IES20010273A2

IES20010273A2 - Wraparound shackle with decorations

Info

Publication number: IES20010273A2
Application number: IE20010273A
Authority: IE
Inventors: Ulrich Oppenhejm
Original assignee: Ulrich Oppenhejm
Priority date: 2000-03-21
Filing date: 2001-03-21
Publication date: 2001-10-03
Also published as: FR2806594A3; FR2806594B3; NL1017626C2; DE20104703U1; PT9704T; ITMI20010153U1; ES1049165U; ITMI20010153V0; BE1013490A3; ES1049165Y

Abstract

A wraparound shackle consists of a rectangular metal rail which is rolled in the cross-sectional direction so as to have a curved cross-section, and which is encapsulated in a sheath composed of two layers of plastic material welded together along the edges beyond the rectangular outline of the metal rail and being provided with decorations. In the wraparound shackle according to the innovation the plastic sheath has an arbitrary contour projecting beyond the rectangular outline of the metal rail. The plastic sheath may consist of or incorporate a reflective material. Symbols and figures may be placed anywhere on the wraparound shackle, and may extend beyond the sides or the ends or, most often, beyond both sides of the rectangular outline of the metal rail. The figures or the letters may have any shape/contour, and they may have any size up to several times the width of the rectangular piece. The wraparound shackle according to the innovation is well suited as i.a. a road safety marking, advertisement, toy, trinket or souvenir.

Description

The present innovation relates to a wraparound shackle consisting of a rectangular metal rail which is rolled in the cross-sectional direction so as to have a curved cross-section, and which is encapsulated in a sheath composed of two layers of plastic material welded together along the edges beyond the rectangular outline of the metal rail and being provided with decorations.

BACKGROUND OF THE INNOVATION It is known to produce such shackles in rectangular shape with varying lengths and widths, and they possess the special property that when bending them in the longitudinal direction, e.g. by striking them against an arm or a leg, they curl up due to the spring tension generated at the rolling. The plastic sheath may be provided with decorations, e.g. with pasted on, imprinted and/or embossed motives, and such shackles may e.g. be used for bijouterie, such as fillets, wristlets or waist shackles. The plastic sheath may also be made of or incorporate reflective material, and such shackles are used for wrapping around arms and/or legs as a road safety marking.

The wraparound shackles may be made of plastic of various colours, and they may be imprinted with decorations in the form of text and/or figures in single or multicolour print.

The known wraparound shackles are, however, delimited to a rectangular body having an area of 30-40 mm width x • - λ/ · 1 INT CL 3-. iWT CL τ .. Γ/6 6-7 &ato S3 Ih/oGi 5 ftiiU C . .... i-Jx/CO/ 3-6 /00 IE010273 250-400 mm length (see Fig. 1). This delimited area causes imprinted texts and figures to be not really visible, and as a result the wraparound shackles have a tedious appearance and are unsuited for attracting attention.

OBJECT OF THE INNOVATION It is the object of the present innovation to develop the above wraparound shackle in a manner which makes it better suited both as reflective safety marking and as conspicuous advertisement, toy, trinket or souvenir.

SUMMARY OF THE INNOVATION This object is achieved by the wraparound shackle according to the innovation, which is characterized in that its plastic sheath has an arbitrary contour projecting beyond the rectangular outline of the metal rail.

The combination of the wraparound effect and the possibilities of varying the contour has never before been seen and makes the product unique.

Symbols and figures may be disposed anywhere on the wraparound shackle according to the innovation and may extend beyond the sides or the ends or, most often, beyond both sides of the rectangular outline of the metal rail into the projecting contour. The figures or the letters may have any shape/contour, see e.g. Figs. 2 and 3, and they may have any size up to several times the width of the rectangular piece.

IE010273 These new possibilities of designing a wraparound shackle, preferably of reflective material, make the messages in texts and figures much more visible, and make the wraparound shackle according to the innovation better suited as reflective road safety marking and in addition well suited as conspicuous advertisement, fun toy, smart trinket or souvenir.

The wraparound shackle according to the innovation may be created in innumerable designs: • Texts in larger format, e.g. POST, RED CROSS, POLICE (see Fig. 2: POLICE).

• Logos for various companies and organizations.

• Pictures of e.g. foodstuffs, such as apple, banana, chocolate, milk carton (see Fig. 3: milk carton) or industrial products, such as electric bulb, battery, football (see Fig. 2: electric bulb).

• Cartoon characters, e.g. Donald Duck, Fred Flintstone (see Fig. 3: rabbit).

• Souvenirs, e.g. the Eiffel tower, the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

The funny semi-automatic wraparound effect in combination with the elevated (projecting) figures or letters make the wraparound shackle according to the innovation interesting in many different connections as mentioned above. First and foremost, the road safety value in the form of the reflective surface may be combined with clear advertising messages, or with the identification of IE010273 persons, or with decoration, e.g. in the form of toy or modern trinkets.

A motorist driving up behind a pedestrian can now e.g. see the large letters or the shape of the electric bulb or the milk carton reflected back, whereas a minimal print on a small rectangular shackle of the known type (see Fig. 1) sends no message to the motorist, as text and picture get too blurred at the normal distance between pedestrian and motorist.

