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BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
RELATED APPLICATIONS
There are no applications related hereto heretofore filed in this or any
foreign country.
FIELD OF INVENTION
This invention relates to an elongate headed fastener that is manually
placed to extend through adjacent holes in a box structure and may be
removed by manual manipulation without the use of tools, but not without
destruction of the fastener.
BACKGROUND AND DESCRIPTION OF PRIOR ART
In modern commerce, it is common in transferring smaller merchandise in
less than case lots from a wholesaler, jobber or distributor to a retailer
to assemble and enclose a quantity of miscellaneous goods in a closable
box-like container for transport and delivery. This practice has become
particularly popular in the distribution and delivery of drugs or other
pharmaceutical products and merchandise. Pilferage of a container's
contents, however, is an ever present problem, and it is especially
pronounced in the distribution of drugs and pharmaceutical products
because of their relatively high value and normally small package size.
The problem has long been recognized and various solutions proposed, but
none of those solutions have resolved all of the problems involved or have
presented any anti-pilfering apparatus or process that has received wide
or general acceptance in the pharmaceutical industry, or even in the
merchandising industry in general. The instant invention provides a novel,
tamperproof fastener that requires destruction for removal to resolve
problems that have not been solved by other prior fasteners or fastening
methods.
The present day containers, commonly called "tote boxes", in which
merchandise, and especially drugs and pharmaceutical products, are
transported to retail merchandisers generally are truncated pyramidal
structures having their base uppermost, a generally rectilinear
cross-section, a somewhat enlarged upper rim and a closable top that allow
convenient stacking when not in use. The closable top may provide a single
planar element hingeably connected to one side of the upper orifice of the
box, or more commonly comprises two medially overlapping top elements,
each hingeably interconnected to opposite sides of the box orifice. Such
boxes generally provide vertically adjacent cooperating fastening holes
defined in overlapping portions of the top closure elements or in a
closure element and the adjacent upper rim of the box.
Various fastening devices have heretofore become known for insertion in
such pairs of cooperating holes in tote boxes to maintain box closure, and
in the more recent history of such devices, many of such fasteners have
been of such nature that once inserted they may not be removed without
destruction, to indicate tampering between the time of fastening and the
time of opening of the tote box. Such fasteners as have become known,
however, have generally required the use of a tool of some sort to
disconnect fastener parts to allow opening of a box. This type of fastener
has not gained any wide acceptance in the merchandising business for
various reasons. With a tool required to sever the fastener, a person
desiring to open a tote box may not have the appropriate tool conveniently
accessible to perform the function. The use of secondary tools, and
especially knife-type structures, may potentially cause injury to a person
opening a tote box and improper use of the tool or accident may also cause
damage to the tote box itself. Prior fasteners also have often been
created with specific configurations that allow their use in only a
particular type or style of tote box or hole, and that configuration is
often so specialized that the fasteners may not be generally used with the
different types of tote boxes in common use in present day commerce. Prior
fasteners also have often been difficult to initially place and in some
instances have required the use of a specialized tool for their placement.
Our fastener in distinction from prior fasteners has been specifically
created to resolve these problems. It provides a distinct head structure
and body structure interconnected with each other so that the portion of
the fastener least resistive to tensile stress is the area of
interconnection between the body and the head of the fastener. The
fastener head is provided with a peripheral outwardly extending tab which
may be manually manipulated by a user to cause severance of the top from
the body without the use of any external tools. This structure also allows
adjustable determination of the force required to sever the fastener head
from the body by reason of the configuration and design of the head and
body structures at or adjacent to their interconnection, and particularly
the cross-sectional size of material at the interconnection.
The elongate body of the instant fastener is an elongate peripherally
defined structure formed by a plurality of webs each spacedly related, of
relatively small cross-sectional area and defining barb-like connectors in
their end portions distal from the top. With this structure, the web-like
elements are deformable in the insertion process to allow the fastener to
be manually inserted in a hole sized and configured to carry it.
Additionally this structure allows substantial adjustability by reason of
the design of the web elements which may be made larger or smaller to
increase or decrease the force required for deformation upon insertion and
also the force resisting removal by attempting to pull the fastener
outwardly in an axial direction from a hole carrying it.
The structure of the fastener is such that it may be formed from polymeric
or resinous materials by molding processes to provide the economic
benefits derived from this manufacturing method. This material also allows
a wide choice of physical parameters which in turn allow further
adjustable determination of fastener characteristics.
