US2747248A - Pin type fastening device - Google Patents

Description

B. M. MERCER 2,747,248

PIN TYPE FASTENING DEVICE May 29, 1956 Filed Oct. 4, 1952 INVENTOR eff BY Mlle/Mr #U M ATTORNEY United States Patent O PIN TYPE FASTENING DEVICE Bert M. Mercer, New York, N. Y. Application October 4, 1952, Serial No. 313,104

3 Claims. (Cl. 24-158) The present invention relates to fastening devices and more particularly to a fastening device of the nature of a buckle for securing the end of tail portion of the gauze of a catamenial bandage or sanitary napkin when in use.

Catamenial bandages are generally supported in use by a fastening device to which the tail of the bandage is releasably secured. The fastening device is in turn usually supported by a belt or waistband which encircles the body of the user. The fasteners are generally located below the waistband and are used in pairs, one at the front and one at the rear of the wearers body slightly above the vicinity of the crotch.

zPresent day devices for attachment of catamenial bandages include complicated clamps, and in that type of devices are many which afford no assurance that the bandage will not become free and cause extreme embarrassment to vihe'user. Natural movements of the body affect the strain and grip on the bandages, and as a result, many devices which appear at first glance to be practical are in fact very susceptible to slipping and, release.

In order to prevent any embarrassment to .the wearer, the f astening device must hold the tail of the catamenial bandage securely enough to preclude the possibility of the andage. becoming accid n allyunfastened or released. The fastener, however, must be easy to operate, sincethe fasteners, especially the one at the persons'back, are both located, when in use, where it is difiicult for the wearer to see n m n p it for secur ng the ban ag in p ace. In addition, the back one is also somewhat difficult for the wearer to reach. The fastener must also be readily adjustable and safe to use so that accidental injury will not occur to the user if a wrong move is made while securing .or adjusting the tails therein.

Therefore, an object of my invention is to provide a buckle, for fastening the tails of a catamenial bandage, which is easy to operate when suspended on a belt in position on a users body.

Another object of my invention is to provide a buckle, for fastening the tails of a catamenial bandage, which has guide means to facilitate the application of the tail to a holding means for the tail, and to provide additional .means to prevent said tail from becoming inadvertently p r nt to Per on v ed in he ar o which h inv i n apner ains. as -des r pt on p ceeds, h y dire t recitation thereof and by impli ation from h c ntext, ar

achieved in the broad aspects of the invention by providing a buckle having a frame and a prong projecting inwardly of the frame'f o n one end he eof to Pi rc n .hold the a o th banda e, and a gu rd or losure means adapted to b Pos tioned ransver ely o the frame at th end of the prong to overlie the prong and thereby prevent the napkin tail from slipping off of the prong, and further by provision of catch means associated with; the guard to releasably retain the guard in its proper position. More specifically, the showing herein contemplates provision of a slide as the disclosed embodiment of guard or closure means.

My invention will be best understood by reference to the following description of arbitrarily selected embodiments of my invention and by reference to the accompanying drawing wherein like numerals of reference indicate similar parts throughout the several views. In said drawing:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a buckle made in accordance with my invention, the view showing the end or tail of a catamenial bandage inserted in the buckle with the guard or closure means in open position;

Figure 2 is a front view of a buckle according -to my invention, showing the guard in closed position;

Figure 3 is a horizontal cross-section taken along line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Figure 4 is a front view, partially in section on line 4--4 of Fig. 3, showing the lower part of the buckle with the guard in open position;

Figure 5 is a front view of the lower part of a buckle embodying a modification of my invention;

Figure 6 is a vertical sectional view of said modification taken along line 6-6 of Fig. 5; and

Figure 7 is a front view of the lower part of the modified buckle, showing the guard in open position.

The buckle made according to my invention is adapted to be suspended from a belt which encircles the waist of the user. The buckle is composed of a closed frame 10 the upper end or frame member 12 of which is substantially horizontal in use in order to aptly support the buckle by a strap or tape 14 which hangs from the belt worn by the user. The lower end or frame member 15 of the frame is substantially parallel to but shorter than said upper end or frame member 12. As here shown, the side members 16 of frame 10 start perpendicularly downwardly from the upper frame member 12 and then slope inwardly to about the mid-point of the side members and then again downwardly parallel to join the lower frame member 15 of the frame. Midway of the length of said lower frame member 15 is an upwardly projecting prong 18 within the frame having a pointed tip at its upper end which terminates within the narrowed portion of the frame and adapted to pierce and hold the tail of the catamenial bandage, which is fed through the wider portion of the frame in the area above the prong, and subsequently forced downwardly onto the prong. The side members 16 of the frame have inward bulges 19 at about the mid'length thereof at the convergence of said side members to form a restricted passage or throat 20 at least partially above the end of prong 18, said prong terminating substantially in said throat but spaced from the bulges 19 of the side members 16 so as to provide a restricted passage at each side of the prong at its pointed end.

