Fastening arrangement at the ends of two straps for the detachable connection thereof

Abstract

A fastening arrangement at the ends of two straps for the detachable connection thereof. At the end of at least one of the straps there are provided two self-adhering strips spaced one behind the other in the lengthwise direction of such strap. A connection member with two retaining bars is provided and such connection member can be attached or is attachable to the end of the other strap. At least one of the retaining bars, in the closed position of the fastening arrangement, being disposed between the strips of one of the straps and within a loop formed by the joining of such strips. The edges of the straps are hemmed and each of the retaining bars is provided at its inner side with two guide indentations for the hemmed edges, and these hemmed edges are thicker than the guide indentations are deep.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a new and improved construction of fastening arrangement for the ends of two straps for the detachable interconnection thereof, wherein at the end of at least one of the straps there is provided two self-adhering strips spaced in tandem in the lengthwise direction of such one strap, at the other strap there being attached or attachable to the end thereof a connection member with two retaining bars, at least one of these retaining bars, in the closed position of the fastening arrangement, being located between the strips of one of the straps and within a loop formed by the joining of such strips.

Such type fastening arrangements should be as flat as possible, particularly when they are used for brassieres. In other words, the connection member especially should be as thin as possible and the retaining bars as narrow as possible. However, such requirements are actually in opposition to the not inconsiderable strength requirements which are imposed upon the fastening arrangement and the connection member thereof. Furthermore, in the fastening arrangements of the type heretofore known in the art -- especially when the same are employed for the detachable connection of the straps formed of very thin fabric -- there is always present the risk that when the fastening arrangement assumes its closed position, the straps will shift in the connection member. Consequently, accurate adjustment of the fastener becomes impossible, quite apart from the esthetic disadvantages.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Hence it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved fastening arrangement for the ends of two straps for the detachable connection thereof which is not associated with the aforementioned drawbacks of the prior art proposals.

Another and more specific object of the present invention aims at the provision of a fastening arrangement or fastener of the type described herein, without any impairment of its strength properties, and wherein the connection member can be formed of a thin material and the retaining bars made narrower and wherein further, shifting of the straps in the connection member is at least rendered more difficult.

Yet a further significant object of the present invention relates to an improved construction of fastening arrangement for the ends of two straps for the detachable connection thereof wherein the connection member and the straps are configured to cooperate with one another in such a manner that shifting of the straps at the connection member is at least rendered more difficult if not extensively avoided.

Now in order to implement these and still further objects of the invention, which will become more readily apparent as the description proceeds, the invention contemplates that the edges of the straps are hemmed, and each of the retaining bars is provided at its inner side with two guide indentations or grooves for the hemmed edges, the hemmed edges being thicker than the guide indentations are deep.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above, will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:

FIGS. 1a and 1b are perspective views showing the two straps prior to their interconnection, and employing a connection member according to a first embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view depicting an intermediate position of the fastening arrangement during interconnection of the straps;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view in the plane of the connection member in the closed position of the fastening arrangement;

FIG. 4 is a view of a second embodiment of a connection member for use in the arrangement of FIGS. 1a and 1b;

FIG. 5 illustrates in perspective view two fastener parts according to a third embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a view of the fastener parts depicted in FIG. 5 in a position where they are connected to one another;

FIG. 7 is a view of the arrangement depicted in FIG. 6 but flipped over through 180.degree.;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view along the line VIII--VIII of FIG. 6;

FIG. 9 is a sectional view along the line IX--IX of FIG. 6; and

FIG. 10 is a top plan view of a fourth embodiment according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Describing now the drawings, and as can be seen by referring to FIGS. 1a and 1b, two self-adhering strips 2 and 3 are sewn onto the underside of strap 1 in such a way that these strips 2 and 3 lie in a spaced relation in the lengthwise direction of the strap. A free section 4 is left between the lengthwise spaced strips 2 and 3, as best seen by referring to FIG. 1a. The other strap 5 is provided at its end with a connection member 6 formed as a closed loop having two retaining bars 7 and 8 and two side pieces 11. One of the retaining bars, for instance the retaining bar 7, is sewn to the strap 5 while the other retaining bar, namely the retaining bar 8, protrudes past the end of the strap 5. It is preferable to have the seam 12 located as closely as possible to the outer edge of the bar 7.

