Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A44—HABERDASHERY; JEWELLERY
  • A44B—BUTTONS, PINS, BUCKLES, SLIDE FASTENERS, OR THE LIKE
  • A44B17/00—Press-button or snap fasteners
  • A44B17/0047—Press-button fasteners consisting of three parts
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A44—HABERDASHERY; JEWELLERY
  • A44B—BUTTONS, PINS, BUCKLES, SLIDE FASTENERS, OR THE LIKE
  • A44B17/00—Press-button or snap fasteners
  • A44B17/0011—Press-button fasteners in which the elastic retaining action is obtained by a spring working in the plane of the fastener
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A44—HABERDASHERY; JEWELLERY
  • A44B—BUTTONS, PINS, BUCKLES, SLIDE FASTENERS, OR THE LIKE
  • A44B17/00—Press-button or snap fasteners
  • A44B17/0064—Details
  • A44B17/0088—Details made from sheet metal

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a press-stud.
• the invention has been developed with particular regard to an improved press-stud which is provided with an anti disconnection system which prevents the unbuttoning thereof in the presence of a transverse traction.
• Press-studs are generally known and comprise a female element and a male element which can be mutually connected in a releasable manner by means of an elastically deformable engagement member, typically a ring, which is mounted in the female element, in a receiving seat. There can be selectively inserted in the receiving seat, in a connection direction, at least one portion of the male element in order to change from an unbuttoned configuration, in which the male element and the female element are separated and disconnected, to a buttoned-up configuration, in which the two male and female elements are connected together.
• a stud of this type is known from WO 1997/15207.
• a first example of such studs provides for the head of the male element to terminate flat and with a central hole and for the female element to have, inside the housing for the male element, a corresponding tubular member which widens in an annular disconnection prevention extension piece and which is inserted in this hole in the head of the male element. In the event of lateral traction, the annular extension piece remains engaged inside the head of the male element, preventing disengagement.
• the stud which is formed in this manner functions effectively, but the presence of the head with a hole and the cylindrical member cause the stud, in the open state, to be able to become caught, for example, in a clothing item or other objects. Furthermore, the stud, in the open state, has a number of cut edges made from sheet metal in view, which is not very attractive from an aesthetic point of view. Particularly for applications in high-end clothing items or accessories, a refined appearance without any cut edges in view is preferable. It is then be considered that the known stud is larger than a conventional snap fastener.
• a stud which withstands unfastening when it is subjected to a lateral traction and which is described in the above-mentioned patents from the present Applicant has a male element, the head of which comprises an annular flap which is directed outwards and which forms a disconnection prevention extension piece which is arranged near the base of the male element. When a force is applied in a transverse direction, this extension piece engages with an opening of the female element, making it impossible to disengage it.
• An object of the invention is to solve the problems of the prior art.
• an object is to provide a snap fastener which does not accidentally become unbuttoned when it is subjected to a transverse traction but which is convenient and easy to fasten and unfasten intentionally.
• Another object is to provide a snap fastener which is compact and small without it compromising the disconnection prevention characteristics thereof.
• Another object is to provide a snap fastener which is aesthetically attractive, highly refined in the portions which are in view even when it is unfastened.
• Another object is to provide a stud which does not run the risk of becoming caught in clothing or objects.
• Another object is to provide a stud which is economical, simple, reliable in use and safe.
• a press-stud which comprises a male element and a female element.
• the male element and female element may be able to be connected to each other in a connection direction.
• the female element may comprise a cavity in which an elastic retention member can be received.
• a disconnection prevention projection can be provided in the cavity.
• the male element may comprise an abutment portion, from which there may extend a connection portion.
• a narrowed portion and a disconnection prevention widened portion may be formed on the connection portion.
• the disconnection prevention widened portion can be located at the opposite side of the abutment portion with respect to the narrowed portion.
