US20100205791A1

US20100205791A1 - Lace Tip

Info

Publication number: US20100205791A1
Application number: US12/419,616
Authority: US
Inventors: Sen-Mei Cheng
Original assignee: Taiwan Paiho Ltd
Current assignee: Taiwan Paiho Ltd
Priority date: 2008-04-08
Filing date: 2009-04-07
Publication date: 2010-08-19
Also published as: TW200942192A; TWI355246B

Abstract

A lace tip for connecting on an end of a lace, and the lace tip includes a lace holding portion and an elastic portion. The lace holding portion is made of hard plastic and includes a sidewall, a closed end and an open end, wherein the sidewall defines an inner channel between the closed end and the open end, and the inner channel communicates with the open end through which the end of the lace is held in the inner channel. The elastic portion is made of soft rubber and is connected to the lace holding portion by an engaging effect to cover at least a segment of the lace holding portion.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The application claims priority to Taiwan Application Serial Number 97112691, filed Apr. 8, 2008, which is herein incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to lace tips or aglets. More particularly, the present invention relates to a lace tip with a smooth and soft surface to prevent the tips from scraping hands.
2. Description of Related Art
Typically, laces, such as shoelaces are tipped with plastic tips or aglets. To make the plastic tips a hard plastic thin film is rolled up. The hard plastic thin film is rolled to package and secure an end of the lace with the two sides of the film being overlapped and glued together in the form of a lace tip.
Although the conventional lace tips rolled by the hard plastic thin film can package the ends of the laces, the edges or the corners of the rolled hard plastic thin film, especially the overlapped sides or the front of the hard plastic thin film, may be raised or warped to become sharp edges or tips that will easily hurt or scrape the hands, or damage clothing when tying the laces. In addition, a portion of the end of the lace is exposed outside the lace tip. The strands of the rope of the lace may be worn or loosened after long-term use. Once the strands are worn or loosened, they may not only influence the appearance of the lace, but also reduce the useful life of the lace.
To address the aforementioned problems, another type of shoelace tip that are also made of plastic has been provided. This shoelace tip has a tubular body that is made integrally by plastic injection. The tubular body has an open end and a closed end. The end of the shoelace is inserted and stuffed into the tubular body through its open end to combine the shoelace tips with the ends of the shoelace.
Although the problems of shoelace tips made by the hard plastic thin film such as hurting or scraping the hands, damaging clothing or strand loosen are addressed, the tubular body of this type of lace tips is easily fragmented by the stress during pressing manufacturing process that secures the lace tips on the ends of the rope of the shoelace because the lace tips are integrally made by plastic injection. Thus, the materials of manufacturing the lace tips are wasted. In addition, if the lace tips are fragmented during a period of using because of the stress of the external force, the lace tips may lose their functions to protect the shoelace or have an aesthetic appearance. When holes or recesses are used for orientation or to present a trademark are defined in the tubular body, the tubular body is more easily fragmented.
Therefore, there is a need to provide an improved lace tip to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.