By virtue of the wide upper part of the frame with its sloping side members spaced from the top reach, the user may easily insert the tail 2 1 of a catamenial bandage into the frame opening above the prong and may then move the tail downwardly through throat 20 onto prong 18. Said throat 20 assures that the tail of the bandage will be bunched and properly located as it is fed to the tip of the prong 18. The narrow lower portion of the frame requires bunching of the material of the tail into slots 22 between the prong and frame sides, and provides frictional pressure which aids in holding the tail on said prong. The bulges 19 of the frame sides forming throat .20 not only function to feed the tail to the parallel thereto.

3 prong, but also aid in preventing inadvertent slipping of the bandage from the prong after being applied thereon.

In order to assure that the bandage cannot become unintentionally released from the prong 18, a transverse guard or closure is provided to obstruct the upper ends of slots 22, in which the tail is located, and to constitute a cross-head for the prong. The guard, according to the present showing, may comprise a slide 24 retained in a channel 26 at one side of the frame. As one practical construction for forming said channel 26, a lateral extension 27 is shown projecting from one of the side members 16, with the top and bottom portions of said extension bent forwardly at 28 and then toward each other to provide tabs 29 in front of and spaced from the body of the extension in parallelism thereto. The top and bottom edges of slide 24 ride in contact with the forwardly bent portions 28 and the back and front faces of the slide ride in contact with the body of the extension and the tabs respectively. The slide has a sufficient length so that it may be slid inwardly to obstruct both slots 22, and is arranged to be retracted to clear both of said slots. The slide is provided with a head 30 at its outward end so that when the slide is at its inward or guarding position, as shown in Fig. 3, the inwardly directed shoulder 25 on the head abuts the outward edge of the channel-forming portions 28. The outer margin .of head 30 is shown as making a cylindrical curl 31 forwardly, so as not to engage against the users body, the curl being exemplary of any desired finger-piece by which the slide may be manipulated. 'Preferably the slide is flat except for said finger-piece, and is aptly made from a single piece of sheet metal such as thin spring steel.

In order to releasably lock the slide 24 in its closed or guarding position to prevent unintentional retraction thereof, and inadvertent release of positive retention of the bandage and possible disengagement thereof from the fastening device with resulting embarrassment to the user, the slide or guard is provided with a spring catch or detent. For this purpose, a bar spring 32 extends through the channel 26 and is shown as an integral projection from the shouldered edge of the head 30 and lies above the body 24a of the slide and extends substantially Said spring has resiliency and space for movement toward and away from the upper edge of the body 24a of the slide. The construction is such that the spring slidably and resiliently presses against the upper channel-forming portion'28 and exerts a depressing force with respect to the slide body 24a so that the lower edge of said body is pressed against the lower channel-forming portion 28. Furthermore, said spring has an upward sloping offset 33 about midway of its length so that the spring will releasably lock against the inward end of the channel-forming portion 28 when the slide is in guarding position. The offset is illustrated as one arbitrary form of detent for the slide.

The inner end of the spring 32 may be bent upwardly to form a lip or stop 34 to engage the inward end of the channel-forming portion 28 when the slide or guard is in its retracted or open position; Said stop 34 functions to prevent the withdrawal of the guard from the channel 26. It should be noted, however, that the stop allows the bar to be retracted sufficiently to clear the tail-receiving slots 22, and thus avoids, when retracted, any interference with the insertion, adjustment or removal of the bandage. Also it is called to attention that afore-mentioned offset 33 is located to have the additional function of releasably holding the slide or guard in its retracted position by engagement of the forward slope of the offset with the outer edge of the channelforming portion 28. For assembly purposes, the spring .may be depressed sufficiently to permit stop 34 to be introduced with the body of the slide through the chan thereafter act to. hold the stop upward so it will come into engagement with the inward edge of channel-forming portion 28 in retracted position of the slide.

A modified construction of fastening device or buckle embodying my invention is illustrated in Figures 5, 6 and 7 of the drawing. Inasmuch as the frame construction and fixed parts thereof in the modified fastener are substantially identical with the first-described construction, the same reference numerals and description apply thereto. The differences in the specific embodiments exist in the guard construction and are set forth in the following portion of this specification.

