Hinged Flexible Strap For Folding Disposable Restraints
An improved disposable restraining device having hinged flexible straps for improved strength and to promote safe tightening of the restraining device around a detainee's arms or wrists. The hinges of the flexible straps enable the straps to bend at a specific predefined point such that the straps tighten in a manner that better conforms to the shape of the detainee's arms or wrists. By permitting the straps to tighten in this manner, the hinges provide added strength to the restraining device and ensure that there are no open areas under the straps that would squeeze or pinch a portion of the detainee's arms or wrists in a manner that would cause unintended injury to the detainee, or which would enable the detainee to turn or otherwise manipulate his hands or wrists in a manner that would allow him to slip out of the restraints.
Latest ARMAMENT SYSTEMS AND PROCEDURES, INC. Patents:
The present invention is generally an improvement over disposable restraining devices commonly used by military and law enforcement personnel and is specifically directed to a hinged foldable strap for use in connection with a disposable restraining device having flexible straps that are placed around the arms or wrists of a person being restrained. The hinged straps of the present invention are intended to increase the strength of the disposable retraining device and to promote safe tightening of the straps around a detainee's arms or wrists.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONRestraining devices such as handcuffs are well known and have been available for many years. The best known restraining devices are traditional handcuffs which generally consist of a pair of metal rings which are placed about the wrists of an individual and locked into place. While these kinds of traditional handcuffs serve the purpose of restraining an individual, they have many drawbacks including being heavy, bulky to carry, expensive and are often times inconvenient, particularly in multiple arrest situations such as riots and the like. Because of these drawbacks, it has become more desirable to utilize disposable handcuffs which are lightweight, inexpensive and do not require a key. Moreover, disposable restraints are typically intended for single use and therefore will not serve as a carrier for communicable diseases due to contamination from cuts or abrasions received during the detainment of successive individuals.
Disposable handcuffs having these benefits are generally well known and available. Examples of such disposable handcuffs are illustrated by U.S. Pat. No. 5,669,110 entitled “Interlocking Cover Folding Strap Disposable Restraints” and U.S. Pat. No. 6,101,682 entitled “Folding Strap Disposable Restraints.” As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,101,682, two separate flexible straps are provided each having a free tip end portion passing through a locking box. Detents are provided in each locking box and are arranged to resiliently engage a saw-tooth ribbed surface on each strap to retain the strap once it has been pulled through a central opening of the locking box to prevent the straps from being withdrawn once the free tip end portions are pulled outwardly from the locking box.
While disposable restraints having such characteristics have been well received by military and law enforcement personnel on account of their improved strength and lightweight design, some difficulties have been encountered with such restraints in that they have been known, on occasion, to cause unintended injury to the detainee. Specifically, circumstances have arisen where the flexible straps of certain types of disposable restraints, when tightened, have squeezed or pinched a portion of the detainee's arms or wrists and have caused temporary or even permanent injury to the detainee's tissue, bones or nerves. Although the occurrence of such injuries is exceptionally rare, the existence of such a danger may expose military and law enforcement organizations that use disposable restraints to liability for such injuries. Such liability may in some cases be significant in situations where the injury is substantial or where the injured party is an individual who relies on fine motor command of their hands and fingers, as is the case with surgeons or concert pianists. Therefore, despite the considerable benefits that disposable restraints may offer military and law enforcement organizations, the risk of potential injury to the detainee and resulting liability may deter certain organizations from using disposable restraints altogether.
As will be described in greater detail hereinafter, the foldable straps of the present invention alleviate the risk of injury to the detainee by providing a hinged flexible strap that is intended to bend in an outward direction when the flexible straps are unfolded and tightened around the arms or wrists of the detainee. In allowing the flexible straps to bend at a specific predefined point, the hinge prevents the straps from tightening in a manner which would cause the restraining device to squeeze or pinch the detainee's arms or wrists.
Also described in greater detail hereinafter is the additional strength that the hinges of the present invention provide to the flexible restraints. Since the hinges are formed within the flexible straps, the straps are comprised of less material than the straps of prior restraints not having the hinges. Despite having less material however, restraints having hinged flexible straps are 12% stronger than identical restraints not having the hinged strap.
SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTIONThe subject invention is specifically directed to an improvement of the type of disposable handcuffs generally described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,669,110 entitled “Interlocking Cover Folding Strap Disposable Restraints,” U.S. Pat. No. 5,802,675 entitled “Interlocking Cover Folding Strap Disposable Restraints,” U.S. Pat. No. 5,802,888 entitled “Flexible Strap Restraining Device,” U.S. Pat. No. 6,101,682 entitled “Folding Strap Disposable Restraints,” and U.S. Pat. No. 6,219,887 entitled “Folding Strap Disposable Restraints” which are each improvements over the prior art devices.