Continuing, it will be understood that the edges 1a and 5a of the straps 1 and 5 respectively, are hemmed in such a manner that the hem covers the long edges of the self-adhering strips 2 and 3, as shown. The hemmed edges 1a and 5a come to be positioned in connection member 6 in corresponding groove-shaped indentations or channels 9 and 10 respectively, of the two retaining bars 7 and 8, the indentations 9 and 10 serving as guides.

To effect the connection between the straps 1 and 5, the strap 1 is drawn through the connection member 6, preferably formed of a suitable synthetic material, while the retaining bar 8 assumes a position at the free section 4 between the two self-adhering strips 2 and 3, as best seen by referring to FIG. 2. Then the end of the strap 1 with the self-adhering strip 3 is folded back until this strip 3 comes to lie on the strip 2, so that only a slight pressure is needed to cause the strips 2 and 3 to adhere to one another. Hence, the free section 4 forms a loop through which passes the retaining bar 8. Furthermore, the dimensions are so chosen that the thickness of the hemmed edges 1a and 2a is greater than the depth of the indentations or channels 9 and 10.

These dimensions insure that the hemmed edges will rest on the bottom of the indentations 9 and 10 and the central portion of each strap 5 and 1 disposed between the indentations 10 and 9, respectively, will be spaced from its respective retaining bar 8 and 7, as best seen in FIG. 3, with the result that the tensile stresses which occur are transmitted to the connection member solely at the area of such indentations, in contrast to conventional fastening arrangements where the strap rests against the respective retaining bar over its entire length, so that the resultant of the tensile forces is located at the center of the bar. Owing to such distribution of the forces in these prior art fasteners, there is present the danger that their retaining bars will buckle. To avoid such buckling, it has been necessary to preferably use thicker connection members with wide bars, something which is not particularly desirable for esthetic reasons. If, however, as in the case of the embodiment under discussion, the forces are applied at the outer ends of the retaining bars 7 and 8, i.e., at the area of the side pieces 11, then the danger of buckling is avoided, and hence there is afforded the possibility of using comparatively thin connection members with narrow bars, without there being present the risk of any such deformation.

Moreover, the aforementioned dimensions eliminate the danger that the strap edges might be damaged by the inner corners of the indentations when the straps are pulled through the connection member.

The guiding of the strap edges 1a and 5a in the aforementioned groove-shaped indentations or channels 9 and 10 respectively, achieves still another purpose. Thus, even when there are present eccentric tensile loads or stresses, these edges can be kept from departing from the indentations, and thus the straps 1 and 5 can be retained against shifting in the connection member 6.

Finally, there is attained the further advantage of being able to use sheet material without selvage for self-adhering strips 2 and 3, since ravelling is prevented by the hemming of the strap edges, the edges of the strips being covered by the hems. In comparison to selvaged ribbon material, however, such sheet material is considerably less expensive. Finally, the tensile strength of the edges is greatly increased by the hemming; this constitutes an important advantage especially in the case of corsetry, particularly brassieres, where the strap material consists of fabrics which are as thin and light as possible. Consequently, the described embodiment of fastener arrangement especially provides the possibility of using thinner connection members with comparatively narrow bars, and additionally, the position of the connection member is secured while at the same time there are satisfied the prerequisites for economical manufacture.

In the second embodiment depicted in FIG. 4, a center bar 11a is disposed between the retaining bars 7 and 8 and in parallelism therewith in such a way that between this center bar 11a and the central portion of the retaining bar 7 there is left open a slot or slit 11b, the width of which is less than the thickness of hemmed edges 5a. This embodiment of the invention offers still greater security against shifting of the strap 5 in the connection member 6, so that the latter cannot twist with respect to the strap 5 nor can any lateral displacement forces act upon the edges 1a of the strap 1.

