HK1014841A - Slider for slide fastener with automatic locking mechanism - Google Patents

Description

Slider for slide fastener with automatic locking mechanism

The present invention relates to a slider for a slide fastener having an automatic locking mechanism, which is free from a slider and is suitable for bags, shoes, training clothes, and the like. In use, the slider can be locked and unlocked simply by operating an operating member locking mechanism provided on a side surface of the slider body.

A known slider for a slide fastener with an automatic locking mechanism as disclosed in U.S. patent No.2,071,544 includes a slider body having a flat shell integrally formed with and disposed on the slider body, and a latch release member having one end pivotally secured to a pin in the shell and the other end disposed outside the shell so that pressing the release member inwardly disengages a resilient locking lug from a guide member, thereby allowing the slider to slide freely.

The above-described known slider for a slide fastener with an automatic locking mechanism includes a large number of parts and has a complicated mechanism, thus involving a troublesome assembly process. Further, such a slider cannot be reduced in size in any way and has no neat appearance, so that it is practically impossible to use it for a slide fastener of ordinary size. Also, such a slider is not smoothly moved, and thus is difficult to put into practical use.

In view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, it is therefore a first object of the present invention to provide a slider for a zipper pull-free having an automatic locking mechanism which can be easily assembled with a small number of parts and thus can be downsized, and which has a simple configuration enabling the slider to be easily and smoothly operated without trouble.

It is a second object of the present invention to provide a slider for a zipper having an automatic locking mechanism as described above, which further comprises a specially designed space for accommodating a spring of the automatic locking mechanism so as to operate the spring efficiently, thereby sufficiently performing a locking operation of the locking mechanism.

It is a third object of the present invention to provide a slider for a tabbed slide fastener having an automatic locking mechanism as described above, which is configured such that a locking pawl can be engaged with and disengaged from a fastener element by pushing a side surface of the slider.

It is a fourth object of the present invention to provide a slider for a zipper having an automatic locking mechanism configured to operate the automatic locking mechanism to reliably lock/unlock the locking claws by a simple-configured operating member provided at a side surface of the slider.

It is a fifth object of the present invention to provide a slider for a zipper having an automatic locking mechanism, as described above, which is configured such that the locking claws can be engaged with or disengaged from the fastener elements by simply pushing the front opening side of the slider.

It is a sixth object of the present invention to provide the slider for a zipper having an automatic locking mechanism as described above, which is configured to operate the automatic locking mechanism to reliably lock/unlock the locking claws by means of a specific configuration of an operating member as long as the front opening side of the slider is pushed.

It is a seventh object of the present invention to provide a slider for a zipper having no pull tab and having an automatic locking mechanism as described above, which has an aesthetically pleasing appearance and can be manufactured in a simple manner.

According to the present invention, the above first object is achieved by providing a slider for a slide fastener with an automatic locking mechanism, which comprises a slider main body having an upper wing plate, an operating member and an elastic plate formed by pressing. In the slider, a loading hole for loading the elastic plate is formed in the upper wing plate of the slider main body from the front opening hole to the rear opening hole. The elastic plate has one locking claw in one end and one U-shaped spring in the other end, one trapezoidal driving part in the middle, and the locking claw of the elastic plate may be set back in one guide slot in the lower wing plate of the slide block for guiding the zipper teeth. The operating member has a driving portion to be fitted into the upper wing plate and held in sliding contact with the raised driving portion of the elastic plate to operate the locking claw. The operating member is horizontally arranged so as to be movable forward and backward with respect to the slider main body. With such a device, the slider can be made to comprise a small number of parts and is therefore easy to assemble, making it particularly suitable for reducing the size, so that it can find various uses without trouble, and it can be handled very smoothly.

The second object is achieved by providing a slider in which, in addition to the above, the insertion hole formed in the slider body has an enlarged opening section extending from the rear opening of the slider body to the pawl insertion hole and has a narrow tubular shape disposed above the guide post of the slider body, wherein a U-shaped spring is introduced which is provided at its front end with oppositely projecting lugs which engage with the respective edges of the insertion hole. With this arrangement, the elastic plate can be reliably and easily fitted into the slider body without fear of coming off, so that the slider can be reliably operated for a long time.

