US2064423A - Suspender slide - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 15, 1936. 'L, E GILES 2,064,423

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Patented Dec. 15, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT QFFICE SUSPENDER SLIDE Application December 11, 1935, Serial No. 53,849

4 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in fasteners or slide buckles such as are commonly used on garments of the overall type and other similar articles of apparel.

In general, such a buckle may comprise three parallel bars disposed one above another to form slots through which the shoulder strap, for example, of an overall garment may be threaded over and under the parts in such manner as frictionally to engage the buckle to the strap and a lowermost bar, or end member, having a loop portion formed therein which is adapted to engage a button on the bib portion of the overall. A buckle of this general type is not new, but has been used for many years. In such prior buckles the lowermost bar has been disposed below the immediately adjacent crossbar by a distance corresponding roughly to the face diameter of the button which was to be engaged therewith. Such construction permitted a most ready engagement of a buckle with a button; and as long as a proper tension was maintained upon the strap portion the button was held in the lower part of the loop and a firm attachment was maintained. However, when the tension on the strap decreased, as for example, when the wearer of the overall bent over, then the button rode up in the loop and immediately became disengaged therefrom.

The present invention is applied to a buckle having an enlarged entranceway to its buttonengaging loop and of which the end member and its loop are so close to the immediately adjacent crossbar that a button may be inserted in or withdrawn from the button-engaging loop of the buckle only by tilting the button to such a position that it may pass edgewise between the end member and the adjacent crossbar.

It is an object of the invention to so dispose the button-attaching loop with respect to the immediately adjacent crossbar that it will tend to cause the button, when the latter. rides upward in the attaching loop, to be thrust forward of the adjacent crossbar whereby to prevent the button from tipping backwards and becoming accidentally disengaged.

The feature of enlarging the entrance to the button-attaching loop in order to narrow the width of the slot between the loop-supporting bar and the immediately overlying bar is not, per se, a part of the invention to be claimed herein, but is disclosed and claimed in an application of Paul E. Fenton, Serial No. 53,852, filed December 11, 1935.

Other objects .and various features of the invention will be more apparent from the following description which is to be read in connection with the accompanying drawing in which Figure 1 is a front face view of one form of buckle incorporating the principles of the in- 5 vention;

Fig. 2 is a bottom view of the same;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a front face view of a modified form of buckle'embodying the invention;

Fig. 5 is a topview of the buckle of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a side View of the same;

Fig. 7 is a front face view of a second modified form of buckle embodying the invention;

Fig. 8 is a sectional view taken on the line 88 of Fig. 7;

Fig. 9 is a front face view of a third modified form of buckle embodying the invention;

Fig. 10 is a sectional view of the buckle of Fig. 9 taken on the line Ill-J0 thereof;

Fig. 11 illustrates a buckle and a part of its supporting strap assembled with a button attached to a part of a garment to be supported, the button being represented as having been 25 thrust upward in the button-attaching loop of the buckle;

Fig. 12 is a sectional view of the parts illustrated by Fig. 11, the button being represented as having been tilted back so as to detach it from the button loop of the buckle.

Fig. 13 is a fragmentary view of a buckle showing a modified form of throat opening.

Considering the drawing, and referring first to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the buckle of the present invention may comprise a pair of spaced side members 85 which are interconnected by a plurality of integrally formed cross connecting bars l6, l1, land I 9, disposed one above another. The first three bars, namely l6, ll and I8, are substantially straight and parallel so as to form a plurality of slots, whereas the lowermost bar, or end member, l9 carries a button-attaching means which as here shown comprises an attaching loop 20 having its throat portion 2| directed upwardly. Preferably the buckle frame is struck from a single piece of sheet metal, and the edge portions thereof are turned over so that each of the foregoing members is of generally U-shaped cross section and so that its front face presents a generally smooth appearance.

Such a buckle may be engaged with a strap portion 22 (Figs. lland 12) of an overall garment, for example, by passing an end 23 thereof in front of the crossbar I 6, behind the crossbar ll,-in front of the crossbar l8, then reversely behind the crossbars l8 and I1, and finally again in front of the bar 16, in such fashion that the strap portion is looped over the crossbar l8 with both parts thereof directed upwardly and with both parts frictionally engaged with the crossbars at one or more points. Such attachment, of course, permits the buckle to be slipped along the strap to any desired point whereby the effective length of the strap may be adjusted to meet the individual requirements of any particular user. When the attaching loop- 20 is engaged with a button 25, the latter being carried, for example, on the bib portion 26 of the overall garment, the two will be securely engaged, and so long as a tension is maintained upon the strap, the shank portion 21 will tend to lie in the lowermost part of the loop with its rear face supported by the front face of the loop and its shank supported by the lower edge thereof. However, if the tension is lessened, as for example, when the wearer of the garment bends over, then the button will tend to move upward in the loop, and it is at this time that accidental detachment is most likely to occur.

In order to prevent such accidental detachment the lowermost bar I9 is preferably disposed so close to the immediately adjacent overlying crossbar I8 that the distance therebetween, as may best be seen in Fig. 11, is somewhat less than the face diameter of the button 25, and in fact, corresponds more closely to the diameter of the shank portion 21'. In other words, the effective free area between the lowermost bar and the adjacent cross bar is somewhat less than the face area of the button 25. Now, assuming that the tension on the strap is lessened, and the button has moved upwardly in the attaching loop, then, as can be seen in Fig. 11, the upper part of the button will tend to move to a position forward of the crossbar l8, and its lower part will still be held by the attaching loop. Therefore, so long as the button remains generally parallel to the face of the attaching loop, it cannot escape from the latter.

