AU2009222421A1

AU2009222421A1 - Improved lace fastener

Info

Publication number: AU2009222421A1
Application number: AU2009222421A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Yew Jin Fong
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2007-04-26
Filing date: 2009-09-25
Publication date: 2011-04-21
Also published as: AU2007203390A1; US20100115744A1; WO2008131476A1; AU2007203390B2

Description

AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION PATENT OF ADDITION IMPROVED LACE FASTENER The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me: I TITLE: IMPROVED LACE FASTENER TECHNICAL FIELD 5 This present invention relates to an improvement to an existing knotless lace fastening device, as described in the parent Australian patent application number 2007203390 and the international patent application number PCT/AU2008/000562, which 10 is attached to a lace so as to firmly maintain the tied state of the lace on a variety of items such as footwear, bags, garments, packages, sports equipment, etc. 15 BACKGROUND ART For the purpose of explaining the lace fastening device's improvements in accordance with the present invention and not limiting the scope of the 20 present invention, an ideal example would be for footwear using lace. Reference to the parent specification will identify the variations made to the main invention. 25 Generally, most footwear, which uses lace, threaded through eyelets of the footwear, are designed to enable a wearer to adjust the lace to a tightening degree that retain the footwear in place on the feet of the wearer via a 'butterfly' or bow knot. 30 2 However, the shoelace-type footwear has several disadvantages for people with learning disabilities or physical disabilities, such as, arthritis or difficulty tying or untying the shoelace whenever 5 putting on or taking off the footwear, which are commonly experienced by young children and the elderly. There are also the possibilities of tripping caused by the shoelace becoming inadvertently loosened and untied while walking. In 10 addition, slippage of the lace still occurs during the process of completing the knot, making it difficult to achieve optimal tension of the tightened lace. Adjusting the tightness of a tied lace is also inconvenient as the tied knot needs to 15 be untied for tightening of lace before retying back the knot. Various related devices have come into the market to address this problem. Examples such as; 20 Gonzalvez Soriano Pedro, WO 2004/077977, discloses a one-piece body device comprising a central hole for fixing the lace in a tied position and two lateral holes that forms a bow for the excess lace segment; Douglas P. Funk, US 2004/0261235, 25 discloses a device comprising a body with a central aperture between two lateral apertures for securing and adjusting of laces and; John R. Stenner, US 5182838, invented a cord lock device that secures the cord or lace threaded through a slit with a 30 clamping effect. However, most devices do not 3 conveniently allow for easy adjustment of the shoelaces of the footwear to be tightened or loosened, as well as, the inconvenience of the footwear to gradually loosen while walking. 5 Furthermore, some devices are not designed to be secured to the footwear after the lace's free ends are completely released from the device, as well as, allowing the loose ends of the lace to be 10 neatly and easily secured. There are also devices having multiple parts, which are not user friendly, as well as, the high manufacturing costs and relatively poor durability. While fasteners made of VELCRO have the disadvantages of its weak gripping 15 capability and strength that further decline after repeated usage and laundering. Therefore, in view of the inconvenience of tying a shoelace, it would be desirable to have an 20 inexpensive, durable, user friendly and easy to use device for tightening and loosening laces. DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION 25 Therefore, the present invention being the improvement of the main invention has been redesigned to resolve the above-mentioned problems and it is a device that functions as a lace fastener which can easily accommodate most types of 30 lace, be it thick or thin, round or flat. At the 4 same time the present invention enables the lace to be easily and rapidly fasten and unfasten when putting on and taking off one's footwear. 5 The present invention aims to prevent a lace from becoming inadvertently loosened and untied while being fasten to the footwear. It also enables both hanging ends of the lace to be secured after fastening and neatly clipped. 10 Similar with the main invention, the suitable form of releasable and fastening means can be accomplished by the provision of a lace fastening devise comprising: a housing (consisting of the 15 gripping plate attached to the housing base) having an aperture into which both free ends of the lace are threaded to penetrate through, a gapping plate (optional), a safety strap that also stabilises the housing from rotating while securing it to the 20 footwear, and a pair of lace clips to retain the free ends of the lace. The housing in which both free ends of the lace, penetrating through the lace aperture, is pulled to tighten the footwear, has lateral slots acting as guide members for the lace 25 with one side of the gripping plate surface having serrations with low friction surfaces to facilitate sliding of the lace when the lace is pulled within the lateral slots, whereas, when the lace is released after being pulled, the serrations, which 30 are designed to give a high friction grip, prevent 5 the lace from sliding back towards the central aperture, which is justified by the alignment of the plate aperture and central aperture. 5 Preferably, the pair of lateral slots that also function as lace passages to be obliquely designed as a space defined between an upper surface and a lower surface of the housing respectively, the inclined serrations may be obliquely positioned as 10 the upper surface, while the smooth lower surface is positioned horizontally flat, thereby causing the lateral slots to be narrow inwardly or wider outwardly, giving a wedge effect that forces the lace to move inward to the narrower space and being 15 secured by the gripping actions of the serrations after tightening the lace onto the footwear. Preferably, the safety strap may be made out of fabric, which is adjustable, attachable and 20 detachable to the housing and the footwear, that include a metal chain at one end of the strap that is fixed to the housing as illustrated in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4. 25 Preferably, the lace-fastening device may further comprise a pair of lace clips made out of durable plastic to be used with the housing, in which both hanging ends of the lace are fitted and secured. The improved lace clips allows for easy and quick 30 attachment to the footwear or the said items by 6 screw fixing the clips from the inside of the footwear and into the screw aperture of each clip after both corner clip eyelets and footwear eyelets are aligned at the preferred position. The 5 improvement on the clips still allows for mounting on the footwear or said items by means of sewing or gluing or both, as disclosed in the parent specification. In comparison with the main invention, the present invention's lace clip has a 10 middle eyelet between two corner eyelets that are preferably elongated to match the various spacing between shoe eyelets for threading of the shoe lace. A screw aperture located at the third corner allows for insertion of the clip screw when the 15 clip is screw fitted to the shoe as illustrated in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4. This invention may further provide an effective and convenient alternative to known devices for 20 fastening laces or the like on footwear, bags, garments, packages, sports equipment, etc. The present invention, comprising of three triangular durable members, which consist of; a housing as the main component for fastening and releasing of lace; 25 and a pair of lace clips as sub-components that function as clips for attaching the loose ends of the lace to the footwear or said items.

7 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS The following drawings with the accompanying detailed descriptions, in comparison with the 5 parent specification (patent application number 2007203390), will further clarify the practicality and improvements of the above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present inventions: 10 FIG. 1 Shows an exploded axonometric view of the lace-fastening device, incorporating all the component parts of the present invention. 15 FIG. 2 Shows an axonometric view illustrating the lace-fastening device in FIG. 1 with all the component parts completely assembled in the present invention. 20 FIG. 3 Is a perspective view illustrating a state wherein the lace-fastening device shown in FIG. 2 is installed onto a user's footwear in an unlocked position. 25 FIG. 4 Is a perspective view of the lace fastening device shown in FIG. 2 which is installed onto a user's footwear in a tightened and locked position.

8 FIG. 5 Is an axonometric view illustrating the sequence of steps in tightening the lace-fastening device onto the footwear. 5 FIG. 6 Is an axonometric view illustrating the sequence of steps in loosening and releasing the lace-fastening device from the footwear. FIG. 7 Is a top plan view illustrating the lace 10 fastening device shown in FIG. 1, in a state wherein the adjustable safety strap (7), strap chain (6) and lace-clip device (4) are omitted. FIG. 8 Illustrates the bottom plan view of FIG. 15 7. FIG. 9 Illustrates the right elevation view as shown in FIG. 7 or as the left elevation view in FIG. 8, which includes all component parts of the 20 invention except for the gapping plate (2), safety strap (7), strap chain (6) and lace-clip device (4). FIG. 10 Illustrates the left elevation view as 25 shown in FIG. 7 or as the right elevation view in FIG. 8, which excludes the gapping plate (2). FIG. 11 Illustrates the front elevation view as referred to in FIG. 7 and in FIG. 8, which excludes 30 the gapping plate (2).

