Chain – staple – and horseshoe making – Chains – Ornamental
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-07
2001-04-03
Jones, David (Department: 3725)
Chain, staple, and horseshoe making
Chains
Ornamental
C059S035100, C059S082000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06209306
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of decorative jewelry items, and more particularly to a jewelry rope chain exhibiting unusual visual properties.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Jewelry rope chain has been made for many years. Although rope chains can be made by machine, the better quality rope chains are usually manufactured by hand. While a rope chain has the feel and look of a rope, it is actually made up of a series of individual C-shaped flat links made from a precious metal such as silver or gold. Gold is available in at least four colors; white, yellow, rose (pink), and green. The C-shaped links are gapped and fastened together in a particular way, such that tightly interlinking annular links give the appearance of intertwining helical rope strands. The links of hand-made rope chains are made with a tighter fit and are more visually appealing than are machine-made rope chains. A number of annular links are connected and intertwined together in a systematic and repetitive pattern of orientation, resulting in an eye-pleasing, flexible, and delicate-appearing chain that looks and feels like a finely braided helix.
In a conventional rope chain, the orientation pattern of individual links producing the rope chain is repeated every several links, for example every four links, and as such is referred to as a four-link rope chain. In an improvement to the conventional basic rope chain, it is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,651,517 that the links can be constructed in different and narrower dimensions so that the pattern is repeated every six links or even every eight links. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,301,498, to Chia et al., it is suggested that, by narrowing the cross-section of the link, the six-link rope chain's connected segments appear finer than those of the four-link version and consequently provides a more delicate and refined presentation than that obtainable with a four-link rope chain arrangement. While the '517 patent uses a six-link rope chain as a preferred embodiment, that patent teaches the formulas for creating rope chains consisting of a repeated series of six, eight, or more links.
Some manufacturers of jewelry use different colored gold and silver elements to enhance the beauty of the jewelry article. Examples are: rope chains in which sets of links of one color alternate with sets of links of another color; and bracelets or necklaces constructed of interconnected twisted loops exhibiting alternating colors along their lengths.
However, in all of the prior art construction techniques for producing rope chain jewelry, each link is of a single solid color, texture, and pattern, e.g., each link may be stamped from a solid thin sheet of precious metal, such as gold. Thus, for example, while an all yellow gold rope chain or an all white gold rope chain is attractive, it is otherwise uninteresting due to the monotonic nature of its unvarying coloration and/or texture along the links of the chain. Those prior art rope chains that do exhibit variations of colors along their lengths nevertheless are constructed of individual links each of which is of a single solid color, texture, and/or pattern. Other jewelry articles exhibit variations of colors along their lengths using interconnected twisted chain loops, but they are not regarded as rope chains as defined herein.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides the means and method for assembling links in a manufacturing process to produce a rope chain piece of jewelry in which each link exhibits a unique visual property, i.e., surface texture, coloration, attribute, feature, characteristic, or physical appearance. Such unique visual property traits for the succession of links results in more attractive, fanciful, more delicate and interesting fashion jewelry item.
In one aspect of the invention, each of the interconnected links has a first side surface exhibiting a first visual property and an opposite second side surface exhibiting a second, perceptively different, visual property.
In another aspect of the invention, rather than having each link side surface of a uniform visual property, one of the side surfaces, or both such side surfaces, may exhibit perceptively different visual properties in accordance with a predetermined pattern arrangement on each side surface. The two side surfaces so configured may be identical on both first and second side surfaces, or they may be different one from the other. For example, a portion of each first side surface may be of a first color, and another portion may be of a second color. Similarly, a portion of each second side surface may be of a first color, and another portion may be of a second color, and the design of the arrangement of different colored portions may be different on the first and second side surfaces.
Instead of, or in addition to, differently colored portions, the two side surfaces may exhibit differently textured or patterned portions, e.g., one portion may be shiny while another portion may have a patterned, sandblasted, frosted, or matte finish appearance. Also, either side may be of a solid color, texture, or pattern, while the other side is portioned as described. Thus, it will be understood that in all of the examples of the accompanying figures and the related text, where different colors are shown and described, texture or patterns can be shown, and the terms “texture” or “pattern” can be substituted. To avoid unnecessary duplication, however, color will be used as exemplary of other visual properties including surface texture and patterns.
Instead of, or in addition to, differently colored, patterned, and/or textured portions, the interconnecting links may have different shapes or shaped portions. For example, some or all of the links making up the rope chain may be smoothly circular, circular with peripheral undulations or crenels, circular with peripheral gear-like teeth, may be star shaped, baguette shaped, square shaped, rectangular shaped, oval shaped, diamond shaped, heart shaped, etc. Similarly, different portions of each link may have such different physical shapes.
As a result of the various combinations possible in the manufacture of jewelry rope chains in accordance with the present invention, a virtually limitless number of different design possibilities exist, and preferred ones of such possibilities are shown and described herein. It is to be understood, however, that all combinations of: the number of interconnected links in the repeated pattern along the rope chain; solid or portioned coloration and/or texturing; different designs of the portioned regions of each side surface of the links; and different physical shape and/or visual properties as identified in this description may be employed in the manufacture of jewelry rope chains and are contemplated as variations of the preferred embodiment specifically shown and described.
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pa
Chia Cheo K.
Chia Huy K.
Chia Meang K.
Jones David
Ladas & Parry
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