HK1015230B - Slide fastener slider - Google Patents

Description

Slider of zipper fastener

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a slider for a slide fastener, which can connect a tab to a slider body after assembling the slider body and prevent the tab from being removed accidentally.

Background

A variety of zipper sliders of the type described above are known. For example, in japanese patent publication No. hei1-14761, there is disclosed a free-type slider having a cantilever-type arc-shaped engaging lug integrally erected on an upper wing plate of a slider body at a front end thereof and extending toward a rear end thereof for holding a shaft of a tab between the engaging lug and the upper wing plate, a notch formed in an upper surface of the upper wing plate to face a rear end of the engaging lug to serve as a passage for the tab shaft, and an elastic member supported by the slider body or the engaging lug to always close a gap between the upper wing plate and the rear end of the engaging lug. During manufacture, for connecting the tab to the slider body, the elastic member is deformed by the tab shaft so that the tab shaft passes through the gap. Thereby, the pull tab can be freely attached and detached.

Japanese utility model patent publication No. hei 4-32974 discloses an automatic locking type slide fastener slider, as shown in fig. 10 of the drawings, which has a curved tab holder 20', the tab holder is pivotally mounted at its front end to a connecting lug 10 ', which stands on the upper end of a guide post 5', and extends towards the rear end of the upper wing plate 3 ', a brake lever 35' is pivotally mounted on the connecting lug 10 'at a position towards the guide post 5', the rear end of which, that is, a detent 36 'is inserted into the detent insertion hole 28' of the upper wing plate 3 ', the front end of which reaches a spring 26' received in a small vertical hole in the guide post 5 ', and the brake lever 35' has a notch 41 'opened rearward on the front side thereof, into which a shaft of a pull tab is to be received to actuate the brake lever 35'. The rear end of the tab holder 20 'forms a gap as a passage for the tab shaft together with the upper wing plate 3'. A gap closure 50 ' is slidably supported on the upper wing 3 ' for movement between a gap position and a gap open position towards the guide post 5 '. The tab may be attached to tab holder 20 ' by pushing gap closure 50 ' away from the gap by means of a tab shaft and detached from tab holder 20 ' by means of the gap.

Chinese patent No.264642 discloses a slide fastener slider with an automatic locking mechanism, as shown in fig. 11 of the drawings of this specification, having a cantilevered arcuate engaging lug 10 "standing on an upper wing plate 3" at its rear end and extending toward its front end, i.e., the upper end of a guide post 5 ", so as to form a gap between the downwardly curved front end of the engaging lug 10" and the upper surface of the guide post 5 "for passage of a tab shaft, a spring 26" accommodated in a first vertical through hole 16 "-1 of the guide post, a gap closing member 50" supported on the upper end of the spring 26 "and capable of being constantly pushed against the lower surface of the front end of the engaging lug 10" to close the gap 14 ", a second vertical through hole 16" -2 extending in the front end of the engaging lug and aligned with the first vertical through hole 16 "-1, a horizontal brake lever attachment hole 42 "vertically penetrates the second vertical through hole 16" -2 in the front end of the attachment lug 10 ", an elastic brake lever 35" is received in the brake lever attachment hole 42 ", and its rear end, for example, a brake pawl 36" is inserted into the brake pawl insertion hole 28 "of the upper wing plate 3" to telescopically protrude into the guide groove 7 "of the slider 1", and a brake lever fixing piece 60 "is inserted into the brake lever base slot 43" to fix the brake lever 35 ". The tab may be attached to the connecting lug 10 "via the gap 14" by pushing the gap closure 50 "down away from the forward end of the connecting lug 10" via the tab shaft.

However, in the slider disclosed in the first-mentioned publication, a stable tab catching mechanism cannot be obtained partly because the pulling force of the tab is directly applied to the elastic member and partly because the elastic member is supported in the engaging lug. Moreover, since the tab attaching and detaching mechanism and the tab holding mechanism are complicated, it is difficult to simply assemble the slider, making the resulting slider unsuitable for an automatic assembly process.

In the self-locking type slide fastener shown in fig. 10 and disclosed in the second mentioned publication, it is difficult to make an appropriate adjustment for smooth driving and working because of its complicated structure. Also, since both the automatic locking mechanism and the gap closing mechanism are constituted by a relatively large number of parts, it is difficult to assemble efficiently, and therefore, such a prior art slider is not suitable for automatic assembly. Moreover, since the height of the slider must be large due to its special structure, it cannot be made flat, and its appearance is not neat.

