GB2302497A - Fastening tie for wearable articles - Google Patents

Abstract

A protective wearable article, eg a body protector, buoyancy jacket, limb guard, overshoe or, as shown, a hockey keeper's foot protector, has a fastening tie 35 or 36 which comprises a shank (10, Fig. 1) having, integrally at one or at each end thereof, two arms (11, 12), one at each side of the longitudinal axis of the shank. The protector has apertures 33, 34 through which the armed ends of the fastening tie are insertable to be retained in a tie-fastened position by the arms bearing against the protector surface when force is applied back along the shank direction. The protector is located over the hockey keeper's boot (37, Fig 5) and the ties pass under the boot to retain the protector in place. An adjustable strap 39 is used to secure the protector around the ankle part of the boot.

Description

FASTENING MEANS This invention relates to fastening means, in particular to tie-fastening means for articles of clothing such as protective or safety clothing.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided an article of protective clothing having a fastening tie comprising a shank having, integrally at one or each end thereof, two arms, one at each side of the longitudinal axis of the shank, which together with the shank confer an anchor shape, and wherein the clothing material has an aperture through which the said armed end of the fastening tie is insertable to be retained in a tie-fastened position by the arms bearing against the material surface when force is applied back along the shank direction.

Suitably the arms of the fastening tie are coplanar and may be of equal length. The two arms may be joined to form substantially a U shape at the shank end. Both arms may be substantially coplanar with the shank or may be in a plane intersecting that of the shank.

The crown of the anchor shape may also assist retention of the tie in a fastened position. If desired, the crown may have a protuberance which may further assist retention and/or may facilitate manual grasping of the tie end for fastening or unfastening.

Preferably the tie has an anchor shape, especially a U shape, at each end of the shank. However, possibly for some purposes, one of the shank ends may have an alternative formation.

In employment of the tie, the armed end portion of the shank is inserted through an aperture, such as a slit, in the material to be fastened and is retained in a fastened position by the arms bearing against the material surface when force is applied back along the shank direction.

When the tie for employment has arms which are substantially coplanar with the shank, the armed end of the tie may then be bent to bring the arms substantially level with the material surface. When the tie for employment has arms which are not coplanar with the shank, the arms may be bent towards the plane of the shank for insertion through the aperture and then allowed to regain their original form and/or be bent as desired.

Accordingly, preferably the throat portion of the shank (i e the portion of the shank adjacent to its junction with the arms) is sufficiently flexible to facilitate bending. Preferably also the throat portion possesses some bending resilience.

The throat portion of the shank may be in flat or curved strip form and suitably the whole tie may be in strip form.

The shank may be of various lengths depending on the fastening link distance required for a particular use of the tie.

The length of the arms should be sufficient to prevent accidental dislodgement (unfastening) of the tie and may be of minimum length required for this purpose. The surface area and texture of the arms at the interface with the material to be fastened preferably should be sufficient to avoid damaging the material.

A suitable material of the tie is a strong flexible plastics material.

Examples of suitable plastics materials include nylon and polypropylene.

The tie may be manufactured by, for instance, moulding (in uniplanar or multiplanar form) such as injection moulding, or stamping or cutting from a sheet.

The invention is especially useful for providing stable tie-fastening of flexible and/or resilient material and is suitable for fastening material which, at least at the position of the tie-fastening, may be of low load-bearing quality.

By way of example only, materials which may be fastened in accordance with the invention include plastics (including cellular plastics), cloth and leather. The material, at the position of the fastening, may be substantially in sheet form, including laminates and loose-layered assemblies. The tie-fastening may be employed to link two pieces of material or two parts of a single piece of material.

Articles of protective or safety clothing in which the invention is suitable include body protectors, buoyancy jackets, limb-guards (e g sports leg-guards), overshoes and foot protectors (e g hockey kickers).

An advantageous application of the invention is in protective footwear such as the protectors known as 'kickers' worn by goalkeepers in the game of hockey, especially field hockey (outdoor or indoor).

