Patent Publication Number: US-11653724-B2

Title: Snap button and female snap button

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application is a 371 application of the international PCT application serial no. PCT/JP2018/045178, filed on Dec. 7, 2018. The entirety of each of the above-mentioned patent applications is hereby incorporated by reference herein and made a part of this specification. 
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present invention relates to a snap button and female snap button, and particularly to a snap button constituted by a male snap button made of metal and a female snap button including a metal portion, and the female snap button in such a snap button. 
     BACKGROUND ART 
     A snap button constituted by a pair of a male snap button and a female snap button which can engage with and disengage from each other is often used for clothing, bags, and the like. The engagement and disengagement of the snap button is performed by an engaging protuberance of the male snap button being attached to and detached from an engagement space of the female snap button. When the male snap button and the female snap button are attached to and detached from each other, an attaching/detaching sound occurs, and particularly in a case in which both the male and female snap buttons are made of a metal, the attaching/detaching sound becomes relatively loud. 
     However, in clothing and the like used for hunting, bird watching, and the like, the above-described attaching/detaching sound of the snap button may hinder activity of a user. 
     SUMMARY OF INVENTION 
     Technical Problem 
     Therefore, an objective of the present invention is to provide a snap button and a female snap button with which it is possible for an attaching/detaching sound to be eliminated or reduced as much as possible. 
     Solution to Problem 
     To solve the above problems, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a snap button including a male snap button made of metal and a female snap button, wherein the male snap button includes a base portion, and an engaging protuberance which projects from the base portion, wherein the female snap button is provided with a ring member made of soft resin defining an engagement space which detachably accepts the engaging protuberance, and a female snap body made of metal accommodating the ring member, and wherein the ring member is provided with a protruding portion which projects further out to one side than an end on the one side of the female snap body facing the male snap button in an axial direction, and which is provided in a circumferential direction. 
     In the present invention, the engagement and disengagement of the male snap button and the female snap button is performed by the engaging protuberance of the male snap button made of metal being attached to and detached from the engagement space of the ring member made of soft resin. Therefore, at the time of attachment/detachment, the metal engaging protuberance does not come into contact with the female snap body which is a metal portion of the female snap button, but comes into contact with only the ring member which is a soft resin portion. Further, when the engaging protuberance is inserted into the engagement space, since the protruding portion of the ring member projects further out to one side than an end furthest on the male snap button side (the one side) in the female snap body made of metal, the metal base portion can come into contact with the soft resin protruding portion, but the base portion of the male snap button does not come into contact with the female snap body made of metal. Therefore, even if the base portion which is a metal portion of the male snap button comes into contact with the protruding portion which is a soft resin portion of the female snap button when the engaging protuberance is inserted into the engagement space, the female snap body does not come into contact with the female snap body which is a metal portion of the female snap button. Therefore, in the snap button according to the present invention, an attaching/detaching sound does not occur at all or hardly occurs. 
     In the present invention, a height of an end which projects further out to one side than an end on the one side of the female snap body facing the male snap button in the axial direction, that is, the protruding portion of the ring member from an end furthest on the male snap button side in the female snap body, projects on the one side can be set to a height at which the base portion does come into contact with the end including tilt of the male snap button with respect to the female snap button (deviation of both axes) at the time of attachment/detachment of the snap button, for example, to 0.3 mm or more. Further, in the present invention, examples of an aspect in which the protruding portion is provided in the ring member in the circumferential direction include an aspect in which the protruding portion is continuous in an annular shape in the circumferential direction and an aspect in which a plurality of protruding portions is provided at predetermined angular intervals in the circumferential direction. 
     In the present invention, examples of the metal forming the male snap button and the female snap body include aluminum, an aluminum alloy, copper, a copper alloy, iron, and stainless steel, but the present invention is not limited thereto. Further, in the present invention, examples of the soft resin forming the ring member of the female snap button include elastomer resins such as a polyurethane-based resin, a polyester-based resin, a polyamide-based resin, an acrylic-based resin, a silicone-based resin, a polystyrene-based resin, a styrene-butadiene-based resin, and a nitrile butadiene-based resin, but the present invention is not limited thereto. 
