Snap fastener with a differentiated buttoning and unbuttoning effort female part

Abstract

A snap fastener, of the type comprising a female part (2) including a spring (11, 11a, 11b) and a male part (4) including a stem (5) for engagement with the spring, wherein a chamber (10, 10a, 10b) is provided for housing the spring and including shoulders (12, 12a, 12b) on a buttoning side, the shoulders having a length (L1) longer than a length (L2) of shoulders (13, 13a, 13b) arranged on the opposite side. Thus, a differentiated effort buttoning and unbuttoning mechanism between the stem (5) and the spring (11) is achieved. With respect to prior snap fasteners, the inventive snap fastener provides the advantage of requiring very small buttoning efforts, much smaller than those necessary for unbuttoning the snap fastener, thereby facilitating the snap fastener closing operation while providing a tightness closure upon having buttoned the snap fastener male and female parts.

Claims

1. A snap fastener, of a type comprising a female part (2) including a circular ring-shaped spring (11, 11a, 11b) having a circular inner hole (20) and a male part (4) having a male part stem (5) for engaging with said circular ring-shaped spring made of plastic material, said circular ring-shaped spring (11,11a,11b) comprises a slanted wall beveled portion (18) on said inner hole (20) that facilitates the engagement of the snap fastener male part (4) with said female part (2), characterized in that said snap fastener further comprises engagement means having different resistance to with differentiated buttoning and unbuttoning efforts, between said stem (5) and said circular ring-shaped spring (11,11a,11b), said engagement means comprising a chamber (10, 10a, 10b) provided inside said female part (2) for housing said circular ring-shaped spring (11, 11a, 11b), said chamber (10, 10a, 10b) further having a longer chamber shoulder (12, 12a, 12b) on a buttoning side of said female part (2), said longer chamber shoulder having a first length (L1) longer than a second length (L2) of a corresponding shorter chamber shoulder (13, 13a, 13b) arranged on an opposite side to said buttoning side of said female part (2), said longer chamber shoulder (12, 12a, 12b) provides said circular ring-shaped spring (11, 11a, 11b) with a corresponding shorter spring free portion (15, 15a, 15b) as compared to a corresponding longer spring free portion (14,14a,14b) of said circular ring-shaped spring (11, 11a,11b) whereby said shorter spring free portion (15, 15a, 15b) of said circular ring-shaped spring (11, 11a, 11b) provides an enhanced resistance against unbuttoning, and said circular ring-shaped spring (11, 11a, 11b) having a corresponding longer spring free portion (14, 14a, 14b), which deforms as said stem (5) engages said female part (2) and facilitates engagement of said female part (2) by a longer length of said longer spring free portion (14, 14a, 14b) of said circular ring-shaped spring (11, 11a, 11b.

2. A snap fastener, according to claim 1, characterized in that said female part (2) comprises two female bodies (2a, 2b), each said female body defining in turn an inner chamber (10a, 10b) for housing a corresponding circular ring-shaped spring (11a, 11b).

3. A snap fastener, according to claim 2, characterized in that said chambers (10a, 10b) comprise chamber shoulders having different lengths, namely longer chamber shoulders (12a, 12b) on the buttoning side and shorter chamber shoulders (13a, 13b) on an opposite side, respectively.

4. A snap fastener, according to claim 3, characterized in that said circular ring-shaped springs (11a, 11b) comprise longer spring free portions (14a, 14b) and shorter spring free portions (15a, 15b), thereby an engagement of said stem (5) in said female bodies (2a, 2b) is facilitated by the longer length of said longer spring free portions (14a, 14b), the shorter spring free portions (15a, 15b) of said circular ring-shaped springs (11a, 11b) on the stem (5) engagement side providing an enhanced resistance against unbuttoning.

5. A snap fastener, according to claim 1, characterized in that a third length (L3) of said circular ring-shaped spring (11) is substantially equal to said first length (L1) of said longer chamber shoulder (12) of the chamber (10) of the body (9) of the snap fastener female part (2) and projects from said longer chamber shoulder (12) only at an edge (19) of the circular inner hole (20) of said circular ring-shaped spring (11) wherein the third length (L3) is measured from an outer edge of said circular ring spring (11) to the edge (19) of the circular inner hole (20) of said circular ring-shaped spring (11).

