Touch Fasteners
Touch fasteners consist of (A)"hooks" referred to as the "male"component and (B) loops referred to as the "female" component. These components are on separate surfaces so that when pressed together, the hooks engage the loops preventing separation.. The actual amount of resistance depends on a variety of design factors, such as type of loop material, type of hook material, number of hooks (e.g., per unit area) and number of loops available for catching by hooks. One popular type of mechanical fastener is sold under the trade name Velcro.RTM.
Touch, also hook and loop fasteners find use in a variety of applications, including clothing, sports equipment, industrial equipment, consumer goods, and virtually any item that benefits from repeated opening and closing. One example of clothing, for example, is shoes, where mechanical fasteners often replace shoelaces as a means for secure closure. Mechanical fasteners are also used on disposable articles, such as packaging, medical gowns and disposable diapers as a means for providing for repeated opening and closing."
"Woven and knit fasteners are reliable but expensive. Nonwovens such as molded surfaces are less expensive but less reliable with less opening resistance."
(Horn and Simmons, US Patent 7,805,818, 10/5/2010)
Touch Fasteners“Touch fastener elements are molded in arrays for loop engagement. Many such fastener elements are very small, such as less than 0.5 millimeter in height, and are molded integrally with a flexible, sheet-form base. Some touch fastener elements are hook-shaped, and some are mushroom-shaped. Male touch fastener elements are shaped for releasable engagement with a field of loops or with another field of male touch fastener elements”
(Tchauer et al, US Patent 7,807,007, 10/5/2010)
Recent US Patents
10/19/2010
7,815,408
Fastener assembly retention and alignment element
Sessa of Nylok, Michigan has developed a fastener assembly including a retention and alignment element used in combination with a first component having a cylindrical wall defining a bore and a second component having an elongated shaft for insertion into the bore of the first component. (RDC 1/18/2011)
10/12/2010
7,811,629
Method of applying a patch to a fastener
Rowley of Long-Lok Fasteners, Ohio coats screws with self-locking powders using a an automated powder application booth for applying and melting a powder onto the threads. (RDC 1/10/2011)
7,811,273
Absorbent article with improved surface fastening system
Kline and Magee have developed a surface fastener consisting of two elements which connect on touching. (RDC 1/7/2011)
10/5/2010
7,807,244
Bendable touch fastener products
Line of Velcro, Netherland Antilles has developed a touch fastener system for foams. (RDC 12/21/2010)
7,807,007
Molding touch fastener elements
Touch fastener surfaces are formed by pressing sheets to surfaces with appropriate fastener structures. (RDC 12/19/2010)
7,807,081
Method for producing a supporting web, and supporting web
Tuma of Gottlieb Binder, Germany developedmold surfaces with small cavites for forming mushroom shapped hooks during calendaring, These will act as hooks when in contact with a fabric. (RDC 12/20/2010)
7,806,677
Molding Apparatus and Related Systems and Methods
Fastener products, such as hook and loop releasable fasteners are manufactured by a calendar roll with properly distributed fastener-shaped mold cavities. This roll can be formed by an axially compressed stack of ring-mold plates. In operation, molten polymer from an extruder is introduced into a pressure nip to force the molten polymer under high pressure into the fastener cavities , hooks or stems of the calendar roll. At the same time, the roll can form a sheet from which the fastener elements extend. Clarner and Gallant of Velcro have developed a roll assembly which includes an inner member with multiple molding tools extending to the molding surface. Each molding tool includes at least one molding plate that defines a molding cavity. (RDC 1/4/2010)
7,805,818
Nonwoven loop member for a mechanical fastener
Horn and Simmons of Procter and Gamble developed webs for diapers based on layers of nonintersecting and intersecting contoured bond lines. (RDC 12/18/2010)