Patent Abstract:
A stud snap system includes a pin, a receiver, and a stud. The receiver fixedly engages with the pin and also fixedly engages with the stud to attach of the stud snap system to a material. The material can include apparel, clothing, sportswear, outdoor gear, fabrics, coverings, and textiles. Use of the receiver affords a large selection of options for materials and geometries to be used for the stud since the pin is not directly engaged with the stud.

Full Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0002]    The present invention relates to apparel fasteners, and more particularly, to snap type fasteners.  
           [0003]    2. Description of the Related Art  
           [0004]    Related-art fasteners for material, such as apparel, clothing, sportswear, outdoor gear, fabrics, coverings, textiles, and so on include, snaps. Snaps generally include a stud and a portion to receive the stud and thereby fasten material.  
           [0005]    The inventor named herein (“inventor”) has noticed deficiencies and/or unmet needs associated with related-art snap studs, a few of which will now be set forth (other related-art deficiencies and/or unmet needs will become apparent in the detailed description below).  
           [0006]    The inventor has discovered that it would be advantageous for a snap stud to be attached to material without a requirement of first producing a hole in the material prior to attachment of the snap stud. The inventor has discovered that attachment of related-art snap studs to material conversely requires a hole to be first made in the material before one of the related-art snap studs is attached to the material. The inventor has thus recognized that a need exists in the art for snap studs that can be attached to material without need of first making a hole in the material prior to attachment of the snap stud.  
           [0007]    The inventor has discovered that it would be advantageous for a snap stud to have an outside surface that is substantially unaffected as to how the snap stud is attached to the material. The inventor has discovered that attachment of related-art snap studs can affect one or more outside surfaces and consequently, the relative appearance of the snap studs. The inventor has thus recognized that a need exists in the art for a snap stud that can be attached to material without being substantially affected by how the snap stud is attached to the material.  
           [0008]    The foregoing-described inventor discoveries constitute at least a part of the inventive content herein.  
         BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0009]    In one embodiment, a system includes but is not limited to: a pin including a shaft portion and a head portion, the shaft portion including a first end portion, a second end portion, and a longitudinal length, the head portion being adjacent the first end portion of the shaft portion, the second end portion of the shaft portion including a tip portion that is substantially pointed to pierce a material when the pin is in an unaltered state and that is substantially blunt when the pin is in an altered state; a receiver including a pin enclosure portion and a backing portion, the pin enclosure portion having first and second end portions, the first end portion having an opening and the second end portion being enclosed by a top portion, the opening so sized to receive the shaft portion of the pin, the pin enclosure portion having a longitudinal axis, the top portion of the receiver having a hardness so selected to change the pin from the unaltered state to the altered state when the tip portion of the pin is forced against the top portion, the top portion having a protrusion portion, the top portion so shaped that the protrusion portion moves from an un-extended position to an extended position in one or more directions away from the longitudinal axis of the pin enclosure portion when the pin is forced against the top portion and changed from the unaltered state to the altered state; and a stud including a stud top portion and a backing enclosure portion, the stud top portion having an opening so sized to receive the pin enclosure portion when its protrusion portion is in the un-extended position, the stud top portion having an internal surface so sized to fixedly engage with the pin enclosure portion when the protrusion portion is in the extended position, the backing enclosure portion so sized and positioned with respect to the stud top portion to receive the backing portion of the receiver when the stud top portion has received at least a portion of the pin enclosure portion of the receiver.  
           [0010]    The foregoing is a summary and thus contains, by necessity, simplifications, generalizations and omissions of detail; consequently, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the summary is illustrative only and is NOT intended to be in any way limiting. Other aspects, inventive features, and advantages of the devices and/or processes described herein, as defined solely by the claims, will become apparent in the non-limiting detailed description set forth herein. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)  
       [0011]    Implementations will now be described, by way of example only, by referring to the annexed drawings, wherein:  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 1 is an isometric representation of a snap stud system prior to assembly.  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 2 a cross-sectional representation of a snap stud system prior to assembly.  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional representation of a second embodiment of pin  12 .  
         [0015]    [0015]FIGS. 4A and 4B are cross-sectional representations of an assembled snap stud system.  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 5 is an isometric representation of stud  16 .  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 6 is an isometric representation of pin  12 . 
     
