FEMALE MEMBER OF SNAP FASTENER AND RESIN SPRING USED THEREIN

Abstract

A female member (1) of a snap fastener includes a main body (2) made of a metal and having a cylindrical tube portion (23) and a dish-shaped portion (22), a resin spring (3) housed in the main body (2), and a surface covering member (4) crimped onto the cylindrical tube portion (23). The resin spring (3) is a resin plate that can be housed in the main body (2), and the resin plate has a slot (35, 35A, 35B, 35C) at a central portion thereof. The cylindrical tube portion (23) has a support portion for the resin spring (3), and the resin spring (3, 3A, 3B, 3C) is fixed in position by the support portion.

Claims

1. (canceled)

2. A female member (1) of a snap fastener, the female member (1) of a snap fastener comprising: a main body (2) made of a metal and having a cylindrical tube portion (23) and a dish-shaped portion (22); a resin spring (3) housed in the main body (2); and a surface covering member (4) crimped onto the main body (2) made of, wherein the resin spring (3) is a resin plate that can be housed in the main body (2) of the female member, the resin plate having a slot (35, 35A, 35B, 35C) at a central portion thereof, and the cylindrical tube portion (23) has a slit (24) that supports the resin spring (3), and the resin spring (3, 3A, 3B, 3C) is fixed in position by the slit (24).

3. (canceled)

4. A resin spring (3, 3A, 3B, 3C) for use in a female member (1) of a snap fastener, wherein the resin spring (3, 3A, 3B, 3C) is a resin plate that can be housed in a main body (2) of the female member, the resin plate having a slot (35, 35A, 35B, 35C) at a central portion thereof.

5. The resin spring according to claim 4, wherein the resin spring (3, 3A, 3C) is formed by two wide portions (31, 32; 31A, 32A; 31C, 32C) that oppose each other and two narrow portions (33, 34; 33A, 34A; 33C, 34C) that oppose each other.

6. The resin spring (3C) according to claim 5, wherein walls of the wide portions (31C, 32C) that form the slot (35C) of the resin spring (3C) are inclined so that the area of the slot (35C) gradually increases in a fitting direction.

7. The resin spring (3B) according to claim 5, wherein wire springs (37, 38) are used instead of the wide portions (31A, 32A).

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0026] FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a main body and a resin spring of a female member of a snap fastener according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0027] FIGS. 2(a) to 2(d) show the main body and the resin spring; FIG. 2(a) is a plan view, FIG. 2(b) is a bottom view, FIG. 2(c) is a side view, FIG. 2(d) is a cross-sectional view taken along line D-D in FIG. 2(a), and FIG. 2(e) is a cross-sectional view taken along line E-E in FIG. 2(a).

[0028] FIGS. 3(a) and 3(b) are cross-sectional views illustrating a process of fixing the resin spring through crimping; FIG. 3(a) shows the cross section taken along line D-D in FIG. 2(a), and FIG. 3(b) shows the cross section taken along line E-E in FIG. 2(a).

[0029] FIGS. 4(a), 4(b), and 4(c) are cross-sectional views illustrating a method for producing the female member of the snap fastener, and FIGS. 4(c) and 4(d) are cross-sectional views illustrating a method for fitting the female member and a male member to each other.

[0030] FIGS. 5(a) and 5(b) are a front view and a horizontal cross-sectional view, respectively, showing a modification (Embodiment 2) of the resin spring.

[0031] FIGS. 6(a) and 6(b) are a front view and a horizontal cross-sectional view, respectively, showing a modification (Embodiment 3) of the resin spring.

[0032] FIGS. 7(a) and 7(b) are a front view and a horizontal cross-sectional view, respectively, showing a modification (Embodiment 4) of the resin spring.

[0033] FIGS. 8(a) and 8(b) are cross-sectional views illustrating a production process according to a conventional technology 1 (WO 97/15207).

[0034] FIGS. 9(a) and 9(b) are cross-sectional views illustrating a production process according to a conventional technology 2 (JP 2000-279209A).

MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Embodiment 1

[0035] FIGS. 1 and 2 show a main body 2 and a resin spring 3 that are components constituting a female member 1 of a snap fastener.

[0036] The main body 2 is made of a metal such as brass, and has a dish-shaped portion 22 having a rim portion 21 and a cylindrical tube portion 23 protruding from the center of the dish-shaped portion 22. It is preferable that the entire main body 2 is integrally formed through deep drawing. A letter or a figure (not shown) can be inscribed on a surface of the dish-shaped portion 22. The cylindrical tube portion 23 has two slits 24 that are placed near the base thereof and oppose each other, and a leading end of the cylindrical tube portion 23 is bent in an inward direction of the cylindrical tube to form an inward flange 25.

