CA1073690A - Flat costume jewelry and method for the surface treatment thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
Costume jewelry is manufactured through photofabrication processes form flat metal sheets to form items such as earrings and small pendants. A standard photo-fabrication operation in-cludes covering a metal sheet with a layer of photosensitive, chemically resistive material commonly referred to as a photore-sist. Portions of the covered sheet are exposed to light to out-line the earrings and pendants on the sheet. The sheet is then developed and the exposed metal surface portions are chemically etched to remove excess metal and form the earrings and pendants.
Thereafter, surface treatments involve supplementary photofabric-tion operations to provide different colors and finishes on the earrings and pendants by etching, plating and staining the ex-posed metal surfaces, all of which are supplemented by the reten-tion of portion of photoresist layers of selected colors.

Description

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SPECIFICATION

This invention relates to costume je~elry, and more partic ularly to the manufac~ure o~ mall item~ of costume jewelry, such :
a~ earrings, pend2nts and like items such as watch face~ ~rom flat metal s~ee~s, and through processes whic~ include photofabricating, 5 chemlcal, milling and electropla~ing operations upon :flat me~al produation sheets to ob~ain various in~ricata de~igns o~ co~tume jewelry, hereinafter sometimes referred to as "flat costume jeweIry" . .
A primary objeat of ~he present invention is to provide novel and improved flat co~tum~ jewelry~ ~uch as earrings and pen-dant~, whi~h hava in~ricate, p~easing, contras~ing ~ur~ace patterns obtained by combining etched, stained and pla~ed tr~atments to the surface of the :jewelry item.
Another objeot of the ~nvention is to provide in items of , 15 flat costume jeweIry, ~uch~as earrings ox pendants, reproductions ; having sharp, clear detail, in intricate patterns of art work and replicas o animate and inanimate object~ upon the face o~ the jewelry~
Ano~hèr objec~ of the invention is ~o provide noveI and improved methods or ~he surace treatment of flat ~o~tume ~ewelry which invQlves steps and sequences ~o produce intricate designs and replicas oP animate and inanimate objec~s wi~h accuracy and clarit~ at~ainable only wi~h photographio operations.
Another object of the invention i~ to provide a novel and improved method for th8 manu~acture~of flat costume jewe:lry, such:
as earrings and pendant~, which combine simple steps and sequences ~or the surface treabment o jewelry items by etching, staining and plating the surfaces of the items to produce intricate, q3690 artistic patterns of ~harp ~etail and good contrast.
~ nother objec~ of the invention is to provide a novel and impxoved method for producing flat costume jewelry i~ems having sharply defined, intricate, contrasting surface pat~erns through S a simple, but effe~tive mode of suppleme~ting the conventional - photofabrication operations ~or outlining ~he items in a m~tal pro duction shee~ without ~he need for special equipment~
Another ob~ect o the inven~ion i~ ~o provide a noveI and .. :
impro~ed ~e~hod for the manufacture of flat oostume j~weIry throug~
~ 10 ph~ofabrication ~peration~ which can provide ~harp detail to the - finished produ~ts sufficient to permit tiny designs and legends, -. such as copyright notices, to clearly appear on very small items of cos~ume jeweIry, ~uch`notices being important to protect the ::~ proprietor of the jeweIry again t unwarranted copying by others.
Yet other objects of ~he invention are to provide novel and improved flat costume jewel~y i~ems which are neat-appearing, of high quality and low in C08t~ and nove~ methods ~or the manufacture of the same through simple, easily controlled, reliable, easily reproducible step~ .
With:the foregoing and o~her object~ in view~ m~3: present invention comprise-~ certain constructions, combinations and arrange-ments of materials, and s~uences, operations and steps, all as hereina~ter descrlbed in detail~ deined in the appended alaim~
and illus~rated in the accompanying drawings in which~
Fig~ 1 is a ront elevation view o~ a simple pendant exemr plary of an item of flat co~tume jeweIry,or the like,manufa~tured acoording to the present invention, ~he figure being on an en-larged scale to bet~er set foxth contrasting ~urface areas pro-vided by different surace tr~atm~ntss ., . 30 Fig. 2 is a rear view of the pendant shbwn at Fig. 1 ; . Fig~ 3 is a fragm~ntary ~ectional view as taken from the : indicated line 3-3 atFig. 1, but on a gre~tly enlarged scale and .~
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exaggerated in thiclcness to be~ter illustrate the different sur-face trea1~nents;
Fig. 4 is an isometric exploded view of a metal production sheet whereon pendants are to be ormed and the phobographic mask-ing sheets which are to be attached to th~ front and rear surfacesof ~his production sheet during photographic operations to expose portions of photoresist layers upon the sheet;
Fig. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view on a gxeatly en-larged scale through a metal production sheet having bo~h surfaces prepared with pho~oresist layers preparatory to the manufacture of a pendant such as shown at Fig. l;
Fig. 6 is a plan view o~ a corner of the ~ront face mask-ing sheet which is to be re~istered against the front face o the production sheet to provide the first phase of the process7 Fig, 6a i~ a plan view of a corner o a rear face ma~king sheet which is registered against the rear face of the production sheet and i3 used in conjunction with the masking sheet oF~ig. 6;
Fig. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of the production sheet of F~g. 5 after e~posure with ~he sheets of Figs.
6 and 6a in registra~ion against the production sheet and after ~ubse~uently developing and etching the production sheet, the view aorxesponding in location to the indicated llne 7-7 at Pig. 6;
Figs. 8 and 8a are plan views of corners of front and rear face masking ~hee~s simllar ~o tha showing at Figs. 6 and 6a which are ~o be registered against the fron~ and rear faces of the production sheet to provide the second phase of the process, the transparent portions o these masking sheets being selected to expose additional areas on the production sheet;
Fig. 9 is an enlarged fra~mentary sectional view o~ the production hee~ of Fig. 5 after exposure with the sheets of Figs.
8 and 8a in registration against the produc~ion sheet and after subsequently de~eloping and electroplating a first metal layer ~3~

