by one or more threaded stitches and a complementary button hole or aperture provided on an opposing fabric surface having an aperture length that is substantially equal to or slightly greater than the diameter of the button in which it is inserted. To affix the button, a peripheral (i.e., side) surface of the button is manipulated angularly through the button hole and released so that the lower button surface is co-planar with the fabric surface comprising the button hole. In this manner, the button, now planar with the opposing fabric surface, cannot readily be drawn back through the button hole. 
         [0007]    To disengage the button, the user must manipulate the button by grasping it, turning it angularly relative to the button hole and sliding a peripheral surface of the button into the button hole and finally manipulate the button itself out through the button hole. 
         [0008]    While the above steps are sufficiently common so that few users actively think about them, there exists a substantial population that has difficulty with this simple manual task. Elderly individuals, post-hand or post-wrist surgery patients, arthritis sufferers, carpal tunnel sufferers and those with muscular, neurological or visual disorders or developmental disabilities all have an increased difficulty in the everyday task of the physical manipulation of a button into or out of a button hole. 
         [0009]    What is needed to address the above concerns is a low-cost, simple and durable device to permit the efficient manipulation of a button into and out of a button hole, which needs are addressed by the instant invention. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0010]    An assistive device for releaseably engaging a button and manipulating it into and out of a button hole is disclosed. 
         [0011]    The device is preferably provided as a continuous metal wire structure. The structure defines a receiving aperture for receiving and slideably engaging a button between the lower surface of the button and the fabric on which the button is affixed by means of threaded button stitches whereby the threaded stitches slide between one of a pair of opposing pairs of rails, thereby permitting the user to easily manipulate the button into and out of a button hole. 
         [0012]    In a first aspect of the invention, an assistive device for guiding a button through a button-hole is provided comprising a frame member defining a receiving aperture, which preferably is centrally disposed along the longitudinal axis of the frame. The frame may comprise a pair of opposing and spaced-apart receiving aperture portions defining a first spaced-apart distance, a first elongate retaining aperture comprising a first pair of substantially parallel and spaced-apart rail portions connected by a first terminal end portion, and a second elongate retaining aperture comprising a second pair of substantially parallel and spaced-apart rail portions connected by a second terminal end portion so that the first and second pair of rail portions define a second spaced-apart distance. 
         [0013]    In the preferred embodiment of the first aspect of the invention, the second spaced-apart distance defined by the respective rail pairs is substantially equal but the invention is not limited to such a configuration. By way of example and not by limitation, the first rail portions may define a second spaced-apart distance that is less than or greater than a third spaced-apart distance defined by the second pair of rail members. 
         [0014]    In a second aspect of the invention, the first spaced-apart distance is about ½ of an inch. 
         [0015]    In a third aspect of the invention, the second spaced-apart distance is about 3/16 of an inch. 
         [0016]    In a fourth aspect of the invention, the first terminal end portion and the second terminal end portion are spaced about four (4) inches apart. 
         [0017]    In a fifth aspect of the invention, the assistive device is fabricated from a flexible material or spring metal whereby the first spaced-apart distance can be selectively varied by a user to accommodate buttons of varying diameters. 
         [0018]    In a sixth aspect of the invention, at least one of the receiving aperture portions or at least one of the rail portions is comprised of a metal wire material. 
         [0019]    In a seventh aspect of the invention, the metal wire material is a stainless steel material. 
         [0020]    These and various additional aspects, embodiments and advantages of the present invention will become immediately apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon review of the Detailed Description and the claims to follow. 
         [0021]    While the claimed apparatus and method herein has or will be described for the sake of grammatical fluidity with functional explanations, it is to be understood that the claims, unless expressly formulated under 35 USC 112, are not to be construed as necessarily limited in any way by the construction of “means” or “steps” limitations, but are to be accorded the full scope of the meaning and equivalents of the definition provided by the claims under the judicial doctrine of equivalents, and in the case where the claims are expressly formulated under 35 USC 112, are to be accorded full statutory equivalents under 35 USC 112. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0022]      FIG. 1  depicts a plan view of a preferred embodiment of the button assistive device of the invention. 
       
    
    
       [0023]    The invention and its various embodiments can now be better understood by turning to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments which are presented as illustrated examples of the invention defined in the claims. It is expressly understood that the invention as defined by the claims may be broader than the illustrated embodiments described below. 
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0024]    Turning now to the FIGURES wherein like numerals designate like elements, a button assistive device for guiding a button through a button hole is provided. 
         [0025]    In the illustrated preferred embodiment, assistive device  1  is generally comprised of frame member  5 . Frame member  5  may be fabricated from any suitable material, not limited to a metal material or plastic and in one preferred embodiment, is fabricated from a continuous segment of 16 gauge stainless steel wire material of about 0.051 inches in diameter. 
         [0026]    Frame member  5  may be galvanized or comprised of a spring metal or both in an alternative preferred embodiment. The frame member material should be selected for appropriate physical hardness and yield strength so as to permit frame member  5  to generally return to its original shape despite bending or twisting from use. 