Also, in the self-locking slide fastener shown in fig. 11 and disclosed in the third mentioned publication, it is difficult to assemble the self-locking mechanism and the mechanism for preventing the tab from being removed on an automatic assembling machine in an in-line process. Therefore, such prior art sliders are not suitable for automatic assembly. Furthermore, after the tab is attached to the slider body, the shaft of the tab will be in direct contact with the gap closure member 50 ",

disclosure of Invention

It is, therefore, a primary object of the present invention to provide a slide fastener slider which can connect a tab to a connecting lug on a slider body after all other components of the slider are assembled, which is simple in structure and can reduce the number of parts, thus being manufactured in a simple automatic assembly process, and which is free from defects, excellent in workability, and has a flat profile with a neat overall appearance.

It is a second object of the present invention to provide a slide fastener slider which can smoothly guide a slider shaft to a rigid coupling lug on a slider body when pulling a slider, thereby ensuring smooth sliding on a fastener chain.

A third object of the present invention is to provide a slide fastener slider which can prevent a tab from being unintentionally removed from a slider body when the tab is pulled in any direction after the slide fastener slider is attached to two attachment lugs on the slider body.

A fourth object of the present invention is to provide a slide fastener slider which can surely and reliably guide a tab to a rigid connecting lug when the tab is pulled after the slide fastener slider is connected to both connecting lugs on a slider body, the slide fastener slider having a simple mechanism for preventing the tab from being removed by using a spring selected from various springs.

It is a fifth object of the present invention to provide an automatic locking type slide fastener slider which is simple to assemble and the automatic mechanism works freely.

A sixth object of the present invention is to provide a slide fastener slider in which a brake lever can be smoothly driven by pulling a tab, and a braking function can be reliably and conveniently exhibited.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a slider for slide fasteners comprising a slider body consisting of upper and lower wing plates joined at their front ends by a guide post; a pair of cantilevered arcuate attachment lugs spaced parallel to one another by a recess of uniform thickness, each attachment lug upstanding from the upper surface of the upper wing at the forward end of the slider body and extending toward the rearward end of the slider body to form a gap with the upper surface of the upper wing; a pull tab having a shaft at one end thereof adapted to pass through the gap; the two connecting lugs have respective bases with a spring receiving portion extending from the recess into the guide post; a detent lever pivotally connected to said base of said attachment lugs for pivotal movement within said recess to close said gap at one end thereof; and a spring accommodated in the spring accommodating portion, an upper end of which is in elastic contact with the other end of the detent lever, for urging the detent lever to perform a pivotal movement so as to always seal the gap by the one end.

According to a second aspect of the invention, one end of the detent lever is bent obliquely inward to form a hook.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the upper wing plate has a notch on an upper surface thereof facing the hook of the pawl lever, and the hook is normally received in the notch by the elastic force of the spring.

According to a fourth aspect of the invention, when the gap is closed by the hook of the detent lever, the inner edge of the connecting lug will be substantially laterally aligned with an inner edge of the detent lever; said spring receiving portion being a vertical bore extending through an inner facing surface of said base of said attachment lug and into said guide post; the spring is a spiral spring to be accommodated in the vertical hole, and the upper end of the spring is in elastic contact with the other end of the pawl rod; the recess has a bottom surface at the base of the connecting lug that slopes downward to the vertical hole.

According to a fifth aspect of the invention, when the gap is closed by the hook of the detent lever, the inner edge of the connecting lug will be substantially laterally aligned with an inner edge of the detent lever; said spring receiving portion is a spring receiving recess formed in a bottom surface of said recess at said base of said attachment lug; the spring is a U-shaped plate spring to be accommodated in the spring accommodating recess, and the upper end of the spring is in elastic contact with the other end of the pawl rod.

According to a sixth aspect of the invention, when the gap is closed by the hook of the detent lever, the inner edge of the connecting lug will be substantially laterally aligned with an inner edge of the detent lever; said spring receiving portion is a spring receiving recess formed in a bottom surface of said recess at said base of said attachment lug and having a bottom portion sloping downwardly toward said front end of said slider body; the spring is a row of flat springs to be substantially horizontally accommodated in the spring accommodating recess, and has an upper end elastically contacted with the other end of the catch lever and a rear end fixed to the slider body.

