Patent Document

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/173,270 entitled BUCKLE, filed Jun. 9, 2015, the entirety of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    Buckles may be used to fasten two items together. For example, buckles may be used to connect one or more straps on backpacks, belts, slings, etc. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0003]    Various example buckles are disclosed. One example provides a buckle comprising a first buckle piece and a second buckle piece each comprising a male connector portion and a female connector portion, the first buckle piece and the second buckle piece having a same configuration, wherein the male connector portion of each of the first buckle piece and the second buckle piece comprises an arm with a releasable latch, and the female connector portion of each of the first buckle piece and the second buckle piece comprises a receptacle for receiving an arm of the male connector portion of the other buckle piece and a catch for retaining the releasable latch of the other buckle piece. 
         [0004]    This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any or all disadvantages noted in any part of this disclosure. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES 
         [0005]      FIG. 1  shows an example buckle. 
           [0006]      FIGS. 2-5  show various views of an example buckle piece of the buckle of  FIG. 1 . 
           [0007]      FIG. 6  shows a side cross-section view of the buckle piece of  FIGS. 2A-2G . 
           [0008]      FIGS. 7-10  show various views of another example buckle piece. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0009]    Many buckles take the form of a male piece that secures to one end of a strap and a female piece that secures to the other end of a strap. For example, a side release buckle may include a male piece having one or more prongs, and a female piece having a receptacle and one or more openings to releasably catch the prongs of the male piece. However, the use of different male and female pieces requires separate molds to produce each part. Further, in the event that a user breaks one of the parts, the user may have to buy both parts in a replacement kit, thus obtaining an unneeded part to replace the needed part. 
         [0010]    Accordingly, examples are disclosed herein that relate to side release buckles that include the use of a single buckle piece design configured to latch to another piece of the same configuration. As described in more detail below, the buckle piece includes a male portion having an arm with a latch configured to be inserted in a female portion of another identical buckle piece, and a female portion having a receptacle and catch for receiving the latch of the male portion of the other identical buckle piece. The term “same configuration” is used herein to describe buckle pieces formed from a same mold and that are configured to connect to one another. In this sense, pairs of buckle pieces of the disclosed side release buckles may be considered to be “identical” to one another, although small variations may actually exist due to molding process tolerances, etc. The use of a single buckle piece design allows a single mold to be used to form both pieces of the buckle, rather than separate molds for male and female pieces. This may reduce tooling costs, and also may provide for the convenient manufacture and sale of standalone replacement pieces. Further, the disclosed examples include features that enable the buckle to be selectively used in a left-handed or right-handed configuration. 
         [0011]      FIG. 1  shows an example buckle  100  comprising two identical buckle pieces  101  fastened together. Each buckle piece  101  includes a side release latch  102  secured in place by a catch  103  of the other buckle piece. Further, each buckle piece has a diagonally extending interface  104  at which it meets the other buckle piece. The side release latches  102  are offset diagonally from each other, for example, with respect to an axis of a long direction Y of the buckle. The two buckle pieces may be released from each other by pressing side release latches  102  toward each other along a diagonal axis  106  extending between the side release latches  102 . The diagonal offset of the side release latches  102  may enable the side release latches  102  to be squeezed together with one hand while the hand and wrist are held in a comfortable position, compared to traditional side release latches that are not offset in such a manner. This may allow the two buckle pieces to be released by pressing the side release latches  102  in a fluid snapping motion of the hand. In the depicted example, each side release latch  102  includes a planar surface  107  that is oriented approximately normal to the axis  106  to make the release operation comfortable on a user&#39;s fingers. In other examples, this surface may have any other suitable configuration. 
         [0012]    The relative locations of the top and bottom side release latches may be reversed by turning the buckle over. This may allow the buttons to be positioned either for left-handed operation or right-handed operation, as mentioned above. As such, a strap interface  108  of each buckle may be designed such that a strap can be inserted into the strap interface  108  from either side for retention. For example, the strap interface  108  may include strap retention features that are symmetrical along a longitudinal plane of the buckle - e.g. a plane parallel to direction Y in one dimension and normal to the page in the other dimension, bisecting the buckle. The strap interface  108  is described in more detail below with regard to  FIG. 3 . 
