Cord lock of elastomeric material

Abstract

A cord lock including a body of resiliently deformable elastomeric material containing a passage through which one or more cords extend, with the passage having walls urged by the resilience of the elastomeric material against opposite sides of a cord or cords in the passage to resist movement of the cord or cords longitudinally relative to the body, and with the body being manually compressible by a user in a manner spreading the walls of the passage apart against the resilience of the elastomeric material and thereby releasing the cord or cords for movement longitudinally relative to the body. The cords may be of a type having outer essentially smooth and essentially continuous preferably cylindrical surfaces for frictionally contacting the walls of the passage. Flexible resinous plastic tubing is the preferred material for the cords. The elastomeric body of the lock device has projections at its opposite sides to be engaged by the thumb and forefinger of a user's hand in squeezing the body of the device. The elastomeric body-may have an outer spherical surface, with the projections extending in opposite directions beyond that surface. The passage in the body through which the cords extend, as viewed in transverse section, may have a relatively narrow width dimension between the two walls which grip and hold the cord or cords, and have a greater dimension generally perpendicular to that width dimension, with the body being squeezed in the direction of that second dimension in releasing the locking action.