DK2594148T3

DK2594148T3 - Ring

Info

Publication number: DK2594148T3
Application number: DK12007716.9T
Authority: DK
Inventors: Hans-Werner Weiss
Original assignee: Egf - Eduard G Fidel Gmbh
Priority date: 2011-11-18
Filing date: 2012-11-14
Publication date: 2017-06-19
Also published as: EP2594148A2; DE202011108441U1; EP2594148B1; ES2627793T3; EP2594148A3

Description

The invention relates to a jewellery ring, such as in particular a wedding ring, according to the preamble of claim 1. This jewellery ring has a first ring member and a second ring member. Both ring members are provided at a first end face with circumferentially arranged catch means, by way of which a catch connection can be produced between both ring members. In this instance, the catch means have on at least one of the ring members a plurality of catch portions which with respect to the bending resilience thereof acting in a radial direction are at least partially uncoupled from each other. As a result of the at least partial uncoupling of the catch portions from each other, they can be resiliently deformed at least substantially independently of each other, whereby the application of force for the resilient deformation of the catch means required during engagement can be substantially reduced. DE 203 00 443 U1 describes a multi-component jewellery ring with movable play elements. To this end, the jewellery ring has a first ring member on which there are formed a plurality of circumferentially arranged grid pins with catch hooks which can be locked to a receiving groove which is formed in a second ring member. US 6,484,536 B1 sets out an item of jewellery having a first ring member which can be engaged with a second ring member. To this end, both ring members have catch portions and catch receiving members which are arranged alternately in the circumferential direction and which can be engaged with complementary catch receiving members and catch portions of the other ring member, respectively.

Another multi-component jewellery ring is known from DE 90 16 842 Ul. It has in this instance at least two ring members which are each provided on at least one flank with an annular groove. As a result of the respective annular groove, there is formed a circumferential collar which can be engaged with a complementary collar of another ring member.

The disadvantage of the known jewellery rings is that either the application of force required for connecting the ring members is relatively great or, however, the means which are used for connection require a relatively complex structure or a length which is relatively large in profile in order to be able to engage the collars with each other, for example, by means of purely manual application of force. However, this in turn leads to a very high production complexity or a significantly limited construction freedom with respect to the jewellery ring.

An object of the invention is with a jewellery ring to avoid the mentioned disadvantages and with a simple ability for production and small extent of the catch means to enable an engagement which is stable and which can be produced with relatively little application of force.

This object is achieved with a jewellery ring having the features of claim 1. In this instance, the catch portions are formed by means of a circumferential collar which is formed by introducing an edge-side groove in an end face of the ring member and which has to separate the catch portions a plurality of material recesses which are separated from each other. The production complexity for the separated catch portions is thereby small and the bending resilience thereof can be adjusted in a particularly simple manner in order to also be able to produce with a small application of force a stable catch connection between two annular members. In addition, it is also possible in this instance to construct the individual catch portions in profile with a relatively small extent so that the construction freedom of the jewellery ring is not influenced significantly by the required catch portions.

The catch portions have in this instance an outer face which tapers conically in the direction towards the base portion, whereby the catch portions form an undercut by means of which the correspondingly formed counter-catch means of the other ring member in each case are engaged behind almost in a positive-locking manner when the catch connection is produced.

In this instance, it is advantageous for the catch portions to protrude from a closed circumferential base portion of the first ring member and for the material recesses to completely interrupt the collar in each case. As a result of such a complete interruption of the collar, the individual catch portions can be completely uncoupled from each other with regard to their bending resilience, with the exception of a stress transmission which can be disregarded via the base portion of the ring member which remains beside the collar. In this manner, for the total of all the catch portions of a ring member, a particularly high bending resilience can be achieved, whereby in turn the application of force required to produce a catch connection or the required profile height of the catch portions can be reduced.

Advantageously, the material recesses are formed in a radial operating direction in the collar. In this manner, the separation of the individual catch portions is possible by means of a particularly simple finishing processing operation of the collar.

