US3020657A - Bracelet - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 13, J CLARK BRACELET Filed Sept. 18. 1958 INVENTOR JAMES L. CLARK BY &

ATTORNEYS United States atetQ 3,020,657 BRACELET James L. Clark, 301 N. Water St., Milwaukee, Wis. Filed Sept. 18, 1958, Ser. No. 761,784 1 Claim. (Cl. 40-41) This invention appertains to a means for identifying persons and more particularly to an identification bracelet.

Hospitals have found it desirable to provide some means, to be worn by all persons during their stay in a hospital, for identifying patients by name. Such means must be, (1), inexpensive, so that the same can be discarded after the bracelet has been worn by a patient; (2), must be easy to apply to the person; (3), one that will not be inadvertently detached from a person, and (4), one that will resist water and moisture penetration, so that the card bearing the persons name will not deteriorate and the name become illegible. It is also highly desirable, that the identifying device, be light in weight, one that will not cause discomfort to a patient and one that will not be unsightly.

It has been proposed to provide bracelets formed from plastic for this purpose, having a pocket for an identification card. All plastic bracelets, with which I am familiar, are open to serious objections, as first, the pocket becomes easily filled with water during the bathing of a patient, rendering the written matter on the card illegible; second, such bracelets are diflicult to apply to the wrist of the patient; In aneffort to prevent accidental displacement of the bracelet from a patients arm, some bracelets have their terminals secured together by a metal clip or the like. This requires the use of a clinching device, which disturbs and often alarms a patient and the using of the tool takes time on the part of a nurse. This type of bracelet then has to be cut off of the arm of the patient when the patient is discharged. In another type, one terminal is threaded into the pocket and then secured in place. Owing to the thinness and flexibility of the plastic difficulty is encountered in this threading operation, particularly when the bracelet is on the arm of a patient and the sticking of the terminal strap through the mouth of the pocket opens up the pocket for the entrance of water and moisture.

It is, therefore, a prime object of my invention to first provide a light and attractive bracelet which will be inexpensive to fabricate, one that will take a minimum amount of material and one which will be easy to apply and take off from the arm of a patient.

Another salient object of my invention is the provision of an identification bracelet formed from three pieces of sheet plastic material; namely, terminal strap members, one of which includes an inner flat body portion to form the inner wall of the pocket and the other of which carries an inner flap for overlying the inner end and the inner face of the body portion, and a clear plastic sheet piece for overlying the outer face of the flat body portion, the clear plastic sheet being heat sealed around its entire margin to the edge of the body portion and the inner end of the second terminal strap member for uniting said terminal strap members together and to form a sealed pocket at the outer face of the bracelet, the free inner edge of the first terminal strap member constituting an entrance slit on the inner face of the bracelet to the pocket, the flap constituting a tight closure for the slit when the bracelet is applied to the wrist of a patient.

A further important object of the invention is the provision of a novel and simple means for detachably securing the bracelet to the wrist of a patient, embodying a snap fastener, the stud portion of which is carried by one end of the bracelet and the socket portion of which is carried by the same end of the bracelet on a laterally extending flexible tab, the stud being adapted to be forced through a selected opening of a row of openings formed in the'other terminal portion of the bracelet, the tab carrying the socket portion being folded over the last mentioned terminal strap and sprung over the stud, the combination of the stud passing through the opening and the socket portion receiving the stud constituting an eflicient means for preventing accidental loss of the bracelet.

A still further important object of the invention is to provide an identification bracelet having a pocket for receiving an identification card, with the pocket completely closed on the outer surface of the bracelet and having an entrance slit on the inner face of the bracelet to the pocket with a flap for extendingover and sealing the slit.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in the novel construction, arrangement and formation of parts, as will be hereinafter more specifically described and claimed, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which drawings,

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view showing my improved identification bracelet applied to the wrist of a person;

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view of the bracelet in its open form, with parts of the bracelet being shown broken FIGURE 3 is a bottom plan view of the bracelet, parts of this view being shown broken away;

FIGURE 4 is a longitudinal sectional view through the bracelet taken on the line 44 of FIGURE 2, looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary longitudinal sectional view through the center portion of the bracelet and showing the closure flap in its folded back open position and an identification card being slipped into the pocket of the bracelet;

FIGURE 6 is a transverse sectional view through the pocket of the bracelet taken on the line 66 of FIGURE 2, looking in the direction of the arrows, and

FIGURE 7 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the novel means employed for uniting the ends of the bracelet, the tab carrying the socket portion of the snap fastener being shown in its open position, the stud of the fastener, being shown, forced through a selected opening in the bracelet.

