US1436204A - Link cuff button and link unit therefor - Google Patents

Description

V. SLATERAND G. B. GUTHRIE. LINK CUFF BUTTON AND LINK UNIT THEREFOR.

APPLICATION FILED APR- I 3, 1922- Patented Nov. 211, 1922 Patented Nov. 21, 1922.

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VERN SLATER, OF CHICAGO, AND GEORGE B. GUTHRIE, OF LOCKPORT, ILLINOIS; SAID GUTHRIE ASSIGNOR TO SAID SLATER.

LINK CUFF BUTTON AND LINK UNIT THEREFOR.

Application filed April 13. 1922. Serial No. 552,098.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, VERN SLATER and GEORGE B. GUTHRIE, both citizens of the United States, and residents, respectively, of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, and of Lockport, in the county of Will and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Link C'uff Buttons and Link Units Therefor, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in link cuff buttons and more particularly embodies a uniquely constructed and finished link unit therefor, formed of a novelly associated combination of elements, which said link unit may as a bodily whole or as a unitary device be facilely attached to and detached from button heads of the same or varying designs if so desired.

With the ordinary rigidly fixed and nonextensible cross-bars for such types of cuff buttons, not only is it sometimes extremely annoying and quite difiicult to attach the buttons, especially to highly starched cuffs, without soiling the cuffs with unsightly spots or without wrinkling them with a buckling-like bending at their corners, but also it is frequently impossible for the wearer to remove from his body the shirt, to which the cuffs are attached, without first detaching at least one of the button heads from the cuff, as the cuff will not slip over the hand if it is dimensioned for fairly snug fitting,

Analogously, it is impossible for the wearer to pull up his shirt sleeves beyond a very limited distance, if the button heads are in their attached positions at both edges of the cuff, but the wearer frequently desires to so pull up his sleeves, to position his cuffs well up beyond the hands and wrists and to comfortably maintain them so held u under varying conditions such as when wor ing, playing various sporting games, washing-up or otherwise, both to prevent the cuffs from becoming unduly soiled as well as to hold them out of the way for the sake of freedom of motion and general comfort under such conditions.

As-commonly practised therefore, the general custom has been to simply unfasten or detach one head of the link button from its complementary cuff corner and to fold or turn the cuff back and over several times along the sleeve. This is manifestly undesirable, as it not only causes the formation of a bulky and uncomfortable roll, either immediately above or below the elbow, but also it not infrequently results in the dislodgment and loss of the cuff button which is held dangling from one button head only.

In avoidance of this general custom, it has even heretofore been proposed, however, and patents have doubtless been granted along such lines, to provide link cuff buttons with extensible cross-bars in the nature of tubular shanks attached at one end to a button head and telescoping at their other ends, which short shanks may be associated under resiliently retractile tension, as by means of an ordinary elongated helicoidal spring or analogous elastic element extending along therein, but the pair of short tubular shanks conjointly provide the shank or cross-bar proper of the button, and being of a sliding or telescoping character they must be straight and not of the curved formation desired for link buttons. Furthermore, it is manifest that in order to telescope and contain a retractile spring inside, these tubular shanks would have to be of comparatively large diameter, they would have no freedom of movement other than in a longitudinal direction, and they are wholly impractical from a commercial viewpoint, as the link connection must be of comparatively small dimension in cross-section, whereas the structures just described are too bulky and cumbersome.

The primary aim of our invention has been to devise a link cuff button, or more particularly a link or shank unit therefor, wherein the extensible and retractile means are both combined as one and the same element which is also the shank itself, comprising a one'piece and the only open-ended tubular member of the unit, consisting of a laterally unimpeded. coil spring that houses a flexible extension limiting means, the ends of which latter preferably provide for interlocking means between the spring ends and capping elements therefor.

Other aims of our improvements are to provide such a shank unit as an assembled whole, which is light in weight and of compa-ratively minimum cross-sectional dimension, simple and compact in structural assembly, comparatively inexpensive to manu facture and market, substantially effective and durable in use, and which may if desired be facilely attached to and detached from button heads of varying designs.

