Technical field

The present invention relates to an antitheft device of the type with a pin and a pin retention plate.

Background art

Nowadays, antitheft devices of the type with a pin and a corresponding pin retention plate are known and widely used because of their versatility and effectiveness.

These devices are used particularly in the field of clothing, and they generally comprise a pin supporting head, the pin of which is adapted to pass through an item of clothing at one point so as to be coupled, through a corresponding hole, with a pin grip plate, the head and the plate being adapted to enclose in a sandwich-like fashion between them the portion of an item of clothing, pierced by the pin, the theft of which one wishes to prevent.

The pin is locked in the hole of the plate by adapted self-locking means, which can generally be disengaged by means of corresponding magnetic devices available at the shop cashiers.

These pin-based antitheft devices, although widespread and appreciated, exhibit some room for improvement.

A first drawback is linked to the hazard, for a user who has to attach the device to an item of clothing, or remove the device from an item of clothing, constituted by the tip of the pin, which, if exposed with the rapidity with which a sales clerk normally handles such devices, can lead to risks of cuts or puncture wounds, the consequence of which is a probable unwanted interruption of work.

Moreover, precisely to reduce the risk of injury during handling of the pin supporting head in the configuration for disengagement from the pin grip plate, the pin generally has a tip that is not very sharp so as to limit the danger thereof, but it would actually be far more preferable to have a tip that is as sharp as possible in order to reduce to a minimum the risk of damage to the item of clothing during piercing by the pin.

Another drawback of the known pin-based devices consists in the fact that the pins with which such devices are provided can never have a particularly large diameter, so as not to damage the item of clothing with which it is associated by passing through it.

Therefore, although the pin supporting head and the pin grip plate face each other and are very close together, the space remaining between the two elements is occupied by a portion of the item of clothing, but it can also afford a cutting tool access to the pin in an attempt to break the pin.

Disclosure of the Invention

The aim of the present invention is to provide an antitheft device of the type with a pin, that is capable of overcoming the above-mentioned drawbacks of the similar devices of the known type.

Within this aim, an object of the invention is to provide a device that is safer to handle when in the configuration for non-use and thus with the pin disengaged from its hole in the grip plate.

Another object of the invention is to provide a device that is capable of better protecting the pin also in the configuration for engagement and use than the devices of the known type.

Another object of the invention is to provide an antitheft device of the type with a pin the quality, effectiveness and flexibility in use of which are not inferior to similar devices of the known type.

Another object of the invention is to provide an antitheft device that can easily be used even by an operator who has not been given specific prior training.

Another object of the invention is to provide an antitheft device of the type with a pin that can be implemented with known systems and technologies, as well as at low cost. This aim and these and other objects which will become more apparent hereinafter, are achieved by an antitheft device of the type with a pin and a pin retention plate, comprising a head that supports a pin, said pin being designed to pass through an item of clothing at one point so as to mate with a pin grip plate, said head and said plate being adapted to enclose in a sandwich-like fashion between them a portion of an item of clothing that is crossed by said pin, said device being characterized in that said head for supporting said pin has a hood for protecting said pin, which can be extended reversibly by elastic means from a configuration for use of the pin, with the protective hood substantially retracted into said head, to a configuration for non-use of the pin, with the protective hood extending from said head so as to surround said pin up to the end of its tip.

Brief description of the drawings

Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the description of a preferred, but not exclusive, embodiment of the antitheft device of the type with a pin, according to the invention, which is illustrated for the purposes of non-limiting example in the accompanying drawings wherein:

- Figure 1 is a sectional side view of the device according to the invention in the configuration for use;

- Figure 2 is a sectional side view of the pin supporting head, with pin, of an antitheft device according to the invention;

- Figures 3 and 4 are views of a different embodiment of a detail of the device according to the invention;

- Figures 5, 6 and 7 are views of a second different embodiment of a part of the device according to the invention.

Ways of carrying out the invention

With reference to the figures, an antitheft device of the type with a pin and a pin retention plate is generally designated with the reference numeral 10. The pin-based antitheft device 10 comprises a head 11 that supports a pin 12, the pin 12 being designed to pass through an item of clothing 13 at one point so as to mate with a plate 14 for gripping the pin 12, the plate being understood to be of the known type.

