Tethered Fastener
AssigneeMRM HK Limited
InventorLuke Ritchie
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A fastener for securing together articles, such as pull-tabs of a zipper, includes a gate arranged to slide in a channel in a body between a closed position, in which the gate closes the mouth of a recess in the body, and an open position, in which the mouth is open. A fixture at one end of the gate is provided for connecting a tether. A latch member prevents the gate from sliding from the closed position when in the locked position and is resiliently urged to the locked position and configured so that, in use, the latch member is pressed and moved to the unlocked position when a user grasps the body and, in the unlocked position with a tether connected to the fixture, tension in the tether tends to slide the gate to the open position.
Claims18
A fastener for securing articles, the fastener comprising:
- a body including a base portion and a leg portion, the leg portion having a leg end, where a recess between the base portion and the leg portion defines a mouth extending between the leg end and the base portion;
- a channel in the body, the channel having an axis;
- a gate having an opening end and a guide end received in the channel and configured to slide between a closed position, in which the gate closes the mouth, and an open position, in which the mouth is open;
- a fixture at one longitudinal end of the gate for connecting a tether;
- a resilient member biasing the gate to the closed position;
- a latch member connected to the body and moveable between an unlocked position and a locked position, wherein the gate and the latch member are configured so that the latch member prevents the gate from sliding from the closed position when the latch member is in the locked position, and wherein
- the latch member is resiliently urged to the locked position and configured so that, in use, the latch member is pressed and moved to the unlocked position when a user grasps the body and, in the unlocked position with a tether connected to the fixture, tension in the tether tends to act against the resilient member to slide the gate to the open position.
A method of assembling a fastener substantially as described above, comprising:
- providing a spring-compressing tool having:
- a shaft that is generally cylindrical and sized to be received in the axial slot;
- a tip of the cylindrical shaft tapered to narrow toward its axial end, the tip sized to be received inside an axial end of the helical compression spring;
- a shoulder adjacent the tip for abutting an axial end of the helical compression spring, and
- a relief in the shaft spanning across the shoulder that reduces a diametrical dimension of both the shoulder and the tip below an inside diameter of the helical compression spring;
- with the gate in the closed position, the helical compression spring in the axial slot, the one end abutting the gate and the opposing end projecting axially from the axial slot,
- inserting the tip of the spring-compressing tool into the opposing end and compressing the helical compression spring;
- pressing the retaining pin through a first opening in a first of the flanges into abutment with the relief such that an end of the retaining pin blocks axial movement of an edge of the opposing end, and
- removing the spring-compressing tool before pressing the retaining pin through a second opening in a second of the flanges.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.