    
       [0018]    The use of the same symbols in different drawings typically indicates similar or identical items  
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0019]    An isometric representation of a disassembled snap stud system is included as FIG. 1. Depicted is a snap stud system  10 , in a disassembled state and prior to first assembly, composed of three distinct parts: a pin  12 , a receiver  14 , and a stud  16 . The pin  12  has a head  18 , with an exterior surface  20  and an interior surface  22 , and has a shaft  24  with a tip  26 . The receiver  14  has a pin enclosure  28 , with a top  30 , an opening  32 , and a lip  34 , and has a backing  36 , with an interior surface  38  and an exterior surface  40 . The enclosure  28  of the receiver  14  is so sized in diameter to closely receive the shaft  24  of the pin  12 . However, as will be described further below, the length of the shaft  24  is greater than the interior height of the enclosure  28 . The stud  16  has a stud top  42  and a backing enclosure  44 , with an interior surface  46 , and an opening  48 . The backing enclosure  44  of the stud  16  is so sized in diameter to closely receive the backing  36  of the receiver  14 .  
         [0020]    With reference now to FIG. 2, depicted is a cross-sectional representation of the snap stud system  10 , in a disassembled state prior to first assembly. Further shown are protrusions  50  of the pin enclosure  28  of the receiver  14 . The pin enclosure  28  has a first inner diameter, D1, which is greater than the outer diameter of the shaft  24  of the pin  12  allowing for the pin to be received inwardly by the pin enclosure. Near the area of the protrusions  50 , the pin enclosure  28  has a second inner diameter, D2, greater than the first inner diameter, D1. The second inner diameter, D2, allows for reshaping of the malleable or deformable tip  26  of the pin  12  as the pin is driven against the top  30  of the pin enclosure  28  during attachment of the snap stud system  10  to a material  52 , described in further detail below.  
         [0021]    Also shown in FIG. 2, is a cross-sectional representation of the pin  12  in which the surface  20  of the head  18  possesses a uniformly flat structure. An alternative implementation of the head  18  of the pin  12  is depicted in FIG. 3 in which the surface  20  of the head includes curved portions.  
         [0022]    As to FIGS. 4A and 4B, depicted are cross-sectional representations of the snap stud system  10  in an assembled condition and attached to the material  52 . As shown, the backing enclosure  44  is crimped along all or part of its perimeter in to retain the receiver  14  inside of the stud  16 . Also shown, attachment of the snap stud system  10  to the material  52  causes some compression of the material between the head  18  of the pin  12  and the backing  36  of the receiver  14 .  
         [0023]    The length of the shaft  24  of the pin  12  is greater than the combined length of the interior height of the pin enclosure  28  and the compressed thickness of the material  52 . Consequently, shaft length is shortened when the snap stud system  10  is attached to the material. When the pin  12  is in an un-altered state, the tip  26  of the pin  12  is sharp enough to pierce the material  52  during attachment of the snap stud system  10  to the material. This alleviates the need for using a separate step to make a hole in the material  52  before the snap stud system in affixed to the material.  
         [0024]    To attach the snap stud system  10  to the material  52 , the pin  12  is first pushed through the material and along the interior length of the pin enclosure  14 , by applying pressure to the exterior surface  20  of the head  18  of the pin, until the tip  26  reaches the inner surface of the top  30 . At this point, continued pressure is applied to the exterior surface  20  of the head  18  of the pin  12  to alter the state of the pin. Since the material hardness of the top  30  is preferably greater than the material hardness of the tip  26  of the pin  12 , the tip is re-shaped to become a blunt end  54  having a diameter greater than the rest of the shaft  24  and expanding toward and forcing against the protrusions  50 . The pin  12  is thereby fixedly coupled with the pin enclosure  14  through mechanisms such as frictional engagement (shown in FIG. 4B) or an interference fit (not shown) of the blunt end  54  with the pin enclosure  14 . In turn, the protrusions  50  expand away from the longitudinal axis of the pin  12  and are forced against the interior surface  56  of the stud top  42  thereby fixedly coupling the pin enclosure  14  with the stud  16  resulting in the stud being fixedly coupled to the material  52 .  
         [0025]    Since the top  30  is hard enough to re-shape the tip  26  of the pin  12  rather than allowing the pin through the top, the material hardness of the stud top  42  need not be greater than the material hardness of the tip of the pin. Consequently the stud  16 , including the stud top  42 , could be made out of materials other than metal and could have a lower material hardness rating than that of the tip  26  of the pin  12 . For instance, the stud  16  could be made out of a plastic, a nylon, or a soft metal, such as a high karat gold alloy (for instance, greater than 22 karat), or other relatively soft material. Alternatively, the stud  16  could be made out of a harder material, such as a metal, with a hardness greater than the hardness of the tip  26 .  
         [0026]    All of the above U.S. patents, U.S. patent application publications, U.S. patent applications, foreign patents, foreign patent applications and non-patent publications referred to in this specification and/or listed in the Application Data Sheet, are incorporated herein by reference, in their entirety.  
         [0027]    From the foregoing it will be appreciated that, although specific embodiments of the invention have been described herein for purposes of illustration, various modifications may be made without deviating from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not limited except as by the appended claims.

Technology Classification (CPC): 8