US3103051A

US3103051A - Self-energized zipper seal

Info

Publication number: US3103051A
Application number: US675A
Authority: US
Inventors: Iwatsuki Frank
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1960-01-05
Filing date: 1960-01-05
Publication date: 1963-09-10
Anticipated expiration: 1980-09-10

Description

Sept. 10, 1963 Filed Jan. 5, 1960 Fly.

F. lWATSUKl 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 J6 M W 26 Y 1 2% y I LIIM ,4 U 6 d/h kw, 111mm, m, "WWW'm"r' h' f 'I mm? 55% 5 25 WSW, T94 d/L44,

Sept. 10, 1963 F. IWATSUKI 3,103,051

SELF-ENERGIZED ZIPPER SEAL Filed Jan. 5, 1960 5 SheetsSheet 2 IN V EN TOR. FHA N IVVA T5 010 A35 BY CLOS/A/G 1/22;

ATmA/Em 7" 3,103,051 Patented Sept. 10, 1963 3,103,051 SELF-ENERGIZED ZIPPER SEAL Frank Iwatsuhi, Evanston, IlL, assignor to the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force Filed Jan. 5, 1960, Ser. No. 675 3 Claims. (Cl. 24205.1)

tes Patent Oce This invention relates to a closure for garments, or

any' fabric container, employing the well-known zipper principle. It is more particularly concerned with a type of zipper closure which seals the garment against leakage of air, gas or liquid by means of a self-energizing action.

The ordinary zipper forms a convenient, easy to use and satisfactory closure for garments and the like, but it is not air or watertight, and where an airtight or Waterproof inclosure is required it is useless. There have been attempts at devising zipper closures which were air and watertight, but they failed where the lips of the sealing members part under twisting or torsion of the seal.

It is an object of this invention to provide an airtight closure for fabric garments or the like employing the convenience of the common zipper.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a fluid tight closure of the convenientv zipper type for fabric containers employing a closure means which is selfenergizing.

It is a further object to provide a fluid tight closure in which the sealing surfaces are supported by metal parts.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a fluid tight ciosure of the zipper type for fabric containers wherein the initial closure action is sufiicient for sealing and the closure action is supplemented by a self-energizing effect where the fabric of the container is flexed by inflation or by pressure from the outside. v

It is a further object to provide a zipper type closure for fabric containers which is fluid tight and in which the sealing material is subject to no tensile forces, thus permitting a wider choice of sealing materials.

It is a further object to provide a fluid tight zipper closure Where end sealing and abrasion problems are eliminated by having the slider outside of the seal.

It is still a further object to provide a fluid tight closure as described which is easy to open or close by eliminating friction in providing a small sealing surface and avoiding contact by the slider with the fabric or seal material.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a closure as described which is easy to use and can be economically manufactured of readily-obtainable materials.

Briefly, this invention is a convenient zipper structure in which the meshing scoops or teeth are pivoted near the center of vertical arms of L-shaped fingers, the vertical arms being attached above the pivot points to the fabric of a garment. A sealing material is attached to the underside of the garment and to the inner edge of the lower part of the L-shaped fingers, allowing for looseness of the sealing material between points of attachment. As the slider of the zipper is moved in closing motion the scoops are engaged as in the conventional zipper and the lower arms of each row of fingers press against each other forming an initial seal. As the garment is inflated the stress on the fabric causes the fingers to swing about the pivots, thereby increasing the sealing action.