upon the produc~ion sheet, the view corresponding in location to the indicated line 9-9 at Fig. 8;
Fig. 10 is a plan view of a corner of a front face masking : sheet which is ~o be registered against the front face of the pro-duction sheet ~o provide a third phase of ~he process, the trans-paren~ portion of the masking sheet being selected to expose addi tional areas on the production sheet;
Fig. 11 is an enlarged s~ctional view of the production ~heet of Fig~ 5 after exposure with the sheet o Fig. 10 in regis-tration against ~he production sheet and af~er subsequently develop-ing and immersion plating a second metal layer upon the produc~ion sheet, the view corresponding in location to the indicated line 11-11 at Fig. 10;
Fig. 12 is a plan view of a corner of a front face masking 15 sheet which is to be registerea against the front ace of the pro-duction sheet to provide a final phase o the process, resulting in a product having the aross section o~ Fig~ 3 wherein the metal surace exposed by the masking sheet is finished by metal ~taining;
Pig. 13 is a fragmentary sec~ional view similar to Fig. 3, 20 but illus~rating ~he ~inished production sheet and the pendants upon it as being covered by a second layer of photore~ist to per-mi t a repeat of some of the operational ~e~uences of Fig~ 12, to provide ad~itional surace treatm~nts on ~h~ pendant~
Fig. 14 is a plan view o~ a corner of a front face masking 25 sheet which is to be registered against ~he front face of the pro-duation sheet o~ Fig. 13 to provide yet another sequence of oper-ations, the transparent portion of the masking sheet being se-; lected to expose areas on the produc~ion sheet which may or may : not overlap previously exposed areas;
Fig. 15 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of the . production sheet of Fig. 13 after exposure with the masking sheet ,. of Fig, 14 in registration wi~h it and after subsequently de~elop-' _5_ ~ 3~9~