• connection portion In a connected configuration of the press-stud, that is to say, when the male element and the female element are connected to each other and the stud is fastened, the connection portion may be located inserted in the cavity of the female element with the elastic retention member arranged around the narrowed portion.
• a transverse movement of the male element with respect to the female element by a predetermined value with respect to the connection direction may bring the press-stud into a blocked configuration.
• the disconnection prevention widened portion can interfere with the disconnection prevention projection of the female element.
• the abutment portion of the male element can be in contact with an external portion of the female element.
• the abutment portion can face the external portion of the female element.
• Such a configuration allows the production of a press-stud which is particularly compact so as also to be able to be used at locations where a very small stud is required, for aesthetic and/or technical reasons. Furthermore, the stud formed in this manner does not have any edge made from sheet metal in view which could be annoying, possibly even sharp- edged or in any case aesthetically unattractive.
• such a snap fastener is particularly suitable for use in a strap of a bag or purse which is intrinsically subjected to a traction as a result of the effect of the weight itself of the purse: when the purse is being used, the weight of the purse causes the stud to reach a blocked connected configuration, in which it cannot be disengaged in any manner.
• the stud thereby ensures that the strap cannot become disengaged regardless of the weight which the content of the purse can reach: in fact, it is necessary to bring back the stud into an unfastenable connected configuration by removing the tension which is applied to the strap before being able to disengage the stud.
• connection portion of the male element has a chamfered surface.
• chamfered is intended here to be understood to mean a surface without any sharp edges, a smoothed surface. It is thereby prevented from having cracks or recesses, in which oxide can become formed, dirt can become deposited or in which ties, strings, fabrics, etc., can become caught.
• the stud according to the invention may appear very similar, with regard to the visible components, to a conventional stud because the disconnection prevention widened portion of the male element is scarcely visible and the disconnection prevention projection of the female element is completely hidden.
• a press-stud in which the disconnection prevention widened portion of the male element can interfere with a disconnection prevention projection of the female element which is interposed between a base of the female element, for support on a substrate, and a housing for the elastic retention member.
• the female element may comprise a tubular portion for forming the cavity for receiving the connection portion.
• the disconnection prevention projection of the female element can be formed by a narrowed portion in the tubular portion.
• the elastic retention member is an elastic ring.
• the elastic ring may comprise an internal portion which can grip and retain the connection portion of the male element and a plurality of external protuberances.
• Each external protuberance may be elongate and curved. An end portion of each protuberance can be arranged tangent to an edge of a receiving seat for the elastic ring.
• the external protuberances can be elastically deformed. Particularly when the stud is in a blocked connected configuration, at least one external protuberance can be deformed and can apply a force to the internal portion which tends to align the male element and the female element with each other.
• a stud which is configured in this manner can be readily disengaged once the application of a transverse force has been interrupted because the components automatically become re-aligned precisely in order to allow the stud to be unblocked.
• connection portion of the male element can terminate in a head of a first diameter.
• the disconnection prevention widened portion provided on the male element can be formed by a step which is provided on the tubular member and in which the tubular member changes from the first diameter to a second diameter, which is smaller than the first diameter.
• the step may have a rounded profile.
• FIG. 1 shows a press-stud according to the present invention in an unfastenable buttoned-up configuration with the female component depicted in cross-section
• - Figure 2 is a side view of a male element of the press- stud
• - Figure 3 is a plan view of a female element of the press- stud
• FIG. 4 is a cross-section of the female element taken along the plane of section X-X of Figure 3,
• FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the female element of Figure 3, without any annular retention edge,