'Any stress on the garment fabric from the outside will cause the same self-energizing action to increase the pressure on the sealing medium. 1 a

The above and still other objects, advantages and features of my invention will become apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description of one embodiment thereof, especially when taken in conjunction with the acompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a sectional front view showing the assembly of the parts;

FIGURE 2 is atop plan view of the invention;

FIGURE 3 is a plan view on an enlarged scale of a portion of FIGURE 2 showing details of the scoops and fingers;

FIGURE 4 is an isometric view illustrating the right and left hand fingers;

FIGURE 5 is a schematic drawing showing the forces and relation of the slider, scoops and fingers;

FIGURE 6 is a schematic drawing showing the forces in play due to fabric tension when the garment is inflated;

FIGURE 7 is a front view of the slider;

FIGURE 8 is a side view of the slider;

FIGURE 9 is a bottom view of the slider;

FIGURE 10 is a sectional front view showing the assembly ofthe partsof asecond embodiment ofthe invention;

FIGURE 11 is an isometric drawing of one of the fingers of the second embodiment of the invention show ing the scoop made integral with the finger;

FIGURE 12 is a sectional view of a scoop showing the FIGURE 13 is a schematic drawing showing the forces and relation of the slider, scoop and fingers of the second embodiment of the invention; and

FIGURE 14 is a schematic drawing showing the forces in play due to fabric tension when the garment is inflated.

In the drawings, best seen in FIGURES l and 2, a slide fastener 10, to which is attached a pull ring 12, closes or opens a pair of a series of L-shaped metal fingers 16. The fingers are pivoted, at 24 to scoops or teeth'14 which mesh in the well-known zipper manner as the slide fastener is pulled alongthe said pair of fingers. Stops 31 are positioned on fingers 16 so as to hold loosely the scoops 14 within predetermined limits, so that they will be free to pivot on 24 and not'fall out of line. The pivot 24 maybe a length of wire running through the arms of the fingers 16 and the said scoops. The upper arms of the L-shaped fingers are attached at 26 to a fabric strip 20 which is in turn attached, by glueing or other suitable means, to a garment fabric 21. A sealing material, 22, is attached to the fabric tape 20 at 19 and to the bottom edge of the metal fingers 16 at the sealing edge of said fingers at 18. The sealing material 2.2 is attached between

points

18 and 19 so as to provide looseneszs between the points of attachment to prevent any strain on said sealing material when the garment fabric 21 (only a portion of which is shown) is put under tension by inflation or otherwise. i

The initial closure action is best seen by the action of the forces as illustrated by the arrowed lines in the schematic drawing FIGURE 5. As the slider 10 is moved in the closing direction the upper arms of the fingers 16 move through the slider slots toward each other while the scoops 14 are forced into engagement by the combined action of upper slide slots 11 and a lower slide plate 28, the pivot 24 and upper stops 30. The self-energizing action of this closure is shown schematically in FIGURE 6. It can be seen that as the upper part of the fingers are pulled apart by stress on the garment: fabric at 26 the lower closing edge of the slide fastener is shown as 41, the fingers at 18 will be forced together more tightly by the lever action on the arms acting on the pivot point 24 as a fulcrum, thus increasing the sealing action.

The detail of the fingers and scoops or teeth can be seen best in FIGURE 4 and the assembly of them in FIGURE 3. The slide fastener is shown in FIGURES 7, 8 and 9, where the upper slide slots 11, the lower slide plate 28 and the cam action of the slider appear.

An alternative embodiment is shown in FIGURES 10,

of the common zipper.

i ll, 12, 13 and 14. In these figures, the same numbers refer to the same parts as shown in the first embodiment except the fingers and the scoops are shown'as 17 and 15, respectively, and the pivot has been moved from the center of theupright arm of the L-shaped finger to the slide fastener 41 is moved forward. The pivots 15, shown in detail in FIG. 12,having pivot points 25 on one side and pivot receptacles 23 on the other, mesh as the tops of the arms move together by the cam action of the slide fastener 41. The forces involved in this action are shown by the arrows in FIGURE 13 and the self-energizing action when the fabric is stressed by inflation or otherwise is shown by the arrows in FIGURE 14.

It is clear from the foregoing description and from the drawings that this invention has all the advantages As the slide fastener is moved up the scoops mesh and provide the usual closing action associated with zippers. This closing action also serves to bring the closing edges of the fingers together, forming a fluid tight closure as the sealing material is pressed between the said fingers. This closure becomes more secure by the self energizing action of the invention as stress is put on the fabric of the garment by inflation or otherwise.