SUMMARY

An aspect of the present invention is to provide a soft and elastic lace tip to hold and package an end of a lace by elasticity to address the problems of the conventional lace tip with sharp edges that may hurt or scrape hands or damage clothing.
A lace tip for connecting on an end of a lace, and the lace tip includes a lace holding portion and an elastic portion. The lace holding portion is made of hard plastic and includes a sidewall, a closed end and an open end, wherein the sidewall defines an inner channel between the closed end and the open end, and the inner channel communicates with the open end through which the end of the lace is held in the inner channel. The elastic portion is made of soft rubber and is connected to the lace holding portion by an engaging effect to cover at least a segment of the lace holding portion.
Therefore, the lace tip provides features that do not easily hurt hands, not easily scrape clothing, or are not easily fragmented and increase the useful time of the lace. The lace tip provides the soft elastic portion to cover or connect to the hard lace holding portion. In addition, a strong engaging effect between the soft elastic portion and the hard lace holding portion are also provided to prevent the two portions from departing from each other. The soft elastic portion prevents hurting the hands or damaging the objects, and resistance of the stress of external force to improve useful time. Thus, when the lace is applied to objects such as shoes, clothes, pants, backpacks etc., tying the lace becomes more convenient and smoother, especially to the lace is tied or pulled.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with regard to the following description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings where:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a shoelace tipped with a lace tip of a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a section view of the shoelace in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a shoelace tipped with a lace tip of a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a section view of the shoelace in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a shoelace tipped with a lace tip of a second embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 6 is a section view of the shoelace in FIG. 5.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the present preferred embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts.
Refer to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. A first embodiment of a lace tip 200 of the invention may be secured on an end 110 of a lace 100. The lace tip 200 comprises a lace holding portion 210 and an elastic portion 220.
The lace holding portion 210 is made of hard plastic and comprises an axis, a sidewall 212, a closed end 213 and an open end 214. The sidewall 212 defines an inner channel 211 between the closed end 213 and the open end 214 wherein the inner channel 211 communicates with the open end 214. The end 110 of the lace 100 is inserted and stuffed into the inner channel 211 of the lace holding portion 210, and is held securely in position in the inner channel 211. The hard plastic of the lace holding portion 210 may use one of the materials including thermoplastic rubber (TPR), polyurethane (PU), thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymers (ABS).
The elastic portion 220 is an elastomer and may be made of soft rubber. The elastic portion 220 surrounds the lace holding portion 210 and comprises an opening 221 and a receiving room 222. The opening 221 is necked. The receiving room 222 is extended from the opening 221 and receives the lace holding portion 210 inside through the opening 221. Thus, the elastic portion 220 hides the lace holding portion 210 wherein the necked opening 221 restricts the lace holding portion 210 to move outside the receiving room 222 so that the lace holding portion 211 is held in the receiving room 222 with the end 110 of the lace 100 without any separation. The elastic portion 220 may be made of one of the materials including thermoplastic rubber (TPR), thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), polyurethane (PU) and thermoplastic polyester elastomer (TPEE).
Refer to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4. A second embodiment of a lace tip 300 of the invention may be secured on an end 110 of a lace 100. The lace tip 300 comprises a lace holding portion 310 and an elastic portion 320.
The lace holding portion 310 is made of hard plastic and comprises an axis, a sidewall 312, a closed end 313, an open end 314 and a longitudinal protrusion 315. The sidewall 312 defines an inner channel 311 between the closed end 313 and the open end 314 wherein the inner channel 311 communicates with the open end 314. The longitudinal protrusion 315 is extended longitudinally from the closed end 313 and comprises a longitudinal bar 3151 and a transverse bar 3152. The longitudinal bar 3151 is formed between the closed end 313 and the transverse bar 3152. The end 110 of the lace 100 is inserted and stuffed into the inner channel 311 of the lace holding portion 310, and is held securely in position in the inner channel 311. The hard plastic of the lace holding portion 310 may use one of the materials including thermoplastic rubber (TPR), polyurethane (PU), thermoplastic polyurethane to (TPU), and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymers (ABS).
The elastic portion 320 is an elastomer and may be made of rubber. The elastic portion 320 is connected to the closed end 313 and surrounds the longitudinal protrusion 315. The elastic portion 320 has an outer surface 321 that is true with an outer surface 316 of the lace holding portion 310. Thus, the longitudinal protrusion 315 provides a strong engaging effect between the two portions 310 and 320 to prevent the elastic portion 320 separating from the lace holding portion 310. The elastic portion 320 may be made of one of the materials including thermoplastic rubber (TPR), thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), polyurethane (PU) and thermoplastic polyester elastomer (TPEE).
Refer to FIG. 5 and FIG. 6. A third embodiment of a lace tip 400 of the invention may be secured on an end 110 of a lace 100. The lace tip 400 comprises a lace holding portion 410 and an elastic portion 420.
The lace holding portion 410 is made of hard plastic and comprises an axis, a sidewall 412, a closed end 413, an open end 414 and a plurality of periphery protrusions 415. The sidewall 412 defines an inner channel 411 between the closed end 413 and the open end 414 wherein the inner channel 411 communicates with the open end 414. The periphery protrusions 415 are formed on the sidewall 412 and have a sidewall surface 4151 and an outside surface 4152. The end 110 of the lace 100 is inserted and stuffed into the inner channel 411 of the lace holding portion 410, and is held securely in position in the inner channel 411. The hard plastic of the lace holding portion 410 may use one of the materials including thermoplastic rubber (TPR), polyurethane (PU), thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymers (ABS). In the embodiment, the periphery protrusion 415 has a heart shape to provide decorative effects. The periphery protrusions 415 may be implemented with trademark or product name for advertisement or product promotion purposes.
The elastic portion 420 is an elastomer and may be made of rubber. The elastic portion 420 is attached to and surrounds the lace holding portion 410, and allows the periphery protrusions 415 to be exposed. The elastic portion 420 has an outer surface 421 that is true with the outside surface 4152 of the lace holding portion 410. Further, the elastic portion 420 engages the sidewall surface 4151 of the lace holding portion 410. Thus, the periphery protrusion 415 can also provide a strong engaging effect between the two portions 410 and 420 to prevent the elastic portion 420 separating from the lace holding portion 410. The elastic portion 420 may be made of one of the materials including thermoplastic rubber (TPR), thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), polyurethane (PU) and thermoplastic polyester elastomer (TPEE).
Therefore, the lace tip provides the soft elastic portion 220, 320, 420 to cover or connect to the hard lace holding portion 210, 310, 410. In addition, strong engaging effects between the soft elastic portion 220, 320, 420 and the hard lace holding portion 210, 310, 410 are also provided to prevent the two portions from departing from each other. The soft elastic portion 220, 320, 420 provides prevents hurting hands or damaging the objects, and resistance of the stress of external force to improve useful time. Thus, when the lace 100 is applied to objects such as shoes, clothes, pants, backpacks etc., tying the lace 100 becomes more convenient and smoother when the lace 100 is tied or pulled.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A lace tip for connecting on an end of a lace, and the lace tip comprising:

