Reciprocal fitting system

Abstract

A fitting system with at least two connecting pieces that fit together. The connecting pieces comprise a male connector and a female connector simultaneously in the same part, and have additional retainers. This fitting system can be coupled to various products such as storage recipients or packages in various areas (cosmetics, foodstuffs, pharmaceuticals, etc.).

Claims

1. A reciprocal fitting system with at least two connecting pieces that reciprocally engage together without a magnetic element, wherein each connecting piece comprises one male semicircular shoulder and one female semicircular recess in the connecting piece, and an additional retainer is protruding from an internal wall of the male shoulder; and wherein the additional retainers are provided and engaging as a pair in a triangle, semicircular or trapezoid format, with similar sizes and spatial configuration while inversely positioned on the respective internal walls of the male shoulders of the connecting pieces.

2. The reciprocal fitting system, as defined in claim 1, wherein the connecting pieces are made from wood or rubbery materials.

3. The reciprocal fitting system, as defined in claim 1, wherein each connecting pieces is embedded in a product packaging.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

(1) The description that follows seeks to highlight the proposal and its principle, without being limited to the drawings or components mentioned, having as reference the following illustrations listed below:

(2) FIG. 1: shows a modality of the connection element in which the male coupling (A), female coupling (B) conformations and the additional retainer in a triangular shape (C) are present;

(3) FIGS. 1, 2 and 3: show the male and female fittings in a semi-circular shape.

(4) FIGS. 4, 5 and 6: show the sectional view of the separated and fitted pieces, with an opening to facilitate the disengagement of the pieces;

(5) FIG. 5/A: shows the additional retainer of the parts when coupled;

(6) FIG. 7: shows the perspective views of the connector parts in different formats of the male and female couplings, or of the parts of the fitting system;

(7) FIG. 8: shows the fitting system attached and detached to objects of varying sizes;

(8) FIG. 9: shows a model of the connection element seen in side section, with the slit/opening to facilitate the disconnection, without the additional reciprocal retainers, and the measures that compose it serve as a basis for other objects with applications of physical principles of the Reciprocal Fitting System:

(9) a: measure of the coupling/shoulder or male lockd/2

(10) b: angle of the inner wall (k) of the female coupling=0.1 degree to 85 degrees;

(11) c: angle of external wall compensation=0.5 degrees to 85 degrees;

(12) d: fitting measures=a+a

(13) e: external distance d=2 h

(14) f: depth of fitting/coupling or female cavityd/10;

(15) f: height of the male socketf, and cannot be less than f/2

(16) g: measures of the fit in the bodyd;

(17) h: overall thickness, depending on the material strength and connector dimensions

(18) i: height of fitting in the bodyd/10;

(19) k: internal wall of the female coupling

(20) FIG. 10: shows a model of the additional retainer that is attached to the inner side of each male and female coupling, in a triangular shape, being able to adopt other shapes, such as: trapezoidal, with the measures below:

(21) FIG. 10/A: shoulder length

(22) FIG. 10/B: shoulder height

(23) FIG. 10/a: entry angle

(24) FIG. 10/b: exit angle

(25) FIG. 10: the entry angle ato exit angle b

(26) FIG. 11: show additional retainer measures in different formats:

(27) Subtitle

(28) a=shoulder angle

(29) b=space between walls

(30) c=shoulder height

(31) d=face parallel to the shoulder

(32) e=Shoulder length

(33) r=arc radius

(34) FIG. 11/A

(35) b>0

(36) c= b a b

(37) cr

(38) ec

(39) r>0

(40) FIG. 11/B

(41) b>0

(42) C= b a b

(43) cr

(44) 2ce

(45) r>0

(46) FIG. 11/C

(47) a=45 to 89

(48) b>0

(49) c= b a b

(50) d>0

(51) FIG. 11/D

(52) a=45 to 89

(53) b>0

(54) c= b a b

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(55) As shown in an embodiment of the system (FIG. 1), each one of the connector parts has the same geometric shape of the shoulder or projection (male partFIG. 1/A) and of recess or indentation (female partFIG. 1/B) in the same piece, an additional retainer (FIG. 1/C), which can be presented in several formats, such as, for example, in the semi-circular shape (FIG. 2-3), or in other geometric shapes as exemplified in FIG. 7 or still others than those illustrated, provided that the two parts (male coupling and female coupling) are similar in size and spatial configuration, with the male coupling being equal to or less than half the distance of the connector (FIG. 9d) and having equal height or less than the height of the female cavity (FIG. 9f), that is, the male connector must have dimensions compatible with the female cavity as long as the fit, locking and stability of the connected parts are preservedwhich directly depends on the properties of the materials used, making that the protrusion of one fits into the recess of the other, so the grooves are reciprocal and, due to the standardization of size and shape for a given object, it also makes it universal, a characteristic that enables the combination of different types of objects.

(56) The fixing of the connection by pressure becomes impermeable since the first part assumes a conformation according to the base and shape of the second part, which causes a good seal and keeps the parts effectively fixed to each other, mainly necessary in parts of large size or connecting multiple items. That is, the recess of one of the parts fills the space in which the shoulder of the other part to be joined will be applied, in which the external measure of the boss (male coupling) corresponds to the internal measure of the second corresponding part (cavity of the female part). Another advantage of the present system is the stability and firmness of the connection with a reduction in the height of the connector element (height of the shoulder and recess) compared to the current fitting systems, since the system has both the male and the female part in each part, bringing benefits of practical use so that more objects can be connected with efficiency, even those that had no previous connection system, besides having the advantage of significant reduction in the amount of raw material used, compared to the current plug-ins systems. The additional retention can be dispensed depending on the size and material of the connectors, being necessary for connectors with reduced dimensions when compared to the existing models.