         [0013]      FIGS. 2-5  show various views of buckle piece  101 . As mentioned above, buckle piece  101  includes a male portion  200  that includes an arm  202  on which the releasable latch  102  is located, and also a female portion  204  including a receptacle  206  for receiving the male portion of another buckle piece. The female portion  204  includes a side opening  206  that defines a catch  103  for retaining the releasable latch of the other buckle piece. 
         [0014]    The buckle piece  101  also includes a middle prong  208  that includes a tongue and groove configuration. The tongue  210  of middle prong  208  is configured to fit within the groove  212  of the middle prong of the other buckle piece when buckled, thereby providing additional stability to the buckle when two buckle pieces are engaged. The middle prong  208  may further help guide the two buckle pieces together when engaging the pieces. A distal end  214  of the middle prong  208  may have a tapered shape, as depicted, to help avoid any blocking, accidental catching, or any other difficulties that may arise when engaging the pieces. It will be understood that the middle prong may have any other suitable configuration, and may be omitted in some examples. 
         [0015]      FIG. 6  shows a cross-sectional view of the buckle piece  101  taken along section  6 - 6  of  FIG. 2 , and illustrates the strap interface  108  in more detail. The strap interface  108  includes opposing strap engagement features  604  and  606 , each having mirror plane symmetry along a plane that bisects features  604  and  606 . This is in contrast with conventional side release buckles, which generally do not include strap engagement features having such symmetry. The symmetric strap engagement features  604 ,  606  have corners  608 ,  610 , and  612  that frictionally engage a strap surface when looped through the interface  302 , thus helping to prevent strap slippage. The symmetry of the strap interface  108  allows a strap to be fitted through the interface  108  in the same manner from either side of the buckle piece, thus contributing to the reversibility of the buckle. In other examples, the symmetric strap engagement features may include any other suitable number of corners than the number of corners shown, and further may include any other suitable catch points than the corners  608 ,  610 , and  612 . 
         [0016]      FIGS. 7-10  show various views of another example buckle piece  700 . Buckle piece  700  includes a male portion  702  that includes an arm  704  on which a releasable latch  706  is located, and a female portion  708  including a receptacle  710  for receiving the male portion of another buckle piece. The female portion  708  includes a side opening  712  that defines a catch  714  for retaining the releasable latch of the other buckle piece. Buckle piece  700  also includes a middle prong  716  that includes another example of a tongue and groove configuration configured to provide additional stability when two of the buckle pieces  700  are engaged. In this example, the tongue  718  is configured to fit within the groove  720  of the middle prong of the other buckle piece when buckled. In contrast to the tapered shape of the middle prong of  FIGS. 2-5 , a distal end  722  of middle prong  716  has a widened shape, which allows for guided insertion of the tongue  718  into the groove of the other buckle piece. 
         [0017]      FIG. 10  shows a cross-sectional view taken along section  10 - 10  of  FIG. 9 , and illustrates another example symmetrical strap interface  1000  including opposing strap engagement features  1002  and  1004 , each having mirror plane symmetry along a plane that bisects features  1002  and  1004 . The symmetric strap engagement features  1002 ,  1004  each have a plurality of corners that frictionally engage a strap when looped through the strap interface  1000 . In contrast to the strap engagement features shown in  FIG. 6 , strap engagement feature  1004  has a star-shaped configuration that includes a greater number of corners, and thus may provide a greater amount of friction for engaging a strap. As mentioned above, a symmetrical strap interface allows a strap to be fitted through in the same manner from either side of the buckle piece, allowing reversibility of the buckle. In combination with the reversibility of the releasable side latches when two of the buckle pieces are buckled, the buckle pieces as disclosed herein may allow the buckle to be easily switched to and from left-handed and right-handed configurations. 
         [0018]    It is to be understood that the configurations described herein are exemplary in nature, and that these specific embodiments or examples are not to be considered in a limiting sense, because numerous variations are possible. The subject matter of the present disclosure includes all novel and non-obvious combinations and sub-combinations of the various devices and configurations, and other features, functions, and/or properties disclosed herein, as well as any and all equivalents thereof.

Technology Category: 1