Band

The present disclosure relates to a band that is formed by an elastic material and can be used to tie, for example, cables.

What is generally called a tie band is known as a band that is used to tie, for example, cables. The tie band is structured by creating serrations on one side of a strap formed by nylon or other flexible material, and used to create a loop with one end of the strap passed through a head disposed on the other end of the strap, bundle the cables, and secure the cables with teeth inside the head engaged with the serrations.

However, when the above-described tie band is secured once, it needs to be cut in order to release this secured state. Further, the above-described tie band is capable of creating only one loop. Therefore, when two or more bundles are to be tied, it is necessary to tie each bundle with the above-described tie band and tie a plurality of tied bundles with another tie band. This results in inconvenience.

The present disclosure has been made in view of the above circumstances. It is desirable to provide a band that is capable of adjusting the size of a loop and creating two or more loops, thereby providing improved convenience.

In order to solve the problems of a past example described above, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a band that is formed by an elastic material and including a plug body and a plurality of receptacle bodies, with the plug body and receptacle bodies coupled and aligned via a coupling body.

The present disclosure makes it possible to provide a band that is capable of adjusting the size of a loop and creating two or more loops, thereby providing improved convenience.

An embodiment of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. A bandaccording to the embodiment of the present disclosure is formed by nylon, plastic, or other flexible material, and as illustrated in, includes a plug bodyand a plurality of receptacle bodiesand. . . , which are coupled and aligned with each other via a coupling body. In the following description, the size of the band or the like, the ratio between the sizes of individual sections, and the like are merely examples. The sizes of the individual sections and the ratio between the sizes of the individual sections can freely be set without departing from the spirit of the present disclosure.

In the example of, a plug body (first plug body)is disposed on one endand one end of a first receptacle bodyis coupled to the plug bodyvia a first coupling bodyFurther, one end of a second plug bodyis coupled to the other end of the first receptacle bodyvia a second coupling bodyFurthermore, a second receptacle bodyis coupled to the other end of the second plug bodyvia a third coupling bodyIn an example of the present embodiment, the plug bodiesand the receptacle bodiesare alternately coupled and aligned via the coupling bodiesas described above.

The receptacle bodieseach have an opening(corresponding to a hollow section) that is surrounded by an opening periphery. The plug bodieseach have a portion (latching portion)that is wider in diameter than the openingin a free state (e.g., a state in which the plug bodyis not folded by the fingers of a user). The shape of the plug bodiesin this free state is hereinafter referred to as a first shape. Moreover, the plug bodiesmay each be formed relatively thin such that they can easily be folded by the fingers of the user.

When a plug bodyis pinched by the fingers of the user, the latching portioncan be folded and elastically transformed into a second shape in which the outer diameter of the latching portionis smaller than the maximum diameter of the openingin a receptacle body. The user can elastically transform the plug bodyinto the second shape and then pass the plug bodythrough the openingin the receptacle body. When the user passes the plug bodythrough the openingand then releases the user's fingers from the plug body, the plug bodyreturns to the first shape by elastic transformation. As a result, the latching portionbecomes larger than the diameter of the opening, and engages with the opening peripheryof the receptacle bodyto form a loop.

Further, in one example of the present embodiment, the receptacle bodyalso has the first shape having a portion wider in diameter than the openingin the other receptacle bodiesin a natural state, and for example, the user may pinch the receptacle bodywith the fingers to cause the receptacle bodyto be elastically transformed into the second shape that allows the receptacle bodyto pass through the openingin another receptacle body. In this case as well, the user may pinch one of the receptacle bodies, for example, with the user's fingers, to transform it into the second shape, pass it through the openingin the other receptacle body, and then release the fingers to return it to the first shape having an outer diameter larger than the diameter of the openingin the other receptacle body, thereby allowing the receptacle bodyreturned to the first shape to engage with the opening peripheryof the other receptacle bodiesin order to form a ring.

