Trellising Clip Asymmetric Gripping Part Orientation

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Solution Overview

Problem

Trellising clips with flat, rectangular geometry are difficult to handle and result in significant waste during manufacturing, as users struggle to orient the notch correctly for attaching wires, leading to inefficiency and material loss.

Innovation Solution

A trellising clip with a gripping part made from the same material as the notch, allowing for easy orientation and installation without additional manipulation, and a manufacturing process where the material for the notch becomes the gripping part of the adjacent clip, minimizing waste.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Ease of manufacture

If a flat, rectangular trellising clip with a notch is used, then the clip can be manufactured simply by punching or cutting, but the user cannot feel the staple's orientation when grasping it and must turn it over in their hand to align the notch with the wires, wasting time

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvemanufacturing simplicityVSAvoidhandling ease
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of manufactureVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The invention introduces an asymmetric gripping part with finger engagement features that protrude from the plate body. This asymmetric structure provides tactile feedback to the user, allowing them to immediately grasp the correct orientation of the clip without needing to turn it over. The gripping part's asymmetric design complements the notch's asymmetric position, creating a handable clip that maintains manufacturing simplicity while dramatically improving ease of operation.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #4Asymmetry

2Ease of manufacture

If staples are shaped by cutting to create the notch, then the notch can be formed, but the material removed to create the notch is not used and is therefore wasted

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvenotch formationVSAvoidmaterial waste
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of manufactureVSLoss of substance

Solution Approach 1:

The invention converts the harmful waste material (the portion removed to create the notch) into a beneficial gripping part. The cutting process that previously created waste now creates the finger engagement features of the gripping part. This approach eliminates material waste while maintaining the notch formation capability, turning a manufacturing disadvantage into a functional advantage.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #22Blessing in disguise (Convert harm into benefit)

Solution Approach 2:

Instead of discarding the material removed during notch formation, the invention recovers it by shaping it into the gripping part. The offcuts from the notch cutting process are retained and formed into the asymmetric gripping structure with finger engagement features, thereby recovering what would otherwise be waste material and giving it a useful function.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #34Discarding and recovering

3Loss of substance

If the gripping part is made from the material removed to create the notch, then material waste is minimized, but the gripping part must be integrated into the plate structure

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvematerial waste reductionVSAvoidstructural integration
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of substanceVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The invention merges the gripping part and the plate into a single integrated structure. The gripping part is formed as an integral component of the plate, with the finger engagement features directly connected to the plate body. This merging eliminates the need for separate gripping components, simplifies the overall structure, and maintains material efficiency by using the same material that would otherwise be wasted during notch formation.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #5Merging (Combining)

Data Source

PatentEP4397174A1Improved tying clip
Publication Date: 2024.07.10 AGRAFES VITI 4 0
  • EP4397174A1 patent drawingFigure 1~2
  • EP4397174A1 patent drawingFigure 3~4
  • EP4397174A1 patent drawing

AI summary

The invention relates to a trellising clip (1) comprising a plate (2), the plate (2) having two longitudinal edges (3, 4) and two lateral edges (5) opposed in pairs, a notch (6) being provided at the level of a first longitudinal edge (3), the notch (6) having an opening (7) made at the level of the first longitudinal edge (3) and extending into two branches (9), the trellising clip (1) having a plane of planar symmetry cutting the first (3) and second (4) longitudinal edges and passing through its center, characterized in that the clip (1) further comprises a gripping part (12) disposed at the level of the second longitudinal edge (4) of the plate (2).