EP3239441A1

EP3239441A1 - Zipper with lock and safety device

Info

Publication number: EP3239441A1
Application number: EP17168523.3A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Jose Manuel CANO LABRADOR
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2016-04-29
Filing date: 2017-04-27
Publication date: 2017-11-01
Also published as: WO2017186978A1

Abstract

A zipper with a lock and sensor for detecting a forced opening which comprises a body fixed to the textile strips at the upper ends thereof and which, by means of hooks as a locking device, arranged in the body and in the slider, ensures that the zipper cannot be opened. A digital fingerprint reader causes the locking device to open. The invention has a sensor for detecting a forced opening which alerts the user to the non-authorized manipulation of the zipper strips or teeth.

Description

Object of the invention

The object of the present invention is a zipper which incorporates a lock that is actuated by means of a digital fingerprint reader and a safety device that indicates if the zipper has been opened by the forced separation of the teeth without using the slider.

Background of the invention

A zipper is a closing device that is applied to openings of articles used for clothing, handbags, suitcases and other objects, which consist of two strips of flexible material, usually a textile material, equipped on the edges thereof with small teeth, which are usually metal or plastic, which interlock or unlock each other, when an opening or closing movement is produced by a slider, which is normally metallic. As expressed by its very definition, one of the functions of a zipper is to close a space and therefore prevent easy access to items which are placed inside.
Moreover, people are increasingly keeping items of greater value, such as laptop computers, tablets or smart phones, in the pockets of clothing or in suitcases, handbags or rucksacks, and therefore there is a need to prevent non-authorized persons from accessing the inside thereof.
To prevent anyone from opening zippers, a wide variety of solutions have been developed, ranging from a padlock which passes through the pull tab of the slider and which is fastened to an element of the object, to a locking system for a textile zipper developed by the applicant of the present invention and disclosed in the Spanish patent application ES 201430150 , in which the technology of digital fingerprint readers is used for the opening and closing of a padlock-type locking mechanism.
The present invention solves the need to prevent the unauthorized opening of a zipper by locking, when desired, the slider of the zipper on a body located at the upper end of the strips, controlled by a digital fingerprint reader, and having the additional advantage of offering an indicator of a forced opening of the teeth of the zipper.

Description of the invention

The zipper with a lock and sensor for detecting a forced opening, which is the object of the present invention, comprises the following elements and devices:

a body arranged at the upper end of the zipper, which is joined to the two textile strips of the mentioned zipper, and which, in turn, incorporates:
- ∘ a digital fingerprint reader,
- ∘ one or more first locking devices for locking when desired
- ∘ one or more electric microactuators, which actuate the unlocking of the aforementioned first locking devices,
- ∘ one or more current regulators which activate the mentioned microactuators,
- ∘ one or more geolocation devices,
- ∘one or more rechargeable electric batteries to power the rest of the elements and devices,
- ∘ one or more power connections for charging the aforementioned rechargeable batteries, and
- ∘ a hardware device and the corresponding firmware, which controls the digital fingerprint sensor, geolocation devices, current regulators, vibrating devices and microactuators;
a sensor for detecting a forced opening controlled by the hardware device, which, in turn, comprises:
- ∘ an electric circuit, electrically powered by the mentioned rechargeable batteries, which consists of a plurality of switches interconnected in series and arranged along the length of the textile strips, each one of the aforementioned switches has one of its contacts located on one of the textile strips of the zipper and the other one of its contacts is located on the other textile strip of the mentioned zipper and
- ∘ one or more light indicators of a forced opening of one or more of the switches of the sensor for detecting a forced opening, and of the operating status of the mentioned hardware device, which are arranged in the aforementioned body, at least one of the abovementioned light indicators is controlled by the aforementioned hardware device;
one or more second locking devices for locking when desired, complementary to the first locking devices and arranged on the front portion of the slider;
one or more push buttons connected to the aforementioned hardware device.

Brief description of the figures

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the upper portion of the invention.
Figure 2 is a perspective view of a partial cross section of the body.
Figure 3 is a perspective view of a partial cross section of the body.
Figure 4 shows two electric diagrams, closed circuit and open circuit, of the sensor for detecting a forced opening.

