Jewelry – Body member encircling ornament – Expansible
Patent
1991-04-15
1992-12-22
Lindsey, Rodney M.
Jewelry
Body member encircling ornament
Expansible
63 23, 205 72, 205 73, A44C 2500
Patent
active
051725681
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to hollow jewellery objects and method.
Jewellery and ornamental objects intended to be worn on or about the person are often formed of precious metals such as gold and silver and are thus expensive. There have therefore been many attempts to make suitable pieces hollow rather than solid, to reduce the precious metal content. Hollow jewellery is also lighter in weight and often therefore more acceptable to the user, particularly for earrings and necklaces; conversely, larger jewellery objects if hollow may have a similar weight to smaller (solid metal) jewellery so that the range of suitable jewellery objects is extended, in that lifesize hollowform objects such as replicate leaves or flowers can be made of a weight suitable to be worn for several hours.
However hollow jewellery objects need to be strong so that they are not inadvertently crushed during use, such as may occur from normal contact with a hollow necklace object during dancing, or during storage.
One known method of fabricating hollow jewellery objects is by electro-deposition. Our invention is concerned with improvements to the known electro-deposition methods and product.
One prior proposal is that of Lechtzin U.S. Pat. No. 4,343,684 in which a carat gold electroform includes the steps of forming an easily workable substrate, suitably of wax, to a desired configuration, and then applying an electrically conductive surface treatment if necessary. The configured treated substrate is electroplated in a metallic bath until a self-supporting metallic shell, suitably of copper, is formed over the substrate. In known manner, as by being boiled out, the substrate is then removed. The metallic shell is first cleaned, and then placed in a carat gold electroforming bath wherein a gold piece is built to the desired final thickness and carat by controlling current density and plating time. The carat gold electroformed piece can be stress relieved by annealing at elevated temperatures for suitable periods of time, and is thereafter immersed in an acid bath to remove (by dissolving away) the metallic shell from the piece interior, leaving a configured shell of carat gold. The thickness of the gold deposit is above 0.007 inches.
In another prior proposal, the internal mould (the metallic shell of Lechtzin) is left in situ, but with consequential added weight to the jewellery object.
It has also been proposed to provide extra strengthening for the hollow shell, by filling the shell with a relatively lightweight material, such as sealing wax or shellac.
One manufacturer of hollow electroformed gold jewellery produces objects of 18 or 14 carat, with a published typical plating rate of 1 micron in 1.8 minutes, and a deposition time of 3 hours or above i.e. a minimum object wall thickness of 100 microns.
We now propose a two stage object fabrication method, the first stage being to form by electrodeposition one or more internal supports, the second stage being to form by electrodeposition an outer shell upon and integral with the internal support(s). The support or supports is suitably one or more inwardly-facing ribs, preferably a plurality of ribs interconnected to provide a matrix. The rib or matrix provides an internal support for the hollow shell, which can thereby be of reduced thickness. During fabrication the hollow jewellery object is usefully electrodeposited upon a mandrel or mould of a fusible material such as wax, the outer surface of the mould or mandrel being shaped to conform with the electro-deposited article to be produced.
We also provide a hollow jewellery object made by the method of the preceding paragraph.
The invention will be further described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is of a mould or mandrel, shaped to form a hollow ball (of precious metal), with an attached drain tube;
FIG. 2 is of the mould of FIG. 1, but having interconnected indentations etched in its outer surface;
FIG. 3 is of the mould of FIG. 2, with the indentations now coated with an electrically cond
REFERENCES:
patent: 536259 (1895-03-01), Bloede
patent: 789342 (1905-05-01), Voelke
patent: 1792542 (1931-02-01), Laukel
patent: 2008005 (1935-07-01), Chilson
patent: 2113223 (1938-04-01), Salabes
patent: 3686081 (1972-08-01), Butter et al.
patent: 3853714 (1974-12-01), Shimada et al.
patent: 4343684 (1982-08-01), Lechtzin
patent: 4464231 (1984-08-01), Little
patent: 4664758 (1987-05-01), Grey
patent: 4681664 (1987-07-01), Eberle et al.
patent: 4710276 (1987-12-01), Kull
patent: 4722770 (1988-02-01), Blottiere
Lindsey Rodney M.
Milano Michael T.
LandOfFree
Hollow jewelry objects and method does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Hollow jewelry objects and method, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Hollow jewelry objects and method will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-969066