Slide Fastener Wall Structure Preventing Cloth Jamming Without Bulk
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing slide fasteners face issues with cloth jamming at both sides of the fastener tape due to deformation, and increasing the solidity of elongated protrusions leads to bulkiness, which is impractical.
Innovation Solution
A slide fastener design with walls on both sides of the fastener tape, positioned adjacent to the slider portions, to prevent cloth jamming while maintaining a compact structure, featuring a tubular structure with a flexible core and adjustable thickness relative to the slit width.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If an elongated protrusion is provided only at an inner side of a fastener tape, then the structure is simple, but cloth jamming is not prevented at both sides of the fastener tape
Solution Approach 1:
The fastener tape is divided into multiple functional regions: an inner side with an elongated protrusion and outer sides with flattened portions. This segmentation allows each region to perform its specific function - the inner protrusion prevents jamming at the inner side while the outer flattened portions prevent jamming at the outer sides, achieving comprehensive protection without excessive complexity
Solution Approach 2:
Different structural features are applied to different locations of the fastener tape: the inner side receives an elongated protrusion while the outer sides receive flattened portions. This local differentiation ensures that each area has the appropriate structure for its specific functional requirements, preventing cloth jamming at all critical locations
2Reliability
If the solidity of the elongated protrusion is increased to prevent jamming, then jamming prevention improves, but the protrusion becomes unacceptably large at the inner side
Solution Approach 1:
The jamming prevention function is segmented between two structural features: the elongated protrusion at the inner side and the flattened portions at the outer sides. This segmentation allows each feature to be more compact since they share the overall prevention function, avoiding the need for an overly large single protrusion
Solution Approach 2:
The elongated protrusion and flattened portions are combined as complementary features of the same fastener tape. Together they form a comprehensive jamming prevention system where the protrusion handles inner side prevention and the flattened portions handle outer side prevention, achieving better overall protection with moderate individual sizes
3Reliability
If walls are added at both sides of the fastener tape to prevent jamming, then cloth jamming prevention improves, but the bulkiness of the wall increases
Solution Approach 1:
The outer sides of the fastener tape are given a specific flattened structural quality that differs from the inner side. This localized structural modification creates effective jamming prevention at the outer sides without requiring bulky walls, as the flattened geometry itself prevents cloth accumulation in a space-efficient manner
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of adding walls that extend perpendicular to the tape surface (increasing thickness dimension), the solution uses flattened portions that extend along the tape surface (increasing surface area dimension). This dimensional shift achieves jamming prevention while maintaining a more compact overall profile
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~3
Figure 4~5
AI summary
In at least a part of a movable range of a slider (5), a slider upper portion (5A) is positioned adjacent to a wall upper portion (14A,24A), and a slider lower portion (5B) is positioned adjacent to a wall lower portion (14B,24B). This prevents jamming of a cloth in the slider (5) at both sides of the tape upper and lower surfaces (11,12,21,22).