In addition, it is advantageous for the catch means to have at least three catch portions, whereby a suitable bending resilience of the catch portions can be ensured. In order to be able to ensure, on the one hand, easy production of the catch connection and, on the other hand, a high level of stability of the catch connection produced, in this instance from 5 to 7 catch portions are preferably formed.

The catch means advantageously have on one of the ring members which are intended to be connected to each other a closed circumferential catch collar, by means of which the catch portions can be engaged. Regardless of the rotation position of the relevant annular members with respect to each other, it is thereby possible to ensure a consistently stable catch connection. However, it is also alternatively possible to connect circumferentially arranged catch portions of a ring member to complementarily arranged catch portions of another ring member.

It is further advantageous for the catch collar to have an undercut which is formed in a complementary manner to an undercut of the catch portions. In this manner, there is enabled a particularly stable catch connection which, in addition to the almost positivelocking securing thereof in an axial direction as a result of the particularly large contact face between two ring members, also acts in a rotation direction.

In another advantageous embodiment, there is provided at least one ring member which has catch means both at one end face and at a second end face facing away therefrom. As a result of such an intermediate ring, the jewellery ring may, on the whole, be freely expanded.

It is further advantageous for the ring members in the engaged state to be subjected to a common processing step, such as, in particular a fine-finishing operation or a polishing operation. In this manner, the relevant ring members can be adapted to each other in a particularly precise manner.

An exemplary embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the Figures, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a jewellery ring according to the invention in the assembled state,

Fig. 2 is a perspective plan view of two ring members of the jewellery ring according to Fig. 1 in the separated state,

Fig. 3 is a straight-ahead plan view of a respective first end face of the two ring members according to Fig. 2,

Fig. 4 is a side view of the two annular members according to Fig. 2 in the separated state,

Fig. 5 is a sectioned view of the two annular members according to Fig. 4 in the engaged state, and

Fig. 6 shows an alternative embodiment of the jewellery ring with an additional intermediate ring member.

Fig. 1 shows a jewellery ring 2, such as, for example, a wedding ring, which has a first ring member 4 and a second ring member 6 which can be secured to each other. The two ring members 4, 6 form in this manner a common finger receiving member 8 which extends along an axis A.

In order to connect the two ring members 4, 6, they have at a respective first end face 10,12 catch means, by way of which, preferably by means of simple manual force application, a catch connection can be produced, as indicated by the assembly line M from Fig. 2.

As can further be seen in Fig. 2, the catch means of the first ring member 4 are in this instance formed by means of a collar 14 which extends around the axis A or the finger receiving member 8 and in which there are formed at least three and preferably as illustrated between five and seven material recesses 16 which produce the same number of catch portions 18. The catch portions 18 are thereby at least to the greatest possible extent retained on a base member 20 of the ring member 4 in a state uncoupled from each other in a radial direction R with respect to the axis A so as to be able to be deformed in a resiliently flexible manner.

By pressing the first end face 10 of the first ring member 4 onto the first end face 12 of the second ring member 6 in the assembly direction M, the catch portions 18 can be engaged with a catch collar 22 which is formed on a base portion 24 of the second ring member 6 and which extends in a closed manner around the axis A or the finger receiving member 8.

In order to be able to ensure a cost-effective production of the catch means, the collar 14 of the first ring member 4 and the catch collar 22 of the second ring member 6 may be formed, for example, by introducing a groove N in the respective end face 10,12, as illustrated in Fig. 3 by dot-dash lines. In addition, the material recesses 16 are, for example, introduced by means of a rotation tool W with a radial operating direction AR in the collar 14 of the first ring member 4.

