U.S. patent number 3,798,729 [Application Number 05/206,746] was granted by the patent office on 1974-03-26 for process for the manufacture of a highly resilient and pliant expandable band.
Invention is credited to Shoichi Tanaka.
United States Patent |
3,798,729 |
Tanaka |
March 26, 1974 |
PROCESS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF A HIGHLY RESILIENT AND PLIANT
EXPANDABLE BAND
Abstract
A process for the manufacture of a highly resilient and pliant
expandable band, characterized in that an annealed resilient
metallic wire is wound repeatedly and continuously into a
band-shaped or endless structure composed of a series of closely
adjacent coils having the same number of turns, for each coil, so
that every other coil is wound from top to bottom or vice versa and
the interposed coil between such every other coil is wound from
bottom to top or vice versa; the structure thus obtained is then
subjected to a compressive force from its periphery; wedge pins are
then inserted into any desirable coils and trimmed in their shape;
and the overall structure is then subjected to quenching treatment
from a high temperature.
Inventors: |
Tanaka; Shoichi (Tokyo,
JA) |
Family
ID: |
14753518 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/206,746 |
Filed: |
December 10, 1971 |
Foreign Application Priority Data
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Dec 26, 1970 [JA] |
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45-119124 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
29/896.3; 63/5.1;
63/5.2; 29/896.42 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B21F
43/00 (20130101); A44C 5/04 (20130101); Y10T
29/49595 (20150115); Y10T 29/49579 (20150115) |
Current International
Class: |
A44C
5/00 (20060101); A44C 5/04 (20060101); B21F
43/00 (20060101); B21f 043/00 (); B23p
013/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;29/160.6
;63/2,5R,5A,11,3 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
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510,437 |
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Jan 1955 |
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IT |
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951,246 |
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Oct 1956 |
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NL |
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1,053,579 |
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Sep 1953 |
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FR |
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1,087,658 |
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Feb 1955 |
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FR |
|
Primary Examiner: Lanham; Charles W.
Assistant Examiner: DiPalma; Victor A.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Steinberg & Blake
Claims
What we claim is:
1. In a process for manufacturing an elastic, flexible, expandable
and contractable band for a bracelet, wristwatch, or the like, the
steps of winding a continuous wire into a plurality of coils which
have equal numbers of convolutions and parallel axes, while
arranging the successive coils in a zig-zag pattern to form a
series of outer and a series of inner coils while winding first a
coil of one series and then a coil of the other series so that the
inner and outer coils alternate along the band, and extending 3
wire portions from the opposed ends of each coil of each series to
opposed ends of the next adjacent coils of the other series.
2. In a process as recited in claim 1, the step of inserting
retaining pins into at least some of said coils to be surrounded by
the convolutions thereof.
3. In a process as recited in claim 2, the step of arranging a
plurality of the thus-wound wires next to each other with their
coils coaxially arranged, and introducing the retaining pins each
through a row of coaxially arranged coils of the several wires.
4. In a process as recited in claim 1, compressing the thus-wound
wire to situate the coils closely adjacent to each other, and then
heating the wire and following the heating by quenching.
5. In a process as recited in claim 1, the step of winding the
coils progressively one after the other in one direction and then
returning the wire in an opposite direction to form a second set of
coils which overlap the first coils.
6. In a process as recited in claim 1, the step of introducing
magnetic retaining pins into coils of at least one of said series
with the magnetic pins arranged so that some of the latter are
respectively followed by others which have a reversed polarity.
7. In a process as recited in claim 6 and wherein a plurality of
magnetic retaining pins of the same polar orientation are followed
by another plurality of retaining pins of an opposite polar
orientation with the same number of pins constituting each of the
plurality of pins of the same polar orientation.
8. In a process are recited in claim 1, utilizing for the wire a
material which is capable of being magnetized, and then magnetizing
the series of coils which form the inner series with opposite
polarities distributed along the band.
Description
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION:
This invention relates to a process for the manufacture of an
expandable band in a band or endless shape that serves as a a watch
bracelet or a magnetic bracelet and has for its object to provide a
highly resilient and pliant product by applying a simple and
efficient process.
BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE DRAWINGS
In the drawings showing preferred embodiments of the present
invention,
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an endless expandable band prepared
by the process of the present invention,
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a watch bracelet,
FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of the wire winding means to be
applied in the present process,
FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a metallic wire to be formed into an
endless expandable band by the aggregation of the larger and
smaller coil groups,
FIG. 5 is a front view thereof,
FIG. 6 is a plan view showing the compressed condition modified
from that of FIGS. 4 and 5,
FIG. 7 is a front view thereof,
FIG. 8 is an enlarged sectional view showing the structure of the
wire with wedge pins forcedly inserted into its coils,
FIG. 9 is an enlarged front view of a wedge pin,
FIG. 10 is a plan view thereof,
FIG. 11 A is a plan view showing a steel coil band structure
according to another embodiment of the invention and composed of a
series of coils having the same diameter,
FIG. 11 B is an explanatory view illustrative of the coiling
procedure to be applied in the formation of the structure according
to FIG. 11 A,
FIG. 12 is a plan view thereof,
FIG. 13 is a plan view showing a band-like expandable bracelet
prepared by the winding process illustrated in FIGS. 11 and 12,
FIG. 14 is a plan view thereof,
FIG. 15 is a perspective view showing the expandable band of FIGS.
13 and 14 applied for a watch bracelet,
FIG. 16 is a plan view showing an arrangement of magnetic poles and
compressed windings in the magnetic band formed from
nonmagnetizable metallic wires,
FIG. 17 is a cross section thereof, taken on line A-A' of FIG.
16,
FIG. 18 is a plan view showing an arrangement of the magnetic poles
in the magnetic band and compressed windings prepared from
magnetizable metallic wire, and
FIG. 19 is an explanatory view illustrating the mode of
magnetization of the magnetizable wire structure shown in FIG.
18.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to a process for the manufacture
of an expandable band in a band shape or endless shape that is
applied as a watch bracelet or a magnetic bracelet, and has for its
object to provide a highly resilient and pliant product by applying
a simple and efficient process.
The present invention resides in such a background that an annealed
resilient metallic wire is wound repeatedly and continuously into a
band-shaped or endless structure composed of a series of closely
adjacent coils having the same number of turns for each coil, so
that every other coil is wound from top to bottom or vice versa and
the interposed coil between such every other coils is wound from
bottom to top or vice versa; the structure thus obtained is then
subjected to a compressive force from its periphery; wedge pins are
then inserted into any desired coils and trimmed in their shape;
and the overall structure is then subjected to quenching.
Referring to the accompanying drawings, certain preferred
embodiments of the invention will be described in detail. A
resilient metallic band 1 made from stainless steel wire, by way of
an example, is coiled in a desired number of turns, forming the
first coil 1a in starting from the top, by way of an example, as
shown in FIG. 3. Then, the same steel wire 1 is coiled again in the
same number of turns, forming the second coil 1b in starting from
the bottom. Further, the third coil 1c is wound from the same steel
wire 1 in the same number of turns. In this way, the steel wire is
coiled further continuously so as to provide a series of adjacent
coils 1d, 1e, 1f, ... ... The coils of FIG. 3 may be considered as
being formed starting from the left and progressing toward the
right in FIG. 3 in such a way that the coil 1a is formed before the
coil 1b, and so on, with the convolutions of each coil being wound
in a clockwise direction as viewed from above in FIG. 3, and it
will be noted that the coils are arranged alternately to form a
series of outer coils 1a, 1c, 1e, and inner coils 1b, 1d, 1f, with
the continuous wire progressing from the top convolution of coil 1a
to the bottom convolution of coil 1b, from the top convolution of
coil 1b to the bottom convolution of coil 1c, and so on, so that if
the series of alternating inner and outer coils are considered as
having corresponding opposed ends, it will be seen that the wire
progresses from one of the opposed ends of an outer coil to the
opposite opposed end of an adjacent inner coil, and then from the
opposed end of the latter inner coil to the opposite end of the
next outer coil, and so on. In this way the wire portions which
interconnect the adjacent coils are arranged in such a way that at
one of the series of inner or outer coils the wire portions cross
each other while extending to the next adjacent coils while