According to a seventh aspect of the invention, the slider is an automatic locking slider further comprising a generally L-shaped brake lever; said upper wing plate having a pawl insertion hole and a generally inverted L-shaped brake lever receiving groove in an upper surface thereof, said brake lever receiving groove having a thickness equal to a thickness of said recess and extending between said guide post and said pawl insertion hole; the brake lever is supported in and along the brake lever receiving groove, and has a brake pawl at a rear end thereof to be inserted in the brake pawl insertion hole, a front end thereof contacting the spring and the brake lever at lower and upper sides thereof, respectively, and a central bent portion at an upper side thereof frictionally contacting a lower surface of the brake lever; an inner edge of the detent lever is not aligned with the inner edge of the attachment lug so that it is visible from the outside.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, the brake lever is bent upward at a front end thereof to form an upward recess; the detent lever has a protrusion at the other end that frictionally contacts an inner surface of the recess.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a free form zipper slider of a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the slider of the first embodiment with a tab of the slider removed;

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view showing one manner of attaching the removable tab to a slider body;

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of an improved free form zipper slider of a second embodiment of the present invention with the tab removed;

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of another improved free form zipper slider of the third embodiment of the present invention with the tab removed;

FIG. 6 is a partial longitudinal cross-sectional view of yet another improved slider for a free-form zipper having a removable slider, in accordance with a fourth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of an automatic locking type fastener slider according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the slider of the fifth embodiment with the tab removed;

FIG. 9 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view showing one manner of attaching the tab to a slider body;

FIG. 10 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional self-locking zipper slider, with the top fly removed; and

FIG. 11 is an exploded perspective view of another conventional self-locking zipper slider, with the zipper pull removed.

Detailed Description

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIGS. 1-6 illustrate several different free form zipper sliders, and FIGS. 7-9 illustrate an automatically locking zipper slider. More specifically, fig. 1 to 3 show a free-form slide fastener of a first embodiment, in which a slide fastener body 1 is composed of upper and lower wing plates 3, 4 connected at their front ends by a guide post 5, each of the upper and lower wing plates 3, 4 having a pair of guide flanges 6 bent from opposite side edges, so that a guide groove 7 is formed between the upper and lower wing plates 3, 4 as a passage for a pair of link rows. Alternatively, the slider body may have a pair of guide flanges 6 on one of the upper and lower wings 3 and 4.

The slider body 1 has on the upper surface of its upper wing plate 3 a pair of arcuate engaging lugs 10 extending from the front end 8 towards the rear end 9 of the slider body 1 to which a tab 2 may be attached. Each of the connecting lugs 10 has a downwardly curved rear end which forms a gap 14 with the upper surface of the upper wing plate 3, the gap serving as a passage for the shaft 39 of the tab 2. The two attachment lugs 10 each have a wide base 12 projecting from the upper surface of the guide post 5 and spaced parallel to each other so as to define a recess 11 of uniform thickness along their entire length, whereby a detent lever 20 can be pivotally received in the recess 11 for pivotal movement about a horizontal pivot axis 27 extending through a pair of pivot holes 13 of the base 12 of the attachment lug 10 and a pivot hole 22 of the detent lever 20.

The two connecting lugs 10 and the guide post 5 together form a spring receiving portion 15 in the form of a vertical bore 16 which has a circular cross section and extends from the inner surface of the base 12 into the guide post 5. The recess 11 has a bottom surface 17 inclined downward to the front side between the two bases 12. A coil spring 26 is inserted in the vertical hole 16 so as to slightly protrude from the bottom surface 17 of the recess 11.

The detent lever 20 has a base end 21 which is thickened in the longitudinal direction so as to be able to come into contact with the inclined bottom surface 17 of the recess 11 and is pivotably mounted in the recess 11 between the two connecting lugs 10. On the other hand, the rear end of the detent lever 20 is bent obliquely inward to form a hook 24 so as to be able to close the gap 14 between the rear ends of the two connecting lugs 10 and the upper rail 3. The detent lever 20 has a shape such that: when it is received in the connecting lug 10, it can be covered by the two connecting lugs 10; more specifically, when the hook 24 contacts the upper wing plate 3, the gap 14 is closed by the elastic force of the coil spring 26 as described above, and the inner edge of the catch lever 20 is gradually aligned with the inner edges of the engaging lugs 10, as shown in fig. 2, so that the shaft 39 of the pull tab 2 can be slid along the inner edges of the engaging lugs 10 after the pull tab 2 is attached to the engaging lugs 10.

