U.S. patent application number 13/101513 was filed with the patent office on 2012-11-08 for ornament lock with wide opening ornament clasp.
This patent application is currently assigned to MIDAS CHAIN, INC.. Invention is credited to Lutfi OZKOK.
Application Number | 20120279026 13/101513 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 47089229 |
Filed Date | 2012-11-08 |
United States Patent
Application |
20120279026 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
OZKOK; Lutfi |
November 8, 2012 |
ORNAMENT LOCK WITH WIDE OPENING ORNAMENT CLASP
Abstract
An ornament lock with a clasp for holding pendants or other
jewelry is provided. A finger grasp is positioned on an arm of the
clasp for opening the clasp arms. A biasing member positioned
inside the ornament lock biases closed the clasp. The clasp may be
opened to a wide open position to accommodate a thicker pendant or
pendant ring and to make it easier and more convenient for the
wearer to insert the jewelry into the clasp.
Inventors: |
OZKOK; Lutfi; (Istanbul,
TR) |
Assignee: |
MIDAS CHAIN, INC.
Bergenfield
NJ
|
Family ID: |
47089229 |
Appl. No.: |
13/101513 |
Filed: |
May 5, 2011 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
24/457 |
Current CPC
Class: |
Y10T 24/44017 20150115;
A44C 5/2038 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
24/457 |
International
Class: |
A44B 99/00 20100101
A44B099/00 |
Claims
1. An ornament lock, comprising: first and second, substantially
symmetrical and juxtaposed ornament arms, each of said ornament
arms having a respective distal end; a lock body having a first
portion and a second portion coupled to each other so as to rotate
around a common rotation axis, said first ornament arm being
integral with said first portion of said lock body and said second
ornament arm being integral with said second portion of said lock
body; and wherein said first and second arms have a normal closed
position defining a closed space for receipt therein of an
ornament, said closed space being defined by said first and second
ornament arms and said lock body, and an open position wherein said
distal ends of said ornament arms are spaced apart in juxtaposition
to one another.
2. The ornament lock of claim 1, wherein each of said ornament arms
is arcuately shaped, substantially in the form of an arc of a
circle.
3. The ornament lock of claim 1, wherein said lock body comprises
internally thereof a spring that biases the ornament arms such that
their distal ends are adjacent each other.
4. The ornament lock of claim 1, wherein said first and second
portions of said lock body are coupled to each other via a stem
integral with one of said portions and a tubular opening located on
the other of said portions, said tubular opening being sized to
receive therein said stem.
5. The ornament lock of claim 1, further comprising a finger grasp
protruding from one of the ornament arms.
6. The ornament lock of claim 1, wherein each of said first and
second portions of said lock body is disc shaped.
7. The ornament lock of claim 1, further comprising loop attached
to one of said portions of said lock body for enabling the
threading therethrough of a jewelry chain.
8. The ornament lock of claim 3, wherein said spring is a spiral
spring.
9. The ornament lock of claim 1, wherein each of said portions has
an exterior surface and said respective exterior surface contains a
surface ornamentation thereon.
10. The ornament lock of claim 1, wherein each of the arms has an
exterior surface and comprises ornamental shapes formed on said
exterior surface.
11. The ornament lock of claim 3, wherein the spring is formed as a
spiral spring made of spring wire with two distal ends.
12. The ornament lock of claim 11, wherein the distal ends are
juxtaposed to one another, and extend outside a winding of the
spring.
13. The ornament lock of claim 11, wherein the first and second
distal ends are respectively secured to the first portion and the
second portion of the lock body.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates to the field of jewelry and
more particularly to ornament holders and ornament locks, including
ornament locks attached to necklaces or the like.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Ornament locks have been used for centuries to secure
ornaments, such as pendants or other decorative objects to a
necklace, bracelet or other type of chain or other device used for
affixing jewelry, ornaments or other decorations to the human
body.
[0003] As illustrated in FIGS. 1A and 1B, for example, an ornament
lock 10 attached to a necklace 11 or to other types of chains by
means of chain fastener 12 can be opened by sliding grasp 14 in the
direction of the arrow shown in FIG. 1A so that arm 16 of the clasp
portion 17 moves in to create an opening 18 through which an
ornament or decoration (not shown) can be inserted into clasp
portion 17. FIG. 1A illustrates a clasp portion 17 in a closed
position with the arms of clasp portion 17 joining or close to
joining at the joining region 13. FIG. 1B illustrates clasp portion
17 in the open position with arm 16 pulled such that ornaments or
chains or rings fastened to ornaments can be inserted into or
removed from the clasp portion 17.
