Jewelry Holding Device

Abstract

This invention discloses a jewelry holding device which comprises a plurality of holding projections projecting from and formed integrally with a base plate, said holding projections and base plate being made of a comparatively elastic material, thereby enabling a piece of jewelry to be securely and pivotally held in the grooves formed between said projections. Thereby, the jewelry such as a cuff link, tie holder, ring etc. can be held rotatably so as to lie down for transportation and safe-keeping and to set up at a desired angle, thus heightening the display effect of the commodity. In one of the embodiments, there is formed, between said holding projections a neck having stepped portions on both sides, whereby a firm fitting of the jewelry holding device into a setting board in a jewelry case can be easily and rapidly done by inserting it into an opening formed in said setting board.

Description

This invention relates to a jewelry holding device, and more particulary to a device for holding pieces of jewelry such as cuff links, tie holders, rings or the like which is capable of holding the jewelry so that its position can be angularly varied.

In conventional jewelry cases for keeping and displaying pieces of jewelry, there are employed hooks of cloth-covered pressed cardboard or tin plate to hold cuff links or the like, or a pair of pawls molded out of, for example, synthetic resin to receive a cuff link horizontally therebetween. A jewelry case having such conventional hooks or pawls has the defects that manufacturing the same is difficult, that the pieces of jewelry cannot be secured firmly and that it is absolutely impossible to display commodities effectively in three dimensions.

In order to eliminate such defects or disadvantages, the present invention has been made.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a jewelry holding device which can not only hold pieces of jewelry firmly to prevent their removal or slipping out but also extremely heighten the display effect of commodities by angularly varying the holding position simply and easily as desired, on fixing cuff links or the like in a case.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a jewelry holding device in which the fixing thereof to and removing same from a setting board in a case made of cloth or leather-covered cardboard or plastics can be easily and rapidly done only by way of an opening formed in said setting board, instead of employing a clip or the like on the back of the setting board.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a jewelry holding device which is simple in structure and can be manufactured in quantities by a molding process at reasonable cost.

The gist of the present jewelry therefore, is that there is provided a jewelry holding device made from comparatively elastic material such as synthetic resin, for example, polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene or the like and having a plurality of holding projections formed integrally with a base plate thereby to hold a piece of jewelry between the holding projections, said base plate being adapted to fit in a setting board of a jewery case.

The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of this invention will be made apparent by the detailed descriptions of preferred embodiments of this invention referring to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a jewelry holding device according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a front elevation view of the device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side elevation view of the device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the device shown in FIG. 1, with a cuff link held thereby;

FIGS. 5A, 5B and 5C are plan views like FIG. 1 with alternative base plates which may be substituted for the one illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the present invention having four holding projections;

FIG. 7A is a view similar to FIG. 6, with a cuff link held horizontally thereby;

FIG. 7B is a view similar to FIG. 6, with a cuff link held obliquely thereby;

FIG. 7C is a view similar to FIG. 6, with a cuff link held vertically thereby; and

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of still another embodiment of the present invention, with a cuff link held horizontally thereby.

Referring now to FIG. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, numeral 1 is a base plate, 2 is a neck having stepped portions 2'. 3 and 3' are holding projections each having a groove 5 formed therein for resiliently holding a fitting rod 7 of a cuff link. Between a pair of said holding projections 3, 3' are provided gaps 6 for receiving connecting rods 8 of a cuff link which is pivotable about the axis of a fitting rod 7. The base plate 1 is formed beneath the neck portion 2. The base plate may extend either bilaterally as shown in FIG. 1, longitudinally and bilaterally as in FIG. 5A, in three directions as in FIG. 5B or diagonally as in FIG. 5C. All the aforesaid members may be formed integrally by molding out of, for example, synthetic resin such as polyethylene.

