HK1120012A - Cleat for securing packaging ties - Google Patents

Description

Rope tying clip for fixing packing rope

Technical Field

The invention relates to a rope tying clip for fixing a packing rope, which is used for keeping an object jointly fixed by the packing rope and a packing material.

Background

Various devices and techniques are used to secure the packaged items. For example, the packaged item is secured by a molded foam or intumescent mat, but one or more securing devices are typically used to secure the packaged item to the base panel. Previous fastening devices typically included coated flexible wires, or "packaging cords". For example, in the case of packaged toy 10 in fig. 1, toy figure 12 is secured to bottom panel 14 of display case 16. A plurality of wrapping cords 18 are used to secure the form 12 to the base plate 14. As shown in fig. 2, the ends of the wrap cords extend from the rear surface of the base plate 14. To remove the toy figure from the packaging, the base plate must be removed from the display box 16, and then each of the packaging cords must be unwrapped and the base plate disengaged to release the figure. This process can damage the item and is time consuming, especially for younger children. In addition, time and effort are required to handle the wrapping cords during the wrapping process.

Clamps and fasteners having different configurations have been described, for example, in U.S. patent No. 835,656, U.S. patent No. 1,806,162, U.S. patent No. 5,979,028, and U.S. patent No. 6,928,704, which are incorporated herein by reference.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention provides a low cost tether clip that facilitates the use of a packaging cord for quick and easy application during packaging.

The advantages of the disclosed cleat will become more apparent after careful consideration is given to the drawings and the description of the preferred embodiment. The disclosed tether clip is inexpensive and provides convenient use of the packaging cord for quick and easy application during packaging, and for easy detachment by even children.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a perspective cross-sectional view of a packaged toy figure according to the prior art;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the back of the bottom panel of the packaged toy model shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 illustrates a perspective view of an upper surface of an exemplary lanyard clip;

FIG. 4 illustrates a perspective view of a lower surface of the exemplary lanyard clip illustrated in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 illustrates a cross-sectional view of the exemplary tether clip shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, taken along line 5-5 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 illustrates a perspective view of an upper surface of another exemplary lanyard clip;

FIG. 7 illustrates a perspective view of an upper surface of another exemplary lanyard clip;

FIG. 8 illustrates a partial perspective view of the exemplary lanyard clip shown in FIGS. 3-5 in combination with a base panel with a lanyard inserted through the base panel and the lanyard clip;

FIG. 9 illustrates a partial perspective view of the seamless engagement of the exemplary lanyard clip of FIG. 8 with the cinch cord engaged around the adjacent ears;

FIG. 10 illustrates a partial perspective view of the seamless engagement of the exemplary lanyard clip shown in FIGS. 8-9 with a lanyard attached around a pair of opposing ears;

FIG. 11 illustrates a partial perspective view of the exemplary lanyard clip illustrated in FIGS. 3-5 in combination with a lanyard to secure an item against the base panel;

FIG. 12 is an operational flow diagram illustrating an exemplary method of securing an article using the disclosed tether clip.

Detailed Description

The present invention provides embodiments of a tether clip configured to be coupled with a packaging tether to secure an object to a packaging material. An exemplary lanyard clip 20 is shown in fig. 3 and 4. Cleat 20 is substantially planar and includes a cleat body 22 with a horizontal lower surface 24 and an upper surface 26. The cleat body defines a plurality of apertures 28. The upper surface also includes a plurality of lugs 30. The lugs 30 may be located anywhere on the upper surface of the cleat body, but are typically located near one or more of the holes 28. In one particular embodiment of the cleat, the lugs are disposed on or near the cleat body upper surface perimeter 32. The cleat 20 is basically configured so that the lanyard can be passed up through the hole in the cleat body and secured by wrapping around or under the adjacent lugs.