Preferred embodiments

Figures 1 - 3 show three preferred and non-limiting embodiments of the zipper with a lock and sensor for detecting a forced opening and figure 4 shows two electric diagrams of the sensor for detecting a forced opening.
The zipper (1) with a lock and sensor for detecting a forced opening, object of the present description, comprises the following elements and devices:

a body (2) arranged at the upper end (3) of the zipper and joined to two strips (4) of the mentioned zipper, and which, in turn, incorporates:
- ∘ a digital fingerprint reader (5),
- ∘ one or more locking devices (6) for locking when desired, preferably at least one them being a hook,
- ∘ one or more electric microactuators (7) which actuate the locking of the mentioned locking devices,
- ∘ one or more current regulators which activate the aforementioned microactuators,
- ∘ one or more geolocation devices,
- ∘ a hardware device and the corresponding firmware, which controls the digital fingerprint sensor, geolocation devices, current regulators, and microactuators,
- ∘ one or more rechargeable electric batteries to power the rest of the elements and devices, and
- ∘ one or more power connections (14) for charging the aforementioned rechargeable batteries;
a sensor for detecting a forced opening controlled by the mentioned hardware device, which, in turn, comprises:
- ∘ an electric circuit (9), electrically powered by the mentioned rechargeable batteries and which consists of a plurality of switches (10) interconnected in series and arranged along the length of the strips (4); figure 4 shows the electric circuit with the switches closed (10) and with one of the switches open (17), each one of the aforementioned switches has one of its contacts on one of the textile strips of the mentioned zipper and the other one of its contacts is arranged on the other textile strip of the mentioned zipper, and in one or more light indicators to indicate the opening of one or more of the said switches arranged in the aforementioned body, and
- ∘ one or more light indicators (16) of the forced opening of one or more of the switches of the sensor for detecting a forced opening arranged in the aforementioned body:
one or more second locking devices (12) for locking when desired, preferably at least one of them being a hook, complementary to the first locking devices and arranged in the front portion of the slider (13) or pull tab; figure 1 shows the second locking devices for locking when desired arranged on the front portion of the slider, while figures 2 and 3 show the second locking devices arranged on the pull tab of the slider, and the first locking devices may have two different arrangement, a horizontal arrangement and a vertical arrangement, which implies that the second locking devices are introduced through the hole arranged on the rear face of the body or on the upper face of the body, respectively.

The geolocation devices in conjunction with an appropriate software make it possible to spatially locate the zipper and its status, i.e., if it is closed, open or if it has been forcefully opened.
As a first design option of the switches of the sensor for detecting a forced opening, at least one or more of said switches are teeth of the zipper that are in electrical contact with one another when the zipper is closed, these teeth may be metal or coated with an electrically conductive paint, and as a second design option of the switches of the sensor for detecting a forced opening, the contacts of at least one or more of the mentioned switches are magnets, for example neodymium, each one of the mentioned magnets being joined to one of the textile strips and in electrical contact with one another when the zipper is closed.
The operation of the zipper with a lock and sensor for detecting a forced opening is initiated by turning the invention on by means of a first switch (15) and then by means of the recognition of the digital fingerprint read by the digital fingerprint reader by the hardware device and the memory file thereof. After this first step, the invention may then be used. To open the zipper, all the user needs to do is to place the enabled fingerprint in the digital fingerprint reader and, after the recognition thereof by the hardware device, this device gives the order to the microactuator to unlock the first locking device, thereby freeing the slider and allowing it to move. The zipper remains locked when moving the slider to the body, which makes the two locking devices couple to each other, securing the slider to the body and, therefore to the strips of the zipper. The light indicators show if the zipper is locked or not, and if the digital fingerprint reader is ready to memorize the fingerprint of the authorized user or if it is operative and if the sensor for detecting a forced opening has detected a wrongful manipulation of the teeth or the strips.
In another preferred embodiment, the body incorporates a communication device which uses wireless protocols, preferably Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or any other type of wireless communication protocols. These communication devices allow the hardware device, by means of a specifically designed software, to share data and orders with the mobile telephone or a similar device. Likewise, it incorporates a distance sensor by means of Bluetooth communication protocols with respect to one or more smart mobile phones or similar devices.
In this last preferred embodiment, one of the microactuators is an electromagnet that actuates one of the first locking means, preferably a piston intended to be introduced into one of the second locking means, which would be a hole arranged in the pull tab of the slider.
Including communication devices and specifically designed software together with a specifically designed application installed in a mobile telephone allows the hardware device to send information to the mentioned mobile telephone which may then be processed and stored and receive data and orders from said telephone to control the invention.