considered at the other series of inner or outer coils, the wires
at the opposed ends of each coil diverge from each other while
progressing to the next adjacent coils. In other words referring to
FIG. 3 if it is considered that the coils 1b, 1d, and 1f form
successive coils of the inner series, then the wire portions at the
ends of these coils cross each other while extending in opposite
directions to the next adjacent outer coils, whereas on the other
hand if the coils 1a, 1c, and 1e are considered as being successive
coils of the outer series then the wire portions at the ends of
each of the latter coils diverge from each other while extending in
opposite directions to the next adjacent inner coils. Both opposite
ends of thus formed structure are connected to each other into a
band-shaped or endless structure, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. The
endless structure thus obtained is subjected to a compressive force
from its periphery. In this way, the adjacent coils of the endless
structure are disposed inside and outside separately from each
other so that every other coil is arranged inside the neighboring
coils and the overall volume of the structure is considerably
reduced (see FIGS. 6 and 7). Then, wedge or retaining pins 2 are
forced into any desirable coils thus arranged in a zigzag
alignment. Thus, as may be seen from a comparison of FIG. 8 and
FIG. 3, a selected number of wires coiled as shown in FIG. 3 are
placed one next to the other with their coils coaxially arranged,
and the pin 2 is then inserted through the selected number of wires
1 arranged in this way, to achieve a band of desired width. This
feature is also illustrated in FIG. 17 which clearly illustrates
how a plurality of wires as shown in FIG. 3 are situated one next
to the other with their coils coaxially arranged to receive the
pins which in the case of FIG. 17 are pins 3 referred to in greater
detail below. Then, the ends of the wedge pins 2 are enlarged in
their diameters by upsetting so as to provide bulged rims 1' and
retain the overall shape of the endless structure. The latter is
then quenched in situ into the desired product as shown in FIG. 1.
A modified process for the formation of the endless structure is
shown in FIGS. 11 and 12. According to this modified embodiment,
the steel wire is wound repeatedly in the same way as before into a
series of mutually connected coils. Then, the steel wire is wound
in the opposite direction starting from the last coil until
overlapping on the first coil. FIGS. 13 and 14 show a product which
has been completed following the step of compression. FIG. 2 shows
thus obtained expandable band as mounted to a wrist-watch.
Next, a process for the formation of a magnetic bracelet or a watch
attached with a magnetic bracelet will be explained in detail. An
elastic nonmagnetic metal wire, such as stainless steel wire, is
wound repeatedly as before into an endless structure composed of a
series of adjacent coils. The endless structure thus obtained is
then subjected as before to the step of compression. Then, a number
of permanent magnet pieces 3 are forced into any desired coils,
instead of wedge or retaining pins 2. Then, the ends of the
permanent magnet pieces 3 are enlarged in their diameters by
upsetting so as to provide flanges 3'. In this way, the permanent
magnet pieces 3 are held in position and prevented from accidental
disengagement. The overall structure is then subjected to quenching
treatment. When the permanent magnet pieces 3 are forced into coils
in a desired arrangement, as shown in FIG. 16, a north pole may be
followed by a south pole or two successive north poles may be
followed by two successive south poles.
When a magnetizable metal wire such as known under the trade mark
"baicalloy" is used as starting material, the same process of
formation into a series of coils, compression and quenching will be
used, as that explained in the first and second embodiments of the
invention. The only difference is that the coils arranged inside
the endless structure are magnetized, by using a conventional
apparatus as shown in FIG. 19, so that the north pole is followed
by the south pole or two successive north poles are followed by two
successive south poles. FIG. 15 shows a product completed according
to this process.
The expandable band prepared by the present process is made in its
entirety from a fine metal wire about 0.1 to 0.2 mm diameter. Thus,
the band itself is highly pliant and resilient. By virture of the
wedge pins which are enlarged at their ends, the band is
safeguarded against collapse. Moreover, since the expandable band
is produced by the process of repeatedly coiling a single metallic
wire, a considerable saving will be attained in the man power
required for the manufacture, thus resulting in high operational
efficiency. In addition, the production costs of the expansible
band can be considerably reduced.
* * * * *