ing the ~hotoresist to remove the exposed areas of photoresist preliminary to ~urther electroplating operations, the view corre-sponding in loca~ion to the indicated line 15-15 at Fig. 14; and F~g. 16 is a front elevation view o a pendant similar to Fig. 1~ but with additional ~ontrasting areas provided by the operations set forth in Figs~ 13, 14 and lS.
The manufac~ure of low cost, costume jewelry is a large in-dustry wherein each manufacturer strives to produce high quality, low cost items in an effort to bettex compete with foreign imports.
; 10 In ~he past decade, a procedure for manufacturing costume jewelry from flat sheets b~ chemical milling processes has been introduced to make flat cos~ume jewelry items~ ~his procedure in~olves ; photofabrication steps wherein a 1at metal production shee~ is covered with a chemically resistant photosen~itive material, 15 commonly called "photoresist~. The sheet i5 covered wi~h "masks", that is, patterns out~ining the jewelry items, and it is then sub-jected to light to expose the portions of photoresist at the trans-parent sections o~ the masks. The sheets are then developed to leave pro~ective surfaces of photoresist upon portions o the sheet, including the jeweIry i~ems outlined on the masks, which are to remain intact. Other portions of the production sheet, such as the outline of the jewelry items, have metal sur~aces ex-posed and these exposed ~ur~aces are subsequentl~ milled or eroded by chemical action ~uch as with a spray o ferric chloride. With this proces~, intricate outlines of fla~, costume jewelry items can be quickly and easily manufactured a~ a low unit cost.
The presen~ invention conce~ns refinements and improvements in this basic operation of manufact~ring costume jewelry to pro-~` duce different, contrasting surface~ on the jewalry item~ after 30 the items are outlined on the production sheet. In practicing theinvention, a nu~er of surface treatments are ~aken advantage of including electroplating or immersion plating with many different ~ .

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kinds of me~al such as gold, silver, platinum, nickel and copper.
Also, thc metal sur~aces o~ the production shaet may be stained.
Finally, portions o~ the layer of photoresist may be colored and will remain on ~he jewelry i~em. This is accomplished by sequen tially exposing and removing selected areas of photoresist from the surface of the jewelry item~ and either et~hing or applying coatings to ~he expo ed sur~aces which may be metal layers or may be stains.
The present invention is best understood and described with re~erenoe to the manufacture o~ a simple item of costume jewelry such as a flat, circular pendant and the drawings and des-cription axempli~y in detail a se~uen~e of such manufacture and surface treatment~ which are possible aacording to the present in-vention. This pendant is also exemplary o a structure which em-bodie~ ~he present invention and it i5 to be realized that manyvariations o fonm and surface patterns of an earring or pendant other than that de~cribed are possible.
The pendant P, illustrated at Figs. 1, 2 and 3, has a flat, circular bod~ 20 with a sui~able connector eye 21 at its top for receiving a wire loop or clasp. Although this body is illustrated as being several inches in diameter, the size may vary and the present invention i~ espec~ally sui~ed or the manuacture of very small pendants and earrings. This ¢lrcular pendant, a 1at bra~s sheet, is provided with arcuate, ooncentric windows 22. The front face o~ the pendan~ is covered with several finishes, as will be described, while the rear fa~e is plain with the excep~ion of a copyright symbol 23 at the center, as illustrated at FigO 2.
~ he body 20 of the pendant ha~ sur~ace finishes at its front face arranged in concentric ring-like patterns. This is ex-emplary only because many other patterns may be used. Commencingat the outer edge o the body, a gold plated peripheral ring 2~
includes an etched channel 2 6 at its center. A ring 2 7 lies within _7_ 3~

~he embrace of the ring 25 and is silver plated to provide a dis-- tinctive white or silver-colored sur~ace con~xasting with the .~ yellow gold ring 25. A gOla plated ring 28 lies within the em-brace o~ the silver plated ring 27, and the windows 22 are located 5 in this ring, as illustrated. A ring 29 lies within the embrace of the gold plated ring and this ring 29 is ormed as the exposed brass surface o~ ~he body 20, and is colored by a chemical stain.
Finally, a nave 30 is located a~ the center of the pendant within the embrace of the ring 29. This nave 30 is a colored, photore-~ist material which wa~ not removed from the pendant,m e rear face of ~he pendant is aoated with a gold plate 25l at all portions, excepting at the copyright symbol 23 which i~ formed of the original pho~oresist material. The metal sheet forming the body 20, though preferably of bras~, may ba o any 15 other suitable metal which can be coated with pho~ore3ist and etched with solutions suah as ~erric chloride. Al~hough the rings : 25, 27 and 28 are ~escribed as being gold and silver plated, other plating metal~ are available. It i~ to be noted that whenever two metals are to be plated, ~he first may be electroplated and the .~ 20 second may be immer~ion plated, however, the second must be higher in the electromotive series than the first but lower in the elec-tromotive ~eries than the body 20, the brass ~heet, for the body to accept the plating. ~he other metal plating suah as the gold plating will reject the same. The metal~, which may be plated onto the pendant and onto other similar flat costume jewelry items, in-clude goldt sil~er, nickel and copper. The colors ~hus obtained will be ~ellow, whitel metallic or grey and red. Also, it i.~
: possible to obtain a black nickel plate coating. Plating is possi-ble by electroplating, using a proper po~ential, or by immersion 30 or chemical plating where deposit is by ion replacem~nt. The tech-niques of electroplating are well known to the art and need not be described in de~ail.

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In addltion to obtaining various color~ by plating opera-tions, the brass æurface of the body 22 may be colored by dyes or by inducing a chemical reaction to the brass surface. For exam-ple, a ~olution of nickel ammonium sulphate and sodium thiosulfate wlll react to the brass surface, or copper surface, to color the same green. Also~ dif~erent sulphide salts will react to stain a brass or copper surface ~ a variety of colors, from yellow to dark green, depending upon the type of solution and the time of immer-sion in the solution. Such i8 weIl ~nown 1n the art and litera-ture~ Also, a skilled technician will have various proprietary combinations available'to him which are sometimes referred to as "witches brews".
Preferably, a production sheet of brass is used in the manu-facture of flat costume'jeweIry items, such as the sheet S shown at Fig. 4, and though some latitude'is possik~e in this respect, the invention will be described as auch a sheet. The front and rear sides of this sheet S are covered by a photoresist layer 30f and 30r, respectlvely, as shown at Fig. 5. These layers are hard, translucent and a~here t~ghtly to the brass sheet and can provide an enameled appearance'to the finished product such as at the nave 30 at Fig. 1.
Several types of photoresist materials are available on the market and are manu~actured as proprietar~ pxoducts. ~ne type, known as a positiVe acting photoresist, is known as Shipleys AZ-lll, a trademark of the'~hiple~ Company of California. These re-sists are'ordinaril~ mildly colored such as a pale yellow or a pale blue. EIowever, ~or this ~nvention, the same can be obtained tinted or dyed in a nu~ber of colors: red, orange, yeIlow, green, blue and purple~' In conventional operations with photoresist mater~al, as in printed ~ircuit boards, any intense coloration is undesirable. However, in the present invention, manufacture of an item o~ co~tume'~ewelry where'the photoresist ls to become part of _g_ ~ 3~b~

