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(11) | EP 1 381 012 A2 |
| (12) | EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION |
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| (54) | Tag-holder with flexible cord |
| (57) The finding concerns a tag-holder with flexible cord, consisting of a bent flexible
cord (2) equipped at the two ends with lobes (3, 4) which form the clip (5) for pressure
closing on the tag (6). Such a tag-holder is characterised in that it is equipped
with a cursor (7), consisting of a body equipped with two through-holes which engage
on the two halves of the bent cord. It is also foreseen that said cursor, by sliding,
adjusts the size of the slot (8), which is used to hang the tag-holder on the product
(9) to be identified. |
[0002] As is well known in the commercial field, very often the characteristics and the properties of the individual object such as, for example, the price or the composition of its constituent material, are listed on a tag which accompanies the product itself.
[0003] Usually, the tag is applied onto the product through a flexible cord which is attached to the product.
[0004] In particular, in items of clothing the flexible cord which supports the tag is wound on a button of the clothing itself.
[0005] Such a system has the drawback that the operator must wind the cord on the button for a few turns, to be certain that it will not slip off.
[0006] There are also tag-holder products on the market in which the flexible cord which attaches the tag is bent into a U-shape to form a slot by means of a ring which clamps together the two portions of cord.
[0007] This ring, produced in plastic or 0-ring rubber type, is generally applied to the cord manually, threading the two ends of cord in the hole of the ring, forming, in such a bad, a slot, which attaches to a button of an item of clothing, or to a similar piece which can be gripped on another object: by tightening the aforementioned slot and making the ring slide along the cords, the tag-holder with flexible cord attaches to the item of clothing or to another object in general.
[0008] This system is, however, expensive to produce, given the manual operation to be carried out, which is particularly difficult in consideration of the small size of the hole in the ring.
[0009] Moreover, this product is always not very secure in practical use since, given the obviously greater size of the hole in the ring with respect to the equivalent section of the two cords, the ring can slide along the cords freeing themselves from the object to which it was clamped.
[0010] The purpose of the present finding is that of foreseeing a tag-holder with a flexible cord which is operatively simpler and less expensive to produce, as well as more secure with respect to similar known products.
[0011] This is realised by foreseeing a tag-holder formed from a flexible cord, which carries at the two ends the lobes which constitute the pressure clip which attaches onto the product identification tag, on which a cursor slides which engages on the two bent portions of cord.
[0012] Operatively, the cursor, by sliding, adjusts the opening of the slot which tightens onto the button or onto another element of the object to be identified.
[0013] The finding also foresees that the two lobes, which constitute the pressure clip which attach the tag, be configured in such a way that a possible disassembly operation of the tag from the two lobes, when they are attached together, causes the breaking of one of them, highlighting, in such a way, any attempts at tampering.
[0014] This is obtained through a substantial reduction in the cross section of a portion of the protruding pin present on the first lobe and which attaches, by pressure, in the corresponding hole made in the second lobe.
[0015] With such a constructive solution, after the attachment of the tag-holder onto the tag, a possible action tending to detach the two lobes from each other causes breakage, at the thin section of the protruding pin on the first lobe.
[0016] All this also gives the finding the characteristic of a security element: in this way it is not possible to replace or remove identification tags without destroying the tag-holder.
[0017] The finding also foresees that the flexible cord be made from cotton, silk, nylon or another non-thermoplastic material, whereas the cursor, on the other hand, is made from thermoplastic material.
[0018] Such a choice of different materials thus allows the entire tag-holder to be produced with the simple injection moulding operation of the cursor in thermoplastic material on the flexible cord in non-thermoplastic material, without the two elements sticking together during the aforementioned operation.
[0019] The finding can be understood better from the description of a possible embodiment thereof, given only as a non-limiting example, with use of the attached drawing, where:
- fig. 1 represents a perspective view of the tag-holder according to the finding.
- Fig. 2 represents the tag-holder according to fig. 1, in use.
- Fig. 3 represents a side view of fig. 2.
- Figs. 4, 5 represent the two lobes, open and locked together respectively.
[0020] As can be seen in fig. 1, the tag-holder, wholly indicated with reference numeral 1, consists of a bent flexible cord 2 equipped at the two ends with lobes 3 and 4, which form the pressure closing clip 5 of the tag 6.
[0021] The first novelty of the finding foresees the use of a cursor 7 consisting of a body equipped with two through-holes, which engage on two portions of the flexible cord 2 and, by sliding, said cursor defines the size of the slot 8, which is used to hang the tag-holder on the product 9 (see figs 2-3).
[0022] The second novelty of the finding foresees that the two lobes 3 and 4 which form the clip 5 realise a pressure attachment of the clip type through a pin 10, protruding from one of the two lobes 3, which inserts in the corresponding hole 11 made in the other lobe 4 and where a portion 12 of said pin has a substantially reduced cross section, so as to constitute a zone that breaks easily and immediately in the event of a disassembly operation of the tag 6 from the clip 5.
1. TAG-HOLDER WITH FLEXIBLE CORD, consisting of a bent flexible cord (2) equipped at
the two ends with lobes (3, 4) which form the clip (5) for pressure closing on the
tag (6), said tag-holder being characterised in that it is equipped with a cursor (7), consisting of a body equipped with two through-holes
which engage on the two halves of the bent cord, with it being foreseen that said
cursor, by sliding, adjusts the size of the slot (8), which is used to hang the tag-holder
on the product (9) to be identified.
2. TAG-HOLDER WITH FLEXIBLE CORD, according to claim 1, characterised in that the flexible cord (2) is made from cotton, silk, nylon or another non-thermoplastic
material whereas, the cursor (7), on the other hand, is made from thermoplastic material.
3. TAG-HOLDER WITH FLEXIBLE CORD, according to claims 1 and 2, characterised in that it is produced with a single injection moulding operation of the cursor, in thermoplastic
material, on the flexible cord, in non-thermoplastic material.
4. TAG-HOLDER WITH FLEXIBLE CORD, according to one or more of the previous claims, characterised in that the two lobes (3, 4) which form the clip (5) realise a pressure attachment of the
clip type, through a pin (10), protruding from one of the two lobes (3), which inserts
in the corresponding hole (11) made in the other lobe (4) and where a portion (12)
of said pin has a substantially reduced cross section, so as to constitute a zone
that breaks easily and immediately in the event of a disassembly operation of the
tag (6) from the clip (5) or even in the event of the two lobes being detached from
each other.