US20210337938A1

US20210337938A1 - Anti-theft fastener

Info

Publication number: US20210337938A1
Application number: US16/927,570
Authority: US
Inventors: Shih-Kun LIANG
Original assignee: Zoom Zipper Corp
Current assignee: Zoom Zipper Corp
Priority date: 2020-04-29
Filing date: 2020-07-13
Publication date: 2021-11-04
Also published as: CN212224921U

Abstract

Some embodiments discloses an anti-theft fastener, comprising: a base, a locking block, a first connecting part and a second connecting part; wherein the base comprises a supporting block and a first fastening part; the supporting block comprises a grip portion and an assembly portion; the locking block comprises an underplate and a second fastening part; the second fastening part is arranged at the underplate; when the base and the locking block connect with each other, the locking block is partially or entirely contacted with the assembly portion, the first fastening part and the second fastening part are connected actively and detachable, the base and the locking block of the anti-theft fastener can be separately connected to two objects or two parts of the same object by the first connecting part and the second connecting part.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of Chinese Patent Application No. 202020699593.6, filed on Apr. 29, 2020 in the National Intellectual Property Administration of China, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The disclosed embodiments relates to the field of connecting structure, and in particular to an anti-theft fastener.

BACKGROUND

In the real life, the backpacks or messenger bags are easily stolen from time to time. Most of these bags are secured by zippers for the user to open or close the bag and the zipper slider is provided with pull tab in order for the users to open or close the zipper easily. But by pulling the pull tab and opening the bag slightly, thieves can access and steal things in the bag, as the pull tab of the zipper is often exposed outside the bag. In order to avoid theft, the users use connecting devices such as fasteners or strings to connect the pull tab and buckle after closing the zipper, so the thieves can not open the zipper easily. But it is troublesome for the users to unfasten the fastener first when opening the bag, and then refasten the fastener whenever accessing the bag, and the refastening step can be easily forgotten, leading to risk of theft.

SUMMARY

In view of the deficiencies of the prior art, the embodiments of the present invention provides an anti-theft fastener, the base and the locking block of the anti-theft fastener can be separately connected to two objects or two parts of the same object by a first connecting part and a second connecting part. The first fastening part and the second fastening part are flexibly connectable, so two objects or two parts of the same object can be easily fastened to each other by the owner, but not easily undone by a thief unfamiliar with the connecting mechanism. It is convenient and fast to connect or disconnect the first fastening part and the second fastening part.
The technical solution adopted by some embodiments is as follows:
An anti-theft fastener, comprising: a base, a locking block, a first connecting part and a second connecting part; the first connecting part is connected to the base; the second connecting part is connected to the locking block; wherein,
the base comprises a supporting block and a first fastening part; the supporting block comprises a grip portion and an assembly portion; the first fastening part is arranged at the assembly portion; the locking block comprises an underplate and a second fastening part; the second fastening part is arranged at the underplate; the base and the locking block may connect or disconnect with each other; when the base and the locking block connect with each other, the locking block is partially or entirely contacted with the assembly portion, the first fastening part and the second fastening part are flexibly connectable and detachable.
Preferably, the first connecting part and the second connecting part are both flexible connecting parts.
Preferably, the assembly portion is a first insertion chamber; the first fastening part is an inner lateral wall of the first insertion chamber; the assembly portion is provided with a tunnel; the second fastening part extends outwards from the side of the underplate; the second connecting part is arranged at the bottom surface of the underplate; when the base and the locking block connect with each other, the locking block passes through the tunnel from the bottom surface of the supporting block and then entirely fits into the first insertion chamber, the first fastening part is contacted with the second fastening part.
Preferably, the tunnel is a linear tunnel; the locking block vertically passes through the tunnel, and then horizontally fits into the first insertion chamber, the bottom surface of the underplate is contacted with the upper surface of the first insertion chamber.
Preferably, the first fastening part is a groove or a protruding insert; the second fastening part is a protruding insert or a groove; when the base and the locking block connect with each other, the first fastening part and the second fastening part engage with each other.
Preferably, the first fastening part is a groove; the second fastening part is a protruding insert; the assembly portion is a second insertion chamber or an inserting slot; when the base and the locking block connect with each other, the locking block entirely fits into the second insertion chamber or the inserting slot, the bottom surface of the underplate is contacted with the second insertion chamber or the inserting slot; the first fastening part and the second fastening part engage with each other.
Preferably, the bottom surface of the underplate is provided with a locating pin or a tooling hole; the upper surface of the assembly portion is provided with a tooling hole or a locating pin; when the base and the locking block connect with each other, the locating pin fits into the tooling hole.
Preferably, a connection way for the first fastening part and the second fastening part is adhesion.
Preferably, the first fastening part is a magnet or an iron sheet; the second fastening part is an iron sheet or a magnet; when the base and the locking block connect with each other, the first fastening part and the second fastening part contact and attract by magnetic force.
Preferably, the underplate is provided with a locating slot or a locating block; the assembly portion is provided with a locating block or a locating slot; when the base and the locking block connect with each other, the locating block fits into the locating slot.
Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects of some embodiments are:
1. The base and the locking block of the anti-theft fastener can be separately connected to two objects or two parts of the same object by the first connecting part and the second connecting part, two parts of the same object may be zipper slider of backpack or messenger bag and buckle arranged at the surface of bag, or two sides of bag's opening etc. The first fastening part and the second fastening part are flexibly connectable, the locking block is in contact with the assembly portion in order to increase overlapping area. The base and the locking block are tightly connected, so opening of the object can be tightly secured and increasing the difficulty for the thieves to open the bag.
2. The locking block and the assembly portion of the anti-theft fastener can only be separated via intentional manipulation, after which the base is disconnected to the locking block, and two connecting parts of the object are unfastened. The anti-theft performance is strengthened, and at the same time, the zipper unfastening due to vibration when the user is moving is prevented.
3. The base and the locking block of the anti-theft fastener can be flexibly connected to any parts of any objects by the first connecting part and the second connecting part, also can be removed any time, be used easily and flexibly.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an assembly schematic view in embodiment 1;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the structure of the base in embodiment 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the structure of the locking block in embodiment 1;

