US3423802A - Lock for closing and opening a zipper - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 28, 1969 v. HYTONEN 3,423,802

LOCK FOR'CLOSING AND OPENING A ZIPPER Filed Dec. 27, 1965 United States Patent US. Cl. 24-201 7 Claims Int. Cl. A441) 19/24 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A zipper including elongated ridgelike male and female members having a general U-shaped cross section with a narrow neck portion. A slide lock is adapted to transversely spread the female member and transversely compress and insert the male member into the female member.

This invention concerns a lock for closing and opening a zipper comprising two members, each made up of a thin uniform metal strip, the open loop-like ridge in the male member, extending over the entire length of the strip, the male member being further provided with transversal slits. or cuts and being brought into a corresponding ridge in the female member by means of a lock having a groove for the members running through the body of the lock and having a handle for pulling the lock in both directions.

Zippers with the inner edge of the fastening ribbon of both members provided with metal hooks in succession at a distance from each other have one marked disadvantage in that part of the lock extends beneath the zipper, for instance, into that piece of cloth to which the zipper is fastened. Thus, in opening and closing the zipper, the lock will easily rub against the cloth causing wear and even might get stuck between the lock and the members so that the lock wouldnt move in either direction. Now, if attempts are made to move the lock by force the hooks will turn diagonal, the zipper will break, and the piece of cloth attached thereto might get torn.

It is also known to use a lock in zippers made up of two members of plastic, the female member being provided with a continuous longitudinal hollow for the closed ridge of the male member, which lock has means for spreading the walls forming the hollow and for pushing the ridge of the male member into the hollow, for drawing the hollow away from the ridge, the lock having no parts extending below the two members of the zipper.

0n the other hand, this invention concerns a lock of a corresponding type of zipper, said lock being used in such zippers where both members consist of a thin uniform metal strip provided with an open loop-like ridge along the entire length of the strip. The ridge of the male member is provided with transversal slits or cuts in succession at a distance from each other to accomplish flexibility. In order to close the zipper the ridge of the male member is pressed into the ridge of the female member through its open neck-portion by moving the lock, so that the ridges are resiliently locking intoeach other.

The object of this invention is to eliminate the disadvantages presented above and the invention is mainly characterized in that the body of the lock, which at no point extends below both halves of the zipper, is provided at the front end of the groove mentioned, relative 3,423,802 Patented Jan. 28, 1969 to the closing direction with a slit at the side of the groove slanting downwardly in the longitudinal direction of the body of the lock and which guides the free edge of the ridge of the female member by force in such a way that the neck-portion is opened at the front end of the groove where the cross-section of the groove is enlarged, and that a tongue with its upper surface slanting both longitudinally and transversally is provided in the enlarged part of the groove at the lower edge of the lock in order to bring the ridge of the male member through the neck-portion mentioned into the ridge of the female member. The tongue extends inwardly at the neck-portion of the groove about as far as to the edge of the neckportion of the groove-extension, and presses against the neck-portion of the ridge of the male member restricting the ridge of the male member in the side direction and pushing it into the ridge of the female member through the opened neck-portion by moving the lock in the closing direction. The tongue also raises by means of its slanting upper surface the ridge of the female member away from the ridge of the male member, so that the members separate from each other on moving the lock in the opening direction. The groove after the enlarged section continues more restricted in the shape of the cross-section of the ridge-portion of the female member in the unopened position.

Because no part of the lock of the zipper, according to the invention, extends beneath the zipper, the lock does not rub and wear the cloth which cannot get caught between the lock and the members.

The invention is explained further with reference to the enclosed drawings, in which FIG. 1 shows from above the female member of a zipper using a lock according to the invention for closing and opening,

FIG. 2 shows a section taken on the ine 11-11 in FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 shows from below a lock according to the invention,

FIG. 4 shows a section taken on the line IV-IV in FIG. 3,

FIG. 5 shows a section taken on the line V-V in FIG. 3,

FIG. 6 shows the lock from the side, but with the tongue out along the line VIVI in FIG. 3,

FIG. 7 shows a cross-section of the lock and the zipper at the beginning of closing or at the end of opening, and

FIG. 8 shows a cross-section of the closed zipper.