Commonly it is desirable to fasten the closure elements of tote boxes
immediately inwardly adjacent peripheral edges but in modern commerce, the
designs of tote boxes often have provided rims or ridges about the
periphery of closure elements that tend to interfere with the placement of
fasteners having heads of any substantial size and of some particular
shapes. Our fastener is not dependent upon a particular head shape or size
by reason of its general structure, and the head therefore may be
variously shaped in peripheral form from a circle through a segment or
segment and in non-circular shapes from a square, to a rectangle or other
polygonal shapes without interfering with its operation or any of the
benefits provided by it to allow placement adjacent rims and other such
protuberances.
Our invention resides not in any one of these features individually, but
rather in the synergistic combination of all of its structures that
combine to necessarily give rise to the functions flowing therefrom, as
herein specified and claimed.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
Our invention provides an elongate headed fastener that after insertion in
adjacent cooperating holes cannot be removed without destruction. The
fastener has a flat head of areal extent greater than a hole to carry it
and with a tab extending spacedly from its periphery to aid manual
manipulation. The head structurally carries in the medial portion of its
inner surface plural fastener links that interconnect an elongate body
formed by plural spaced peripheral webs interconnected in their outer end
portions distal from the head. Each web provides a barb-type fastening
element that may be deformed inwardly to allow insertion of the body in a
hole, but thereafter returns to its original configuration by reason of
resilient memory to prevent removal through the hole. The area at the
interconnection of the fastener links with the webs has less resistance to
withstand extensive forces than other adjacent portions of the fastener to
allow severance of the head from the body by manual manipulation of the
tab without the use of tools. The fastener is configured to allow
formation by injection molding of settable polymeric or resinous
materials.
In providing such a product, it is:
A principal object to provide a fastener for closure elements of box
structures that fastenably extends through two adjacent aligned holes, at
least one of which is defined in a closure element.
A further object is to provide such a fastener that has a head carrying a
body with spacedly adjacent barb-type fastening structure that may be
deformed inwardly to allow insertion through carrying holes but thereafter
returns to its initial shape larger than the holes to prevent removal of
the fastener from the holes without destruction.
A further object is to provide such a fastener that has an interconnection
of the head and body portions that will withstand less tensile force in a
generally axial direction than other adjacent portions of the fastener, so
that the head may be severed from the body at the area of interconnection
by manual manipulation.
A further object is to provide such a fastener that has a tab extending
outwardly from the periphery of the head to aid manual manipulation in
applying force to sever the head from the body without the use of any
tools.
A further object is to provide such a fastener that has a body formed by a
plurality of peripheral spaced web elements, each interconnected in its
end distal from the head to allow and aid deformation of the body for
insertion in an incrementally larger hole by manual manipulation.
A still further object is to provide such a fastener that is structurally
configured so that it may be manufactured by injection molding of
polymeric or resinous plastic materials.
A still further object is to provide such a fastener which may be used to
fasten the closure elements of tote boxes, especially as used in the
pharmaceutical industry, to maintain that closure under normal conditions
and to indicate tampering with the fastener between the fastening of the
closure elements and the opening of the tote box by destroying the
fastener.
A still further object is to provide such a fastener that can be placed and
removed by manual manipulation without the use of tools of any kind and
that may be used in most tote boxes of present commerce without
modification of or damage to those tote boxes.
A still further object is to provide such a fastener that is of new and
novel design, of rugged and durable nature, of simple and economic
manufacture and one otherwise well adapted to the uses and purposes for
which it is intended.
Other and further objects of our invention will appear from the following
specification and accompanying drawings which form a part hereof. In
carrying out the objects of our invention, however, it is to be remembered
that its accidental features are susceptible of change in design and
structural arrangement, with only preferred and practical embodiments of
the best known modes of our invention being illustrated and specified as
is required.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
In the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof and wherein like
numbers of reference refer to similar parts throughout:
FIG. 1 is an isometric surface view of a typical tote box of present
commerce showing the use of our fastener therewith.
FIG. 2 is a somewhat enlarged, isometric surface view of a first species of
fastener having a round head.
FIG. 3 is a medial, vertical, cross-sectional view through the fastener of
FIG. 2, taken on the line 3--3 thereon in the direction indicated by the
arrows.
FIG. 4 is an orthographic bottom view of the fastener of FIG. 2.
FIG. 5 is an isometric surface view of a second species of fastener having
a rectangular head.
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Our invention generally provides a fastener having head 11 interconnecting
elongate body 12 to be inserted in cooperating holes defined in tote box
10.