(57) The present invention can be assembled and disassembled manually, without the need for specific tools, screws or fixing pins, in addition to being highly intuitive for use (snapping movement and pull-out).

(58) Due to the effectiveness of the retention of the reciprocal fitting system, a slit/opening or some type of structure may be present in the part to be connected/disconnected to support the fingers and facilitate the disengagement in order to avoid the need for disengagement using tools (FIG. 2/A) as in the case of plug-in blocks where the height is especially small for handling when using only your hands. For slightly larger objects such as cosmetic products, the packaging body is usually large enough and dispense the need of slits/fingers.

(59) In accordance with that illustrated by FIGS. 1 to 8, the present invention entitled Reciprocal Fitting System was developed in order to solve multiple problems currently faced by the state of the art.

(60) In one of the possible representations, the present invention comprises two or more connecting pieces (FIG. 1) with each piece (male couplingFIG. 1/A) having a shoulder with a shape and size similar to the recess (female couplingFIG. 1/B) with the hollow internal part of the body, where the male coupling will be coupled. The spatial configurations (size and shape) of the male and female couplings must be compatible for fitting, locking and stability. The connection stability between parts is possible because it contains an additional retainer coupled to the couplings, as the reciprocal additional retentions proposed in this Patent Application.

(61) The female coupling, which is hollow inside, has the following measures: angle of the inner wall (k) between 0.1 degree to 85 degrees (FIG. 9/b); depth equal to or greater than d/10 (FIG. 9/f). This female coupling acts as a base for the coupling of the male coupling of the second part, in addition to acting on the sealing of the coupling system.

(62) Consequently, the male coupling has compatible measures (with the female coupling/cavity): measure equal to or less than d/2 (FIG. 9/a); angle of the external socket between 0.5 degrees to 85 degrees (FIG. 9/c).

(63) In this representation, the base of the connector part corresponds to a+a, that is, it is the sum measure between the internal walls of the female cavity added to the measure of the male coupling (Note: the total width of the male connector includes the width of its external walls) (FIG. 9/d); the external distance of the connector piece is equal to (d+2h) (FIG. 9/e); distance from the piece is equal to or greater than d (FIG. 9/g) and height of the fitting is equal to or greater than d/10 (FIG. 9/i).

(64) The proposed additional retainer is an important complementary feature to the fitting system, as it results in a more stable connection, without causing disconnection difficulties. Despite being extremely small compared to the size of the connectors, the additional retainer is especially important to reduce the amount of raw material in the connectors and serves to easily correct the smallest measures necessary to ensure the stability of the fit of materials such as plastic that would have connections inefficient in practice, making its use unfeasible and may even cause the loss of products that would be united by this connection. A possible spatial representation is shown in FIG. 7 in triangular, semicircular or trapezoidal formats, located on the internal side of the male connector coupling FIG. 8 with different sizes. The proposed reciprocal additional retainers are pairs, with similar sizes and spatial configuration and inversely positioned on the internal side of the male coupling. The additional retainers are different from the retainers of the current state of the art, as they are not presented in pairs (they are presented in only one of the pieces) and, this does not have the same advantages and specificities mentioned. Each of the complementary retainers must be in the opposite position of their respective pair of the part to be connected and serves to fit the second part.

(65) Positioned on the inner wall of the male coupling, the additional retainer can be presented in several formats, such as triangle, semicircular, trapezoid (FIG. 11) that will fit the second piece made of rigid material such as plastic, wood, metal, resins and even flexible materials such as silicone and rubber, with the measures presented according to FIG. 11.

(66) The variation in the angles of the reciprocal retainers (fitting and disengagement angles) is large due to the fact that they are directly related to the material used, the geometry of the retentions (semicircle, triangle, etc.) and the size of the measurement correction that is necessary for the reciprocal fitting system to be effective in its holding force and ease of disconnection (without tools), as recommended by the principles of this system.

(67) Thus, such constructivity allows the fitting between the male coupling and the female coupling, and this additional retainer serves as a safety and stability lock and facilitated disconnection, due to the fact that the following relationship is respected: the fitting or entry angle is at least equal or smaller than the disengagement or exit angle, in addition to following the specifications of the relationship of the geometries reported in each case. For example, if the entry angle is 30 degrees, the exit angle must be at least 30 degrees or a little higher, so that the disconnection is facilitated and at the same time there is a kind of barrier that prevents unintentional disconnection and causes greater stability of connection to the system.

(68) The objects that must be fitted and detached more frequently, must have the inclination of the said retainer for the fitting equal or slightly softer than the inclination of the wall for the fitting. The retaining release wall should be slightly more accentuated to prevent attached objects from loosening easily, but at the same time to facilitate disconnection without the aid of tools. The retainer works as a kind of ramp that can have rounded angles like the semicircle shape, adapting the angles for each material and object. As the object requires greater strength and retention stability in the fitting, the shape and configuration of the retainer can be of a scalene triangle, a trapezoid with different angles, equilateral triangle or other conformation such as the drawings and correlated measures in FIG. 11 according to the material used and need for disconnection more or less facilitated. The proposed fitting system has the ability to connect to various parts, as long as the fitting of the pieces is correctly positioned so that the male fitting is coupled to the female fitting and vice versa. Then, the same procedure is performed on the second part to be connected and so on. Once the connector parts are attached to the desired products, the two ends of the connector parts are manually inserted, until the male and female coupling are engaged, ending with the additional retainer lock for greater stability in the fitting.