Referring to the drawings in detail, wherein similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, the letter B generally indicates the improved identification bracelet and the same includes terminal strap members 10 and 11 and a transparent window member 12. The terminal strap members 10 and 11 are formed from sheet plastic material die cut from a strip of a desired width. These strap members l0 and 11 can be formed from opaque material of any selected colors. The transparent window member 12 is formed from clear plastic sheet material.

The terminal strap member 10 includes an inner flat body portion 13 which constitutes the inner wall for a pocket 14 adapted to receive an identification card 15. The outer end of the strap member 10 has formed thereon a laterally extending flexible tab 16. This end of the strap member 10 carries a snap fastener 17. The snap fastener includes the usual stud section 18 which is clinched to the outer end of the strap member 10. The snap fastener 17 also includes the usual socket section 19 which isclinched to the tab 16. The stud section 18 and the socket section 19 are in transverse alignment.

The inner end of the terminal strap member 11 is enlarged to agree with the width of the body portion 13 and terminates in a flap 20. As best shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the flap '20 overlies the extreme inner edge of the terminal strap member and also overlies the inner face of the body portion 13. The inner edges of the terminal strap members 10 and 11 are placed in abutting relation, with the flap 20 overlying the inner edge of member 10 and over the inner face of the body 13 as just stated. A row of openings 21 is formed in the terminal strap member 11.

The clear plastic window portion 12 is of a size and shape to substantially overlie the body portion 13 and the inner widened end of the terminal strap member 11. This clear plastic window member 12 is then heat sealed around its entire margin as indicated by the reference character 22 to the fiat body portion 13 and to the outer face of the inner widened end of member 11. This firmly unites members 10 and 11 together and the clear plastic window '12 with the body portion 13 forms the pocket 14, for the identification card 15. The inner edge of the body portion 13 constitutes an entrance slit into the pocket through the inner face of the bracelet and again, the flap 20 constitutes a closure for this entrance slit.

By referring to FIGURE 5, it can be seen that the flap 20 can be easily folded back to permit the slipping of the identification card into the pocket 14 through the entrance slit.

In use of my improved identification bracelet, the name of an entering patient is typed or written on the identification card 15 and such card is then slipped into the pocket 14 as above described, and the flap is then folded back to its normal position in intimate contact with the outer face of the body portion 13. The bracelet is now fitted around the wrist of the patient and the stud 18 is forced through a selected opening 21, after which the tab 16 is folded over the strap member 11 and the socket 19 is snapped over the stud. The folding of the flap 16 over strap member 11 holds the strap members against lateral shifting movement relative to one another and firmly holds the strap members 10 and 11 in place. The combination of the stud 18 being forced through the smaller opening 21 and then held by the socket con- 4 stitutes a dual fastener so as to insure the keeping of the bracelet on the wrist of the patient.

When the patient is discharged, it is merely necessary to force the socket member 19 off of the stud 18 and then pull the strap member 11 off of the stud.

In actual practice, the identification card can be formed from a material which will change color when the air is polluted with atomic rays, and this would constitute a second safety feature.

Changes in details may be made without departing from the spirit or the scope of this invention, but what I claim as new is:

An identification bracelet comprising terminal strap members formed from plastic sheet material, one of said strap members being widened to form an enlarged flat body portion, the inner end of the other strap member being widened to correspond to the width of the body portion and having a flap overlying the inner edge of the body portion and the outer face of the body portion, and a clear plastic sheet corresponding substantially to the size of the body portion placed over the outer face of said body portion and heat sealed around its entire mar- ;ginal edge to the body portion and to the inner end of the second strap member, said body portion and clear plastic sheet constituting a pocket with the inner end of the body portion constituting an entrance slit to the pocket, the fiap constituting a closure for said slit, and means securing the outer ends of the strap members together.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,289,186 Keating Dec. 31, 1918 1,976,261 Kinkhead Oct. 9, 1934 2,156,373 Craighead May 2, 1939 2,650,444 Coyle et al. Sept. 1, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 23,678 England Oct. 16, 1912

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