Although the invention has been described with-reference to particular embodiments, it will be understood to those skilled in the art that the invention is capable of a variety of alternative embodiments within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is: r

1. A self-energizing'zipper for closing an opening in an inflatable enclosure, comprising two rows of mutually opposed zipper teeth, a'pair of rows of L-shaped fingers,

fingers having anupper arm and a mating edge, means securing said upper arms of said fingers to the enclosure sealing means attached to said enclosure and to the lower mating edges of said L-shaped fingers, a slider engaging the upper arms of said fingers and arranged to mesh the said teeth of said zipper and to close said fingers against the said sealing means to form a fluid tight seal such that pressure inside said inflatable enclosure causes an energizing pivotal movement of said fingers to cause said fingers into a fluid tight sealing relationship.

2. A self-energizing zipper for closing an opening in an inflatable enclosure, comprising two rows of mutually opposed zipper teeth, a pair of rows of L-shaped fingers, means for pivotally mounting each tooth of each row of teeth with a finger of a row of fingers, each of said fingers having an upper arm and a mating edge and being pivotal about an axis oriented in the direction of said rows, means securing said upper arms of said fingers to the enclosure to be closed at a point above the pivotal axes of said fingers, a sealing means attached to said enclosure and to the lower mating edges of said L-shaped fingers, and a slider engaging the upper arms of said fingers and arranged to mesh the said teeth of said zipper and to close said fingers against the said sealing means to form a fluid tight seal such that pressure inside said inflatable enclosure causes an energizing pivotal movement of said fingers to cause said fingers into a fluid tight sealing relationship.

3. An improved zipper arrangement as described in claim 2, wherein upper and lower stops are provided on to be closed at a point above said pivotal mounting, a

said fingers to limit excessive pivotal movement.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,296,468 Feist Sept. 22, 1942 2,306,873 Feist Dec. 29, 1942 2,637,086 Philips May 5, 1953 2,651,091 Priestley Sept. 8, 1953 2,762,047 Flagg et al. Sept. 11, 1956 2,853,758 Topf Sept. 30, 1958 2,888,727 Heimberger June 2, 1959 2,928,127 Armstrong Mar. 15, 1960 3,026,589 Sperry Mar. 27, 1962 3,082,501 Brown Mar. 26, 1963

Claims

1. A SELF-ENERGIZING ZIPPER FOR CLOSING AN OPENING IN AN INFLATABLE ENCLOSURE, COMPRISING TWO ROWS OF MUTUALLY OPPOSED ZIPPER TEETH, A PAIR OF ROWS OF L-SHAPED FINGERS, MEANS FOR PIVOTALLY MOUNTING EACH TOOTH OF EACH ROW OF TEETH WITH A FINGER OF A ROW OF FINGERS, EACH OF SAID FINGERS HAVING AN UPPER ARM AND A MATING EDGE, MEANS SECURING SAID UPPER ARMS OF SAID FINGERS TO THE ENCLOSURE TO BE CLOSED AT A POINT ABOVE SAID PIVOTAL MOUNTING, A SEALING MEANS ATTACHED TO SAID ENCLOSURE AND TO THE LOWER MATING EDGES OF SAID L-SHAPED FINGERS, A SLIDER ENGAGING THE UPPER ARMS OF SAID FINGERS AND ARRANGED TO MESH THE SAID TEETH OF SAID ZIPPER AND TO CLOSE SAID FINGERS AGAINST THE SAID SEALING MEANS TO FORM A FLUID TIGHT SEAL SUCH THAT PRESSURE INSIDE SAID INFLATABLE ENCLOSURE CAUSES AN ENERGIZING PIVOTAL MOVEMENT OF SAID FINGERS TO CAUSE SAID FINGERS INTO A FLUID TIGHT SEALING RELATIONSHIP.