Fasteners
AssigneeITW Limited
InventorDavid N. Harley
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Tamperproof shackle seals formed as one-piece plastics mouldings and including, inter alia, the following features: a plug portion of non-circular outline for co-operation with a mating countersunk portion of the socket mouth to prevent effective insertion of a blade; a stop formed on the strap near the plug to limit the effective length of the strap when used with a padlock hasp; respective webs extending along the lengths of resilient fingers in the socket and connecting them either to the adjacent socket wall, or to those fingers disposed adjacently thereto on either side; to prevent free movement of the resilient fingers; and a filler for the plastics material which presents a barrier to heat re-sealing after tampering.
Claims20
A tamperproof shackle seal which is a one-piece plastics moulding, and comprises a strap, a plug at one end of the strap and a socket at the other end of the strap;
- the plug having a leading end and a shoulder which faces away from said leading end;
- the socket having a sleeve-like wall which is closed at one end and has an open mouth at its other end;
- a number of resilient fingers fixed at first ends thereof to the wall and extending generally axially away from the mouth so that their remote ends are located in the socket;
- a first portion of the socket lying adjacent to the mouth, and a portion of the plug which in use co-operates with that first portion, having substantially similar non-circular internal and external outlines respectively, when viewed axially;
- at least a part of said internal outline of the first portion lying radially outwards of an internal outline of an immediately adjacent second portion of the socket to define thereby a further shoulder which faces the mouth;
- and the strap being formed with a stop which projects substantially perpendicularly therefrom;
- whereby insertion of the plug into the socket causes the fingers to be flexed radially outwards until they can spring back for their remote ends to abut the shoulder and hold the plug captive in the socket, insertion of a tool to occasion subsequent flexing of all the fingers being prevented by the further shoulder, and the effective length of the strap being limited to that portion lying between the stop and the plug.
A tamperproof shackle seal which is a one-piece plastics moulding, and comprises a strap, a plug at one end of the strap and a socket at the other end of the strap;
- the plug having a leading end and a shoulder which faces away from said leading end;
- the socket having a sleeve-like wall which is closed at one end and has an open mouth at its other end;
- a number of resilient fingers fixed at first ends thereof to the wall and extending generally axially away from the mouth so that their remote ends are located in the socket, with each resilient finger being connected along its length by a respective web to those fingers disposed adjacently thereto on either side;
- a first portion of the socket lying adjacent to the mouth, and a portion of the plug which in use co-operates with that first portion, having substantially similar non-circular internal and external outlines respectively, when viewed axially;
- and at least a part of said internal outline of the first portion lying radially outwards of an internal outline of an immediately adjacent second portion of the socket to define thereby a further shoulder which faces the mouth;
- whereby insertion of the plug into the socket causes the fingers to be flexed radially outwards, against the bias exerted by the webs, until they can spring back for their remote ends to abut the shoulder and hold the plug captive in the socket, insertion of a tool to occasion subsequent flexing of all the fingers being prevented by the further shoulder.
A tamperproof shackle seal which is a one-piece plastics moulding, and comprises a strap, a plug at one end of the strap and a socket at the other end of the strap;
- the plug having a leading end and a shoulder which faces away from said leading end;
- the socket having a sleeve-like wall which is closed at one end and has an open mouth at its other end;
- a number of resilient fingers fixed at first ends thereof to the wall and extending generally axially away from the mouth so that their remote ends are located in the socket, with each resilient finger being connected along its length to the wall by a respective web;
- a first portion of the socket lying adjacent to the mouth, and a portion of the plug which in use co-operates with that first portion, having substantially similar non-circular internal and external outlines respectively, when viewed axially;
- and at least a part of said internal outline of the first portion lying radially outwards of an internal outline of an immediately adjacent second portion of the socket to define thereby a further shoulder which faces the mouth;
- whereby insertion of the plug into the socket causes the fingers to be flexed radially outwards, against the bias exerted by the webs, until they can spring back for their remote ends to abut the shoulder and hold the plug captive in the socket, insertion of a tool to occasion subsequent flexing of all the fingers being prevented by the further shoulder.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.