US2353378A - Adjustable strap and buckle therefor - Google Patents

Description

July 11, 1944. P. w. WHITE- ADJUSTABLE STRAP AND BUCKLE THEREFOR Filed June 2'7, 1942 Patented, July 11, 1944 ADJUSTABLE STRAP AND BUCKLE l THEREFOR .Paul W. White, Waterbury, -Cnn., assignor to Parva Products Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Delaware Application June27, 1942', Serial No. 448,807

4 Claims. (01.:2-340) This invention relates to adjustable. straps, more particularly to adjustable suspenders com- :prising straps and cooperating one-piece lbuckles therefor, and the invention has for an object the provision of an improved adjustable suspender of this character.

Suspender straps have heretofore been provided wherein adjustability is achieved by the provision of a one-piece buckle construction, but such arrangements have not been entirely satisfactory due to the fact that such buckles have been found to have either a tendency to slip when tension is applied to the Suspender strap or to clamp the strap so .tightly that adjustment thereof is so difficult as to be unsatisfactory.

These difficulties arise due to the fact that the.

one-piece buckles heretofore provided havenot been universally applicable to straps of different thickness, the clamping and adjustment action of such buckles being dependent entirely upon the manner in which the strap is threaded through the buckle, and the resulthas been that when applied to. thin straps excessive slipping has been encountered, while when applied to thick straps adjustment ofthe suspend'er" strap to form a small attaching loop which encircles one or more bars of the buckle so that a portion of the attaching 1001p passes in front of alternate bars and rearwardly of an intermediate bar.-

The front" strand of the adjusting loop is threaded through the buckle so as to overlie the portions of the attaching loop which pass in front of the alternate bars and to underlie the portion of the attaching loop which passes behind the intermediate bar. The front strand of the loop is thus interposed between the intermediate bar and the attaching loop and upon the application of tension to the strap is urged tightly against this intermediate bar so as to clamp the strap in adjusted positions. The suspender strap after passing in front of the upper'one of the abovehas been too difiicult for satisfactory commer-' cial use. Consequently, itis a. further object of this invention to provide an adjustable Suspender construction wherein the. strap cooperates with.

a one-piece buckle which is. properly designed for cooperation with the strap to provide satis factory clamping. and adjusting characteristics regardless of the thicknessof the strap.

In carrying out the invention in one form, a

one-piece buckle comprising four spaced-apart cross bars is provided, which cross bars define strap receiving slots therebetween. The sus pender is of the usual type comprisinga pair: of straps adapted to pass over the shoulders of the user and either cross or be connected by cross members for attachment to thebackot the garment. The ,front end of each suspender strap is in the usual case looped mponitself to form an adjusting loop, the closed end; of which passes through a ring, which ring is attachable to the garment. The freeend of the strap is attached to the adjusting buckle which cooperates withan intermediate portion of the strap of this invention is so associated with the strap;

that the free end of the back' strand of .the adjustingloopqis looped upon itself and secured cross bar 18 as shown besti n Fig. 3, with both referred-t0 alternate cross bars passes rearwardly of the uppermost crossbar so as to provide a neat and finished appearance to the buckle when the strap is threaded therethrough.

For a more complete understanding of the invention reference should now be had to the drawing, in which Figure 1 is a front elevational view of one end of a suspender strap embodying the present invention and illustrating a one-piece buckle associated with the strap;

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of a portion of the, Suspender strap and buckle shown in Fig.

Land

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially along the vertical center line of Fig. 1.

Referring now to the drawing, there is shown.

tively, of an adjusting loop. The ring 12 may be attached to the garment to Ibe supported in any desired' manner and may. be of any suitable construction. It is shown in the drawing asbe I ing a three-bar ring having side bars l5 and 16 connected by cross bars I1, l3 and 19. The suspender strap is looped about the intermediate strands of the loop passing rearwardly of the upper cross bar ll. Associated with the lower cross bar .19 is a pair of attaching elements 20 such as are commonly provided in. suspenders of the general type to which this invention is applicable.