The foregoing as well 'as other "objects and advantages, however, willfloe more clearly apparent as incidental to the following disclosure, and with these pre fa'ci'n'g remarks, therefore, reference willn'ow be im'n'iediately had to the accompanying drawing illustrating certainpractical"embodimehts of the improvements, in which drawings all of the views are illustratedonan exceedingly large scale, of which- Figure l is a plan viewof the link or shank unit in contracted position; Figure '2 is an analogous view thereof as distended; Figure 3 is a longitudinal sectional view thereof as distended and'attached'to suitable cuff button heads; 'Figurea'is'acrossasectional view on the line of Fig. '3, but only showing two of the spring coils for clearness of "illustration; and Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view on the line of Fig. 3.

The numeral 10 designates a pair of end finishing caps which may mount attaching loops 11in any suitable way,but these at taching loops 11 are preferablythe'terminal links of a light chain 12, although they might be other equivalent "elements, the heads of the caps 10 being slightly apertured to permit of the projection of the elements I 11 therethrough. Obviously, however, if some form of flexible ine'rtte'nsible spring restraining means he'employed, other than the exact chain 12, then'tlieseattaching elements 11 couldb'e loops'o'reyelets'secured to the 'ends'of such ineritensiblenieans.

Although, as to some features at'least of the present improvements, ourinvention is not intended to be limited tothe use of the exact form of (:oiledspring illustratedas the resiliently retractile shank of the button before referred to, howevenowing tothe spring being necessarily a light one, we at present find it more 'expedientto employ a particular type ofspring that uniquely coiled, with a self b'racing or reenforcing ef feet as it were against undue torsi-onal strains, and which will not, therefore, "have a tendency'to "unwind, as wain "a light spring of exact circular convolutions, or become buckled or otherwise distorted, which would thus not only cause the spreading and weakening of the spring shank but would also displace the button heads out of line with a twisted and unsightly appearance.

e accordingly prefer to use a spring 13 the coils of which, instead of being circular, provide a plurality of angularly bent arms forming apices or corner angles therebetween that are disposed in stepped spiral relation relatively to each other and the arms they oppose. The end coils of this spring are indicat'edat'lt and at their extremities provide the inwardly bent or radial terminal arms or ends 15, for functioning as hereinafter described. I

In the drawings, the coilso'f the spring are illustrated as of pent-agonal'form, although they obviously may hein the form of squares, triangles or of other polygonal shapes, and, although at Fig. 4' only two such coils are shown, to avoid undue crowding'o'f the view, itwill be clearlyunderstood that the apic'es, generally indicated by the numeral 18, are disposed in stepped spiral relation relatively to the analogous apices, as for instance 16 and 17, and the arms therebetweenwhich they oppose thus providinga. bracing, trussing or 'reinforcing'series of angular corners disposed spirally around the body of the spring, which likewise "form a corresponding spiral depression 19 of unaplj'reciable depth. I p In assembling these parts as a link or shank unit forlink cuff buttons, the spring 13 is caused to contain or encompass the chain 12 with the radial terminal arms 15 of thespring passing through the end links 11 of the chain. The end finishing caps 10 are thenfitted overthe spring ends with the terminal links 11 projected through the head apertures in the caps, and the projectingportions of'theend links may then be slightly spread to prevent their return through said apertures. Thus it willbeob servedthat the complementary chain ends, the spring ends and their finishing caps are securely anchored together, and the shankas aunit'maybe attached to and detached from any suitably formed link button heads.

At Figures 3 and 5, we have shown the link or'shank' unit in association with a pair of button heads to provide a coin'plet'elink cuff but-ton, wl' erei-n 20 designates the'button heads and 21 indicatesa fastening member secured to the inside face of each button head. which. fastening members may have central depressions for receiving the end links 11, and one end of which may be left unfa'sten'ed for slipping an :end link the'reover. This, however, isv merely illust r'a tive and forms no particular featureof the invention in itself. r v

From-e11 of the foregoing, it is believed that the great utility and full advantagesottsaid spring, and capping members for hous this novel little article of manufacture will be clearly apparent, but while .we have thus fully set forth the improvements it will be understood that we do not wish to unnecessarily restrict ourselves to all of the details exactly as disclosed, excepting as they may come Within the terms of the ensuing claims, or an equivalent combination of elements, or after a fair interpretation thereof in the light of the specification if necessary, as it is obvious that some minor alterations might be made Without departing from the gist of the invention.

