GB1560115A - Tag pins - Google Patents

Description

(54) TAG PINS (71) WE, JAPAN BANO'K CO. LTD., a Japanese Body Corporate of No. 13, 2-chome, Kayabo-cho, Nihonbashi, Chuoku, Tokyo, Japan do hereby declare the invention for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: The present invention relates to a tag pin, and more particularly to a synthetic resin tag pin used for attaching a price tag or other indication tag (label for article) to an article or for interconnecting two or more articles.

Tag pins are known as having a head portion, a filament portion extending laterally from the center portion of said head portion and a transverse bar portion fixed to the filament portion at its center portion integrally molded from a synthetic resin (for example, shown in U.S. Patent No.3103666).

Such tag pins are molded in groups of large numbers whose ends are fixed to a connecting bar; particularly the head portions tend to easily entangle, and accordingly the handling of the tag pins at the time of packing them in a box or taking them out of a box is very difficult.

According to the present invention, we provide a tag pin comprising: an elongate filament; a head and a bar at opposite ends of the filament; the filament, bar and head being integrally molded from synthetic resin; the bar extending transversely to the axis of the filament; and the head being solid and having a pair of lateral edges each of which extends obliquely to the axis of the filament throughout the extent of that edge from the junction of the filament and head to the widest part of the head, the angle between each of the lateral edges and the axis of the filament decreasing progressively from said junction to the widest part of the head so that each lateral edge is of a smoothly, convexly arcuate shape.

Thus, a tag embodying the present invention can prevent the entangling of the heads without any interconnection between adjacent heads by means of a connecting string.

Since the edges of the head facing the bar extend obliquely to the filament axis in a convexly arcuate fashion, any heads which intertwine can be readily released by pulling the tag pin groups from each other two or three times, thereby allowing the heads to slip along said edges which act as guide faces.

Also, the head of a tag pin embodying the present invention has no projection thereon which may hook the texture of knittings or fabrics, so that there is no possibility that various kinds of articles get scratched.

In order that the invention may more readily be understood, the following description is given, by way of example only, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figs. 1 (A) and (B) are front views showing the head portions of prior art tag pins respectively; Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a prior art tag pin group; Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing an intertwined condition of the head portions and the filament portions of prior art tag pin groups; Fig. 4 is a front view of one embodiment of tag pin according to the present invention; Figs. 5 (A) and 5 (B) are front views showing other shapes of the head portions of tag pins embodying the present invention respectively; Figs. 6 (A) and 6 (B) are a front view and a side view respectively of a further embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 1 (A) shows a prior art tag pin having a rectangular head portion, and another tag pin with a triangular end portion is shown in Fig. 1 (B). In any case, the edge portion M of the head portion opposite to the transverse bar portion is formed parallel to said bar portion.

This kind of tag pin is very small as exemplified above, and its weight per one piece amounts to about 0.8 - 2.0 g. Moreover, in practice a plurality of tag pins (for example 20 - 50 pieces) are molded integrally in a group as shown in Fig. 2. A tag pin A (Fig. 2) is composed of a transverse bar portion 1, a filament portion 2 and a solid head portion 3, and a connecting portion 4 extends from the transverse bar portion 1 in the opposite direction to the filament portion 2, and said connecting portion is connected to a connecting bar 5 which serves also as a pouring hole (runner) for molten resin; thus a plurality of tag pins are assembled like a comb. In the case where the length of the filament portions 2 in a tag pin group is relatively short, the head portions 3 are generally held in place. However, with increasing length of the filament portions 2, the flexibility of these portions increases, so that the head portions 3 become easy to displace, thereby resulting in occurrence of entangling of the filament portions 2. In the case where the tag pins are made of nylon resin, they have a relatively good shape holding property immediately after the molding thereof; however nylon absorbs moisture as time goes by, and consequently the filament portions gradually become soft and thereby tag pin groups easily become entangled, and particularly in the case where the head portions intertwine each other as shown in Fig. 3, it is very troublesome to release these groups from each other.

