This invention relates to a cord lock, and in particular such a cord lock which may be assembled onto an article for releasably holding at least one cord.

There are in existence various designs of cord locks. Such conventional cord locks includes a body and a plunger movable within the body. Each of the body and the plunger has a respective hole, and a cord is inserted through the hole of the plunger and that of the body. A spring is positioned between the body and the plunger for biasing the plunger from the body. By way of such an arrangement, the cord lock acts as a pinching mechanism, in which the plunger is movable towards the pocket (against the biasing force of the spring) to allow the cord to slide relative to the plunger hole and the body hole, and movable away from the pocket (under the biasing force of the spring) such that the side wall of the plunger hole and body hole combine to prevent the cord from sliding relative to the plunger hole and the body hole.

A shortcoming associated with such conventional cord locks is that unless the end of the cord is tied, the cord lock may be loosened from the cord and be lost. It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a cord lock which may be secured on an article, so as to minimize the risk of losing the cord lock upon release of the cord from the cord lock, or at least to provide a useful alternative to the trade and public. It is also an object of the present invention to provide a new method of assembling an article with a cord lock and at least one cord.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cord lock including a body with a front wall, a rear wall, and a base, defining a pocket, a plunger received at least partly within said pocket and movable relative to said pocket, means for biasing said plunger away from said base of said body, and a back plate engageable with said body, wherein at least a first extension, a second extension and a third extension extend from said rear wall of said body, wherein said rear wall of said body includes two holes, each through a respective of said first and second extensions, wherein said front wall of said body includes two holes, each in alignment with a respective of said holes of said rear wall, wherein said back plate includes a pair of arm members adapted to engage with said first and second extensions; and wherein said back plate is movable relative to said body in a direction generally perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of said first extension to secure said back plate with said body.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of assembling an article with a cord lock and at least one cord, said method including providing an article, a cord lock and at least one cord, said cord lock having a back plate and a body with at least a first extension, a second extension, and a third extension, forming at least three openings on said article, inserting said first, second and third extensions of said body each through a respective of said three openings on said article, moving said back plate on said body in a direction generally perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of said first extension to secure said back plate with said body, and inserting said at least one cord through the cord lock.

A cord lock according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described, by way of an example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a front perspective view of a cord lock according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is another front perspective of the cord lock of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a rear perspective view of the cord lock of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is an exploded front perspective view of the cord lock of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is an exploded rear perspective view of the cord lock of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is another exploded front perspective view of the cord lock of Fig. 1;

Fig. 7 is a front view of the cord lock of Fig. 1; Fig. 8 is a top view of the cord lock of Fig. 7;

Fig. 9 is a bottom view of the cord lock of Fig. 7;

Fig. 10 is a right side view of the cord lock of Fig. 7;

Fig. 11 is a rear view of the cord lock of Fig. 7;

Fig. 12 is a left side view of the cord lock of Fig. 7; Fig. 13 is a sectional view taken along the line A-A in Fig. 7;

Fig. 14 is a sectional view taken along the line C-C in Fig. 7;

Fig. 15 is an exploded view of the cord lock of Fig. 13;

Fig. 16 is an exploded sectional view taken along the line B-B in Fig. 8; Fig. 17 is an exploded view of the cord lock of Fig. 14; Fig. 18 is a front view of the back plate of the cord lock in Fig. 16; Figs. 19 to 23B show the steps of assembling the cord lock of Fig. 1 to an article; Figs. 24A to 24C show the cord lock of Fig. 1 in a disengaged configuration; and Figs. 25A to 25C show the cord lock of Fig. 1 in an engaged configuration.

A cord lock according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown in Figs. 1 to 17, and generally designated as 10.

The cord lock includes four basic components, namely, a body 12, a plunger 14, a spring

16 and a back plate 18. All these components may be made in plastic or metal. It is also possible to form the body 12, plunger 14 and the back plate 18 in plastic, and form the spring 16 in metal.

The body 12 has a front wall 20, an opposite rear wall 22, and a base 24, thus defining a pocket 26 with an open upper end. Two holes 28, 30 are formed on the front wall 20 of the body 12. Two generally cylindrical extensions 32, 34 integrally formed with the body 12 extend perpendicularly from the rear wall 22 of the body 12. Through each of the extensions 32, 34 is formed a respective hole 36, 38, which also go through the rear wall 22. The hole 28 in the front wall 20 is aligned with the hole 38 through the extension 34 and the rear wall 22, and the hole 30 in the front wall 20 is aligned with the hole 36 through the extension 32 and the rear wall 22. By way of such an arrangement, a cord may be inserted through the hole 28 into the pocket 26 and through the hole 38; and a cord may be inserted through the hole 30 into the pocket 26 and through the hole 36.

It can be seen in particular in Fig. 15 that the extension 34 has a cylindrical stem portion 34a and a broadened head portion 34b. The extension 32 is of the same construction.

The body 12 is integrally formed with a third extension 40 which extends perpendicularly from the rear wall 22. When viewed from above or below, the third extension 40 is in the generally shape of a letter "T". It can also be seen that on the base 24 of the pocket 26 is integrally formed an upwardly extending protrusion 42, for engagement with one longitudinal end of the spring 16. Turning now to the plunger 14, such has a body portion 44 and a slightly broadened head portion 46, and an elongate recess 48 is formed in the body portion 44. A protrusion 50 is formed at a closed end of the recess 48 for engagement with another longitudinal end of the spring 16. Two holes 52, 54 are formed in the body portion 44 of the plunger 14.