Typically, cleat body 22 is generally planar and may be elongated, for example, such that it extends along longitudinal axis 34. The cleat body may exhibit a variety of symmetries including mirror symmetry with respect to a vertical plane containing the longitudinal axis. The cleat may be planar symmetric with respect to a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis, or may be asymmetric with respect to the longitudinal axis. In one embodiment, the cleat body is generally rectangular, truncated rectangular, and/or rectangular with a recess or notch along the cleat outer surface.

The lower surface 24 of the cleat body is typically substantially horizontal so that the cleat may be placed in abutting engagement with the selected packaging material during use. The lower surface 24 of the exemplary tether clip 20 is shown in fig. 4. Although the tension applied by the attached lashing cord may hold the lanyard clip in place sufficiently well, other methods of holding the lanyard clip in place may be used. For example, the tether clip may be secured to the packaging material using an adhesive, heat or chemical welding, or by mechanical attachment, among other methods. In one exemplary application, the cleat is secured to the packaging material by an adhesive on the underside of the cleat. Alternatively, or in addition, the entire tie clip may be tied in place after the wrapping rope has been secured, for example.

In one aspect of the disclosed cleat, the bottom surface of the tie-down includes one or more protrusions that may be configured to enhance the attachment of the cleat to the intended packaging material. The protrusions may have any suitable shape to positively engage the packaging material. For example, the protrusion may be in the form of a pin or spigot, hemispherical, conical or frusto-conical, so that the protrusion can be partially pressed into a suitably deformed packaging material such as cardboard. In particular, the protrusions may be conical, with a plurality of protrusions on the lower surface of the tightener, which may be provided near the corners or edges of the lower surface of the cleat. The cinch cord may be tensioned or otherwise strengthened against engagement with a piece of wrapping material by engaging the projection with a surface of the wrapping material.

The cleat body typically defines a plurality of apertures through which the lanyard may pass. Typically, each hole is circular, however, any shape of hole that allows for easy insertion and passage of a packaging strand is also suitable for the purposes disclosed. For example, the lip may surround one or more apertures in the cleat body. Alternative apertures may be rectangular in shape with square ends or substantially round ends. The optional aperture may be substantially narrow, thereby forming a slit. The side walls defining the aperture may be straight or parallel, or the aperture opening may be tapered (slanted) on one or both sides to facilitate passage of the packaging strand through the slit. The description of the holes in the tether clips disclosed herein should be understood to include holes of other shapes and sizes, including features that facilitate passage, enhance retention, or both. The apertures on a given cleat may be substantially identical, and a single cleat may also have apertures of various shapes and/or sizes, so as to make the cleat useful for various sizes and types of packaging ropes.

The upper surface 26 of the cleat body is typically planar, except for a plurality of lugs 30 disposed thereon. "lug" refers to a protrusion configured to securely and reversibly attach to a portion of a packaging strand. The lug 30 of the cleat 20 is provided with a hook shape for easy attachment to the packaging line. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, the upper portion 34 of each lug is cantilevered, allowing the packaging strand to pass under the cantilevered portion of the lug. The cantilever portion shown extends outwardly from the longitudinal axis of the cleat; that is, they project toward the periphery of the cleat. In one embodiment of the cleat, the cantilevered portion of the lug projects beyond the perimeter 32 of the cleat body. In another embodiment of the cleat, the lugs are arranged in opposing pairs, projecting in opposing directions beyond the periphery of the cleat body. That is, the cleat may be configured such that the lugs are arranged in back-to-back pairs, as shown in the embodiments of fig. 3-5.

The cantilevered lugs project beyond the periphery of the cleat body, they may project beyond the generally horizontal peripheral edge, or they may project beyond a recess in the periphery. In one embodiment of the disclosed cleat, as shown in fig. 3-5, each lug protrudes out of a corresponding recess 36 in the periphery of the cleat body. In the case of the cleat 20, each recess has a depth corresponding approximately to the length of the lug extension, and the corresponding recess has diverging edges such that the recess at the end of the protruding lug is wider than the width of the lug itself. This construction facilitates the passage of a portion of the packaging strand under the lug extension while still allowing the packaging strand to be securely held by the lug.