In the manufacturing process, the slider body 1 and the stopper rod 20 are first molded with metal such as aluminum alloy or zinc alloy by die casting, and then assembled with the coil spring 27 and the pivot 27 made of metal by an automatic assembling process, and then the tab 2 which may have a desired shape is attached to the obtained slider body 1. Alternatively, the slider body 1 and the detent lever 20 may be made of a thermoplastic resin such as polyacetal, polyamide, polypropylene or polybutylene terephthalate by means of a press molding method or an extrusion molding method.

In this assembling process, the coil spring 26 is inserted into the vertical hole 16 of the attachment lug from the upper end of the attachment lug 10, then the detent lever 20 is inserted into the recess 11 of the attachment lug 10 so that its base 21 elastically contacts the coil spring 26 and so that the pivot hole 13 of the attachment lug 10 is axially aligned with the pivot hole 22 of the detent lever 20, then the pivot 27 is inserted through these pivot holes 13, 22, and then the pivot is fixed to the base 12 of the attachment lug 10 by means of a device which can grip both ends thereof. Thus, the detent lever 20 can be pivotally mounted on the attachment lug 10, so that the hook 24 normally closes the gap 14 under the elastic force of the coil spring 26. Thus, the assembly of the slider body 1 is completed. Once this assembly is completed, the hook 24 of the catch lever 20 is pushed up away from the gap 14 by the shaft 39 of the pull tab 2 shown in FIG. 3, so that the lower end of the base 21 presses the spring 26 and can come into contact with the inclined bottom surface 17 of the recess 11, thereby allowing the shaft 39 of the pull tab 2 to pass through the gap 14. Thus, the connection of the slider body 1 with the tab 2 is completed, so that the slider can be slid by operating the tab 2 forward and backward.

Fig. 4 shows a modified free slide buckle body of a second embodiment of the present invention. The construction of the slider body 1 of this improved slider is the same as that of the first embodiment except that the spring receiving portion 15 is a spring receiving recess which is deep at its front side and extends from the upper surface of the upper wing 3 into the guide post 5, has a width equal to the width of the recess 11, and terminates short of the lower end of the guide post 5 in the upper surface of the guide post 5, and a U-shaped leaf spring 26 is mounted in a step 18 in the bottom surface of the spring receiving recess 15.

The base 21 of the detent lever 20, on the other hand, has a substantially horizontal bottom and a nose 23 at its front edge for holding the U-shaped leaf spring 26 stably in place. As already mentioned, when detent lever 20 closes gap 14 with hook 24, its inner edge is substantially laterally aligned with the inner edge of attachment lug 10, so that it is better able to resist an accidental, forceful pulling of pull tab 2.

For the assembly of the slider body 1, the U-shaped plate spring 26 is placed in the spring receiving recess 15 in the guide post 5 through the recess 11 of the attachment lug 10 with a front end of the lower portion thereof fitted in the step portion 18 of the inclined bottom surface of the recess 15, and then the detent lever 20 is placed in the recess 11 from the upper side with a front end of the upper portion of the U-shaped plate spring 26 in elastic contact with the bottom protrusion 23 of the base 21 of the detent lever 20. At the same time, the pivot hole 22 of the detent lever 20 is axially aligned with the pivot hole 13 of the attachment lug 10. The pivot 27 is then passed through the mutually aligned pivot holes 13, 22, thereby allowing pivotal movement of the detent lever 20. Thus, the slide fastener body 1 is completely assembled. After this fitting is completed, hook 24 of catch lever 20 is pushed up from the rear side away from gap 14 by shaft 39 of pull tab 2 against the elastic force of U-shaped leaf spring 26, so that shaft 39 of pull tab 2 can pass through gap 14. Thus, the connection of the tab 2 to the slider 1 is completed.

FIG. 5 shows another improved free form zipper slider of a third embodiment of the present invention. The construction of this slider is the same as the previous slider shown in figure 4 except that a flat leaf spring 26 is horizontally received in a relatively shallow spring receiving recess 15, the spring receiving recess 15 extending into the guide post 5 and having a width equal to the width of the recess 11. This shallow recess 15 also has a bottom surface 17 which slopes down to the front side to facilitate the action of the flat spring 26. Reference numeral 19 denotes a fixing projection which is located at the rear end of the shallow recess 15 and is to be clamped to hold the rear end of the flat spring 26.

