US2684514A

US2684514A - Fastening element

Info

Publication number: US2684514A
Application number: US236572A
Authority: US
Inventors: Monica H Basel; Mackay Katherine Henkl
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1948-04-09
Filing date: 1951-07-13
Publication date: 1954-07-27
Anticipated expiration: 1971-07-27

Description

y 1954 M. H. BASEL EEAL- 2,684,514

FASTENING ELEMENT Original Filed April 9, I948 FIG.5

ATTORNE Patented July 27, 1954 FASTENING ELEMENT Monica H. Basel and Katherine Henkl MacKay, New York, N. Y.

Original application April 9, 1948, Serial No. 20,137. Divided and this application July 13, 1951, Serial No. 236,572

2 Claims.

This invention relates to closures and more particularly to a means for mounting interengaging fastening elements, such as slide fasteners on fabric for the purpose of forming a closure.

Fasteners of these types are now being used to a great extent on garments. The two fastening elements are mounted on tapes which must be sewed to the edges of the fabric when the device is to be used on a garment as a closure element. While the use of such fastening elements is simpler than the use of buttons and button holes, a certain amount of skill is required in sewing the tapes to the two sides or edges of a closure of a portion of a garment. If the tapes are not properly sewed to bring the interengaging fastening elements in proper alignment with each other when the slide is moved over them, the fastener either does not function properly or bulging of the garment takes place in such a way as to procluce an unsightly effect.

In carrying out the present invention, we further simplify the use of slide fasteners or other similar devices by mounting the interengaging elements on tapes, one longitudinal edge portion of which is provided with adhesive on both faces while the other longitudinal edge portion is provided with adhesive on only one face, with the adhesive being of the type which may be secured to the fabric by heat or pressure or other suit able means. This greatly simplifies the attachment of such fastening elements to garments. Employing adhesives which may be activated by presence of heat or pressure or heat and pressure, each tape may be placed with its longitudinal edge portion which has adhesive on both faces within a fold of the fabric at one side of an opening and the tape then reversely folded about the free edge of the folded fabric to bring the other longitudinal edge portion thereof in overlying relationship to the folded fabric with its adhesive face in contact therewith, and with the closure elements at the free edge of the reversely-folded portion of the tape. With the tapes in such position, they may be secured to the garment at the sides of the opening therein by an ironing operation, and when so secured, the longitudinal edge portions which lie within the folds of the fabric at the sides of the opening will be firmly secured, through their adhesive coatings, both to the main portion of the fabric and the folded-over portion; while the reversely-folded longitudinal edge portion will be firmly secured to the outer face of the folded-over portion of the fabric. sures proper positioning of the fastening element without any resultant wrinkling of the fabric and This as therefore produces a closure having a sightly appearance. It also reduces the labor involved, and thus effects a savings in cost.

In the accompanying drawing we have shown one embodiment of the invention. In this showmg:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a garment showing another form ofthis invention;

Fig. 2 is a transverse, sectional view on line 22 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the tapes.

Referring to the drawing, the reference numeral I represents two portions of a garment adjacent a seam where the slide fastener is to be placed. As shown in Fig. 2, the edges of these two portions are turned back as at 3. Normally the edges 3 are sewed to the body portions l and 2 but in carrying out our invention, these two edges are secured to the body portions by use of a strip of tape of a suitable material having a suitable adhesive applied to its surfaces. We employ an adhesive that may be activated by heat or pressure, or by heat and pressure, such as the product known as Bondex, manufactured by Johnson and Johnson, or other similar products now on the market.

The slide fastener, per se, is of conventional construction and forms no part of the invention, except in the combination claimed. As shown, it consists of interengaging elements 5 and 6 mounted on opposite sides of the opening and adapted to be opened and closed by a slide 1.

The slide fastener elements 5 and 6 are secured to the edges of tapes l2. At suitable intervals, the tapes [2 are connected by sections l3 to tapes [4. These parts are, of course, made by a suitable cutting operation from a single piece of ma terial and the distance between the transverse connecting members I 3 may be varied depending upon the length of the slide fastener and the opening to be closed by it. The portions 14 of the supporting tape are provided with the adhesive which may be activated by heat or pressure or both on both sides and the portions l2 are provided with such adhesive on the one side, which is toward the fabric when the slide fastener is assembled. As shown, the slide fastener is assembled by folding the transverse portions l3 to place the tapes [4 under the folded edges 3 and to arrange the tape sections l2 adjacent the meeting edges of the two sections of the garment to dispose the interengaging elements in the proper position to close the opening when the slide 1 is moved in the proper direction. The adhesive is then activated by heat or pressure or both to secure the tape sections M in the fold at the edge and to secure the tape sections I2 to the fabric.

Since the longitudinal edge portions 14 are firmly secured to both the main portion of the fabric and to the inner side of the folded-over portions 3, and the reversely-folded longitudinal edge portions 12 of the tape are firmly secured to the outer side of the folds 3, and since the free edges of the revcrsely-folded edge portions 12 carrying the closure elements are so positioned with respect to the edges of the fabric at the respective fold lines at opposite sides of the opening that such edges substantially meet when the closure elements are in closing relationship, any strain to which the fabric is subjected in a direction normal to the opening will not result in the edges of the fabric at the line of the opening being pulled apart to expose the closure elements or the adjacent portions of the tape, and the garment always will maintain a sightly appearance at the opening with the free edges of the fabric meeting along the line of the opening.

By having the longitudinal edge portions l2 and i3 disconnected for a substantial portion of their length, and connected only by the bridging strips 53, greater flexibility is imparted to the garment of the fabric at those portions opposite the line along which the tapes are folded. This also helps in having the garment present a more sightly appearance in the area adjacent the opening.

This application is a division of our copending application Fastening Element, Serial No. 20,137, filed April 9, 1948, now abandoned,

We claim:

1. In a garment, a closure for adjacent fabric edges forming an opening in the garment which comprises portions of the fabric of the garment at opposite edges of the opening which are reversely folded and overlie the main fabric at the same side adjacent opposite sides of the opening, a pair of tapes, one at each of opposite sides of the opening, one longitudinal edge portion of each tape being between the folded-over portion of the fabric at its side of the opening and the main garment fabric and adhesively secured at its opposite faces, respectively, to the folded-over portion and the main portion of the garment fabric, the tapes being reversely folded over the respective free edges of the folded-over portions of the fabric and the reversely-folded portions of the tapes being adhesively secured to the outer sides of the respective folded-over portions of the fabric, the faces of the reversely-folded portions of the tapes remote from the respective folded-over portion of the fabric being non-adhesive, and closure elements carried by the free edges of the respective reversely-folded portions of the tapes, the edges of the fabric at the respective fold lines at opposite sides of the opening overlying the closure elements and substantially meeting when said closure elements are in closing relationship.

2. In a garment closure, as defined in claim 1, the improvement in which the reversely-folded portions of the tapes are disconnected from the portions which are adhesively secured between the main and folded-over portions of the garment fabric for a substantial portion of the length of the tapes and are connected at other portions by bridging strips.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,731,111 Romer Oct. 8, 1929 2,368,911 Andler Feb. 6, 1945 2,461,072 Miller Feb. 8, 1949 2,470,251 Kolbert May 17, 1949