Manually Operable Pivot Pin For A Wrist Watch Band

Abstract

A manually operable pin for a wrist watch band comprising a pair of hollow, tubular members in telescopic relation. The members have extending pintles at their outer ends for engaging the watch bail openings. The inner member has a longitudinal slot spaced from the inner end. The outer member has a manually engageable tab extending upwardly adjacent its inner end. Spaced from the tab, a portion of the body extends inwardly into the slot on the inner member to permit relative telescopic movement within the limits of the slot. A coil spring is mounted within the members to normally bias the members in extended position. To lock the pin to a watch bail after it has been inserted in the end of a watch band, the pintle on the inner member is placed into one bail opening. The tab is manually moved against the action of the spring to shorten the pivot pin and allow the pintle on the outer member to be inserted in the other watch bail opening. The pivot pin is removable in the same manner, by manually engaging the tab and telescoping the members to shorten and remove the pin. No tool is necessary to insert or remove the pivot pin.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The conventional wrist watch band is made of leather, metal, or other suitable material. The ends are looped and a pivot pin is inserted in each loop. The ends of the pins enter opposed openings in the watch bail to pivotally mount the watch band on the watch case. To permit this action, the pivot pin is provided with at least one end which is movable telescopically toward the other end against the action of a spring to shorten and remove the pin. The watch must be taken to a jeweler to insert the necessary tool in the watch bail opening to remove the pin. The user is therefore not in position to readily change the style or color of the watch band. He must take it to a jeweler for removing it with the proper tools.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a pivot pin for a wrist watch band which is easily and quickly manually removable by the user, requiring no special tools. In accordance with the present invention, the pivot pin comprises two hollow tubular members in telescopic relation and biased into extended position by a coil spring mounted therein. A stop member and slot arrangement locks the parts together but permits limited sliding movement to shorten the overall length. The outer ends of the members comprise pintles for entering the watch bail openings. The outer member is provided with an integral manually engagable tab, allowing the member to be moved by a finger against the action of the spring. The outer member will thus slide along the inner member to shorten the pin and allow its removal or insertion. The pivot pin is positioned in the looped end of the wrist watch band and permits the band to be inserted or removed without tools.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary plan view showing one end of a wrist watch band mounted on a watch bail with a pivot pin of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged persepctive view of the pivot pin;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the stamped blanks for forming the outer and inner parts of the pivot pin;

FIG. 4 is a side elevation showing the completed parts made from the blanks in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a top plan view of the parts of the pivot pin in unassembled relation;

FIG. 6 is a top plan view of the assembled pin; and

FIG. 7 is an enlarged section taken on line 7--7 of FIG. 6.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 illustrates the conventional watch band attachment to a wrist watch. The watch 10 is provided with spaced arms 12 forming the bail. The wrist watch band 14 may be of any suitable material such as leather, plastic, metal, etc. The band is provided with an end loop portion 16 at each end. The pivot pin normally extends through the end loop 16 with its pintle ends entering apposed openings in the bail 12. The present invention is designed to provide a novel pivot pin which is easily mounted or removed manually without tools.

Referring to FIG. 2, the pivot pin 18 comprises two telescopic tubular members, an inner member 20 and an outer member 22. The inner member 20 is provided with an enlarged end 24 having a shoulder and an integral axially aligned pintle 26. The outer member 22 telescopes over the inner member and is also provided with a pintle end 28. Spaced from its inner end, the outer member 22 is provided with an upwardly extending manually engageable tab 30 to allow the member 22 to slide over the member 20 with the touch of a finger.

While the pin 18 can be assembled as shown in FIG. 2 using tubular stock, the construction shown in FIGS. 3 to 6, inclusive, lends itself to more rapid and economical manufacture. Referring to FIG. 3, flat blanks are stamped from sheet stock, the blank 32 forming the inner member 20, and the blank 34 forming the outer member 22. The blank 32 is cut out at 36 at one edge adjacent the inner end. The outer end has an enlarged portion 38 forming shoulders and an end member 40 for forming the pintle 26. The blank 34 is slightly wider than the blank 32 and is provided with transverse enlarged tab portions 42 adjacent the inner end, one tab portion being approximately twice the length of the other. Adjacent the portion 42 is a tab member 44 having a slanted outer edge and severed at the sides from the blank 34. The outer end is provided with the portion 46 for forming the pintle 28.

The blanks 32 and 34 are now bent and rolled into the tubular form illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5 by conventional methods. The blank 32 now forms the inner member 20 having a hollow, tubular body and a slot 48 formed by the cut out 36. The enlarged end 24 and pintle 26 are formed from the portions 38 and 40 of the blank. The blank 34 is formed into the hollow, tubular, outer member 22 having a tapered end and pintle 28. The tab members 42 are bent together to form the tab 30, the longer portion being bent over the shorter portion to lock the parts together and form a triple thickness of material. The tab member 44 is bent down into the hollow body at 50. A coil spring 52 completes the parts of the pivot pin 18.

To assemble the pivot pin as shown in FIG. 6, the coil spring 52 is positioned within the aligned members 20 and 22, and the member 20 is pushed into the member 22 until the tab member 50 snaps by the inner end of the member 20 into the slot 48. The parts are now locked together, the tab 50 in the slot 48, FIG. 7, preventing separation but permitting limited sliding movement of the parts. It should be noted that the coil spring 52 tends to extend the parts into their longest extension, and that in this position the slot is hidden by the end of the outer member 22. When the tab 30 is engaged by a finger to push the member 22 to the right, FIG. 6, against the action of the spring 52, this movement can only continue until the inner end of the outer member 22 meets the shoulder on the enlarged end 24 of the inner member 20.

In use, the pivot pin 18 is inserted in the loop end of the wrist watch strap 14, the end 16 having a central opening for exposing the manually engageable tab 30. The pintle 26 is inserted in one of the watch bail openings and a finger is used to push the tab 30 against the action of the spring 52. This shortens the length of the pivot pin and allows it to be swung between the arms of the bail. The tab 30 is then released to allow the pintle 28 to enter the other bail opening. This construction will take care of small variations in the size of the bail. For example, most watch straps and bails vary from 1/2 inch to 7/8 inch. This can be taken care of with three sizes of pivot pins, the 7/8 inch compressing to take care of lengths down to 3/4 inch, the 3/4 inch handling down to 5/8 inch, and the 5/8 inch handling down to 1/2 inch. Of course the pin 18 may be made in any desired length to handle special sizes of watch bands.

With the pin of the present invention, a user can easily remove and replace a watch band without needing special tools. A woman can have several bands in varied styles and colors which she can mount on the watch to match her costume. The operation is simple and rapid. Other advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent to a person skilled in the art.

Claims

I claim:

1. A pivot pin for mounting a wrist watch band on a watch bail having opposed pivot openings comprising an inner hollow tubular member and an outer hollow tubular member in telescopic sliding relation, a coil spring mounted within said members, the outer ends of said members having integral pintles for mounting in the bail openings, manually engageable means for telescopically sliding said members to remove from or insert into the bail openings, and means for limiting the relative sliding movement of said members, said limiting means comprising an elongated slot in said inner member and an integral tab extending inwardly on said outer member, said tab extending into said slot.

2. A pivot pin as in claim 1, wherein said manually engageable means comprises an integral tab extending upwardly from said outer member.

3. A pivot pin as in claim 2, wherein said members comprise seamed tubular stock formed from stamped flat blanks.