US3031729A

US3031729A - Luggage buckle

Info

Publication number: US3031729A
Application number: US68510A
Authority: US
Inventors: Mihalyi Joseph
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1960-11-10
Filing date: 1960-11-10
Publication date: 1962-05-01
Anticipated expiration: 1979-05-01

Description

y 1962 J. MIHALYI 3,031,729

LUGGAGE BUCKLE Filed Nov. 10, 1960 JOSEPH M/HALY/ IN V EN TOR.

glvw Uited States Patent 3,031,729 LUGGAGE BUCKLE Joseph Mihalyi, 76 Van Voorhis Ave, Rochester, N.Y. Filed Nov. 10, 1960, Ser. No. 68,510 4 Claims. (Cl. 24-171) The present invention relates to a buckle structure for securing the free end of a strap and more particularly to a buckle structure of the type used in conjunction with a luggage strap.

One form of buckle for luggage is of a well-known type comprising two slidable members which clamp the free end of the strap therebetween. This particular form of buckle requires that the strap be threaded between the members and then drawn taut. Such a buckle is commonly used on straps which completely encircle the article, such as luggage boxes or laundry cases, and which are not provided with holes or perforations for the usual buckle tongue. These buckles rely on the relative movement of the two members with respect to each other to clamp the strap, the movement being obtained by the opposed forces exerted on the buckle by the ends of the strap. As stated above, the strap must be threaded between the members to obtain the clamping action when the strap is pulled taut and then released. This necessitates that the members of the buckle be properly positioned with respect to each other in order that the free end of the strap can be properly threaded into the buckle. Also, when the strap is to be released, the buckle must be held as the belt is pulled taut to prevent reclamping of the strap which can readily occur even if an attempt is made to pull the strap through the buckle.

The invention relates to an improvement over the above described form of buckle in that by providing an opening in one member and an open end slot in the other member, the strap can be placed in position with respect to the buckle merely by inserting the strap edgewise through the aligned opening and open end slot. With this arrangement, the threading of the strap is completely eliminated and provides a definite advantage particularly if a strap having a frayed end must be threaded through a buckle. Also, one of the slide members is provided with a plate having an edge inclined toward the opening. This plate assists in releasing the strap in that as the strap is pulled taut and in a direction toward the opening, the inclined edge serves to guide the strap through the opening to obtain complete release of the strap without any further clamping or need to hold the buckle so the two members cannot move to reclamp the strap.

The primary object of the invention is, therefore, to provide a buckle structure which eliminates the necessity for threading the strap through the buckle.

Another object of the invention is to provide a buckle structure comprising two members arranged on each other for relative movement and provided with an opening and open-end slot to permit edgewise insertion of the strap into a proper position with respect to the buckle.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a buckle structure having a release plate which serves to move the strap toward an opening to completely release the belt from the buckle.

And yet another object of the invention is to provide a buckle structure comprising a minimum number of parts which can be easily assembled and which is relatively inexpensive to manufacture.

These and other objects and advantages will be apparent to those skilled in the art by the description which follows.

Reference is now made to the accompanying drawing wherein like reference numerals designate like parts and wherein:

BfiEL'lZQ Patented May 1, 12 262 FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the buckle showing the parts in assembled relation and a strap, which is indicated by dotted lines, attached to one of the buckle members;

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the two elements comprising the buckle;

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view through the buckle structure shown in FIG. 1, and which indicates in dotted lines the position of the strap against the release edge for complete removal of the strap from the buckle; and

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the two elements comprising another embodiment of the buckle.

While reference is made herein to a strap being used in conjunction with the buckle to be described, it is to be runderstood that the term strap is considered to be synonymous with belt or web and that the strap can be made of leather, fabric, woven material, plastic, webbing or any other material which can be suitably used for encircling the article to be secured.

The invention can be best described with respect to FIG. 2 in which the elements comprising the buckle are shown to best advantage. Member 10 comprises a hollow, rectangular or square frame consisting of side bars 11 and 12 and

cross bars

13 and 14, cross bar 13 joining the side bars 11 and 12 at one end and cross bar :14 extending from the other end of side bar 11 toward side bar 12. It will be noted that cross bar 14 does not join side bar 12 but that the end thereof with side bar 12 provides an opening 15 for a purpose to be described hereinafter. The inner edge of side bar 12 is formed downwardly below the plane of member .10, as at 16, and is provided with notches or serrations 17. 'One end 20 of strap 18 is placed around side bar 11 and folded over, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3. The folds are then secured as by one or more rivets 21. End 20 can also be provided with any other suitable fastening means such as snap fasteners which are spaced so when the male and female parts thereof are joined a loop 19 is formed there by with side bar 11 within the loop, such a means of securing end 20 to side bar 11 being well known in the apparel belt field.

A second plate 25 is provided at one end 26 with gibs 27 formed up and over plate 25, as shown in FIG. 2,

r to provide a slideway for member 10 as described herewith notches or serrations 31 which are arranged so as to be between the serrations 17 when member 10 and plate 25 are in assembled relation. The other edge 32 of slot 25% is formed upwardly and out of the plane of said plate and can also be provided with serrations if desired. While slot 29 is longer than the width of strap 18, the length of

edges

30 and 31 is slightly less than the maximum width of strap 18 which can be placed or looped about side bar 11.

Frame 10 is provided with a release plate 35 which is formed upward and then over the area defined by side bars 11 and 12 and

cross bars

13 and 14. As shown in FIG. 2, plate 35 is spaced from and parallel to the plane of member 10. One edge 34 of plate 35 is parallel to side bar 12 and the other edge 36 is inclined from a point where plate 35 joins cross bar 13 toward opening 15.

