Conventionally, as a slider used for a slide fastener, there has been known a slider with an automatic locking mechanism, where if a tab is released from manipulation after the opening and closing of the slide fastener, a locking pawl disposed in the slider automatically makes an action to maintain a locked position of the slider, and if the tab is not manipulated, the slider can be maintained in a sliding locked state. In addition, specific examples of the slider with the automatic locking mechanism are disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,647,598 (Patent Document 1) or British Patent No. 1201522 (Patent Document 2).
For example, in the slider 80 disclosed in Patent Document 1 as illustrated in FIGS. 13 and 14, an upper blade 82 is provided with an insert groove 83 into which the locking pawl 96 is inserted, a claw hole 85 which is formed near the edge of the rear-opening-side end of the upper blade 82 so as to start from the upper surface side of the upper blade 82 and to pass through an element guide lane 84, protrusions 86 for temporary engagement which are disposed upwardly on the left and right sides of the insert groove 83 in the front end portion of the upper blade 82, and left and right tab retaining portions 87 for retaining a tab 91.
In addition, in the locking pawl 96 disclosed in Patent Document 1, a claw portion 97 which passes through the claw hole 85 of the slider body 81 is disposed in the one end portion of the locking pawl 96, a hook portion 98 which is inserted into the insert groove 83 of the slider body 81 is disposed in the other end portion of the locking pawl 96, and a cover portion 99 which covers a connection rod 94 of the tab 91 is disposed between the claw portion 97 and the hook portion 98.
In addition, the tab 91 disclosed in Patent Document 1 includes a tab body 92, left and right arms 93 which are disposed to extend from the tab body 92, and the cylindrical connection rod 94 which connects the front end portions of the left and right arms 93. In addition, a concave portion 95 having a semi-circular shape in the cross section of the connection rod 94 is formed at the left-right-directional center of the connection rod 94.
In addition, in Patent Document 1, in the case where the aforementioned tab 91 and locking pawl 96 are assembled with the slider body 81, first, the connection rod 94 of the tab 91 is inserted into the tab retaining portion 87 of the slider body 81, and the tab retaining portion 87 is temporarily engaged, so that the tab 91 is rotatably retained in the slider body 81. Subsequently, the locking pawl 96 is inserted into the insert groove 83 of the slider body 81 where the tab 91 is retained, by performing position alignment so that the claw portion 97 of the locking pawl 96 passes through the claw hole 85 of the slider body 81. Therefore, the locking pawl 96 is disposed at a predetermined position of the slider body 81.
After that, the protrusion 86 of the slider body 81 is temporarily engaged, so that the other end portion of the locking pawl 96 is temporarily engaged and fixed with a predetermined clearance. As a result, the slider 80 disclosed in Patent Document 1 illustrated in FIG. 14 can be assembled. In addition, in FIG. 14, for clearly illustrating the assembled state of the slider 80, the tab 91 is drawn by a virtual line.
In this manner, in the assembled slider 80 disclosed in Patent Document 1, as illustrated in FIG. 14, in the state where the tab 91 collapses down toward the rear opening side, since the cover portion 99 of the locking pawl 96 is inserted into the concave portion 95 of the tab 91 and the relative position of the locking pawl 96 with respect to the slider body 81 is lowered, so that the claw portion 97 of the locking pawl 96 is inserted (protruded) from the claw hole 85 of the slider body 81 into the element guide lane 84.
On the other hand, in the case where the tab 91 is allowed to be erected or collapse toward the front end side of the slider 80, since the cover portion 99 of the locking pawl 96 is detached from the concave portion 95 to be lifted up by the connection rod 94 of the rotating tab 91, the claw portion 97 of the locking pawl 96 is detached from the element guide lane 84. In this case, as described above, the other end portion of the locking pawl 96 is fixed with a predetermined clearance. Therefore, when performing the falling and erecting manipulations for the tab 91, the other end portion of the locking pawl 96 can be moved into the insert groove 83 by using the clearance. Accordingly, it is possible to smoothly perform the inserting and detaching operations of the claw portion 97 with respect to the element guide lane 84.
Accordingly, when the slide fastener is configured by using the slider 80, for example, in the case where the tab 91 is fallen down to the side of the rear opening by releasing the manipulation for the tab 91, the claw portion 97 of the locking pawl 96 can be allowed to protrude toward the element guide lane 84 so as to be engaged with the element rows. Therefore, the slider 80 is locked with respect to the element rows, so that the locked position can be maintained. On the other hand, in the case where the tab 91 is allowed to be erected in order to manipulate the slider 80, the claw portion 97 is detached from the element guide lane 84, so that the engagement between the claw portion 97 and the element rows is released. Therefore, it is possible to smoothly slide the slider 80 along the element rows.
In addition, similarly to the slider disclosed in Patent Document 1, the slider disclosed in Patent Document 2 also includes a slider body, a locking pawl which is disposed to an upper blade of the slider body, and a tab whose one end is rotatably retained in the upper blade.
In this case, the upper blade of the slider body is provided with an insert groove into which the locking pawl is inserted, a claw hole which is penetrated in a rear-opening-side end edge of the upper blade so as to pass through an element guide lane from the upper surface side of the upper blade, and left and right tab retaining portions which retain a connection rod of the tab.
In addition, in the slider body, the aforementioned protrusion where the locking pawl is temporarily engaged and fixed as disclosed in Patent Document 1 is not provided, and in order to fix the other end portion of locking pawl with a predetermined clearance, a fixing portion, which traverses the insert groove so as to construct a bridge, is fixed on the upper surface of the upper blade.
The tab disclosed in Patent Document 2 includes a cam for lifting up the locking pawl at the time of erecting the tab with respect to the slider body in a central portion of the cylindrical connection rod which connects the left and right arms.
In the case where the slide fastener is configured by using the slider disclosed in Patent Document 2, similarly to the case of Patent Document 1, by allowing the tab to be fallen down to the side of the rear opening, the claw portion of the locking pawl is engaged with the element rows, so that the locked position of slider can be maintained. In addition, by allowing the tab to be erected, the claw portion is detached from the element guide lane, so that the slider can be smoothly slid.    Patent Document 1: U.S. Pat. No. 6,647,598    Patent Document 2: British Patent No. 1201522
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds