EP0821807A1

EP0821807A1 - Eyeglasses

Info

Publication number: EP0821807A1
Application number: EP96910917A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Flemming Bo Hansen; Kim Buck
Original assignee: Pro Design International AS
Current assignee: Pro Design International AS
Priority date: 1995-04-21
Filing date: 1996-04-22
Publication date: 1998-02-04
Also published as: AU5397096A; WO1996033438A1

Abstract

In rimless eyeglasses the frame details have to be secured to the lenses in a direct manner, each preferably by means of a single round hole (18) in the respective sides of the lenses (2). The frame details, typically terminated in a wire loop or eyelet (12, 14), should then be stabilized against rotation about the associated holding pin or screw (20), and it is known to achieve such a stabilisation by an engagement between the frame detail wire (16) and a notch in the edge of the lens. Such a notch, however, weakens the lens, and according to the invention the notch is changed into a groove (26) in the lens surface between the hole (18) and the edge of the lens, levaing the outer peripheral contour of the lens unbroken and yet providing for full stabilisation of the frame detail wire (16)

Description

Eyeglasses

The present invention relates to rimless eyeglasses hav¬ ing means for securing both the temple hinge elements and the nose bridge element directly to the lenses. More specifi¬ cally, the invention relates to such eye glasses in which at least some of said elements comprise round wire portions for connection with the lenses or glasses. In order to hold such elements the glasses should be provided with holes, but with simple, round holes it is not easy to achieve a fixation of the round wire in such a manner that the connected element cannot rotate relatively to the glass.

In EP-A-0,256,098 it is suggested that a non-rotatable connection may be obtained by forming a bent loop on the wire end and inserting the loop into an oblong hole in the glass, but this solution is not ideal because the oblong hole has to be formed with a high degree of precision in order to hold the loops properly, i.e. safely and without the glass being subjected to unacceptable stress.

According to US-A-943,085, another solution is to make an eyelet on the wire and clamp this eyelet to a round hole in the glass, while the wire is otherwise stabilised by extend¬ ing through a nearby edge kerb in the glass. Such edge kerbs, however, have been found to weaken the glasses considerably, so this is not either any attractable solution.

According to the present invention a much better approach is to avoid the said edge kerbs and instead provide for the wire connection to or from the said eyelet to extend through a groove provided in the front or rear surface of the respec¬ tive glasses, without these grooves giving rise to exterior edge kerbs in the glasses. For the holding of the wire in or- der to prevent rotation of the associated element it is fully sufficient to make use of a surface groove in the front or rear glass side, without relying on any through-going edge kerb, only provided the eyelet is held firmly against the re¬ spective front or rear side of the glass in order to stabi- lise the engagement between the wire/wires and the groove/- grooves.

In principle, the groove or depression could be made such that it could receive even the eyelet itself, whereby the wire connection could extend in parallel with the local plane of the glass out though the groove to the generally unbroken edge of the glass. However, this would imply a reduced thick¬ ness of the glass just where the hole is located, and that would normally not be desirable. However, even if the eyelet is placed against the natural surface of the glass the wire or wires can still extend through suitable groove means, viz. when the latter extend in an inclined manner between the vi¬ cinity of the hole and the nearby edge of the glass. What really matters is the engagement between the wire or wires and the sides of the outermost, deeper groove end portion.

The invention is not limited to any particular manner of securing the wire to the hole, but a preferred arrangement is to make use of the said eyelet in association with an already known securing system comprising a threaded hole and a plas¬ tic bolt co-operating directly with the threads of the hole; a small bolt head may then press the eyelet firmly against the surface of the glass.

In the following, the invention is described in more de- tail with reference to the drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a pair of glasses made in accordance with the invention;

Fig. 2 and 3 are perspective exploded views of details thereof, Fig. 4 is a plan sectional side view along the line IV-IV of Fig. 3. ;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view relating to a modified em¬ bodiment of the invention; and

Fig. 6 is a sectional view, seen from above, for further illustrating the invention.