As shown in fig. 6, cleat 40 is an alternative embodiment of the disclosed cleat. Cleat 40 also includes a cleat body 42 with a lower surface (not shown), an upper surface 44, a plurality of apertures 46, and a plurality of lugs 48. Unlike the cleat 20, the holes 46 of the cleat 40 are not disposed along the longitudinal axis 49 of the cleat, but are instead disposed in pairs along the cleat, with each pair of holes being symmetrically disposed about the longitudinal axis. More specifically, the hole 46 of the illustrated cleat 40 is disposed about the cleat body. Similar to the embodiment shown in fig. 3-5, however, the lugs of the tether clip 40 are also arranged in opposing back-to-back pairs.

As shown in fig. 7, cleat 50 is an alternative embodiment of the disclosed cleat. The cleat 50 includes a cleat body 51 with a lower surface (not shown), an upper surface 52, a plurality of apertures 53, and a plurality of lugs 54. Similar to cleat 20, hole 53 of cleat 50 is located along a longitudinal axis 55 of the cleat. The lugs 54 of the tether clip 50 are arranged in opposing back-to-back pairs similar to the embodiment shown in figures 3-6. However, the lugs 54 project substantially flat and have no corresponding peripheral edge of the recess.

While the present invention is generally directed to exemplary cleat that are generally rectangular and have a prescribed number of holes and lugs, a variety of alternative and exemplary cleat utilizing the same principles of operation are envisioned.

The tether clips disclosed herein may be made of any suitable material or combination of materials, for example, plastic, foam, wood, cardboard, hot pressed paper, metal, and the like. Suitable materials are selected to provide the desired combination of weight, strength, durability, cost, manufacturability, appearance, safety, and the like. Suitable plastics may include High Density Polyethylene (HDPE), Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE), polystyrene, Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS), polycarbonate, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polypropylene, and the like. Suitable foams may include expanded or extruded polystyrene and the like. The tether clip itself may be made from ABS, a copolymer of polypropylene copolymer (PP-co), High Impact Polystyrene (HIPS), or a copolymer of Phosphorylcholine (PC) polymer.

Any suitable molding or manufacturing process may be used to prepare the disclosed cleat. The disclosed cleat may be manufactured, inter alia, using a molding process such as injection molding. The injection molding process may produce a row of molded cleat s comprising a plurality of individual cleat s. Multiple tie clips may be molded into a magazine loadable clip form configured to dispense a single or multiple tie clips. Alternatively, the tether clip may be made as a long straight chain adapted to be wound onto a spool and released therefrom when desired. In one exemplary process, the tether clip is shaped to fit a person's hand or to conform to assembly equipment that assists in the packaging operation.

The size of the disclosed tether clips varies with the proportion of articles intended to be secured and the size of the packaging material used. For smaller items such as toys, the cleat may be about 10-30 mm wide, about 80-110 mm long, and the cleat body may be about 1-3 mm thick. In one embodiment of the disclosed cleat, the cleat is about 90-100 mm long and about 20 mm wide, and has a cleat body that is about 2 mm thick, a lug that is about 2.5 mm high, with the underside of the cantilevered portion of the lug being about 1 mm higher than the upper surface of the cleat body. If larger and/or thicker items are to be secured, the lanyard clip can be larger, perhaps on the order of a few centimeters or more.

The disclosed tether clips may be used with one or more pieces of packaging material for securing packaged articles. As used herein, "packaging material" refers to any material used to secure an article using the disclosed tether clip. Although not required, the packaging material typically includes a generally planar surface or a portion thereof. The packaging material may be used to package the item for storage, shipping, or display. The packaging material may be a box surface, a bottom panel, an internal divider, or other bulk material of sufficient rigidity.

As used herein, a packaging cord is a flexible fastener typically comprising a wire, a wire wrapped in a thin strip of paper, plastic or other suitable coating, or a plastic tape. The packaging cords may be provided in different individual lengths or dispensed from a spool of continuous coated wire and cut to the desired length by hand or automatically. The packaging cord may alternatively be referred to as a "twisted-cord" (twist-tie), a "flex-tie" or a "plastic-cord" (pla-tie). When used as a fastener, one end of the packaging strand is typically looped back on itself, or is passed over the other end of the same or a different strand and twisted tightly.