The third object is achieved by providing a slider which, in addition to the above, forms a through hole perpendicularly intersecting with the longitudinal fitting hole of the slider main body, the operating member being introduced into the through hole to enable the operating member to slide in a lateral direction, a cam surface being formed on the driving portion of the operating member, the cam surface being held in sliding contact with the driving portion of the elastic plate to operate the locking claws. With this device, the locking claw of the automatic locking mechanism of the tabless slider can be reliably operated so as to be locked/unlocked only by pushing it from the side of the slider.

The fourth object is achieved by providing a slider in which, in addition to the features of the slider for achieving the third object, thin and resilient legs are projected from the front end of the cam surface of the driving portion of the operating member in a U-shape, the legs being provided at their respective front ends with projections to engage with inward projections provided at the middle of a through-hole running through the slider body, and with resilient plates projected from opposite side ends of the operating portion exposed at the upper wing plate respectively and engaged with wide grooves formed in the through-hole, thereby imparting resiliency to the operating portion. With this device, the operating member of the automatic locking mechanism can be easily mounted on the slider, and can be easily and reliably operated by pushing the side surface of the slider against the elasticity.

A fifth object is achieved by providing a slider wherein, in addition to the features of the slider for achieving the second object, a pair of partition walls are oppositely provided along both sides of the narrow tubular insertion hole above the guide post of the slider body, having a cavity section extending from the outside of the partition wall and extending forwardly from the pawl insertion hole-forwardly bored, and an operating member is inserted into the cavity section and held movably forward and backward, the operating member having parallel legs extending from an operating portion exposed at the upper wing, the legs being bent at the front ends thereof to produce bent sections, operating as a driving portion which is brought into sliding contact with the driving portion of the elastic plate to operate the locking pawl. With this device, the automatic locking mechanism can be operated easily and smoothly by pushing the front opening side of the slider.

The sixth object is achieved by providing a slider in which, in addition to the features of the slider for achieving the fifth object, legs extending parallel to each other from an operating portion of an operating member are made resilient and bent at a front end to produce bent sections which are held in contact with each other and each have engaging projections so as to be resiliently engaged with each other, and are operated as a driving portion which is brought into sliding contact with a driving portion of a resilient plate to operate a locking pawl. With this device, the operating portion for driving the operating member of the automatic locking mechanism can be simply assembled and made very robust to withstand long-term use.

The sixth object can be attained by alternatively providing a slider in which legs projecting parallel to each other from an operating portion of an operating member are bent at front ends to produce bent sections, the legs being elastically deformed and introduced into a cavity section so that the bent sections are arranged face to face, operating as a driving portion which is brought into sliding contact with a driving portion of an elastic plate to operate a locking pawl. With this device, a driving portion of an operating member for operating the automatic locking mechanism can be obtained by a simple elastically deformable mechanism.

The seventh object is achieved by providing a slider wherein, in addition to the features of the slider for achieving the fifth object, a guard section is provided above the cavity section on the side of the front opening of the upper wing plate of the slider main body, the guard section projecting forwardly and outwardly to cover a gap between the operating portion of the operating member incorporated in the slider main body and the slider main body. With this arrangement, the slider can be made to exhibit a very pleasing appearance and provide a wide range of uses.

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of an embodiment of a slider for a slide fastener having an automatic locking mechanism without a pull tab of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan cross-sectional view of the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side cross-sectional view of the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of another embodiment of a slider for a slide fastener having an automatic locking mechanism without a pull tab of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a plan cross-sectional view of the embodiment of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a side cross-sectional view of the embodiment of FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a partial perspective view of a modified slider of the embodiment of FIG. 4;

FIG. 8 is a plan cross-sectional view of a modified operating member of the embodiment of FIG. 4;

fig. 9 is a plan sectional view of another modified operating member of the embodiment of fig. 4.

The present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate preferred embodiments of the slider for a slide fastener having an automatic locking mechanism without a pull tab of the present invention.

Referring to fig. 1 and 4, a slider for a slide fastener having a tabless automatic locking mechanism of the present invention basically comprises a slider body 1, an operating member 2 and an elastic plate 3, wherein the slider body 1 and the operating member 2 are made of a thermoplastic resin such as polyamide, polyaldehyde polypropylene or polybutylene terephthalate and formed by injection molding. Alternatively, the slider body 1 may be made of a metal such as an aluminum alloy or a zinc alloy and formed by die casting, and then combined with the operation member 2 made of a thermoplastic resin.

Referring first to fig. 1, the slider body 1 of the illustrated embodiment of the slider with automatic locking mechanism is a lower wing 5 of a substantially rectangular parallelepiped and having an upper wing 4, which are connected to each other by means of a guide post 6 at the side of a front opening 10. Further, the slider body 1 has a guide flange 7 for guiding the fastener elements and a guide groove 8 for guiding the fastener elements, the guide flange 7 is formed at the side edges of the upper and lower wing plates 4, 5, and the guide groove 8 is defined by the guide flange and the upper and lower wing plates 4, 5. Note that: the slider body 1 may have a guide flange 7 provided on the side of only one wing plate depending on the type of fastener element.

Referring to fig. 3, the upper wing plate 4 has a sufficient thickness and has a loading hole 12 extending from the front opening 10 to the rear opening 11 for loading the elastic plate 3, the loading hole 12 having an enlarged opening section 14 at the rear end of the slider body 1 horizontally extending from the rear opening 11 to a jaw loading hole 13 communicating with the guide groove 8, and the loading hole 12 having a small diameter above the guide post 6 and shaped to closely load a U-shaped spring 34 of the elastic plate 3. The slider body 1 also has a horizontal through hole 15 extending perpendicularly to the insertion hole 12 and crossing at the middle of the insertion hole 12, and the top wall of the insertion hole 12 has a downward small protrusion 19 at its crossing with the through hole 15 to stop the free front end of the U-shaped spring 34 of the elastic plate 3.

As seen in fig. 3, the top wall of the through hole 15 is higher than the top wall of the loading hole 12, so it allows easy loading of the elastic plate 3 and the operating member 2 and smooth operation thereof. At the end, the through hole 15 communicates with a wide groove 16 formed in the longitudinal direction along the side of the slider body 1 to fit a spring plate 29 of the operating member 2. The wide slot 16 has a pair of notches 17 at its opposite ends for engagingly receiving respective ends of a spring plate 29. Further, the through hole 15 extends upward at and near the side wall of the slider body 1, and a wide groove 16 is formed along it to insert the operating portion 24 of the operating member 2. On the other hand, the through hole 15 extends at its opposite ends and has a pair of inward projections 18, which are located close to the fitting hole 12 and on their respective walls, so as to engage corresponding lugs 27 provided on the legs 26 of the operating member 2.

The operating member 2 is shaped like a bow gun having a thick operating portion 24 at its end, and a driving portion 25 extending from the operating portion 24 toward a U-shaped front end forming a pair of legs 26. The pair of legs 26 are elastically deformable and each have a lateral triangular projection 27, which are intended to engage with the corresponding projections 18 of the through hole 15, respectively, to prevent the operating member 2 from coming out of the through hole 15.

The driving portion 25 has an inclined cam surface 28 in the middle thereof, and the cam surface 28 is adapted to act on a driving portion 35 of the elastic plate 3 to lift and lower the elastic plate 3 when the locking claw 33 of the elastic plate 3 is ready to be disengaged from the guide groove 8. The operating portion 24 has a pair of curved spring plates 29 projecting from opposite sides thereof, the pair of spring plates 29 being fitted into the wide grooves 16 of the upper wing plate 4 and engaging the corresponding notches 17 at the front end thereof to elastically move the operating member 2 back and forth relative to the slider body 1.

The elastic plate 3 is made of a metal band for a press, and has a locking jaw 33 at one end and a U-shaped spring 34 at the other end with an upwardly bulged driving portion 35 therebetween. The U-shaped spring 34 has a width slightly smaller than the rest of the elastic plate 3 and is adapted to be fitted into the narrow tubular fitting hole 12, a pair of lugs 36 oppositely projecting from the front end thereof being held by the respective edges of the narrow tubular fitting hole 12, while the ends thereof are engaged with small projections 19 provided on the top wall of the fitting hole 12 to prevent the elastic plate 3 from coming out of the fitting hole 12.

The slider body 1, the operating member 2, and the elastic plate 3 formed in the above-described shape are assembled in the following manner. First, the spring 34 of the spring plate 3 is introduced into the slider body 1 through the open section 14 until the front end of the spring plate 3 and the lug 36 engage the tab 19 and the edge of the narrow tubular installation hole 12, respectively, thereby placing the spring plate 3 in position within the slider body 1. In this state, the legs 26 of the operating member 2 are introduced into the through-hole 15 from the side of the slider body 1 where the wide groove 16 is formed, so that the U-shaped legs 26 pass between the bottom of the fitting hole 12 and the driving portion 35 of the elastic plate 3, and the two projections 27 are forced to pass between the two projections 18 of the through-hole 15 until the two projections 27 and the two corresponding projections 18 engage with each other to prevent the operating member 2 from coming out of the slider body 1. At the same time, the front end of the spring plate 29 extending laterally from the operating portion 24 engages with the corresponding notch 17 of the wide groove 16, so that the operating member 2 can be elastically moved within the slider body 1.

