String Stopper Guide Hole Structure for Tension Stability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional string stoppers for tents and tarps slip easily and fail to maintain tension due to a small contact area between the string and the stopper, leading to loose tension even with minor external contact, and can damage the string at the hole rims.
Innovation Solution
A string stopper design featuring a fixing hole and an adjacent guide hole with V-shaped narrow grooves and a seating recess, where the string is inserted and guided to maintain tension, with a slope part for easy manipulation, reducing volume and manufacturing costs while preventing tension loss from external contact.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a conventional bar-shaped stopper with simple holes is used, then the structure is simple and manufacturing cost is low, but the contact area between string and stopper is small causing tension to loosen easily
Solution Approach 1:
The stopper body is designed with localized groove structures (first groove at entrance, second groove at exit of guide hole) that concentrate the string contact area at specific critical locations. This local quality enhancement ensures the string is firmly held at the most important contact points without requiring the entire stopper surface to be complex, thus maintaining reliability while keeping manufacturing relatively simple.
Solution Approach 2:
The guide hole is designed with a curved path rather than a straight line, and grooves are formed with curved cross-sections. This curvature allows the string to follow a rounded path that distributes contact forces more effectively and prevents the string from slipping out, improving tension maintenance without significantly complicating the manufacturing process.
2Device complexity
If a bar-shaped stopper with holes is used, then the structure is simple, but the string may be damaged easily at the rims of the holes
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of relying on the entire hole rim to support the string, the invention creates localized groove structures at the entrance and exit of the guide hole. These grooves provide controlled contact points that guide the string smoothly and prevent it from being pinched or damaged by sharp hole rims, reducing string damage risk while keeping the overall structure simple.
Solution Approach 2:
The grooves act as intermediary elements between the string and the stopper body. Rather than the string directly contacting the potentially sharp hole rims, the grooves serve as protective intermediaries that guide the string along a safe path, preventing damage while maintaining structural simplicity.
3Reliability
If a stopper with large contact area is used to maintain tension, then tension stability improves, but the volume and manufacturing cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The invention enhances tension stability not by increasing the overall volume or surface area of the stopper, but by creating localized groove structures at critical contact points. The first groove at the guide hole entrance and the second groove at the exit concentrate the string contact area where it is most needed, providing firm tension maintenance without requiring a larger stopper body.
Solution Approach 2:
The contact area is segmented into specific functional zones through the groove structures rather than being distributed uniformly across the stopper surface. This segmentation allows the stopper to maintain tension effectively at key locations while keeping the overall volume small and manufacturing costs low.
Data Source
AI summary
A string stopper includes a fixing hole formed at an end, and a guide hole formed at one side of the fixing hole. A string is inserted into the fixing hole so that a fixed end of the string is fixed to the fixing hole, and a free end of the string is inserted into an entrance of the guide hole and is drawn out of an exit of the guide hole. The guide hole has a first narrow groove and a second narrow groove which are respectively formed at the inside of the entrance and at the outside of the exit of the guide hole.