However, in order to insure the upper edge of the button passing in front of the crossbar I8 when the former rides upwardly in the button-attaching loop, the loop portion 20 is so disposed, with respect to the adjacent crossbar l8, that it is either displaced forwardly thereof, or it (the loop 20) is tilted in such fashion that a continuation upwardly of the plane of the front face of the loop will pass in front thereof.

This latter feature may be accomplished in several ways. As is shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the loop portion is displaced forwardly of the immediately adjacent crossbar l8; and this is accomplished by offsetting the loop 20 as at 28 from the remaining parts of the lowermost bar IS. The buckle of Figs. 4, 5 and 6 is identical with the buckle of Figs. 1, 2 and 3 except in so far as the manner of displacing the loop portion is concerned. In these latter figures the entire lowermost bar l9a is offset as at 28a. Similarly, the buckle of Figs. '7 and 8 is substantially identical with the buckles heretofore considered, but

in this case the displacement of the loop portion 20b is achieved by setting back the bar l8b as at 28b.

As can be seen in Figs. 3, '6 and 8 heretofore considered, the loop portion of each of these figures is bounded by two substantially parallel olanes, and these planes are set forward of, and

are substantially parallel to the planes which bound the adjacent crossbar. However, it is not essential that the planes of the loop and the planes of the overlying part of the adjacent crossbar be parallel. Thus, in Figs. 9 and 10, the same result is achieved by tipping, or inclining, the loop portion 200 so that the planes bounding the loop intersect the planes bounding the overlying portion of the adjacent crossbar substantially along the lower bar 190; and the lower edge of the loop is displaced backwardly from the bar I80. In other words, as can be seen most particularly in Fig. 10, all parts of the front face of the loop Zilc lie in a single plane which if extended upwardly would pass in front of the bar l8c. Consequently, if a button disposed within the loop rode upwardly therein its upper edge would tend to pass in front of the bar I80 and the strap which passes therearound. Hence, with any one of the foregoing constructions it may be said that the button-attaching loop portion is so disposed with respect to the immediately adjacent cross bar that the former tends to cause a button when moved upwardly in the loop to pass in front of the adjacent crossbar and clear of the forward surface of the looped portion of the strap. For the purposes of description the relative disposition of the planes defining the button attaching loop and the overlying cross bar may be referred to as a forward displacement of the former with respect to the latter, and in view of the foregoing it may be that the displacement may be angular or otherwise. In other words, the planes defining the button attaching loop, when extended upwardly, will be disposed forwardly of the planes defining the cross bar; and this will be true whether the planes are parallelly disposed as shown in Figs. 3, 6 and 8, or whether they are angularly disposed as shown in Figs. 9 and 10.

While the foregoing construction adequately serves the purpose of preventing accidental detachment, yet the close disposition of the lower bar l9 and the adjacent crossbar 18 may very seriously interfere with the operation of attaching it to a button. Now, to assure that such an operation may be most easily and readily performed when such is the intention of the user, the entranceway to the throat 2| is preferably widened so that a button may be passed edgewise therethrough. This may be done as is shown in Figs. 1, 4, '7 and 9 by flaring the entranceway upwardly and outwardly as indicated at 29, 29a, 29b, and 290; or if desired the entranceway may be notched at 30, as is shown in Fig. 13. Either of these expedients, as can be seen, widens the entranceway so that it corresponds substantially to the diameter of the face portion of the button 25. When it is desired to engage a button with the buckle, then the former will be tilted, with its upper edge tipped backwardly, to such an angle that it may pass edgewise through the widened throat, as is shown in the full line position of Fig. 12, and then be turned parallel to the face of the loop, as is shown in the dotted line position of Fig. 12.

With such construction it has been found that the close positioning of the lowermost bar and the adjacent crossbar, and the relative displacement therebetween substantially prevents any possibility of the button becoming accidentally disengaged; and that the widened throat portion permits intentional engagement, or disengagement, of

the button with substantially the same ease as was heretofore possible with buckles of the prior art.

Since certain changes may be made in the foregoing construction which are within the skill of the ordinary mechanic, it is intended that the foregoing shall be construed in a descriptive rather than in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:--

1. A buckle comprising spaced side bars and a plurality of parallel cross connecting bars including a lowermost bar having a button-attaching loop therein with its throat directed upwardly and enlarged at the entrance, and a closely overlying cross bar about which a supporting strap may be looped with the parts thereof directed upwardly, the spacing of the button-attaching loop-carrying bar and the overlying cross bar being such that a button adapted for engagement with the attaching loop can be inserted, or withdrawn, only by passing it through the space between the bar and the enlarged throat of the loop when in a tilted position with the upper part of the button tipped back, the opposite face portions of the button loop throughout being bounded by substantially parallel planes which are displaced forwardly of the planes bounding the opposite face portions of the overlying cross bar so as to tend to cause a button when moved upwardly in the attaching loop to have its upper part thrust to a position clear of the forward surface of the part of a strap which may be looped about the overlying bar and thus prevent accidental detachment.

2. A buckle, as defined by claim 1, of which the planes which bound the surfaces of the button-attaching loop are parallel with and disposed forwardly with respect to the planes which bound the opposite face portions of the parts of the buckle overlying the loop.

3. A buckle, as defined by claim 1, of which the planes which bound the surfaces of the button-attaching loop are slightly inclined with respect to the planes which bound the opposite face portions of the cross bar overlying the loop, the respective inclined planes being so disposed as to intersect along the upper part of the button loop and its supporting bar and the inclination of the planes of the loop being downwardly and rearwardly from the lines of intersection.

4. A buckle, as defined by claim 1, having the opposite face portions of all of its parts other than the bar immediately overlying the button loop bounded by the same pair of substantially parallel planes and having the respective face portions of the bar overlying the loop set back as compared with the respective planes of said pair.

LOUIS E. GILES.

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