A conventional hockey goalkeeper foot protector usually comprises an impact-resistant construction which is shaped for attachment over the upper and side parts of the boot of the wearer to protect the forwardly projecting part of the foot and usually.also at least the ankles of the foot.

The construction usually comprises a body of impact-cushioning plastics foam which may be laminated to another plastics material. The protector conventionally is held in place on the boot by straps which usually encircle surfacially the forefoot portion of the protector, which may or may not have surfacial depressions to accommodate the straps. Owing to the use of the straps, the protector usually has an uneven outer surface which confers unpredictable rebound of a ball striking the surface and this is undesirable for the wearer. Also, such straps at the forefoot portion of the protector conventionally require the protector bottom edge to stop short of the welt of the boot for passage of the straps underneath the boot, and accordingly the welt of the boot is unprotected.

The present invention provides an improved protector (kicker) which overcomes the aforementioned disadvantages.

The improved protector comprises an impact-resistant construction shaped to cover at least the upper and side parts of a hockey boot, wherein at least the forefoot portion of the protector is secured on the boot by means of at least one fastening tie as described hereinbefore.

The or each anchor end of the fastening tie extends through an aperture such as a slit in a lower part of a side of the forefoot portion of the protector, and the shank of the tie passes underneath the boot. More than one tie with its associated aperture(s) may be employed, each tie having a shank length appropriate for secure fitting of the protector on the boot.

Each tie may have an anchor shape at each end of the shank and correspondingly the protector would have at least one pair of opposed side apertures.

By use of the fastening tie(s) in accordance with the invention, the sides of the protector may extend down to shroud the welt of the boot.

The ankle portion of the protector may be secured by one or more tie fasteners in accordance with the invention at the heel and/or rear lower leg area of the wearer. Alternatively, adjustable strap means may be employed.

For instance, each of two strap members may be permanently end-secured to a rear part of the ankle-protective portion of the protector so that the free ends of the strap members can be connected, by adjustable buckle means, at the heel or rear lower leg area of the wearer.

The body of the protector suitably may comprise an outer wearresistant cover and at least one impact-cushioning component between the cover and the boot. Preferably the cover is bonded to the cushioning component.

The cover may be of plastics sheet material, for instance of semi-rigid plastics material. Examples of suitable plastics materials include polyethylene (especially high density polyethylene), polypropylene and polyvinylchloride.

The cushioning component may be, for instance, resilient cellular plastics material, flock or a resilient inflated plastics sac (air-bag). Examples of suitable cellular plastics materials include ethylene/vinylacetate, polyethylene and polyurethane. The cellular plastics material may be laminated to the cover.

The protector may be produced in substantially the shape for fitting on the boot or it may be produced in substantially flat form for subsequent shaping on the boot.

One method of manufacture of the protector body comprises moulding. For instance, the plastics cover shape may be produced by moulding and/or cutting, and a cellular plastics cushioning component may be moulded onto the cover.

The invention is illustrated by way of example only, in the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows a perspective view of one form of fastening tie for employment in the invention; Figure 2 shows diagrammatically an anchor-shaped end of a fastening tie in fastening location through an aperture in clothing material according to the invention; Figure 3 shows diagrammatically a plan view of a hockey goalkeeper kicker in accordance with the invention, in substantially flat form; Figure 4 shows diagrammatically in plan view the kicker of Figure 3 shaped as on a boot, together with two appropriately sized fastening ties in side view; Figure 5 shows diagrammatically an enlarged section through Y-Y of Figure 4, of a kicker in tie-fastened location on a boot.

The fastening tie shown in Figure 1 has a shank 10 having integrally at each end thereof a U-shaped formation each comprising a pair of arms 11,11' or 12,12' and a crown portion 13 or 14.

As illustrated in Figure 2, the end of a fastening tie such as that of Figure 1 has been inserted through a slit aperture 20 in clothing material 21, and the shank of the tie is bent at its throat portion 22 so that the arms 23,23' of the U-shaped end bear against the surface of the material 21 when force is applied back along the shank direction, and thereby the assembly is retained in a tie-fastened state.

