"A JOINING DEVICE FOR TWO OPPOSITE HEMS OF A CLOTH, SHOE, ORTHOPEDIC BAND AND ALIKES"

The present invention relates in general to lacings and similar devices for tightlying lacing together two opposite hems of a garment, shoe upper, orthopedic band and alikes.

Devices for joining the opposite hems of a shoe upper, of a garment, of an elastic or non elastic orthopedic band, of curtains, etc., are of common daily use. Where it is important to be able to modulate the tautness along the joint for the best compliance with the function of for example an orthopedic band to be worn tightly around a limb, the chest or articulation, the joining device should permit an easy adjustment of the .

In case of a classic lacing realized with a string alternately threaded through buttonholes of the opposite hems to be joined, modulability of is scarce and adjustments rather laborious.

A practical answer to these needs is the use of a plurality of individual laces, one end of which is individually fastened on the outer surface of the article, near one of the two hems to be joined together and the other end of which is passed through a buttonhole or loop provided on the other hem, to be then folded back on itself, tensioned and blocked onto the outer surface of the fastened end portion with common Velcro means.

Though these Velcro lacings are easier to use than classical lacings and not excessively costly if the hems to be joined are relatively short as for example in a shoe upper or a case or a backsack, where two or three individual laces are generally sufficient, in case of garments, curtains, orthopedic bands, where the hems to be joined are relatively long, the numerosity of the laces to be individually passed in respective buttonholes or loops for the opposite hem, tensioned and fastened for modulating the tautness along the extensive hems to be

joined, may become too large. In these cases, in manufacturing the article, it is necessary to sew or fasten by other means the extremity of numerous laces or strings onto the surface adjacent to one of the two ends, sew a textile part of a Velcro anchoring device onto the fixed extremities of the laces and/or onto the adjacent surface of the article, form as many buttonholes or loops along the other hem and each individual lace or string must be provided at its free end of a hooked part of the Velcro anchoring device and passed through a respective buttonhole or loop of the other hem to be eventually folded back on itself tensioned and blocked.

The realization of numerous buttonholes or loops along one of the two hems, the fixing of numerous laces or strings provided with a Velcro hook part at their free end, their passing through a respective buttonhole or loop are time consuming steps and often require a multiplication of fabrication steps of different type and to be carried out using special tools or machines and even during the normal use of the article, for example an orthopedic band or alike, adjustments of tautness along the joint are relatively laborious.

Vis-a-vis these drawbacks, complexities, burdens, long times of execution of the various steps of the fabrication process and associated costs, a device has now been found for lacing tightly together two opposite hems of garment, a shoe upper, an orthopedic band, curtains and alike articles that greatly simplifies the fabrication process providing in addition an enhanced ease of use of the device, allowing ample freedom of modulating tautness along the joint established with the lacing device of the invention.

Basically, the device according to the present invention comprises:

a plurality of uniformly spaced loops along one of the hems to be joined, generated by making a plurality of aligned openings with a uniform separation step parallel to the hem that is then folded along a median axis of the plurality of openings and sewn to constitute said plurality of uniformly spaced loops along the hem;

the free ends of one or more adjacent laces of a plurality of laces fastened to the other hem joining parallely a unified end piece carrying a hook part of a Velcro fastener for constituting a succession of pairs, triads or groups of a larger number of parallel joined laces;

each lace of said succession of grouped laces received in the separation space between two of said loops constituted on the first hem;

an engagement pin threaded through all the loops passing over the parallel laces laid in the separation spaces among the loops and made unthreadable therefrom;

each unified end piece carrying a hook part of a Velcro fastener tensionable and anchorable on a textile Velcro part present on the other hem.

Alternatively, instead of forming the openings directly through the material of the garment, shoe upper, band or alike article, by folding and sewing a hem portion, a suitably holed ribbon may be by sewn, folded on itself to hem of the article.

The device of this invention may therefore be made by using prefabricated articles of manufacture for considerably reducing work times and making particularly easy to apply the device to the opposite hems of the garment, shoe upper, orthopedic band or alike article.

