US-12616278-B2 - Plug and buckle

US12616278B2US 12616278 B2US12616278 B2US 12616278B2US-12616278-B2

Abstract

A plug and a socket constitute a buckle. The plug includes a plug base and a pair of legs. At least one of the pair of legs includes a first extension extending from the plug base in an insertion direction of the plug, a second extension extending from the first extension in an inward width direction of the plug, an engagement portion provided on the first extension or the second extension to be engageable with a to-be-engaged portion of the socket in a detachment direction of the plug, and an operation portion provided on the second extension. When a force in the detachment direction is applied on the operation portion, the first extension is elastically deformed in the width direction of the plug in such a manner that a position of the engagement portion shifts from an engagement position to a disengagement position with respect to the to-be-engaged portion.

Inventors

Naoyuki Ito
Yohei Shimizu
Hitoshi Kaneko
Kenichi Yoshie

Assignees

YKK CORPORATION

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20210510

Claims (7)

1 . A plug insertable into and detachable from a socket, the plug and the socket constituting a buckle, the plug comprising: a plug base; and a pair of legs connected to the plug base at respective positions mutually spaced apart in a width direction of the plug, wherein each one of the pair of legs comprises: a first extension extending from the plug base in an insertion direction of the plug; a second extension extending from the first extension in an inward width direction of the plug; an engagement portion provided on the first extension or the second extension and being engageable with a to-be-engaged portion of the socket in a detachment direction of the plug; and an operation portion provided on the second extension, and when a force in the detachment direction is applied on both of the operation portions, the first extensions are mutually independently elastically deformed in the width direction of the plug in such a manner that positions of the engagement portions shift from engagement positions to disengagement positions with respect to the to-be-engaged portions.
2 . The plug according to claim 1 , wherein the operation portion of at least one of the pair of legs protrudes from the second extension in a thickness direction intersecting each of the insertion direction and the width direction of the plug.
3 . The plug according to claim 2 , wherein when the plug is seen in the thickness direction, the operation portions of the pair of legs are arranged to be mutually overlapped.
4 . The plug according to claim 1 , wherein each of the pair of legs comprises the first extension, the second extension, the engagement portion, and the operation portion, and the operation portions of the pair of legs are arranged in parallel in the width direction of the plug.
5 . A buckle comprising: the plug according to claim 1 ; and the socket which the plug is insertable into and detachable from, wherein the socket comprises a socket body having a housing space in which the pair of legs are capable of being housed, the to-be-engaged portion being provided on the socket body, and with the socket body housing the pair of legs, the operation portion is operably exposed from the socket body.
6 . The buckle according to claim 5 , wherein the socket body comprises a front piece and a back piece facing each other across the housing space in a thickness direction intersecting each of the insertion direction and the width direction of the plug, and at least one of the front piece or the back piece has a slit for exposing the operation portion, the slit being cut in the insertion direction.
7 . The buckle according to claim 5 , wherein the socket body comprises a pair of lateral pieces facing each other across the housing space in the width direction of the plug, each of the lateral pieces having a hole for exposing the first extension.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a plug and a buckle. BACKGROUND ART A buckle including a plug and a socket that are detachably connected in order to connect string members has been used in various articles such as clothes, bags, shoes, and packages. Two types of buckles, specifically, a front release buckle and a side release buckle are known as such buckles. For instance, Patent Literature 1 discloses a front release buckle including an engagement portion provided on an engagement piece of a plug and a to-be-engaged portion provided on a tongue-shaped portion of a socket, the engagement portion and the to-be-engaged portion being engaged to connect the plug and the socket. A cover is provided on a front side of the socket. When a user pushes the cover, the cover is swung to push the tongue-shaped portion to cause elastic deformation of the tongue-shaped portion, thereby disengaging the engagement portion from the to-be-engaged portion. Patent Literature 2 discloses a side release buckle including engagement portions respectively provided on a pair of legs of a plug and to-be-engaged portions provided on a socket, the engagement portions and the to-be-engaged portions being engaged to connect the plug and the socket. The socket has holes for exposing the pair of legs. When a user pinches to push the pair of legs with fingers, the pair of legs are elastically deformed to come close to each other, so that the engagement portions and the to-be-engaged portions are disengaged from each other. CITATION LIST Patent Literature(s) Patent Literature 1: International Publication No. WO 2013/164888Patent Literature 2: International Publication No. WO 2013/175634 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Problem(s) to be Solved by the Invention The above-described side release buckle is more difficult to disengage than a front release buckle. Specifically, since exposed portions of the pair of legs (i.e. components to be operated on the side release buckle) are located on lateral surfaces of the buckle that are smaller in area than a front side of the buckle, it is difficult to stabilize a direction of a force applied on the pair of legs. The buckle possibly rolls over in a user's hand depending on an angle of the hand pinching the pair of legs, resulting in failure in the disengagement operation. In contrast, the above-described front release buckle, whose cover (i.e. the component to be operated) is provided at the front side of the buckle, can be easily disengaged. However, the front release buckle is lower in strength than the side release buckle. For instance, since a dimension of the buckle in a thickness direction is usually smaller than a dimension of the buckle in a width direction, the tongue-shaped portion of the front release buckle, which is to be elastically deformed in the thickness direction of the buckle, is thinner and, consequently, lower in strength than the legs of the side release buckle that elastically deform in a width direction of the buckle. An object of the invention is to provide a plug and a buckle that ensure a stable disengagement operation without lowering strengths thereof. Means for Solving the Problem(s) A plug according to an aspect of the invention is insertable into and detachable from a socket, the plug and the socket constituting a buckle, the plug including: a plug base; and a pair of legs connected to the plug base at respective positions mutually spaced apart in a width direction of the plug, in which at least one of the pair of legs includes: a first extension extending from the plug base in an insertion direction of the plug; a second extension extending from the first extension in an inward width direction of the plug; an engagement portion provided on the first extension or the second extension and being engageable with a to-be-engaged portion of the socket in a detachment direction of the plug; and an operation portion provided on the second extension, and, when a force in the detachment direction is applied on the operation portion, the first extension is elastically deformed in the width direction of the plug in such a manner that a position of the engagement portion shifts from an engagement position to a disengagement position with respect to the to-be-engaged portion. In the plug of the above aspect of the invention, the operation portion to be a to-be-operated component is provided on the second extension that is located at an inner side in the width direction of the plug with respect to the first extension in each leg. Accordingly, in the buckle using the plug of the above aspect of the invention, since the operation portion can be located on a front or back side of the buckle in an operable manner, a disengagement operation can be stably performed. Further, in the plug of the above aspect of the invention, since the first extensions of the legs are elastically deformed in the width direction of the plug as in legs of a plug of a typical side release buckle, the f