[0004] One problem with such a prior art ornament lock is that
opening 18 created by the movement inward of arm 16 accommodates
only ornaments or ornamental rings of a certain maximum thickness.
Further, the limited access provided by opening 18 may make it
difficult to insert the ornament ring into the clasping portion 17,
particularly for older users or for people with vision problems,
hand-eye coordination challenges or the like.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] An ornament lock that is secured to a necklace, chain,
bracelet or the like is disclosed. The ornament lock includes a
clasp for securing decorations, such as pendants, pins, chains,
rings or other decorative items or jewelry.
[0006] The arms of the clasp are opened when a force is applied to
a finger grasp positioned on one of the clasp arms. A biasing
member, such as a spring, is positioned inside the body of the
ornament lock to snap back the clasp to the closed position when
the finger grasp is released. The clasp can be made of two clasp
arms and can be positioned on a disc-shaped lock body on the side
of the lock body away from a ring used to fasten the necklace that
is worn by the wearer.
[0007] In accordance with preferred embodiments of the invention,
the ornament arms are arguably arcuately shaped, defining a closed
space for an ornament therebetween. An internal spiral spring
biased the ornament arms such that their distal ends are adjacent
to each other, and the ornament arms are integral with the lock
body which has a first portion and second portion, preferably
disc-shaped, which are held together via a stem and tubular opening
and a complementary tubular opening. A loop attached or integral
with one of the half portions of the lock body enables the
threading therethrough of a jewelry chain. Both the lock body and
the arms have exterior surfaces which may be decorated with surface
ornamental shapes or representations.
[0008] Other features and advantages of the present invention will
become apparent from the following description of the invention
which refers to the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0009] FIG. 1A is a schematic front view illustration of an
ornament lock and a necklace according to the related art.
[0010] FIG. 1B is a schematic front view illustration of the
related art ornament lock in the clasp open position.
[0011] FIG. 2A is a front schematic view of an ornament lock
according to an example of the present invention.
[0012] FIG. 2B is a schematic front view illustration of the
ornament lock according to an example of the present invention with
clasp in an open position.
[0013] FIG. 2C is a schematic front view illustration of a biasing
member that can be positioned inside the ornament lock illustrated
in FIGS. 2A and 2B.
[0014] FIG. 3A is a perspective view of an inside of a first
portion of an ornament lock according to an example of the present
invention.
[0015] FIG. 3B is a perspective view of an inside of a
corresponding portion of the ornament lock shown in FIG. 3A.
[0016] FIGS. 4A and 4B show the aforementioned first portion and
corresponding portion of the ornament lock shown, respectively, in
FIGS. 3A and 3B.
[0017] FIG. 5 is an exploded view, showing the portions in FIGS. 4A
and 4B and a spiral spring which biases them in closed
position.
[0018] FIG. 6 is an exploded view showing the outwardly facing
decorated surfaces of the mentioned first portion and corresponding
portion.
[0019] FIGS. 7A, 7B and 7C show, respectively, the assembled
ornament lock in the closed, partially open and fully open
positions.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION
[0020] Ornament lock 20 will herein be described with reference to
FIGS. 2A-2C, 3A and 3B. As illustrated in FIG. 2B, clasp arms 26a
and 26b are moved apart so that joining region 27 between clasp
arms 26a and 26b is in the open position and decorations or
ornaments can be inserted into the clasp 25. This opening of the
clasp 25 is accomplished by pressing on finger grasp 29 positioned
on clasp arm 26a. Biasing member 33, which may be a spring such as
a spiral spring, inside the lock body 22 of the ornament lock 20
will then bias close the clasp 25 when the finger grasp 29 is
released. A necklace, chain, bracelet, broach or other means for
securing the ornament lock 22 to the wearer may be attached to
ornament lock 20 by chain fastener 21 also attached to lock body
22. The ornament inserted into the clasp may be a ring, pin, lock
or chain that secures a pendant, locket, broach or other decoration
or jewelry.
