Methods for preparing a slide fastener for operational use on an article
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Solution Overview
Problem
The conventional method of preparing slide fasteners for installation on articles, such as mattress covers, is costly and labor-intensive due to the need for installing hardware components like pin-and-box assemblies and top stops, which requires specific machinery and increases manufacturing costs.
Innovation Solution
A method involving a system with notching and slider body mounting machines that modifies the slide fastener chain by removing coupling element heads or entire elements at one end without damaging adjacent ones, allowing for easier mounting of slider bodies, thereby simplifying the installation process and reducing costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If hardware components (pin-and-box assembly, top stops, slider body) are installed on the cut length of slide fastener chain, then the slide fastener becomes fully functional, but the manufacturing process complexity and cost increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple hardware components (pin-and-box assembly, top stops, and slider body) into a single integrated hardware component. This merging eliminates the need for separate installation steps for each component, reducing manufacturing process complexity while maintaining full functionality of the slide fastener.
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated hardware component performs multiple functions simultaneously: it acts as the pin-and-box assembly for securing the slide fastener to the article, provides top stops to prevent over-pulling, and includes a slider body for opening and closing the fastener. This multi-functionality reduces the number of separate components needed.
2Reliability
If multiple separate hardware components are installed on the slide fastener chain, then full functionality is achieved, but capital investment and labor costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple hardware components (pin-and-box assembly, top stops, and slider body) into a single integrated hardware component. This merging eliminates the need for separate installation steps for each component, reducing manufacturing process complexity while maintaining full functionality of the slide fastener.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the need for multiple separate hardware components by integrating their functions into a single component. This extraction simplifies the bill of materials and reduces the number of procurement and installation operations required.
3Manufacturing precision
If the slide fastener chain is cut to length before installing hardware components, then proper fitment is achieved, but the installation process becomes more complex and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs the cutting operation before installing the integrated hardware component. Since the hardware is now a single piece rather than multiple components, the preliminary cutting action does not create subsequent alignment and assembly complexities, thereby reducing total installation time while maintaining precision.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of preparing a cut length of slide fastener chain for operational use includes: providing a system that includes first and second machines; providing a cut length of slide fastener chain; introducing a notch to one end of the cut length of slide fastener chain, using the first machine; orienting a slider body onto a positioning device, using the second machine, so that the slider body is in a fixed position; inserting the notched end of the cut length of slide fastener chain into a mouth of the slider body; and pulling the cut length of slide fastener chain through the slider body by a distance, thereby mounting the slider body to the cut length of slide fastener chain.