EP1157624B1 - Button fastener - Google Patents

Abstract

A garment fastener according to the invention comprises a female fastener member including a first flexible carrier tape composed of a synthetic resin and having at least one hole, a ring molded from said first flexible tape and surrounding said hole, and an eyelet fitting into said hole and composed of ring-shaped elements pressed one into another through said hole and having respective flanges on opposite sides of the first flexible carrier tape overlying said ring of said first flexible tape; the garment fastener also comprises a male fastener member including a second flexible carrier tape composed of a synthetic resin and having at least one hole, a ring molded from said second flexible tape, and a press button fitting into said hole of said second flexible tape and composed of ring-shaped elements pressed one into another through said hole of said second flexible tape and having respective flanges on opposite sides of said second flexible tape overlying said ring of said second flexible tape. <IMAGE>

Description

• Our present invention relates to a button fastener, especially for brassieres and, moreparticulary, to a fastener which can be used to attach a strap or the like to a garment,such as a brassiere, utilizing a pressfit between male and female members. A buttonfastener of this type is known, e.g., from DE-A-3919766. The invention also relates toa flexible fastener for garments and especially bathing suits an lingerie, particularlyfor use as a back strap fastener and to a method of making same, as disclosed,basically, by US-A-3553796.
• While a variety of fasteners have been usedheretofore to attach, for example, the strap of a brassiereto the body thereof or two parts of a brassiere together,there is a continuing desire for improvement in this field.Hook and loop fasteners, for example, have aestheticdisadvantages, while eyelet type fasteners may requirestitching of fabric pieces or fastener parts to thegarment. Most fasteners provided heretofore have beenrelatively complex, time-consuming in application to thegarment or unsatisfactory from the point of view oflaundering and manipulation by the user.
• It is, therefore, the object of the presentinvention to provide an improved garment fastener whichcan be connected and disconnected easily, is capable ofwithstanding repeated laundering and poses no danger toother delicate garments in the wash, and is aesthetic inappearance in all stages.
• These objects are attained, in accordance withthe invention, in a fastener for two parts of a garment,e.g. a strap and a brassiere body, and having respectivefastener parts attached to the two parts of the garment tobe joined together. According to the invention, one ofthese parts is a ring which is formed with an opening andis composed of two sections, one on each side of the fabricpiece carrying the fastener part and welded togetherthrough the fabric so that the fabric is exposed throughthe opening. The other fastener part forms a press buttonwith the first fastener part and preferably has a formationcomplementary to the formation on either of the twosections of the ring and can be press-fitted onto it. Theformations are respectively a male formation and a femaleformation. The female formation can be an inwardly-extendingoverhang surrounding the opening in therespective ring section while the male formation can be agenerally cylindrical collar boss or rib having an outwardbulge engageable behind the overhang.
• The outer configuration of the male member cancorrespond to that of the female members so that when thetwo parts of the fastener are joined together, they appearidentical from front and back. The male member can engagein the female fastener part at either one of its sections,i.e. on one side of the fabric or the other and in thatcase the fastener may be reversible and the garment carrying the fastener can be reversible. The fact that thefabric of the garment is exposed through the openings inboth the male and female fastener parts has been found tocontribute to the overall aesthetics of the fastener whichhas a press button configuration and in which the femalefastener part can form a decorative element for the body ofthe garment even if no strap is applied.
• According to a feature of the invention, one ofthe sections of the female part of the fastener can beprovided with a plurality of spaced-apart pins which arepointed and can pierce the fabric when the two parts of thefemale fastener are pressed together and joined by weldingto one another and to the fabric. The other sections of thefemale fastener parts may have a plurality of recesses ordepressions dimensioned to receive the projections.
• The male fastener part can be connected to thestrap by a pair of shield-shaped plates which straddle thestrap and are welded thereto. It has been found to beadvantageous to form the male fastener part with alaterally-projecting lug which is connected to theaforementioned plates. The lug can be provided with pinsengageable in holes in the plates or holes can be providedin the lug through which pins of one or both of the platescan extend. For aesthetic reasons, it is desirable to havethe pins connecting the plates together and/or to the lugproject from a side of one of the plates. In this case, one of the plates can be provided with the pins which passthrough holes in the lug and in the other plate.
• The invention also encompasses the garmentprovided with such a fastener, especially a brassiere. Inthat case, a body of the brassiere is provided with thefemale fastener and the male fastener can engage in thisfemale fastener from either side and can be carried by thestrap.
• The fastener of the invention has been found tobe particularly effective with reversible garments,especially reversible undergarments such as brassieres. Abrassiere, according to the invention, can be fabricatedfrom molded cups entirely by a welding process, i.e.without stitched seams, and such that the fabrics on theopposite sides of the brassiere have different colors sothat either of these colors or fabrics may be the outerfabric and the other the inner fabric of the brassiere,depending upon how the garment is reversed. According tothe present invention, one of the annuluses of the femalefastener may be of one color while the other annulus is ofanother color to match the fabric or side of the brassiereto which the respective annulus is welded.