Like these prior disposable restraints, the subject invention has two extremely strong, tamper resistant flexible straps that are joined together by an interlocking cover to form separate closed loops. Each flexible strap has two ends. One end of each flexible strap is attached to a locking box having a top and bottom with central openings, while the other end of the straps have free tips that are adapted to be threaded through the central openings of the locking box and interlocking cover to form the closed loops intended to restrain the arms and wrists of the detainee. In restraining an individual, it is intended that a police or security officer will unfold the flexible straps which form the closed loops and place each of the individual's hands through the separate loops. The officer would then pull the free tip ends of the flexible straps in order to tighten the loops around the individual's wrists. When the loops are tightened, the individual's arms are bound in a manner that prohibits the individual from making use of them.
The subject invention is an improvement over prior disposable restraints in that each of the flexible straps has a hinge which allows the strap to bend at a specific point in a direction away from the locking box and interlocking cover. The hinges are located proximate the end of each flexible strap, at a point where it is joined to the locking box, such that the hinge is approximately even with the bottom of the locking box. These hinges allow the straps that form the closed loops to bend in a direction away from the locking box at a specific predefined point. By allowing the flexible straps to bend at the point where the hinges are located, the hinges enable the closed loops to assume a shape that better corresponds to the outside contour of the detainee's arms or wrists. This improved shape ensures that the flexible straps fit more snugly around the arms and wrists of the detainee when tightened and prevents open spaces from forming under the straps which could pinch or squeeze a portion of the detainee's arms or wrists when the loops are tightened.
By enabling the flexible straps to tighten in a shape that better corresponds to the outside surface of the detainee's arms or wrists, a disposable restraining device incorporating the subject invention will be more comfortable and secure and less likely to cause a detainee to incur an unintended injury. As such, restraining devices with the hinged flexible straps will be more useful to law enforcement personnel in that they can be utilized without risking injury to the detainee.
In addition to increased comfort and safety, the hinged flexible straps of the subject restraints also add strength to the restraints and generally make them more tamper resistant. It has been shown that the presence of hinges on the flexible straps in an area that is proximate to the bottom of the locking box strengthens the closed loops over prior restraints. Indeed, testing of restraints having the hinged flexible strap by a tensile machine using a National Institute of Justice specification handcuff fixture has shown that such restraints are 12% stronger than identical restraints not having the hinged strap. Such increased strength is attributable to the fact that the hinged area allows the strap to bend in a more uniform manner which in turn distributes the force caused by the bending in a more uniform manner across the length of the strap as opposed to confining such force to a few distinct points along the strap. Furthermore, by enabling the closed loops to tighten in a shape that better corresponds to the outside surface of the detainee's arms or wrists, the hinges ensure that there are no open spaces under the straps that would permit the detainee to turn or otherwise manipulate his hands or wrists in a manner that would allow him to slip out of the restraints.
It is therefore an object and feature of the subject invention to provide an improved disposable restraining device having hinged flexible straps which enable the closed loops to have a shape that better corresponds to the outside surface of the detainee's arms or wrists when tightened in order to permit the loops to fit around the detainee's arms or wrists in a more snug and secure manner.
It is another object of the subject invention to provide an improved disposable restraining device having hinged flexible straps that, despite being comprised of less material, are stronger than non-hinged straps of prior restraints, whereby such added strength is intended to provide increased resilience to the closed loops which are formed thereby.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved disposable restraining device having hinged flexible straps which, when tightened, ensure that there are no open spaces under the straps that would permit the detainee to turn or otherwise manipulate his hands or wrists in a manner that would allow him to slip out of the restraints.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an extremely strong, tamper resistant, disposable restraining device having flexible hinged straps joined together by an interlocking cover where the hinged straps may be replaced after use and the interlocking cover can be reused as a restraining device along with new hinged flexible straps.
Further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description and the appended claims when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
Referring to
In one embodiment of the invention, each hinged flexible strap 16 and 18 comprises an elongated, substantially flat strap having two ends. As shown in
As shown in
Once it is positioned in the cover, the locking box 26 is locked in the hollow interior 35 of the cover 20 by threading the free tip end 16 through the slot 42 of the bottom wall 36, through the central opening 30 and through the slot 42 of the top wall 34 to form a first loop. Likewise, the locking box 28 is locked in place by threading the free tip end 18 through the slot 44 of the bottom wall 36, through the central opening 32 of the locking box 28 and through the slot 44 of the top wall 34 to form a second loop joined to the first loop by the cover 20. Thus, by inserting the locking boxes 26 and 28 into the cover 20 and threading the free tip ends 22 and 24 therethrough, the straps 16 and 18 are formed into two loops and the two looped straps are locked into the cover 20 to form the restraining device 14.
Hinges 23 and 25 are also shown in
The hinged flexible straps of the assembled restraining device may be folded as shown in
The presence of hinges 23, 25 on the flexible straps 16, 18 in an area that is proximate to the bottom of their respective locking boxes 26, 28 strengthens the closed loops by as much as 12% over prior restraints. Such increased strength is attributable to the fact that the hinged areas 23, 25 allows the straps 16, 18 to bend in a more uniform manner around the detainee's arms or wrists 60, 62. By altering the manner in which the flexible straps 16, 18 bend, the hinges allow the force caused by the bending of the straps 16, 18 to be distributed in a more uniform manner across the length of the straps 16, 18 as opposed to confining such force to a few distinct points along the straps.
While the hinged flexible straps 16 and 18 must be severed to remove the restraining device 14 from the detainee once it has been applied, it is an important feature of the subject invention that the cover 20 may be reused to form a new restraining device. Once the hinged straps are cut, the locking boxes 26 and 28 are no longer locked into the cover 20 and the straps may be easily removed and discarded. The restraining device may be reassembled using replacement hinged straps by inserting the locking boxes of the hinged straps into the cover 20 and threading the free tip ends there through to form two loops. Thus, the two hinged replacement straps are locked into the cover 20 to form the restraining device 14.
The present disclosure includes that which is contained in the appended claims, as well as that of the forgoing description. Although, this invention has been described in its preferred form with a certain degree of particularity, it is understood that the present disclosure of the preferred form has been made only by way of example, and that numerous changes in the details of the elements, compositions and the combination of individual ingredients may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.
Claims
1. An improved disposable restraining device comprising:
- a first flexible strap and a second, separate flexible strap, each strap having a first and second end, said first end having a free tip, said second end of each flexible strap having a locking box extending perpendicularly from the respective strap;
- said locking box having a top and bottom having central openings adapted for receiving the free tip of the flexible strap, whereby the strap forms a loop when the tip end is threaded through the locking box;
- said first and said second flexible straps each having a hinge proximate the second end of the flexible strap adjacent the locking box, said hinge permitting the flexible strap to bend in a direction away from the perpendicularly extending locking box.
2. The improved disposable restraining device of claim 1 wherein the hinge of each flexible strap is located proximate the bottom of the locking box;
3. The improved disposable restraining device of claim 1 wherein the hinge allows the flexible strap to outwardly bend to form an angle that is less than 180 degrees.
4. The improved disposable restraining device of claim 1 wherein the first end of the flexible strap further comprises a plurality of saw toothed ribs extending longitudinally along an inside surface of said strap.
5. The improved disposable restraining device of claim 1 wherein the flexible strap has a notch for folding said strap into a compact storage position.
6. A flexible strap for a disposable restraining device, the strap comprising:
- a first end having a free tip;
- a second end having a locking box extending perpendicularly from the strap, said locking box adapted to receive the first end of the strap;
- a hinge formed within the flexible strap proximate the second end of said strap adjacent the locking box, said hinge providing flexibility between the second end of the flexible strap and the remainder of said strap.
7. The flexible strap of claim 6 wherein the first end of the said strap further comprises a plurality of saw toothed ribs extending longitudinally along an inside surface of said strap.
8. The flexible strap of claim 6 wherein said strap has a notch for folding the flexible strap into a compact storage position.
9. A flexible strap for a disposable restraining device having a locking box and interlocking cover, the strap comprising:
- a first end and a second end, the first end of said flexible strap having a free tip adapted to be threaded through the locking box and interlocking cover to form a closed loop, the second end of said flexible strap having a locking box extending perpendicularly from the strap;
- a hinge formed within the flexible strap proximate the second end of said strap adjacent the locking box, said hinge permitting the closed loop formed by the flexible strap to bend in a direction away from the perpendicularly extending locking box.
10. The flexible strap of claim 9 wherein the hinge is located at a point on the strap proximate the bottom of the locking box.
11. The flexible strap of claim 9 wherein the hinge causes the flexible strap to bend in an outward direction to form an angle that is less than 180 degrees.
12. The flexible strap of claim 9 wherein the first end of said strap further comprises a plurality of saw toothed ribs extending longitudinally along an inside surface of said strap
13. The flexible strap of claim 9 wherein said strap has a notch for folding the flexible strap into a compact storage position.
Type: Application
Filed: Aug 16, 2006
Publication Date: Feb 21, 2008
Applicant: ARMAMENT SYSTEMS AND PROCEDURES, INC. (Appleton, WI)
Inventor: Kevin L. Parsons (Appleton, WI)
Application Number: 11/464,885
International Classification: B65D 63/00 (20060101);