In the packing process of the tag pins after the molding thereof, it is general to accommodate about 5,000 to 10,000 pieces of tag pins in one box, and in the course of transportation if necessary or at the time of use, a number of tag pins are taken out of the box and then the remaining ones are again returned back into the box. However in such cases, the tag pin groups often entangle with each other as shown in Fig. 3. Consequently, a method of integrally molding a tag pin group with their adjacent heads interconnected by means of a thin string in skewered condition has been proposed (for example, U.S. Patent No. 3,733,657). However, in the tag pin groups molded by that method, it is difficult to separate individual pieces from the group at the time of use thereof, and since said connecting string must be pulled off, the connecting string may be left on the side of the head portion as projection, and also the tip portion of said projection has been subject to stretching thereby leaving it in a pointed condition, so that said pointed projection may hook delicate knittings or fabrics and this results in damages thereof.

As is well known in the art, molding of a delicate thin connecting string is very difficult, and from the view point of technique, the limit of molding thereof is in a range of 0.1 to 0.15 mm in diameter. Also, if this connecting string is easy to cut off, it may often cut off during the transportation or handling thereof, and when a part of the connecting string be cut off, the handling of the tag pins becomes more troublesome than convenient. In order to mold this connecting string, delicate workings on a metal mold are required, so that the metal mold per se becomes expensive, and also since sufficient management of the metal mold as well as too delicate working thereon are necessary, its service life becomes short.

Fig. 4 is a front view showing a first embod iment of the present invention, wherein a tag pin A is integrally molded from a synthetic resin having elasticity, such as nylon, to form an H-shape which comprises a head portion 3, a filament portion 2 and a transverse bar portion 1. Of course, at the time of molding the tag pins, a plurality of tag pins (for example thirty-five to fifty pieces) are integrally connected to a connecting bar 5 via connecting portions 4 to form a group. Immediately after the molding, the filament portion 2 is not very high in strength, so that it is easy to bend and has not such a strength as to be restored to its original shape after being passed through an article by means of an attaching device. Accordingly the filament portions are subject to a stretching treatment to improve their strength. There are two methods of stretching treatment, one using the metal mold itself for the stretching operation, and in the other, stretching is carried out in a separate stretching machine after molding has been completed.

The filament portion 2 is extended from the center portion 3a of the head portion 3, and the edge portions 3b extend obliquely to the axis of the filament portion 2 throughout the whole of their lengths from their junction with the filament portion 2 to the widest part of the head portion. The angle between each of the edges 3b, 3b' and the filament 2 progressively decrease from said junction and the widest part of the head portion so that the edges 3b, 3b' are smoothly convexly arcuate.

Thus, when a force X in the arrowed direction is applied, for example, at the point B, its component forces Y and Z occur and owing to the force component Z the head portion of another tag pin can be slipped out of engagement with this head portion. Particularly, in the case where the head portions are engaged to each other as shown in Fig. 3, said component force Z may be applied to the head portions mutually, so that disengage ment of the head portions becomes easy.

Figs. 5 (A) and (B) show further forms of the head portion. In Figure 5 (A) the head portion is of semicircular shape with the upper edge defined by a diameter of the semicircle while in Figure 5 (B) the head portion is also semicircular but with its upper edge convexly arcuate and merging smoothly with the edge portions 3b, 3b'.

In the embodiments shown in Figs. 5 (A) and (B) the head portions are shown as having flat major surfaces; however various kinds of projection can be provided on the major surfaces of the head portions according to the use thereof. Thus Figures 6 (A) and (B) show an embodiment having a very thin head portion which is formed with transverse bar-like projections 6 extending perpendicular to the axis of the filament 2 to prevent deformation of the head portion. The barlike projections 6 may be replaced by hemispherical or ship-bottom shaped projections.

As mentioned above various shapes are possible for the head portion subject to the edges 3b, 3bV being smoothly convexly arcuate so that when the head portion of another similar tag pin is hooked on said edge portion 3b and 3b', a component force of the direction Z of the vector diagram shown in Fig. 4 is produced.

When tag pin groups embodying the present invention are in a condition similar to that shown in Figure 3 for prior art pins they are easily released from each other by lightly pulling them by holding the connecting bars 5 thereof or by moving them back and forth two or three times so as to cause them to approach and separate from each other.