At the rear end of the detent lever 20, a hook 24 acts as in the previous embodiment to close the gap 14. At the front end of the detent lever 20, the rear bottom of the base 21 has an arc-shaped surface gradually curved toward the rear edge thereof to press the flat spring 26 properly downward to elastically deform it. As in the previous embodiment, when the detent lever 20 closes the gap 14 with the hook 24, its inner edge is substantially laterally aligned with the inner edge of the attachment lug 10.

For the assembly of the slide fastener body 1, the flat spring 26 is placed substantially horizontally in the shallow recess 15 in the guide post 5 through the recess 11 of the attachment lug 10, and the rear end of the spring is brought into contact with the fixing projection 19 at the rear edge of the shallow recess 15, and then the fixing projection 19 is clamped to fix the rear end of the flat spring 26. Then, the catch lever 20 is placed from the upper side above the flat spring 26 in the recess 11 with the front bottom end elastically supported on the flat spring 26 and pivotally mounted on the connecting lug 10 by means of the pivot 27, thus completing the assembly of the slider body 1. After this fitting is completed, the hook 24 of the catch lever 20 is pushed up from the rear side away from the gap 14 by the shaft 39 of the pull tab 2 against the elastic force of the flat spring 26, so that the shaft 39 of the pull tab 2 can pass through the gap 14. Thus, the connection of the tab 2 to the slider 1 is completed.

FIG. 6 shows another modified free form zipper slider of the fourth embodiment of the present invention. This improved slider differs from the previously described ones in that: it has a hook receiving recess 25 at the rear end 9 of the upper wing plate 3 facing the rear end of the connecting lug. Such a hook receiving recess 25 extends over a wide range capable of receiving the lower surface of the rear end of the attachment lug 10. When the tab 2 is of the type: this improvement is extremely useful when there is a connecting ring at one end, rather than a shaft; in this case, the contour of the hook receiving recess 25 is substantially similar to that of the connection ring 39, so that it is possible to make the actual gap between the rear end of the connection lug 10 and the upper surface of the upper wing plate 3 smaller than the thickness of the connection ring 39 of the pull tab 2. With this arrangement, even if the pull tab 2 is pulled in any way, by pushing up the hook 24 of the catch lever 20, the pull tab 2 can be prevented from being accidentally detached from the slider body 1.

FIGS. 7-9 show an automatic locking type fastener slider according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention. The construction of this slider is the same as that of the free slider described above, except that it is equipped with an automatic locking mechanism. In this self-locking slider, as in the free type sliders described above, the slider body 1 is composed of upper and lower wing plates 4 connected at their front ends by a guide post 5, each of the upper and lower wing plates 3, 4 having a pair of guide flanges 6 bent along opposite side edges thereof, so that a guide groove 7 is formed between the upper and lower wing plates 3, 4 as a passage for a pair of link rows.

The slider body 1 also has a pair of arcuate attachment lugs on the upper surface of its upper wing plate 3 extending from the front end 8 towards the rear end 9 of the slider body 1. Each of the connecting lugs 10 has a downwardly curved rear end which forms a gap 14 with the upper surface of the upper wing plate 3, the gap serving as a passage for the shaft 39 of the tab 2. The two attachment lugs 10 each have a wide base 12 projecting from the upper surface of the guide post 5 and spaced parallel to each other so as to define a recess 11 of uniform thickness along their entire length, whereby a detent lever 20 can be pivotally received in the recess 11 for pivotal movement about a horizontal pivot axis 27 extending through a pair of pivot holes 13 of the base 12 of the attachment lug 10 and a pivot hole 22 of the detent lever 20. The two connecting lugs 10 together with the guide post 5 form a spring-receiving portion 15 in the form of a vertical bore 16 which has a circular cross section and extends from the inner surface of the base 12 into the guide post 5 at a position towards the front end 8.

As an important feature of the self-locking slider, the upper wing plate 3 has a dog insertion hole 28 communicating with the guide groove 7 at its central position. The recess 11 has an arc-shaped bottom 29 deeper at the front end 8 of the slider body 1 at the wide base 12 of the attachment lug 10, a slope 30 sloping downward from a peak 31, i.e., a rear edge of the bottom 29, to the pawl insertion hole 28, and a brake lever receiving groove 32 formed at a central position of the bottom 29 for receiving a generally L-shaped brake lever 35.

