Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
116~03~
APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING FASTENERS
Background of the Invention
_
The present invention relates to apparatus for
producing ~roups of joined fasteners made of plastics.
~ore particularly, the invention relates to apparatus for
producing groups of joined fasteners in which respective
fasteners are arranged in arow at a very high density with
very small gaps formed between every two adjacent fasteners.
A plastic-molded fastener having a head section on
one end and a bar section on the other end of a string
section connecting the head and the bar sections together
has been known as means for attaching a tag or the like to a
commercial product such as a garment for example. More speci-
fically, as shown in Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings, this
known fastener comprises an integrally molded plastic article
such as the one shown at 100 and has a head section 101, a bar
section 102 and a string section 103 connecting the sections
101 and 102 to each other. In use of the fastener 100, the
string section 103 is applied through a tag 120 and the bar
section 102 is anchored to a garment 130, a commercial
product, to thereby have the tag 120 attached to the garment.
; In attaching a fastener of the sort above referred
to, together with a tag, to an article of merchandise such as
a garment, it is advantageous to make use of a tag attacher
having a tubular needle as disclosed in for example the
United States Patent 3,650,451 to Norman R. Walland et al
.
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because it then is feasible to dispense a number of fasteners
individually continuously at a high operation efficiency.
When fasteners are to be thus attached by means of a tag
attacher, it is necessary to prepare fasteners in the form
S of an integral group of joined fasteners 200 comprising a
row of fasteners 100 connected through connecting sections
104 between bar sections 102 of every two adjacent fasteners
100, as shown in Fig. 2 for example. The integrally molded
group of joined fasteners 200 may be mounted on the above-
mentioned tag attacher, and with respect to each fastener 100,the bar section 102 thereof is held by the tubular needle of
the tag attacher and the fastener 100 is pushed out while
the connecting section 104 is being cut, whereby the fastener
100 is separated. Then, the tag is put on the above-mentioned
tubular needle rom the top end of the needle, and the needle
is stuck into a commercial product such as a garment together
with the bar section 102 of the fastener 100 and then, the
needle alone is drawn out of the commercial product. The bar
section 102 is left on the back side of the commercial product
and thus attached to the commercial product.
With the above-mentioned group of joined fasteners
200, the smaller is the pitch P between every two adjacent
fasteners 100, the more advantageously accomplished can be
the fastener-attaching operation. More specifically, the
smaller is the pitch P, the more increased is the fastener
density per unit row length and the more reduced is the
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frequency of mounting the group of joined fasteners on the
tag attacher. Moreover, when the pitch P is large, entan-
glement occurs among fasteners lO0 more readily than in the
case where the pitch P is small, and mounting of the
fasteners on the tag attacher becomes difficult. Further-
more, the larger is the pitch P, the larger becomes the
amount of the material necessary for the connecting sections
104 connecting the fasteners 100 to one another, resulting
in a greater consumption of the material.
In the conventional process for producing a group
of joined fasteners, a casting mold is used for molding of
plastics, and because of limitations due to the use of such
casting mold, it is impossible to reduce the above-mentioned
pitch P below a certain critical level. More specifically,
whereas the casting mold should naturally be required to
have a strength sufficient to resist the molding pressure, if
the thickness of a partition wall between two adjacent
fasteners is reduced to too small a level in this casting
mold, the partition wall is broken by the molding pressure
during the molding step, rendering the molding operation
impossible. Accordingly, so far as a casting mold is employed,
it is impossible to reduce below a certain critical level the
pitch between every two adjacent fasteners in a group of
joined fasteners.
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Brief Summary of the Invention
It is therefore a primary object of the present
invention to provide apparatus for producing groups of joined
fasteners by which a great number of fasteners are integrally
assembled at a very high density with the pitch between every
two adjacent fasteners being remarkably reduced.
Another object of the invention is to provide
apparatus for producing groups of fasteners by which groups
of joined fasteners having a very high assembling density
can be obtained very efficiently.
In order to accomplish the above-mentioned objects,
in accordance with the present invention there is provided
apparatus for producing groups of joined fasteners made of
plastics, which comprises feeding means for feeding a conti-
nuous molded plastic rod having substantially the same crosssectional shape as the vertical sectional shape of
said fasteners along the longitudinal direction of the rod,
and slitting or slicing means for slitting or slicing said
continuous molded plastic rod in a direction perpendicular to
the longitudinal direction thereof at predetermined intervals
in a manner such that a part of the cross-section of the
bar section is not cut in the continuous molded plastic rod,
wherein said feeding means and said slitting or slicing means
are synchronously operated to divide said continuous molded
plastic rod in-to a plurality of fasteners.
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Other objects as well as advantageous features of
the invention will become apparent from studying the
following portion of the specification, the claims and the
attached drawings.
