Buckle with secondary latch
AssigneeYellow Dog Design, Inc.
InventorGerald Boyd Zinnbauer
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A two-component buckle having a male component and a female component, the female component having a housing with a bore located at a mating end of the housing, the bore being oriented along a lateral axis of the housing; and the male member having a keeper element that fits within the bore to latch the male and female components together is disclosed herein. A latching mechanism is slidingly disposed within the housing and includes a latch pawl with a latching leg that is biased over the bore in the housing, serving as a secondary latch to help prevent the keeper element from being inadvertently disengaged from the bore.
Claims20
A buckle comprising a female component and a male component;
- the female component including a housing with a mating end;
- said mating end defining a bore oriented parallel to a lateral axis of the housing;
- the male component further comprising an elongated keeper element that fits within the bore to maintain the male and female components together;
- said housing further comprising a latch mechanism, said latch mechanism including an actuator and a latch pawl with a latching leg extending from the latch pawl;
- wherein said latch mechanism is configured to be biased toward the bore so that the latching leg at least partially covers an opening of the bore, sized and shaped to receive the elongated keeper member therein;
- wherein said latch mechanism is configured to urge the actuator to uncover the opening to facilitate the insertion or removal of the elongated keeper member.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.