On the other hand, the detent lever 20 received in the recess 11 between the two attachment lugs 10 has a hook 24 at its rear end for normally closing the gap 14 between the rear ends of the two attachment lugs 10 and the upper wing plate 3, and a longitudinally wide base end 12 at its front end. The detent lever has a shape such that: when the hook 24 touches the upper wing plate 3 to close the gap 14 under the elastic force of the coil spring 26, the inner edge of the detent lever 20 is no longer laterally aligned with the inner edge of the attachment lug 10 so as to be visible from the outside; that is, the inner edge of the detent lever 20 protrudes downward from the inner edge of the attachment lug 10. When the pull tab 2 is pulled down, the shaft 39 of the pull tab 2 slides around the pivot 27 along the inner edge of the detent lever 20.

The generally L-shaped brake lever 35 has a pawl 36 at one end thereof which is curved so that it can be inserted into the pawl receptacle 28, and the other half of the brake lever 35 has a shape such that: it can be accommodated loosely in the curved bottom 29 of the slider body 1. The ends of the halves are curved so as to form an arcuate portion 37. The brake lever 35 is bent at the rear end of the arc portion 37 to form a bent portion 38.

In the manufacturing process, the slider body 1, the catch lever 20 and the brake lever 35 are molded by using the same material as in the previous embodiment, and then assembled by an automatic assembling process, and then the tab 2 is attached to the slider body 1 thus obtained. In this assembling process, the coil spring 26 is inserted into the vertical hole 16 of the attachment lug 10 from the upper end thereof, and then the brake lever 35 is placed in the brake lever receiving groove 32 from the upper side thereof by means of the recess 11 with its central bent portion 38 supported on the peak 31 of the brake lever receiving groove 32 and its rear end, i.e., the brake pawl 36, inserted into the brake pawl insertion hole 28 and also with its front end, i.e., the arc-shaped portion 37, contacting the upper end of the coil spring 26. The detent lever 20 is then inserted into the recess 11 from the upper side thereof and the projection is frictionally received within the arcuate projection 37 of the detent lever 35. At the same time, the pivot hole 13 of the attachment lug 10 is axially aligned with the pivot hole 22 of the detent lever 20, the pivot 27 is passed through these pivot holes 13, 22, and then both ends thereof are fixed to the base 21 of the attachment lug 10, thus completing the assembly of the slider body 1. As the brake lever 20 pivots about the pivot 27, the brake lever 35 will pivot about the peak 31.

After this fitting is completed, the shaft 39 of the tab 2 can be passed through the gap 14 by pushing it upward from the rear side of the hook 24 of the detent lever 20 away from the gap 14 by means of the shaft 39 of the tab 2 shown in fig. 9. Thus, the automatic locking type slider is completed. If the pull tab 2 is pulled forward or backward, the shaft 39 will cause the detent lever 20 to pivot, which causes the protrusion 33 of the base 21 of the detent lever 20 to push the recess 37 of the detent lever 35 downward, which causes the detent 36 to retract from the guide slot 7, thereby allowing the slider to slide back and forth.

Alternatively, the coil spring 26 may be replaced with a U-shaped plate spring 26 as shown in fig. 4, in which the spring receiving recess 32 is hidden at the front side 8 of the slider body 1, supporting the front end of the brake lever 35.

By adopting the slide fastener, the following advantages can be obtained:

in accordance with the first aspect of the invention, part of it is due to the fact that the upper wing plate 3 has a pair of parallel spaced arcuate attachment lugs 10 which stand on the guide posts 5 at the front end 8 of the slider body 1 and extend towards the rear end 9 thereof, so as to form, together with the upper wing plate 3, a gap 14 which serves as a passage for the shaft 39 of the pull tab 2; partly because a spring receiving portion 15 is formed opposite to the inner surface of the base 12 of the attachment lug 10; another part is due to a detent lever 20 being pivotally mounted in the recess 11 between the two attachment lugs 10 in such a way that: one end is elastically contacted with the spring 26 accommodated in the spring accommodating portion 15 and the other end closes the gap, so that the number of parts of the free type slider and the number of parts of a slider having an automatic locking type mechanism can be reduced, thereby facilitating the supply of the parts to the assembling station and simplifying the assembling process. Therefore, a slider having a flat shape and thus an excellent appearance can be easily mounted on an automatic mounting machine with high productivity.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since one end of the catch lever 20 is bent obliquely inward as a hook 24 to close the gap 14, the pull tab 2 can be connected to the slider 1 in a simple manner and can be prevented from being inadvertently detached. Moreover, when the pulling tab 2 is pulled, the shaft 39 of the pulling tab 2 is smoothly guided through the connecting lug 10, so that it can be ensured to smoothly slide on a slide fastener chain.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the upper wing 3 has a recess 25 facing the hook 24 of the catch lever 20 on the upper surface thereof, wherein the hook 24 is always received in the recess 25 by the elastic force of the spring 26, the hook 24 can elastically contact the recess 25, and the pull tab 2 can be prevented from being inadvertently detached from the buckle body 1 when being pulled in any direction.