In the example of, the first and second plug bodiesandare different in shape, namely, shaped like a triangle and the letter X, respectively. Further, it is assumed that the first and second receptacle bodiesandare also different in shape, namely, shaped like a circle and a rectangle, respectively, and are each internally have the opening(i.e., a hollow circle or a hollow rectangle). However, the present embodiment is not limited to such shapes. The first and second plug bodiesandmay have the same shape, and the first and second receptacle bodiesandmay also have the same shape.

When the bandaccording to the present embodiment is used, a relatively small loop Lcan be formed by passing the first plug bodythrough the openingin the first receptacle bodyas schematically illustrated in. Such a loop Lis suitable for bundling a relatively small number of cables and closing the opening in an opened bag. In, the topology of a loop formed by the bandis made easily visible by schematically depicting a coupling bodythrough the use of a thin line.

Further, as schematically illustrated in, the bandis capable of forming a relatively large loop Lby passing the first plug bodythrough the openingin the second receptacle bodySuch a loop Lis suitable for bundling a relatively large number of cables.

Furthermore, as schematically illustrated in, the bandis capable of additionally passing the first plug bodywhich is placed in a state depicted in, through the first receptacle bodyIn the resulting state, two loops Land Lare created. In this manner, it is possible to group cables into two different types and bundle each group.

Moreover, a loop Lhaving a size midway between the loop Land the loop Lcan also be formed () by passing the first receptacle bodyof the band, which is placed in a state depicted in, through the second receptacle bodyAdditionally, when the second plug bodyin the resulting state is passed through the second receptacle bodya loop Lhaving substantially the same size as the loop Lcan be obtained (). However, to untie this loop L, it is necessary to remove the second plug bodythe first receptacle body, and the first plug bodyin this order from the second receptacle bodyIt signifies that cables can be bundled more tightly.

Further, when the first plug bodyis passed through the first receptacle bodyin the state depicted in, two loops Land Lare formed at a distance corresponding to at least the size of the second coupling bodyas schematically illustrated in. In this example, two types of cable bundles carrying signals tending to interfere with each other can be grouped together at a distance from each other.

Two or more bandsmay be used. When a first plug body-of a second band-is passed through a second receptacle body-of a first band-as illustrated, for example, in, a longer bandcan be formed. When such a bandobtained by combining two or more bandsis used, a wider variety of loops can be created and used for various applications, such as bundling cables and tying up opened bags.

As described above, the band according to the present embodiment includes a plurality of receptacle bodies and can be latched to the receptacle bodies via a plug body or via another receptacle body. Therefore, the band provided by the present embodiment can freely be transformed between various topological forms illustrated into implement each form and makes it possible to adjust the size of a loop and create two or more loops, thereby providing improved convenience.

In a case where relatively thin sheet-like objects are to be bound, a clipillustrated inmay be used. The clipis formed by bending a single metal rod, and has an outer tongue sectionand an inner tongue section. The outer tongue sectionand the inner tongue sectionhave relatively long extensionsand, respectively, and are coupled together at their respective base portionsand. A feature in this example is that a part of the outer tongue sectionis processed to form wing-like loopsand, and that the shape of the base portionof the inner tongue sectionis modified to form a redundant loop.

Even when the above configuration is adopted, the sheet-like objects can be sandwiched and secured between the extensionsandof the outer and inner tongue sectionsand. Further, the adopted configuration causes the wing-like loopsandto prevent sheets sandwiched between the outer and inner tongue sectionsandfrom being folded on the outer and inner peripheral sides of the outer tongue section. Furthermore, the redundant loopof the inner tongue sectionprovides a handle for removing the clip, and thus makes it easy to remove the clip. Moreover, a shape resembling, for example, a corporate logo, a product logo, or text can be created by modifying the shape of the wing-like loopsandand the redundant loop().

It should be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications, combinations, sub-combinations and alterations may occur depending on design requirements and other factors insofar as they are within the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof.