US2944311A - Detachable fastening device - Google Patents

Description

y 1960 A. SCHNECKENBERGER 2,944,311

DETACHABLE FASTENING nsvxca Filed March 28, 1957 ADOLF SCHNECKENBERGER INVENTOR.

DETACHABLE FASTENING DEVICE Adolf Schneckenberger, Gernsbacher, Strase Nr. 70, Baden-Baden, Germany H Filed Mar. 28, 1957, Ser. No. 649,149 Claims priority, application' Germany Oct. 20, 1956 3 Claims. c1. 24-104 My present invention relates to a device for the detachable fastening of buttons and similar'appendages on fabrics such as textiles, knitted or felted materials and the like.

conventionally, buttons are sewn by the ordinary buttonhole stitch to a garment and are thus undetachably made fast thereto. While the sewn button is a timehonored adjunct to many pieces of wearing apparel, the concept of a detachable fastening device, enabling ready reattachment of a button to any part of a fabric surface, has also been universally recognized and accepted as desirable;

Some form of detachable button is already a wellknown and even mandatory item in, for example, military uniform equipage. In the armed forces, where the uniform garment. is traditionally well cared for, it was long ago found advantageous to employ detachable buttons so that theuniform could be cleaned, pressed, etc. withthe buttons. first removed therefrom to obviate chip: ping or breakage and the discoloring effects of drycleaning and steam-heating on both the buttons and the garment area adjacent-thereto. r

The detachable button has also long since come into its own in ,WOIIIBIIS-WEQI' fabrics. A ready example is that of. the budget-minded woman whose wardrobe features one 'ortwo basic dresses. She can vary the appearance' of these dresses merely by keeping on hand several sets f interchangeable adornment buttons adapted for quick attachment whenever'desired. Ladies-wear manufacturers are even known to supply extra detachable buttons as an accessory to stimulate dress sales. Large detachable buttons are frequently noted to adorn ladies cotton handbags, sometimes performing the utility of the handbag-opening device. Bedspreads, linens, and draperies often have detachable buttons disposed in a decorative pattern. Childr'ens clothes often display the same. Outsize detachable buttons alternate with scatter pins as a ladies costume-jewelry adornment.

Generally, detachable buttons in current use have a common handicap in that the arrangement by which they are secured to a garment forms objectionable rearward protrusions in the form of eyelet hooks, pin pongs, threaded shanks or the like. These snag-like or lancet like projections make contact with portions of an inner adjacent garment sooner or later resulting in damage to the latter. In military-uniform-supply circles, cognizance was in fact taken of this type of damage to the extent that the uniform blouse was equipped with a sewnin veneer material to act as a buffer between the dress shirt and the exposed or protruding parts of the buttons rear linkage. This, of course, represents an indirect rather than a direct attempt at solution of this problem.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide animproved fastening device adapted detachably to secure a button or the like to all kinds of fabrics.

A more particular object of the present invention is to provide means for giving to such fastening device a smboth, over-all configuration calculated to render its operation innocuous to garment areas adjacent thereto.

In accordance with a feature of the invention there is provided a two-part shell housing which, in co-operation with a hook-shaped link, serves to anchor'a button or like appendage to the fabric. This shell housing consists of two preferably circularv parts, i.e.v' an inner casing and an outer cover, which when joined together prevent the withdrawal of the hook-shaped link. The portion of the link remote. from the housing forms an abutment adapted to be positioned exteriorly athwart the hole or holesof the button, thus holding the latter fast against the garment, While a needleethin shank extends from this abutment through the buttonhole, the garment material, and' an aperture of the shell housings inner casing and terminates in a transverse prong having a pointed end. Normally, i.e. with the link secured to the button and to the garment in the manner described, this prong rests parallel to the major faces of the housing which encloses it.

In a preferred embodiment of the above feature, the link is designed to cooperate with conventional two-hole or four-hole buttons and is provided, for this purpose, with two parallel shanks each having a pointed prong. In this case, the abutment at the head of the shanks is formed, advantageously, by a bar interconnecting-the two shanks. In the normal position of use, this bar is fiat against the button, holding it fast against the garment, and the twin prongs are enclosed within the shell housing, extending parallel to one another and to the major faces thereof. With four-hole buttons, two twinshanked links may be,v anchored to a common housing, thepairs of prongs pointing in opposite directions away from each other. I

The above and otherobjects and features of the invention will become more fully apparent from the following detailed description, reference being made tothe accompanying drawingin which: V v

