Metal working – Hinge making or assembling
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-01
2001-06-26
Echols, P. W. (Department: 3726)
Metal working
Hinge making or assembling
C029S896400
Reexamination Certificate
active
06249942
ABSTRACT:
This invention relates to the making of items of jewellery and apparatus therefor. The items are of a nature comprising two components which are hinged together so as to be movable between open and closed positions. A specific item to which the invention relates is what is known as a locket, which comprises two components or halves adapted to contain a keepsake or keepsakes such as photographs, locks of hair and so on, the halves being movable between closed and open positions. Lockets are usually worn around the neck, being suspended therefrom by means of a suitable jewellery chain, the locket having an attachment loop for connection of the locket to the chain.
Although the invention has particular application to lockets, it is to be mentioned that it can be applied to other items of jewellery, and included within this expression are items such as watch cases, compacts, and the like.
The invention applies to items of jewellery wherein there are two endless hoops or rims which may be of any shape e.g. round, circular, triangular, heart shaped and so on and which when in the open position lie side by side and symmetrically arranged, the hinge being where the two rims touch, and when the rims are in the closed position, they lie in superimposed relationship. An item of jewellery to which the invention relates may also comprise simply a pair of rims hinged together said rims being for example adapted to contain a photograph. The item may comprise one rim and a rim and shell.
Lockets are of course well known and are in extensive use, and whilst lockets of the known form vary in quality depending upon the skill of the manufacturer and the material used, generally speaking the known lockets comprise a number of components which have to be connected to produce the final locket. These components comprise a pair of locket shells each of which is dished to form a receiving cavity, a pair of the said rims which are soldered to the shells, tubular hinge sleeves which are soldered to the rims and/or shells, a hinge pin which is threaded into the hinge sleeves on the respective locket halves, and a locket clasp which may be in one part or two parts soldered to the locket halves.
The manner of assembly and manufacture is expensive and time consuming, and great care must be taken if a locket of quality is to be produced. Despite the shortcomings of the known construction, lockets have been produced only in this way for many years.
The invention the subject of our European Patent Application No. 0540875 an item of jewellery, involving a method of production which, as applied specifically to lockets, will enable a quicker and less expensive production of lockets whilst retaining the required production quality.
In accordance with that invention, an item of jewellery comprising or including a pair of the said rims is produced by manufacturing the rims as blanks provided respectively with an integral hinge pin on the one hand and an integral hinge tongue on the other hand, said tongue being wrapped around the integral hinge pin in order to connect the rims hingedly together.
That invention provides an effective and efficient method of forming a hinge between jewellery item rims, and this is particularly applicable to the production of lockets.
The rim blanks preferably are produced from sheet material by high precision manufacturing machines, which typically will be high precision stamping machines, and the rims may be produced in the metal which traditionally is used for lockets. This metal may obviously range from precious metal such as gold to inexpensive metallic alloy.
When that invention is applied to a locket, the said rims preferably are soldered to respective and conventional locket shells.
In order to facilitate assembly and assist registration of the shell and to provide for quality manufacture, the integral hinge pin may be offset relative to the rim and formed between a pair of shoulders defined in the appropriate rim so that the integral hinge tongue is limited in its axial movement lengthwise of the hinge pin. Also at the other side of the rim is formed a recess again between shoulders for the receipt of the clasp tongue. With these constraining shoulders, when the locket is moved to the closed position, the respective shells will be in accurate register providing a high quality manufacturing characteristic to the finished product.
It is described in that application that to assemble a locket in accordance with that invention, the rims respectively are attached to the shells in register therewith, by the conventional method of soldering, and the integral tongue on the other rim is passed behind the hinge pin between the hinge pin and the shell, following which the tongue is wrapped round the hinge pin by simple bending of same, manually, so that the bent tongue forms a hinge sleeve.
When it comes to assembling large quantities of the items of jewellery according to the said invention, by the hand assembly method described above, the work becomes tedious, and somewhat slow, and accordingly it is an object of this invention to provide a method of assembly of the items of jewellery of which specific examples are constructed according to the said invention, which method is much quicker and more efficient than the manual method as described above.
According to the invention there is provided a method of assembling an item of jewellery, which comprises two components to be hinged together, and wherein one component has a tongue which is pre-curled and is located around a hinge pin of the other component, and the components, thus assembled, or whilst they are being assembled, being placed upon a Jig presenting two surfaces which lie at an angle to each other and respectively support the components so that the tongue and hinge lie in alignment with a curved forming groove in the vicinity of the meeting zone of the surfaces, and a forming tool is moved into that zone in a direction bisecting the said angle, completing the curling of the tongue in the forming groove and forming it to the required degree around the hinge pin to complete the hinge.
The components preferably each comprise a rim having a shell secured thereto, and the tongue is formed on the rim of one of the components, and the hinge pin is formed as part of the rim of the other component, there being a gap between the hinge pin and the shell of that component into which the pre-curled tongue can be fed.
Also according to the invention there is provided apparatus for forming an item of jewellery which comprises two components to be hinged together, and wherein one component has a tongue which is pre-curled and is located around a hinge pin of the other component, the apparatus comprising a jig presenting two surfaces which lie at an angle to each other and respectively are for supporting the components so that the tongue and hinge lie in alignment with a curved forming groove of the apparatus lying in the vicinity of the meeting zone of the surfaces, and a forming, tool adapted to be moved into that zone in a direction bisecting the said angle, to complete the curling of the tongue in the forming groove to form it to the required degree around the hinge pin to complete the hinge.
The exterior surfaces of the shells may be embossed and/or decorated in any desired manner, or as with many traditional lockets, may be left plain.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3618338 (1971-11-01), Sauer
patent: 0 540 875 A1 (1993-05-01), None
patent: 56-009035 (1981-01-01), None
patent: 1148685 (1985-04-01), None
Abbeycrest PLC
Echols P. W.
Woodward, Emhardt, Naughton Moriarty & McNett
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