a lace holding portion made of hard plastic and comprising a sidewall, a closed end and an open end, wherein the sidewall defines an inner channel between the closed end and the open end, and the inner channel communicates with the open end through which the end of the lace is held in the inner channel; and

an elastic portion made of soft rubber and connected to the lace holding portion by an engaging effect to cover at least a segment of the lace holding portion.

2. The lace tip as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plastic portion comprises a necked opening and a receiving room, the receiving room is extended from the necked opening and receives the lace holding portion inside through the opening, and the necked opening provides the engaging effect between the lace holding portion and the elastic portion.

3. The lace tip as claimed in claim 1, wherein the lace holding portion comprises an outer surface and a longitudinal protrusion extended from the closed end, and the elastic portion is connected to the closed end, surrounds the longitudinal protrusion to provide the engaging effect and comprises an outer surface that is true with the outer surface of the lace holding portion.

4. The lace tip as claimed in claim 1, wherein the lace holding portion comprises at least one periphery protrusion formed on the sidewall, and each of the at least one periphery protrusion has a sidewall surface and an outside surface, and the elastic portion is attached to and surrounds the lace holding portion, covers the sidewall surface to provide the engaging effect, and comprises an outer surface that is true with the outside surface.

5. The lace tip as claimed in claim 1, wherein the lace holding portion is made of one of thermoplastic rubber (TPR), polyurethane (PU), thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymers (ABS).

6. The lace tip as claimed in claim 1, wherein the elastic portion is made of one of thermoplastic rubber (TPR), thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), polyurethane (PU) and thermoplastic polyester elastomer (TPEE).