Bi-directionally operable, toolessly changeable, strap for a wearable display

Abstract

Watchmakers have maintained a tidy, fiddling, monopoly on changing watch straps for a century even as customers have increasingly sought and asked for more readily-replaceable options, to let their expensive centerpiece display (whether mechanical or electronic) to be attached by fashion-responsive, inexpensive straps. This invention is of a strap for a variety of displays or equipment worn on the user's wrist, limb, or body that is simpler to manufacture, sturdier, easy to use, and yet readily replaceable without any tool. This invention enables the strap itself to become a separable element for differing needs including those suitable for changing seasons, special events or situations, purely of fashion, or simply for expressing personal taste, feeling, preference, or opinion.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCES

This patent application is related to the copending application filed on the same date with the identical named inventors titled “More Efficient Display and Control for Wearable Sports Instrumentation”, with that copending application's specification and drawings specifically incorporated herein by reference, but not admitted to be prior art with respect to the present invention.

GOVERNMENT RIGHTS

None

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1.A. Field of the Invention

This invention is in the field of straps for affixing displays or equipment to a limb or torso, thus falling within the broader field of straps used to attach any device or article worn by an individual. The principle example in the prior art is the watch which, along with its more complicated cousins (i.e. chronometers, stopwatches, and multi-function combinations thereof), have been worn on and at the wrist for nearly a century. Within the past four decades, chiefly following the advent of the Sony ‘Walkman®’, other devices have also been worn (as opposed to being carried) as a part of daily life; though only with ‘Gen X’ are iPods, smartphones, and other devices truly migrating towards being ‘worn’ as opposed to carried (or lugged). The focus of this invention is not the device, but the means for keeping it attached to the user.

A significant barrier to innovation in this area has been the ‘stickiness’ of pre-existing concepts and past realizations; this is simply the inertia of past designs (for past concerns), which serve as starting assumptions of what ‘must be’ or ‘is best’. Most people simply used and use what was and is available without considering their real need. The presumption and preference across people and history has been, largely, that people adapt to devices, rather than adapting devices to individuals' needs and concerns. Once a ‘good enough’ solution has been found, little or no further advance was made. Until someone re-thought about the problem with an original viewpoint.

1.B. Description of the Related Art

Before the First World War a “watch” almost universally meant a pocket watch—round or oval in shape, more or less thick, sized to fit within a user's hand when being consulted, slipped into a pocket or dangling from a watch-chain when only being carried. To change this took the hazards of the trenches—and the need to coordinate without communication movements of both artillery barrages and infantry units. The new need created a new invention: the wrist-watch.

Wristwatches—which could be worn on, and thus carried by, one forearm could be used without requiring the other hand; they became the new, “advanced”, standard portable timepieces. To be worn, wristwatches (as the name suggests) have a casing and a strap which when laid flat extend in a straight-line, and which, when bent, form a simple circle with a single axis of curvature; and which are worn at and around a user's wrist. (Hence, the name. In some things English is pragmatic.) The strap, of course, had to join both to the wristwatch and itself, and around that part of the user's body (i.e., the wrist) to keep the watch there while the user moved about. Specific prior art identified during preparation of this application are discussed and differentiated in the Detailed Description, below.

The use of straps to hold something carried to the human body certainly is ‘prior art’—but the specifics of the adaptation of the strap to the watch settled (in part due to the pressure for rapid war-time deployment) on a standard ‘lugs, pin, and buckle’ approach, as shown in FIG. 2. One drawback was that the strap often wore out before the watch (the former being made of a less durable material, such as leather or even plastic—or simply having smaller and more delicate parts).

Replacing straps was not a concern for watchmakers. Consideration of aesthetic functionality and ‘fashion’, and a desire to change the strap without either a craftsman or special tools put the user, as opposed to the device to be attached, at the top of the functional priority—and posed new, challenging, and different questions. Ones which the inventors asked and answered with new insight.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present embodiment of the invention is a strap whose shape and inter-attachment with a worn device (in the preferred embodiment, a display for sports instrumentation) conform with and encompass an athlete's limb—whether at forearm or wrist—without reducing the structural strength of either strap or display at the point of attachment between strap and the display, while enabling the tool-less, even one-handed replacement of the strap feasible through its directionally-responsive construction. This strap enables differentiated vectors of pull to effect adding and attaching, or detaching and removing, the strap and display—whether the display from the user, or the strap from the display. The strap uses the tension from being drawn around the user's limb to hold the display to the limb, and affixes to itself to retain the tension while the display is worn. By differentiating a leading end from a trailing end, the strap effects bi-directional use—when drawn from the leading end, the strap is tightened to hold the display to the user, but when drawn from the trailing end, the strap is removable.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows the strap [201] in place using a ¾ bottom-perspective view of the display's or sports instrumentation's casing [5], which has on opposing sides both first and second attachment loops [11, 13]. The strap [201] has had its leading end [203] and connecting material [205] drawn through the first attachment loop [13], then without any twist through and around the second attachment loop [11] and then pulled back down, until the trailing end [207] with the terminating stopper [209] (which is connected by a shank [211] that fits through the first attachment loop [13], as the terminating stopper [209] does not) is nearly at the first attachment loop [13]. The user's forearm will go through the now-formed loop between the strap's connecting material [205] and the casing [5], and the leading end [203] will be pulled until both the trailing end [207] and shank [211] are pulled through and the terminating stopper [209] is pulled to, and held against and by, the first attachment loop [13]. Then the user puts as much tension as she desires on the connecting material, pulling the strap [201] taut around the second attachment loop [11], finally joining the affixation means [221] to the affixation zone [223], thereby keeping the tension in the strap [201].

FIG. 2 PRIOR ART This shows a wristwatch, where its casing [305] has extending out at opposite sides pairs of lugs [304, 306]. At each pair of lugs the strap's connecting material [315] has a pin [302] either inserted through the material or joined to it and then affixed to the pair of lugs. The leading end [303] has a set of holes [312] which are used by the buckle [312] when the strap is fastened around the user's wrist (not shown).

FIG. 3 PRIOR ART This is an expanded view of the opposing pairs of lugs [304, 306], showing in more detail the small inset hole [314] in each lug, matching the pin [318] which has been inserted into a hole or void drilled through the strap [316], thinning the connecting material [315] as it goes around the pin [318], and thus forming a weak point of the strap as it joins the casing.

FIG. 4 PRIOR ART This is a second expansion view, showing how the small inset hole [314] matches the diminished nipple [320] of the pin [322], which is hollow to contain the interior spring [324] that holds the pin between the lugs. Each diminishment (lug, inset hole, nipple, hollowing of pin) weakens the connective strength which can be no greater than the failure limit of the weakest element joining strap and wristwatch.

FIG. 5 shows how the casing [5] uses the entirety of the attachment loop [13] to retain the strap, without any weakening inset hole; and how the strap [201] uses the entirety of its connecting material at the trailing end [207] plus the strengthening shank [211] to retain the terminating stopper [209] against the attachment loop [13]; creating an additive, rather than a subtractive, material attachment means for joining strap and wristwatch.

FIG. 6 shows how the strap [201] without any splitting or diminishment at its trailing end [207] is joined with and surrounded by the shank [211] which then, also without any diminishment, splitting, or weakening, is joined with and terminated by the terminating stopper [209].

FIG. 7 shows from a different perspective and with a much thinner strap (perhaps for fashion purposes), how the entirety of the trailing end [207] is joined with and surrounded by the shank [211] which then, also without any diminishment, splitting, or weakening, is joined with and terminated by the terminating stopper [209].

FIG. 8 shows the strap [201] in use, holding the casing [5] to the user's forearm [2]; more specifically, it shows the terminating stopper [209] at the attachment loop [13], and the leading end [203] draw to that portion of the affixation zone [223] where the tension will retain all as one unit against the user's forearm. If the user had a thinner forearm, the leading end would cover more of the affixation zone [223] (or less thereof, for a thicker forearm).

FIG. 9 shows an alternate version of the strap where the connecting material [205] is perforated to allow sweating or the passage of moisture, thus allowing for any of the following: heavy sweating by the user, providing lighter weight, creating a distinctive decorative patterning potential, without weakening either shank [211] or stopper [209].

FIG. 10 shows an alternate version of the strap comprised of a first complementary half [231] and second complementary half [233], with each half having a terminating stopper, shank, and connecting material [205]. These complementary halves differ as the first half's leading end has an affixation means [237] specifically designed both to fit through the casing's first attachment loop (not shown) and designed for and to be joined to the second half's leading end's affixation zone [239], which is also specifically designed to fit through the casing's second attachment loop (not shown). (Obviously, which complementary half fits into which attachment loop is arbitrary, as long as a one-half-strap to one-loop combination is used.) In this drawing and example the first complementary half [231] has as its affixation means [237] a buckle with a center pin, and the second complementary half has as its affixation zone [239] a matching, central column of spaced perforations through which one such perforation the pin is to be thrust. When both the first and second complementary halves are led through the respective attachment loops and pulled together around the forearm (not shown), the first half's affixation means [237] is attached together with the second half's affixation zone [239] at that point where the terminating stoppers are each and both drawn to and against the (respective) attachment loops, securely holding the casing to the forearm (not shown).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

While the invention described herein was originally conceived by and for women, the solution(s) embodied in this invention are also extensible to men, who are most definitely not excluded from the set of users, though fine differentiations in further extensions may address sex-specific constraints, requirements or needs. The inventors' original focus on the needs of women is what enabled them to identify and then solve concerns which male athletes (and more realistically, the mostly-male leadership and engineering management of equipment manufacturers) had neither adequately perceived nor addressed.

However much inventive effort may have gone into the creation of any particular device—particularly those for sports instrumentation—to be worn by a user during active motion—there was little to nothing addressing its fit to the female user's in-activity interest, need, and constraints. These have included a greater desire to match what they wear (or carry) to the current fashion or interest, be that in color, logo, or other visible aspect. This indifference has ignored the reality that the ‘wearability’ or ‘fit’ of any object meant to be carried around and used by a human being has a functional aspect, not merely an ornamental one. This functional aspect increases when the wearability or fit affects, or may affect, the wearer's activity and performance.

Moreover, being able to rapidly and readily change what could be changed—addressing the functional need simply of attachment of a display or device to a user, rather than more advanced function (mechanical or electronic) of such a display or device, addresses a functional aspect relevant and relating to changing and dynamic social environments. Not having to use tools to make such a change, and yet maximizing the strength of the material attachment for a given weight of strap and device, is a further and decidedly functional concern.

The problem of wearing, or carrying, and display or device—such as any item of sports instrumentation incorporating a display—can be readily exemplified by the wristwatch. This comprises a device (the watch), its display (the face), and the means for attaching the wristwatch to the user—generally, by using a strap that holds onto both the casing of the device and loops around a portion of one of the user's limbs. When the display is meant to be seen by the user, this generally has been the user's wrist.

