INJECTION MOLDED MUSHROOM TYPE HOOK STRUCTURE AND HOOK STRAP INCLUDING THE SAME
One aspect of the present invention provides an injection molded mushroom type hook structure. The injection molded mushroom type hook structure of the present invention includes a stem portion and a substantially planar head portion formed at a top end of the stem portion, wherein the head portion includes two protrusion portions extending outwardly at two opposite sides of the head portion in a first direction, at least one extended portions extending outwardly from one side of the head portion in a second direction substantially perpendicular to the protrusions, and four connection portions that are formed at locations where the lateral sides of the two protrusion portions meet adjacent extended portion and the head portion. These structural features allow the injection molded mushroom type hook structure of the present invention to have a substantially same hook-to-loop engagement rate in each direction and an improved hook-to-loop engagement/peeling-off strength. Another aspect of the present invention provides an injection molded hook strap including the hook structure.
The present invention relates generally to mechanical fasteners, and more specifically to an injection molded mushroom type hook structure and a hook strap including the same.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONHook-and-loop type fastener is one of the mechanical surface fastener types and it is known as a “Velcro” type fastener. A hook-and-loop type fastener mainly includes a hook strap and a loop strap, wherein the hook strap includes a plastic substrate and a plurality of injection molded hooks formed on a surface of the substrate, and the loop strap has a plurality of fabric loops formed thereon to engage with the hooks on the hook strap so as to proved fastening effect. The hook-and-loop fasteners are wildly used in a variety of fields that need to fasten two separate parts together, such as garment, hats/caps, shoes, personal care product (such as diapers) etc., because of their easy engaging/disengaging characteristic.
The injection molded mushroom type hook structure is one of the hook structures used in a hook strap of the hook-and-loop fastener. Traditional injection molded mushroom type hook structure includes a substantially cylindrical hook stem and a substantially circular head portion formed at a top end of the cylindrical stem, as illustrated in
In order to overcome the drawbacks of the circular-headed mushroom-type hooks mentioned above, the inventor of the present application has proposed an improved injection molded mushroom type hook structure in Taiwan Patent No. 1371247. This improved injection molded mushroom type hook structure includes a substantially tetragonal stem and a substantially octagonal head portion form at a top end of the stem, as illustrated in
In view of the above drawbacks and limitations of the existed injection molded mushroom type hook structures, it gives the inventor of the present application a strong motivation to create an injection molded mushroom type hook structure to overcome all these drawbacks and after long and tedious researches and trials, a novel injection molded mushroom type hook structure has finally accomplished.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONOne object of the present invention is to provide a novel injection molded mushroom type hook structure that can achieve a better balance between the hook-to-loop engaging rate and the hook-to-loop engagement strength. Additionally, another object of the present invention is to provide an injection molded mushroom type hook structure that has a consistent in both a machine direction (MD) and a transverse direction (CD).
The above objects may be achieved by an injection molded mushroom type hook structure of the present invention. According to a first embodiment of the present invention, an injection molded mushroom type hook structure includes:
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- a stem portion;
- a substantially planar head portion formed at a top end of the stem portion, the head portion including:
- two protrusions each protruding outwardly from a respective one of two opposite sides of the head portion in a first direction along a portion of a length of the side;
- an extended portion extending outwardly from a side of the head portion in a second direction that is perpendicular to the first direction along a substantial length of the side, wherein a free end of the extended portion curves downward slightly as a hook; and
- four connection portions formed at locations where one lateral side of each of the two protrusions adjacent to the extended portion meets the extended portion and the other lateral side of each of the two protrusions meets an adjacent side of the head portion in the second direction.
According to a second embodiment of the present invention, an injection molded mushroom type hook structure includes:
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- a stem portion;
- a substantially planar head portion formed at a top end of the stem portion, the head portion including:
- two protrusions each protruding outwardly from a respective one of two opposite sides of the head portion in a first direction along a portion of a length of the side;
- two extended portions each extending outwardly from a side of the head portion in a second direction that is perpendicular to the first direction along a substantial length of the side, wherein a free end of each of the extended portions curves downward slightly as a hook; and
- four connection portions formed at locations where the lateral sides of each of the two protrusions meet adjacent lateral sides of each of the extended portions.
According to another aspect of the present invention, an injection molded hook strap is provided. The hook strap includes:
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- a substrate; and
- a plurality of injection molded mushroom type hooks integrally formed on a surface of the substrate, wherein each of the injection molded mushroom type hooks comprising:
- a stem portion; and
- a substantially planar head portion formed at a top end of the stem portion, the head portion including:
- two protrusions each protruding outwardly from a respective one of two opposite sides of the head portion in a first direction along a portion of a length of the side;
- an extended portion extending outwardly from a side of the head portion in a second direction that is perpendicular to the first direction along a substantial length of the side, wherein a free end of the extended portion curves downward slightly as a hook; and
- four connection portions formed at locations where one lateral side of each of the two protrusions meets the extended portion and the other lateral side of each of the two protrusions meets an adjacent side of the head portion in the second direction.
According to another embodiment, the hook strap includes:
-
- a substrate; and
- a plurality of injection molded mushroom type hooks integrally formed on a surface of the substrate, wherein each of the injection molded mushroom type hooks comprising:
- a stem portion; and
- a substantially planar head portion formed at a top end of the stem portion, the head portion including:
- two protrusions each protruding outwardly from a respective one of two opposite sides of the head portion in a first direction along a portion of a length of the side;
- two extended portions each extending outwardly from a side of the head portion in a second direction that is perpendicular to the first direction along a substantial length of the side, wherein a free end of each of the extended portions curves downward slightly as a hook; and
- four connection portions formed at locations where the lateral sides of each of the two protrusions meet adjacent lateral sides of each of the extended portions.