According to the fourth aspect of the invention, partly because when the gap 14 is closed by the hook 24 of the detent lever 20, the inner edge of the connecting lug 10 will be substantially laterally aligned with an inner edge of the detent lever 20; partly because the spring receiving portion 15 is a vertical hole 16 extending through the inner surface of the base 12 of the connecting lug 10 facing it and into the guide post 5; another part is because the spring 26 is a coil spring received in the vertical hole 16 and its upper end elastically contacts the other end of the detent lever 20; and also partly because the recess 11 has a bottom surface sloping downward to the vertical hole 16 at the base 12 of the engaging lug 10, the tab 2 can be reliably guided through the engaging lug 10 when the tab 2 is pulled, and the slider can have a reliable mechanism for preventing removal of the tab by using the coil spring, which can be mounted in the slider body 1 in a simple manner by an automatic assembling machine, especially when it is a slider without an automatic locking mechanism.

According to the fifth aspect of the invention, partly because when the gap 14 is closed by the hook 24 of the detent lever 20, the inner edge of the connecting lug 10 will be substantially laterally aligned with the inner edge of the detent lever 20; partly because the spring receiving portion 15 is a spring receiving recess formed in the bottom surface of the recess 11 at the base 12 of the attachment lug 10; partly because the spring 26 is a U-shaped plate spring to be accommodated in a spring accommodation recess and its upper portion elastically contacts the other end of the catch lever 20, the pull tab 2 can be surely and reliably guided through the connecting lug 10 when the pull tab 2 is pulled, and by using the coil spring, the slider can have a reliable mechanism for preventing removal of the pull tab, and the spring can be mounted in the slider body 1 by an automatic assembling machine in a simple manner, particularly when it is a slider without an automatic locking mechanism.

According to a sixth aspect of the invention, when the gap 14 is closed by the hook 24 of the detent lever 20, the inner edge of the connecting lug 10 will be substantially laterally aligned with the inner edge of the detent lever 20; partly because the spring receiving portion 15 is a spring receiving recess formed in the bottom surface of the recess 11 at the base 12 of the attachment lug 10 and having a bottom surface inclined downward toward the front end 8 of the slider body 1; partly because the spring 26 is a flat spring accommodated substantially horizontally in the spring accommodation recess and its front end elastically contacts the other end of the catch lever 20, when the tab 2 is pulled, the tab 2 can be surely guided through the attaching lug 10, and by using the flat spring, the slider can have a reliable mechanism for preventing the tab from being removed, and the spring can be mounted in the slider body 1 by an automatic assembling machine in a simple manner, particularly when it is a slider without an automatic locking mechanism.

In accordance with a seventh aspect of the present invention, in part because the slider is a self-locking slider, it further includes a generally horizontal L-shaped detent lever 35; partly because the upper wing plate 3 has in its upper surface a detent-receiving recess 28 and a generally inverted-L-shaped detent-lever-receiving groove 32 of a thickness equal to that of the recess 11 and extending between the guide post 5 and the detent-receiving recess 28; a brake lever 35 supported in and along the brake lever receiving groove 32 in part and having a brake pawl 36 at its rear end inserted into the pawl insertion hole 28, contacting the spring 26 and the pawl lever 20 at its front end at its lower and upper sides, respectively, and having a central curved portion 38 at its upper side in frictional contact with a lower surface of the pawl lever 20; partly because the inner edge of the catch lever 20 will no longer be aligned with the inner edge of the attachment lug 10, so that it can be seen from the outside, the self-locking slide can be fitted simply and an automatic mechanism can be operated smoothly by means of the pull tab 2.

According to the eighth aspect of the present invention, a part of the brake lever 35 is bent upward at its front end to form an upward recess 37; since the brake lever 20 has a convex portion at the other end thereof which is in frictional contact with the inner surface of the concave portion 37, the brake lever 35 can be smoothly driven by pulling the pull tab 2, and braking can be performed reliably and easily.