When assembled, at least part of the plunger 14 is received within the pocket 24, such that the plunger 14 is movable relative to the body 12 in the pocket 24 upwardly and downwardly, i.e. as indicated by the double-ended arrow F-F in Fig. 16, which is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis D-D of the extension 34 and the longitudinal axis E-E of the extension 32, both of the body 12. When assembled, the spring 16 biases the plunger 14 away from the base 24 of the pocket 26. It should be understood by persons skilled in the art that although the spring 16 is shown here as a separate component, it is possible instead to have a biasing means integrally formed with the plunger 14 or with the base 24 of the pocket 26, to achieve the biasing function.

During movement of the plunger 14 within the pocket 26, the effective clearance through the cord lock 10 varies, such that the clearance is largest when the plunger 14 is closest to the base 24 of the pocket 26 and is smallest when the plunger 14 is furthest away from the base 24 of the pocket 26. By way of such an arrangement, if a cord is inserted through the holes 28, 38 of the body 12 and the hole 52 of the plunger, the cord may be slid relative to the holes 28, 38 of the body 12 and the plunger hole 38 when the plunger 14 is moved sufficiently towards the base 24 of the pocket 26 (the "disengaged configuration"), whereas the cord will be locked against sliding movement relative to the cord lock 10 when the plunger 14 is sufficiently away from the base 24 of the pocket 26 (the "engaged configuration"). This is the same case with a cord inserted through the holes 30, 36 of the body 12 and the hole 54 of the plunger 14. It should be noted that, because of the biasing action of the spring 16, the plunger 14 is biased towards the engaged configuration.

As to the back plate 18, and referring also to Fig. 18, such includes two outer arms 56,

58 each with a respective stepped portion 60, 62. Both outer arms 56 are resilient and may thus be pulled or pushed slightly away from the central longitudinal axis H-H of the back plate 18. Along the central region of the back plate 18 is formed an elongate slot 64. A resilient tongue 66 is integrally formed with a longitudinal end 64a of the slot 64, and extends towards, but does not contact, another longitudinal end 64b of the slot 64. The free longitudinal end of the tongue 66 is away from the longitudinal end 64b of the slot 64 by a distance which equals to or is slightly larger than the thickness t of the extension 40 of the body 12 (see Fig. 15). Two stepped portions 68, 70 are formed at the longitudinal end 64b of the slot 64.

Figs. 19 to 23B show the steps of assembling the lock cord 10 onto an article 72, in which Fig. 22B is a side view of Fig. 22A and Fig. 23B is a side view of Fig. 23A. The article 72 may be a piece of fabric forming part of a rack sack or back pack or a wall of a luggage.

To assemble the lock cord 10 onto the article 72, the spring 16 is firstly received within the pocket 26 and the plunger 14 is then fitted into the pocket 26 so that the spring 16 engages on one end with the protrusion 50 of the plunger 14 and on the other end with the protrusion 42 on the base 24 of the body 12, to bias the plunger 14 away from the base 24 of the body 12. As shown in Fig. 20, the head portion 46 of the plunger 14 extends above the pocket 26 of the body 12, to be operable by a user. Three holes 74, 76, 78 are formed on the article 72, as shown in Fig. 21. The holes 74, 76 are circular in shape and the hole 78 is rectangular in shape. The holes 74, 76, 78 are sized and shaped for receiving therethrough the extensions 32, 34, 40 respectively.

When the body 12 of the lock cord is thus mounted onto the article 72, the back plate 18 is moved relative to the body 12 in a direction indicated by the arrow K in Figs. 22A and 22B, which is generally perpendicular to the longitudinal axes of the extensions 32, 34.

During this movement, the free end of the extension 40 slides on and along the tongue 66 in the slot 64 of the back plate 18, the stepped portion 62 of the arms 58 slides into the space between the rear wall 22 of the body 12 and the broadened head portion of the extension 32, and the stepped portion 60 of the arm 56 slides into the space between the rear wall 22 of the body 12 and the broadened portion 34a of the extension 34, thanks to the resilience of the arms 56, 58. Thus, the arms 56, 58 are engaged with the extensions 32, 34 in a snap-fit manner. The engagement between the stepped portions 60, 62 of the arms 56, 58 with the respective broadened head portions of the extensions 34, 32 prevents detachment of the arms 56, 58 from the extensions 34, 32 in the direction indicated by the arrow P in Fig. 23B.

When duly assembled, as shown in Figs. 23A and 23B, the arm 58 is engaged with an outer surface of the extension 32, the arm 56 is engaged with the outer surface of the extension 34, and the extension 40 is received through the slot 64 and is at the longitudinal end 64b of the slot 64, thanks to the resilience of the tongue 66. When in this position, the free end of the tongue 66 abuts or is adjacent to the extension 40, thus preventing detachment of the back plate 18 from the body 12 in the direction indicated by the arrow R, which is opposite to the direction indicated by the arrow K in Figs. 22A and 22B.

In addition, the longitudinal end of the extension 40 also sits on the stepped portions 68, 70 at the longitudinal end 64b of the slot 64, which also assists in preventing detachment of the back plate 18 from the body 12 in the direction indicated by the arrow P in Fig. 23B.

When duly assembled, two cords 80, 82 may be inserted through the cord lock 10, as shown in Figs. 24A to 25C. When the plunger 14 is moved, against the biasing force of the spring 16, to the disengaged configuration, as shown in Figs. 24A to 24C, both the cords 80, 82 may be slid relative to the cord lock 10. On the other hand, when the plunger 14 is moved under the biasing force of the spring 16 to the engaged configuration, as shown in Figs. 25A to 25C, both the cords are prevented from being slid relative to the cord lock 10.

It should be understood that the above only illustrates an example whereby the present invention may be carried out, and that various modifications and/or alterations may be made thereto without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In addition, various features of the invention which are, for brevity, described here in the context of a single embodiment, may also be provided separately or in any appropriate sub-combinations.