I.a. in order to get children to use reflective markings these markings must be sufficiently funny to make the children want to wear them. Cartoon characters, whose personality is reflected in the contour: a fat bear, a long-legged stork, a broad-billed duck, can now be made visible in that the figure is allowed to project beyond the rectangular piece and send back a funny effect.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INNOVATION How is a wraparound shackle according to the innovation designed? The basic element is a rectangular shape corresponding to the outline of a rail of rolled volute spring alloy steel. The rolling imparts the rail with the tension which releases the shackle and makes it curl up of itself when pressure is applied thereon or it is struck against an arm or a leg.

The rail is cut into the rectangular shape in suitable lengths, e.g. according to the normal diameter of arms and legs. Hereafter the rail is encapsulated between two IE010273 or more compatible layers of plastic, which are coupled together by high-frequency (HF) welding or heat welding, optionally in combination with an embedded film of hot melt glue if the plastic material itself is not weldable.

HF weldable plastic materials i.a. include polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and certain polyolefin mixtures. Heat weldable plastic materials i.a. include polypropylene and ethylene/vinyl acetate copolymer; PVC is also heat weldable. Gluing can primarily be effected with dry thermoplastic adhesives of the hot melt type in the form of a film which is interposed between the two layers of plastic and then activated under heat and pressure. Such hot melt films based on polyethylene, polypropylene, ethylene/vinyl acetate copolymer, copolyester, copolyamide or TPU are e.g. sold by the company Sarnatech Xiro AG, CH.

In order to create the various shapes/contours which project beyond the basic elements, it is required that the tool which bonds the layers is shaped accordingly.

A welding tool for HF welding can be produced by bending brass or steel fillets to the desired contour. The fillet has a flat edge, which abuts against the plastic layers as the HF energy is transmitted and welds the layers together. Generally, the fillet is also along its outer side provided with a cutting edge which trims the body along the contour beyond the weld. If the projecting parts of the contour take up much of the length of the shackle it may, however, also be necessary to control the positioning of the spring rail by disposing an extra weld along the edge of the rail; and in that case the brass or steel fillet used is not provided with cutting edge.

IE010273 In stead of producing a completely new tool for each single task we have developed the basic tool for the production of the known rectangular shackle so as to be composed of small, detachable sections, each of which separately may be unscrewed and replaced by a section having the desired contour (see Fig. 4). In that way the straight weld fillets are saved each time, and as a result the production of tools becomes more rational.

Normally, heat welding is effected by means of Teflon coated metal fillets, which are heated electrically to 120-150 °C. The fillets may preferably also be provided with cutting edge, and in principle the tool can be shaped in the same way as the above mentioned tool for HF welding.

As mentioned above, gluing is performed by interposing a hot melt film between the plastic layers. In practice, a hot melt film is applied to the bottom side (the side facing inwardly) of one of the plastic foils (if one carries reflexes, the other one is chosen) and is heated thereon at 80-185 °C depending on the nature of the plastic material and the glue. Then the plastic foils are wrapped around the steel rail, and the glue is reactivated where the joint is supposed to be by heating to 120185 °C under pressure, e.g. by means of one of the above mentioned tools for HF welding or heat welding.

In order to avoid that contours projecting far beyond the rectangular basic shape bend out of the plane of the rail or curl up, an intermediate layer of approximately the same thickness as the rail may be interposed in the projecting part. This layer must be bendable and at the same IE010273 time possess such rigidity that the figure does not co.llapse when the shackle is wrapped around. It may e.g. be a hard foil, a foam layer or any other bendable although still rigid material, which is preferably weldable with the sheath material. Prior to the HF welding, strips of the intermediate layer are then interposed between the two layers of sheath material along the basic shape, and thus are welded together with the sheath edge and cut off at the moment of welding, whereby the figure stands out clearly.

Imprinting and. embossing the vraparound shackle according to the innovation Text and figures are printed on the top side or laterally reversed on the bottom side of the plastic layer which gets to face outwardly when the shackle curls up. If the plastic layer is a reflective foil it may be advantageous to print in particular figures in transparent colour to the effect that the figure is reflected back as a whole.

A pattern or a figure may also be embossed into the plastic layer prior to the welding together, or simultaneously with the welding the part of the plastic layer which projects beyond the rail may be embossed by disposing an embossing cliche in the corresponding section of the tool mould. The embossing may contribute to imparting added personality to e.g. a cartoon character.

Claims

1. Claims ;

1. A wraparound shackle consisting of a rectangular metal rail which is rolled in the cross-sectional direction so as to have a curved cross-section, and which is encapsulated in a sheath composed of two or more layers of plastic material welded together along the edges beyond the rectangular outline of the metal rail and being provided with decorations, characteri z e d in that the plastic sheath has an arbitrary contour projecting beyond the rectangular outline of the metal rail.

2. A wraparound shackle according to claim ^characterized in that at least the layer of the sheath which faces outwardly when the shackle curls up consists of or incorporates a reflective material.

3. A wraparound shackle according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the layer of the sheath which faces outwardly when the shackle curls up is imprinted with text and/or figure extending beyond the sides or the ends of the rectangular outline of the meral rail into the projecting contour.

4. A wraparound shackle according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the layer of the sheath which faces outwardly when the shackle curls up is embossed with a pattern or a figure*

5. A tool for use for HF welding, heat welding or gluing the plastic sheath at rhe production of a wraparound shackle according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that it is composed of small, IE010273 detachable sections, each of which separately can be unscrewed and replaced by a section having the desired contour.