What We do claim, as new and patentable, 1s:-

1. A shank unit for link cufl buttons embodying an elongated coil spring, an inextensible flexible spring restrainingelement extending longitudinally therein and of greater length than said spring, and capping means for housing the ends of said spring, the said elements pro'iding means for conjointly anchoring the complementary ends of said flexible element and said spring and their capping members.

2. A shank unit for link cufl? buttons embodying an elongated coil spring, an inextensible flexible spring restraining element extending longitudinally therein and oil greater length than said spring, and capping means for housing the ends of said spring, the said elements providing means for con jointly anchoring the complementary ends of said flexible element and said spring and their capping members, with the extremities of said flexible element projecting through and outwardly beyond said capping members.

3. A shank unit for link cufl' buttons embodying an elongated coil spring and an inextensible flexible spring restraining ele ment extending longitudinally therein and of greater length than said spring, the said flexible element providing end loops and the said spring providing radial terminals projeoting through said end loops, for anchoring the complementary ends oi said flexible element and said spring.

4. A shank unit for link cufl' buttons embodying an elongated coil spring, a spi'. 7 extension limiting chain extending longitudinally therein and of greater length than said spring, and capping means for housing the ends of said spring, the said elements providin means for conjointly anchoring the comp ementary ends of said chain and said spring and their capping members, with the extremities of said chain protruding through and outwardly beyond said capping members.

5. A shank unit for link cult buttons embodying an elongated coil spring, a spring extension limiting chain extending longitudinally therein and of greater length than ing the ends of: said spring, the said spring providing radial terminals projecting through the and links of said chain, for conjointly anchoring the complementary ends of said chain and said spring and their capping members, with the extremities of said chain protruding through and outwardly beyond said capping members.

6. A shank unit for link cull" buttons embodying an elongated coil spring, an inex tensible flexible spring restraining element extending longitudinally therein and of greater length than said spring, and means for conjointly anchoring the complementary ends of said flexible element and spring, the said spring being formed of coils having a plurality of angnlarly bent arms providing apices which are disposed in stepped rela tion spirally of the spring body.

7. A shank unit for link cufl' buttons embodying an elongated coil spring, an inextensible flexible spring restraining element extending longitudinally therein and of greater length than said spring, and capping members for housing the ends of said spring, the said elements providing means for conjointly anchoring the complementary ends of said flexible element and said spring and their capping members, and the said spring being formed of coils having a plurality of angularly bent arms providing apices which are disposed in stepped relation spirally or" the spring body.

8. A shank unitior link cufl buttons embodying an elongated coil spring, a spring extension limiting chain extending longitudinally therein and of greater length than said spring, and capping means for housing the ends of said spring, the said elements providing means For coniointly anchoring the complementary ends of said chain and said spring and their capping members, with the extremities of said chain protruding through and outwardly beyond said capping members, and the said spring being formed of coils having a plurality of angularly bent arms providing apices which are disposed in stepped relation spirally of the spring body.

9. A shank unit for link cufl? buttons embody. an elon, ted coil sprincr a spring extension limitino chain extending lon i tudinally therein of greater length than said spring, and capping members for housing the ends of said spring, the said spring providing radial terminals projecting through the end links ot said chain, with the extremities of said chain protruding through and outwardly beyond said capping members, and the said spring being formed of r coils having a plurality of angularly bent arms providing apices which are disposed in stepped relation spirally of the spring bod 10. in link cuff buttons, the combination of a shank unit therefor embodying an eloning through said end links inside of said gated coil spring, a spring extension limitcapping members, and button heads attached 10 ing chain extending longitudinally therein to said end links outside of said capping and of greater length than said spring, and members.

capping members for housing the ends of In testimony whereof, We afiix our signasaid spring, with the end links of said chain tures.

protruding outwardly thereof, the said VERN SLATER.

spring providing radial terminals project- GEORGE B. GUTHR-IE.

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