US3311958A

US3311958A - Fastening device

Info

Publication number: US3311958A
Application number: US436464A
Authority: US
Inventors: Robert J Reeves
Original assignee: Reeves Co Inc
Current assignee: Reeves Co Inc
Priority date: 1965-03-02
Filing date: 1965-03-02
Publication date: 1967-04-04
Anticipated expiration: 1984-04-04

Description

April 4, 1967 R. J. REEVES FASTENING DEVICE Filed March 2, .1965

U1 Z24 al al-1M Zia Ma United States Patent 3,311,958 FASTENING DEVICE Robert J. Reeves, Attlehoro, Mass., assignor to Reeves Company, Inc., Attleboro, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Filed Mar. 2, 1965, Ser. No. 436,464 2 Claims. (Cl. 24-155) This invention relates to devices for fastening externally worn objects on clothing, of the type employing a pointed shaft and a gripper that passes over the shaft, and provides an improved construction for fastening such objects to articles of clothing of a variety of thicknesses.

A primary object of the invention is to provide a pointed shaft-gripper type construction as just described, in which the gripper, when installed, covers the point on the shaft, and at the same time is adjustable to a plurality of spaced locked positions on the shaft, to allow for variation in clothing thickness. Other objects are to allow selective adjustment of the gripper to a desired one of its locked positions, guided solely by tactile sensation, even when more than a single shaft is used on a given object; to provide a shaft that can easily pass through clothing repeatedly without harming the fabric; and to provide such a fastening device that is durable, reliable, and inexpensive to produce.

Generally speaking, the invention features a pointed shaft rigidly projecting from the rear surface of the object to be fastened, this shaft having a plurality of spaced circumferential grooves extending fully around the shaft, and a standard gripper having resiliently spaced apart gripping edges adapted to snap into each of said grooves, and an enclosure with a guard spaced above said gripping edges; the groove closest to the rear surface of the object being spaced from the point of the shaft a distance less than the distance between the gripping edges and the guard.

Other objects, advantages, and features will appear from the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention, taken together with the attached drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a name plate bearing two fastening devices according to the invention, with the gripper removed from the lower shaft;

FIG. 2 is a top view of the clutch portion of a gripper;

FIG. 3 is a section through 3-3 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a partial view in section similar to FIG. 3, showing the gripper with its gripping edges flexed apart out of the groove of the shaft.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, there is shown in FIG. 1 a name plate 10, with

pointed shafts

12 and 12a rigidly attached to rear surface 16 of the plate and extending outwardly therefrom.

Shafts

12 and 12a are identical and have, respectively,

circumferential grooves

18, 20, 22 and 18a, 20a, 220, each groove extending fully around its shaft. Considering shaft 12 as typical, its grooves are spaced at increasing distances from plate surface 16, to allow for the inclusion of clothing fabrics of differing thicknesses between surface 16 and the grippers 30.

As best shown in FIG. 4, each groove has an opposing pair of sidewalls, 24, 25, which slope downwardly toward each other, so that the shaft can be easily and repeatedly inserted into clothing fabric without the fabric being caught in a groove and therefore harmed. In the embodiment shown, the shaft 12 has a diameter at points adjacent the grooves of approximately 0.050 inch, a diameter at the deepest part of the grooves of approximately 0.02 inch, and a length of approximately inch. The grooves are spaced respectively approximately inch, inch, and inch from the shaft point 26.

3 ,3 I 1,958 Patented Apr. 4, 1967 Grippers 30 are of a standard type heretofore employed in fastening devices of constructions other than that of the invention, and comprise broadly a clutch portion 32 (FIG. 2) and an enclosure portion 34 partially surrounding the clutch portion.

Clutch portion 32 includes a pair of opposed

resilient members

36, 38 that provide, respectively, gripping

edges

40 and 42.

Edges

40 and 42 are generally semicircular in shape and, when

members

36 and 38 are unflexed, they together define a generally circular opening 44. In this unflexed position the

edges

40 and 42 can be considered as spaced apart a distance equal to the diameter of the opening 44, which distance is no greater, and preferably less, than the diameter of the shaft at the deepest part of the grooves, so that the gripper will lock tightly into the grooves. By manually flexing

elements

36 and 38 toward each other, the spacing between

edges

40 and 42 can be increased to a distance greater than the diameter of shaft 12 at points adjacent the grooves, enabling the gripper to be moved freely up or down the shaft.

Enclosure portion 34 includes a base 46 and a guard 48. Base 46 lies just below the plane of

edges

40 and 42, and has a circular aperture 50 lined up with opening 42. Aperture 50 is larger than the thickest part of shaft 12, enabling the free passage of the shaft. Guard 48 is saddle shaped and located directly above opening 42.

In use, after

shafts

12 and 12a are passed through the clothing fabric, the individual grippers 30 are separately installed by passing the shaft into aperture 50 and forcing the gripper toward plate surface 16 until the shaft enters the space between

edges

40 and 42, thereby forcing those edges apart. As the shaft continues to slide between the gripping edges, the snap of the edges into the first groove (22, or 22a) will be felt with the fingers. If the fabric is thin, it may be desirable to slide the gripper to the next groove (20, 2011), or even to the innermost groove (18, 18a). In any case, the tactile sense will enable the precise adjustment of both grippers, since they are installed individually. The sliding of the grippers along the shaft may be eased by partial flexing of

members

36, 38, without destroying the ability to sense the snaps into the grooves. To remove the grippers, the

members

36, 38 may be manually flex-ed together until the gripping edges are away from the shaft (FIG. 4), and withdrawn.

Guard 48 protects the wearer from the point 26 The spacing between the innermost groove (18, 18a) and the point 26 is less than the distance between

gripping edges

40, 42 and the surface of the guard directly above those edges.