The one-piece suspender buckle comprises a frame having side bars 2| connected by four spaced- apart cross bars 22, 23, 24 and 25 which define strap receiving slots therebetween identified in Fig. 3 ,by the reference numerals 26, 21 and 28, respectively.

In order to enhance the appearance of the buckle, the side bars 2| are given the arcuate;

configuration shown, and the upper end cross bar 25 is cut away to provide a sloping rear surface so that the strap It] may lie therebehind Without bulging rearwardlyof the buckle. Similarly, and for the additional purpose of providing proper gripping of the strap, the intermediate cross bars 24 and 25 .are cut back on their opposite surfaces to permit a portion of the suspender straps threaded therearound to lie at'least partially within the confines of the side bars of the buckle. The mannerin which the suspender strap is associated with and threaded through the'buckle insures that a proper gripping or clamping action will be obtained and that ease of adjustment will be provided regardless of the thickness of the strap.

As shown best in Fig. 3, the back strand of the adjusting loop portion of the suspender strap is looped upon itself and secured, as for example by sewing at the points indicated by the reference numeral 29, to provide a small attaching loop having a, back portion 30 and a front portion 3|. The front portion of this attaching loop extends in front of the cross bar 24, through the slot 21, in back of the cross bar through the slot 26 and in front of the cross bar 22, while the back portion 36 of the attaching loop extends in back of the cross bars 24, 23 and 22 so as effectively to conceal these bars and prevent contact thereof with the body or underlying garments of the wearer. The rear portion 39 of the attaching loop may, if desired, pass through the slot 26 along with the portion 3| so that both portions of the attaching loop lie in front of the lower' cross bar 22. Such an arrangement, however; would to some extent increase the bulging at the front face of the buckle and would also leave the rear surface of the cross bar 22 exposed to view.

, The front strand of the adjusting 'loop as shown best in Fig. 3 is threaded through the slots 26, 2'! and 28 in alternate directions so that the front strand 3 overlies the'attaching loop in front of the bars 22 and 24, that is, the front portion 3| of the attaching loop lies between the front strand l3 and the bars 22 and 24, and the frontstrand I3 overlies the portion 3|] of the attaching loop in back of the cross bar 23 so as to lie between the portion 3| and the cross bar 23. Furthermore the strand |3 lies in back of the upper cross bar 25, thus to provide a finished appearance to the buckle and strap combination and to insure that the front strand i3 closely overlies the cross bar 24 and the portionof the attaching loop which encircles this cross bar.

The strap receiving slots 26, 21 and 28 are of sufficient width to permit the strap ID to be readily drawn therethrough' when it is desired to adjust the length" of the adjusting loop formed by the strands I3 and I4, but when tension is applied to the suspender strap the front portion 3| of the attaching loop is caused to that this portion 3| passes in front of the cross bars 22 and 24, and such movement of the portion 3| is effective to urge the overlying portion of the front strand l3 against the rear surface of the cross bar 23. Thus the front strand |3 of the strap I0 is tightly clamped between the portion 3| of the attaching loop and the cross bar 23. Further clamping action is of course obtained due to the fact that the strand I3v is considerably deformed from a straight path through the buckle and due to the additional fact that a considerable portion of this move toward the cross bar 23 due to the fact strand l3 overlies in frictional relation the front portion 3| of the attaching loop. Thus there is provided a one-piece four-bar suspender buckle which, when properly associated with the suspender strap, provides for secure and firm gripping of the strap in adjusted positions upon the application of tension thereto and at the same time permits ready adjustment of the strap relative to the buckle;

