Patent Publication Number: US-2019168074-A1

Title: Underwater exercise equipment with buckle apparatus

Description:
This application claims priority to Taiwan Patent Application No. 106217950 filed on Dec. 1, 2017. 
     CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     Not applicable. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to an underwater exercise equipment, and more particularly, relates to an underwater exercise equipment with a buckle apparatus. 
     Descriptions of the Related Art 
     A buckle apparatus used for an underwater exercise equipment (e.g., swimming goggles or diving goggles) currently available on the market is constituted by a plurality of components and needs to be assembled on the underwater exercise equipment in a certain assembling sequence so that components such as an adjust belt of the swimming goggles/diving goggles can pass therethrough or be buckled. 
     However, the buckle apparatus currently available needs to be assembled manually and is constituted by components having smaller volumes, so it is inconvenient to be assembled and moreover, the production speed thereof is also limited. On the other hand, the multi-piece assembled structure cannot provide the user with a uniform overall visual feeling. 
     Accordingly, an urgent need exists in the art to provide a buckle apparatus used for an underwater exercise equipment, a base and a pressing portion of which can be formed integrally with the underwater exercise equipment, so that the assembling can be convenient to improve the production speed by reducing the number of components and meanwhile the uniformity of the overall appearance can be increased. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An objective of the present invention is to disclose a buckle apparatus used for an underwater exercise equipment, the buckle apparatus has a base and a pressing portion of which are formed integrally with a lens, so that the buckle apparatus has the following advantages of: 1. effectively reducing the number of components and reducing the production cost, 2. being convenient to be assembled so as to improve the production speed, and 3. being simple and smooth in appearance. 
     To achieve the aforesaid objective, a buckle apparatus disclosed in the present invention comprises a base, a buckle and at least one pressing portion. The base extends from a first end of the lens and is integrally formed therewith, and the base has a rotation axis where the adjust belt can bypass. The buckle is pivotably disposed on the base. At least one pressing portion extends from a second end of the lens and is integrally formed therewith, and the at least one pressing portion is disposed adjacent the buckle. The first end and the second end are different ends of the same side of the lens, and when the adjust belt bypasses the rotation axis, the buckle is adapted to clasp and fasten the adjust belt, and the adjust belt can be released by pushing the at least one pressing portion. 
     To achieve the aforesaid objective, the at least one pressing portion of the buckle apparatus according to the present invention is a single pressing portion, the second end is disposed on the opposite side (i.e. the upper side or the lower side) of the first end, and the single pressing portion pushes the buckle from the lateral side of the buckle. 
     To achieve the aforesaid objective, the at least one pressing portion of the buckle apparatus according to the present invention is two pressing portions, the second end is two secondary ends that are disposed on the opposite side of the first end so that the pressing portions may be extended from the opposite side to an upper end and a lower end of the base respectively, and the pressing portions push the buckle from the lateral side of the buckle. 
     To achieve the aforesaid objective, the rotation axis of the buckle apparatus according to the present invention is integrally formed with the base or is a separate component from the base. 
     To achieve the aforesaid objective, the underwater exercise equipment for which the buckle apparatus of the present invention is used is a diving goggle or a swimming goggle. 
     To achieve the aforesaid objective, the base of the buckle apparatus according to the present invention is made of a material selected from the group consisting of polycarbonate (PC), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), polypropylene (PP), Cellulose Acetate (CA), Triacetate Cellulose (TAC) and combinations thereof. 
     To achieve the aforesaid objective, the Shore hardness of the base of the buckle apparatus according to the present invention is between D50 to D80. 
     To achieve the aforesaid objective, the Rockwell hardness of the base of the buckle apparatus according to the present invention is between 90 to 150. 
     The detailed technology and preferred embodiments implemented for the subject invention are described in the following paragraphs accompanying the appended drawings for people skilled in this field to well appreciate the features of the claimed invention. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic view of an underwater exercise equipment with a buckle apparatus of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is an exploded view of a first embodiment of the buckle apparatus according to the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  is an exploded view of a second embodiment of the buckle apparatus according to the present invention; and 
         FIG. 4  is an exploded view of a third embodiment of the buckle apparatus according to the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , the present invention relates to an underwater exercise equipment  200 . The underwater exercise equipment  200  comprises a lens  400 , a gasket  500  and a buckle apparatus  100 . The gasket  500  is disposed on the periphery of the lens  400 . The buckle apparatus  100  is disposed at two opposite edges of the lens  400  and used to adjust the length of an adjust belt  300 . 
     Please refer to  FIG. 2 , the buckle apparatus  100  comprises a base  110 , a buckle  120  and at least one pressing portion  130 . The base  100  extends from a first end  410  of the lens  400  and is integrally formed with the lens  400 , and the base  110  has a rotation axis  112  where the adjust belt  300  can bypass. The buckle  120  is pivotably disposed on the base  110 . The pressing portion  130  extends from a second end  420  of the lens  400  and is integrally formed with the lens  400 , and the at least one pressing portion  130  is disposed adjacent the buckle  120 . The aforesaid first end  410  and the second end  420  are different ends of the same side of the lens  400 . 
     In this way, when the adjust belt  300  bypasses the rotation axis  112 , the buckle  120  can achieve the purpose of fastening the adjust belt  300  by clasping the adjust belt  300  via the initial installment status thereof when no external force is applied. When the length of the adjust belt  300  is to be lengthened or reduced, the adjust belt  300  can be released from the buckle  120  by pushing the pressing portion  130 . 