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The above and yet other objects, advantages and features of the invention will become more apparent from the following disclosure of preferred embodiments of the invention which is illustrated, by way of non-limitative examples, in the figures of the accompanying drawings, where:

(2) FIG. 1 is an exploded cross-sectional view of a first embodiment of the snap fastener according to the present invention;

(3) FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a ring or annular spring of the female part of the snap fastener shown in FIG. 1;

(4) FIG. 3 shows a detail of a cap-shaped body of the female part of the snap fastener shown in FIG. 1;

(5) FIGS. 4 and 5 show the snap fastener of FIG. 1, during its buttoning up and unbuttoning operations, respectively;

(6) FIG. 6 is an exploded cross-sectional view showing the female part of a snap fastener including two female components;

(7) FIG. 7 shows the snap fastener including the female part shown in FIG. 6;

(8) FIG. 8 shows a modified embodiment of the snap fastener of FIG. 1; and

(9) FIGS. 9 and 10 show a further modified embodiment of the snap fastener according to the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

(10) The snap fastener according to the invention, which has been generally indicated by the reference number 1 in FIG. 1, comprises a snap fastener female part 2 clamped on a first support flap 7 (either of a fabric or other material) by a clamping head 3.

(11) A snap fastener 1 male part 4 cooperates with the above female part 2, said male part including in turn a male part stem 5 and being clamped on a second support 8 by a clamping element 6.

(12) As clearly shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the chamber 10 of the cap-shaped body 9 comprises a longer chamber shoulder 12, on the male part engaging; side, said shoulder having a first length L1, as well as a further shorter chamber shoulder 13, on the opposite side, having a second length L2, said length L1 being longer than said length L2.

(13) The above different lengths of the shoulders 12 and of the cap-shaped body 9 provide the spring 11, housed in the chamber 10, with corresponding spring free portions, i.e. a longer spring free portion 14 on the shoulder 13 side and a shorter spring portion 15 on the shoulder 12 side, respectively.

(14) The above different lengths of the shoulders 12 and 13 of the cap-shaped body 9 provide the spring 11, housed in the chamber 10, with corresponding spring free portions, i.e. a longer portion 14 on the shoulder 13 side and a shorter portion 15 on the shoulder 12 side, respectively.

(15) Thus, in the above embodiment and as is shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, a deformation of the spring 11 as the stem 5 is engaged in the female part 2 (see the arrow F1 in FIG. 4) is facilitated by the longer length of the free portion 14 of said spring 11.

(16) On the contrary, the shorter length of the free portion 15 of said spring 11, on the stem 5 engaging side, will provide an enhanced or higher resistance against an unbuttoning (see the arrow F2 in FIG. 5), thereby differentiating from the smaller effort required for the buttoning up operation.

(17) Advantageously, and us is clearly shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, the third length L3 of the annular spring 11 is substantially equal to the first length L1 of the shoulder 12 or the chamber 10 of the cap-shaped body 9 of the inventive snap fastener female part 2, and projects from said shoulder 12 only at an edge 19 of an inner hole 20 of said annular spring 11. Thus, the first length L1 of the shoulder 12 longer chamber covering the spring 11 will stiffen said spring, allowing it to efficiently hinder any unbuttoning effort. On the other hand, in the buttoning up operation, the stem 5 of the snap fastener male part will contact the free edge 19 of the spring 11, thereby facilitating a mutual centering and coupling thereof.

(18) In the modified embodiment shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the female part 2 comprises two female bodies 2a, 2b which may be coupled to one another by pointed portions or tips 16 of the body 2a which are clamped within corresponding seats 17 of the body 2b.

(19) Each said female body 2a, 2b forms in turn an inner chamber 10a, 10b for housing a corresponding spring 11a, 11b.

(20) Said chambers 10a, 10b are also provided with different length shoulders, i.e. longer chamber shoulders 12a, 12b on the buttoning side and shorter chamber shoulders 13a, 13b on the opposite side, respectively.

(21) The above configuration will in turn provide on the respective springs 11a, 11b longer spring free portions 14a, 14b and shorter spring free portions 15a, 15b, with the operating effects as previously disclosed with reference to the embodiments of FIGS. 4 and 5.

(22) The invention, as above disclosed, is susceptible to several modifications and variations all coming within the scope of the following claims.

(23) Thus, in particular, as shown in FIG. 8, the loop or ring element 11 has a slanted wall beveled portion 18 to facilitate the engagement of the snap fastener male part.

(24) Moreover, the ring or loop element 11 may also be made in different configurations, depending on corresponding configurations of the chamber 10 of the snap fastener female part body 9, as is shown, for example, in the accompanying FIGS. 9 and 10.