• Since the male fastener part is attached to thestrap by welding and the female fastener part has itsannuluses or rings also attached by welding, not only isthe garment itself fabricated by a welding process free from stitching but the reversible fastener can be appliedalso entirely by welding operations. Naturally, theopposite sides of the male fastener part may be ofdifferent colors corresponding to the colors of theannuluses or rings of the female fastener part so that themale fastener part, upon reversible of the garment, needonly be turned over to provide a match between the visibleportions of the two fastener parts.
• Where the fabric is a soft fabric, a thick fabricand certain delicate weaves and knits, such as those forbrassieres, lingerie, swimwear and babywear, both sides canhave prongs each pointing toward the other. The prongspreferably have cylindrical shanks and conical pointedtips.
• In the drawing:
• FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a brassiereprovided with a fastener according to the invention;
• FIG. 2 is an elevational view showing one side ofthe female part of this fastener applied to a fabric;
• FIG. 3 is a perspective view of one section ofthe female fastener part;
• FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the othersection;
• FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the two sectionsjoined together, albeit without the fabric between them;
• FIG. 6 is a perspective view broken away showingthe two sections joined and without the fabric betweenthem;
• FIG. 7 is a perspective view partially brokenaway showing the fastener with the male and female partsjoined but again without the fabric between the twosections of the female parts;
• FIG. 8 is an enlarged elevational view of themale portion of the fastener seen from one side;
• FIG. 9 is a view similar to FIG. 8 showing themale fastener part as seen from the opposite side;
• FIG. 10 is a side elevational view of the platesaffixing the male fastener part to the strap;
• FIG. 11 is a side elevational view of the twoplates connected together but without the strap or the lugof the male fastener part.
• The principles of the invention will be apparentfrom FIG. 1 which shows half of abrassiere 10 having acup11 and a back strap 12. Ashoulder strap 13 can beconnected to the brassiere by a pair of press-buttonfasteners represented at 14 and 15, respectively.
• Thefastener 15 comprises male andfemale members16 and 17 attached to thestrap 13 and to thebrassiere body 10, respectively, and interconnected at abutton 18 ofcircular shape. Thecylindrical boss 19 of themale member16 can be seen within the hole formed by thering 20 of thefemale member. The male and female members are bothcarried vialugs 21 and 22 by pairs of shield-shaped plates23 and 24, welded to thestrap 13 and to the cup fabric,respectively.
• The press-button fastener 25-28 differs from thatshown at 15 in that the female member is formed from tworing-shaped sections, one of which is visible at 25 in FIG.1. A similarly-shaped circular ring fastener part isprovided on the opposite side of the strap 12 of the bodyof the brassiere and is not visible in FIG. 1. Themalemember 26, however, is engageable in the opening on eitherof these two annuluses and thus can be affixed to thefemale fastener part on either side of the strap 12. Ineither case, afabric portion 27 is visible through theopening of the female member and will be visible throughthe opening 28 of the male member when the latter ispressed onto the female member.
• The female member of the fastener is identifiedat 30 in FIG. 5 and is formed as two halves orsections 31and 32 straddling thefabric 33 of the garment. Theexternal appearances of the two halves are identical andthus each has an opening 34 surrounded by athin ridge 35separated by agroove 36 from athicker bead 37. Thering half 31 has been shown in FIG. 3 and thecomplementary half32 has been illustrated in FIG. 4. From FIGS. 3 and 4 itwill be apparent that each of the female fastener sectionshas aflat surface 38 or 39 adapted to lie against thefabric 33 while thesection 31 has angularly-equispacedpointed pins 40 adapted to pierce the fabric and engage incorresponding recesses 42 formed in themember 32. The twosections are joined together as shown in FIG. 6 with theprojections 40 in therecesses 42 and the sectionsthermally or ultrasonically welded together and to thefabric 33 sandwiched between them but not visible in FIGS.5, 6 or 7.
• As is also apparent from FIG. 6, thenarrow ribs35 of the two sections form overhangingedges 43 and 44which engage behind abulge 45 in thecylindrical rib 46projecting from theflat surface 47 of the male member ofthe fastener. The side of themale member 50 of thefastener from which thecylindrical projection 46 juts isvisible in FIG. 9. The opposite side is seen in FIG. 8 andhas anarrow rib 51 separated by agroove 52 from awiderbead 53 similar to that of thesections 31 and 32 shown inFIGS. 3-7 so that the appearance remains generally the samewhether the male and female members are connected or thefemale member is seen alone. In any case, thefabric piece27 can be viewed through the openings in the male andfemale members. The male member is in addition formed with alateral lug 54 which can haveholes receiving pins 57 ofaplate 58 projecting through these holes and through holesin another shield-shaped plate 59.
• Thepins 57 are visible in FIGS. 10 and 11 aswell and theplates 58 and 59 can be seen to haveprojections 60 which grip thestrap 13 when the latter issandwiched between the plates and is welded thereto. Ofcourse theplates 58 and 59 are not only welded to thestrap 13 but to one another and to thelug 54 via thepins57.
• The welding here as well can be ultrasonic orthermal or a combination of the two.
• The parts of the fastener can be injection moldedfrom synthetic resin material and theplates 58 and 59 canhave a different color from that of the male fastenerportion and/or the female fastener portion and, while allof the parts can be of a matte finish, various textures orfinishes can be provided.
• As will be apparent from FIG. 1, thebrassierebody 10 can be fabricated entirely by welding processes,thecups 11 of the brassiere being molded. Advantageously,the opposite sides of thebrassiere 10, shown by differentshading in FIG. 1, may be of different colors and hence thering of the female fastener part applied to one side of thegarment can be of a different color from the ring appliedto the opposite side. The male fastener part may be of different colors on opposite sides as well so that, likethe garment, the strap can be reversed to ensure a matchbetween the respective side of the male fastener part andthe ring of the female fastener part which it engages. Inthat case, each of the male and female fastener parts areof two colors to match the two colors of the garment.