     In one embodiment of the present invention, the female snap body includes a bottom portion, and the ring member includes a ring bottom portion which is disposed between the bottom portion and the engaging protuberance in a state in which the engaging protuberance is accepted in the engagement space. In this case, when the engaging protuberance of the male snap button is inserted into the engagement space of the female snap button, the metal engaging protuberance does not come into contact with the metal bottom portion of the female snap button. 
     In one embodiment of the present invention, in a state in which the engaging protuberance of the male snap button is accepted in the engagement space of the female snap button, the base portion of the male snap button is in contact with the protruding portion. In this case, when the engaging protuberance of the male snap button is inserted into the engagement space of the female snap button, the base portion of the male snap button comes into contact with the protruding portion of the female snap button, and thus further insertion of the engaging protuberance into the engagement space is prevented. In a state in which the base portion is in contact with the protruding portion of the female snap button in this way, the engaging protuberance can be in contact with or adjacent to the ring bottom portion of the ring member of the female snap button, but is not in contact with the metal bottom portion of the female snap body. 
     In one embodiment of the present invention, the bottom portion and the ring bottom portion each have an opening through which a shaft portion of a button fastener passes, and the shaft portion is crimped to the bottom portion or the ring bottom portion. In this case, the attachment of the female snap button to the fabric such as clothes is performed by the shaft portion of the button fastener penetrating the fabric (the shaft portion of the button fastener may pass through a hole provided in advance in the fabric), the shaft portion subsequently passing through the opening of the bottom portion of the female snap body and the opening of the ring bottom portion of the ring member (a ring opening), and then the shaft portion being crimped. The crimping of the shaft portion can be performed on the ring bottom portion as shown in  FIG.  5   , or can be performed on the bottom portion of the female snap body as shown in  FIG.  9   . 
     According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a female snap button including a ring member made of soft resin defining an engagement space, and a female snap body made of metal accommodating the ring member, wherein the ring member is provided with a protruding portion which projects further out to one side than an end on the one side of the female snap body facing a male snap button in an axial direction, and which is provided in a circumferential direction. The female snap button according to another aspect of the present invention substantially corresponds to the female snap button in the snap button according to the one aspect of the present invention described above. 
     In one embodiment of the present invention, the female snap body includes a bottom portion, and the ring member includes a ring bottom portion which covers the bottom portion. In this case, since the ring bottom portion covers the bottom portion of the female snap body, when the engaging protuberance of the male snap button is accepted into the engagement space of the female snap button, the metal engaging protuberance can come into contact with the soft resin ring bottom portion, but does not come into contact with the metal bottom portion. 
     Advantageous Effects of Invention 
     In the present invention, when the engaging protuberance of the male snap button is attached to and detached from the engagement space of the ring member of the female snap button, the metal engaging protuberance does not come into contact with the female snap body which is a metal portion of the female snap button, but comes into contact with only the ring member which is a soft resin portion. Further, when the engaging protuberance is accepted into the engagement space, since the protruding portion of the ring member projects further out to one side than an end furthest on the male snap button side in the female snap body made of metal, the metal base portion of the male snap button can come into contact with the soft resin protruding portion, but does not come into contact with the female snap body made of metal. Therefore, it is possible for an attaching/detaching sound to be eliminated or reduced as much as possible. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
         FIG.  1    is a perspective view of a female snap button according to a first embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG.  2    is a plan view of the female snap button in  FIG.  1   . 
         FIG.  3    is a side view of the female snap button in  FIG.  1   . 
         FIG.  4    is a cross-sectional view along line A-A in  FIG.  2   . 
         FIG.  5    is a cross-sectional view showing the female snap button when attached to fabric (not shown) by a button fastener. 
         FIG.  6    is a perspective view of a male snap button. 
         FIG.  7    is a cross-sectional view of the male snap button. 
         FIG.  8    is a cross-sectional view showing the female snap button and the male snap button when engaged with each other. 