The head 11 and the plate 14 are adapted to enclose in a sandwichlike fashion between them the portion of an item of clothing 13 pierced by the pin 12.

The head 11 that supports a pin 12 has a hood 15 for protecting the pin 12.

The protective hood 15 can be extended reversibly, with elastic means described below, from a configuration for engagement of the pin 12 with the plate 14, as shown in Figure 1, with the protective hood 15 substantially retracted within the head 11, to a configuration for disengagement of the pin 12, as shown in Figure 2, with the protective hood 15 extending from the head 11 until it surrounds the pin 12 up to the end of its tip 12a.

In the embodiment of the invention proposed herein for the purposes of non-limiting example of the invention itself, the pin supporting head 11 comprises a dome-shaped element 16 which is closed onto a bottom 17 provided with a central opening 18 for the passage of the pin 12 and of the extensible protective hood 15.

The pin 12 is fixed to the top of the dome-shaped element 16, coaxially with it, by means of a head 19 which has a wider diameter than the pin 12, the head 19 thus defining an abutment shoulder that is adapted to abut against the corners of a hole 20 formed in the dome-shaped element 16, on the bottom of a recess 21 adapted to accommodate the head 19 of the pin 12.

The pin 12 is locked to the dome-shaped element 16 by means of a metallic elastic ring 22, for example of the type known commercially as Benzing Quicklock, or another equivalent ring, the elastic ring being arranged to surround the pin 12 in proximity to the hole 20, so that the edges of the hole 20 are closed between the head 19 of the pin 12 and the elastic ring 22.

In a different embodiment of the invention, shown in Figures 3 and 4, the recess 121 formed in the dome-shaped element 116 has an opening 150 which extends in a substantially diametrical direction and thus passes through the hole 120, and in plan view is substantially H-shaped, as can be seen in Figure 4.

This opening 150 forms two mutually opposite cantilevered elastic portions 151 and 152 which divaricate upon the passage of the pin 112 during assembly of the head 111 of the device according to the invention, until the edges 120a of the hole 120 close at an undercut 153 formed below the head 119 of the pin 112.

This different embodiment makes it possible to do away with the elastic ring 22 used in the previously described embodiment, and therefore to accelerate and economize the assembly of the device according to the invention.

The opening 150 can be provided, for example, by suitably premolding the metallic plate that, when it is drawn, creates the dome- shaped element 116.

The protective hood 15, which can be extended, is described as telescopic in the embodiment of the invention presented herein, which is intended to be non-limiting for the invention.

In particular, in the present embodiment, the telescopic hood 15 comprises two concentric tubular bodies, a first tubular body 24, which has a larger diameter and is adapted to slide inside the central opening 18 on the bottom 17, and a second tubular body 25, which has a smaller diameter, and is adapted to slide inside the first tubular body 24.

The first tubular body 24 has, at a first end 26, edges which are folded outward so as to form a stroke limiting abutment against the edge of the central opening 18, and, at the opposite second end 27, edges 27 which are folded inward, so as to form a stroke limiting abutment for a corresponding edge that is folded outward 28 of a first end of the second tubular body 25 .

The second tubular body 24 thus has, at a first end, an edge 28 which is folded outward , whereas the opposite end is folded inward so as to form a guiding collar 30 for the pin 12, and so as to form an annular portion 31 for contact with the item of clothing 13 and to protect the pin 12 in its configuration for use and engagement with the plate 14.

The elastic means for the extension of the protective hood 15 comprise, in the present embodiment, a helical spring 33, coaxial to the pin 12, interposed between the internal surface of the dome-shaped element 16 and the internal surface of the second tubular body 25.

In particular, the helical spring 33 is hourglass-shaped and has an intermediate turn 33a, or a plurality of intermediate turns, the diameter of which is slightly larger than the diameter of the pin 12, the turn or turns being adapted to act as guides for the movement of the spring 33, and therefore for the movement of the two tubular bodies 24 and 25, with respect to the pin and to the dome-shaped element 16.