In the prior art the strap paralleled the wrist's flexion line and encircled all of the user's wrist in order to ensure stability and snug (but not over-tight) compression. This both kept the display centered along and just proximal of the wrist, and placed the display perpendicular to the long axis of the radius and ulna bones in the forearm. The strap, which ran around the forearm and was attached to the casing, ran from the ‘top’ to ‘bottom’ of the casing, but also ran as little as possible over the muscles and tendons of the forearm, in order to avoid cramping or limiting their contractive capabilities.

The essence of good design, good engineering, and (in general) superior goods or performance, is to simplify. It is almost never reached by extending, complicating, or mashing together prior efforts—no matter how successful those may have been! To the contrary, simplification is usually attained by examining assumptions and goals with a mind open to change. New technologies often offer opportunities for re-evaluation which go untaken for years, even decades; but more important than a new technology is that someone re-examines base assumptions from a viewpoint asking ‘what is needed’, instead of starting from and with ‘what has been and is being done’.

Inventing a strap for a wearable display engaged much more than ‘designer’ or ‘fashion’ or ‘taste’ concerns; it involved identifying, addressing, and solving different locational, functional constraints and pragmatic (meaning external, objective, and reality-based) needs. Designing and making such a strap thus, for the inventors, involved breaking standards and ‘rules’ of decades-long standing; involved reconsidering basic assumptions; and required both stepping back and away from prior efforts and examining the possibilities of newer technologies, to obtain functionally-superior performance.

By changing the ‘fit’ of the casing and strap together, the inventors made a wearable display that was more responsive to user's potentially changing interests. Whether the wearable display served a timepiece (analog or digital), a GPS locator, a messaging system, any of a broad set of medical, environmental condition, or realtime-status sensors, or any other purpose, it still had to be attachable—and the means of attachment preferably both as sturdy and as adaptive as possible, to maximize the utility. Yet how should the strap holding the wearable display to the user, be shaped and joined to both the wearable display and itself? How could the proper tension be placed, held, and released by the strap when attaching, staying, and leaving the user's limb?

This was not a simply solved, minor change to the prior art's wrist-centric standard approach. Proximal to the wrist the forearm forms an elliptical cone, whose shape changes with the flexion of any, or all, of its muscles. A strap which has any meaningful width that runs radially ‘around’ the forearm anywhere above the wrist, will bind more at one edge than it will at the other—a binding that will be more keenly felt (and thus discomfortable) as any of the muscles or tendons tense. Furthermore, as an athlete can be expected to sweat during exercise, the stability of a given compressive force may decrease over the duration of the activity, meaning that the display will be prone to slip distally, i.e. towards the wrist. There must be tension retaining the whole against a distal vector, but also preventing slippage ‘around’ the circumferential direction.

Wearable displays follow a path of increasing miniaturization—they start larger and grow smaller; start heavier and grow lighter. As more displays and devices than wristwatches came onto the market, some additional solutions were sought to the standard wristwatch band. A first effort used a band which was co-extensive with the longitudinal length of the casing (J. L. Echelson, U.S. Pat. NO. 4,913,326; Apr. 3, 1990; ‘Armband Carrier for Audio Devices’). Echelson avoided the problem of the conic diminishment of the forearm entirely, as his device is for the upper arm, not the forearm. Echelson's band and casing are nothing more than a wristband ‘bulked up’, and he specifically taught that his invention was for a different field—that of ‘carriers for portable audio equipment, particularly small radio receivers’ (Col. 1, lines 6-7). Echelson specifically requires that his band be “cylindrical” (claim 1, Col. 2, line 48; claim 2, Col. 3, line 4) and thus teaches away from a strap.

A second effort (S. T. Davies, U.S. Pat. No. 5,205,449; Apr. 27, 1993; ‘A Forearm Gauge and Equipment Holder for Scuba Divers’) used at least a pair of straps situated such that one strap is near each of the longitudinally-separated ends of the casing—with the straps being specified as being both ‘hook and loop fasteners’ and occurring ‘at each mounting pocket (22)” (Col. 3, lines 4-5). Davies’ invention is ‘sized to extend over a substantial length of a forearm’ (Col. 6, line 1) (thereby separating the straps considerably). To fit on a forearm, Davies' invention requires that the display's casing's bottom surface have a diminishing conic shape, one with a single axis paralleling the length of the forearm around which the bottom surface curves, and one where the left and right sides of the display form a pair of angled, intersecting, straight lines (Davies FIG. 5). He describes this casing thusly: “Contored [sic] interior cavity (52) is a ½ non-linear cone shaped surface with radial dimensions that are proportionate to typical radial dimensions of a human arm.” (Davies, Col. 4, lines 32-35.)

To prevent slip/roll problems Davies incorporates a bottom-surface “hook component of a hook and loop fastener which mates with a loop component of a hook and loop fastener that can be fastened to a divers suit (not shown)” (Col. 3, lines 37-40). Davies thus teaches against any device being worn against a user's bare skin. Davies, like Echelson, specifically teaches that the holder should be “sized to extend over a substantial length of a forearm” (Col. 6, lines 1-2), and should be “adapted to conform to a human forearm when placed longitudinally thereon” (Col. 6, lines 2-3). Davies' invention also required a physiological impossibility; for he states “When secured, the front-end has a smaller interior circumference than the divers wrist . . . ” (Col. 4, lines 7-9). That places Davies' holder inside the user's wrist, probably causing a good deal of pain as a consequence.