According to the FIGURES 1, 2, 7 and 8 the zipper consists of a female member 1 including fastening ribbon 1a, a male member 2 including fastening ribbon 211, as well as a lock for closing and opening the zipper. Both members 1 and 2 are preferably made from a long and thin strip of steel, copper-tin, or copper-nickel alloy, cut to pieces of the desired length for the zipper. As seen in the figures mentioned above, the female member 1 has been bent longitudinally in such a way, that a ridge 3 is formed along the centre with a cross-section shaped as a loop. The cross-section of this ridge resembles the longitudinal section of a press button, so that a loop consisting of a neck-portion 4 is formed. The main portion 5 of the loop in the case presented is not symmetrical in relation to the centre line through the neck-portion, but its outer edge is somewhat more dilated than the inner edge.

Naturally, the main portion 5 can also be symmetrical. The ridge 3 is perforated or punched over the entire length of the strip to obtain transversal slits or cuts 6 in succession at a distance from each other and the outer edge is provided with extensions or teeth 7 as well as a bend 8 on the inner edge. The strip is fastened to the fastening ribbon 1a, usually made of cloth, by means of the teeth 7, which are clinched on the opposite side of the ribbon in such way that the clinched part 9 will surround the edge of the fastening ribbon almost entirely, as best seen in FIG. 2.

The male member 2 of the zipper corresponds chiefly to the female member 1. It is made of the same kind of metal strip and is fixed by its outer edge to the ribbon 2a in the same way as is female member 1. Slits or cuts corresponding to the slits or cuts 6 have also been perforated or punched over the length of the ridge at the centre of the strip. The difference with respect to the female member 1 is that the main part 10 of the loop is smaller, the neck-portion 11 is narrower and longer, and the inner edge 13 furnished with the bend 12 is longer than the corresponding parts of the loop of the female member 1, so that the loop of the male member 2 fits into that of the female member 1. Otherwise these loops chiefly correspond to each other as far as shape is concerned in that they both may be symmetrical or in the same way unsymmetrical with respect to the centre line through the neckportion.

The closing direction of the lock is marked in the FIG- URE 3 by an arrow a, and the opening direction by an arrow b. Below that end of the lock which is going first on closing the zipper is called the front end, while the opposite end is called correspondingly the rear end. According to the FIGURES 37 a groove 15 is going through the body 14 of the lock, and the upper surface of the lock has a holder 16 for a handle 17 attached. The cross-section of the groove 15 at its rear end corresponds as far as shape and size is concerned to the cross-section of the female member, when the zipper to closed.

The groove 15 has a dilation 18 at the front end of the lock (FIGS. 5 and 7), one edge of which is rectangular and extends to the front end of the body. The edge of this dilation forms an inclined surface 19, slanting downwardly from the edge 14 of the body as well as downwardly in the longitudinal direction to unite with the lower surface 20 of the body at about midway through the lock. At about the same place the rectangular part of the dilation 18 is changing its form to that presented in FIG. 4. A tongue 21 attached to that side surface of the body of the lock were the rectangular part of the dilation 18 is located is directed from the side of the body to the centre, and from the front end of the body towards the rear. This tongue reaches rearwardly to about the middle of the dilation 18 as a narrow extension, and inwardly to about the edge of the lower part of the groove 15. The lower surface of the tongue 21 is in the same plane as the lower surface of the body 14 whereas its upper surface 22 is situated at a distance from the slanting surface 19 of the body so that a slit 23 is formed between these surfaces. The inclined upper surface 22 of the tongue 21 is slanting parallel to the slanting surface 19 both in the longitudinal and the transversal directions.