         FIG.  9    is a cross-sectional view, similar to  FIG.  5   , showing a modification example of a ring member. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS 
     Hereinafter, preferable embodiments of the present invention will be described, but the present invention is not limited to such embodiments and can be appropriately modified within the scope of claims and the equivalent thereof. 
       FIGS.  1  to  3    are a perspective view, a plan view, and a side view of a female snap button  10  (in a snap button) according to an embodiment of the present invention.  FIG.  4    is a cross-sectional view along line A-A in  FIG.  2   . The female snap button  10  includes two members, i.e., a female snap body  11  made of metal having a substantially cuplike shape, and a ring member  20  made of soft resin which is accommodated in the female snap body  11 . The ring member  20  can be flexibly and elastically deformed. 
     Hereinafter, an example of the female snap body  11  and the ring member  20  will be described with reference to the drawings, and in this description, a vertical direction is based on a paper surface of  FIG.  4   . The ring member  20  includes a cylindrical portion  21  that defines an engagement space  20   a  which detachably accepts an engaging protuberance  32  of a male snap button  30 , which will be described later, an annular expansion upper portion  22  that expands outward from an upper edge of the cylindrical portion  21  in a radial direction, a ring bottom portion  23  that extends inward from a lower edge of the cylindrical portion  21  in the radial direction, and an annular protruding portion  24  that protrudes upward from an upper surface  22   a  of the expansion upper portion  22 . In the present embodiment, the protruding portion  24  is continuous in a circumferential direction, but a plurality of protruding portions may be present at predetermined angular intervals in the circumferential direction. An annular slit  25  which is slightly recessed upward is present between a lower surface  22   c  of the expansion upper portion  22  and an outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical portion  21 . Further, a ring opening  26  for passing a shaft portion  41  of a button fastener  40  (see  FIG.  5   ) is provided in the center of the ring bottom portion  23 . 
     The cylindrical portion  21  has a female-side engagement edge  21   a  having the smallest inner diameter in the vicinity of an upper edge  21   b  thereof. The inner diameter of the cylindrical portion  21  slightly and gradually expands from the female-side engagement edge  21   a  to the lower edge of the cylindrical portion  21 , and an inner peripheral surface of the cylindrical portion  21  on a lower side from the female-side engagement edge  21   a  is slightly inclined outward in the radial direction toward the lower edge. An inner peripheral surface of the cylindrical portion  21  on an upper side from the female-side engagement edge  21   a  is curved outward in the radial direction to the upper edge  21   b  of the cylindrical portion  21  which is a boundary with the protruding portion  24  in a substantially stepwise shape. An outer diameter of the cylindrical portion  21  on a lower side from the slit  25  slightly and gradually decreases downward. Therefore, a thickness in the radial direction of a portion of the cylindrical portion  21  on the lower side from the slit  25  becomes thinner downward. Although not shown, the ring member  20  may not have the slit  25 . 
     The expansion upper portion  22  has the upper surface  22   a , a peripheral side surface  22   b , and the lower surface  22   c  and projects outward from the protruding portion  24  in the radial direction in a substantially rectangular cross section. A thickness between the upper and lower surfaces  22   a  and  22   c  of the expansion upper portion  22  is thicker than a thickness of the ring bottom portion  23  in the vertical direction or a thickness of the cylindrical portion  21  in the radial direction. An inner peripheral surface  24   a  of the protruding portion  24  is curved outward from a lower edge thereof (the upper edge  21   b  of the cylindrical portion  21 ) in the radial direction toward an upper edge thereof in a substantially stepwise shape and reaches a substantially horizontal top surface  24   b  of the protruding portion  24 . An outer diameter of the protruding portion  24  is substantially constant from the lower edge thereof to the vicinity of the upper edge thereof, and an outer peripheral surface  24   c  of the protruding portion  24  is perpendicular to the upper surface  22   a  of the expansion upper portion  22 . Further, the outer peripheral surface  24   c  and the top surface  24   b  of the protruding portion  24  are substantially perpendicular to each other, but a corner therebetween is rounded. A projecting height of the protruding portion  24  from the upper surface  22   a  of the expansion upper portion  22  is substantially the same as or slightly smaller than the thickness of the expansion upper portion  22  in the vertical direction. The upper surface  22   a  of the expansion upper portion  22  of the protruding portion  24  is located at substantially the same position as the upper edge  21   b  of the cylindrical portion  21  in the vertical direction. 