A third approach (H. A. P. Barker, G. B. U.S. Pat. No. 2,328,371, publ. Feb. 24, 1999; ‘A forearm-mounted music sheet holder’) like Davies, also used two straps. Barker was moving from the prior art of ‘a wrist strap-mounted holder’ (Page 1, ¶2, last line)—though his invention is for marching musicians, not athletes. He specifies, as did Davies, that each of the pair of straps be located “at or near each end of the elongate plate” (P. 2, last ¶, lines 3-4). Barker also specifically teaches that the straps be permanently attached to the base plate by “being glued to the underside of the plate by suitable adhesive such as a hot melt adhesive” (P. 4, 5^th ¶, lines 4-5). Thus Barker also teaches directly away from the current invention where the strap is both intentionally and readily removable and replaceable.

Each of these examples of the prior art incorporated an assumption that the weight—meaning the breadth and thickness of the strap—was unimportant. The fullness of the gripping capacity was deemed more important. But the present inventors recognized that for a given thickness of a wearable display, the more closely the casing-plus-strap melds with the surface of the forearm, the less it presents resistance to air or water during motion. Thus the maximal thickness of attachment between any wearable display and strap is the thickness of the display's casing itself (more would protrude and increase friction). They also recognized that ‘less is more’: less weight and bulk of the strap would interfere less with the user's motion; and make the display, when attached, feel more comfortable, lighter, and easier during use.

So a key differentiation from the prior art is the inventors' incorporation of the goal that the present invention be thinner, lighter, and less than all-encompassing—even while fully holding both the wearable display and user's limb. This requires that as much of the strap as possible contribute to the effort of holding the display to the user, thus requiring that the strap attachment to the casing not be a point-failure.

A wearable display must incorporate attachment means for the strap which circles the user's limb to also attach to the wearable display. In the prior art the principle—almost universal—means to connect strap and device, or display, used arms or ‘lugs’ which protruded from its central casing. These lugs extruded parallel to each other and were separated by a distance which preferentially was fractionally wider than the width of the strap, and airs of lugs were linearly offset. The facing side of each pair of lugs incorporated an inset hole. Each end of the strap which was to fit between a pair of lugs (and up against the sidewall of the casing), had a breadth-wise hole drilled into and through it, which hole was then filled with a spring-laden metallic pin, whose respective ends fit into the matching inset holes of the paired lugs. (See FIGS. 2, 3, 4.)

The seminal grand-daddy of the prior art is Depollier & Duncuff (U.S. Pat. No. 1,194,484; Aug. 15, 1916), which established all of: (a) lugs (or as they called them, ‘one or more pairs of opposed fingers f (Col 2, lines 68-69); (b) pins (‘such bar g’) (Col. 2, line 89), with each of the latter being “a compression bar” (Col. 2, lines 89-90) with extending members and a spring (Col. 2, lines 90-92), and that, (c) “Each outer end of the bar is provided with a projecting pin g⁵ to enter a corresponding recess f³ formed in the inner face of the corresponding finger f, as clearly shown in FIG. 4.” (Col. 2, lines 94-98.) FIG. 12 shows this standard attachment, along with the most-common-denominator of a buckle-and-holes fastener which joins the separate halves of the strap together around the wrist.

That this standard approach created at least one problem was recognized at least half-a-century ago. Sand (U.S. Pat. No. 2,870,511; Jan. 27, 1959) stated:

• • “At the present time wrist watch bands are secured to the projecting lugs on a wrist watch by means of a spring bar connector. The connector customarily employed comprises a cylindrical tube within which is mounted a pair of pins that are spring urged outwardly. This type of connector or spring bar has found almost universal acceptance in the field. In positioning the spring bar, it is first inserted through the loop in the end of the watch band or strap. One projecting pin is thereupon inserted in the hole or opening in the lug or projecting portion of the watch case. To insert the other pin in position it is necessary to first retract the pin into its tubular housing. This is customarily done by pushing the end of the pin until it is retracted sufficiently to insert the spring bar in its proper position. The retracted pin then releases to secure the spring bar in position. The operation of inserting the spring bar in position between the lugs or projecting portions of the watch case is a tedious one and is often quite difficult because of the shape and contour of the watch case. In addition the projecting pins are conventionally quite small and difficult to retract.” (Col. 1, lines 19-40)
    (Sand then went on to patent a even-more-finely machined and more complex spring with a flat housing and sliding finger control.)

Efforts have been made to improve on the lugs-and-pins approach. Hui (U.S. Pat. No. 5,416,953; May 23, 1995) replaced the pin and spring with a lug-mounted screw. However, this meant that only that inner portion of the strap which held the connecting link (Hui FIG. 1, [2]) actually ‘held’ the strap to the link to the casing's screw or ‘piston’, which Hui also taught as being much smaller than the lug or casing (Hui, FIG. 5, [4b]).

Williams (U.S. Pat. No. 4,234,115; Nov. 18, 1980) incorporated a complex “latching mechanism” without eliminating (or strengthening) pin or spring. Ramaciere (U.S. Pat. No. 4,149,62; Apr. 17, 1979) used a spreadable and thus variable-width strap-end, again without eliminating (or strengthening) pin or spring, while still using a weakening ‘tunnel’ (Ramaciere, FIG. 3, [15]) in the strap material.