Brief Description of the Drawings
Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing the state in
which a tag is attached to a garment by means of a fastener;
Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing a group of
joined fasteners;
Fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating one embodiment of
the apparatus for producing groups of joined fasteners
according to the present invention;
Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing essential parts
of the apparatus shown in Fig. 3;
Fig. 5 is a view showing the section taken along
the line V-V in Fig. 4, which illustrates a slitting or
slicing machine disposed in the apparatus shown in Fig. 3;
Fig. 6 is a view showing the section taken along
the line VI-VI in Fig. 5;
Fig. 7 is a side view diagramatically illustrating
a drawing machine disposed in the apparatus shown in Fig. 3;
Fig. 8 is a side view showing another embodiment of
the slitting or slicing machine;
Fig. 9 is a view showing the section taken along
the line IX-IX in Fig. 8;
Fig. 10 is a side view showing still another
embodiment of the slitting or slicing machine; and
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Fig. 11 is a view showing the section taken along
the line XI-XI in Fig. 10.
Detailed Description_of the Preferred Embodiments
Referring to Fig. 3, an extruder 1 is disposed to
extrude a melt of a plastic material such as polyamide,
polyester, polyethylene or polypropylene in the form of a
rod into a cooling bath 2 to effect solidification, and the
solidified extrudate is taken up by means of a roller 3 to
obtain a continuous plastic rod 4. The continuous plastic
rod 4 is fed to feeding means comprising a pair of rollers,
and then to ~litting or slicing means 6 while the amount or
rate of feeding is being controlled by this feeding means 5,
and the rod 4 is slit or sliced in a manner to be described
in greater detail hereinafter. The reference numeral 7
represents a -tension-adjusting roller for adjusting the
tension on the corltinuous plastic rod 4.
In Fig. 3, the continuous plastic rod 4 may be
continuously fed to feeding means 5 as indicated by solid
lines or, alternative to that, the rod 4 may be once wound
on a bobbin 8 and then fed to the feeding means 5 from the
wound bobbin as indicated by dotted lines.
As illustrated in detail in Fig. 4, the cross-
section of the continuous plastic rod 4 is substantially
I-shaped, and this cross-section comprises a head section
part 4h corresponding to the head section of the fastener,
a string section part 4s corresponding to the string section
of the fastener and a bar section part 4b corresponding to
: , :
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the bar section of the fastener. The feeding means 5
comprises a pair of rollers 9 adapted to feed the continuous
plastic rod 4 in a manner of gripping the rod from both
sides thereof. The pair of rollers 9 are operated to repeat
rotation and stopping alternately and feed the continuous
plastic rod 4 to the slitting means 6 intermittently at
predetermined intervals.
With reference to Figs. 5 and 5, the slitting
means 6 comprises a pair of front and rear guide blocks 10
and 11 and a cutter disposed between the blocks 10 and 11
and driven thereat for reciprocation of rotation in clockwise
and counter-clockwise directions. The guide blocks 10 and 11
have guide holes 13 and 14 for guiding the continuous plastic
rod 4 through. Each of the guide holes 13 and 14 is shaped
to have a configuration substantially the same as the cross-
section of the continuous plastic rod 4 and allowing the
rod 4 to pass through. The cutter 12 is formed to have a
disc-like shape and is rotatably supported in a manner of
the periphery thereof being fitted in an arcuate guide hole
15 in the guide block 10. The upper portion of the cutter 12
projected outside the guide blocks 10 and 11 is rotatably
connected to a reciprocating rod 17. Accordingly, when the
rod 17 is driven to reciprocate through an external power
source, the cutter 12 is reciprocally rotated with the point O
as the center of rotation.
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The cutter 12 has a hole 18 having substantially
the same shape as that of the guide holes 13 and 14 of the
guide blocks 10 and 11, and a sharp inner blade 18a is
formed on the entire inner circumference of the hole 18.
This hole 18 is formed so that the center of the bar section
part corresponding to the bar section of the fastener is
substantially in agreement with the center O of rotation of
the cutter 12. Accordingly, the continuous plastic rod 4 in
the state of being supported in the guide blocks 10 and 11
is slit or sliced except the portion thereof corresponding
to the rotation center O by reciprocal rotation of the
cutter 12. The continuous plastic xod 4 is intermittently
fed to the slitting or slicing means 6 by the feeding means 5
while repeating ~eeding and stopping at predetermined
intervals as described hereinbefore. While the continuous
plastic rod 4 is stopped, the cutter 12 is rotated to slit
or slice the plastic rod 4 except a part of the bar section
part as described hereinbefore, and while the continuous
plastic rod 4 is being fed by a predetermined quantity, the
rotary movement of the cutter 12 is stopped and the hole 18
of the cutter 12 is made in agreement with the guide holes
13 and 14 of the guide blocks 10 and 11. When the feeding
means S and slitting means 6 are synchronously operated in
the above-mentioned mannerj the continuous plastic rod 4 is
formed into a group of joined fasteners 200 in which every
two adjacent fasteners 100 are separated from each other
through a slit. In this group of joined fasteners 200, the
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respective fastene~s are separated from one another through
very narrow slits, and the assembling density of the
fasteners 100 is very high and the structure of the group
of fastenrs 200 is very compact.