Fig. 1 is an'axial section ofa two-hole button provided with a detachable fastening device according to the inven- The device as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 comprises a shankless two-hole button 1, e.g. of bone or plastic, secured to a piece of garment material 2 by a transverse central bridge portion or bar 6 (Fig. 3) of a hookshaped link S-made, preferably, of stainless-steel wire. The bar is joined at each end to a shank portion 7 (Fig. 3) continuing perpendicularly downward through the respective buttonholes and through the garment material. The two free ends 8 (Fig. 3) of the link 5 form pointed prongs curving away from these shank portions at right angles thereto and are shown received within and positioned parallel to the major faces of a circular shell housing 11 composed of an inner casing 9 and an outer cover 10 each having an annular flange interrupted by v a marginal cutout 12, 13. The legs 7, 8 pass through aligned holes 4, 14 in the button 1 and in the casing 9, respectively. Closure of the shell housing 11 is effected by aligning the respective cutouts 12, 13 of housing parts 9, 10 and snap-fitting them together. For reopening the shell housing, the cutouts 12, 13 offer an interstitial PatentedJuly 12,1960

is aperspective view of a two-pronged link.

space for easy purchase by an inserted tool, blade or the like which pries casing 9 and outer cover 10 quickly apart. Also, these cutouts. impart a certain resiliency tothe interlocking. slightly conical. flange portions of they two housing parts 9, 10. and insure their firminterem gagement. It will be noted that the clearance between these housing parts; is.- narrow-enough. to prevent. with drawal of link when thehousing 11. is closed. The flat-bottomed housing cannot damage any garmentsworn adjacent the fabricZ.

The device as shown in Fig. 4 comprises a. shankless four-hole. button 1' secured to a piece of garment material 2. as in Figs. 1 and 2, but employing. two twinshanked links 5 traversing two pairs'of holes 4 as. well.

as the garment material 2 and anchored within. a. common housing 11, having two similar pairs of holes, with the two pairs of. prongs pointing away from each. other in,

opposite directions, as'illustrated by dotted, lines.

The modified device shown in Fig. 5 comprises a button 1' with looped shank la' secured to a piece of garment material 2 by the tranverse central. portion or bar 6 (Fig. 3) of a hook-shaped link 5. The link 5, penetrating the garment material in the manner already described, is received and anchored within a housing 11" composed of an inner casing 9a and an outer cover 10a, which in this modification have threads on their cylindrical flange surfaces enabling a screwed closure of the two housing parts and dispensing Withthe cutouts 1-2, 13 of Fig. 2.

The invention is, of, course, not limited to the specific embodiments described. and illustrated but may be realized in numerous modifications and adaptations without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Thus it will be understood, for example, that the invention may be used with buttons of other than circular configuration and that, if desired, a link 5 (or a single leg 7, 8 thereof) may also be rigidly secured to a button as a permanent shank thereof.

I claim:

1. in combination, a button having at least one pair of holes; a housing; a piece offabric between said button and said housing; said housing comprising a generally circular first shell member having at least one pair of apertures aligned with said pair of holes and a second generally circular shell member. detachably engaging said first shell member; and. a wire, link detachably connect- .in-g; said button with; said housing; said wire link comprising a pair of parallel shanks traversing said holes with small clearance, said fabric and said apertures, a bridge element interconnecting said shanks at one end and preventing disengagement of said button from said link, and a pair of pointed, parallel prongs rigid with said shanks and extending transversely thereto within said housing; said shell" members engaging each other with so little spacing. therebet veen; as; to; enable withdrawal of said link from. saidhousingonly upon .detachment of said second shellmember from said first shell member in a direction away from said fabric; said prongs lying flat Within said housing andi making: loose lengthwisecontact with the inner surfaces of said shellmembers.

2. In combinatioma. button having two pairs of holes; a housing; a piece of fabric between said button and said housing; said housing comprising a first generally circular shell'rnernber having two pairs of apertures aligned with. said pairs of holes and a. second generally circular shell member detachabl'y engaging said first shell member; and two wire links detachably connecting, said buttonwith saidhousing; said wire links comprising each a pair of parallel shanks traversing two of said holes, said'fabric and two of said apertures, a bridge element interconnecting said shanks at one end and preventing disengagement of said button" from the respective link, and a pair of pointed, parallel prongs rigid with said shanks and extending transversely thereto vw'thin said housing; said shell members engaging each other with so little spacing therebetween as. to enable withdrawal of said links. from said housing only upon detachment of said second shell member'from said first shell memher; said prongs lying flat within said housing and making loose lengthwise contact with the inner surfaces of said shell members.

V 3. The combination according to claim 2, wherein the prongs of said hnks point away from each other within said housing.

References Cited inthe; file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 676,273 Platon .June 11', 1901' 950,289 Homing Feb. 22, 19.10, 1,455,357 Ross May 15, 1923 2,453,227. Janes Nov. 9, 1948 2,613,418 I-banez Oct. 14, 1952 2,688,782 Hayden .S'ept. 114,.1954

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