Patent Publication Number: US-2019191824-A1

Title: Nonmetallic Belt Buckle Assembly

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
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     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
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     THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT 
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     INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC OR AS A TEXT FILE VIA THE OFFICE ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM 
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     STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR JOINT INVENTOR 
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     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     (1) Field of the Invention 
     (2) Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98 
     The disclosure and prior art relates to buckle devices and more particularly pertains to a new buckle device for facilitating a belt and buckle to be worn while passing through a metal detector. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a belt that may be worn around a waist. A clasp is removably coupled to the belt. The clasp releasably engages the belt such that the belt forms a closed loop to retain the belt around the waist. The clasp is comprised of a non-metallic material. In this way the clasp may be passed through a metal detector without triggering the metal detector. 
     There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto. 
     The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S) 
       The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a back perspective view of clasp of a nonmetallic belt buckle assembly according to an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 2  is a right side view of a clasp of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 3  is a front view of a clasp of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 4  is a top view of a clasp of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 5  is a back view of a clasp of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 6  is a perspective view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to  FIGS. 1 through 6  thereof, a new buckle device embodying the principles and concepts of an embodiment of the disclosure and generally designated by the reference numeral  10  will be described. 
     As best illustrated in  FIGS. 1 through 6 , the nonmetallic belt buckle assembly  10  generally comprises a belt  12  for wearing around a waist. The belt  12  has a first end  14  and a second end  16  and the belt  12  may have a length ranging between approximately 60.0 cm and 100.0 cm. The belt  12  has a first slot  18  extending therethrough and the first slot  18  is positioned closer to the first end  14  than the second end  16 . The belt  12  has a plurality of second slots  20  extending therethrough. The second slots  20  are spaced apart from each other and are distributed from the second end  16  toward the first end  14 . The first slot  18  and each of the second slots  20  may be oriented to be collinear with a line extending through the first end  14  and the second end  16  of the belt  12 . The belt  12  may be comprised of leather or the like and the belt  12  may come in a variety of colors. 
     A clasp  22  is provided and the clasp  22  is removably coupled to the belt  12 . The clasp  22  releasably engages the belt  12  such that the belt  12  forms a closed loop to retain the belt  12  around the waist. The clasp  22  is comprised of a non-metallic material such as high impact plastic or the like. Thus, the clasp  22  may be passed through a metal detector without triggering the metal detector. In this way a wearer may pass through a security check point in an airport or the like without having to remove the belt  12 . 
     The clasp  22  comprises a panel  24  that has a first surface  26 , a second surface  28  and a peripheral edge  30  extending therebetween. The peripheral edge  30  has a first lateral side  32  and a second lateral side  34 . A tab  36  is coupled to and extends away from the first surface  26  and the tab  36  is centrally positioned on the panel  24 . Moreover, the tab  36  may be oriented to be collinear with a line extending through the first lateral side  32  and the second lateral side  34  of the panel  24 . 
     A first bridge  38  is coupled to the first surface  26  of the panel  24  and the first bridge  38  is aligned with the first lateral side  32 . The first end  14  of the belt  12  is passed beneath the first bridge  38  thereby facilitating the tab  36  to extend through the first slot  18  in the belt  12 . In this way the clasp  22  is removably coupled to the belt  12 . A second bridge  40  is coupled to the first surface  26  of the panel  24  and the second bridge  40  is aligned with the second lateral side  34 . The second end  16  of the belt  12  is passed beneath the second bridge  40  thereby facilitating the tab  36  to extend through a selected one of the second slots  20  in the belt  12 . In this way the belt  12  is retained in a closed loop of a selected diameter. 
     A hanger  42  is provided and the hanger  42  is selectively and releasably attached to the clasp  22  when the belt  12  is being stored or displayed. The hanger  42  has a first surface  44 , a second surface  46  and a peripheral edge  48  extending therebetween. The peripheral edge  48  has a first lateral side  50  and a second lateral side  52 . The hanger  42  has a third slot  54  extending through the first  44  and second  46  surfaces and the third slot  54  insertably receives the tab  36  on the clasp  22  having the hanger  42  extending outwardly beneath the second bridge  40 . In this way the belt  12  is positioned between the clasp  22  and the hanger  42  thereby inhibiting the belt  12  from falling off of the tab  36 . The hanger  42  has a groove  56  extending from the first lateral side  50  toward the second lateral side  52 . The groove  56  engages a support, such as a clothes hanger or the like, to suspend the belt  12  from the support for storage. 
     In use, the first end  14  of the belt  12  is passed beneath the first bridge  38  and the tab  36  is extended through the first slot  18  to removably couple the clasp  22  to the belt  12 . The belt  12  is worn around the waist and the second end  16  of the belt  12  is passed beneath the second bridge  40 . The belt  12  is tightened on the waist until the tab  36  engages a selected one of the second slots  20  in the belt  12 . In this way the belt  12  is retained around the waist. The second end  16  is passed beneath the first bridge  38  to accommodate excess length of the belt  12 . 
     With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure. 
     Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.