[0021] FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate the inside portion of lock body
22 of ornament lock 20. While lock body 22 is illustrated as a
disc, other shapes, such as an oval shaped lock body, a square or
rectangular or diamond-shaped lock body and other such shapes and
combinations thereof are also contemplated. FIG. 3A illustrates a
first integrally formed portion 38 of lock body 22. First portion
38 includes stem 31, which is designed to mate with aperture 32
located in receiving member 40 positioned on the second integrally
formed portion 39 of lock body 22 illustrated in FIG. 3B. It will
be understood that other ways of attaching the first portion 38
shown in FIG. 3A and the second portion 39 shown in FIG. 3B of lock
body 22 are also contemplated.
[0022] An attaching surface 35 may be provided near the inside of
peripheral wall of first portion 28 of lock body 22 and may be
positioned on a portion of the peripheral wall adjacent clasp arm
26b. Alternatively, attaching surface 35 may be provided on the
second portion 29 In this way, biasing member 33, which may be a
spring, such as a leaf spring, may be attached at either end,
respectively, to first attaching surface 35 and to attaching point
37 located on receiving member 40 of second portion 39. Biasing
member 33 may be a compression spring or an extension spring. FIG.
2C illustrates a spiral leaf spring with spirals that may be
positioned around aperture 32 of second portion 39 of lock body 22
illustrated in FIG. 3B. In the alternative, biasing member 33 may
be attached to second attaching surface 36 positioned on an inside
of a peripheral wall of the second portion 39 of lock body 22.
[0023] As finger grasp 29 on clasp arm 26a is pressed, the portion
of lock body 22 illustrated in FIG. 3B will pivot as aperture 32 of
the second portion 39 rotates about tongue 31 of first portion 38.
Then, when finger grasp 29 is released, biasing member 33 urges
second portion 39 of lock body 22 to rotate back about tongue 31 so
that clasp arm 26a snaps back to the closed position illustrated in
FIG. 2A.
[0024] With reference to FIGS. 4A and 4B, the first integrally
formed portion 38, similarly as before, has a stem 31 which is
designed to be received in the aperture 32 of the receiving member
40 of the second integrally formed portion 39.
[0025] With further reference to FIG. 5, the portions 38 and 39 are
biased into the closed position by the spirally wound wire spring
63, which consists of two or more windings of its spring wire,
having first and second, juxtaposed distal ends 71 and 73, and
extending away from the windings. One of the distal wire ends is
affixed in a receiving aperture 75 of the first ornamental portion
38 and the other free distal end is received in a similar aperture
77 in the second ornamental portion 39. The central opening 65 in
the spring 63 is large enough to fit around the outer diameter of
the receiving member 40 of the second portion 39.
[0026] Normally, the spring 63 biases the two portions 38, 39 to
the closed position shown in FIG. 7A. Pulling down on the finger
grasp 29 can create a partial opening of the lock, as shown in FIG.
7B and the further pulling to the maximum and position produced the
fully opened position, as shown in FIG. 7C. The fully opened
position 7C provides much greater access, by comparison to the
prior art device shown, for example, in FIG. 1B.
[0027] According to an embodiment of the present invention, clasp
arms 26a and 26b may be moved apart to an open position in which
joining region 27 between clasp arm 26a and 26b provide no
constraint or only minimal constraint on the size of the object
that will be placed inside of clasp 25. That is, according to this
embodiment, the distance between the ends of clasp arm 26a and 26b
in the open position is almost as large or as large as the inside
diameter of the clasp.
[0028] It would have been understood that only one of the clasp
arms 26a and 26b needs to move in relation to the lock body 22.
That is, clasp arm 26a can move in response to pressure exerted on
finger grasp 29 positioned on clasp arm 26a while clasp arm 26b can
remain entirely stationary. Also it would be understood that while
FIG. 2A shows clasp 25 in the almost closed position, clasp arm 26a
and 26b preferably actually physically make contact with one
another to secure the ornaments or ornament rings positioned inside
clasp 25.
[0029] Although the present invention has been described in
relation to particular embodiments thereof, many other variations
and modifications and other uses will become apparent to those
skilled in the art. It is preferred, therefore, that the present
invention be limited not by the specific disclosure herein, but
only by the appended claims.
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