US3907181A - Means for operating garment slide fastener - Google Patents

Abstract

A nose-like element is provided with an orifice in its tip to receive and hold a slide fastener or zipper tab. When this element is disposed substantially perpendicularly to the back of a woman desiring to zip or unzip her dress or other garment, and, with the zipper tab so inserted in its orifice, is moved in that disposition along the interlocking elements of the slide fastener, the desired zipping or unzipping of the garment is conveniently accomplished. In the embodiment herein disclosed movement of the element is accomplished by a adjustably mounting the element with a slight cant on the end of an elongated member to be held in one''s hand and operated in the manner of a ''''back scratcher''''.

Description

United States Patent Thomas Sept. 23, 1975 [5 MEANS FOR OPERATING GARMENT 3,249,977 5/1966 Cloud 24/205.15 H SLIDE FASTENER 3,348,869 lO/l967 Zern 24/205.l5 H

Related US. Application Data Division of Ser. No. 325.023, Jan. 19, 1973, which is a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 165,994, July 26, 197 l, abandoned.

[52] us. Cl. 223/111 [51] lm. cl. A47J 51/06 [58] Field of Search 223/111; 294/1 A; 24/205.15 H

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,838,831 6/1958 Aubuchon. 294/1 A 2,887,751 5/1959 Lamb 24/205.15 H 2,898,141 8/1959 Perryn.... 294/1 A 2,900,205 8/1959 Cirone 294/1 A Primary ExaminerGeorge H. Krizmanich Attorney, Agent, or FirmWilliam H. Pavitt, Jr.

[57] ABSTRACT A nose-like element is provided with an orifice in its tip to receive and hold a slide fastener or zipper tab. When this element is disposed substantially perpendicularly to the back of a woman desiring to zip or unzip her dress or other garment, and, with the zipper tab so inserted in its orifice, is moved in that disposition along the interlocking elements of the slide fastener, the desired zipping or unzipping of the garment is conveniently accomplished. In the embodiment herein disclosed movement of the element is accomplished by a adjustably mounting the element with a slight cant on the end of an elongated member to be held in ones hand and operated in the manner of a back scratcher.

2 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures MEANS FOR OPERATING GARMENT SLIDE FASTENER NO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a division of application Ser. No. 325,023, filed by the applicant Jan. 19, 1973 which, itself, was a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 165,994 filed July 26, 1971 which has been abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Inventor Patent No. Issue Date R. S. Vahan 2,604,242 July 22, 1952 H. L. Robertson, et all 3,199,753 Aug. 10, 1965 Lewis F. McNitt 3,568,901 Mar. 9, 1971 While each of the mechanisms of these several prior art patents does provide for a vertical movement of a zipper tab through a wall-mounted pulley arrangement, none of the mechanisms appears thus-far to have received wide-spread consumer acceptance. This lack of consumer acceptance may possibly be because each prior art mechanism appears to be somewhat complicated in install and maintain; further, because of its complexity, each would appear to be costly to produce and, hence, would have to be sold at a fairly high price; also, because each mechanism requires the women to locate behind her both the book of the mechanism and the zipper tab, and insert the former in the latter; and lastly, the inclusion in each prior art mechanism of a hook could produce undesirable catching in the dress fabric or the users skin. Thus, although the basic idea of the expired Vahan patent, namely, providing a wall mounted device for gripping a zipper tab behind a woman and enabling her, by pulling a flexible element, the end of which is conveniently located in front of her, to cause the thus-gripped zipper tab to be moved up or down as desired, is a good one, the prior art devices which have been devised to carry out this basic idea have apparently been unsatisfactory.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention obviates the problems inherent in the prior art mechanisms by providing a nose-like element which is orificed to receive and grip the zipper tab. If desired, hook means could be employed in conjunction with, or as a substitute for, the nose.

The orificed nose may be adjustably cantedly mounted on the end of an elongated member having a handle, and said nose with the zipper moved vertically by reaching over ones shoulder with this member.

It may be seen, thus, that the present invention eliminates the hook of the prior art mechanisms and greatly simplifies the drawing arrangement with consequence ease of use and substantial reduction in the cost of manufacture.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a horizontal section taken on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a member 39, is attached slightly rotatably in a seating cavity 86 provided in one end 88 of an elongated element 90, the other end 92 of which is formed as a handle. In this embodiment, the member 39, is formed of a base 94 and a tapered blunt nose-like projection 96, in the end of which is provided a horizontal flat recess 98 to receive the tab of a zipper. In this embodiment of the invention, the user holds the handle over or under her shoulder and brings the end 88 to the zipper tab level. With her other hand she inserts the tabe into the slot 98 and then raises the element by the handle 92 to pull up the zipper tab so inserted in the slot 98 in the noselike projection 96. In order to enable the member 39' to be disposed in substantially normal alignment with the users back despite the angle at which the element 90 will be held over ones shoulder, whether by a left-handed or right-handed person, there is provided in the end 88 a double rectangular seating cavity 86 with each rectangle 86a, 8612 being disposed at about a 35 angular rotation from the other. The base 94 of the member 39' is rotatably secured in the cavity 86 by a pin 100 so that the base may be rotated about the pin axis to seat in either the rectangle 86a or 86 b, and would be so disposed, depending upon whether the user employs the device with her right hand over her left or right shoulder, or left hand over her left or right shoulder.

It will be appreciated that the present invention may thus be easily and inexpensively constructed. It is simple to operate and by use of the blunt nose into which the zipper tab is inserted, avoids the possibility of tearing the dress fabric or scratching the users skin.

I claim:

1. Means for operating a slide fastener located on the back of a womans garment when said garment is worn by a woman, said means comprising:

A. An elongated noselike element, said element having a base at one end and at its other end a smooth, blunt tip, said tip being orificed substantially axially of said element to receive and hold a zipper pulltab against removal from said orifice by a force applied in any other direction than one in the axis of the orifice; and

B. An elongated handle, said handle being attached at one of its ends to the base of said element substantially perpendicularly thereto, and extending for a sufficient distance to enable the other end of the handle to be conveniently grasped by the hand of the woman user when the element is disposed substantially perpendicular to, and in the small of the woman users back, whereby the slide fastener may be closed upwardly by raising the grapsed end of the handle up from the women users shoulder.

2. The means for operating a slide fastener as described in claim 1, wherein the base of the element is partially rotatably secured in the one end of the handle to permit use by either a left-handed or right-handed woman user.

Claims (2)

1. Means for operating a slide fastener located on the back of a woman''s garment when said garment is worn by a woman, said means comprising: A. An elongated noselike element, said element having a base at one end and at its other end a smooth, blunt tip, said tip being orificed substantially axially of said element to receive and hold a zipper pull-tab against removal from said orifice by a force applied in any other direction than one in the axis of the orifice; and B. An elongated handle, said handle being attached at one of its ends to the base of said element substantially perpendicularly thereto, and extending for a sufficient distance to enable the other end of the handle to be conveniently grasped by the hand of the woman user when the element is disposed substantially perpendicular to, and in the small of the woman user''s back, whereby the slide fastener may be closed upwardly by raising the grapsed end of the handle up from the women user''s shoulder.

2. The means for operating a slide fastener as described in claim 1, wherein the base of the element is partially rotatably secured in the one end of the handle to permit use by either a left-handed or right-handed woman user.

Images