To assemble member 13 and plate 25, the two parts are arranged in the relation shown in FIG. 2, with side bar 11 placed on plate 25 and to the left of edge 32. As plate 25 is held, member 10 is moved to the left with the edge of side bar 11 and then

cross bars

13 and 14 being moved under gibs 27 which are spaced sufliciently from plate 25 to allow frame member 10 to be raised slightly at the right-hand end to permit the inner serrated edge 16' 3 of side bar 12 to be moved over end 28 of plate 25. In the assembled relation member and plate are limited in their movement relative to one another; to the left by engagement of edge 32 of slot 29 with the upper portion 16 of side bar 12 and to the right by engagement of portion 16 with edge of slot 29, as shown in FIG. 3.

With the one end of strap 18 secured to side bar 11 by either rivets or snap fasteners, as described above, the strap is then encircled about the object to be bound. Plate 25 is held in relation to frame 10 so portion 16 of side bar 14 lies over edge 30, thereby permitting the free end of strap 18 to be inserted edgewise into the open end of slot 29. When fully within slot 29, the free end 40 of strap 18 is partially folded over portion 16, as shown in FIG. 1, and pulled taut, the strap being held or retained in relation to member 10 by the upturned lug 42 on the end of side bar 12 and adjacent opening 15. As this is done, opposed forces are, in effect, applied to frame member 10 and when end 40 is released or slacked ofi, the opposed forces on strap 18 cause member 14 to move relative to plate 25, thereby moving portion 16 and edge 32 toward each other to clamp strap 18 therebetween. As the forces are increased, the more effectively strap 18 is clamped. The end 40' can then be arranged beneath plate 35 and can be threaded through any loops provided adjacent the secured end of the strap as is well known.

To release strap 18, the free end is withdrawn from the loops and folded back against the release plate 35 and against edge 36; As the end 40 is pulled taut, plate 25 and frame member 10 are moved relative to each other in an opposite sense thereby separating portion 16 and edge 32. When this separation occurs, the free end of strap 18 is'still pulled taut and twisted slightly against edge 36 which serves to direct said end toward and out of slot 29 to completely release the strap. It can be appreciated that the release of strap 18 can be accomplished very quickly and with the use of only one hand, that is by the hand grasping free end 40. This is accomplished, of course, by the relation of open slot 29 and opening 15 in member 10 to the edge 36 of plate 35 and due to this relationship, the bothersome task of threading free end 40 into the buckle and of withdrawing said end from the buckle is completely eliminated.

The embodiment disclosed in FIG. 4 is similar to that disclosed and described with respect to FIGS. 1-3. In this embodiment, however, member 44 comprises a hollow, rectangular or square frame consisting of

side bars

45 and 46 and

cross bars

47 and 48, the side bar 45 being provided with a slot 49 which can be used .to secure end 20 of strap 18to member 16. Gibs 50 are formed integral with

cross bars

47 and 48 for slidably receiving plate 51. By forming gibs 50 on

cross bars

47 and 48, member 44 is made stronger and more rigid. As described above with respect to FIGS. l-3, member 44 is provided with opening 15, serrations 17 and release plate 35 exactly as shown in FIG. 2. Plate 51 is of a shape best shown in FIG. 4

' and is provided the open end slot 29,

edges

30 and 32 and notches or serrations 31, as in FIG. 2. The manner of assembling member 44 and plate 51 as well as the functo member 10 and plate 25. The primary difference between the disclosure in FIG. 2 and FIG. 4 is the arrangement and location of

gibs

27 and 50.

. tion of the elements is the same as described with respect Since many modifications of the embodiment of the invention described herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art, such as the use of metals, plastics or other materials for member 1%) and plate25, the invention is not to be limited to the disclosure described above but is of a scope defined by the appended claims.

Having now particularly described my invention, what I desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States and what I claim is:

l. A buckle structure for a strap comprising a first member including a first side bar to which one end of said strap is secured, a second side bar spaced from said first side bar, a first cross bar, joined to the ends of said side bars, and a second cross bar spaced from said first cross bar and joined only to the other end of said first side bar, said second cross bar providing an opening in said first member defined by the free end thereof and the other end of said second side bar, a second member provided with a transverse slot having an open end, means on one of said members for slidably retaining the other member so said opening and said slot can be aligned to receive the other end of said strap, when inserted edgewise into position with respect to said buckle, clamping means including .an edge of said second side bar and an edge of said slot which are moved into a position wherein saidstrap is clamped therebetween when opposing forces exerted by said strap move said first member and said second member relative to each other, a plate member extending across said first member in .a plane spaced from and parallel to the plane of said first member and joined thereto along only the inner edge of said first cross bar to provide an open end slot for receiving and retaining the other end of said strap when engaged by said clamping means and having a release edge extending toward said opening in said first member against which thestrap is pulled taut for releasing said clamping means.

2. A buckle structure in accordance with claim 1 wherein one edge of said plate member is inclined toward the opening in said first member against which the strap is pulled taut for releasing said clamping means.

3. A buckle structure in accordance with claim 1 wherein one edge of said plate member extends across said first member parallel to said second side bar and the other edge is inclined from said first side bar toward the opening in said first member, said strap being pulled taut against said other edge for releasing said clamping means.

4. A buckle structure in accordance with claim 1 wherein one edge of said plate member extends across said first member parallel to said second side bar, and the other edge is inclined from said first side bar toward the opening in said first member and formed out of the plane of said plate member, said strap being pulled taut against said other edge for releasing said clamping means and for guiding said strap edgewise through said opening and the open end of said slot to completely release the free end ofsaid strap from said buckle.

References Cited in'the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 946,974 Molloy Jan. 18, 1910 1,020,760 Hubbard Mar. 19, 1912 1,364,613 Cochrane Jan. 4, 1921