Patent ID: 8522410

Claim:
A buckle, comprising: a female buckle component including an entrance opening; a male buckle component including a latch portion adapted to be inserted into the female buckle component through the entrance opening to lock the male buckle component with the female buckle component, the latch portion including a first lock arm and a second lock arm, the first lock arm and the second lock arm being spaced away from one another, the first lock arm including a first distal portion and a first proximal portion, the second lock arm including a second distal portion and a second proximal portion; a flexible bridge member extending in depressed profile spanning relation between the first lock arm and the second lock arm, the bridge member including a first bridge segment extending in angled relation away from the first distal portion of the first lock arm, a second bridge segment extending in angled relation away from the second distal portion of the second lock arm, and a connection zone extending between the first bridge segment and the second bridge segment and protruding away from the first bridge segment and the second bridge segment and towards the proximal portions; and an elongated tensioning member connected to the bridge member at the connection zone between the first lock arm and the second lock arm, the elongated tensioning member extending rearwardly away from the connection zone to a position outside the buckle, wherein when the male buckle component is locked with the female buckle component, the connection zone is adapted to be drawn by the tensioning member towards the entrance opening upon application of a tensioning force along the tensioning member to partially fold the bridge member onto itself and to pull the first lock arm and the second lock arm towards one another and to further unlock the male buckle component from the female buckle component.