Downstream of or following the slitting means 6,
drawing means 21 is disposed to draw string sections 103 of
the group of joined fasteners 200 formed in the above-
mentioned manner. This drawing means 21 comprises stationary
rods 19 for supporting and guiding the lower faces of the
bar sections 102 of the group of joined fasteners 200 and
movable rods 20 adapted to gradually downwardly move while
pressing the upper faces of the head sections of the group
of joined ~asteners 200. By the action of the stationary
rods 19 and movable rods 20, the drawing means 21 draws the
string sections 103 of the group of joined fasteners 200 to
~ render the string sections 103 longer and finer, while the
; group of joined fasteners 200 is being advanced from the
point A to the point B. When it is not necessary to render
the string sections of the fasteners finer and longer, this
drawing means 21 can be dispensed with.
As illustra~ed in detail in Fig. 7, while the
movable rods 20 having a predetermined length are moved from
the point A to the point B with advance of the continuous
plastic rod 4 which has been slit or sliced r with the
stationary rods 19 being kept stationary, the drawing means
21 is gradually moved forwardly and downwardly to simulta-
neously draw the string sections 103 of all the fasteners
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engaged with the mobile rods 20, whereby a group of joined
fasteners 200' is formed. When the movable rods 20 are
shifted to the point B to complete the predetermined drawing
operation, they are returned -to the point A and perform
drawing of a subsequent group of fasteners. In this manner,
the drawing operation is repeated.
Another embodiment of the slitting or slicing
means that can be applied to the apparatus of the invention
is illustrated in Figs. 8 and 9.
In this embodiment, a rotation shaft 30 is disposed
so that it pierces through the guide blocks 10 and 11, and
two single-edged blade cutters 32 are fixed to this rotation
shaft 30 so that they are rotated integrally with the rotation
shaft 30. The blade cutters 32 are rotated across the guide
block 10 except a part 13a of the guide hole 13. Accordingly,
the continuous plastic rod 4 guided by the guide block 10 is
slit by this slitting means to form a group of joined
fasteners 200 in which the portion corresponding to the part
13a which the blade cutters 32 do not traverse makes the
connecting section.
In Figs. 10 and 11, still another embodiment of
the slitting means that can be applied to the apparatus of
the invention is illustrated.
In this embodiment, the guide block 10 alone is
provided and the other guide block 11 is omitted, and a blade
cutter 42 is arranged so that it can make a vertical movement.
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Each side end at top of the blade cutter 42 is supported by
a rod 43 guided by a guide frame 44, and the blade cutter
42 is always urged toward up by elastic force of a spring 45.
An eccentric cam 46 is disposed in contact with a central
portion at the top face of the blade cutter 42 so that by a
rotary movement of this eccentric cam 46, the blade cutter
42 is reciprocally moved in the vertical direction. A
guide groove 13a' is connected to a guide hole 13' of the
guide block 10 at a part corresponding to the bar section
of the fastenerO In this embodiment, there is used a
continuous plastic rod which is molded to have substantially
the same sectional shape as the sectional shape of
the guide hole 13' including the guide groove 13'a.
In this slitting means, the blade cutter 42 is
operated to make a vertical movement such that the blade
cutter 42 traverses the guide hole 13' except the portion
of the above-mentioned guide groove 13'a. Accordingly, by
the movement of the blade cutter 42, the continuous plastic
rod is formed into a group of joined fasteners in which the
portions corresponding to the guide groove 13'a are shaped
as connecting sections.
In the slitting means of the embodiments shown in
Figs. 5 and 6 and Figs. 8 and 9, there are disposed a pair
of front and rear guide blocks 10 and 11. In these embodi-
ments, however, one guide block 11 may be omitted as in theembodiment shown in Figs. 10 and 11.
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As will be apparent from the foregoing description,
according to the apparatus of the present invention, in a
group of joined fasteners, only a slit formed by the cutter
is present between every two adjacent fasteners, and there-
fore, the pitch between every two adjacent fasteners isremarkably reduced and the assembling density of the
fasteners is remarkably increased. Accordingly, when this
group of joined fasteners is mounted on a tag attacher and
the respective fasteners are used for attaching tags to
garments and the like, the frequency of mounting of fasteners
can be reduced~ Furthermore, since entanglement among
fasteners is not caused, the operation of mounting a group
of joined fasteners on the tag attacher can be facilitated.
Still further, wasteful consumption of the material because
of formation of portions to be discarded can be prevented.
The apparatus of the present invention is
distinguishable over the conventional apparatus using a
casting mold where respective groups of joined fasteners are
individually molded batchwise, in the point that groups of
joined fasteners can be manufactured in a continuous manner.
Therefore, the manufacturing efficiency can be remarkably
enhanced.