         [0027]    While the above preferred embodiment of the assistive device of the invention is fabricated from a stainless steel or ferrous material, the construction of the device is not limited to same and may use any metal material or alloy having desired metallurgical properties. 
         [0028]    Alternative preferred embodiments of the device may be fabricated from, but are not limited to, the use of any suitable material whatsoever such as a plastic, resin or polymer material in a stamping, extruding or curing process as is known in the manufacturing arts. 
         [0029]    In the illustrated preferred embodiment, frame member  5  defines an approximately centrally disposed receiving aperture  10  for receiving a button there through. 
         [0030]    Receiving aperture  10  is comprised of a pair of opposing and spaced-apart receiving apertures portions  15  and  15 ′ defining a first spaced apart distance  20 . Receiving aperture portions  15  and  15 ′ are preferably provided with a bend having a radius (i.e., radial in transverse cross-section) of about ¼ inch. 
         [0031]    Frame member  5  further comprises a first elongate retaining aperture  25 . 
         [0032]    First elongate retaining aperture  25  is comprised of a first pair of substantially parallel and spaced-apart rail portions  30 . 
         [0033]    First rail portions  30  are connected by a first terminal end portion  35 . First terminal end portion  30  is preferably provided with a bend (i.e., radial in transverse cross-section) having an inner diameter of about 3/16 inches so as to define a second spaced-apart distance A of about 3/16 inches. 
         [0034]    Frame member  5  further comprises a second generally elongate retaining aperture  40 . 
         [0035]    Second elongate retaining aperture  40  is comprised of a second pair of substantially parallel and spaced-apart rail portions  30 ′. 
         [0036]    Second rail portions  30 ′ are connected by a second terminal end portion  35 ′. Second terminal end portion  35 ′ is preferably provided with a bend (i.e., radial in transverse cross-section) having an inner diameter of about 3/16 inches so as to define a second spaced-apart distance A of about 3/16 inches. 
         [0037]    First and second rail portions  30  and  30 ′ are connected to the respective aperture portions  15  and  15 ′ with a bend (i.e., radial in transverse cross-section) of about ⅛ inches. 
         [0038]    In a preferred embodiment, the outer opposing surfaces of first and second terminal end portions  35  and  35 ′ are provided with a spaced-apart distance of (i.e., the device has a longitudinal length of) about four (4) inches. 
         [0039]    In use, the individual may grasp one of the two opposing pairs of rails, insert frame member  5  through a button hole and orient receiving aperture  10  over a button and downwardly such that the lower surface of a button that is affixed to an article of clothing is above aperture portions  15  and  15 ′. 
         [0040]    Frame member  5  is then manipulated such that the button stitching is slideably received between and disposed within one of the first or second elongate retaining apertures  25  or  40  defined by one of the two sets of rail portions  30  and  30 ′. Once the button stitching is received within an elongate retaining aperture, the user may easily manipulate the opposing rail portions like a handle on the opposing terminal end of frame member  5  so as to manipulate the assistive device and releaseably secured button through a button hole. 
         [0041]    Many alterations and modifications may be made to the above described button assistive device by those having ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore, it must be understood that the illustrated embodiment, the receiving aperture, rail member spacing, material and dimensions have been set forth only for the purposes of example and that it should not be taken as limiting the invention as defined by the following claims. For example, notwithstanding the fact that the elements of the claims for the assistive device, its radii, length or other elements are set forth below in a certain combination, it must be expressly understood that the invention includes other combinations of fewer, more or different elements, which are disclosed in above even when not initially claimed in such combinations. 
         [0042]    The words used in this specification to describe the elements of the assistive device, its frame member and rail elements and its various embodiments are to be understood not only in the sense of their commonly defined meanings, but to include by special definition in this specification structure, material or acts beyond the scope of the commonly defined meanings. Thus if an element can be understood in the context of this specification as including more than one meaning, then its use in a claim must be understood as being generic to all possible meanings supported by the specification and by the word itself. 
         [0043]    The definitions of the words or elements of the following claims are, therefore, defined in this specification to include not only the combination of button assistive device elements which are literally set forth, but all equivalent structures, materials or acts for performing substantially the same function in substantially the same way to obtain substantially the same result. 
         [0044]    In this sense, it is therefore contemplated that an equivalent substitution of two or more elements, for instance, rail elements, terminal end portions or receiving aperture portions may be made for any one of the elements in the claims below or that a single element may be substituted for two or more elements in a claim. Although elements of the assistive device of the invention may be described above as acting in certain combinations and even initially claimed as such, it is to be expressly understood that one or more elements from a claimed combination can in some cases be excised from the combination and that the claimed combination may be directed to a subcombination or variation of a subcombination. 
         [0045]    Insubstantial changes from the claimed subject matter as viewed by a person with ordinary skill in the art, now known or later devised, are expressly contemplated as being equivalently within the scope of the claims. Therefore, obvious substitutions now or later known to one with ordinary skill in the art are defined to be within the scope of the defined elements. 
         [0046]    The claims are thus to be understood to include what is specifically illustrated and described above, what is conceptually equivalent, what can be obviously substituted and also what essentially incorporates the essential idea of the invention.