     The female snap body  11  is formed using drawing processing and the like of a metal plate material and accommodates the ring member  20  to cover the ring member  20  from the outside in the radial direction and from below. The female snap body  11  includes a holding portion  12  that holds the expansion upper portion  22  of the ring member  20 , a bottom portion  13  that supports the ring bottom portion  23  of the ring member  20  from below, and an annular connecting portion  14  that connects the holding portion  12  and the bottom portion  13 . The holding portion  12  has an upper holding portion  12   a , a peripheral side holding portion  12   b , and a lower holding portion  12   c . The upper holding portion  12   a  is an edge located at the uppermost side of the female snap body  11  (one side facing a male snap button  30 ). An outside portion of the expansion upper portion  22  of the ring member  20  in the radial direction is received and held between the upper holding portion  12   a  and the lower holding portion  12   c . In this state, a slight gap is present between the peripheral side surface  22   b  of the expansion upper portion  22  and the peripheral side holding portion  12   b . Further, the lower surface  22   c  except for the vicinity of the slit  25  of the expansion upper portion  22  is supported in contact with the lower holding portion  12   c . The upper holding portion  12   a  is terminated in the vicinity of the protruding portion  24  in the upper surface  22   a  of the expansion upper portion  22 , and a radially inside edge of the upper holding portion  12   a  is slightly separated from the outer peripheral surface  24   c  of the protruding portion  24 . Although not shown, the radially inside edge of the upper holding portion  12   a  may be in contact with outer peripheral surface  24   c  of the protruding portion  24 , or may be closer thereto or further separated therefrom than shown in the drawing. The protruding portion  24  of the ring member  20  projects above the upper holding portion  12   a  of the holding portion  12  located at the uppermost side in the female snap body  11 . The projecting height is preferably 0.3 mm or more. 
     The connecting portion  14  is inclined such that inner and outer diameters thereof are reduced downward and covers the cylindrical portion  21  of the ring member  20  with a slight gap. This gap can be eliminated by the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical portion  21  expanding outward in the radial direction and coming into contact with the connecting portion  14  in a state in which an engaging protuberance  32  of a male snap button  30  is received in the cylindrical portion  21  (see  FIG.  8   ). An opening  15  for passing a shaft portion  41  of the button fastener  40  (see  FIG.  5   ) is provided in the center of the bottom portion  13  to concentrically overlap the ring opening  26 . In the present embodiment, a size of the ring opening  26  is substantially the same as or slightly smaller than a size of the opening  15  of the female snap body  11 . Therefore, the ring bottom portion  23  covers substantially the entire upper surface of the bottom portion  13 . 
       FIG.  5    is a cross-sectional view showing the female snap button  10  when attached to fabric such as clothes using the button fastener  40 , but the fabric is not shown. In a case in which the female snap button  10  is attached to the fabric, the shaft portion  41  of the button fastener  40  penetrates the fabric upward and then passes through the opening  15  of the female snap button  10  and the ring opening  26  to be received in the cylindrical portion  21 , wherein the shaft portion  41  is crimped. Accordingly, the female snap button  10  is fixed to the fabric by the button fastener  40 . In the present embodiment, since the ring bottom portion  23  substantially covers the upper surface of the bottom portion  13 , the shaft portion  41  is crimped to the ring bottom portion  23 . In other words, the ring bottom portion  23  receives the crimped shaft portion  41 . 