Features and objects of the present invention other than the above will become clear by reading the description of the present specification with reference to the accompanying drawings.
For a more complete understanding of the present invention and the advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Referring now to
As shown in
Next, references are made to
As illustrated in
Next, references are made to
As shown in
The injection molded mushroom type hook structure 300, 400 and the hook strap 500 according to the present invention may be manufactured by means of plastic injection molding. For instance, injection molded mushroom type hook structure 300, 400 and the hook strap 500 according to the present invention may be manufactured by means of the manufacturing methods described in U.S. Pat. No. 9,259,060 B2, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
With the unique structural features described above, the injection molded mushroom type hook structure of the present invention can achieve following advantages:
1. Because the injection molded mushroom type hook structure of the present invention includes structural features for engaging with the loops (i.e., the protrusion portions and the extended portions) in both the first direction (the transverse direction) and the second direction (the machine direction), there are no noticeable difference in hook-to-loop engaging rate between the first and second directions.
2. Because the extended portion of the injection molded mushroom type hook structure of the present invention has a width substantially the same as the length of the side of the head portion from which it extends, the two corners at its free end can engage with loops in directions that offset an angle from the first direction and the second direction (such as, in directions that deviate 45 degree/30 degree from the first direction/second direction), so as to provide an injection molded mushroom type hook structure having a multiple-directional loops-engaging capability.
3. The connection portions formed at locations between adjacent protrusion portions and extended portions cab provide reinforcement effects to the protrusion portions and extended portions so that integrity of the protrusion portions and extended portions would not be deteriorated because of repeating usages after a period of time and thus the effective life of the hook structure may be extended substantially.
4. The free end of the extended portion of the head portion of the injection molded mushroom type hook structure of the present invention is curved downward slightly as a hook so as to provide a more firm, and effective engagement with the loops and to proved a higher hook-to-loop engagement/peeling-off strength.
Although the aspects of the present invention have been described above according to preferred embodiments of the hook structures and hook straps including the hook structures illustrated in the accompanying drawings, this does not mean that the scope of the present invention is limited to specific structures described above. In fact, there exist various modifications and variations under the principle and spirit disclosed above.
It will be apparent to people skilled in this art that many modifications can be made to the disclosed structures without departing from the true scope of the invention defined by the appended claims. Therefore, it is the intent of the appended claims to cover all such variations and modifications as come within the sprit and scope of this invention.
Claims
1. An injection molded mushroom type hook structure comprising:
- a stem portion;
- a substantially planar head portion formed at a top end of the stem portion, the head portion comprising: two protrusions each protruding outwardly from a respective one of two opposite sides of the head portion in a first direction along a portion of a length of the side; an extended portion extending outwardly from a side of the head portion in a second direction that is perpendicular to the first direction along a substantial length of the side, wherein a free end of the extended portion curves downward slightly as a hook; and four connection portions formed at locations where one lateral side of each of the two protrusions adjacent to the extended portion meets the extended portion and the other lateral side of each of the two protrusions meets an adjacent side of the head portion in the second direction.
2. An injection molded mushroom type hook structure comprising:
- a stem portion;
- a substantially planar head portion formed at a top end of the stem portion, the head portion comprising: two protrusions each protruding outwardly from a respective one of two opposite sides of the head portion in a first direction along a portion of a length of the side; two extended portions each extending outwardly from a side of the head portion in a second direction that is perpendicular to the first direction along a substantial length of the side, wherein a free end of each of the extended portions curves downward slightly as a hook; and four connection portions formed at locations where the lateral sides of each of the two protrusions meet adjacent lateral sides of each of the extended portions.
3. An injection molded mushroom type hook structure according to claim 1, wherein the connection portion is a curved connection portion that has a radius of curvature R that is larger than or equal to 0.03 mm (R≧0.03 mm).
4. An injection molded mushroom type hook structure according to claim 1, wherein the stem portion and the head portion are integrally formed as a single entity.
5. An injection molded mushroom type hook structure according to claim 1, wherein the head portion has a polygonal contour.
6. An injection molded hook strap comprising:
- a substrate; and
- a plurality of injection molded mushroom type hooks according to claim 1 integrally formed on a surface of the substrate.
7. An injection molded hook strap according to claim 6, wherein the connection portion is a curved connection portion that has a radius of curvature R that is larger than or equal to 0.03 mm (R≧0.03 mm).
8. An injection molded hook strap according to claim 6, wherein the stem portion and the head portion are integrally formed as a single entity.
9. An injection molded hook strap according to claim 6, wherein the head portion has a polygonal contour.
10. An injection molded mushroom type hook structure according to claim 2, wherein the connection portion is a curved connection portion that has a radius of curvature R that is larger than or equal to 0.03 mm (R≧0.03 mm).
11. An injection molded mushroom type hook structure according to claim 2, wherein the stem portion and the head portion are integrally formed as a single entity.
12. An injection molded mushroom type hook structure according to claim 2, wherein the head portion has a polygonal contour.
13. An injection molded hook strap comprising:
- a substrate; and
- a plurality of injection molded mushroom type hooks according to claim 2 integrally formed on a surface of the substrate.
14. An injection molded hook strap according to claim 13, wherein the connection portion is a curved connection portion that has a radius of curvature R that is larger than or equal to 0.03 mm (R≧0.03 mm).
15. An injection molded hook strap according to claim 13, wherein the stem portion and the head portion are integrally formed as a single entity.
16. An injection molded hook strap according to claim 13, wherein the head portion has a polygonal contour.
Type: Application
Filed: Sep 30, 2016
Publication Date: Jun 8, 2017
Inventor: Cheng-Wei Allen CHENG (Chang Hwa Hsien)
Application Number: 15/281,161