FIG. 4 is an assemble process schematic view of the locking block and the base in embodiment 1;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of the structure of the base in embodiment 2;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of the structure of the locking block in embodiment 2;

FIG. 7 is an assembly schematic front view in embodiment 2;

FIG. 8 is an assembly schematic back view in embodiment 2;

FIG. 9 is a schematic view of the structure of the locking block in embodiment 3;

FIG. 10 is a schematic view of the structure of the base in embodiment 3;

FIG. 11 is an assembly schematic view in embodiment 3.

In the figure: 1—base, 11—supporting block, 111—grip portion, 112—assembly portion, 1121—tunnel, 1122—tooling hole, 1123—locating block, 12—first fastening part, 2—locking block, 21—underplate, 211—locating pin, 212—locating slot, 22—second fastening part, 3—first connecting part, 4—second connecting part.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Some embodiments will be further described below in conjunction with the drawings. It is to be noted that, terms of indicating orientation or positional relationship such as ‘inner’, ‘side’, ‘upper surface’, ‘bottom surface’ etc. are all based on the drawings, or common use situation of some embodiments. It is intended to simply describe some embodiments, but not to indicate or imply any specific orientation of the devices or parts, nor to imply any specific orientation during operation, and is not intended to limit the scope of some embodiments in any way. Terms such as ‘first’, ‘second’ etc. are only used for distinguishing and not intended to indicate or imply priority.