• FIG. 6 illustrates the press-stud during an intentional unfastening operation from the disconnectable fastened configuration of Figure 1, with the female element depicted in cross-section,
• FIG. 7 shows the stud in a blocked fastened configuration with the female element depicted in cross-section
• Figure 8 shows the stud in a state sectioned along the plane XI-XI of Figure 7.
• a press-stud 10 comprises a male element 12 and a female element 14.
• the two elements are fixed to two respective substrates, such as, for example, fabric flaps, hides, plastics material or the like, in order to be able to fasten them to each other.
• the male and female elements can be fixed to the respective substrates according to known methods which are therefore not described in detail, for example, by means of riveting, pinning, stitching and other techniques which are generally known in the field.
• the male element 12 which can be seen in detail in Figure 2 comprises a disc-like base 16 with a face 17 which is intended to be supported on the substrate during use.
• the base 16 is preferably provided with a bored cylinder 18 which is coaxial with the disc-like base 16 for the passage, for example, of a member for fixing to the substrate, which is not illustrated, for example, a rivet or the like.
• the bored cylinder is particularly suitable if the stud is intended to be applied to a thick substrate, such as, for example, leather. Naturally, the possibility of simply providing a hole in the disc-like base in place of the bored cylinder 18 is not excluded.
• connection portion 20 projects from the base 16 of the male element 12 at one face 19 of the base 16 opposite the face 17 which is intended to be supported on the substrate during use.
• the connection portion 20 is intended to connect the male element 12 to the female element 14.
• the connection portion 20 comprises a substantially tubular member 22 which is generally narrower than the disc-like base 16 and which projects with respect to the disc-like base 16 from the face 19.
• the tubular member 22 has a head 24 with a diameter D1.
• the tubular member 22 is provided with a first step 28 and a second step 30.
• step is intended to be understood to be the passage from a first diameter to a second diameter as a result of the effect of a narrowing or widening.
• the tubular member 22 widens from a diameter D3 of a narrowed portion 31 to a diameter D2', which is greater than D3.
• the tubular member 22 widens from a diameter D2 to the diameter D1 of the head 24, which is greater than D2.
• D2 D2' so as to construct a male element which is as similar as possible to a male element of a conventional stud and to contain the number of processing operations. However, it should not be excluded that D2' is greater or smaller than D2.
• the female element 14 which is shown in detail in Figures 3 and 4 comprises a base 50 which is substantially planar with a face 52 which is intended to be supported on the substrate during use and from which there extends a tubular portion 55 which forms a cavity or receiving seat 54 for the connection portion 20 of the male element 12.
• the base 50 is preferably provided with a central hole 53 in order to fix the element to a substrate, for example, for the passage of a fixing member, which is not illustrated, such as a rivet or the like.
• the tubular portion 55 has a localized narrowed portion 56 which forms a disconnection prevention projection 58 which is able to cooperate, as explained below, with the disconnection prevention projection 29 of the male element 12, forming together therewith a blocking device 100 of the press-stud of the present invention.
• the tubular portion 55 further widens so as to define a receiving seat 60 for an elastic retention member.
• an elastic retention member which is preferably an elastic ring 62 is received in the receiving seat 60 of the female element 14.
• the receiving seat 60 is closed by an annular retention edge 64, which prevents the elastic ring 62 from leaving the receiving seat 60.
• the annular retention edge 64 is preferably constructed by means of a shaped metal sheet.
• the elastic ring 62 can better be seen in Figure 5, where the female element is depicted without an annular retention edge 64.
• the elastic ring 62 preferably comprises an internal portion 65 which is able to grip and retain the connection portion 20 of the male element 12 at the narrowed portion 31 and a series of external protuberances 66.
• Each external protuberance 66 is preferably elongate and folded; an end portion 68 is arranged to be tangent to an edge 70 of the receiving seat 60.
• the protuberances are compressible, deformable and elastic.
• the internal portion 65 of the elastic ring 62 can thereby move laterally in translation inside the receiving seat 60 but tends to be substantially centred inside the receiving seat by the elastic force of the external protuberances 66.
• the internal portion 65 preferably has notches 72.