Figures 3-5 show a hockey goalkeeper kicker of shape for location over the upper and sides of a boot. The basic construction of the kicker comprises an outer cover 30, such as of wear-resistant plastics material or leather, having secured to its inner surface one or more impact-cushioning components 31, for instance of resilient plastics foam material. The area of the cover surface having the cushioning component(s) is indicated by the line 32 in Figure 3. The kicker has two pairs of opposed slit-shaped apertures 33,33' and 34,34' in its forefoot side portions for accommodating fastening ties 35 and 36 (shown in tie-fastened configuration) having shank lengths appropriate for the respective fastening locations.

The kicker is located over a boot 37, which may have studs 38 (Figure 5), by folding the kicker over the upper and side parts of the boot, and is secured at the forefoot part of the boot by inserting the ends of the fastening tie through the respective apertures such that the shank of the tie extends under the boot sole, as indicated in Figures 4 and 5. The kicker is also shown to be securable around the ankle part of the boot by adjustable strap means 39 attached to the rear wing portions 40 and 41 of the kicker.

As shown in Figure 5, the kicker side portions extend downwardly to shroud the welt of the boot.

Claims (16)

CLAIMS:

1. Article of protective clothing having a fastening tie which comprises a shank having, integrally at one or each end thereof, two arms, one at each side of the longitudinal axis of the shank, which together with the shank confer an anchor shape, and wherein the clothing material has an aperture through which the said armed end of the fastening tie is insertable to be retained in a tie-fastened position by the arms bearing against the material surface when force is applied back along the shank direction.

2. Article according to Claim 1 wherein the two arms of the fastening tie are substantially coplanar.

3. Article according to Claim 1 or 2 wherein the two arms of the fastening tie are joined to form substantially a U shape at the shank end.

4. Article according to any of the preceding Claims wherein there is a said anchor shape at each end of the shank of the fastening tie and the clothing material has a pair of opposed said apertures one for location of each end of the tie.

5. Article according to any of the preceding Claims wherein at least the portion of the shank of the fastening tie adjacent to its junction with the two arms is sufficiently flexible for manual bending.

6. Article according to any of the preceding Claims wherein at least the portion of the shank of the fastening tie adjacent to its junction with the two arms possesses bending resilience.

7. Article according to any of the preceding Claims wherein the fastening tie is substantially in strip form.

8. Article according to any of the preceding Claims wherein the fastening tie is of plastics material.

9. Article according to any of the preceding Claims wherein the aperture in the material is a slit-form aperture.

10. Article according to any of the preceding Claims which is a hockey goalkeeper's foot protector comprising an impact-resistant construction shaped to cover at least the upper and side parts of a hockey boot and having, in a lower part of a side of the forefoot portion of the protector, a said aperture through which the said armed end of the fastening tie is insertable, whereby the protector is securable on the boot by means of the fastening tie being located with its shank extending underneath the boot and having the said armed end in tie-fastened position in said aperture and the other end secured to a lower part of the opposite side of the forefoot portion of the protector.

11. Article according to Claim 10 wherein the lower part of the opposite side of the forefoot portion of the protector has an aperture for securement of the fastening tie by insertion of the other end of the tie therethrough.

12. Article according to Claim 10 or 11 wherein the sides of the protector extend down to shroud the welt of the boot.

13. Article according to any of the preceding Claims comprising more than one said fastening tie and correspondingly more than one said tiefastening aperture, and wherein each fastening tie has a shank length appropriate for secure fitting of the article on the wearer.

14. Article of protective clothing substantially as described herein with reference to or as shown in any of the accompanying drawings.

15. Fastening tie for tie-fastening an article of protective clothing, substantially as described herein.

16. Fastening tie according to Claim 15 and substantially as described with reference to or as shown in any of the accompanying drawings.

AAS/ML - ISC RACK 10779