[0037] The resin spring 3 is shaped like a handguard of a Japanese sword, and has a slot 35 that is formed by left and right wide portions 31 and 32 as well as upper and lower narrow portions 33 and 34 and extends in the vertical direction. This shape is similar to a metal spring (double-spring type) that has been introduced at the beginning of the specification and that has a shape in which two wire rods oppose each other. Polyamide (nylon) or polyester is preferable as the resin of the resin spring 3.

[0038] In this embodiment, the resin spring 3 has a length of 11.2 mm in the left-right direction and a length of 11.2 mm in the upper-lower direction, and the slot 35 has a width of 3.6 mm, a length of 9.6 mm in the longitudinal direction, and a thickness of 0.7 mm.

[0039] When this resin spring 3 is fitted to the main body 2, as shown in FIGS. 2(a) to 2(e), the resin spring 3 stops at the slits 24 of the cylindrical tube portion 23 and is fixed in this position. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 3, a leading end 26 of the rim portion 21 of the main body 2 is crimped onto the resin spring 3. Although a slight gap is left between the resin spring 3 and the rim portion 21 of the main body 2, the resin spring 3 is supported and fixed by the slits 24 and the leading end 26 of the rim portion 21, and is therefore not allowed to move and unlikely to detach.

[0040] FIGS. 4(a) to 4(c) illustrates a manner in which the female member 1 of a snap fastener is formed using these components.

[0041] First, a surface covering member 4 is prepared separately from the female member components 2 and 3 in FIG. 1. The surface covering member 4 has a disk-shaped decorative plate 41 and a cylindrical leg portion 42 extending downward from the center thereof. It is preferable that the decorative plate 41 and the leg portion 42 are integrally formed using a metal such as brass.

[0042] As shown in FIGS. 4(a) and 4(b), the female member components 2 and 3 in FIG. 1 and the surface covering member 4 are fitted together with a hole 51 that is preliminarily formed in a fabric 5 sandwiched therebetween. As shown in FIG. 4(c), the leg portion 42 of the surface covering member 4 is crimped onto the flange 25 of the cylindrical tube portion 23 using a crimping machine, and thus the female member 1 of a snap fastener is completed.

[0043] This female member 1 of the snap fastener can be snap-fitted to a male member 7 of the snap fastener that is fixed to a fabric 6. In the fitted state, as shown in FIG. 4(d), the resin spring 3 of the female member 1 of the snap fastener presses against and resiliently supports a head portion 71 of the male member 7.

[0044] FIGS. 5 to 7 show modifications of the resin spring.

Embodiment 2

[0045] A resin spring 3A in FIG. 5 has a slit 36 in one narrow portion 34A Since the strength is reduced, it is preferable to increase the length in the upper-lower direction of a narrow portion 33A that opposes the narrow portion 34A.

Embodiment 3

[0046] A resin spring 3B in FIG. 6 has wire springs 37 and 38 instead of the wide portions 31A and 32A Each wire spring extends in a circular arc shape from near a corresponding one end portion of the slot in the longitudinal direction along the rim portion of the dish-shaped portion. With this configuration, a weight reduction can be achieved.

Embodiment 4

[0047] A resin spring 3C in FIG. 7 is similar to that of Embodiment 1, but has a configuration in which walls of wide portions 31C and 32C that form a slot 35C are inclined so that the area of the slot 35C gradually increases in a fitting direction. With this configuration, the head portion 71 of the male member 7 is easily received in the resin spring 3C, but it is difficult to pull out the head portion 71 therefrom.

REFERENCE SIGNS

[0048] 1 Snap fastener female member [0049] 2 Main body [0050] 2X Main body (conventional technology) [0051] 2Y Main body (conventional technology) [0052] 21 Rim portion [0053] 22 Dish-shaped portion [0054] 22X Dish-shaped portion (conventional technology) [0055] 22Y Dish-shaped portion (conventional technology) [0056] 23 Cylindrical tube portion [0057] 24 Slit [0058] 25 Flange [0059] 26 Leading end of rim portion [0060] 3 Resin spring [0061] 3A Resin spring [0062] 3B Resin spring [0063] 3C Resin spring [0064] 3X Resin spring (conventional technology) [0065] 3Y Resin spring (conventional technology) [0066] 31, 32 Wide portion [0067] 31A, 32A Wide portion [0068] 31C, 32C Wide portion [0069] 33, 34 Narrow portion [0070] 33A Narrow portion [0071] 34A Narrow portion [0072] 35 Slot [0073] 35C Slot [0074] 36 Slit [0075] 37, 38 Wire spring [0076] 4 Surface covering member [0077] 41 Decorative plate [0078] 42 Leg portion [0079] 5, 6 Fabric [0080] 51 Hole [0081] 7 Snap fastener male member