9 FIG. 12 Illustrates the rear elevation view as referred to in FIG. 7 and in FIG. 8, which excludes the gapping plate (2). 5 FIG. 13 Is a cross-section view of the component parts of FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, showing the plate aperture (lB), central aperture (3A), gripping plate (1), housing base (3), strap chain aperture (3D), serration member (lA), guide cheek (3E), and 10 chain groove (3B). FIG. 14 Is a cross-section view of the component parts of FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, showing the plate aperture (lB), central aperture (3A), gripping 15 plate (1), housing base (3), and serration member (lA). FIG. 15 Illustrates the bottom plan view of the gripping plate (1), which consists of the 20 serrations (lA), plate aperture (lB), screw aperture (lC), and plate slit (lD). FIG. 16 Illustrates the top plan view of the lace clip device (4) in FIG. 1, whereby the clip eyelets 25 (4D), screw aperture (4A), base tooth (4B), base (4E), and head (4F) are visible. FIG. 17 Illustrates the bottom plan view of the lace-clip device (4) in FIG. 16, whereby the screw 10 aperture (4A), clip eyelets (4D), and base (4E) are visible. FIG. 18 Illustrates the rear elevation view of the 5 lace-clip device (4), as referred to FIG. 16 and FIG. 17, which shows the clip eyelets (4D), base (4E), and head (4F). FIG. 19 Illustrates the front elevation view of 10 the lace-clip device (4), as referred to FIG. 16 and FIG. 17, which shows the head tooth (4C), base tooth (4B), clip eyelets (4D), base (4E), and head (4F). 15 FIG. 20 Illustrates the left elevation view of the lace-clip device (4), as referred to FIG. 16, which shows the head tooth (4C), base tooth (4B), base (4E), and head (4F). 20 FIG. 21 Illustrates the right elevation view of the lace-clip device (4), which is symmetrical to FIG. 20. FIG. 22 Is a cross-section view of the lace-clip 25 device (4), as referred to FIG. 16 and FIG. 17, showing the head tooth (4C), base (4E), base tooth (4B) and head (4F). FIG. 23 Is a cross-section view of the lace-clip 30 device (4), as referred to FIG. 16 and FIG. 17, 11 showing the screw aperture (4A), base tooth (4B), head tooth (4C), clip eyelet (4D), base (4E), and head (4F). 5 BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION To best describe the invention and its component parts, reference to examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings will now 10 be made in detail. Application of the same reference numerals will be used throughout the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, intended to be illustrative rather 15 than restricted to the scope of the present invention, and limited only by the appended claims. The lace fastening device in accordance to the present invention will be explained with reference to FIGs. 1 to 23. 20 The lace fastening device, which comprises of the following enumerate components; gripping plate (1), gapping plate (2), housing base (3), lace-clip device (4), housing screw (5), strap chain (6), 25 safety strap (7) and clip screw (10). Shown in FIG. 1 is the exploded axonometric view of the present invention that illustrates the assembly of the lace fastening device. In the assembly 30 process of the lace fastening device, which 12 comprises of the gripping plate (1) and the optional gapping plate (2) that are fixed to the housing base (3) by means of using two screws (5) that complete the main housing. Consequently, this 5 method of assembly allows the user to have the option of customising the colour of the gripping plate (1), gapping plate (2), and housing base (3) to his or her own preference based on the availability of the parts concerned in the market. 10 The installation of the gapping plate (2) is optional for a thicker lace that can be use with the present invention. Although the housing base (3) and the lace-clip 15 device (4) has a triangular plan shape in the embodiment shown in FIGs. 1 to 23, one of normal skill will recognise that it is not limited to any specific shape or size that could be used without departing from the scope of the invention and the 20 incorporation of other components of the device. In the component parts of FIG. 2 and FIGs. 9 to 15, the lace passages are defined by the gap between the gripping plate (1) and the housing base (3). 25 The gripping plate (1) which has the incline serration members (lA), as illustrated in FIG. 15, which also function as locking teeth, are obliquely positioned as the upper surface, while the housing base (3), which function as a horizontally flat 30 smooth lower surface, causes the lace passages to 13 be narrow inwardly or wider outwardly. The gapping plate (2) is only incorporated in the device between the gripping plate (1) and the housing base (3) if the need to increase the gap of the lace 5 passages arises, such as the use of a thicker lace. In restricting the movement of the housing base (3) and the attached gripping plate (1) from rotating either to the left or to the right, while the lace 10 (9) is being pulled to tighten the lace fastening device to the footwear (8), the safety strap (7) which is detachable from the footwear, is secured to the housing base (3) and the footwear (refer to FIGs. 1 to 4). Preferably the shape of the plate 15 aperture (lB) and the central aperture (3A) to be oval as this will also help avoid rotation of the housing base (3) and the attached gripping plate (1) when the lace is being pulled. In addition, the safety strap (7) is securely attached to the 20 footwear, by means of the lace being inserted through the strap loop (7A) before being woven through the eyelets of the footwear. The position of the housing can be adjusted by securing the safety strap to the other row of lace on the 25 footwear. The safety strap (7) comprises of a strap chain (6) that is locked at the strap chain aperture (3D) of the housing base (3). The lace fastening device is therefore securely attached to the footwear while still maintaining the 30 flexibility of the device to move upwards, when 14 footwear is loosened or downwards when footwear is tightened. Considering that once the lace has been tightened, 5 both free hanging ends would need to be secured to the footwear. Therefore, a pair of lace-clip devices (4) is to be used as part of the lace fastening device. As illustrated in FIGs. 16 to 23, the lace-clip device (4), which comprises of a 10 screw aperture (4A), two base tooth (4B), a head tooth (4C), three clip eyelets (4D), a base (4E), and a head (4F), is fitted to the sides of the footwear by means of threading the lace through the clip eyelets (4D) and screwing the clip screw (10) 15 from the inside of the shoe and into the screw aperture (4A), as illustrated in FIGs. 3 and 4. Shown in FIG. 4, once inserted into the slit in between the base (4E) and head (4F) of the lace clip device (4), the free hanging ends of the 20 tighten lace are secured by the gripping force of the base tooth (4B) and the head tooth (4C). FIG. 5 illustrates the sequence of steps for fastening the device as follows: 25 1.The two loose ends of the lace (9) are threaded through the central aperture (3A) and the plate aperture (1B).