       FIGS.  6  and  7    are a perspective view and a cross-sectional view of a male snap button  30  in the snap button according to an embodiment of the present invention. The male snap button  30  is formed using drawing processing and the like of a metal plate material and includes a disc-shaped base portion  31  and an engaging protuberance  32  that projects from the base portion  31 . An opening  33  for passing the shaft portion  41  of the button fastener  40  is provided in the center of the base portion  31 . That is, the male snap button  30  is also attached to the fabric by the button fastener  40 . The engaging protuberance  32  includes an inner cylinder portion  32   a , an outer cylinder portion  32   b , and a connecting portion  32   c  that connects upper edges of the inner and outer connecting portions  32   a  and  32   b  in a convexly curved shape. A male-side engagement edge  32   d  having the largest outer diameter in the engaging protuberance  32  is provided in the vicinity of an upper edge of the outer cylinder portion  32   b.    
     The outer diameter of the male-side engagement edge  32   d  is slightly larger than that of the female-side engagement edge  21   a  of the female snap button  10 . Further, a height from the base portion  31  to an apex of the engaging protuberance  32  is the same as a height from an upper surface of the ring bottom portion  23  of the ring member  20  to the top surface  24   b  of the protruding portion  24 , or is slightly lower or higher than that height. A diameter of the base portion  31  of the male snap button  30  is slightly smaller than an outer diameter of the peripheral side holding portion  12   b  which is the maximum outer diameter of the female snap body  11  of the female snap button  10  and is substantially the same as an outer diameter of the expansion upper portion  22  of the ring member  20 . 
       FIG.  8    is a cross-sectional view showing the female snap button  10  and the male snap button  30  when engaged with each other. The female snap button  10  and the male snap button  30  are engaged with each other by the engaging protuberance  32  of the male snap button  30  being inserted into the cylindrical portion  21  of the ring member  20  of the female snap button  10 , that is, the engagement space  20   a , and the engagement is released by the engaging protuberance  32  being pulled out from the cylindrical portion  21 . When the engaging protuberance  32  is attached to and detached from the engagement space  20   a , the female-side engagement edge  21   a  of the cylindrical portion  21  is temporarily expanded outward in the radial direction by the male-side engagement edge  32   d  of the engaging protuberance  32 , and, when the male-side engagement edge  32   d  moves beyond the female-side engagement edge  21   a  in an axial direction, the female-side engagement edge  21   a  returns inward in the radial direction. The cylindrical portion  21  in which the engaging protuberance  32  is received is slightly expanded outward in the radial direction, and thus the cylindrical portion  21  comes into contact with the connecting portion  14  of the female snap body  11 , or the gap between the cylindrical portion  21  and the connecting portion  14  is reduced. The slit  25  serves to promote the radially outward expansion of the cylindrical portion  21  in which the engaging protuberance  32  is received. Even without the slit  25 , the ring member  20  made of soft resin can be elastically deformed in the radial direction. 
     In the engaged state of  FIG.  8   , the base portion  31  of the male snap button  30  is in contact with the top surface  24   b  of the protruding portion  24  of the ring member  20  of the female snap button  10 , but is separated from the upper holding portion  12   a  located at the uppermost side in the female snap body  11  by substantially the height of the protruding portion  24 . Further, in the engaged state, the connecting portion  32   c  which is a top portion of the engaging protuberance  32  is barely in contact with or is adjacent to the upper surface of the ring bottom portion  23  of the ring member  20 . Further, the outer cylinder portion  32   b  of the engaging protuberance  32  accommodated in the cylindrical portion  21  is substantially in close contact with the inner peripheral surface of the cylindrical portion  21 . Furthermore, in the engaged state, the ring bottom portion  23  which is a soft resin portion is disposed between the engaging protuberance  32  and the bottom portion  13  of the female snap body  11 . As described above, in the engaged state, the male snap button  30  made of metal is in contact with only the ring member  20  made of soft resin of the female snap button  10 , and is not in contact with the female snap body  11  made of metal of the female snap button  10 . 