In the illustrated embodiment of the jewellery ring 2, the collar 14 is formed on an inner side of the ring member 4 and the catch collar 22 is formed on an outer side of the ring member 6. Alternatively, the collar 14 and the catch collar 22 may also be arranged the other way round. In addition, the catch collar 22 could also alternatively be sub-divided by corresponding material recesses into individual catch portions which are uncoupled from each other (not illustrated).

As can be seen in particular in Figs. 4 and 5, the grooves N on both ring members 4, 6 are constructed in such a manner that both the collar 14 and the catch collar 22 form an undercut H by means of which both collars 14, 22 engage one behind the other in the connected state. In addition, the collar 14 and the catch collar 22 are constructed so as to complement each other, wherein the catch portions 18 of the collar 14 have an outer face AF which tapers conically in the direction towards the base portion 20 and the catch collar 22 has an inner face IF which tapers conically away from the base portion 24.

Fig. 6 shows another embodiment of the jewellery ring 2. It has an intermediate ring member 30 which in addition to catch means on a first end face 26 has additional catch means at a second end face 28 facing away therefrom. The catch means of the intermediate ring member 30 are constructed in Fig. 6, for example, at both sides as catch portions 18 in accordance with the catch portions 18 of the above-described first ring member 4. These can in each case be connected to a catch collar 22 of a respective end ring member 32 which is constructed in accordance with the above-described second ring member 6.

As an alternative to the illustrated embodiment, the catch means of the intermediate ring member 30 may also be formed on one or both end faces 26, 28 by means of a catch collar 22 in accordance with the catch collar 22 of the above-described second ring member 6 (not illustrated). In this instance, the end ring member 32 would be provided in each case with the catch portions 18 in accordance with the above-described first ring member 4.

Furthermore, in addition to the intermediate ring member 30, at least one additional intermediate ring member 34 could be provided, as illustrated by dot-dash lines. The catch means thereof could, for example, be formed at one side by means of a catch collar 22 and, at the other side, by means of catch portions 18, whereby the jewellery ring 2 would be able to be freely expanded.

Furthermore, in all the above-described embodiments, it would be conceivable to also provide the catch collar 22 with material recesses 16 and consequently to construct the catch means which are intended to be connected at both sides as catch portions 18 which are at least partially uncoupled from each other.

Claims

A jewelry ring (2), such as, a wedding ring, having a first ring body (4) and a second ring body (6), comprising in each case on a first side surface (10, 12) engaging means arranged peripherally, by means of which a engaging connection can be established between both annular bodies (4, 6), wherein the engaging means on at least one of the annular bodies (4, 6) comprises a plurality of engaging parts (18) which, according to their bending elasticity acting in radial direction (R), are at least partially disengaged from each other, and wherein the engaging parts (18) are formed by a peripheral collar (14) formed by inserting a groove (N) on a side surface (10) of the ring body (4), and which comprises a plurality of material punches (16), separated from each other, characterized in that the engaging parts (18) comprise an outer surface (AF) which slopes conically against a base part (20).

Jewelry ring according to claim 1, characterized in that the engaging parts (18) protrude from a closed peripheral base part (20) of the first ring body (4) and the material punches (16) in each case completely interrupt the collar (14).

Jewelry ring according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that material punches (16) are inserted in the collar (14) along a radial working direction (AR).

Jewelry ring according to claim 3, characterized in that the material punches (16) are inserted by means of a rotation tool (W) along the radial working direction (AR).

Jewelry ring according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the engaging means comprises at least three engaging parts (18).

Jewelery ring according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the engaging member on the second ring body (6) comprises a closed peripheral engaging collar (22), with which the engaging parts (18) can be locked.

Jewelery ring according to claim 6, characterized in that the engaging collar (22) has a undercut (H) formed to be complementary to an undercut (H) of the engaging part (18).

Jewelry ring according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that at least one intermediate ring body (30) is provided, which has engaging means both on a first side surface (26) as well as a second side surface (28) facing away from the first side surface.

Jewelry ring according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the ring bodies (4, 6, 30) are provided with machining performed in the locked condition.