The fastening arrangements depicted in accordance with the embodiments of FIGS. 5 to 10 render it possible to simplify the closure or closing operation without there being associated therewith disadvantages of any kind as concerns its strength.

In FIGS. 5 to 10 and for the sake of simplicity in the illustration, the two strap ends have been conveniently omitted from the showing of the drawings, but it is to be understood that one of these straps is drawn through the strap-receiving slot 13 and the other through the strap-receiving slot 14. On both of these strap ends there is applied on the underside thereof selfadhering strips which are spaced in tandem in the lengthwise direction of the associated strap. Now when the strap ends are connected to the connection member 15, then, each strap end is looped through one of the strap-receiving slots 13 and 14 respectively, in such a way that the self-adhering strips thereof come to lie upon each other and can be joined by pressing them against each other: in addition, the respective retaining bars 16 and 17 each come to be positioned between the two strips of each strap.

In the embodiment depicted in FIGS. 5 to 9, the connection member 15 consists of two fastener parts 18 and 19. The first fastener part 18 is provided along one of its long sides with the strap-receiving slot 13. This strap-receiving slot 13 is limited towards the outside by the retaining bar 16 having a respective groove 20 at each of its two ends. The depth of these grooves 20 is less than the thickness of the hemmed strap edge which comes to lie therein. Adjacent to the strap-receiving slot 13 is an aperture 21 which is bordered by the two crosspieces 22 and 23 and by the side pieces 24 and 25. The crosspiece 22 on the one hand and the crosspiece 23 on the other hand are located in different parallel planes, i.e., they are separated by a distance corresponding to the thickness of inner crosspiece 22. Furthermore, toward the outer edges of the two side pieces 24 and 25, there are provided two holes or bores 26 which, in the case of constructions having a wider outer crosspiece 23, also might be situated in the extension of side pieces 24 and 25.

The second fastener part 19 also has a strap-receiving slot 14 on its inner side, and this slot is limited towards the inside by retaining bar 17 having the lateral grooves 27. The limitation at the opposite side is formed by a supporting portion or edge 28. At the region of the central portion of the supporting portion or edge 28 there is carried a tongue 29 which projects therefrom, the supporting portion or edge 28 and the tongue 29 lying in parallel planes separated by a distance corresponding to that prevailing between the planes of the crosspieces 22 and 23 of the other fastener part 18. The width of tongue 29 is slightly less than that of aperture 21. In the extensions of each of the two side pieces 30 and 31 there is a projecting plug 32, which may preferably be undercut, as best seen by referring to FIG. 8. The spacing of these plugs 32 corresponds to that of the holes 26, while the plug diameter is such that it forms a snap-fastening with the associated hole.

To connect the two fastener parts 18 and 19, the tongue 29 of the fastener part 19 is pushed through the aperture 21 of the other fastener part 18 and then pivoted until the tongue 29 rests against the upper side of the crosspiece 22 and the supporting edge 28 rests against the underside of the crosspiece 23. The plugs 32 then enter the holes 26, whereby the two fastener parts 18 and 19 are secured in the connected or closed position. The achievement of the closure position is indicated by the sound of the undercut plugs 32 snapping into their associated holes 26.

To separate the fastener parts 18 and 19, it is sufficient to pivot them against each other to one side until the plugs 32 have withdrawn from the holes 26 and then to pull the tongue 29 out of the aperture 21.

Accordingly, the fastening is possible only by means of a reciprocal pivoting of the fastener parts 18 and 19 in one direction; when used in connection with a brassiere, for instance, the arrangement is preferably such that the pivoting motion necessary for opening the fastener takes place away from the body of the wearer -- hence a pivoting movement or motion which cannot take place unintentionally because of the pull exerted on the two fastener parts.

The tensile stress is transmitted from the one fastener part to the other solely by means of the plugs 32. Now since the straight-line connection between the corresponding groove and a hole or a plug 32 lies in the direction of pull, these forces are transmitted to the parts of retaining bars 16 and 17 having the grooves solely through the agency of the sidepieces 24 and 25 or 30 and 31, so that the fastener parts 18 and 19, in other words the connection member 15, is not exposed to any bending stresses whatsoever. This extremely favorable transmission of forces makes it possible to fabricate a very thin connection member, for example formed of synthetic material so that it is not bulky and nonetheless fulfills all strength requirements.