Tote boxes 10 used for the containment and carriage of various merchandise,
and particularly those used in the pharmaceutical industry, have various
configurational forms, but most have the same essential elements. Such
tote boxes, as shown in dashed outline in FIG. 1, provide a peripherally
defined box formed by similar sides 13, similar ends 14 and bottom 15, all
structurally joined at their intersecting edges to form a five-sided,
open-top box structure. The elements are so configured that the box
structure normally comprises a truncated pyramidal structure with
rectangular cross-section and base uppermost, so that a plurality of such
boxes may be stacked, one within another, to provide a smaller compact
volume for storage than would a similar number of disarrayed boxes. The
upper rim 16 of the box normally is somewhat thicker than the box elements
therebelow and in the instance illustrated, provides a peripheral skirt 17
depending spacedly adjacent the associated body surface to serve as
somewhat of a handle structure to aid manual manipulation of the box.
Normally the various edges and corners of the box structure are somewhat
rounded to prevent damage to other boxes or structures with which the tote
box may come into contact and to aid in preventing injuries to workmen
handling the boxes.
The upper orifice 18 of the box defined by rim 16 is planar and normally
provided with some closure means. In the instance illustrated in FIG. 1,
the top closure member comprises two flat planar top elements 19, 19a,
each pivotally joined to one of the opposite side edges 13 by piano-type
hinge 20 for pivotal motion from the closed horizontal position shown in
FIG. 1, at least to a vertical position and normally to a substantially
greater angled position that allows the inner edges of the top elements
19, 19a when open to depend vertically or rest on a surface supporting the
box. The inner edges 40, 40a of each top element overlap each other to
form a medial area having two layers of the inner portions of each top
element overlapping in vertical adjacency. With such a structure fastening
holes 21 are defined, normally spacedly inwardly from each end and each
inner edge of the top elements, to extend through the medial overlapping
portions of both top elements to carry a fastener therein to fasten the
top elements in the closed relationship illustrated.
Though the closure of tote boxes is most commonly accomplished by two
pivotally mounted top elements that are mounted on opposed side edges to
pivot toward and away from each other, as shown in FIG. 1, other
configurations of box closures are known and used. An older but still used
form of closure (not shown) provides a single planar top element pivoted
at one edge and extending over the entire upper orifice 18 of the box
structure. Another still older type of tote box cover (not shown) provides
a flat planar cover element having a spacedly downwardly depending skirt
about its periphery so that it may fit over the outer portion of top rim
16 of a tote box and be there maintained by its depending skirt and action
of gravity. Either of the latter two configurations of top closure
elements may provide holes about their peripheral area to cooperate with
similar holes vertically therebelow defined in top rim 16 of the tote box
so that fasteners may be carried in those holes to fasten the closure
element to the box. Various other configurational variations of these
closure structures are known, but all generally allow the fastening of one
or more top closure elements either to the box they close or if the
closure elements overlap, to another closure element. All of these
configurational variations that allow fastening of closure elements by an
elongate type fastener are within the ambit and scope of our invention.
Our fastener provides head 11 having flat planar body 22 of some areal
extent. In the head body illustrated in FIG. 2, the periphery 23 assumes a
substantially circular shape. The lower or inner surface 24 of the head
body 22 in this instance is planar to fit in surface adjacency with a
planar closure element of a tote box in which the fastener is used. A
manipulation tab having elongate body 25 and outer cylindrical enlargement
26, to aid grasping and prevent the fingers of a user from slipping
outwardly therefrom, extends from structural joinder with periphery 23 of
the top spacedly outwardly therefrom. The manipulation tab may have
surfaces configured to aid frictional engagement with the fingers of a
user, such as by slots or indentations defined in the surfaces,
protuberances extending therefrom or the like (not shown). The
configuration of the manipulation tab is not critical to our invention,
though the tab itself in its essence is as it provides means to aid the
separation of the head from the body of the fastener without use of
external tools.
The peripheral shape and size of head body 22 is not essential to our
invention as long as it has a sufficient areal extent to interconnect the
fastener body and is sufficiently larger than a fastening hole 21 in which
it is used to prevent the head from passing through the fastening hole. A
second species of head body 27 that has an elongate, rectilinear periphery
28 is illustrated in FIG. 5. Here preferably, though not necessarily, tab
body 25 is interconnected to a shorter end portion 28a of the periphery to
provide more leverage for severing the head than would be provided were
the tab body interconnected to a longer side edge.
The head body may be of various other configurations with a peripheral
shape of a square, a semi-circle or other geometrical form. The particular
peripheral shape illustrated in FIG. 5 is often convenient for use with
tote boxes that do not have a planar flat surface extending any
substantial distance about a fastening hole so that the head of our
fastener may fit adjacent any protruding body structure. Some tote boxes
have rims projecting upwardly from the surface of their closure elements
or other protuberances and often an elongate fastener head will fit
inwardly adjacent such structures, whereas a more compact geometric
configuration such as a circle or square may not allow such fit. The upper
and lower surfaces of the head body also need not necessarily be planar,
if some other configuration be required or desired to provide a better or
more conformal fit. The configuration of the head surfaces and its
periphery are not essential to our invention, and such other shapes are
therefore within its spirit, ambit and scope so long as they meet the size
requirements specified for the head.