Hayes (U.S. Pat. No. 3,939,534; Feb. 24, 1976) added an outer tubular member with an inner finger lug guide and longitudinal slot, two inner tubular members with shoulders and slots, even while asserting “Simplicity of design and a minimum number of parts are also important to minimize cost and increase reliability.” (Hayes FIG. 2; Col. 1: lines 17-19.) Moinat (U.S. Pat. No. 3,259,283; Feb. 26, 1965) multiplied the number of lugs while keeping as a “common fastening member” a central pin driven through the bores of the intermediary lugs (claim 1, Col. 2: lines 16-24), thus matching casing and strap end like offset teeth and creating multiple weaker failure points.

Hamilton (U.S. Pat. No. 2,450,136; Jun. 19, 1946) used a pin and only a part of one side of the strap material, separated out by a pre-attachment temporary wooden pin that was replaced with a post-attachment (presumably metal) pin (Hamilton FIG. 2, 3). Kraemer (U.S. Pat. No. 2,007,538; Apr. 10, 1934) had an interior central opening for the contained spring in the ‘bracelet end hook’. Barton (U.S. Pat. No. 1,806,439; Sep. 8, 1928) used loops or a ‘c’ shaped end-section but did not replace the pins with even smaller heads (Barton, FIG. 3), while replacing separated straps with a single, flexible metal band. Even Yasukawa et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,735,800; Apr. 7, 1998) requires a “connecting member 105 for holding the holding pin 121 attached to the end of wrist band 12”” (Yasukawa FIG. 5; Col. 7; lines 54-55) for the first end of the connecting strap, and is unable to reach a lug-and-pin-free realization of attachment between strap and casing.

Of course watchmakers would not be at all fazed by, nor rarely concerned about, whether improvements required more small, fine, and preferably metal parts, or needed fine tools (and even finer vision and hand-eye coordination) to assemble together. Those are the elements of the watchmaker's specialized trade! Problems such as weakening the points of connection and thus attachment of a wearable display and strap to each other were not considered critical by the vast majority; for originally, watches were too delicate, expensive, and above all assumed to be worn by those socially-respectable, to be used in any hard, or active, effort. By the time the cheap, even disposable watches (“Swatch”) came along, the mass-production aspect of lugs-and-pin connections outmuscled any interest in paying for reconsideration of engineers' assumptions.

Among the problems this ‘lug and pins’ approach create are: (a) the connection is only as strong as the weakest point, which could be any of the pin, pin-end, housing, or strap where the pin drilled through it; (b) users need tools to install or replace a strap-and-pins, which were too fine for average manual dexterity; and, (c) the complexity—and consequent cost—of parts and assembly of the strap-plus-pins-plus-housing, drive up the costs of manufacture. All of these together make straps which are both sturdy and readily and easily replaced by consumers, nearly inconceivable.

The present invention, through simplification, eliminates or reduces to a minimum each and all of these concerns. Firstly, both lugs and pins are essentially eliminated, as they are replaced a single aspect of the wearable display's casing. Where the prior art would use a pair of lugs between which a double-ended, spring-loaded pin would be inserted, the present invention uses a single, continuous, attachment loop [11, 13]. Paired, symmetric, and offset to opposite sides of the wearable display's casing [5], these attachment loops [11, 13] are extensions from and of the casing [5]. In topological terms the display's casing with a single pair of loops belongs to the two-hole homotopy class.

Each said attachment loop [11, 13] further has rounded and smoothed (rather than sharply edged) exterior edges and corners and a thickness is uniform for most of its outer portion, which widens to effect a curved blending with that part of the casing [3] which forms the inner side of the attachment loop [11, 13].

The advantage of such an attachment loop [11, 13] is that all of its thickness serves to hold the strap [201] to the casing [5]—there is no ‘reduced’ weak point, as exists with any lugs-and-pins approach in the prior art. There also is no need for any fine tools or a watchmaker's trained manual dexterity to connect the strap [201] to the casing [5], as will be further detailed below. Finally, there is also a significant reduction in the complexity of manufacturing, as the number of separate, and finely-machined parts, is reduced (indeed, virtually eliminated); attaching the strap [201] and casing [5] requires the strap to be fed and pulled through the loops and forearm, eliminating all pins with tubes, deflection plates, c-shaped or interior banding cross-windings, or any other intricacies of the prior art necessities for the joining of straps and lugs.

A further problem with straps in the prior art, was how they wore out or broke more readily than the display (or its casing). The reasons for this can be seen in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4. Each member of a pair of attachment arms [304, 306] (or “lugs”) between which a strap would be inserted, incorporated on its inner face a lesser-diameter inset hole [314]. An axial pin [318] which ran through a hole or void [316] drilled through the width of the strap's connecting material [315], had at each end a reduced nipple [320] which was to be inserted into the inset hole [314]. The axial pin's body [322] was hollow to hold the nipple [320], and the spring [324] that projected the nipple [320] against the inset hole [314]. This required a three-stage reduction in relative diameters (lug [304, 306] to pin [318] to inset hole [314] to nipple [320]) and weakening of the strap; for the larger the pin, the larger had to be the void or hole [316] in the strap's connecting material [315]. Also, the task of replacing straps—or more often, pins—whether worn or broken, soiled or considered non-stylish—usually required both fine tools and a visit to a watchmaker.

There have been prior attempts to address this issue. Typically these use more complex fastener. See Hui, Wah-Sang, U.S. Pat. No. 5,416953; May 23, 1995 Col. 1:66—Col. 2:05 (wherein the link or attachment means comprises at least 5 sub-elements: a fixed cylinder, a moveable piston, a compression coil spring, a handle, and a flange for the piston); and Guyard, Jean-Pierre, U.S. Pat. No. 6,408,491; Jun. 25, 2002, Col. 2:45—Col. 2:57 (wherein the link or attachment means comprises an additional “intermediate element” incorporating a locking flat, pin, recess, and coil spring). They still create the ‘failure point’ for the connection between strap and display, at the weakest and smallest element.

These attempted solutions are fighting both Murphy and the laws of thermodynamics; the more complex and fine the component parts must be, the more failure-prone the attachment means becomes. They also teach away from the current inventors' approach, which is to simplify the problem of attachment, to reduce the number of parts, and to use all of the strength of both strap and the casing at the area—not points—of attachment.

The principle aspect of this invention, therefore, is a strap [201] which is designed for both ready manual, that is to say, tool-less, operation; and to eliminate the chained ‘points of failure’ taught by the prior art.

In the preferred embodiment a user takes the strap's [201] leading end [203], which she feeds (or pulls) through a first attachment loop [13], then without any twist draws around the forearm and feeds (or pulls) through and around a second attachment loop [11] and back down around that second attachment loop's [11] outer edge until the trailing end [207] with the terminating stopper [209] is nearly at the first attachment loop [13]. The terminating stopper [209] is connected by a shank [211] that fits through the first attachment loop [13], but the terminating stopper [209] does not.

It is entirely possible for a user to first form the loop between the casing [5] and strap [201] first and then thrust the forearm [2] into the loop and tighten the strap [205] and attach it to itself, as an alternative way of joining the display to the user.

Having placed the display where the user wants it to be, she then pulls the leading end [203] which draws the connecting material [205] against and around the second attachment loop [11] and the shank [211] into and partially through the first attachment loop [13], until the terminating stopper [209] is pulled to, and held against and by, the first attachment loop [13]. At this time the user puts as much tension as she desires on the strap [201] and connecting material [205] and joins the affixation means [221] to the affixation zone [223] at the place in the latter which holds the tension in the strap [201]—i.e., she tightens the strap and fixes it to itself with the tension she wants at the location which will hold that tension.

In the preferred embodiment the trailing end [207] is joined with and terminated by a minimal-protrusion, one-way, fixed terminating stopper [209] which is of a material firm enough, and a shape both large enough and so formed that it will not fit and cannot be pulled through the first attachment loop [13]. This joinder is effected by a shank [211] which is larger than and encompasses the entirety of, but also is sturdier and less flexible than, the connecting material [205] (see FIG. 6); and this shank [211] is small enough to fit through the first attachment loop [13] and joins trailing end [207] and terminating stopper [209]. Thus the terminating stopper [209] both is in the shape of, but slightly larger than, the empty space forming the interior void of the first attachment loop [13], and prevents the strap [201] from being drawn, pulled, or sliding entirely through the first attachment loop [13] by physically jamming into, interlocking with, and not being able to pass through the empty space forming the interior void of the attachment loop [13].

This terminating stopper [209] at its proximal end grips onto, is attached to, or is melded or otherwise joined with the trailing end [207] by the shank [209], and has a flat surface on its distal end. In the preferred embodiment the side silhouette of the terminating stopper [209] is comparable to an ogee or a cyma reversa; which is to say, it is a beveled (or chamfered) outline with rounded rather than sharp and angular edges. This outline can also be described as generally being an ‘S’ shape with the lower curve flattened to the vertical rather than bending back underneath the midsection again (see FIG. 7). The concave portion of the chamfered terminating stopper [209], where it joins the shank [211] allows the latter to slip into the empty space in the attachment loop [13], while the convex portion ensures that the terminating stopper [209] will not slip through the attachment loop [13].

The top profile of the terminating stopper, viewed from the terminal end, in the preferred embodiment will be a slightly larger but similar shape to that of the interior void attachment loop (if the latter is oval, the former will be a larger, matching oval; if the latter is a rounded rectangle, the former will be a larger and like-rounded rectangle; if the latter is a sharply-cornered rectangle, the former will be a larger and sharply cornered rectangle; and, even if the former creates an interior bar-joined ‘double diamond’ void, the latter will be a larger bar-joined ‘double diamond’), in order to effect the closest functional fit. (See FIG. 5.) In this way the terminating stopper [209], shank [211] and first attachment loop [13] will interlock to keep the strap [201] from being pulled entirely through the first attachment loop [13], do not allow the terminating stopper to be drawn through the first attachment loop, but do allow the shank to be drawn through the first attachment loop; and use the frictional join between stopper, shank, and loop to help retain the terminating stopper [209] in the first attachment loop [13] and reduce slippage backwards.

In an alternative embodiment of the invention the side profiles of the interior of the first attachment loop [13] and of the shank [211] will comprise mirror shapes and matching profiles, to ensure a tight, secure, and interlocking fit.

It is also not necessary that the interior void for both first and second attachment loop have the same form; however, both interior voids must be sufficiently similar to allow the leading end [203] and connecting material [205] including the affixation means [221] to fit through the second attachment loop [11]; and all of the leading end [203], connecting material [205] including the affixation means [221] plus the connecting material including the affixation zone [223] must fit through the first attachment loop [13].

