US20100257706A1

US20100257706A1 - One touch type locking apparatus

Info

Publication number: US20100257706A1
Application number: US12/494,922
Authority: US
Inventors: Keyng-Hak BAK
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2009-04-10
Filing date: 2009-06-30
Publication date: 2010-10-14
Also published as: KR20100112867A

Abstract

Disclosed is a locking apparatus for an accessory. The locking apparatus includes a locking housing having a space section, a rotary lever rotating about a hinge, a torsion spring supporting the rotary lever, a push part exposed out of the locking housing, a first locking protrusion provided in the rotary lever and a locking bar having a second locking protrusion. When the locking bar is inserted into the locking housing, the second locking protrusion is locked with the first locking protrusion, so that the accessory is locked. When the push part is pressed, the second locking protrusion is separated from the first locking protrusion, so that the accessory is unlocked.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a locking apparatus for an accessory. More particularly, the present invention relates to a one touch type locking apparatus for an accessory, which has a simple structure and can easily lock/unlock the accessory through a one touch scheme without deteriorating an aesthetic appearance of the accessory.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, accessories are classified into necklaces, earrings, bracelets, anklelets, and, which are worn on necks, ears, arms, and legs of a human body in order to exhibit individual preferences or characters in combination with dresses. The accessories are diversely designed according to the user's taste and preference and are on sale in the market.
Among those accessories, the bracelet includes a decoration portion and a locking portion for wearing the bracelet around a wrist. The locking portion includes a male locking part provided at one side of a bracelet body, and a female locking part provided at the other side of the bracelet body corresponding to the male locking part. Such a locking portion must have a simple structure enabling a user to easily lock/unlock the locking portion.
However, most conventional bracelets have complicate and crude locking/unlocking structures, so it is not easy to lock/unlock the bracelet. In addition, the locking portion has a relatively large size with respect to the bracelet body, so the aesthetic appearance of the bracelet may deteriorate.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a locking apparatus for an accessory, which has a simple structure and can easily lock/unlock the accessory without deteriorating an aesthetic appearance of the accessory, wherein a locking protrusion of a locking bar is locked with a locking protrusion of a rotary lever when the locking bar is inserted into a locking housing due to elasticity of a torsion spring, and wherein the rotary lever rotates about a hinge and the locking protrusion of the locking bar is unlocked from the locking protrusion of the rotary lever when a push part is pressed.
In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention provides a locking apparatus for an accessory, the locking apparatus comprising: a locking housing fixed to one end of an accessory body and formed therein with a space section; a rotary lever installed in the space section such that the rotary lever rotates about a hinge; a torsion spring installed around the hinge of the rotary lever to elastically support the rotary lever; a push part provided at one side of the rotary lever and exposed out of the locking housing; a first locking protrusion provided at a remaining side of the rotary lever; and a locking bar having a second locking protrusion, which is provided at a remaining side of the accessory body, wherein, when the locking bar is inserted into the locking housing, the second locking protrusion of the locking bar is locked with the first locking protrusion of the rotary lever due to elasticity of the torsion spring, so that the accessory is locked, and, when the push part is pressed, the rotary lever rotates about the hinge so that the second locking protrusion of the locking bar is separated from the first locking protrusion of the rotary lever, thereby unlocking accessory.
One end of the push part is bent toward the space section of the locking housing. When the push part is pressed for unlocking operation, the one end of the push part slidably makes contact with an inner wall of the space section of the locking housing.
A stopper is provided at a remaining end of the push part.
The rotation of the rotary lever is restricted by the stopper.
As described above, according to the locking apparatus of the present invention, the accessory is locked when the locking bar is inserted into the locking housing due to elasticity of the torsion spring, and the accessory is unlocked when the push part of the rotary lever is pressed, so the locking apparatus can easily lock/unlock the accessory without deteriorating the aesthetic appearance of the accessory, thereby improving reliability of the accessory. In addition, since the accessory has a simple locking structure, the manufacturing cost for the accessory can be remarkably reduced.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an accessory having a locking apparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a locking operation of an accessory according to the present invention; and

