Patent GB-690104-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to releasable coupling devices or buckles for straps, tapes and the like
IPC: A44B11/12
Filed: 1950-02-03
Abstract: 690,104. Buckles. HARLEY, F. B. July 6, 1950 [Feb. 3, 1950], No. 2848/50. Class 43. In a buckle comprising a frame 1, Figs. 1 and 3, provided with a main anchorage element 9 to which one part 12 of a strap or the like is secured, and an auxiliary element 10 which is transverse to the direction of the applied load and to which another part of the strap is releasably connected, the auxiliary element 10 is disposed between, and laterally displaced from a plane X-X passing through, the main element 9 and a gripping edge 6<SP>1</SP> on the frame. The sides 8 of the metal frame 1 are connected at one end by the cross pin 9, round which one end 12 of a strap is secured, and at the other end by an integral fingerpiece 2; a downwardly curved tongue 5 extending from the inner edge of the fingerpiece has a metal plate 7 bent round and secured to it, the part 6<SP>1</SP> thereof which covers the edge of the tongue 5 forming a gripping edge and being apertured at 7" to prevent lateral slip of the strap. The auxiliary element 10 comprises a cross pin secured between the sides 8 and located above the plane containing the pin 9 and edge 6<SP>1</SP>. In use, the free end 14 of the strap having been looped round the pin 10, tension applied in the direction T causes the gripping edge 6<SP>1</SP> to press into the strap. In a modification, Fig. 13, for use with thick straps, arms 15 rotatable on or with extensions of the pin 9 carry the pin 10', which normally rests in recesses in the upper edges of the sides 8 but may be raised to increase the space between itself and the gripping edge 6<SP>1</SP>. The fingerpiece may be as in the previous construction; alternatively a D-shaped loop 28 may be provided. A longitudinal flat may be formed on the pin 10'. The integral tongue 5 providing the mounting for the plate 7 with gripping edge 6' may be replaced by a single separate metal plate secured to a frame of either metal or plastic. In a further modification the member round which the free end of the strap is looped comprises a cross piece 33, Figs. 18 and 19, of a slotted rectangular frame 30, said cross piece being raised above the plane of the end bar 38 and fingerpiece 45 and having a strip of metal 40 bent round it to avoid sharp edges. The inner edges of the end bars 38, 39 have bent round them tongues 42, 43 of a plate 41 applied to the undersurface of the frame. Both tongues may be apertured at 44 so that the buckle is reversible, a second fingerpiece being provided at the other end of the frame 30 if desired. In a reversible buckle of this kind the ends of the frame 30 may be slotted to provide main anchorage elements for engagement with hooks or the like for attachment e.g., to a wall or ceiling. In a modification of the previous construction a non-reversible buckle is adjustable along e.g., a fixed tab depending from a ceiling. The frame 50, Fig. 22, has a rearward extension 54, which is slotted at 60 and from which a deflecting tongue 55 is struck up thus forming a slot 59. The tab is passed up through the slot 60, over the tongue 55 which is covered by a metal plate and down through the slot 59 to lie under the buckle in the direction of a fingerpiece 53. The plate provided with the protecting tongues for the cross piece 51 has a rearward apertured tongue which is bent round the adjacent edge of the slot 59 to be engaged by the tab. In a final modification, a slotted plate of the form shown in Fig. 28 is bent up first along the line 76 and then along the line 77, the bar 83 then comprising the main anchorage element, Fig. 31, and the bridge 75 the auxiliary element, the device being completed by covering the edges 80, 82 by the apertured tongues 85 of a bottom plate 84.