Chain – staple – and horseshoe making – Chain making – Blanks and processes
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-20
2003-03-18
Jones, David (Department: 3725)
Chain, staple, and horseshoe making
Chain making
Blanks and processes
C059S080000, CD11S013000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06532725
ABSTRACT:
REFERENCE TO DOCUMENT DISCLOSURE CERTIFICATES
Reference is made to U.S. Document Disclosure Certificate Nos.: 449,115 recorded Dec. 22, 1998; 459911 recorded Jul. 30, 1999; 458876 recorded Jul. 5, 1999; 455008 recorded Apr. 19, 1999; and 455009 recorded Apr. 19, 1999; the entire contents of all such certificates incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of decorative jewelry items, and more particularly to the basic structural link element of a jewelry rope chain exhibiting attractive, decorative, and ornamental visual properties.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Rope chains are a popular type of jewelry made from linking a number of standard sized annular link elements together in a repetitive manner and usually soldering, welding, or otherwise bonding every two link elements together. The result is a chain that is flexible and pleasing to the eye. The annular link elements are typically formed of gold, silver, or other precious metal and may be round in cross section or may be rectangular in cross section with flat major side surfaces, depending on the method of manufacture. The overall generally circular configuration of the annular link elements is not complete as there must be a gap provided to permit interlinking, i.e. interconnecting, of the link elements with each other. The result is a link element having a generally C-shaped configuration.
The generally C-shaped link elements are fastened together in a particular way, such that tightly interlinking annular link elements give the appearance of a pair of intertwining helical rope strands. A number of annular link elements 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 double helix.
In a conventional rope chain, the orientation pattern of individual link elements making up the rope chain is repeated every several link elements, for example every four link elements, and as such, the chain 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 link elements can be constructed in different and narrower dimensions so that the pattern is repeated every six link elements or even every eight link elements.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,301,498, to Chia et al., it is suggested that, by narrowing the cross-section of the link element, the six-link rope chain's connected segments appear finer than those of the four-link version and consequently provide 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 link elements.
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 link elements of one color alternate with sets of link elements of another color; and bracelets or necklaces constructed of interconnected twisted loops exhibiting alternating colors along their lengths. Gold, for example, is available in at least four colors; white, yellow, rose (pink), and green.
However, in typical prior art construction techniques for producing rope chain jewelry, each link element is of a single solid color, texture, shape, and pattern, e.g., each link element may be stamped from a solid thin sheet of precious metal, such as gold, in the form of an annular ring. 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, texture, and/or shape along the link elements of the chain. Those prior art rope chains that do exhibit variations of colors along their lengths nevertheless are constructed of individual link elements each of which is of a single solid color, texture, shape, and/or pattern.
Other chain-like jewelry articles exhibit variations of colors along their lengths using interconnected twisted loops, but they are not regarded as rope chains as defined herein.
Moreover, prior art link elements are generally C-shaped with a constant, typically rectangular cross section. As a result, predictable visual effect is realized when the C-shaped link elements are assembled to simulate intertwined rope helixes. Additionally, after all of the link elements have been assembled into a finished rope chain jewelry item, a large percentage of the total volume of precious metal in each link element is forever hidden from view. That is, for the structural integrity of the rope chain, certain dimensional parameters have to be maintained, and there have been few attempts in the prior art of manufacturing rope chains to reduce the amount of precious metals being used, for fear of lessening or destroying the structural integrity of the finished product.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides the means and methods for constructing rope chain link elements in a way to produce a rope chain piece of jewelry in which each link element, or selected link elements, and therefore the rope chain itself, exhibits unique visual properties.
By providing individual link elements with different visual properties, including different shapes, the ultimate appearance of the completed rope chain can be determined. For example, if each individual link exhibits two colors, the resulting rope chain will exhibit those two colors. Since the link elements overlap, and since they are placed in predetermined positions when they are interlinked, the location of the colors will have an influence on the appearance of the finished product.
Coloration is only one type of “visual property”, and may vary according to the type or formulation of the material or materials from which a link element is made. Reflectivity, surface texture, pattern feature or characteristic, in addition to shape, are among other visual properties of a link that can influence the appearance of a finished rope chain. Such unique visual property traits for the succession of link elements results in a more attractive, fanciful, more delicate and interesting fashion jewelry item.
In addition to exhibiting unique visual properties, employing the concepts of the present invention, lengths of rope chains can be fabricated in which one of the apparent strands of “rope” has a different visual appearance than the intertwining “rope” strand. That is, the appearance of a rope strand at any point along the length of rope chain may not only be visually different than another point along the length of rope chain, but may also be visually different than the adjacent strand. For example, one strand may have an apparent smaller diameter than that of the adjacent strand. Or, the texture, coloration, surface reflectivity, pattern, shape, or other physical attribute of one strand may be totally distinct relative to the adjacent strand.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the annular, or generally C-shaped, link elements may be formed by a stamping process whereby the desired visual effects on the link elements are preliminarily provided on the sheet of material from which the link elements are later stamped. Alternatively, especially when the visual property is surface texture or shape, the desired visual effects on the link elements may be created during or after the stamping process.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the annular, or generally C-shaped, link elements may be manufactured by bending a thin elongated wire of prescribed dimensions into the desired C-shape. The wire may be supplied on spools and formed by machine. For example, a Link-O-Matic® machine, such as the Model 534 available from Crafford Precision Products Co., One Industrial Court, Riverside, R.I. 02915, can feed, cut, and
Chia Cheo K.
Chia Huy K.
Chia Meang K.
LandOfFree
Ornamental jewelry rope chain link element does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Ornamental jewelry rope chain link element, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Ornamental jewelry rope chain link element will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3055753