Claims (8)

1. A zipper slider comprises a slider body (1) consisting of an upper wing plate (3) and a lower wing plate (4); the upper and lower wing plates are connected at their front ends by a guide post (5); a connecting lug which stands on the upper surface of the upper wing plate (3) and forms a gap (14) between the free end of the connecting lug and the upper surface of the upper wing plate (3); a gap closing member; a pull tab (2) having a shaft (39) at one end thereof for passing through the gap (14); a resilient member for normally urging the gap closure member to close the gap (14),

the method is characterized in that: said connecting lugs are constituted by a pair of cantilevered arcuate connecting lugs (10) spaced parallel to each other by a recess (11) of uniform thickness, each connecting lug standing on said upper surface of said upper wing (3) at the front end (8) of said slider body (1) and extending towards the rear end (9) of said slider body (1) so as to form a gap (14) with said upper surface of said upper wing (3); the two connecting lugs (10) having respective bases (12) with a spring receiving portion (15) extending from the recess (11) into the guide post (5); the gap closure is a detent lever (20) which is pivotally connected to the base (12) of the connecting lug (10) for pivotal movement within the recess (11) so as to be able to close the gap (14) by one end thereof; the elastic member is a spring (26) accommodated in the spring accommodating portion (15), and an upper end thereof is in elastic contact with the other end of the detent lever (20) for urging the detent lever (20) to make a pivotal movement so as to normally close the gap (14) by the one end.

2. The zipper slider of claim 1 wherein said one end of said pawl lever (20) is bent obliquely inwardly to form a hook (24).

3. The slider of claim 1, wherein said upper wing (3) has, on its upper surface, a recess (25) facing said hook (24) of said pawl lever (20), said hook being normally received in said recess under the action of the elastic force of said spring (26).

4. The zipper slider of claim 1, 2 or 3, characterized in that the inner edge of said connecting lug (10) will be substantially laterally aligned with an inner edge of said pawl lever (20) when said gap (14) is enclosed by said hook (24) of said pawl lever (20); said spring receiving portion (15) being a vertical bore (16) extending through the inner facing surface of said base (12) of said attachment lug (10) and into said guide post (5); the spring (26) is a spiral spring to be accommodated in the vertical hole (16), and the upper end of the spring is elastically contacted with the other end of the pawl rod (20); the recess (11) has a bottom surface inclined downward to the vertical hole (16) at the base (12) of the connecting lug (10).

5. The zipper slider of claim 1, 2 or 3, characterized in that the inner edge of said connecting lug (10) will be substantially laterally aligned with an inner edge of said pawl lever (20) when said gap (14) is enclosed by said hook (24) of said pawl lever (20); the spring receiving portion (15) is a spring receiving recess formed in the bottom surface of the recess (11) at the base (12) of the attachment lug (10); the spring (26) is a U-shaped plate spring to be received in the spring receiving recess (15), and an upper end thereof is elastically contacted with the other end of the pawl lever (20).

6. The zipper slider of claim 1, 2 or 3, characterized in that the inner edge of said connecting lug (10) will be substantially laterally aligned with an inner edge of said pawl lever (20) when said gap (14) is enclosed by said hook (24) of said pawl lever (20); said spring receiving portion (15) is a spring receiving recess formed in a bottom surface of said recess (11) at said base (12) of said attachment lug (10) and having a bottom portion inclined downwardly toward said front end (8) of said slider body (1); the spring (26) is a flat spring substantially horizontally accommodated in the spring accommodation recess (15), and has an upper end elastically contacting the other end of the catch lever (20) and a rear end fixed to the slider body (1).

7. The zipper slider of claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein said slider is an auto-locking slider further comprising a generally L-shaped brake lever (35); said upper wing plate (3) having, on its upper surface, a pawl receptacle (28) and a brake lever receiving groove (32) of substantially inverted L-shape, the brake lever receiving groove having a thickness equal to the thickness of said recess (11) and extending between said guide post (5) and said pawl receptacle (28); the brake lever (35) is supported in and along the brake lever receiving groove (32) and has a brake pawl (36) inserted in the brake pawl insertion hole (28) at its rear end, its front end being in contact with the spring (26) and the brake lever (20) at its lower and upper sides, respectively, and having a central bent portion (38) at its upper side in frictional contact with a lower surface of the brake lever (20); an inner edge of the detent lever (20) is not aligned with the inner edge of the connecting lug (10) so that it can be seen from the outside.

8. The fastener slider of claim 7, wherein said brake lever (35) is bent upwardly at its front end to form an upwardly facing recess (37); the detent lever (20) has a protrusion (33) at the other end in frictional contact with an inner surface of the recess (37).