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The invention relates to a piece of jewellery, comprising a setting assembly for at least one gemstone comprising a central carrier provided with a holder for the gemstone, and clamping means which extend at both sides of the carrier when the stone is mounted and are provided with projecting edge parts for accommodating said gemstone between said edges and the carrier, which clamping means and carrier are provided with interacting positioning means.
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Such a piece of jewellery is known from US Patent Specification 4,819,453. In this case the clamping means consist of a housing with considerable extra width and closed all round, and the carrier is in the form of a flat plate in which openings are made. This flat plate is snapped into the clamping means, which are in the form of a housing. In this case a number of stones situated in the flat plate are confined in the housing. It is necessary here to connect the housing to the remaining part of the piece of jewellery, such as a ring. Such a design is particularly complicated to produce, while it is difficult to work accurately, due to the fact that the carrier is flexible. Besides, there is a risk of the snap connection between carrier and clamping means coming apart. It is not easy to clamp stones of varying sizes securely in such a carrier. Moreover, it is impossible to produce rings using such a design, because sufficient rigidity and an aesthetic appearance cannot be combined with this design.
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The object of the invention is to avoid these disadvantages.
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This object is achieved in the case of the above-described piece of jewellery through the fact that the clamping means comprise at least one essentially flat separate clamping plate, and that the carrier is connected to the remaining part of the piece of jewellery.
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The idea on which the invention is based is to make the carrier relatively rigid, so that it can be connected to the remaining part of the piece of jewellery. The clamping means can then be designed as a simple flat clamping plate which no longer acts as a holder. This means that the gemstone can be accommodated between clamping plate and carrier and need no longer be confined on all sides. It will be understood that such a design is much easier to achieve, which means that it is possible to work considerably more cheaply. This clamping plate can be flat or curved. The latter is used for, for example, a bow-shaped pendant, in the case of which a curved clamping plate is fitted at both sides.
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Since the carrier has a greater thickness of material than that in the design according to US Patent Specification 4,819,453, it is possible to make an opening therein which is a pin-and-hole construction and forms the connection with the clamping plate. Such a connection is much more rigid than the snap connection proposed in US Patent Specification 4,819,453.
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It is pointed out that British Patent Specification 330,763 discloses a ring in which clamping plates are used. However, in this case the stones are not confined by means of said clamping plates, but are already set in the carrier in another way. These clamping plates are therefore not provided with projecting edge parts.
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Although it has been described above that the positioning means comprise a pin-and-hole construction, it is easily possible for them to comprise any other construction known in the prior art. Normally, after it has been fitted on the carrier, the clamping plate will be immovably fixed thereto, for example by soldering. The positioning means have only a temporary function. It is therefore also possible to fit the positioning means on the clamping plate in such a way that they confine the carrier and can be removed after soldering. In other words, pins alone may be present on the clamping plate, which pins engage behind the carrier, so that the holes need not be made in the carrier.
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According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, which will be used in particular if the piece of jewellery comprises a ring, both the carrier and the clamping plates are made with the outer peripheral face curved. Due to the fact that the clamping plates are essentially flat parts, it is particularly easy to make them curved.
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With the construction according to the invention it is possible to make various openings lying in series in the carrier, for the accommodation of stones of varying sizes. For adaptation to the varying size of these stones, or for achieving an additional ornamental effect, where varying stones are used the clamping plates can be in the form of clamping plate parts spaced apart. If stones of varying sizes are used, it is, of course, necessary for the thickness of the projecting edge of the clamping plate to vary, or for the clamping plate parts to have edges of varying thickness. The edge of the clamping plate can also vary in width and height.
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With the clamping plate according to the invention the stone is confined in a simple manner, and there is no longer the problem of the construction being over-rigid, as happens in particular in the case of the gemstone of US Patent Specification 4,819,453.
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The invention will be explained in greater detail below with reference to an exemplary embodiment shown in the drawing, in which:
- Fig. 1 shows in perspective view the various parts from which the piece of jewellery according to the invention, in the form of a ring here, is formed;
- Fig. 2 shows in perspective view the assembled piece of jewellery according to Fig. 1;
- Fig. 3 shows a cross-section along the line III-III from Fig. 2.
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Fig. 1 illustrates a piece of jewellery 10, in this case a ring. However, it must be understood that the invention also relates to other pieces of jewellery, such as pendants. The only feature which is of vital importance is the presence of a central carrier 2 (Fig. 3) bounded on either side by clamping plates 4 and 5 respectively. It can be seen from Fig. 1 that these clamping plates 4 and 5 are curved in the same way as carrier 2. The clamping plates 4 and 5 are each provided with pins 7, which can engage in corresponding holes 8 disposed in the carrier 2. Carrier 2 is provided with a number of openings 3 for the accommodation of a gemstone 1. For confining said gemstone 1 between the clamping plates 4 and 5 and carrier 2, said clamping plates are provided with projecting edge parts 9. In this case everything is designed in such a way that a space 11 for confining the stones is left between the projecting edge parts 9 and the carrier 2.
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The above-described ring is assembled as follows:
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Carrier 2 is provided first, and then either stone 1 is placed first or first clamping plate 5 is fixed to carrier 2 first. The latter can be carried out by, for example, soldering or spot welding. It is also possible to make carrier 2 and clamping plate 5 integral, but for production reasons this is not a preferred solution. After the placing of ring 1 and clamping plate 5, ring 1 is then confined by placing clamping plate 4. Both clamping plates 4 and 5 are parts which are simple to produce, and they can be fixed simply, but precisely on the carrier. It is also possible to place the stone first and then fit the two plates.
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It will be clear that if the dimensions of the stone vary, either opening 3 or the shape of the projecting edge parts 9 must be altered. In the above-described embodiment, the clamping plates are always described as one part. In particular if a large number of stones have to be accommodated in the carrier 2, as in the case of engagement rings which are provided with stones all round, it is possible to form the clamping plates from plate parts, each of which can be fixed to the carrier in the above-described way. This fixing need not necessarily comprise a pin-and-hole connection. The positioning is important only for the soldering down or fixing of the clamping plate 4, 5 in another way to the carrier 2. Thereafter it is not important because the forces are then absorbed by the subsequent connection. This makes it possible to design the fixing means in another way. The carrier 2 shown here is relatively rigid, unlike the carrier known in the prior art. This makes it relatively easy to provide an adaptation for stones of various dimensions.
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The above-described variants of the embodiment shown in Figs. 1 - 3 all fall within the scope of the present invention. It will be understood that yet further variants will occur to those who are skilled in the art, and these also fall within the scope of the appended claims.
