US2724162A - Snap fastener socket - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 22, 1955 P. E. FENTON 2,724,162

SNAP FASTENER SOCKET Filed Aug. 17. 1953 INVENTOR Paul E. Fenton TTORNEY SNAP FASTENER SOCKET Paul E. Feuton, Middlebury, Conn., assignor to Scovill Manufacturing Company, Waterbury, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Application August 17, 1953, Serial No. 374,489

Claims. (Cl. 24-216) This invention is an improved snap fastener socket member for use in that type of snap fastener combination which is commonly referred to as a laundry-proof snap fastener.

Although laundry-proof snap fasteners have come into wide use since the invention of the socket member shown in Fenton Patent No. 2,106,728 they have always been found wanting in certain respects especially when their use has been extended to garments where the fasteners might be subject to considerable lateral stress. This was due mainly to the distortion of the spring fingers of the socket member beyond their elastic limits after which the stud and socket would not snap together properly.

Attempts to meet the problem are exemplified by patents to Dews, No. 2,129,825, and Fenton, No. 2,371,813. In

those cases an extra member was provided as armor which added so much to the bulk and expense of the fastener that it found only a limited field of application. The need was obviously for a snap fastener socket of the so-called one-piece type which could be manufactured inexpensively in a single machine and without requiring assembling operations. It may be noted here that onepiece member means one-piece aside from the prong ring which is used to attach it to a garment by insertion of the prongs through the garment material into clinching engagement with a breast portion surrounding the spring fingers of the socket member. The wall of the breast portion of such a socket member necessarily starts off with a lead-in angle for the prongs to take care of slight variations in the location of the prongs relative to the socket during the attaching operation. It must also curve outwardly so as to bend the prongs into engagement with the retaining rim. This has always required that the breast wall be so far away from the fingers that there was nothing to back them up so that they might be quite easily distorted when a strong lateral pull was placed on any one of the fingers by the stud.

According to my invention the breast wall is modified in such a way that the above requirements for the prong clinching function are fully met, but nevertheless, support will be given to the spring fingers. This is accomplished by a series of ribs struck inwardly toward the center from that portion of the breast wall which surrounds the fingers. This results in complementary grooves on the exterior of the breast wall which are so spaced and arranged that no more than one prong can align itself with one of the grooves. Furthermore, such groove is sufliciently narrow in comparison with the width of a prong that the prong will nevertheless be deflected outwardly by engage ment with the material along the longitudinal sides of the groove. Preferably also there are a plurality of such ribs (or grooves) in supporting relationship to each finger so that such finger cannot twist out of position on lateral stressing.

In one preferred embodiment there are four spring fingers and eight ribs, two such ribs being spaced about equally from the side edges of each finger. This is used in combination with a pronged ring having five prongs so United States Patent 0 2,724,162 Patented Nov. 22, 1955 that no more than one of the prongs may perchance arrange itself in alignment with one of the grooves.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will hereinafter more fully appear.

Fig. 1 is a sectional view of a snap fastener installation constructed in accordance with the invention and showing a conventional stud assembly therewith.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the socket, per se.

Fig. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the socket member, the View taken along the line 33 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a similar cross-sectional view of the same, taken along the line 4-4 of Fig. 2, and

Fig. 5 is an enlarged view of a section of the breast wall of the socket taken along the line 5-5of Fig. 4 and showing the relative size of one of the prongs to one of the grooves provided in the outer breast of the socket.

In the drawing, Fig. 1 shows a snap fastener installation comprising a socket 10 and a conventional stud 11 of circular cross-section. The stud 1 1 is afiixed to a sheet 12 in the usual manner as by rivet post 11a. The stud 11 is formed with the usual enlarged head 13 and reduced neck 14.

The socket member 10 is mounted upon a suitable support 15 as by means of an attaching prong ring 16 of the character disclosed in the above referred to Fenton patent. The socket member 161 comprises a central barrel portion slitted at 27 to provide a series of resilient fingers 17 arranged arounda stud receiving opening 17a within an annular breast portion 18 and are integrally joined thereto by a U-shaped connecting section 19. It is to be noted from Fig. 3 that the fingers 17 extend upwardly from their connecting section 19 in outwardly bowed formation substantially axially of the barrel portion and terminate at their free ends in inwardly rolled beads or lips 20 which are in circular arrangement to define the stud receiving opening 17a.