After the user has pulled the strap [201] through the pair of attachment loops [13, 11], she finally attaches the affixation means [221] at whatever point within the affixation zone [223] which effects and meets her desired tightness [FIG. 1, arrow]. In the preferred embodiment, the affixation means [221] and affixation zone [223] are respectively formed by paired areas of Velcro®-type ‘hooks’ and ‘loops’ (i.e. a pair of differentiated-but-complementarily-matching, patch of hooks and patch of loops, which patches when joined form a binding set comprised of indeterminated-linkages between specific hooks and loops with a frequency of total matchings sufficient to join the patch of hooks to and with the patch of loops). However, the affixation means [221] and affixation zone [223] can also be equivalent, alternative connective pairings which form any releasable and reusable connector known in the art, such as buckle-and-holes, snap-and-cups, button-and-holes, pin-and-butterfly-clutch, or spring-mounted-clasp-and-catch.

FIG. 8 shows an example of the display and strap [201] as worn on the forearm [2] , with the top and part of one edge of the casing [5] visible at the top, with the terminating stopper [209] and first attachment loop [13] also just visible on this side of the casing [5]. As the leading end [203] has the affixation means underneath on its opposite side, that element is obviously, not shown for that reason; but visible is a portion of the affixation zone [223] which was not needed to obtain sufficient tension on strap-plus-casing against the forearm [2].

To release the strap, the user will simply separate the affixation means [221] from the affixation zone [223], in the present drawings by manipulating the leading end [203], and subsequently—using any combination of the leading end [203], connecting material [205] and terminating stopper [209] to push or pull with as she wishes—drawing the strap [201] back through the second attachment loop [11], or pair of attachment loops [11, 13] until either removing the strap [201] entirely from the casing [5], or so loosening the casing-and-strap together that both can be drawn down the forearm and over the wrist and hand and thus off.

Thus the strap [201] allows ready substitution, of one strap for another, without the need for any tool (or even fingernail); thus permitting substitution of a leather strap by a non-water-affected neoprene strap, a flexible metal band, or one displaying a sponsor- or event-specific ‘brand’ or image specifically created for participation in a community or public competition, without having to see a watchmaker.

In the preferred embodiment the strap [201] is both made with minimal-protrusion, drag-reducing, easily-handled, and differentiated leading and trailing ends [203, 207]; FIG. 1) and the connecting material is comprised of an elastically tensile material, such as neoprene.

In an alternative embodiment, shown in FIG. 9, a portion of the strap's connecting material [205] is perforated through to better allow the passage of moisture and thus to meet any of the following needs: heavy sweating by the user, providing lighter weight, creating a distinctive decorative patterning potential, each without weakening either shank [211] or stopper [209]. This may be particularly desired by a user, who is engaging in physical activity while wearing the display.

A second alternative embodiment is shown in FIG. 10, where the strap is comprised of a first complementary half [231] and second complementary half [233], with each half having a leading end and terminating end (the latter comprising in turn a shank and terminating stopper). These complementary halves differ as the first half's leading end has an affixation means [237] specifically designed both to fit through the casing's first attachment loop (not shown) and designed for and to be joined to the second half's leading end's affixation zone [239], which is also specifically designed to fit through the casing's second attachment loop (not shown). (Obviously, which complementary half fits into which attachment loop is arbitrary, as long as a one-half-strap to one-loop combination is used.) In this drawing and example the first complementary half [231] has as its affixation means [237] a buckle with a center pin, and the second complementary half has as its affixation zone [239] a matching, central column of spaced perforations, through which one such perforation the buckle's center pin is to be thrust. When both the first and second complementary halves are fed through the respective attachment loops and pulled together around the forearm (not shown), the first half s affixation means [237] is attached together and with the second half s affixation zone [239] at that point where the terminating stoppers are each and both drawn to and against the (respective) attachment loops, securely holding the casing to the forearm (not shown). As with the preferred embodiment, the affixation means and affixation zone in this embodiment can be any of those known to the prior art as equivalent, alternative connective pairings which form a releasable and reusable connector such as buckle-and-holes, snap-and-cups, button-and-holes, pin-and-butterfly-clutch, or spring-mounted-clasp-and-catch, mentioned above.

While this invention has been described in reference to illustrative embodiments, this description is not to be construed in a limiting sense. Various modifications and combinations of the illustrative embodiments as well as other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon referencing this disclosure. It is therefore intended this disclosure encompass any such modifications or embodiments.

The scope of this invention includes any combination of the elements from the different embodiments disclosed in this specification, and is not limited to the specifics of the preferred embodiment or any of the alternative embodiments mentioned above. Individual user configurations and embodiments of this invention may contain all, or less than all, of the elements disclosed in the specification according to the needs and desires of that user. The claims stated herein should be read as including those elements which are not necessary to the invention yet are in the prior art and are necessary to the overall function of that particular claim, and should be read as including, to the maximum extent permissible by law, known functional equivalents to the elements disclosed in the specification, even though those functional equivalents are not exhaustively detailed herein.

Although the present invention has been described chiefly in terms of the presently preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the disclosure is not to be interpreted as limiting. Various alterations and modifications will no doubt become apparent to those skilled in the art after having read the above disclosure. Such modifications may involve other features which are already known in the design, manufacture and use of timepieces, GPS units, or medical instrumentation and which may be used instead of or in addition to features already described herein. The physical elements herein are not limiting but instructive of the embodiment of the invention, and variations which are readily derived through alternatives, substitutions, or transformations which are standard or known to the appropriate art are not excluded by omission. Accordingly, it is intended that the appended claims are interpreted as covering all alterations and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention in light of the prior art.