Claims

A zipper with a lock and sensor for detecting a forced opening, characterized in that it comprises:
• a body arranged at the upper end of the zipper, which is joined to the two textile strips of the mentioned zipper, and which, in turn, incorporates:
∘ a digital fingerprint reader,

∘ one or more first locking devices for locking when desired

∘ one or more electric microactuators, which actuate the unlocking of the aforementioned first locking devices,

∘ one or more current regulators which activate the mentioned microactuators,

∘ one or more geolocation devices,

∘ one or more rechargeable electric batteries to power the rest of the elements and devices,

∘ one or more power connections for charging the aforementioned rechargeable batteries, and

∘ a hardware device and the corresponding firmware, which controls the digital fingerprint sensor, geolocation devices, current regulators, vibrating devices and microactuators;

• a sensor for detecting a forced opening controlled by the hardware device, which, in turn, comprises:
∘ an electric circuit, electrically powered by the mentioned rechargeable batteries, which consist of a plurality of switches interconnected in series and arranged along the length of the textile strips, each one of the aforementioned switches has one of its contacts located on one of the textile strips of the zipper and the other one of its contacts is located on the other textile strip of the mentioned zipper, and

∘ one or more light indicators of a forced opening of one or more of the switches of the sensor for detecting a forced opening, and of the operating status of the mentioned hardware device, which are arranged in the aforementioned body, at least one of the abovementioned light indicators is controlled by the aforementioned hardware device;

• one or more second locking devices for locking when desired, complementary to the first locking devices and arranged on the front portion of the slider;

• one or more push buttons connected to the aforementioned hardware device.
The zipper with a lock and sensor for detecting a forced opening according to claim 1, characterized in that the body comprises at least one communication device which uses wireless protocols.
The zipper with a lock and sensor for detecting a forced opening according to claim 2, characterized in that the communication device uses Bluetooth protocols.
The zipper with a lock and sensor for detecting a forced opening according to claim 2, characterized in that the communication device uses Wi-Fi protocols.
The zipper with a lock and sensor for detecting a forced opening, according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that the hardware device has a specific software which allows it to share data and orders with a smart mobile phone or similar external device by means of at least one communication device.
The zipper with a lock and sensor for detecting a forced opening according to claim 5, characterized in that it incorporates a distance sensor which uses Bluetooth protocols with respect to a mobile telephone or similar external device.
The zipper with a lock and sensor for detecting a forced opening according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the second locking means are arranged joined to the pull tab of the zipper.
The zipper with a lock and sensor for detecting a forced opening according to claim 7, characterized in that at least one of the microactuators is an electromagnet that actuates one of the first locking devices.
The zipper with a lock and sensor for detecting a forced opening according to claim 8, characterized in that one of the first locking means is a piston which is activated by an electromagnet and in that at least one of the second means is a through hole arranged in the pull tab of the slider; said through hole intended to receive the mentioned piston.
The zipper with a lock and sensor for detecting a forced opening according to any of the claims 1 - 7, characterized in that one of the first locking means and some of the second locking means are hooks.
The zipper with a lock and sensor for detecting a forced opening according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the contacts of at least one of the switches of the sensor for detecting a forced opening are teeth of the zipper which are in electrical contact with each other when the zipper is closed.
The zipper with a lock and sensor for detecting a forced opening, according to claim 9, characterized in that the teeth are metal.
The zipper with a lock and sensor for detecting a forced opening according to claim 9, characterized in that the teeth are coated with an electrically conductive paint.
The zipper with a lock and sensor for detecting a forced opening, according to any of the claims 1 - 8, characterized in that the contacts of at least one of the switches of the sensor for detecting a forced opening are magnets, each one of the mentioned magnets is joined to one of the textile strips and are in electrical contact with one another when the zipper is closed.
The zipper with a lock and sensor for detecting a forced opening according to claim 12, characterized in that the magnets are neodymium.