While a particular embodiment of the invention has been shown, it will be understood, of course, that the invention is not limited thereto since many modifications may be made, and it is therefore contemplated by the appended claims to cover any such modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. In an adjustable suspender of the type comprising a strap having one end attachable to a garment and the other end looped upon itself to form the front and back strands of an adjusting loop, and a ring attachable to the garment having a slot for receiving the portion of said strap connecting said front and back strands at one end of said loop; the combination of a buckle for adjustably connecting the front and back strands at the other end of said loop comprising a one-piece frame having spaced apart upper and lower end cross bars and upper and lower intermediate cross bars defining strap receiving slots therebetween; said back strand of said loop encircling said upper intermediate and said lower end cross bars and being secured upon itself to form an attaching loop; said front strand being threaded through said frame so as to pass alternately in front and in back of said cross bars for adjusting movement through said slots; the threaded portion of said front strand passing between said lower intermediate cross bar and said attaching loop of said back strand whereby said front strand is clamped therebetween when tension is applied to said strap.

2. In an adjustable suspender of the type comprising a strap having one end attachable to a garment and the other end looped upon itself to form the front and back strands of an adjusting loop, and a ring attachable to the garment having a slot for receiving the portion of said strap connecting said front and back strands at one end of said loop; the combination of a buckle for adjustably connecting the front and back strands at the other end of said loop comprising a one-piece frame having spaced apart upper and lower end cross bars and upper and lower intermediate cross bars defining strap receiving slots therebetween; said back strand of said loop encircling said upper intermediate and said lower end cross bars and being secured upon itself to form an attaching loop; said front strand being threaded through said frame so as to pass alternately in front and in back of said cross bars for adjusting movement through said slots; the

threaded portion of said front strand passing between said lower intermediate cross bar and said attaching loop of said back strand, the front surfaces of said lower end and upper intermediate cross bars being disposed forwardly of the back surface of said lower intermediate cross bar. to cause the front portion of said attaching loop to move toward said lower intermediate cross bar and clamp said front strand thereagainst when tension is applied to said strap.

3. In an adjustable suspender of the type com-' prising a strap having one end attachable to a garment and the other end looped upon itself to form the front and back strands of an adjusting loop, and a ring attachable to the garment having a slot for receiving the portion of said strap connecting said front and back strands at one end of said loop; the combination of a buckle for adjustably connecting the front and back strands at the other end of said loop comprising a one piece frame having four spaced apart cross bars defining strap receiving slots in said frame; said back strand of said loop being looped and se cured upon itself to form an attaching loop hav ing a front portion extending in front of a first one of said bars, in back of a second one of said bars and in front of a third one of said bars; said front strand of said adjusting loop being threaded through said slots to overlie said front portion of said attaching loop in front of said first and third bars and to overlie said front portion in back of said second bar; said front strand passing in back of the fourth one of said cross bars; said front portion of saidattaching loop upon the application of tension to said strap urging said overlying portion of said front strand against the back of said second 'bar to clamp said strap in adjusted position, said front strand upon the release of said tension being readily movable through said slots to adjust said adjusting loop.

4. In an adjustable suspender of the type comprising a strap having one end attachable to a garment and the other end looped upon itself to form the front and back strands of an adjusting loop, and a ring attachable to the garment having a slot for receiving the portion of said strap connecting said front and back strands at one end of said loop; the combination of a buckle for adjustably connecting the front and back strands at. the other end of said loop comprising a onepiece frame having four spaced apart cross bars defining strap receiving slots in said frame; said back strand of said loop being looped and secured upon itself to form an attaching loop having a front portion extending in front of a first one of said bars, in back of a second one of said bars and in front of a third one of said bars; said front strand of said adjusting loop being threaded through said slots to overlie said front portion of said attaching loop in front of said first and third bars and to overlie said front portion in back of said second bar; said front strand passing in back of the fourth one of said cross bars; the front surfaces of said first and third cross bars being disposed forwardly of the back surface of said second cross bar to cause said front portion of said attaching loop to move toward said second cross bar upon the application of tension to said strap and clamp said front strand of said adjusting loop against said second bar.

PAUL W. WHITE.

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