Embodiment 1

As shown in FIG. 1, an anti-theft fastener of this embodiment, comprising: a base 1, a locking block 2, a first connecting part 3 and a second connecting part 4; the first connecting part 3 is connected to the base 1; the second connecting part 4 is connected to the locking block 2;
As shown in FIG. 2, the base 1 comprises a supporting block 11 and a first fastening part 12; the supporting block 11 comprises a grip portion 111 and an assembly portion 112; the first fastening part 12 is arranged at the assembly portion 112; as shown in FIG. 3, the locking block 2 comprises an underplate 21 and a second fastening part 22; the second fastening part 22 is arranged at the underplate 21; the base 1 and the locking block 2 may connect or disconnect with each other; when the base 1 and the locking block 2 connect with each other, the locking block 2 is partially or entirely contacted with the assembly portion 112, the first fastening part 12 and the second fastening part 22 are flexibly connectable and detachable.
Specifically, the first connecting part 3 and the second connecting part 4 are both flexible connecting parts, such as string, chain etc.; more specifically, the flexible connecting parts can be elastic, such as elastic band. The first connecting part 3 and the second connecting part 4 are both flexible connecting parts and it's convenient for the locking block 2 and the base 1 to connect in any way. As a result of the soft surface of the bag, after fastening the anti-theft fastener, the pulling force of pull tab and buckle is buffered and the anti-theft fastener is used more flexibly.
Specifically, the assembly portion 112 is a first insertion chamber; the first fastening part 12 is an inner lateral wall of the first insertion chamber; the assembly portion 112 is provided with a linear tunnel 1121; the second fastening part 22 extends outwards from the side of the underplate 21; the second connecting part 4 is arranged at the bottom surface of the underplate 21; when the base 1 and the locking block 2 connect with each other, as shown in FIG. 4, the locking block 2 passes through the tunnel 1121 from the bottom surface of the supporting block 11 and then as shown in FIG. 1 entirely fits into the first insertion chamber, the underplate 21 is contacted with the upper surface of the first insertion chamber; the first fastening part 12 is contacted with the second fastening part 22.
In a possible implementation of this anti-theft fastener on a bag: the base 1 and the locking block 2 are separately connected to a pull tab of zipper and a buckle on the bag by the first connecting part 3 and the second connecting part 4. The first connecting part 3, being an elastic band, is affixed to the pull tab by being passed through the pull tab, then stretched and looped over base 1. The second connecting part 4 is affixed to the buckle in similar fashion. When fastening the anti-theft fastener, the locking block 2 is vertically passed through the linear tunnel 1121 from the bottom surface of the first insertion chamber, the shape of the linear tunnel 1121 matches with the side profile of the locking block 2 so that the locking block 2 can entirely passed through. Moreover, the width of the linear tunnel 1121 could be increased or a circle extension tunnel could be added to the tunnel 1121 to ensure connecting intersection between the second connecting part 4 and bottom surface of the underplate 21 can pass through. After the locking block 2 has passed through, the other end of the second connecting part 4 can not pass through the tunnel 1121 due to being attached to the pull tab or buckle. The first connecting part 3 and the second connecting part 4 can be pulled in the opposite direction, and then the locking block 2 can entirely horizontally fit into the first insertion chamber. The second fastening part 22 is the outer edge of the underplate 21, also can be the closed circular band which is around the outer edge of the underplate 21, also can be at least one extension block which is distributed the side of the underplate 21; as long as it can be tightly in contact with to the first insertion chamber, then the bottom surface of the underplate 21 is also tightly in contact with the upper surface of the first insertion chamber, then with the supporting block 11 is connected to the underplate 21, the pull tab is thus secured to the buckle of the bag and difficult to pull the pull tab. When unfastening the base 1 and the locking block 2, the locking block 2 is extracted from the first insertion chamber via intentional manipulation, the locking block 2 is vertically passed through the tunnel 1121, then the unfastening is finished. Due to the fine motor skills required during extraction, specifically the need to hold the grip portion 111 by one hand in order to fix the base 1, then extract and pass through the locking block 2 by another hand, the difficulty of theft is increased for a potential thief to perform in a public setting.

Embodiment 2

The distinguishing feature of this embodiment is as follows:
As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the first fastening part 12 is a groove; the second fastening part 22 is a protruding insert; the assembly portion 112 is an inserting slot; the bottom surface of the underplate 21 is provided with a locating pin 211; the upper surface of the assembly portion 112 is provided with a tooling hole 1122; as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, when the base 1 and the locking block 2 connect with each other, the locking block 2 entirely fits into the inserting slot, the bottom surface of the underplate 21 is contacted with the inserting slot; the first fastening part 12 and the second fastening part 22 engage with each other; the locating pin 211 fits into the tooling hole 1122. Other structures and features are similar to Embodiment 1.
To assemble the base 1 and the locking block 2, the locking block 2 is positively pressed in the inserting slot via intentional manipulation. Under the intentional manipulation, the protruding insert is engaged into the groove, at the same time, the locating pin 211 fits into the tooling hole 1122, then the tightly connection between the base 1 and the locking block 2 is finished. When unfastening the anti-theft fastener, if the assembly portion 112 is the inserting slot, there are at least two sides of the locking block 2 will not overlap with the inserting slot. The grip portion 111 is held by one hand, and the locking block 2 is separated by pushing the side of the locking block 2. As the assembly portion 112 is the first insertion chamber, thus, the locking block 2 can be separated to the base 1 by the way of shearing, and the protruding insert is separated from the groove, and the locating pin 211 is separated from the tooling hole 1122.