Moreover, these component articles of manufacture may be fabricated in continuous ribbon form to be cut in segments of length suited to needs thus allowing a sensible reduction of manufacture costs.

According to a first embodiment, the device can be realized using a segment of a prefabricated ribbon of leather or of an imitation of leather or of a multilayered laminate with adequate mechanical properties having a plurality of apertures uniformly spaced, aligned along a longitudinal axis of the ribbon.

A segment of adequate length of the ribbon is then folded on itself along the same longitudinal axis of alignment of the apertures and sewn or in any other

appropriate manner permanently fastened along a first hem of the garment, shoe upper, orthopedic hem, or alike article, such to constitute a plurality of loops uniformly spaced among each other along the hem.

The other component article of manufacture may also be produced in a continuous form and be constituted by a textile base ribbon, having parallel cross pieces of a certain length that extend at regular intervals, perpendicularly from one side of the continuous textile base ribbon. The free ends of two or more successive cross pieces join to a textile end piece on a surface of which is applied a hook part of a Velcro fastener.

The constant step of separation of the cross pieces and their width are congruently similar to the separation steps of the aligned apertures of the first ribbon and to the separation distance between the two adjacent apertures, such to permit, after having sewn the segment of textile base ribbon of the second article of manufacture onto the outer surface of the garment or other article, parallel to the respective hem, the cross pieces of the succession of distinct pair, triads, or groups, joined at their free ends to the same textile end piece carrying the hook part of a Velcro fastener, may be parallel laid among the loops constituted by the segment of the first holed ribbon folded and sewn on the opposite hem.

The device of this invention is completed by threading an engagement pin through all the loops, passing over the textile cross pieces laid in the respective spaces of separation between the loops and by blocking it in its threaded position, for example by deforming its extremities or in any other manner that will prevent it from being accidentally unthreaded therefrom.

Each group (pair, triad, ...) of parallel textile cross pieces joining with a unified textile end piece can be individually tensioned and blocked by anchoring the hook Velcro part carried on one side of the unified textile end piece on a textile part of Velcro fastener applied on the outer surface of the textile base ribbon itself and/or on the outer surface adjacent thereto of the garment or other article.

The invention is defined in the annexed claims.

Figures I ₃ 2 and 3, illustrate an example of realization of the three premanufacturable components using which the device of the invention is applicable to the opposite hems of an article.

Figures 4 and 5 illustrate the manner in which the three parts can be assembled to constitute the lacing device of the present invention.

Figure 6 illustrates the device of the present invention applied to two opposite hems of a tubular orthopedic band.

Figures 7 and 8 show the constitution of the device of this invention according to an alternative embodiment.

With reference to the figures, the lacing device for joining two hems of the present invention is, as already remarked, implementable by employing component articles of manufacture that can be fabricated at a relatively low cost and that may then be applied to the hems of a garment, shoe upper, orthopedic band and alikes through manufacturing steps that are relatively simple and that can be quickly performed even with simple automatic or semiautomatic means.

With reference to Figure 1, a first ribbon 1 (that can be produced at low cost as a continuous ribbon wound in reels) has rectangular openings 2, spaced by a uniform separation distance 3, aligned along a longitudinal axis of the ribbon. The ribbon material may be leather, imitation of leather, a composite multilayered composite laminate, a textile fabric or of any equivalent material. The requisites of the material are of sufficient mechanical strength, relative thinness, flexibility and the ability of not fraying along cut edges (typically along the perimeter of the apertures 2).

Referring to Figure 2, a slender round bar 4 of a thermoplastic material may be used as a threadable engagement pin.

The third component article of manufacture with which the device of this invention may be made, may also be manufactured in continuous ribbon form wound in reels and its features are depicted in Figure 3.

The article of manufacture comprises a textile base ribbon 5 onto the visible surface of which may optionally be already present a textile Velcro part VT.

Along a flank of the base ribbon 5, parallel textile cross pieces 6 of a certain length extend at regular intervals.

In the sample embodiment shown in Figure 3, the cross pieces are joined in pairs at their free ends to a unified textile end piece 7, which may optionally be already provided, over the visible surface, with a Velcro hook part VU.

