US20110162172A1

US20110162172A1 - Fastener for water-sport appliance

Info

Publication number: US20110162172A1
Application number: US12/683,828
Authority: US
Inventors: Owen Chi
Original assignee: Wever Co Ltd
Current assignee: Wever Co Ltd
Priority date: 2010-01-07
Filing date: 2010-01-07
Publication date: 2011-07-07

Abstract

A fastener for a water-sport appliance includes a body of a certain thickness being disposed protrudingly on a working surface (e.g., an aquaboard), wherein the body is formed with a receiving chamber in a central portion thereof and a magnetic component is disposed on a wall surface of an end of the receiving chamber; and a cover being pivoted at an end of the receiving chamber of the body, wherein a magnetic component is also disposed at an end of the cover to attract the body and, in use of the fastener, the other end of the cover can be depressed so that the end of the cover is lifted upward to form a prong-like space for the water-sport appliance to abut against. Thus, the water-sport appliance can be held more safely and securely.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a fastener for a water-sport appliance, and more particularly, to a fastener adapted for a waterskiing pull lever or a similar appliance to be hooked thereon.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, water sports have become increasingly popular under influence of mainly the European lifestyle. The water sports allow people to enjoy excitement of sports in the nature while roaming between the sunlight and the blue water, so people tend to be fascinated once they have tried such a water sport. However, for the water sports, the primary concern is safety, so water sport appliances must be particularly designed with safety as the primary consideration.
Referring to FIG. 6, there is shown a cross-sectional view of a conventional fastener fixed to a front surface of an aquaboard 51. The conventional fastener mainly comprises a structural body 80 that is formed into a shallow U-shape. The body 80 is formed with a receiving chamber 81 in a central portion thereof and with lugs 82 at both ends thereof. The body 80 is embedded into an aquaboard 51 by means of the receiving chamber 81 thereof and fastened to a surface of the aquaboard 51 by means of fixing elements on the two lugs 82. Above the receiving chamber 81 of the body 80 is pivoted a cover 83 by means of a pivot 84, with the pivot 84 being inserted through a central portion of the cover 83. Within the receiving chamber 81 below the cover 83 is disposed a torsion spring 90 so that when a front end (i.e., the right side in FIG. 6) of the cover 83 is depressed, the other end of the cover 83 can be lifted upwards to form a space for hooking a water-sport pull lever. The specific application of the fastener is just similar to what shown in FIG. 5 of the present invention and, therefore, will not be further depicted herein.
However, this kind of structure has some disadvantages in use. Because the body of the fastener is embedded into the aquaboard 51, although a position for the pull lever 60 to be exactly hooked thereto can be formed after the cover 83 is lifted open, there exists no space for a user's hand(s) to grip the pull lever; i.e., when the user holds the pull lever 60 by the hand(s), no sufficient space for fingers to reach in to grasp the pull lever 60 is available on surfaces of the pull lever 60 and the aquaboard 51. Consequently, it is often difficult to grasp the pull lever 60 during dynamic water sports, thereby putting the user in danger, which is known as the most prominent disadvantage of the conventional fastener.
Secondly, the torsion spring 90 within the receiving chamber 81 below the cover 83 is liable to water erosion and liable to disengagement due to impact, causing lack of a resilience force during operation of the cover 83, which is known as another disadvantage of the conventional fastener.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a fastener that allows a user to hold a water-sport appliance more conveniently and safely. The fastener primarily comprises: a body of a certain thickness disposed protrudingly on a working surface (e.g., an aquaboard), wherein the body is formed with a receiving chamber in a central portion thereof and a magnetic component is disposed on a wall surface of an end of the receiving chamber; and a cover pivoted at an end of the receiving chamber of the body, wherein another magnetic component is also disposed at an end of the cover to attract the body more easily and to make water erosion that would otherwise compromise the service life less likely to occur. In use of the fastener of the present invention, the other end of the cover can be depressed so that the end of the cover is lifted upward to form a prong-like space for the water-sport appliance to abut against. Because the body protrudes a certain distance from the working surface, it is easy for fingers to reach therein and firmly hold the water-sport appliance, making the fastener safer and securer to use.
To achieve the aforesaid objective, the present invention may be accomplished in the following way:
a body being formed with a receiving chamber in a central portion thereof and with a plurality of locking holes along a periphery thereof, wherein a magnetic component is disposed protrudingly on a wall surface of an end of the receiving chamber; a cover being pivoted to an end of the receiving chamber of the body by means of a pivot and formed with a pressing end and a snap-fit end, wherein at least one magnetic component is disposed at the snap-fit end; and a plurality of fixing elements being respectively inserted through the locking holes disposed along the periphery of the body to fix the body onto a working surface (e.g., an aquaboard).
Accordingly, the fastener of the present invention allows the user to hold a water-sport appliance more securely and safely and has a prolonged service life, thus resulting in more sophisticated safety.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention as well as a preferred mode of use and advantages thereof will be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is an outline view of a structure of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a view illustrating a status when a cover of the present invention is depressed;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the present invention when being assembled;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a status of the present invention in use;

