Nested Hook and Eye Fastener for Low-Profile Brassiere Closure
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional hook and eye fasteners for brassieres are difficult to fasten, especially for elderly or dexterity-impaired individuals, and they protrude from garments, causing visibility and discomfort due to their thickness and rigidity.
Innovation Solution
A thinner hook and eye fastener with a chevron-shaped outer portion and pentagonal open mouth, guided by an upstanding lip and cooperating boss and dimple, optionally with magnets, to facilitate easy alignment and secure engagement, reducing thickness to less than 5 mm and enhancing manufacturing simplicity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Shape
If conventional hook and eye fasteners are used, then the fastener provides secure closure, but the fastener protrudes noticeably from the wearer's body and is visible through outer garments
Solution Approach 1:
The hook is designed with a hollow body that receives and nests the eye component within its interior space. When fastened, the eye part is received inside the hollow body of the hook, creating a nested configuration that minimizes the overall thickness and profile of the fastener assembly, reducing visibility under garments while maintaining secure closure.
2Ease of operation
If conventional hook and eye fasteners are used, then the fastener provides secure closure, but the fastener is difficult to align and engage, especially for elderly or dexterity-impaired individuals
Solution Approach 1:
The open mouth of the eye part is designed with a larger dimension than the hook width, creating a preliminary alignment zone that guides the hook into proper positioning before final engagement. This preliminary geometric configuration facilitates easy alignment and engagement by providing inherent guidance, allowing users to easily locate and engage the fastener components together without requiring precise manual alignment.
Solution Approach 2:
The upstanding lip on the eye part serves as an intermediary guiding element that facilitates the engagement process. The lip provides a physical guide that directs the hook into correct alignment with the eye opening, acting as a mediator between the user's action and the final secured connection, making the fastening process easier while ensuring reliable closure.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If conventional hook and eye fasteners are used, then the fastener provides secure closure, but the straps become rigid and cause irritation by rubbing against the skin
Solution Approach 1:
The hook and eye components are designed with thin profile structures that reduce the rigidity of the brassiere straps. By minimizing the thickness and using streamlined geometries, the straps maintain greater flexibility and conformability to the wearer's body, reducing irritation from rubbing while the fastener itself provides secure closure through the nested hook-and-eye engagement.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution simplifies fastening, reduces visibility under garments, and provides secure closure with improved tensile strength, making it easier for users to engage hooks and eyes correctly while minimizing irritation and visibility.
Implementation Method 1
there is provided a magnet in the hook part and a ferromagnetic member in the eye part or vice versa for location of the hook part outer portion in the open mouth of the eye part
Data Source
Figure 1~4
Figure 5~8
Figure 9~14
AI summary
This invention relates to a hook and eye fastener (1, 101, 201) for securing two straps (15, 27) of an item of clothing such as a brassiere together. The hook part (3, 103, 203) is a substantially flat body (7) mounted on the face of one strap (15) and the eye part (5, 105, 205) is a substantially flat frame (21) mounted on the face of the other strap (27). The hook part comprises an arm (9) extending outwardly therefrom and the frame defines an open mouth (23) dimensioned to receive the arm of the hook part. The hook part and the eye part are configured to provide a fastener having a thickness of between 4mm and 5mm in total and that is relatively simple to engage and positively disengage.