Jewelry – Having direct body attachment
Reexamination Certificate
2000-10-12
2003-01-21
Sandy, Robert J. (Department: 3677)
Jewelry
Having direct body attachment
C063S013000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06508081
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND
The following invention relates to an earring and, in particular, to an earring that supports selectively interchangeable ornaments.
Jewelry is typically selected by a wearer according to a particular mood, fashion choice and occasion. Because jewelry is often costly, however, the wearer may only have a limited number of jewelry items from which to choose. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a single jewelry item that can be easily adapted by the wearer to be suitable for different situations.
With respect to earrings, prior art designs exist for selectively adapting an earring by attaching different ornaments to the earring. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,803,852, issued to Waldron, discloses an earring comprising a loop member that is attachable to an ear. The loop member has a narrow throat that allows a link of a charm to be pulled therethrough to attach the charm to the earring. In this way, the wearer can selectively attach a particular charm to the earring as desired.
Although Waldron allows the wearer to attach different charms to the earring as desired, Waldron, however, requires the use of an earring that contains a loop for receiving the charm. This limitation precludes the use of Waldron with earring designs that do not include a loop.
Another prior art earring design that supports interchangeable ornaments is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,505,061 issued to Fleury. Fleury teaches a jewelry apparatus, such as an earring, that includes a body portion having an ornamental outer surface and an engagement surface, and further includes an ornament portion having an ornamental outer surface and an engagement surface. The engagement surface of the body portion includes a cylindrical recess and a bore which extends axially inwardly from the center of the cylindrical recess. The engagement surface of the ornament portion includes a cylindrical neck and a post which extends axially outwardly therefrom. The cylindrical neck and post of the ornament portion are slideably received in frictional, interfitting engagement into the complimentary recess and bore of the body portion. When the body portion and ornament portion are received in engagement, the ornamental surface thereof cooperatively merge so that the body portion and the ornament portion appear as an integral unit.
Although the mechanism taught in Fleury is not limited to earrings designs that contain a loop, Fleury does requires that the earring body include a cylindrical recess and a bore for receiving the ornament which is not feasible for a variety of earring designs, such as stud earrings. Furthermore, because Fleury requires that the ornament be specially designed to have a cylindrical neck and post to mate with the earring body, existing ornaments that a wearer may have for use with a bracelet or necklace are not suitable for use with the earring of Fleury.
Referring now to
FIG. 1
, there is shown a prior art stud earring
2
. Stud earring
2
includes a stone
4
, such as a diamond, that is held by a basket
6
. Basket
6
typically includes a pair of parallel circular members
8
,
8
′ and a plurality of prongs
10
that are fastened to both of circular members
8
,
8
′ in a perpendicular orientation. Stone
4
is inserted into basket
6
and supported by circular member
8
. The top of each of prongs
10
is curved for gripping stone
4
and securing stone
4
in basket
6
. Attached across the diameter of circular member
8
′ is a radial member
12
. A post
14
is perpendicularly attached to radial member
12
at a first end and is dimensioned and shaped at a second end for attaching to a wearer's ear.
Referring now to
FIG. 2
, there is shown an ornament
16
that is selectively attached to stud earring
2
. Ornament
16
includes a decorative portion
18
and a loop member
20
connected to ornament
16
. Loop member
20
is dimensioned and shaped so as to be slideably received on post
14
. Thus, when the wearer desires to attach an ornament to earring
2
, the wearer inserts post
14
into loop member
20
and slides ornament
16
until it is adjacent to circular member
8
′. If the wearer desires to have a different ornament attached to earring
2
, the wearer slides ornament
16
off post
14
and slides the different ornament on post
14
instead. In this way, earring
2
of the prior can be used to selectively attach ornaments.
There are significant drawbacks, however, in attaching ornament
16
to earring
2
of the prior art in the manner described above. First, because post
14
terminates at the center of circular member
8
′, when ornament
16
is positioned on post
14
via loop member
20
, a portion of decorative portion
18
may be obscured by basket
6
. In addition, because ornament
16
can only be slid on post
14
until it contacts circular member
8
′ of basket
6
, ornament
16
is not coplanar with stone
4
thereby diminishing the appearance of the earring-ornament combination. Furthermore, because ornament
16
may contact the wearer's ear when post
14
is affixed to the wearer's ear, attaching ornament
16
to earring
2
in this manner may cause the wearer discomfort.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an earring that allows the wearer to selectively interchange ornaments while overcoming the drawbacks of the prior art.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention overcomes the drawbacks of the prior art. According to the present invention, an earring is provided and includes a basket for holding a decorative item wherein the basket includes a circular member having a center. Also included is a curved member having a first end and a second end wherein the first end of the curved member is connected to the circular member. A post is included and has a first end and a second end. The first end of the post is affixed to a wearer's ear and the second end of the post is connected to the second end of the curved member. The curved member is dimensioned and shaped so that the post is axially aligned with the center of the circular member. An ornament having a loop member is dimensioned to slideably receive the post and the curved member. When the post is inserted through the loop member, the ornament is suspended from the curved member adjacent the circular member and is coplanar with the decorative item contained in the basket.
The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction, combination of elements and arrangement of parts that will be exemplified in the following detailed disclosure, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims. Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description, the drawings and the claims.
REFERENCES:
patent: 387449 (1888-08-01), Ripley
patent: 758848 (1904-05-01), Pejchar
patent: 3418826 (1968-12-01), Wieshuber
patent: 3446033 (1969-05-01), Driscoll
patent: 4221118 (1980-09-01), Chicckine
patent: D264060 (1982-04-01), Epstein
patent: D265894 (1982-08-01), Barr
patent: 5077987 (1992-01-01), Leith, III
patent: 5577396 (1996-11-01), Cannon
patent: 5638700 (1997-06-01), Shechter
patent: 6058737 (2000-05-01), Domagala
Chester Industries, Inc.
Chop Andrea
Levi, Esq. Joseph E.
Sandy Robert J.
Zimmerman & Levi LLP
LandOfFree
Earring with interchangeable ornaments does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Earring with interchangeable ornaments, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Earring with interchangeable ornaments will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3070891