Consequently, it is unnecessary to interconnect the head portions by means of a connecting string etc.., so that products of inferior quality are not produced in the molding process of the tag pins, and the metal mold can be simplified. In addition, since the head portion has no connecting string on both side faces thereof, the attaching operation of the tag pin can be carried out easily, and there is no possibility of damage to delicate knittings or fabrics by hooking the con necting string thereto.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. A tag pin comprising: an elongate filament; a head and a bar at opposite ends of the filament; the filament bar and head being integrally molded from synthetic resin; the bar extending transversely to the axis of the filament; and the head being solid and having a pair of lateral edges each of which extends obliquely to the axis of the filament throughout the extent of that edge from the junction of the filament and head to the widest part of the head, the angle between each of the lateral edges and the axis of the filament decreasing progressively from said junction to the widest part of the head so that each lateral edge is of a smoothly convexly arcuate shape.

2. A tag pin according to Claim 1 wherein the lateral edges on the head are arranged symmetrically relative to the fila ment.

3. A tag pin according to Claims 1 or 2, wherein the edges of the head facing the bar form a U-shape.

4. A tag pin according to Claim 1 or 2 wherein the lateral edges conform to respec tive parts of a semicircle.

5. A tag pin according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the head is provided with at least one projection on the head lying across the head in a direction parallel to the bar.

6. A tag pin according to any one of Claims 1 to 4 wherein the head is provided with at least one hemispherical or ship bottom-shaped projection.

7. A tag as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in any one of Figures 4, Figures 5 (A) and 5 (B) or Figures 6 (A) and 6 (B) of the accompanying drawings.

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims (7)

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. edge convexly arcuate and merging smoothly with the edge portions 3b, 3b'. In the embodiments shown in Figs. 5 (A) and (B) the head portions are shown as having flat major surfaces; however various kinds of projection can be provided on the major surfaces of the head portions according to the use thereof. Thus Figures 6 (A) and (B) show an embodiment having a very thin head portion which is formed with transverse bar-like projections 6 extending perpendicular to the axis of the filament 2 to prevent deformation of the head portion. The barlike projections 6 may be replaced by hemispherical or ship-bottom shaped projections. As mentioned above various shapes are possible for the head portion subject to the edges 3b, 3bV being smoothly convexly arcuate so that when the head portion of another similar tag pin is hooked on said edge portion 3b and 3b', a component force of the direction Z of the vector diagram shown in Fig. 4 is produced. When tag pin groups embodying the present invention are in a condition similar to that shown in Figure 3 for prior art pins they are easily released from each other by lightly pulling them by holding the connecting bars 5 thereof or by moving them back and forth two or three times so as to cause them to approach and separate from each other. Consequently, it is unnecessary to interconnect the head portions by means of a connecting string etc.., so that products of inferior quality are not produced in the molding process of the tag pins, and the metal mold can be simplified. In addition, since the head portion has no connecting string on both side faces thereof, the attaching operation of the tag pin can be carried out easily, and there is no possibility of damage to delicate knittings or fabrics by hooking the con necting string thereto. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. A tag pin comprising: an elongate filament; a head and a bar at opposite ends of the filament; the filament bar and head being integrally molded from synthetic resin; the bar extending transversely to the axis of the filament; and the head being solid and having a pair of lateral edges each of which extends obliquely to the axis of the filament throughout the extent of that edge from the junction of the filament and head to the widest part of the head, the angle between each of the lateral edges and the axis of the filament decreasing progressively from said junction to the widest part of the head so that each lateral edge is of a smoothly convexly arcuate shape.

2. A tag pin according to Claim 1 wherein the lateral edges on the head are arranged symmetrically relative to the fila ment.

3. A tag pin according to Claims 1 or 2, wherein the edges of the head facing the bar form a U-shape.

4. A tag pin according to Claim 1 or 2 wherein the lateral edges conform to respec tive parts of a semicircle.

5. A tag pin according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the head is provided with at least one projection on the head lying across the head in a direction parallel to the bar.

6. A tag pin according to any one of Claims 1 to 4 wherein the head is provided with at least one hemispherical or ship bottom-shaped projection.

7. A tag as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in any one of Figures 4, Figures 5 (A) and 5 (B) or Figures 6 (A) and 6 (B) of the accompanying drawings.