Fastener body 12 is an elongate structure formed by a plurality of spaced
peripheral web elements 29 extending in parallel relationship
perpendicularly to head body 22. Each web element is interconnected in its
end portion, distal from head body 22, by generally rectilinear bottom 30
which is somewhat peripherally smaller than a hole in which the fastener
is to be carried to allow and aid placement. The web elements 29 are all
configured and arrayed so that each is spacedly adjacent any other and
none are diametrically opposed to any other web, as seen especially in the
bottom view of FIG. 4, to allow axially inward deformation of the web
elements for establishment of the fastener body in a hole. The radially
outer surfaces of the webs define a circumference incrementally smaller
than a hole in which the body is to be carried to allow an unstressed
containment of the fastener body in that hole.
The set of two generally opposed web elements 29a and the set of opposed
web elements 29b are mirror images of each other, but the two web element
sets are not identical to each other. The web elements 29a extend directly
into structural interconnection with bottom 30, while the web elements 29b
have a lower inwardly extending curvilinear portion 31 that structurally
communicates with the vertical side of bottom 30. Each web element 29 of
both sets in its lower portion defines a fastening prong 32 having a
perpendicular inner surface 33 extending parallel to head body 22 and an
inwardly angled outer surface 34 extending from the areally outer edge of
upper surface 33 to bottom 30. Each fastening prong is somewhat thicker
and larger in cross-sectional size than the web portion thereabove
extending toward the head body 22 to provide greater resilience in the
middle portion of the web elements to allow appropriate deformation for
insertion of the fastener into a hole.
The fastening prongs on each web element need not be, and in the instance
illustrated are not, of identical configuration. The configuration may be
varied by known engineering principles to regulate the holding ability or
force necessary to place or remove the fastener from a hole. In the
instance illustrated, the fastening prongs 32a carried by web elements 29a
extend radially outwardly further than the similar fastening prongs 32b
carried by web elements 29b to provide a fastener that requires a somewhat
greater force for insertion or removal than would a fastener wherein all
of the prongs were of the type of the prongs 32b. The different sized
prongs in the instance illustrated, it is to be noted, are arrayed with
the larger prongs aligned parallel to tab body 25 to better sustain force
parallel to the tab body which is created when the head body 22 is
severed.
The interconnection of the fastener body with the head is shown
particularly in the cross-sectional view of FIG. 3. Fastening links 35
structurally communicate from the lower surface of head body 22 to the
upper portion of each of the web elements 29 that form the fastening body.
In the instance illustrated, these fastener links are of triangular shape
with leg 35a parallel to the radially inner surface of the web it
interconnects and leg 35b parallel to the adjacent surface of the head
body 22. The angled side 35c of the fastener link communicates with the
web spacedly distant from the side 35a to form a slightly truncated
triangular configuration, with the truncated surface communicating with
the web at its smallest cross-sectional area. The fastener links, in the
instance illustrated, are also thinner than the associated web to provide
a connecting area that is of appropriate cross-sectional size to require a
predetermined force to sever the fastener link from the adjoined webs. The
particular configuration and relative sizing of the fastener links as
illustrated are not critical to our invention. The only critical element
is the area of the cross-sectional portion that interconnects the
connector with the webs which determines the force necessary to sever the
head from the webs. Other shapes and configurations of fastener links are
therefore within the ambit and scope of our invention so long as they
require the appropriate predetermined force for severance.
Having thusly described the structure of our fastener, its use may be
understood.
A plurality of fasteners are formed according to the foregoing
specification for use with a tote box such as shown in FIG. 1 or one of
the other tote boxes having closure elements fastenable by an elongate
fastener depending through paired cooperating holes defined in two
overlapping closure elements or in one closure element and the box. A
circumference through the radial outer surface of the webs 29 of the
fastener body is defined to be incrementally less than the diameter of a
hole that is to carry the fastener. The fastening prongs are sized so that
the distance between the radially outermost portions of at least one
generally opposed pair, and preferably both generally opposed pairs of
fastening prongs, is greater than the diameter of the hole in which the
fastener is to be inserted. The distance between the adjacent surfaces of
the fastener head and the prongs is determined to be incrementally greater
than the axial length of the holes that are to carry the fastener.