     Further, when the engaging protuberance  32  of the male snap button  30  is inserted into the cylindrical portion  21  of the ring member  20 , that is, the engagement space  20   a , the protruding portion  24  of the ring member  20  projects above the upper holding portion  12   a  located at the uppermost position in the female snap body  11 , and thus the base portion  31  of the male snap button  30  comes into contact with the protruding portion  24  which is a soft resin portion, but does not come into contact with the female snap body  11  which is a metal portion. Further, when the engaging protuberance  32  is inserted into the engagement space  20   a , the base portion  31  comes into contact with the protruding portion  24  to prevent further insertion. At this time, the connecting portion  32   c  of the engaging protuberance  32  which is a metal portion can come into contact with the ring bottom portion  23  which is a soft resin portion, but does not come into contact with the bottom portion  13  of the female snap body  11  which is a metal portion. Further, even when the engaging protuberance  32  is pulled out from the engagement space  20   a , the male snap button  30  does not come into contact with the female snap body  11 . The height of the protruding portion  24  is set such that when the engaging protuberance  32  is attached to and detached from the engagement space  20   a , even if the male snap button  30  is tilted with respect to the female snap body  11  (even if an axis of the male snap button  30  deviates from an axis of the female snap body  11 ), the base portion  31  of the male snap button  30  does not come into contact with the female snap body  11 . Further, if the ring member  20  does not have the ring bottom portion  23 , when the engaging protuberance  32  of the male snap button  30  is attached to and detached from the engagement space  20   a , that is, when the engaging protuberance  32  snaps into the female-side engagement edge  21   a  of the ring member  20 , the behavior (or the displacement) of the ring member  20  becomes larger than that when the ring bottom portion  23  is present, which can lead to generation of a slight attaching/detaching sound. In the present embodiment, since the ring member  20  has the ring bottom portion  23 , the behavior of the ring member  20  at the time of attachment/detachment can be suppressed, and the attaching/detaching sound also can be reduced. As shown in  FIG.  5   , the ring bottom portion  23  is fixed to the bottom portion  13  of the female snap body  11  by the shaft portion  41  of the button fastener  40 . Therefore, the behavior of the ring member  20  at the time of attachment/detachment described above can be further suppressed, and the quietness at the time of attachment/detachment can be enhanced. From the above, in the snap button according to the present embodiment, there is no or little possibility that the male snap button  30  made of metal and the female snap body  11  made of metal come into contact with each other to generate an attaching/detaching sound. 
       FIG.  9    is a cross-sectional view, similar to  FIG.  5   , showing a modification example of the ring member. The ring member  120  shown in  FIG.  9    includes a ring bottom portion  123 . A length of the ring bottom portion  123  extending inward from the cylindrical portion  21  in the radial direction is shorter than that of the ring bottom portion  23  described above, and to that extent, a diameter of a ring opening  126  at the center of the ring bottom portion  123  is also larger than that of the ring opening  26  described above. Since the ring opening  126  is large, the bottom portion  13  of the female snap body is partially exposed from the ring opening  126  to the engagement space  20   a  side, and in the present example, the shaft portion  41  of the button fastener  40  is crimped to the exposed portion of the bottom portion  13 . The ring bottom portion  123  covers the entire upper surface of the bottom portion  13  except for a portion corresponding to the crimped shaft portion  41  in the bottom portion  13 . Further, in the engaged state of the male snap button  30  and the female snap button  10 , the ring bottom portion  123  is disposed between the engaging protuberance  32  and the bottom portion  13  of the female snap body  11 . Therefore, the engaging protuberance  32  does not come into contact with the bottom portion  13 . 
     REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 
     
         
         
           
               10  Female snap button 
               11  Female snap body 
               12  Holding portion 
               12   a  Upper holding portion (end on one side) 
               13  Bottom portion 
               15  Opening 
               20 ,  120  Ring member 
               20   a  Engagement space 
               21  Cylindrical portion 
               22  Expansion upper portion 
               23 ,  123  Ring bottom portion 
               26 ,  126  Ring opening 
               30  Male snap button 
               31  Base portion 
               32  Engaging protuberance 
               40  Button fastener 
               41  Shaft portion