Additionally, although claims have been formulated in this application to particular combinations of elements, it should be understood that the scope of the disclosure of the present application also includes any single novel element or any novel combination of elements disclosed herein, either explicitly or implicitly, whether or not it relates to the same invention as presently claimed in any claim and whether or not it mitigates any or all of the same technical problems as does the present invention. The applicants hereby give notice that new claims may be formulated to such features and/or combinations of such features during the prosecution of the present application or of any further application derived therefrom.

Claims

1. A strap for a wearable display for a device for a person using said device and display, said wearable display having on opposing sides both first and second attachment loops, said strap further comprising: all of which may be drawn through both first and second attachment loops; and,

a leading end;

an affixation means located on one side of the strap any of at, in, along, or close to the leading end;

connecting material joining the leading end to the trailing end;

at least one affixation zone located along the connecting material on the same side of the strap as the affixation means, to which the affixation means can be attached so as to releasably bind the strap to itself;

a trailing end; and,

a terminating stopper at the terminus of the trailing end which will fit any of at or onto, but not through, the first attachment loop.

2. A strap as described in claim 1 wherein the connecting material is of a flexible material allowing it to bend, twist, and curve but not to stretch under normal operating tension.

3. A strap as described in claim 1 further comprising a shank joining the terminating stopper with the trailing end, wherein the shank:

is larger than and encompasses the entirety of, but also is sturdier and less flexible than, the connecting material

is small enough to fit through the first attachment loop.

4. A strap as described in claim 3, wherein the terminating stopper further:

both is in the shape of, but slightly larger than, the empty space forming the interior void of the first attachment loop;

prevents the strap from being drawn, pulled, or sliding entirely through the first attachment loop by physically jamming into, interlocking with, and not being able to pass through the empty space forming the interior void of the attachment loop; and,

has a flat surface on its distal end.

5. A strap as described in claim 4, wherein the terminating stopper further:

has a side silhouette comparable to any of an ogee and cyma reversa, being of an ‘S’ shape;

uses the concave portion, where it joins the shank, to allow the shank to slip into the empty space in the attachment loop; and,

uses the convex portion to ensure that the terminating stopper will not slip through the attachment loop.

6. A strap as described in claim 5, wherein the terminating stopper has a slightly larger but similar shape to that of the interior void of the first attachment loop to effect the closest functional fit between the two which does not allow the terminating stopper to be drawn through the first attachment loop, but which does allow the shank to be drawn through the first attachment loop.

7. A strap as described in claim 1 wherein the connecting material is of a breathing material allowing it pass sweat and other fluid under normal operating tension.

8. A strap as described in claim 1, wherein the affixation means and affixation zone are respectively formed by paired areas which are complementarily differentiated and matching and thus form a releasable and reusable connector, comprising any of the following set:

a pair of differentiated-but-complementarily-matching, patches, one of hooks and a second of loops, which pair of patches when joined form a binding set comprised of indeterminated-linkages between specific hooks and loops with a frequency of total matchings sufficient to join the patch of hooks to and with the patch of loops;

a buckle and holes;

a snap and cups;

a button and holes;

a pin and butterfly clutch; and,

a spring-mounted-clasp-and-clutch.

9. A strap as described in claim 1 wherein the connecting material, but not the affixation means or affixation zone, has any of the following incorporated into its length and breadth:

voids to allow the passage of sweat and other fluids;

a graphic or design viewable from the exterior surface of the strap when fastened to itself; and,

additional material to absorb sweat and other fluids and wick them away from the surface between the strap and the skin of the user.

10. A strap as described in claim 1, further comprised a first and second complementary half, each half further comprising a leading end and terminating end, each terminating end further comprising a shank and terminating stopper, wherein: such that when both the first and second complementary halves are fed through the respective attachment loops and pulled together the first half's affixation means is attached together and with the second half's affixation zone at that point where the terminating stoppers are each and both drawn to and against the respective attachment loops, securely holding the display to the user.

said first half has an affixation means specifically designed to fit through the casing's first attachment loop;

said second half has an affixation means specifically designed to fit through the casing's second attachment loop; and,

said affixation means is specifically designed for and to be joined to the affixation zone;

11. At least one strap for a wearable display for a device for a person using said device and display, said wearable display incorporating at least a first and second, offset, attachment loops, said strap having a width and thickness that can be drawn through each of the first and second attachment loops and further comprising:

a leading end having a width and thickness that can be drawn through each of the pair of contoured attachment loops;

an affixation means located any of at, in, along, or close to the leading end and also having a width and thickness that can be drawn through each of the first and second attachment loops;

a trailing end;

connecting material of a flexible material allowing it to bend, twist, and curve but not to stretch under normal operating tension and having a width and thickness that can be drawn through each of the first and second attachment loops, joining the leading end and trailing end;

at least one affixation zone located along the connecting material on the same side of the strap as the affixation means, to which the affixation means can be attached so as to releasably bind the strap to itself;

a terminating stopper at the terminus of the trailing end shaped such that said terminating stopper will fit any of at or onto, but not through, the first attachment loop when the strap is drawn by the leading end through that first attachment loop, by physically jamming into, interlocking with, and not being able to pass through the empty space forming the interior void of the first attachment loop, and having a flat surface on its distal end; and,

a shank joining the trailing end to the terminating stopper, said shank further: shaped so as to slip into the empty space forming the interior void of the first attachment loop; and, larger than and encompassing the entirety of the connecting material at the trailing end; but also, sturdier and less flexible than the connecting material.