Slide fastener, method for manufacturing stop, and mold device
AssigneeYKK Corporation
InventorShintaro METANI
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Slide fastener (1) includes a pair of fastener stringers (2), at least one slider (5) for opening and closing the pair of fastener stringers (2), and a stop member (6,7) attached to a side-edge (32) of a fastener tape (3) at a position adjacent to the series of fastener elements. The stop member (6,7) has at least one thinned portion (61,71) having a thickness lesser than a thickness of the fastener element (4) and/or at least one through-hole (68) extending through the stop member (6,7) in an up-down direction. The thinned portion (61,71) and/or the through-hole (68) is configured to allow the stop member (6,7) to be produced by remolding one or more fastener elements (4). Alternative conditions are also disclosed.
Claims14
A slide fastener comprising:
- a pair of fastener stringers each of which includes a fastener tape and a series of fastener elements arranged with interspaces along a side-edge of the fastener tape;
- at least one slider for opening and closing the pair of fastener stringers;
- and
- a stop member attached to the side-edges of the fastener tapes at a position adjacent to the series of fastener elements, wherein
- at least one of the following conditions (i)-(iii) are satisfied:
- (i) the stop member has at least one thinned portion having a thickness less than a thickness of the fastener element and/or at least one through-hole extending through the stop member in an up-down direction, the thinned portion and/or the through-hole being configured to allow the stop member to be produced through remolding of one or more fastener elements;
- (ii) the stop member has at least one thinned portion having a thickness less than a thickness of the fastener element and/or at least one through-hole extending through the stop member in an up-down direction, the stop member having a mass in accordance with a mass of one fastener element or a total mass of two or more fastener elements;
- (iii) the stop member has at least one thinned portion having a thickness less than a thickness of the fastener element and/or at least one through-hole extending through the stop member in an up-down direction, an area of the thinned portion and/or the through-hole in an upper or lower surface of the stop member is equal to or greater than one quarter of an entire area of the upper or lower surface of the stop member.
A method of producing a stop member for a slide fastener, the method comprising:
- providing adjacently-arranged two or more fastener elements of a plurality of fastener elements between upper and lower molds, the plurality of fastener elements being arranged with interspaces along a side-edge of a fastener tape in at least one fastener stringer;
- softening or melting said two or more fastener elements provided between the upper and lower molds by heat transmitted from the upper mold and/or the lower mold;
- cooling softened or melted material inside a cavity defined by the upper and lower molds to obtain a stop member shaped in accordance with the cavity.
A mold device for producing a stop member of a slide fastener, the device comprising:
- top and lower molds to form a cavity configured to reshape adjacently-arranged two or more fastener elements of a plurality of fastener elements arranged with interspaces along a side-edge of a fastener tape in at least one fastener stringer, wherein
- said cavity is shaped to form at least one thinned portion and/or at least one through-hole at said two or more fastener elements and to fill the interspace between said two or more fastener elements with softened or melted material thereof.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.