As shown in fig. 8, a first end of the wrapping strand 56 may be threaded through an aperture 58 of a desired wrapping material 60. The packaging cord 56 may then be passed through the hole 62 in the tether clip 64 disclosed in accordance with the present invention so that the tether clip is pressed tightly against the packaging material 60. The cinch cord is then pulled tight and secured around the adjacent lug 66 on the cleat body, as shown in fig. 9. Here, a packing string may be fixed; however, it is also possible to further stably secure the string by wrapping the wrapping string under a second lug projecting in the opposite direction, as shown in fig. 10. The wrapping strand may be wrapped around the first and second lugs as shown, or may be wrapped around the first and second lugs and then wrapped around the first lug. Alternatively, the wrapping strand may also be threaded back and forth between the opposing lugs in a helical shape. The disclosed tether clips are typically configured in a number of alternative modes that allow securing a packaging tether under one or more lugs, allowing applicability to a variety of packaging materials and packaged items. The description and illustration of the invention should not be considered as limiting any aspect of the invention to a particular method of securing a packaging strand.

The application of the cleat is very intuitive and simple, the particular cleat used having a configuration that matches the particular application, or providing increased versatility in the orientation and positioning of the cleat, and allowing multiple individual packaging cords to be secured using a single cleat.

As shown in fig. 11, an article 70 to be secured against wrapping material 72 may be held at both ends by a wrapping string 74 joined by a tether clip 76 as disclosed herein. The packaging cord may be attached by a single tether clip at both ends, or by two different tether clips. The packaged article 70 is secured by a packaging string 74 having a first end 78 and a second end 80, each end passing upwardly through apertures 82 and 84. The ends of the strap may be secured by wrapping around a pair of opposing lugs or, as shown in fig. 11, the first end 78 is secured around the opposing lug 88 and the second end 80 is passed up through the first aperture 84 and then down through the second aperture 89.

The removal of the lanyard clip is equally simple, even for small children. The lanyard is first detached from the lug and the lanyard clip is then pulled upwardly from the wrapper. The end of the wrapping string is then free to be pulled from the opposite side of the wrapping material.

The disclosed tether clip is adapted for use in a method 100 of securing an article to a packaging material, as shown in fig. 12, the method including passing a first end of a packaging cord through an aperture in the packaging material in step 102, passing the first end of the packaging cord through the aperture in the tether clip in step 102, and securing the passed packaging cord around a lug on a body of the tether clip in step 106. The method may also include threading a second end of the packaging cord through a second aperture of the cleat at step 108 and securing the packaging cord around a second lug on the cleat body at step 110. Alternatively, or in addition, the method may further include threading the second end of the lanyard through the aperture in the second cleat at step 112 and securing the threaded lanyard around the lug of the second cleat body at step 114.

The tether clips described herein may be used in conjunction with automated or semi-automated methods. For example, a plurality of lanyard clips can be made into clips suitable for loading and dispensing by automated or semi-automated assembly equipment.

Various articles or objects may be secured using the tether clips disclosed herein. Modern packaging typically includes a rigid film wrapper or a transparent window, preferably with the packaged item held in place and/or orientation for display. Alternatively, or in addition, proper packaging helps prevent damage to the articles during shipping. The disclosed tie clip is particularly useful for securing a variety of objects or goods, whether the tie clip or the packaging cord, or both, may be scaled up or down depending on the size of the goods or objects to be secured. In particular, the disclosed tether clips are particularly effective when used with any variety of packaged toys, including action figures, figurines, dolls, vehicles, and other toys.

In addition to the advantages of low cost and convenient use, the rope clamp disclosed by the invention is convenient for quickly and directly removing the package. The fixed packaging rope can be detached from the rope clamp, no iron wire scissors, box knives or scissors are needed, and the rope clamp can be removed from the packaging material by using extremely small force. With the tether clip disclosed herein, even a child can open and disassemble its packaged item without assistance.