15 2.The lace is then pulled horizontally above the gripping plate (1) towards direction A, until reaching the optimal tightness. 3.Both ends of the tensioned lace are then 5 swivelled to direction B, while still maintaining the optimal tightness of the lace. 4.The lace in tension is then guided through the cap slit (1D) and is pull towards direction A, through the lace passage defined by the gap 10 between the gripping plate (1) and the housing base (3). 5.Once the two loose ends of the lace have been pulled to the optimal tightness, they are then released to allow the serration member (lA) to 15 naturally grip and secure the tightness of the lace onto the footwear. 6.The loose ends of the lace are then retained by the lace-clip device (4), through insertion in between the head tooth (4C) and base tooth (4B) 20 of the head (4F) and base (4E), respectively. FIG. 6 illustrates the sequence of steps for loosening the lace from the device as follows: 25 1.The loose ends of the lace (9) are pulled off from the retaining grip of the lace-clip device (4). 2.Both loose ends of the lace are then pulled slightly towards direction A to release the lace 30 from its current locked condition.

16 3.While still maintaining the tensions of the lace, both ends of the lace are then swivelled towards direction B at the same time to be parallel to each other. 5 4.Once both ends are aligned with the plate slit (1D), they are then raised vertically towards direction C, passing through the plate slit (1D) and entering the plate aperture (1B). Both free ends of the lace can now be loosened or taken off 10 from the housing base (3). When fastening or loosening the device to or from the footwear, it is advisable to hold the lace close to the housing base while pulling or guiding 15 the lace. Thus, the lace fastening device which is symmetrical on both left and right side will be fashionable, user friendly and provide an even 20 tension when the lace is pulled to tighten. Also the housing of the present invention can be detached from or attached to the footwear or said items at the user's preference. 25

Claims

1. A knotless lace-fastening device or the like as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 12 of 5 patent application no. 2007203390, wherein the said device comprising; a gripping plate, having serrations with high friction surfaces to secure free movement of the lace when released after being pulled for tightening; a 10 gapping plate, which is optional for use with thicker lace; a housing base, into which both free ends of the lace are threaded to penetrate through the central aperture and plate aperture; a pair of lace-clip devices, 15 for retaining the free ends of the lace after tightening the lace to the footwear or the said items; housing screws, for securing the gripping plate and the gapping plate to the housing base; a strap chain; and a safety 20 strap, which is used to restrict the free rotation of the fastening device, while securing it to the footwear or the said items.

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the 25 material of the said present invention can be of plastic, wood or metal.

3. The device according to claim 1, wherein said housing base has a central aperture for both 30 free ends of the lace to be threaded through. 18

4. The device according to claim 1, wherein the lace when pulled after both it's free ends have been threaded through the said central aperture; slides through the lace passage 5 defined by the spacing in between the gripping plate and the housing base.

5. The device according to claim 4, wherein said gripping plate has angled serrations on one 10 surface for gripping the lace into a lock position.

6. The device according to claim 4, wherein said lace passage can be widened with the option of including the said gapping plate when a 15 thicker lace is being used with the present invention.

7. The device according to claim 1, further comprising a safety strap, which attached the 20 housing base to the footwear or the said items.

8. The device according to claim 1, wherein the said lace-clip device comprising a head and a 25 base, is used for clipping the free ends of the lace after fastening the present invention to the said items.

9. The device according to claim 8, further 30 comprising a head tooth moulded below the head 19 and a pair of base tooth moulded on top of the base, which restrains the free ends of the lace from involuntarily release from the slit between the head tooth and base. 5

10. The device according to claim 8 and claim 9, further comprising two corner clip eyelets and a middle clip eyelet for threading of the lace at the base, and a screw aperture for 10 insertion of the clip screw into the lace-clip device.

11. The device according to claim 8 to claim 10, wherein the pair of said lace-clip devices are 15 attached to the said items by means of screw fixing or sewing or gluing and are separate from the main fastening device.

12. A lace fastener substantially as herein 20 described with reference to FIGs. 1 to 23 of the accompanying drawings.