US2054880A - Slide fastener - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 22, 1936. R. c. LEGAT 2,054,880

SLIDE FASTENER Filed Oct. 31, 1934 zyja f/werzkr 1 J Roeri 5, 4 1

Patented Sept. 22, 1936 UNITED STATES SLIDE FASTENER Robert C. Legat, New Britain, Conn., assignor to G. E. Prentice Manufacturing Company, New Britain, Com, a corporation of Connecticut Application October 31, 1934, Serial No. 750,826 6 Claims. (Cl. 24-205) This invention relates to slide fasteners, and pertains more particularly to a bottom stop and related parts. Fasteners of the slide actuated type, provided with bottom stops so designed as H to permit the opposed series of fastener elements greatest separating stress to which the fastener is ordinarily subjected occurs in the neighborhood of the bottom stop, and accordingly it has been customary, in order to insure adequate anchorage of the stop members to the flexible stringers,

to provide the respective stop members with integral wings extending laterally and furnishing a large superficial area for the reception of rivets or the like, whereby the stop members are united to the stringers. However, these laterally extending rigid metallic wings are objected to by some clothing manufacturers, since they impart an unpleasant stiffness and rigidity to the gar- 3o ment adjacent to the lower end of the fastener, and since they are unsightly and detract from the appearance of a finely finished garment.

, In accordance with the present invention I provide an end stop structure of very simple type which does not seriously detract from the appearance of the garment; which is not substantially wider than the interlocked opposed series of fastener elements; which does not unduly increase the stiffness or rigidity of the garment; and which has its parts reliably anchored to the stringers so that there is no danger that they will pull'oif or that the stringers will be torn in the region of the stop device when the parts are subected to the stresses incident to use. With the above purpose in view I strengthen the lower end of each stringer by means of a flexible reinforce member, for example, a strip of textile fabric such as tape, said strip extending laterally from the outer edge of each stringer along the front face of the latter to its inner beaded edge, thence around the beaded edge and preferably along the rear face of the stringer to the outer edge of the latter. This tape may be secured to the stringer in any desired way, for example, by adhesive, stitches, or the like, and may 1 be of any suitable material, color, surface finish,

width, thickness, etc. provided, however, that it does not unduly increase the stiffness or rigidity of the garment or unduly detract from its appearance. Since the reinforce strip extends 5' around the beaded edge of the stringer it increases the effective diameter of the latter, thereby facilitating the ilrm anchorage of the stop member to the stringer. Moreover as the tape effectively increases the thickness of the stringer 10 at the point where the body' of the latter merges with the head, it greatly strengthens the stringer against tearing where, by contact with the edges of the metallic stop device, the stringer is quite commonly crushed, cut or otherwise injured. l

The stop device, proper, which I prefer to employ, consists of a pair of complemental sheet metal members each having an elongate sleeve portion which embraces the beaded edge of one of the tapes, respectively, as well as the reinforce 20 strip which surrounds such beaded edge,--one of said stop members preferably having an.eye and the other a hook adapted to enter such eye as the latter stop member is moved downwardly through the channel of a slider located at the lower end 25 of the series of fastener units.

In the accompanying drawing wherein one desirable embodiment of the invention has been illustrated by way of example,

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary front elevation of a 30 tion of a fastener device, prior to completion, and

showing the application of reinforce means to 35 the lower end of each stringer;

Fig. 3 is a section substantially on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a section substantially on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1; 0

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view, similar to Fig. 2, illustrating other modes of securing the reinforce element to the stringer;

Fig. 6 is a plan view of a preferred form of stop member removed from the stringer;

Fig. 7 is a side elevation of the complemental stop member removed from the stringer;

Fig. 8 is a side elevation to large scale of a preferred form of fastener unit;

Fig. 9 is an elevation showing the free end of 50 the preferred form of fastener unit; and

Fig. 10 is a bottom plan view of the fastener unit of Figs. 8 and 9.