• the male element 12 and the female element 14 of the press-stud 10 are fixed to two substrates which it is desirable to fasten, respectively.
• the male element 12 is positioned with a longitudinal axis A thereof substantially coincident with the axis B of the female element 14.
• the head 24 of the male element 12 is supported on the opening of the receiving seat 54 of the female element 14.
• the two male 12 and female 14 elements are pressed against each other in a connection direction which is substantially parallel with the longitudinal axis B of the female element with such a pressure as to allow the connection portion of the male element 12 to deform the elastic ring 62 sufficiently to allow the passage thereof.
• the elastic ring 62 When the elastic ring 62 passes the second step 30, it narrows elastically around the narrowed portion 31 of the connection portion, retaining the connection portion in the receiving seat 54 of the female element in an unfastenable buttoned-up configuration of the press-stud 10.
• the elastic ring 62 presses against the connection portion 20 and the second step 30 prevents the release of the connection portion under light loading conditions. It is known that, in this configuration, the male element 12 and female element 14 are supported against each other, with the face 19 of the disc-like base 16 of the male element 12 in contact with the annular retention edge 64 of the female element and there is no axial play.
• the force applied therefore promotes a minimum outward travel in an axial direction of the male element, including by a few tenths of millimetres, and subsequently the rotation thereof.
• the connection portion With a movement which is both axial and rotational, the connection portion is removed from the elastic ring, bringing about the passage through the elastic ring 62 which is widened to this end, before the second step 30 and then also the first step 28, until complete disengagement of the male element 12 from the female element 14.
• the stud which is in the unfastenable blocked configuration of Figure 1 can be subjected to a lateral tension, that is to say, to a tension which is substantially transverse with respect to the connection direction.
• the female element 14 and the male element 12 tend to move laterally in translation with respect to each other, as indicated by the arrows FI and F2 in Figure 7. If the force is sufficiently intense to deform the external protuberances 66 of the elastic ring, the internal portion of the elastic ring and the tubular member 22 received therein move laterally with respect to the centred position in the receiving seat. Following this movement, the external protuberances 66' of the elastic ring 62, which are located at the side towards which the male element is urged, are urged against the internal wall of the receiving seat and become deformed.
• a portion of the female element 14 contained between the support face against the male element 12 and the narrowed portion 56 is inserted in a recess of the male element which is delimited by the face of the base 16 of the male element which faces the female element, which therefore acts as an abutment portion, and by the disconnection prevention projection 29.
• the insertion is preferably carried out without any play and in any case only with the play necessary for allowing the stud to change from the unfastenable connected configuration to the blocked connected configuration, and vice versa.
• the diameter D1 of the connection portion that is to say, the greatest diameter between the two diameters D1 and D2, between which the first step 28 is defined, is slightly smaller than the diameter D4 of the tubular portion 55 at the narrowed portion 56.
• the disconnection prevention projections interfere with each other, in the blocked connected configuration, in an extensive portion of the circumference.
• Figure 8 shows in detail the positioning with an undercut arrangement of the two disconnection prevention projections 29 and 58 of the male element 12 and the female element 14, respectively.
• the respective disconnection prevention projections 29, 58 interfere with each other along an arc defined by an angle and which is defined in the plane perpendicular to the axis B of the female element 14 and with the vertex in the same axis B.
• the angle is at least 90° and, more preferably, at least 120°.

Landscapes

• Slide Fasteners, Snap Fasteners, And Hook Fasteners (AREA)
• Acyclic And Carbocyclic Compounds In Medicinal Compositions (AREA)

Priority Applications (1)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=77519643

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (3)

Cited By (1)

Citations (4)

• 2021
  • 2021-06-04 IT IT102021000014585A patent/IT202100014585A1/it unknown
• 2022
  • 2022-05-27 WO PCT/IB2022/055000 patent/WO2022254297A1/en active Application Filing
  • 2022-05-27 EP EP22729818.9A patent/EP4346495A1/en active Pending

Patent Citations (4)

Also Published As

Similar Documents

Legal Events