Once the slider is assembled and put in place, it can be slidably moved back and forth by holding the slider body 1 at the side and pushing the operating member 2 against its elastic resistance to push the driving portion 35 of the elastic plate 3 upward by the cam surface 28 of the operating member 2 until the locking claws 33 are withdrawn and disengaged from the corresponding fastener elements.

The slider with the automatic locking mechanism illustrated in fig. 4 will now be described. It also comprises a slider body 1, an operating part 2 and an elastic plate 3, while the slider body 1 has an upper wing 4 and a lower wing 5, which are connected to each other by means of a guide post 6 at the side of the front opening 10. Further, the slider body 1 has a guide flange 7 for guiding the fastener elements and a guide groove 8 for guiding the fastener elements, the guide flange 7 is formed at the side edges of the upper and lower wing plates 4, 5, and the guide groove 8 is defined by the guide flange and the upper and lower wing plates 4, 5 so as to guide the fastener elements.

Referring to fig. 4, the upper wing plate 4 has a narrow tubular fitting hole 12 at one side of the front opening 10, and the fitting hole 12 has an enlarged opening section 14 at the rear end of the slider body 1, which section extends horizontally from the rear opening 11 to a claw fitting hole 13. The narrow tubular insertion hole 12 above the guide post 6 communicates with a cavity section 21 extending horizontally on both sides of the partition wall 20 as far as the pawl insertion hole 13, while the top wall of the cavity section 21 has a transverse groove 22 at a position closer to the rear opening 11 of the slider body 1, the transverse groove 22 being shaped to allow both the driving portion 25 of the operating member 2 and the driving portion 35 of the elastic plate 3 to be inserted without difficulty. As shown in fig. 6, the top wall of the loading hole 12 has a downward tab 19 along the edge of the transverse slot 22 near the front opening 11 of the slider body 1 to stop the free front end of the U-shaped spring 34 of the elastic plate 3.

The operating member 2 has legs 30 extending from respective lateral ends of the relatively thick operating portion 24, with a partition wall 20 being provided therebetween. The two legs 30 are bent inwardly near the front end to create respective bent sections 31 which are arranged face to face opposite each other to form the drive portion 25. To assemble the slider, the two curved sections 31 are elastically deformed and introduced into the cavity section 21 from the side of the front opening 10 of the slider body 1 until the two curved sections 31 completely pass by the partition wall 20 and elastically restore the original shape in the lateral grooves 22 to face each other again and operate as the driving portion 25.

In the slider embodiment shown in fig. 7, the upper wing plate 4 of the slider body 1 has a bead section 23 at the side of the front opening 10 above the cavity section 21 for covering the operating member 2 which is fitted into the slider body 1 and can move back and forth within the slider body 1 for aesthetic reasons. With this arrangement, the operating portion 24 of the operating member 2, which is fitted into the cavity section 21 and exposed to the outside of the slider body 1, is not visible from above due to the bead section 23, thereby providing a slider without a pull tab that is comfortable in appearance.

Fig. 8 shows a plan sectional view of the operating part 2 with legs 30, only one of which has a wide bending section 31, which operates as the drive part 25. The operating member 2 can be made without any rocking motion when the two legs 30 slide along the respective partition walls 20. Fig. 9 shows a further alternative configuration of the foot 30 of the operating member 2. The bent sections 31 of the legs 30 are elastically held in contact with each other and each have triangular engaging projections 32 which are elastically engaged with each other to operate as the driving portion 25. The partition walls 20 can be made relatively thick so that the respective legs 30 can slide thereon without any shaking of the operating member 2. With any of the above-described means, the driving portion 25 can be held in sliding contact with the driving portion 35 of the elastic plate 3 fitted into the fitting hole 12 of the slider body 1.