Claims (12)

1. A garment fastener comprising:

   a first fastener part (30) secured to fabric (33) of a garment and comprisinga pair of annular fastener sections (31,32) on opposite sides ofthe fabric said fastener sections being fused to one another through thefabric;

   a second fastener part (26) having an annular member engageable withat least one of said sections; and complementary male and female formationson said second fastener part and on said one of said sections,respectively, for releasable engagement by press-button action to engagethe second fastener part with the first fastener part,characterizedin that said annular member of said second fastener part (26) isselectively engageable with either of said sections (31,32) by press-buttonaction.
2. The garment fastener defined in claim 1 wherein said male and femaleformations are respectively an annular boss having an outer bulge andan inwardly-extending edge (35) of an opening (34) of the respectivepart.
3. The garment fastener defined in claim 2 wherein said male formation ison said second fastener part and said sections (31,32) each have saidfemale portions (44,43).
4. The garment fastener defined in claim 3, wherein said sections (31,32)have identical external configurations.
5. The garment fastener defined in claim 4, wherein said sections (31,32)and annular member are all circular.
6. The garment fastener defined in claim 1 wherein at least one of saidfastener sections (31) is provided with a plurality of pins (40) adapted topenetrate into said fabric (33) and welded to the other of said fastenersections.
7. The garment fastener defined in claim 6 wherein both of said fastenersections (31,32) have respective pins adapted to penetrate into saidfabric (33) and welded to the other of said sections.
8. The garment fastener defined in claim 6 wherein said sections have flatsurfaces (38,39) engageable with the fabric.
9. The garment fastener defined in claim 1 wherein each of said sections(31,32) has a narrow rib (35) surrounding a respective opening (34) andis separated by a groove (36) from a wide bead (37).
10. The garment fastener defined in claim 9 wherein said annular memberhas the same external configuration as said sections (31,32).
11. The garment fastener defined in claim 1 wherein said annular memberhas plates (58,59) having a shield shape.
12. The garment fastener defined in claim 11 wherein at least one of saidplates has a plurality of pins (57) extending through openings in a lug(54) and holes in the other of said plates.

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