Numeral 4 in FIG. 3 is a setting board positioned in a jewelry case made of a cloth-covered cardboard or the like, having the desired number of openings at desired positions. In the setting operation, the holding device is forcedly inserted from its top portion, into one of the openings in the setting board 4 from the back of the board so that it may securely mate at its neck portion 2, with the circumference of said opening, with there being no need for a conventional clip or the like on the back of said setting board 4 due to the elasticity of the employed material. With a view to ensuring firm mating to the setting board, the holding projections 3 and 3' become larger toward their lower portion adjacent to the neck 2.

As a jewelry holding device according to this invention has such features as described hereinabove, a fitting rod 7 of a cuff link is inserted into the grooves 5 formed in each of a pair of holding projections 3 and 3' to be firmly secured, and the connecting rods 8 of the cuff button can rotate in gaps 6 as the fitting rod 7 turns round on its own axis to be fixed at a desired angle, as shown in FIG. 4.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show another embodiment of this invention, in which most of members are similar to those of the previously described embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 5. Like members of this embodiment in FIGS. 6 and 7 are designated by like numerals as used in FIGS. 1 to 5 except that a suffix a is added to the numerals in FIGS. 6 and 7. A jewelry holding device of this embodiment comprises a base plate 1a and four holding projections 3a forming therebetween grooves 5a as depicted. A connecting rod 8a of a cuff link can be securely fitted into either of the two pairs of cross-shaped grooves 5a horizontally (see FIG. 7A) so that the cuff button may be encased in a case for transportation, and it can also be set up as shown in FIGS. 7B and 7C at a desired angle within 90.degree. from the front side for display purposes. One of the four grooves 5a between holding projections 3a may be omitted to form a T-shaped groove 5b as shown in FIG. 8, because it is not necessary from the practical point of view of holding a cuff button or the like. Thus, a cuff link with a connecting rod 8b and a fitting rod 7b can be pivotally held by such device having a simple T-shaped groove 5b as depicted in FIG. 8.

The base plate 1a may be formed integrally with the holding projections 3a and surely fitted to a setting board 4 by a suitable means such as adhesives and other adequate fastening members. Alternatively, of course, the base plate may be provided with a neck portion as similar to that of the former embodiment and secured by insertion in the same manner as previously described.

It is to be noted that different materials can be employed for making the holding projections and the base plate provided that they are elastic enough to resiliently receive and securely hold the article.

As apparent from the foregoing description this invention has such advantages that pieces of jewelry can be firmly secured due to elasticity of the employed material such as synthetic resin of polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene or the like and that a piece of jewelry can be pivotally fitted into the grooves so as to lie down for transportation and safe-keeping and to set up at a desired angle for displaying. It is noted that according to one embodiment of the invention, the jewelry holding device proper can be firmly fixed to a setting board with ease only by inserting the same into an opening in said setting board, with no need of fastening the same device with a conventional clip or by backing the board itself. It is also noted that manufacturing the same can be done in large quantities by a simple molding process at reasonable cost.

It is a further advantage of this invention that the whole jewelry holding device can be colored by preference because synthetic resin can easily be colored.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A jewelry holding device, comprising:

a base plate;

a plurality of holding projections projecting from and integral with said base plate, said holding projections and said base plate being made of an elastic material;

said projections having means defining a pair of notches which open in a direction away from the base plate, said notches defining a groove for pivotally holding a piece of jewelry, said projections having means defining a gap therebetween communicating with and extending transverse to said groove.

2. A jewelry holding device as claimed in claim 1, wherein between said holding projections and said base plate there is formed a neck having stepped portions on its bottom side formed integrally with said projections and said base plate, said neck being adapted to fit an opening in a setting board in a jewelry case.

3. A jewelry holding device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said plurality of holding projections consists of a pair of projections each having a notch therein.

4. A jewelry holding device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said plurality of holding projections consists of four projections disposed so that said groove and said gap intersect and cross each other in the form of a cross.

5. A jewelry holding device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said plurality of holding projections consists of three projections disposed so that said groove and gap intersect each other in the form of a T.

6. A jewelry holding device as claimed in claim 1, in which the open outer ends of said notches are of lesser width than the closed inner ends thereof.