An Improved Safety Fastener for Securing Together the Ends of Belts, Bands, Straps, and the like.
Year: 1889

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Safety Fastener for Securing Together the Ends of
Belts, Bands, Straps, and the like.
I GUSTAV FISCHER, of 1 Brückenstrasse, Greiz, in the Empire of Germany, Watch
and Clock maker, do hereby declare the nature of this Invention and in what manner
the same is to performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement and accompanying drawings
:--
My said Invention relates to an improved safety fastener for securing together the
ends of belts, bands, straps and tbe like and is chiefly intended for use in connection
with belts and straps used for transmitting power and for traction and other similar
purposes. According to my invention I construct the fastener in such a manner that
when in use the halves of the fastener can be at once disconnected should occasion
arise. For example if my improved fastener were used in connection with harness a
runaway horse could be disconnected from the carriage or the fastener could be used
in other situations where a rapid disconnection of attaching parts would avert
danger.
To render the invention perfectly clear I will now describe the improved fastener
with reference to the annexed sheet of illustrative drawings.
Fig. 1 is a top or plan view of my improved fastener employed to connect the
ends A. A¹ of a belt or strap.
Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view of the fastener at the line a. a Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 is a plan view at the line B. B Fig. 2 the covering in top plate being
removed so as to show the parts.
Fig. 4 is a cross section of Fig. 3 at the line z z.
Fig. 5 is an inner view of the covering in plate b.
g.
h
The fastener is made of a strong sole plate a and a lighter covering plate 6 which
is secured to the sole plate a by the studs c. d. e. f, the sole plate being secured to the
end of the belt by four rivets ac. Upon the studs c and d I pivot levers
which when the fastener is secure occupy the position shown in Fig. 3. At the other
end of the sole plate a I hinge a T plate to the studs and l. The free longer
ends of the levers g. h lie against the head of the T shaped plate i while the two
heels of the levers g. h stand at a certain distance apart. The sides of the head of
the T shaped plate i are inclined as clearly shown in the sectional view Fig. 4, and
the sides of the levers g.h are similarly inclined at the part where they rest in contact
with the said T shaped lever i from which it will be clearly seen that if the T lever i
were free to turn on its hinges k. l it would yield, upward to side pressure exerted by
the levers g. h and thus be cleared out of their way.
The portion of the fastener which is attached to the end A¹ of the belt consists of
a block n carrying a projecting plate m to which there is rivetted a downwardly
projecting stud o which when the halves of the fastener are united, stands in front of
the heels of the levers g. h. So long as the levers g. h are held in the position shown
at Fig. 3 the stud o cannot escape between the heels, but if the T plate i were turned
upon its hinges out of the path of the ends of the levers g. h so as to allow the said
ends to come together the opening between the heels becomes sufficiently enlarged to
allow the stud o to slip through thus causing the halves of the fastener to become
disconnected. The means whereby I prevent the said T piece i from turning on its
hinges and thus keep the halves of the fastener together are as follows:-
Upon the top plate 6 I hinge a door p and on the said door p 1 mount a sliding
bar y attached by pins w. w¹ to the door p the said pins occupying slots which permit
the lock plate y to have a to and fro movement. The front part or nose of the bar y
goes beneath a catch Q projecting from the plate b. The pin w¹ screws into a stop
which rests upon and holds down the hinged T shaped plate i. A spring t at the.

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back of the sliding lock plate or bar y prevents it from becoming loosened by jarring
or sliding back of itself. Under working conditions the tendency of the levers
is to lift the plate i and force open the door-p, but so long as the.door.is kept secured
by the sliding bar y this cannot occur. The bar y carries a ring bolt r and ring and
a line or cord is attached to this ring, so that in the case of harness for example if the
horse should bolt and there is no way of stopping him by pulling on the lines
attached to the rings on the trace fasteners, the bar y in each fastener is pulled back,
the strain exercised through the stud o on the levers g. h forces them together and
makes them lift the T plate i and door p and turn on their pivots so as to enlarge
the opening between the heels, thus allowing the stud o to escape and dissevering
the halves of the fastener. In the case of a driving belt the line for disconnecting
the fastener could be carried along the back of the belt and supported in eyes. The
construction of the fastener might be varied and it may be made of any suitable
metal.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said Inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
(1) The general arrangement and construction of safety fastener for the purposes
and substantially as described and shown.
(2) A safety fastener for connecting together the ends of belts, bands, straps and
traces the said fastener consisting of two parts which become dissevered by pulling
on a line attached to a sliding bar which releases two hinged plates p and i and allows
the levers g. h to move so as to permit of the escape of a stud o which projects from
the other portion of the fastener substantially as described and shown.
Dated this 7th day of December 1889
DUTION & PULION,
1, St. James Square, Manchester, Agents.