For insertion, a fastener is placed in the outermost portion of a
cooperating pair of fastening holes 21 with the smaller bottom portion in
the orifice of the hole in which the fastener is to be inserted. The
fastener in this condition is manually pressed inwardly toward the hole by
exerting somewhat axially aligned pressure on its head 11. With the
commencement of pressure application, the fastener will start to be
somewhat deformed in the hole orifice by contact of the orifice with
angulated sides 34 of the fastening prongs. As manual pressure is
increased, the force exerted on the angulated sides of the fastening
prongs will have an axially inwardly directed component and as the
pressure increases and the prongs move into the hole, the inward component
will become sufficient to cause inwardly directed deformation of the
fastening prongs. The axially inwardly directed force is continued until
the horizontal component becomes sufficient to deform the webs to allow
the prongs to move radially inwardly a distance sufficient so that they
pass through and exit from the the hole, distal from the insertion
orifice. After the fastening prongs have passed completely through the
fastening hole, they are not peripherally restrained, and, by reason of
their resilient deformability and their retentent memory, the prongs and
associated webs will return to their normal non-deformed configuration,
with the upper surface 33 of the fastening prongs on one side of the
fastening hole and the head on the other side to maintain the fastener in
the hole carrying it.
After the fastener is once installed in a closed tote box, it cannot be
removed without physical destruction of some sort as the end structure of
the fastener distal from its head is inaccessible and larger than the hole
carrying the webs.
It is to be noted that the structural configuration of our fastener is
adapted to aid its insertion in fastening holes. The deformation of the
fastening prongs is aided by a relatively small cross-sectional area of
material between the prong and its associated web communicating with the
bottom structure to allow more ready flexure of the material at this
point. The web structure between the prongs and fastener head is also of
smaller cross-sectional area than the combined web and prong structure
distal therefrom, again to allow flexure of the web elements to aid the
radially inward motion of the prongs during the insertion process.
The physical characteristics of the material from which the fastener is
formed and the relative dimensions and configuration of its elements,
however, must be coordinated to provide a fastener that can be inserted in
tote box fastening holes with reasonable manual pressure normally exerted
by the thumb or fingers of a user. The material also must have sufficient
elasticity or retentent memory to return substantially to its prior
configuration within a short time after deformation. The determination of
appropriate materials, configurations and dimensions are all within the
ability of a reasonably skilled worker in the plastic arts. The
relationships between fastener elements shown in the drawings are
preferred for a fastener formed of ordinary commercially available
polyvinyl or polycarbonate plastics. It is to be noted that the distance
between upper surfaces 33 of the prongs and the adjacent surface of head
11 must be slightly greater than the thickness of the material defining
holes through which the fastener is to be inserted to accommodate the
sloping edge 35c of fastening links 35, but preferably this distance
should not be appreciably greater than required.
To remove the fastener, when it be desired to open a tote box, the head 11
is severed from body 12 by manual manipulation. To accomplish this, tab
body 25 is grasped, generally between a user's finger and thumb. The tab
body 25 is moved upwardly away from the fastener hole and toward head 11.
During this procedure, a user's fingers are aided in their grip on the tab
body 25 by the cylindrical enlargement 26 at in the end portion. When
sufficient force is applied to the tab body, the fastener link 35 nearest
the tab body will be severed from the interconnected web of the fastener
body at the interconnection between the fastener link and the associated
web. Similar force is continued by moving the tab body toward unsevered
interconnections between the head and body until all interconnections have
been severed and the head completely removed from the body. At this point
the closure elements of the box are no longer fastened and may be opened.
It is to be noted that to aid this severance, the cross-sectional area of
material interconnecting a fastener link 35 with an associated web is less
than the area of any cross-sections of either element on either side of
the interconnection, so that the interconnection will be the weakest point
between the head and body. The severance is also aided by the angulated
notch 39 formed between the interconnected elements. The acute inner
portion of this notch concentrates strain and aids severance at that
point.
It is to be noted that the amount of force required to sever the
interconnection between fastener links 35 and of webs 29 is determined
largely by the smallest cross-sectional area of material therebetween and
the nature and tensile strength of that material. The force required to
sever the head from the body may therefore be selectively determined by
determining the nature of the material from which the fastener is formed
and varying the size of the smallest cross-sectional area between the head
and body. The knowledge and ability to make such determinations are within
the faculty of an ordinarily skilled person in the plastic arts.
The foregoing description of our invention is necessarily of a detailed
nature so that a specific embodiment of it might be set forth as required,
but it is to be understood that various modifications of detail,
rearrangement and multiplication of parts might be resorted to without
departing from its spirit, essence or scope.
Having thusly described our invention, what we desire to protect by Letters
Patent, and
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