Referring to the drawing, the numerals I and 2 designate flexible stringers having beaded 55 edges 3 and 6, respectively, to which the opposed series 5 and 6 of fastener units or elements are attached. These units may be of any desired type, for example, such as described in.the patent to Prentice et al. No. 1,658,392, dated February 7, 1928. The beaded edges of the stringers may be formed in any desired manner, for example by weaving in a thick warp thread at the edge of the material so as to form an integral thick selvage, or they may be formed, for example, as illustrated in the patent to Legat, No. 1,934,865, dated November 14, 1933, 'or in any other appropriate manner.

The improved fastener comprises an actuating slider l of any suitable type such, for example, as disclosed in the patent to Legat No. 1,967,270, dated April 7, 1934. The upward or fastener closingmovement of the slider is limited by appropriate top end stops 5 and 2 in accordance with the present invention, the bottom stop, (that is to say, the stop toward which the slider moves in the normal operation of separating the opposed series of fastener units to open the fastener) is of separable comprising the part 8 secured the stringer i eri= iacent to the lower end of es ,stener units and the complemental attached to the stringer 2 adjacent to the is of the series 5 of fastener elements up The part 33 is furnished with a loop or eye portlon ill extending substantially horizontally in a plane just below the lower edge of the e 2, while the part i) has a downward extension l having an inclined or curved edge at it? adapted to facilitate the passage of this stop member through the slider channel. The stop member 8 also preferably has a depression 53 in its outer edge thereby in effect forming a hook adapted to cooperate with the eye ill. Each stop member 8 and 9 is preferably made from sheet metal and each comprises an elongate split sleeve portion which embraces the beaded edge of the corresponding stringer and whose longitudinal edges are pressed toward each other so as to anchor the stop member to its stringer member.

In accordance with this invention the lower portion of each stringer, in the region of the bottom stop, is provided with a flexible reinforce strip l5, 15, respectively. Thesestrips may be of any strip material, for example textile tape of suitable width, for example three-eighths of an inch. Each reinforce strip extends from the outer edge of its stringer, along the front surface of the latter, thence around the beaded or inner edge of the stringer, and thence preferably across the rear face of the stringer. The reinforcing strip is conveniently secured to its stringer by means of an appropriate flexible adhesive film or layer l1, l8, respectively,suchlayer, for example, being of vulcanized rubber latex or the like. However, the reinforce strip may be secured to the stringer by means of stitches I! (Fig. 5), staples 28 (Fig. 5); or any other appropriate means such as not substantially to interfere with the flexibility of the stringer at this point. The reinforce strip is applied as shown in Figs. 2 and 3 before the bottom stop members are attached, and when the latter are applied, their sleeve portions embrace and are compressed to grip those parts of the reinforce strips which encircle the beaded edge of the stringers, Since these reinforce strips increase the effective. diameters of the beaded edges, the stop members are able to obtain a much better grip than if united directly to the bead of the stringer, and since the reinforced strip is interposed between the stringer proper and the edge of the split sleeve portion of the stop member, the edges of the latter do not contact directly with the stringer -material. Thus the latter is not crushed, cut or otherwise injured in the application of the stop member. Accordingly the stringer retains its original strength and is further reinforced to a substantial extent by the reinforcing strip, even though the latter itself may tosome degree be weakened by contact with the stop member.

While fastener units such as illustrated in the Prentice Patent No. 1,658,392 are very desirable, I prefer to employ fastener units such as illustrated in Figs. 8, 9 and 10, which, are slightly varied in shape from those disclosed in the aforesaid Prentice patent. For example, as shown in Fig. 8 the fastener unit 6 (having spaced attaching jaws ll, 22 and the recess 23 for the head of the stringer) is furnished with an upwardiy projecting pin id similar to that of the rentice patent and with a corresponding socket in the opposite or lower face of the unit. The outer edge of the unit is preferably curved, as

shown at at the part which comes into contact with the units of the opposite series during operation of the fastener, although this curved surface may, if desired, be replaced by equivalent intersecting bevel surfaces. As illustrated in Fig. 9, the preferred form of unit difiers most markedly from that of the Prentice patent aforesaid, in that the lower part 2? of the surface ,25 is slightly concave downwardly. While this concavity is very slight, it is found that by shaping the unit in this fashion the entrance of units of one series between those of the other is greatly facilitated, so that the operation of closing the fastener is made much easier.

While I have herein disclosed one desirable embodiment of the invention by way of example, I wish it to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the precise arrangement disclosed, but that any equivalent arrangement, falling within the scopeof the appended claims, is to be considered as a part of this invention.

In the above discussion, the terms bottom and top, .horizontal" and inner and outer have been employed for convenience in description, but I do not thereby intend to limit myself to the use of a fastener positioned as illustrated in Fig. 1 since the above expressions are used merely in a relative sense.

I claim: v

1. In combination in a slide actuated fastener including flexible stringers having beaded edges to which respective series of opposed fastener elements are secured, an actuating slider, and a bottom stop comprising separable members, a strip of fiexibletextile material, independent of the stringer, fixed to and extending along one face at least of each stringer and around the bead of the latter at the region of said bottom stop, said strip being of a width approximating the length of the bottom stop, each bottom stop member having a portion which snugly embraces the beaded edge of the stringer and the strip of material which surrounds such beaded edge.

2.' In combination, in a slide actuated fastener including flexible stringers having beaded edges .to which respective series of opposed fastener elements are secured, an actuating slider, and a bottom stop comprising separable members, re-

inforcing strips of flexible tape independent of the stringers which, at the region of the bottom stop, extend transversely across the front face of each stringer respectively, then around the beaded edge of the respective stringer and across the rear face of the latter, each respective strip being of a width not exceeding the length of the bottom stop, and adhesive means uniting each strip to its stringer, each bottom stop member having a sleeve portion which snugly embraces the beaded edge of the stringer and the strip which surrounds said beaded edge.

3. In combination, in a slide actuated fastener including flexible stringers having beaded edges to which respective series of opposed fastener elements are secured, an actuating slider, a bottom stop normally uniting the stringers adjacent to the lower end of the fastener, and a flexible reinforce tape embracing the beaded edge of each stringer adjacent to the lower end of the respective series of fastener elements, each such reinforce tape being of a width approximating the length of the bottom stop, said bottom stop comprising separable complemental members secured to the respective stringers at the reinforced portions respectively of the latter.

4. In combination, in a slide actuated fastener including flexible stringers having beaded edges to which respective series of opposed fastener elements are secured,-an actuating slider, a flexible tape extending transversely of each stringer adjacent to the, lower end of the corresponding series of fastener elements, said tape extending around the beaded edge of the corresponding stringer and along the opposite faces of the latter,

' and a bottom stop comprising independent members each having a split sleeve portion which snugly embraces the beaded edge of the corresponding stringer as well as the reinforce strip where the latter surrounds said edge, the tape being of a width substantially equalling the length of the stop member, one stop member having an eye portion and the other stop member having a hook adapted to enter said eye portion.

5. In combination, in a slide actuated fastener including flexible stringers having beaded edges to which respective series of opposed fastener elements are secured, an actuating slider, a bottom stop comprising separable complemental parts secured to the respective stringers, said parts. when united, approximating the width of the interlocked series of fastener elements, and flexible reinforce tapes, independent of the respective stringers, each tape extending transversely oh its respective stringer in the region of the bottom stop, the edge of the stringer being embraced in a fold of the tape, and a layer of flexible adhesive uniting each tape to its respective stringer.

6. In combination with a separable fastener of the kind having a pairof tape stringers provided with cooperating series of fastener elements and a slider for engaging and disengaging said fastener elements, a separable end connection comprising transversely flexible reinforcing means which consists of an anchorage portion and a portion overlying the tape end on at least one of said stringers, and cooperating separable connecting members attached respectively to said stringers, one of which is rigid and permanently clamped over said anchorage portion.

ROBERT C. LEGAT.

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