The configuration of the elastic plate 3 is the same as that of the above-described embodiment, and includes a locking claw 33 at one end and a U-shaped spring 34 at the other end with a bulged driving portion 35 therebetween. The front end of the U-shaped spring 34 has oppositely projecting legs 30 which engage with corresponding edges of the partition wall 20, and when the spring plate 3 is inserted into the narrow tube-shaped installation hole 12 from the opening section 14 in the slider body 1, the front end of the U-shaped spring 34 is held by the small projection 19, so that the spring plate 3 is held in place. Then, when the legs 30 of the operating member 2 are elastically deformed, these legs are introduced into the cavity section 21 of the slider body 1, while the curved sections 31 of the legs 30 pass completely alongside the partition wall 20 until they enter the transverse slots 22, where they elastically resume their original shape, acting as driving portions 25 when they are held between the driving portions 35 of the elastic plate 3 and the bottom of the loading hole 12. The drive portion 25 can be simply implemented when the engaged projections 32 are engaged with each other. When the driving portion 25 pushes up the driving portion 35 of the elastic plate 3 until the locking claws 33 are retreated and disengaged from the corresponding fastener elements, the slider can be freely moved by moving the operating portion 24 back and forth.

Claims (8)

1. A slider for a slide fastener with an automatic locking mechanism includes a slider body having an upper wing plate, an operating member and an elastic plate, characterized in that a fitting hole for fitting the elastic plate is formed in the upper wing plate of the slider main body, the elastic plate has a locking jaw at one end thereof and a U-shaped spring at the other end thereof, a raised driving portion between both ends, said locking pawl of the elastic plate being retractably disposed in a guide groove provided in a lower wing plate of the slider body so as to guide the fastener element, and said operating member has a driving portion to be accommodated in said upper wing plate and held in sliding contact with said raised driving portion of the elastic plate, so as to operate the locking pawl, and the operating member is horizontally disposed so as to be movable forward and backward with respect to the slider main body.

2. A slider for a slide fastener with an automatic locking mechanism according to claim 1, wherein said fitting hole formed in the slider body has an enlarged opening section extending from the rear opening of the slider body to the pawl fitting hole and has a narrow tubular shape disposed above the guide post of the slider body, the narrow tubular shape having incorporated therein a U-shaped spring provided at its front end with oppositely projecting legs which engage with the respective edges of the fitting hole.

3. A slider for a slide fastener having an automatic locking mechanism according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a through hole is formed perpendicularly intersecting the longitudinal fitting hole of the slider body, the operating member is introduced into said through hole so as to enable the operating member to slide in a lateral direction, and a cam surface is formed on the driving portion of the operating member and is brought into sliding contact with the driving portion of the elastic plate to operate the locking pawl.

4. A slider for a slide fastener with an automatic locking mechanism according to claim 3, wherein thin elastic legs are formed projecting from the front end of said cam surface of the driving portion of the operating member in a U-shape, said thin elastic legs being provided at their respective front ends with projections engaging with inward projections provided at the middle of a through hole running through the slider body, and with elastic plates projecting from the opposite side ends of the operating portion exposed at the upper wing plate respectively and engaging with wide grooves formed in the through hole.

5. A slider for a slide fastener with an automatic locking mechanism according to claim 2, wherein a pair of partition walls are oppositely provided along both sides of the narrow tubular insertion hole which is above said guide post of the slider body, having a cavity section extending from the outside of the partition wall and extending forward from the pawl insertion hole, and the operating member is inserted into said cavity section and held movably forward and backward, said operating member having parallel legs extending from an operating portion exposed at the upper wing, the legs being bent at the front ends thereof to produce bent sections which operate as driving portions which are brought into sliding contact with the driving portions of the elastic plates to operate the locking pawls.

6. A slider for a slide fastener with an automatic locking mechanism according to claim 5, wherein said legs extending parallel to each other from the operating portion of the operating member are made elastic and bent at the front end to produce said bent sections, said bent sections being held in contact with each other and having respective engaging projections for resiliently engaging with each other to operate as said driving portion, said driving portion being in sliding contact with the driving portion of the elastic plate to operate the locking claws.

7. A slider for a slide fastener with an automatic locking mechanism according to claim 5, wherein said legs projecting in parallel with each other from the operating portion of the operating member are bent at the front end to produce said bent section, said legs being elastically deformed and introduced into the cavity section so that the bent sections are arranged face to face and operate as said driving portion which is brought into sliding contact with the driving portion of the elastic plate to operate the locking claws.

8. A slider for a slide fastener with an automatic locking mechanism according to claim 5, wherein a protective edge section is provided above the cavity section on the side of the front opening of the upper wing plate of the slider main body, the protective edge section projecting forwardly and outwardly to cover said operating portion of the operating member incorporated in the slider main body.