In said modified construction, the guard is fabricated from spring steel or other resilient wire bent to have a generally U-shaped configuration constituting a slide 35 having substantially parallel legs 36 resiliently pressing toward the channel-forming portions 28 and projecting through channel 26. The lower one of these legs 36 traverses the frame 10 just below the tip of prong 18, and thus when the guard is at its inward position said lower leg will obstruct slots 22 of the frame and thereby prevent a bandage tail located on the prong in use from slipping inadvertently off of said prong.

The wire guard of the modified construction is appropriately formed to limit inward and outward sliding and to provide a detent or catch for releasably holding the slide in guarding position as well as in retracted position, and also is formed to provide a finger-piece for manipulating purposes. Dealing with these features more in detail, it will be seen from the drawing that the inner ends of the legs are bent up and down to provide protruding stops 37 which will engage against the inner edges of the channel-forming portions 28 upon retracting the slide or guard. Similarly, at the other ends of the legs, the wire is bent up and down forming shoulders 38 which will engage the outward edges of the channel-forming portions 28 and thus limit inward sliding of the guard. The shoulders 38 are continued to form a closed loop the far side of which from said shoulders is adequately distant therefrom to conveniently constitute a fingerpiece 39 for manipulation of the slide.

Approximately midway of the length of each leg there is shown a means for releasably locking the slide in guarding position to prevent unintentional retraction thereof and inadvertent release of positive retention of the bandage and possible disengagement thereof from the fastener with resulting embarassment to the user. Said means is shown as offsets 40 in the Wire legs, the offset of the upper leg being upwardly and the one of the lower leg being downwardly and each sloping so that with application of appropriate force to overcome the re siliency of the legs and friction at the slope, the legs can be pressed toward each other and the offset then passed through channel 26.

Since the offset 40 of each leg is approximately midway of the length of the leg, there will be for each leg a pair of leg sections of approximately equal length one to the other, and each of these leg sections is at least as long as the channel 26 so that, in one instance, when the slide is pushed as far inward as it will go for its closed or guarding position the offset will protrude next to the inward end of the channel, and in another instance, when the slide is retracted as far as it will go, the offset will then protrude from the outward end of the channel. In each instance the ofiset functions as a catch or detent. Resiliency of the wire loop and legs tends to keep the legs in contact with the respective channel-forming portions 28. While I have shown offsets and stops as part of both legs, an offset and stop on only one leg and not on the other may be employed if desired. In either event, the legs may be adequately swung toward each other during fabrication of the fastener to permit introduction of the slide into the channel.

With regard to both structures of fastening devices here in described, it will be appreciated that the invention provides a buckle for securing the tail gauze of a catamenial bandage, said buckle having a construction promoting easy insertion and adjustment of the tail, and having a construction by which the tail is prevented by a guard from accidentally slipping from the buckle and yet is readily removable from the buckle when desired. The construction is one which adds no uncomfortable parts and one which is very readily manipulated without having to be in view at the time. The buckle is effective in that the direction of movement of the bandage tail necessary to remove the tail from the prong, and rendering the guard effective, is not dependent upon any gripping action of the guard upon the bandage tail and therefore independent of any required thickness, or restriction of thickness, of the tail material.

I claim:

1. A fastening device for securing the tail of a catamenial bandage, comprising a frame, 9. prong in said frame for receiving a part of said tail thereon, a lateral extension at the side of said frame of formation constituting a rectilinear guiding slideway, a slidable guard in said slideway movable transversely to said prong to a position in close proximity to said prong, and detent means for releasably retaining said guard in said position.

2. A fastening device for securing the tail of a catamenial bandage, comprising a frame, a prong in said frame for receiving a part of said tail thereon, a lateral extension at the side of said frame of channel formation and constituting a guiding slideway, a slidable guard in said slideway movable transversely to said prong to a 6 position overlying and making contact with saidprong, and detent means for releasably retaining said guard in said position.

3. A fastening device for securing the tail of a catamenial bandage, comprising a frame, a prong in said frame for receiving a part of said tail thereon, said frame having a fixed slideway substantially laterally opposite the tip end of said prong, a slidable guard in said slideway movable transversely to said prong to a position overlying said prong, said guard being resilient and having an offset engageable at an end of said slideway and resiliently depressible for unlocking said guard for retraction into said slideway and thereby adapted to function as a detent for releasably retaining said guard in said position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 249,659 Moore Nov. 15, 1881 542,624 Barnum July 16, 1895 678,668 KatZ July 16, 1901 855,529 Raymond June 4, 1907 1,038,392 Kohn Sept. 10, 1912 1,106,886 Malloy Aug. 11, 1914 1,436,675 Pejchar Nov. 28, 1922 2,017,551 Statter Oct. 15, 1935 2,579,694 Pari Dec. 25, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 635,533 Germany of 1936

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