FIG. 5 is a view illustrating an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional structure; and

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of the conventional structure in use.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

For clear understanding of the disclosure of the present invention, the present invention will be described hereinbelow with reference to the attached drawings.
Referring to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, a fastener for a water-sport appliance according to the present invention comprises a body 10 of a certain thickness, a cover 20 and a plurality of fixing elements 40. The body 10 is formed with a receiving chamber 11 in a central portion thereof and a plurality of locking holes 13 along a periphery thereof. On a wall surface of an end of the receiving chamber 11 is protrudingly disposed a magnetic component 12.
The cover 20 is pivoted to an upper end of the receiving chamber 11 of the body 10 by means of a pivot 30, and is formed with a pressing end 21 and a snap-fit end 22. Beneath the snap-fit end 22 is formed an arc-shaped portion, on which a plurality of anti-slip ribs 220 and at least one magnetic component 221 are formed. When the cover 20 is disposed flat, the at least one magnetic component 221 and the magnetic component 12 disposed within the receiving chamber 11 are attracted toward each other so that the cover 20 will not be opened easily. The two magnetic components 12, 221 may both be magnets with identical magnetic forces, or be a magnet and an iron piece respectively.
A plurality of fixing elements 40 is inserted respectively through the locking holes disposed along the periphery of the body 10 to fix the body 10 onto a front end of the aquaboard 50 (as shown in FIG. 5). Referring next to FIGS. 2, 4 and 5, when a force is applied to the pressing end 21 of the cover 20, the other end (i.e., the snap-fit end 22) of the cover 20 will be, with the pivot 30 as a fulcrum, lifted upwards to form a space for snap-fitting the pull lever 60 between the snap-fit end 22 and the receiving chamber 11 of the body 10. Conversely, by depressing the snap-fit end 22 of the cover 20, the two magnetic components 12, 221 will be attracted toward each other as shown in FIG. 3 to result in a flatly closed status of the cover 20 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3.
Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, the body 10 of the present invention is protrudingly disposed on a surface of the aquaboard 50, so when the pull lever 60 is snap-fitted into the position between the snap-fit end 22 of the cover 20 and the receiving chamber 11 of the body 10, a clearance h is left between the pull lever 60 and the surface of the aquaboard 50 so that a user's hand 70 is allowed to reach therein to securely grasp the pull lever 60. Consequently, a firm grasp can be accomplished no matter the pull lever is gripped ordinarily or reversely, making it safer to use. This, as a meticulous design and an advantage of the present invention, overcomes the drawback of the prior art (as shown in FIG. 7) that a user can only grip the pull lever by fingers from above but cannot apply a force.
Furthermore, closure between the body 10 and the cover 20 in the present invention is accomplished by the two magnetic components 12, 221 that are attracted towards each other, which can withstand a larger impact force than the conventional torsion spring and are less liable to damage due to water erosion. Therefore, as another advantage of the present invention, the fastener designed according to the present invention has a prolonged service life.
However, what described above is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention but is not intended to limit scope of the present invention. Accordingly, equivalent changes or modifications that can be readily made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention, for example, those in which additional accessories are incorporated or slight changes in materials are made, will all fall within scope of the claims of the present invention, and this shall be stated in advance herein.
The embodiment described above is intended only to demonstrate the technical concept and features of the present invention so as to enable a person skilled in the art to understand and implement the contents disclosed herein. It is understood that the disclosed embodiment is not to limit the scope of the present invention. Therefore, all equivalent changes or modifications based on the concept of the present invention should be encompassed by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A fastener for a water-sport appliance, the fastener at least comprising:

a body being formed with a receiving chamber in a central portion thereof and with a plurality of locking holes along a periphery thereof, wherein a magnetic component is disposed protrudingly on a wall surface of an end of the receiving chamber;

a cover being pivoted to an end of the receiving chamber of the body by means of a pivot and formed with a pressing end and a snap-fit end, wherein at least one magnetic component is disposed at the snap-fit end; and

a plurality of fixing elements being respectively inserted through the locking holes disposed along the periphery of the body to fix the body onto an aquaboard.

2. The fastener of claim 1, wherein the cover is formed with an arc-shaped portion beneath the snap-fit end and anti-slip ribs are formed on the arc-shaped portion.

3. The fastener of claim 1, wherein at least one of the magnetic components in the cover and the receiving chamber of the body is a magnet.

4. The fastener of claim 1, wherein the magnetic components in the cover and the receiving chamber of the body are a magnet and an iron piece, respectively.