Additionally, there exists the possibility of modifying the position of each fastener part 18 and 19 relative to the strap end to which it is attached by pulling the self-adhering strips of each strap apart and joining them again at the correct distance. This also insures that when the fastening arrangement is used in conjunction with brassieres, the connection member 15 can be positioned exactly at the center of the back of the user.

In order to preclude the danger that precisely when this adjustment of the connection member is being made, a strap whose two self-adhering strips have been separated slips through the respective strap-receiving slot 13 or 14, it is advantageous to provide a thickening or thickened portion at the extreme end of each strap. Moreover, such thickening or thickened portion can be easily produced in that when the straps are being manufactured, an additional layer of material is sewn on to prevent the strap ends from ravelling, the straps then being cut-off in the middle of this layer so that it simultaneously forms the desired end thickening or terminal thickened portion.

FIG. 10 illustrates a fourth embodiment of the invention which is particularly suitable for production of a front fastener for brassieres and, as such, is attached between the two cups. For this purpose, the part of the fastener part 18a between aperture and strap-receiving slot 13 is made comparatively long and bent at an angle of approximately 30.degree., so that the strap-receiving slots of the two fastener parts 18a and 19a are located in planes which form the respective angle with one another. For securing the mutual position of sections 33 and 34 of the fastener part 18a, which are at an angle to one another, there is provided a transverse brace 35. Of course, it would be equally possible to appropriately extend the portion of the fastener part 19a between the strap-receiving slot 14 and the tongue and to appropriately bend it at an angle. In both cases the connection member 15a can be simultaneously used to effect a cleavage, with the additional possibility of combining fastener parts 18a and 19a with some other shaping elements.

While there is shown and described present preferred embodiments of the invention, it is to be distinctly understood that the invention is not limited thereto, but may be otherwise variously embodied and practiced within the scope of the following claims. Accordingly,

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A fastening arrangement for the ends of two straps for the detachable interconnection thereof, at the end region of at least one of the straps there being provided two self-adhering strips in a spaced relation in the lengthwise direction of said one strap, a connection member comprising two fastener parts detachably connectable with one another, each of said fastener parts having a retaining bar, and adapted to be attached to the end of a respective strap, a first one of said fastener parts having an aperture limited by two side pieces and two cross pieces, each cross piece lying in a different parallel plane, a second fastener part having a supporting portion and a tongue projecting outwardly from said supporting portion and disposed in a plane parallel thereto, which parallel plane is separated from the plane of the supporting portion by a distance corresponding to that between the planes of the two cross pieces of said first fastener part, said tongue adapted to be introduced into the aperture of the first fastener part for the purpose of closing the fastening arrangement in such a manner that the supporting portion rests against one side of one cross piece and the tongue rests against the oppositely-facing side of the other cross piece, and further including fastening means in the form of plugs provided at one fastener part and corresponding holes provided in the other fastening part, said plugs being arranged for entering into the corresponding holes in the other fastening part, at least one of the retaining bars, in the attached position of the fastening arrangement, being situated between the strips of one of the straps and within a loop formed by the joining of such strips, said two straps having hemmed edges, each retaining bar being provided at its inner side with two guide indentations for the hemmed edges.

2. The fastening arrangement as defined in claim 1, wherein said plugs comprise undercut plug members.

3. The fastening arrangement as defined in claim 1, wherein a strap end having two self-adhering strips in spaced relation to one another lengthwise of such strap is drawn around the respective bar of each of the fastener parts, each of the strap ends being folded-back in a closure position to form a loop so that the two self-adhering strips in each strap can be joined to each other, each retaining bar being disposed in a position between the selfadhering strips of the respective strap end.

4. The fastening arrangement as defined in claim 1, wherein of the two fastener parts one of the fastener parts is bent at an angle at a portion located between its retaining bar and a part thereof serving for connection with the other fastener part.