The lock according to the invention functions in the following manner. When the lock is fitted to its place at the end of the zipper, the female and male members take the position in the rear part of the lock shown in FIG. 8, at which the zipper is closed at this point of the lock. Near the front part of the lock the halves are taking the position shown in FIG. 7, at which the free edge of the female member provided with a bend 8 has pushed into the slit 23 and the neck-portion 4 of this member has opened up wide. According to FIG. 7 the tongue 21 has restricted the ridge 10 of the inner half in the side direction and has pushed it beyond the open neck-portion 4 of the outer half into the ridge 3 of this half. Now, if the lock is drawn from the handle 17 in the direction of the arrow a, the edge of the female member provided with a bend 8 moves between the inclined surfaces 22 and 19 in the slit 23 under the lock, the ridge 3 of the female member sinking on top of the ridge 10 of the inner half. At the same time the dilation 18 is changing shape into that of the groove 15. This is continuously forcing the ridges of the members 1 and 2 into oneanother to the position shown in FIG. 8. When the lock is drawn to the opposite end of the zipper, this will close over its entire length.

The zipper is opened by drawing the lock in the direction indicated by the arrow b. Now the tongue 21 is restricting the ridge 10 of the male member 2 and is raising the ridge 3 of the female member 1 so much apart from the ridge 10 of male member 2 that the neck-portion 4 of female member 1 in FIG. 7 rises above the right-hand dilation of the ridge 10 of male member 2. Now, as the members are being released from the front part of the lock, the ridges cannot enter each other and are separating as the lock is drawn in the direction of the arrow a.

Naturally, the invention is not restricted to the working example presented above, but it can be varied considerably within the scope of the invention as far as details are concerned. Thus, for example, the tongue detaching the halves from each other may also be made in one block together with the body the lock.

I claim:

1. A zipper for connecting the edges of adjacent sheets of material comprising:

a resilient female member carried by the edge of one of the sheets to be connected, said member extending the length thereof and defining a ridge having a generally U-shaped cross section with a reduced width neck portion adjacent the open side thereof;

a resilient male member carried by the edge of the other one of the sheets to be connected, said male member coextensive with said female member and substantially conforming in cross section thereto; and

a lock slidable on said female member along the length thereof, said lock having means for transversely deforming said male member and for inserting said deformed male member into said female member, the resiliency of said inserted male member causing the transverse expansion thereof into firm mating engagement with said female member.

2. A zipper as set out in claim 1 wherein the ridge of said male member has a plurality of spaced slits extending transversely thereacross.

3. A zipper as set out in claim 2 wherein the ridge of said female member has a plurality of spaced slits extending transversely thereacross.

4. A zipper as set out in claim 1 wherein said lock ingludes means for transversely expanding said female meml 61.

5. A zipper as set out in claim 4 wherein said lock is grooved along the lower side thereof, said groove conforming in cross section to said female member from one end of said lock to a point intermediate the ends thereof, said groove being enlarged at the other end of said lock, said lock having means for reducing the width of the neck portion of said male member and for increasing the width of the neck portion of said female member, the effect of said means decreasing from said enlarged end to said point intermediate the ends of said lock.

6. A zipper as set out in claim 5 wherein the ridges of said male and female members have a plurality of spaced slits extending transversely thereacross.

7. A zipper as set out in claim 6 wherein the means for reducing the width of the neck portion of said male member and for increasing the width of the neck portion of said female member includes a tongue reaching rearwardly from the enlarged end of said groove for substantially one quarter the length of said lock and inwardly not less than the edge of said groove, said tongue having an upper surface inclined upward from said groove toward 8,423,802 5 6 the near side of said lock, said lock being open above said FOREIGN PATENTS upper surface for the passage of said female member. 636,072 4/1950 Great Britain References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 5 2,141,900 12/1938 Brown. l-XR.

BERNARD A. GELAK, Primary Examiner.

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