Embodiment 3

The distinguishing feature of this embodiment is as follows:
As shown in FIG. 9, the underplate 21 is provided with a locating slot 212; as shown in FIG. 10, the assembly portion 112 is provided with a locating block 1123; the first fastening part 12 is a magnet; the second fastening part 22 is an iron sheet; as shown in FIG. 11, when the base 1 and the locking block 2 connect with each other, the first fastening part 12 and the second fastening part 22 contact and attract by magnetic force, the locating block 1123 fits into the locating slot 212. Other structures and features are the similar as Embodiment 1.
To assemble the base 1 and the locking block 2, matching the locating block 1123 and the locating slot 212 in order to limit the connecting direction and relative position of the base 1 and the locking block 2, then the first fastening part 12 tightly attracts by magnetic force with the second fastening part 22. As a result of attraction of the magnet and the iron sheet, to separate the first fastening part 12 from the second fastening part 22, the grip portion 111 is held by one hand and the locking block 2 is pulled by another hand with intentional manipulation. Also the second fastening part 22 can be an iron sheet, or the locking block 2 can be made of iron to the same effect.
Various changes and modifications may be made by those skilled in the art in light of the above-described technical solutions and concepts, and all such changes and modifications are intended to fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. An anti-theft fastener, comprising: a base, a locking block, a first connecting part and a second connecting part; the first connecting part is connected to the base; the second connecting part is connected to the locking block; wherein,

the base comprises a supporting block and a first fastening part; the supporting block comprises a grip portion and an assembly portion; the first fastening part is arranged at the assembly portion; the locking block comprises an underplate and a second fastening part; the second fastening part is arranged at the underplate; the base and the locking block may connect or disconnect with each other; when the base and the locking block connect with each other, the locking block is partially or entirely contacted with the assembly portion, the first fastening part and the second fastening part are flexibly connectable and detachable.

2. The anti-theft fastener according to claim 1, wherein, the first connecting part and the second connecting part are both flexible connecting parts.

3. The anti-theft fastener according to claim 1, wherein, the assembly portion is a first insertion chamber; the first fastening part is an inner lateral wall of the first insertion chamber; the assembly portion is provided with a tunnel; the second fastening part extends outwards from the side of the underplate; the second connecting part is arranged at the bottom surface of the underplate; when the base and the locking block connect with each other, the locking block passes through the tunnel from the bottom surface of the supporting block and then entirely fits into the first insertion chamber, the first fastening part is contacted with the second fastening part.

4. The anti-theft fastener according to claim 3, wherein, the tunnel is a linear tunnel; the locking block vertically passes through the tunnel, and then horizontally fits into the first insertion chamber, the bottom surface of the underplate is contacted with the upper surface of the first insertion chamber.

5. The anti-theft fastener according to claim 1, wherein, the first fastening part is a groove or a protruding insert; the second fastening part is a protruding insert or a groove; when the base and the locking block connect with each other, the first fastening part and the second fastening part engage with each other.

6. The anti-theft fastener according to claim 5, wherein, the first fastening part is a groove; the second fastening part is a protruding insert; the assembly portion is a second insertion chamber or an inserting slot; when the base and the locking block connect with each other, the locking block entirely fits into the second insertion chamber or the inserting slot, the bottom surface of the underplate is contacted with the second insertion chamber or the inserting slot; the first fastening part and the second fastening part engage with each other.

7. The anti-theft fastener according to claim 5, wherein, the bottom surface of the underplate is provided with a locating pin or a tooling hole; the upper surface of the assembly portion is provided with a tooling hole or a locating pin; when the base and the locking block connect with each other, the locating pin fits into the tooling hole.

8. The anti-theft fastener according to claim 1, wherein, a connection way for the first fastening part and the second fastening part is adhesion.

9. The anti-theft fastener according to claim 1, wherein, the first fastening part is a magnet or an iron sheet; the second fastening part is an iron sheet or a magnet; when the base and the locking block connect with each other, the first fastening part and the second fastening part contact and attract by magnetic force.

10. The anti-theft fastener according to claim 9, wherein, the underplate is provided with a locating slot or a locating block; the assembly portion is provided with a locating block or a locating slot; when the base and the locking block connect with each other, the locating block fits into the locating slot.