     In detail, in a first embodiment as shown in  FIG. 2 , the at least one pressing portion  130  of the buckle apparatus  100  is a single pressing portion  130 , the pressing portion  130  extends from the second end  420  of the lens  400  and is integrally formed with the lens  400 . By the aforesaid arrangement, when the user pushes the pressing portion  130 , the pressing portion  130  pushes the buckle  120  from bottom to top from the lateral side of the buckle  120  (i.e., in the Z direction) so that the buckle  120  is opened for a particular angle along the Y direction, thereby releasing the adjust belt  300  from the buckle  120  to complete the adjustment of the adjust belt  300 . 
     The aforesaid description that the base  110  and the pressing portion  130  all extend from the lens  400  and are integrally formed therewith may also be interpreted as that: the lens  400  has two extending portions (i.e., a first end  410  and a second end  420 ), one of the two extending portions forms the base  110 , the other one of the two extending portions forms the pressing portion  130 , and the two extending portions are all integrally formed with the lens  400 . 
     In the embodiment of  FIG. 2 , a tenon  122  of the buckle  120  is inserted into a groove  114  of the base  110  so as to achieve the purpose of enabling the buckle  120  to pivot relative to the base  110  for a particular angle, but it is not limited thereto. In other words, the buckle  120  may also be pivotably disposed on the base  110  in other ways so that the buckle  120  clasps the adjust belt  300  when no external force is applied, and the adjust belt  300  is released when the pressing portion  130  is pushed. 
     Moreover, under the premise that the single pressing portion  130  disclosed in the first embodiment is formed integrally with the lens  400 , the pressing portion  130  not only can extend to the lower side of the base  110 , those of ordinary skill in the art may also make changes readily, e.g., enable the pressing portion  130  to extend to an upper side of the base  110 , or enable the pressing portion  130  to extend to another side (i.e., an inner side of the base  110 ) opposite to the buckle  120  depending on other design requirements or the like, and thus the purpose of clasping the adjust belt  300  when no external force is applied, pushing the buckle  120  by pushing the pressing portion  130  and thereby releasing the adjust belt  300  from the buckle  120  can also be achieved. 
     In a second embodiment of  FIG. 3 , components of the buckle apparatus  100  such as the base  100 , the buckle  120  and the pressing portion  130  as well as the spatial arrangement between these components are generally the same as those described in the first embodiment of  FIG. 2 , and thus will not be further described herein. The only difference between the second embodiment of  FIG. 3  and the first embodiment of  FIG. 2  lies in that: the rotation axis  112  of the second embodiment of  FIG. 3  is not integrally formed with the base  110 . Therefore, when the rotation axis  112  of the second embodiment of  FIG. 3  is damaged, only the damaged rotation axis  112  needs to be taken down and replaced with a new rotation axis  112  instead of changing the whole base  110 . 
     In a third embodiment of  FIG. 4 , components of the buckle apparatus  100  such as the base  110 , the buckle  120  and the pressing portion  130  as well as the spatial arrangement between these components are also generally the same as those described in the first embodiment of  FIG. 2 , and thus will not be further described herein. The only difference between the third embodiment of  FIG. 4  and the first embodiment of  FIG. 2  lies in that: the third embodiment of  FIG. 4  has two pressing portions  130 . 
     In detail, as shown in  FIG. 4 , when the at least one pressing portion  130  of the buckle apparatus  100  is two pressing portions  130 , the second end  420  of the lens  400  may be divided into two secondary ends  420 ′ that are disposed on the upper side and the lower side of the first end  410  respectively. In this way, the two pressing portions  130  may be extended from the secondary end  420 ′ at the upper side and the secondary ends  420 ′ at the lower side to an upper end and a lower end of the base  110  respectively. In this way, when the user applies an external force to push the pressing portions  130 , the pressing portions  130  can push the buckle  120  laterally from the upper side and the lower side of the buckle  120  so that the buckle  120  is opened for a particular angle along the Y direction, thereby releasing the adjust belt  300  from the buckle  120 . 
     Additionally, in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the base  110  is made of a material selected from the group consisting of polycarbonate (PC), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), polypropylene (PP), Cellulose Acetate (CA), Triacetate Cellulose (TAC) and combinations thereof. Moreover, the Shore hardness of the buckle apparatus  100  and the underwater exercise equipment  200  is between D50 to D80, and the Rockwell hardness thereof is between 90 to 150. 
     According to the above descriptions, the base  110  and the pressing portion  130  of the buckle apparatus  100  of the present invention all extend from the lens  400  and integrally formed with the lens  400 . Thus, in the case of the first and the third embodiments, only the buckle  120  needs to be assembled; and in the case of the second embodiment, only the buckle  120  and the rotation axis  112  need to be assembled. Therefore, as compared to the prior art, the buckle apparatus of the present invention indeed can effectively reduce the number of components to reduce the production cost, can be assembled conveniently to improve the production speed during the manufacturing, and is smooth and simple in the appearance so as to increase the desire of buying of the user. 
     The above disclosure is related to the detailed technical contents and inventive features thereof. People skilled in this field may proceed with a variety of modifications and replacements based on the disclosures and suggestions of the invention as described without departing from the characteristics thereof. Nevertheless, although such modifications and replacements are not fully disclosed in the above descriptions, they have substantially been covered in the following claims as appended.