Gripping security is enhanced by the fact that the grooves extend fully around the shaft, .resulting in gripping edge-to-shaft contact around a large portion of the shafts circumference.

Other embodiments within the following claims will occur to those skilled in the art.

What is claimed is:

1. A construction for fastening an object to an article of clothing, comprising:

at least one shaft rigidly attached to and projecting away from the rear surface of said object, said shaft having a pointed end so that said shaft may be inserted through clothing without damage thereto, said shaft having a plurality of circumferential grooves spaced from each other and extending fully around said shaft with side walls that slope downwardly toward each other so that the side walls may pass freely inwardly and outwardly through the clothing without damage thereto, whereby the diameter of said shaft at said grooves is smaller than q K3 the diameter of said shaft at points adjacent said grooves, and a gripper corresponding to each said shaft,

comprising:

a clutch portion having a pair of resilient members providing opposing gripping edges, said gripping edges being spaced apart when said resilient members are unflexed a distance no greater than the diameter of said shaft at said grooves, said resilient members adapted to be flexed repeatedly by manual pressure to increase the spacing between said gripping edges to a distance greater than the diameter of said shaft at said points adjacent said grooves,

and an enclosure portion having a guard disposed a predetermined distance above said gripping edges,

said grooves being located along said shaft in such a manner that the groove closest to said rear surface of said object is spaced from the point of said shaft a distance less than said predetermined distance, so that regardless of the location of the gripper relative to the shaft, the pointed end of the shaft will always be spaced from the guard to prevent damage to the pointed end of the shaft, said gripper being manually removably installed on its shaft with its gripping edges in a selected one of said grooves by 4 counting the number of snaps sensed by the installing hand as the gripping edges snap into each groove above said selected one.

2. The construction of claim 1 wherein said object 5 is elongated, there are two said shafts and a separate gripper corresponding to each shaft.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,412,481 4/1922 Mendler -2 24-217 2,347,863 5/1944 Woodward 24216 2,372,922 4/ 1945 Winters 242 17 2,730,824 1/1956 Cohen 401.5 2,850,818 9/1958 Brownstein 24110 X 3,088,295 5/1963 Haines 24108 X FOREIGN PATENTS 1,023,164 12/1952 France.

94,992 6/ 1922 Switzerland.

62,614 2/1955 France.

(1st addition of 988,147)

WILLIAM FELDMAN, Primary Examiner.

25 DONALD A. GRIFFIN, Examiner.

Claims

1. A CONSTRUCTION FOR FASTENING AN OBJECT TO AN ARTICLE OF CLOTHING, COMPRISING: AT LEAST ONE SHAFT RIGIDLY ATTACHED TO AND PROJECTING AWAY FROM THE REAR SURFACE OF SAID OBJECT, SAID SHAFT HAVING A POINTED END SO THAT SAID SHAFT MAY BE INSERTED THROUGH CLOTHING WITHOUT DAMAGE THERETO, SAID SHAFT HAVING A PLURALITY OF CIRCUMFERENTIAL GROOVES SPACED FROM EACH OTHER AND EXTENDING FULLY AROUND SAID SHAFT WITH SIDE WALLS THAT SLOPE DOWNWARDLY TOWARD EACH OTHER SO THAT THE SIDE WALLS MAY PASS FREELY INWARDLY AND OUTWARDLY THROUGH THE CLOTHING WITHOUT DAMAGE THERETO, WHEREBY THE DIAMETER OF SAID SHAFT AT SAID GROOVES IS SMALLER THAN THE DIAMETER OF SAID SHAFT AT POINTS ADJACENT SAID GROOVES, AND A GRIPPER CORRESPONDING TO EACH SAID SHAFT, COMPRISING: A CLUTCH PORTION HAVING A PAIR OF RESILIENT MEMBERS PROVIDING OPPOSING GRIPPING EDGES, SAID GRIPPING EDGES BEING SPACED APART WHEN SAID RESILIENT MEMBERS ARE UNFLEXED A DISTANCE NO GREATER THAN THE DIAMETER OF SAID SHAFT AT SAID GROOVES, SAID RESILIENT MEMBERS ADAPTED TO BE FLEXED REPEATEDLY BY MANUAL PRESSURE TO INCREASE THE SPACING BETWEEN SAID GRIPPING EDGES TO A DISTANCE GREATER THAN THE DIAMETER OF SAID SHAFT AT SAID POINTS ADJACENT SAID GROOVES, AND AN ENCLOSURE PORTION HAVING A GUARD DISPOSED A PREDETERMINED DISTANCE ABOVE SAID GRIPPING EDGES, SAID GROOVES BEING LOCATED ALONG SAID SHAFT IN SUCH A MANNER THAT THE GROOVE CLOSEST TO SAID REAR SURFACE OF SAID OBJECT IS SPACED FROM THE POINT OF SAID SHAFT A DISTANCE LESS THAN SAID PREDETERMINED DISTANCE, SO THAT REGARDLESS OF THE LOCATION OF THE GRIPPER RELATIVE TO THE SHAFT, THE POINTED END OF THE SHAFT WILL ALWAYS BE SPACED FROM THE GUARD TO PREVENT DAMAGE TO THE POINTED END OF THE SHAFT, SAID GRIPPER BEING MANUALLY REMOVABLY INSTALLED ON ITS SHAFT WITH ITS GRIPPING EDGES IN A SELECTED ONE OF SAID GROOVES BY COUNTING THE NUMBER OF SNAPS SENSED BY THE INSTALLING HAND AS THE GRIPPING EDGES SNAP INTO EACH GROOVE ABOVE SAID SELECTED ONE.