FIGS. 3 and 4 are longitudinal sectional views showing unlocking operation of an accessory according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an accessory having a locking apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a locking operation of the accessory according to the present invention, and FIGS. 3 and 4 are longitudinal sectional views showing unlocking operation of the accessory according to the present invention. In the drawings, a bracelet is illustrated as an example of the accessory.
Referring to FIGS. 1 to 4, the locking apparatus 100 according to the present invention includes a locking housing 110 and a rotary lever 120, which are installed at one end of an accessory body 100′. A locking bar 130 having a locking protrusion 131 is fixed to the other end of the accessory body 100′ in correspondence with the locking housing 110 and the rotary lever 120.
The locking bar 130 is spaced apart from the locking housing 110 and the rotary lever 120. When a user inserts the locking bar 130 into the locking housing 110, the locking bar 130 is locked in the locking housing 110 by a torsion spring 123, which will be described later in detail.
The detailed structure of the locking apparatus 100 according to the present invention is as follows. The locking housing 110 is fixed to one end of the accessory body 100′ and a space section 111 is formed in the locking housing 110.
The rotary lever 120 rotates about a hinge 121 in the space section 111. The rotary lever 120 is partially exposed out of the locking housing 110.
The torsion spring 123 is installed around the hinge 121 of the rotary lever 120 to elastically support the rotary lever 120. A push part 120 a is formed at one side of the rotary lever 120 while being exposed out of the locking housing 110, and a locking protrusion 120 b is provided at the other side of the rotary lever 120. An inclined guide surface 120 c is formed at an end of the locking protrusion 120 b.
One end of the push part 120 a is bent toward the space section 111 of the locking housing 110. If the user pushes the push part 120 a to unlock the accessory, one end of the push part 120 a slidably makes contact with an inner wall W of the space section 111 of the locking housing 110 (see, A of FIG. 3).
A stopper 125 is provided at the other end of the push part 120 a to restrict the rotation of the rotary lever.
Meanwhile, the locking bar 130 having a locking protrusion 131 is fixedly provided at the other end of the accessory body 100′. An inclined guide surface is formed at an end of the locking protrusion 131.
The inclined guide surface 131 a of the locking protrusion 131 and the inclined guide surface 120 c of the locking protrusion 120 may allow the locking bar 130 to be easily inserted into the space section 111 when the locking bar 130 is inserted into the space section 111 of the locking housing 110.
If the user inserts the locking bar 130 into the locking housing 110, the locking protrusion 131 of the locking bar 130 is locked with the locking protrusion 121 of the rotary lever 120 due to elasticity of the torsion spring 121, so that the accessory is locked (see, FIG. 2).
In contrast if the user presses the push part 120 a to unlock the accessory, the rotary lever 12 rotates about the hinge 121, so that the locking protrusion 131 of the locking bar 130 is separated from the locking protrusion 121 of the rotary lever 120, thereby unlocking the accessory (see, FIGS. 3 and 4).
Hereinafter, the locking/unlocking operation of the locking apparatus for the accessory according to the present invention will be described.
In order to lock the accessory 100 after wearing the accessory 100, the user inserts the locking protrusion 131 of the locking bar 130 into the space section 111 of the locking housing 110.
When the locking bar 130 is inserted into the space section 111 of the locking housing 110, the inclined guide surface 120 c of the locking protrusion 120 b and the inclined guide surface 131 a of the locking protrusion 131 allow the locking bar 130 to be easily inserted into the space section 111 of the locking housing 110.
As the locking bar 130 has been inserted into the space section 111 of the locking housing 110, the locking protrusion 131 of the locking bar 130 is locked with the locking protrusion 121 of the rotary lever 120 due to elasticity of the torsion spring 123 (see, FIG. 2).
Meanwhile, when it is necessary to unlock the accessory 100, the user presses the push part 120 a of the rotary lever 120, so that the rotary lever 120 rotates about the hinge 121 (see, FIG. 3).
Thus, the locking protrusion 131 of the locking bar 130 is separated from the locking protrusion 121 of the rotary lever 120. In this state, the user can take the locking bar 130 out of the space section 111 (see, FIG. 4).
If the user releases pressing force applied to the push part 120 a, the rotary lever 120 returns to its initial position while being rotated about the hinge 121 due to elastic restoring force of the torsion spring 123 (see, FIG. 2).
As described above, if the user inserts the locking bar into the locking housing, the accessory is locked due to elasticity of the torsion spring, and the accessory is unlocked if the user presses the push part of the rotary lever. In other words, the locking apparatus has a simple structure, so the locking/unlocking operation of the locking apparatus can be simplified without deteriorating the aesthetic appearance of the accessory, thereby improving reliability of the product.
In addition, since the locking structure of the accessory can be simplified, the manufacturing cost for the accessory can be remarkably reduced.
Although the exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been described, it is understood that the present invention should not be limited to these exemplary embodiments but various changes and modifications can be made by one ordinary skilled in the art within the spirit and scope of the present invention as hereinafter claimed. For example, the locking apparatus of the present invention can be also applied to other accessories, such as a necklace, an earring, etc., in addition to the bracelet.

Claims

1. A locking apparatus for an accessory, the locking apparatus comprising:

a locking housing fixed to one end of an accessory body and formed therein with a space section;

a rotary lever installed in the space section such that the rotary lever rotates about a hinge;

a torsion spring installed around the hinge of the rotary lever to elastically support the rotary lever;

a push part provided at one side of the rotary lever and exposed out of the locking housing;

a first locking protrusion provided at a remaining side of the rotary lever; and

a locking bar having a second locking protrusion, which is provided at a remaining side of the accessory body,

wherein, when the locking bar is inserted into the locking housing, the second locking protrusion of the locking bar is locked with the first locking protrusion of the rotary lever due to elasticity of the torsion spring, so that the accessory is locked, and, when the push part is pressed, the rotary lever rotates about the hinge so that the second locking protrusion of the locking bar is separated from the first locking protrusion of the rotary lever, thereby unlocking accessory.

2. The locking apparatus according to claim 1, wherein one end of the push part is bent toward the space section of the locking housing, and, when the push part is pressed for unlocking operation, the one end of the push part slidably makes contact with an inner wall of the space section of the locking housing.

3. The locking apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a stopper is provided at a remaining end of the push part.

4. The locking apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first locking protrusion of the rotary lever has a first inclined guide surface, the second locking protrusion of the locking has a second inclined guide surface, and the first and second guide surfaces allow the locking bar to be easily inserted into the housing section of the locking housing.