The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 07, 1995
Filed:
Oct. 10, 1991
Carlo F Zezza, Jr, Denver, CO (US);
Michael M Walter, Tonbridge, GB;
Richard Miles, London, GB;
Ian Ferris, Wokingham, GB;
Samsonite Corporation, Denver, CO (US);
Abstract
Personal leather goods (PLG's) such as wallets, billfolds, pocket calendars have a portion which is required to bend repeatedly. This bending causes cracking and extreme wear which adversely affects the looks of the item and reduces its useful life. Disclosed is a mechanical hinge which attaches to leather-like panels of such PLG's. The hinge includes a set of interleaving knuckles of relatively soft material which form an axial bore along the length of the hinge, the bore receiving a thin pintle made of a relatively stiff but resilient material. The pintle is shorter than the axial length of the bore and is held into the bore by end caps, either separately applied or integrally formed with the hinge leaf. The leaves of the hinge have an overall curving shape having a concave side and convex side to permit the panels to which the hinges attached to remain parallel when materials are received between them. Alternative constructions are shown, including a third panel comprising a paper binder-like spine or a body made of a series of independently attached knuckles and tubular body portions which in turn forms a second, expandable hinge-like body.