The breast portion 1891 my improved socket consists of portions of distinctly different formation, which are, namely, a conical lead-in wall 21, a prong-deflecting wall 22 of relatively large radius joined to the conical wall 21 by a relatively small or short curve 23 and terminating in an annular rim 24 of U-shape in cross-section. The conical wall 21 slopes upwardly and outwardly from the connecting section 19 at approximately 10 to the central axis of the socket member 10 and extends in a straight line to a point in the region of the gripping beads 20. This lead-in angle of the conical wall 21 serves to centralize the prong ring 16 relative to the socket member in the clinching operation.

The prong-deflecting wall 22 extends in a broad arc upwardly and outwardly in the general direction of about to the socket axis for the purpose of assuring that the prongs 16a will be properly deflected outwardly during the setting operation without danger of piercing through or otherwise marring the deflecting wall 22. The annular rim 24 terminates in a prong-retaining ring 25 which extends inwardly toward the conical wall 21 and provides for a hollow space 26 into which the prongs 16a of the prong ring 16 may be clinched during the assembly of the socket 10 to the support 15.

In order to provide the right amount of resiliency for the spring fingers for releasable and holding engagement with the stud 11, I prefer to use four individual fingers 17 separated by slits 27. Also to prevent the fingers 17 from being distorted beyond their elastic limits if subjected to any severe lateral strains, a series of radially arranged ribs 28 are formed inwardly from the breast portion 18 of the socket so as to extend substantially axially of the barrel portion and said ribs are of such inward extent as to be spaced approximately .002" to .004" from the outer surface of the fingers 17. It is this distance that the fingers will be permitted to spring outwardly without being distorted beyond their elastic limits. Preferably two ribs 28 are provided for each resilient finger 17 and positioned to be equidistant from the edge of each finger as defined by the slits 2'7. This arrangement of the ribs relative to the fingers serves to prevent the fingers from being twisted out of their normal circular position to such an extent as to take a set.

In the forming of the ribs 28 into the breast portion by suitable forming tools will as a result form corresponding grooves 28a in the outer wall of the breast portion, one of which grooves is shown in Fig. 5.

One of the problems that was present in this socket construction was that in setting the socket to the support with a prong ring16 is was expected that frequently one of theprongs 16a would align with one of the grooves 28a. To assure that a prong so aligned would not puncture the prong-deflecting wall 22 in the setting operation, the width of the groove 28a is such to the tapered edge of each prong that the prong edges about one-third the distance from its pointed end as indicated at X will ride along theopposite edges of the groove and consequently deflect the prong outwardly sufficiently so that it will not have a straight line impact against the under surface of the breast portion 22 and thereby upset the prong in the normal manner as shown in Fig. 1.

While certain changes may be made in the construction as illustrated which are well within the skill of the ordinary mechanic, it is intended that the foregoing shall be considered in a descriptive rather than in a limiting'sense.

I claim:

1. A laundry-proof snap fastener installation of the type having a socket member adapted for snap engagement with a stud member of circular cross-section, which socket member is attachable to sheet-like supporting materialby means of a pronged ring having pointed prongs insertable through the material into engagement with said socket member; said socket member comprising a single piece of sheet metal shaped to provide a central barrel portion 'slitted to provide a plurality of resilient fingers which extend substantially axially of the barrel portion,

the free ends of said fingers being turned radially inward- 1y to form stud-gripping beads, said beads being in circular arrangement and defining a central stud receiving opening, and a breast portion surrounding said fingers and having its inner lower edge integrally joined to said fingers, said breast portion extending from its inner lower edge along an upward and outward slope to provide an anvil surface for outwardly deflecting the prongs of the prong ring, said breast portion terminating in a U-shaped annular rim to provide an inturned retaining ring for the outwardly deflected prongs, and a series of circumferentially spaced ribs struck inwardly toward the center from that outwardly sloping portion of the breast wall which surrounds the fingers, said ribs extending substantially axially of said barrel portion and sufiiciently close to said resilient fingers to support them against undue lateral strain.

2. A socket member as defined in claim 1 wherein the formation of said ribs results in grooves on the prongengaging surface of the breast wall, which grooves are narrower than the intermediate portions of the prongs on said prong ring.

3. A socket member as defined in claim 1 wherein the number of said ribs and corresponding grooves is greater than the number of prongs on said prong ring but is unequal to any multiple of the number of such prongs.

4. A socket member as defined in claim 1 wherein the circumferential spacing of said ribs and grooves is different from the spacing between any two of the prongs of said pronged ring.

5. A socket member as defined in claim 1 wherein there are at least two ribs provided for each finger.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 878,550 Mead Feb. 11, 1908 2,015,049 Carr Sept. 17, 1935 2,440,684 Huelster May 4, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS 131,029 Germany June 3, 1902

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