The ends of the spring 33 rest at one end in a centering recess 34 formed inside the dome-shaped element 16 around the hole 20, and at the opposite end in an annular recess 35 formed on the edge 38 of the second tubular body 25.

The provision of only one helical spring 33 is intended to be a non- limiting example of the invention, where it is possible to use two or even three separate springs adapted to perform an equivalent function.

In Figure 1 the dome-shaped element 16 is shown fixed to the bottom

17, by folding the flaps 39 of the bottom 17 over the edges 40 of the dome- shaped element 16. It should be understood that a variation is possible, not shown for the sake of simplicity, which is equivalent to the opposite solution, with the edges of the dome-shaped element folded so as to lock the flaps of the bottom in place. The dome-shaped element 16 and the two tubular bodies 24 and 25 are provided by drawing, but it should be understood that they can also be provided by other known methods.

The tip 12a of the pin 12, being arranged inside the second tubular body 25 in the configuration for disengagement from the plate 14, is no longer hazardous for a user who handles the pin supporting head 11 separated from the plate 14, and this makes it possible to provide the tip 12a with a more acute angle, in order to cause even less damage to the fabric of the item of clothing when the pin 12 passes through it, a smaller force being sufficient for pushing the pin 12 through the fabric.

The dome-shaped element 16 has two opposite bas-reliefs 40 which are adapted to improve the grip of the head 11.

When the pin 12 is passed through the item of clothing 13 and then locked in the corresponding plate 14, the outer end annular portion 31 of the second tubular body 25 is pushed by the spring 33 against the plate 14 and thus presses against the interposed item of clothing 13.

In this way the outer annular portion 31 of the second tubular body 25 always surrounds the section of the pin 12 which in similar pin-based antitheft devices of the known type is normally exposed and open to attack by cutting of the pin for stealing the item of clothing 13.

The outer annular portion 31 of the second tubular body 25, pushed by the spring 33, results in better protection of the pin, thus improving the overall safety of the antitheft device 10 according to the invention.

Figures 5, 6 and 7 show a variation of embodiment that is generally designated with the reference numeral 201.

In this variation a widened frontal flange 202 is provided, which enables a safe grip with the fingers 203 without any danger of coming into contact with the pin 204.

The widened flange 202 is provided at the front part of the second frontal body 205 of the protective hood equivalent to the hood indicated previously with 15, extending on a plane that is perpendicular to the geometric axis of the pin 204.

In practice it has been found that the invention fully achieves the intended aim and objects, by providing an antitheft device of the type with a pin and a pin retention plate that is safer to handle when in the configuration for non-use and thus with the pin disengaged from its hole in the grip plate.

Moreover, with the invention a device is provided that is capable of protecting the pin in the configuration for engagement and use as well, better than the devices of the known type, by means of the annular portion 31 of the second tubular body 25, which is pushed against the plate 14 by the helical spring 33 and thus is always arranged so as to surround and protect the section of the pin that protrudes from the head 11 and enters the plate 14.

Moreover, with the invention an antitheft device of the type with a pin is provided, the quality, effectiveness and flexibility in use of which are not inferior to similar devices of the known type, and in fact with a tip 12a of the pin 12 that is advantageously more pointed.

What is more, with the invention an antitheft device is provided that can easily be used even by an operator who has not been given specific prior training.

Last but not least, with the invention an antitheft device of the type with a pin is provided that can be implemented with known systems and technologies, as well as at low cost.

The invention, thus conceived, is susceptible of numerous modifications and variations, all of which are within the scope of the appended claims. Moreover, all the details may be substituted by other, technically equivalent elements.

In practice the materials employed, and the contingent dimensions and shapes, may be any according to requirements and to the state of the art.

The disclosures in Italian Patent Application No. PD2010A000258 from which this application claims priority are incorporated herein by reference.

Where technical features mentioned in any claim are followed by reference signs, such reference signs have been inserted for the sole purpose of increasing the intelligibility of the claims and accordingly such reference signs do not have any limiting effect on the interpretation of each element identified by way of example by such reference signs.