the finished surface of ~he jewelry item, the situation is other-wise and colored photore~ists are desirable. A selected color can easily be obtained by a technician and hence need not be des-cribed further.
Figs. 4 and 5 are illustrative of the basic step for manu-facturing several pendants with a production sheet S and ~he pen-dants will remain on this sheet until they are inished. Prefer-ably, this produc~ion sheet S is a flat, brass sheet ana ls coated with pho~oresis~ layers 30f and 30r, as heretofore descril~ed. Be-fere applic~tion, the pho~re~is~ is colored to a desired tint, and the color m~y aif~er at the front and rear sides, depending upon the desired color of the na~e 30 and the symbols 23 of the finished pendant P. In the following operational steps, it i~
necessary to use a positiYe resis~, that is, a t~pe which remains on the ~hee~ S i~ it i~ not exposed to a developmental light. It i8 to be noted that a negative resi~t, which remains on the ~heet only i~ exposed, is commonly used bu~ cannot be used in the present invention since in the present invention, portions o the positive resist will be removed step by step by repeated exposures.
me portions of the resist a~ the front and xear sides of the sheet S which are to be exposed wil} be restricted b~ masks overlying the sheet S. The ~irst set of masks to be used will be ma~k 31f a~ the ront a¢e of the ~heet S and a mask 31r at the rear side. The masks, some~ime~ referred to ~s negative tran~-parencie~, are form2d o~ tra~sparent plastic sheets coated with photographic emulsion which renders the sheets opaque at all por-tions except where it is desirea to penni~ light ~o pass through ~ them to expose ~he photoresi~t ~urfaces on the produc~ion shee~s.
; When placed against thé front and rear faces of the production sheet~ each ma~k is registered at a proper position upon the pro duc~ion sheet in any suitable manner such as ~y providing small ~ corner holes 3Z in the production sheet and corresponding holes 32' '.
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in the ma~k to receive suitable pins 33 which hold production sheets s between the sandwich of masks 31f and 31r. The steps of expo~ing and developing the production sheet S using such mask~ to rem~ve selected portions of pho~oresi~t and expose ~he ~ra~s sur-:5 face of ~he production sheet are conventional and need not be des-cribed herein~
Th~ fir~t and essen~ially ~onventional step in the sequence ie ~0 expose the pr~duction shee~ when it is sandwiched between ~he outline masks 31f and 31r which are illustrated at Fig~ 4 and `;10 al~ portions of the masks are illustrated at Figs. 6 and 6a. The front mask 31f include~-a transpare~t ring 33 which outlines the pandant body 20 ana the connector eye 21 leaving a small neck 34 attaching the eye to the body of ~he sheet to hold the pendant in place for ~ubsequent opexations. Thi~ ~heet also include~ a trans-p æent ring 35 which correspond~ to the e~ched channel 26 on the pendant and tran~parent arcuate segments 36f which corre~pond with ~ windows 22 of the pendant. The rear sheet include~ an outline `ixing 33r~ outlining ~he pendant~ which matches the outline ring . . .
33~, and transparen~ axcuate segmentæ 36r which match the trans-;:20 parent se~ment~ 36f.
The work~heet S is expo~ed, developed and e~chèd to produce the re~ult indicated at Fig. 7O m e poxtions o~ the photore~ist removed at the outline xings 33f and 33r and 3egment~ 36~ and 36r expose me~al at both sides o~ ~hQ worksheet which will be etched throughO: This will outli~e each pendant at 37 on the production sheet S~ which is hald in place by a neak 34~ It will also form the window~-22. The exposure of the phokoresist a~ the ring 35 rem~ves that ring to form the channel 26 at the front face of the penaant ~ince it will be etahed through the worksheet about half way. Thus, by etching th~ pandant at both sides o ~he sheet, the cutting through and channeling steps, as described, ma~ be done simultaneously. However, a partlal etching to aut a channel .

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in the face of the pendant may be a separate step using anot:her fron~ mask ha~ing onl~y the tran~parent ring 35 and eIiminating tha~ ring 35 from the mask 31~"
A subseque~ step in the process i5 illustrated at Fig~. 8, 8a and 9. A new set o~ masks 41f and 41r is provided with :regi5-tration holes 321 for placing again~t the production sheet S for exposure of addi~ional portions o~ the photoresist 30 and 30r.
m~ fxon~ ma~k 41f is provided wi~h ~wo transparent rings 42 and 43 which corre~pond with the gold plated ~urface ring~ ~5 and 28 of the pendant at FigO 1. me rear mask 41r i~; provided with a circular ~pening 44 which encompasses the entire rear face of the pendan~, excepting ~or an opaque copyright symbol mark 45 at the center of the opening~ This copyrigh~ syrnbol is exemplars~ of any sort of pa~ern which may be desired and ordinarily where the pen-dant~ are ~o be finished on one face onl~, the rear face is ideal for any marks such as 45 to identi~y the proprietor of the pendant, to place a copyright notice or the like ~hereon.
When the production sheet ~s sandwiched between the regis-texing masks 41~ and 41r~ exposed and developed, certain portions o~ the photoresi~t sur~aces will be removed. All of the photore-sist at the back side of the shaet will be removed, except that portion ~howing the symbol mark 23, while portion3 at the front face o~ tha pho~ore~istr outlining the rings 25 and 28 of the pen-dant P o:E ~ig. 1, will be removedO q~ereafter the ~urfaces of these rings-25 and 28 are gold plated~ At ~he same time~ the rear surface 25' of t:he pendant 20 is gold plated. Also, ~his plating operation will depo~it a ~in layer of gold at the outer edge 37 of the pendant and la~ers of gold at the edges ~f the windows 22, all as illustrated at Fig. 9 4 A s1ibsequent step in the process i~ illustrated at Flgs 10 and 11. P~ new mask 51 is provided with registration holes 32 ' for placing it against the fro~lt aca of the production sheet . : .. ,:

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for exposure o~ additional portions of the photoresist 30f~ ~his front mask 51f is provided with a transparent ring 52 which corres-ponds with the silver plated surface ring~ 27 o the penaant at Fig.
1. A blank rear mask, not shown, may be provided to cover the rear ~ace o~ the production shee~ since the operations are com~le~ed at the r~ar ~ace. When the production sheet is sandwiched between the registering mask 51f and a blank mas~ at the rear, exposed ana deveIoped, that por~ion of the photore~ist surface outlini~g the ring 27 at the front face of the pendant of Fig~ 1 will be removedr Thereafter, the surface of this ring 27 is ~ilver plated by an immer~ion plating opera~ion, such being possible ~inca the gold plating surface responds to a lower level on khe electromo~ive seri2s and will not enter in~o the reac~ion.
A mask ~or a inal step in the process is illustrated at Fig. 12~ mi~ front mask 56f is pro~ided with re~istration holes 32~ for placing it agains~ the fron~ face of ~he production sheet .
. S for exposure of additional portions o the photoresist 30f. The .. front ma~k 56f i~ provided wi~h a transparen~ ring 57 which ,~ corresponds with the stained ~urface ring 29 of Fig. 1. When the 20 production sheet s i~; san~wiched be~een ~he registering mask 56f at it ~ron~ ~ace and a blank mask a~ its rear face, exposed and developed, that po~tion o thQ phvtoresi~t surace ou~lining the ring 29 will be removed~ Thereafter, the brass surface at ~his ; ring 29 ma~ be stained to a .quitable color, ~uch a~ purple, and ; 25 ~he remaining re~s~ will form the nave 30 heretoore described .: to co~plete the pendant shown at Fig. 1 and in section at Fig. 3.
It is to be noted tha~ the operations above described which involve repeated exposures to ~equentially remove portions of the photore~ist, aan be seIec~ed ~o that one operation will not .~ 30 in~erere with another. The process can be rendered more extensive, .. ~ however, in what could be essentiall~ a repeat of the overall opera~ion by applying new layers 60f and 60r of photoresis~ to a ". :

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production sheet S car~ying ~he completed pendants, as illustrated at Fig~ 13. Thereafter, additional layers of plating or even etching may be applied to the suraces of the pendants on ~he pro-duction sheet S~ directly over the previously plated layers.
To exemplify the use o the seco~d application of pho~ore-sist on the produc~ion s~eet carrying oompleted pendants such as illustxated at Fig. 13, a ~ront mask 61f is provided with regis-tration holes 32' to fit i~ upon ~he production sheet. This front ma~k 61f is provided wi~h a transparent ring 62 which will lie at the sil~er coated ring 27 of ~he pendants, a second transparent ring 63 which will lie at the stained ring 29 ana a transparent dot 64 at the center of the pendant which will lie over the nave 30, formed by the original photoresist la~er 30f.
When the production sheet S is ~andwiched between the regis-tering mar~ 61f at its ~ront ~ace and a blank mask at its rear ~' ace, it is expo~ed and developed. That portion of the photore~
sist 60 at the ring~ 62 and 63, and the central do~ 64 will be ~ removed ~rom the production sheetn The resulting opening~ will expoæe me~a~, and as illustrated at Fig. 15, the metal surfaces will be eIeatroplated with nickel plating. A niskel plate ring 65 will be dQpo~ited upon the ~ilver layer ring 27. A ni~kel plate ring 66 will be deposited upon ~he stained brass surface ring 69, and a nickel plate dot 67 will be depo~i~ed at the center o~ the nave 30, onto the original bra~s surface of the production sheet.
l~e pendant may then be finished by further exposure and development to remove this second la~er of photoresist, leaving only ~he nave 30 at the front surface of the pendant and the s~mbol 23 at the ~ear ~ux~ace. This is accomplished by using a front ace ~:
mask similar to the face mask 56f but with a transparent ring wider than the transparent ring 57 to expose all of the pendant surface except the area forming ~he nave 30, The rear face of the produc-: tion sheet is coverea wi~h a mask 41r having a surface arrangement : . : . . . : . .: :. . : . . , 44 whi~h exposes all o~ the rear face except for the symbol 45 thereo~ Ater ~he production sheet is exposed betwe~n these masks, it is developed to remove the exposed photor~sist and the front face of the final pendant will appear as shown at Fig. 16.
The de~ign on the face of the pendant shown at Fig. 16 is the same as that shGwn at Fig. 1, excepting for the nickel ring 65 at the center of ~he silver ring 27, the nickel ring 66 at ~he c~nter of the ~talned ring 29 and ~he dot 67 at the center of the nave 30.
Another decorati~e arrangemant whi~h is possi~le with ~he pxocess above set forth reside~ in modifying the steps di~closed at Fig~ 9 b~ extending ~he photoresist 30 to the edges of the channel 26 ~o ~ha~ the gold plated ring ~urace 25 will include ~nly the channel 26. Thereaf~er, according to the step described at Figs. 10 and 11, the silver plated ring 27 will extend to the edge~ of the channel 26. This produces a yellow g~ld colored sur-face in the channel and a silvered sur~ace surrounding the channel, and in many design~, this is a desirable outstanding contrast, not only in the color of metals, but also in the levels of the sur-: aces.
. 20 It is to be emphasized that the method, through the unique :: steps in~olved therein, produces an ornamental product which can be easily distinguished ~rom similar products wherein ornamental surface covexings are applied as by damasking, handcrafting or printing. ~le colored photoresi~t, or example, ma~ be easily dis-tinguished from lacquers printed or painted onto a pendant not only by a differing ~exture appearance, but also, and more so, by the i~ edging, tha edging o~ the photoresist being of a precision, a ; photo precision delinea~ion not ~ound in lacquers applied in any other manner. Likewise, the plated portions o~ the pendant can be distinguished for they are edged with a high degree of precision, a photo pre~i~ion which cannot be obtained by other known me~hods of production.
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3i~0 It is to be again emphasized that the opera~ions desc~ibedfor forming a pendant ana a design upon the face of the pendant are exemplary of the several sa~uences to obtain varying patterns in accordance with the presen~ invention~ Thus, while I have des-5 cribed l[~r in~rention in considerable detail, it is obvious that others skilled in the art can build and devise alternate and equiv-alent constructions and sequences and ~teps which are nevertheless within the spirit and scope of ~r invention. Hence ) I aesire that Ir~ protection be limited not by the constructions illu~trated and 10 described, but onLy by the proper Elcope of the appended claim~.

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Claims (14)

I CLAIM:

1. A pendant comprising a thin sheet metal body having a selected portion of a face covered with a photoresist and a second selected portion of exposed metal wherein the same is formed by the step of coating a production sheet with a photoresist; ex-posing the production sheet to outline the pendant thereon; re-moving the exposed photoresist from the production sheet; etching the production sheet to form the pendant; thereafter, exposing the aforesaid second selected portion of the pendant and removing this said selected portion of photoresist.

2. The pendant defined in claim 1 wherein the said second selected portion of exposed metal is covered with a plating of a different metal from that of the sheet and wherein a third selected portion of exposed metal is formed by a further exposure of the photoresist on the pendant, and the removal of the exposed photo-resist.

3. The pendant defined in claim 2 wherein the said third selected portion of exposed metal is covered with a plating of a different metal from that of the sheet and from that of the metal covering the said second selected portion.