While the present invention has been shown and described with reference to the foregoing operational principles and preferred embodiments, it will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the following claims. Various configurations of the holes, lugs and cleat bodies are also envisioned, as well as various interactions between the packaging cord and the holes and lugs of the cleat. The invention is intended to embrace all such alterations, modifications and variations, including novel and non-obvious combinations and subcombinations of the various elements, features, functions and/or properties.

Claims (20)

1. A cleat for securing a packing cord comprising:

a cleat body having an upper surface and a horizontal lower surface;

a plurality of holes in the cleat body; and

a plurality of lugs along a perimeter of the upper surface, each lug configured to securely and reversibly attach a packaging strand;

wherein the tether clip is configured to enable the packaging cord to be passed up through the aperture and secured around the lug.

2. The cleat of claim 1 wherein the plurality of lugs are provided in opposing pairs projecting to opposite sides of the cleat body.

3. The lanyard clip of claim 2 wherein each pair of opposing lugs is disposed between a pair of adjacent apertures.

4. The cleat of claim 2, wherein each lug extends toward a peripheral edge of the cleat.

5. The cleat of claim 4 wherein each lug extends out of a corresponding recess in the peripheral edge of the cleat.

6. The cleat of claim 1 wherein the plurality of apertures are disposed along a longitudinal axis of the cleat.

7. The cleat of claim 1 wherein the plurality of apertures are symmetrically disposed about a vertical plane containing a longitudinal axis of the cleat.

8. The tether clip of claim 1 wherein the tether clip is configured to secure a packaging cord by passing the packaging cord up through the aperture and under one or more cantilevered lugs.

9. The tether clip of claim 2 wherein the tether clip is configured to secure a packaging cord by passing the packaging cord up through the aperture and under each of the at least two lugs in the opposing pair.

10. The cleat of claim 1 further comprising one or more protrusions on a lower horizontal surface of the cleat.

11. The tether clip of claim 1 further comprising said packaging cord.

12. The cleat of claim 1, wherein the plurality of apertures in the cleat body are disposed along the cleat longitudinal axis, the plurality of lugs being disposed in opposing pairs projecting toward opposite sides of the cleat body, each lug extending toward a peripheral edge of the cleat body, each lug being disposed proximate an aperture.

13. The cleat of claim 12, wherein each lug extends out of a corresponding recess in a peripheral edge of the cleat body.

14. A packaged article comprising:

a packaging material;

a cleat for securing a lanyard, the cleat comprising a cleat body having an upper surface and a horizontal lower surface, a plurality of apertures in the cleat body, and a plurality of lugs along the perimeter of the upper surface; and

a packaging cord having a first end passing upwardly through the aperture in the cleat body and secured under the at least one lug;

wherein the wrap strand secures the item to the wrapper.

15. The packaged article of claim 14 wherein the second end of the packaging cord is passed upwardly through a second aperture in the cleat body and secured under at least a second lug.

16. The packaged article of claim 14 wherein the second end of the packaging cord passes upwardly through the second aperture in the cleat body and then downwardly through the third aperture in the cleat body.

17. The packaged article of claim 14 wherein the packaging material includes a base and the packaging strand secures the packaged article against the base.

18. A method of securing an article to a packaging material, comprising:

passing a first end of the wrapping string through an aperture in the wrapping material;

passing a first end of the packaging cord through an aperture in a cleat, wherein the cleat includes a cleat body with an upper surface and a horizontal lower surface, a plurality of apertures in the cleat body, and a plurality of lugs along a perimeter of the upper surface; and

securing the reeved wrapping cord around at least one lug on the cleat body.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein securing the reeved packaging strand includes securing the packaging strand underneath each of the two opposing cantilevered lugs.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising passing a second end of the packaging cord through a second aperture in the tether clip and securing the second end of the packaging cord.