In the shown embodiment, there are pairs of cross pieces 6 in succession.

As may be easily observed, all the three articles of manufacture of Figures 1 , 2 and 3 may be premanufactured, even in a substantially continuous form for fully exploiting automatic fabrication techniques or in any case minimizing the costs of manufacture per unit of length of the articles. Of course, the component articles may be fabricated in sizes that can be to some extent standardized to cover a broad range of applications.

Even for the latter component article of Figure 3, the textile materials used may be of different type, the fundamental requisites of which being an adequate mechanical strength, flexibility and resistance to wear and tear.

Figures 4 and 5 show the way in which the three component articles are assembled to constitute the lacing device of this invention.

Figure 6 shows in a stylized manner a typical application of the device of the present invention for lacing tightly together opposite hems of a tubular orthopedic textile band PT.

As may be observed, a first operation consists in sewing a first folded ribbon of

Figure 1 along the first hem 8 of the tubular band PT.

The second operation consists in fixing on the outer surface, adjacent to the other hem 9 of the tubular band PT ₅ the base ribbon 5 of the textile article of Figure 3, parallel to and near the hem 9.

The fixing of the base ribbon 5 may also be done by sewing it onto the outer surface of the tubular band or, according to an alternative embodiment, the fixing may be done by providing the surface not in sight of the base ribbon 5 of the component article with a Velcro hook part and by making the tubular band with a fabric, the outer surface of which has the requisites of a Velcro textile part (or alternatively by preapplying by sewing onto the dedicated area of the outer surface of the band PT a Velcro textile part).

The textile cross pieces 6, disposed in the separation spaces among the loops of the folded ribbon 1, are engaged by a retaining cylindrical pin 4 of Figure 2, threaded in succession through all the loops, passing it the textile cross pieces 6 ordinately disposed therebetween.

An accidental unthreading of the engagement pin 4 can be prevented by hot deforming the two ends of the pin 4, after having threaded it through the loops of the whole succession.

As may be observed in Figure 6, each pair of cross pieces 6 can be pulled independently and its end piece 7 may be blocked by anchoring the Velcro hook part associated to it onto the Velcro textile part present on the other hem of the band. This permits an easy modulation and adjustment of tautness along the joint between the two opposite hems 8 and 9 established with the lacing device of this invention.

In case of the fixing of the base ribbon 5 onto the outer surface of the tubular band PT in a removable manner, by the use of a Velcro fastener, the modulability and ability to adjust the tautness along the joint may exploit also the possibility of

orienting in the most appropriate direction the anchorable base ribbon 5 onto the surface of the tubular band near the hem 9, even along an axis of anchorage that may be inclined at an angle instead of being parallel to the hem 9 of the band.

Figures 7 and 8 depict an alternative embodiment of the device of this invention that does not require the use of a holed ribbon to the sewn onto one of the hems.

In practice, as may be observed from the figures, the device can be realized even by forming along the hem of the article PT a succession of holes 2 spaced by a constant separation distance 3, aligned parallel to the hem 8.

As shown in Figure 8, the so holed hem is folded along an axis of folding coinciding with a median axis of the aligned holes 2 and sewn, thus to constituting the plurality of loops uniformly spaced along the hem.

Similarly to the embodiment illustrated in the preceding figures, after having placed the textile cross pieces 6 of the prefabricated textile article of Figure 3 fixed along the hem 9, among the loops formed along the hem 8, the retaining pin 4 is threaded through the loops and finally deformed at its extremities to prevent it from accidentally unthreading therefrom.

Even according to this alternative embodiment, the textile base ribbon 5 may be sewn on the outer surface of the article PT parallel to the hem 9 or may be provided over the surface of adhesion with a Velctro hook part in order to be stably anchored on the outer surface of the tubular band PT parallel to the hem 9, that in such a case will have a textile Velcro part surface either of the textile material with which the tubular band PT is made or applied thereon by sewing a textile Velcro part over the anchoring area of the textile base ribbon 5.