4. In the pendant defined in claim 3, wherein said second portion of the metal surface is at a depression in the sheet metal body whereby the said plating of a third metal is at a lower surface from the plating of the second metal but with the edges of the plating of the third metal covering the sides of the depression where the edges of the plating of the second metal and the plating of the third metal join.

5. In the process of the manufacture of a pendant or the like formed as a thin sheet metal body wherein the body is pro-duced from a production sheet of thin metal by the steps of:
coating the production sheet with a positive photore-sist characterized by having light exposed portions removable from the sheet;
exposing a portion of the production sheet to outline the pendant thereon;
removing the exposed photoresist from the production sheet; and subjecting the production sheet to an etching solution to cut through the sheet and form the outline of the pendant, and the further steps of :
exposing only a selected portion of the photoresist covering the pendant; and removing this exposed portion of photoresist from the pendant surface to expose the metal forming the body of the pen-dant at this selected portion with photoresist remaining at other portions on the pendant.

6. The process defined in claim 5 including the further step of:
coloring the photoresist before coating the production sheet with photoresist.

7. The process defined in claim 5, including the further steps of:
metal plating the said exposed surface of the pendant body;
exposing another portion of the photoresist upon the body; and removing this exposed portion of photoresist whereby the pendant surface will include the metal plated portion, the exposed metal portion of the body and a portion covered by the photoresist.

8. The process defined in claim 7, wherein:
the metal plated to the surface is lower in the electro-motive series than the metal forming the body of the pendant and including the further step of immersion plating the exposed metal portion of the body of the pendant with a solution of a metal which in higher in the electromotive series than the original metal plat-ing but lower in the electromotive series than the metal forming the body.

9. The process defined in claim 8, including the further step of:
partially etching the first said exposed surface of the pendant body before metal plating this first said exposed surface.

10. The process defined in claim 5, including the further step of:
dipping the pendant in a solution chemically reactive to the exposed metal surface to color the same.

11. The process defined in claim 10, wherein:
the exposed metal surface is a copper based alloy and the solution includes a sulfide.

12. In the process for the manufacture of a plurality of pendants or the like, formed as thin sheet metal bodies upon a production sheet of thin metal by the steps of:
(a) coating the production sheet with a positive photo-resist characterized by having light exposed portions removable from the sheet;
(b) covering the production sheet with a first set of masks, at the front and rear sides of the production sheet and in mutual registration with the production sheet, said masks having transparent portions to outline the pendants to be formed in the production sheet with a narrow neck joining each pendant to the production sheet;
(c) exposing the covered production sheet to light;
(d) removing the masks and thereafter removing the ex-posed photoresist from the production sheet;
(e) subjecting the production sheet to an etching solu-tion to cut through the production sheet at the outline of the pendants to form the pendants, with the pendants remaining conn-ected to the production sheet at the aforesaid necks;
(f) covering the production sheet with a second set of masks, at the front and rear sides of the production sheet in mu-tual registration with the produciton sheet, said masks having transparent portion at selected areas upon each pendant;
(g) exposing the covered production sheet to light;
(h) removing the masks and thereafter removing the ex-posed portions of photoresist from the surfaces of the pendants to expose metal areas on the bodies of the pendants at said portions with photoresist remaining at other unexposed portions on the pen-dant; and (i) severing the pendants from the production sheets at the aforesaid neck.

13. The process defined in claim 12, including the further step of:
applying an ornamental surface treatment to the exposed metal areas prior to the severing step.

14. The process defined in claim 12, including the further steps, prior to the severing step, of:
(a) applying an ornamental surface treatment to the ex-posed metal areas;
(b) covering the production sheet with a third set of masks, at the front and rear sides of the production sheet in mu-tual registration with the production sheet, said masks having transparent portions at other selected areas upon each pendant;
(c) exposing the covered production sheet to light;
and (d) removing the masks and thereafter removing the said exposed portions of photoresist from the surfaces of the pen-dants to expose said other areas on the bodies of the pendants at said portions, which photoresist remaining at other unexposed por-tions on the pendants.