The glasses shown in Fig. 1 are, generally, rather simi¬ lar to those disclosed in WO#. They comprise two lenses 2 which are interconnected by a nose bridge element 4 secured to the lenses in points 6 in a non-rotatable manner, and at their outer sides correspondingly point connected with fixed hinge parts 8 forming hinges for respective temples 10.

The details 4 and 8 are made of a wire material, prefer¬ ably of a titanium alloy, and basically, therefore, the rele- vant connections can be established by means of a wire eyelet 12 or 14 as shown in Figs. 2 and 5 with associated two wires or one wire 16, respectively, and an associated hole 18 in the lens and a bolt 20 with bolt head 22 for clamping the eyelet against the front or rear lense side. The bolt 20,22 is fixable preferably by the hole 18 being threaded, but al¬ ternatively by means of a nut 24 on the opposite side of the lens, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2.

It is easily appreciated that the connecting wire or wires 16 could be anchored against rotation about the center of the respective eyelets 12 and 14 in being bent so as to pass through a notch in the nearby outer edge of the lens, but such an arrangement would weaken the lens noticeably.

According to the present invention, however, and as more clearly illustrated in Fig. 3-6, such an edge notch is avoided and is substituted by one or more recesses 26 in the respective outer or inner lens surface, whereby, when the eyelet 12,14 is tightened against this surface, the connector wire or wires 16, when appropriately bent out from the plane of the eyelet, will be anchored against rotation in being em¬ bedded in the recess 26, without this recess breaking through to become a real notch in the edge of the lens.

As clearly shown in the various Figures it is preferred that the notches 26, whether adapted for one or two connector wires, be worked out so as to extend in an inclined manner from the full lens thickness around the hole 18 to a reduced thickness at the nearby edge of the lens, still without breaking through the lens edge as a whole.

Hereby the said details 4 and 8, no matter how they are otherwise designed, will be fixable to the glasses in a very advantageous manner, leaving the lenses free of weakening edge notches.

The invention also deals with another problem, viz. that of arranging for stop means for the temples 10 against being swung outwardly further than to a position generally perpen¬ dicular to the common plane of the lenses 2. When made of wire material, the hinge portions between the parts 8 and 10 will comprise a screw wound portion of one of these elements. adapted so as to be rotatable about a straight hinge pin por¬ tion of the opposite element. In the fully open position the two parts generally stretch away from each other from the axis of the hinge, and it is natural to establish an end stop for the outward swinging of the temple by means of a prolon¬ gation of the wire of one of the parts so that this wire end will extend beyond the hinged end of the same part, so as to be present as a stop member for the relative rotation between the two parts. Normally, however, this will imply the pres- ence of a projecting, free wire end which is inconvenient in daily use, particularly if the glasses are now and then placed in a pocket.

A construction of this type is disclosed in US-A-#"Belt", where the said free wire end is clearly visible as an incon- venient projection. Another solution is known from EP-

A/^,,Lindberg", where the said wire end is not actually pro¬ jecting beyond the hinge area, as it is constituted by a free wire end of the said hinge coil, co-operating with a wire portion of the other hinge part, viz. the connector wire por- tion from which the hinge pins is sharply bent out. Here, the projecting wire portion has been avoided, but the raw wire end is still exposed when the temple is folded in, and be¬ sides even the free end of the hinge pin is exposed as a raw wire end, inasfar as it is used for anchoring the coil in be- ing slightly bent out at the opposite end of the coil.

According to this aspect of the invention there is pro¬ vided an improved arrangement, whereby the said stop exten¬ sion beyond the hinge axis is a closed wire loop, which for one thing forms an overall "soft" protrusion that will not incur any tearing risks, and which for another thing is so designable that it may serve to make its own free wire end non-exposed, in that the free wire end, whether or not con¬ stituting the hinge pin, can be located so as to be covered by the wire extending into the loop. The active stop portion of the loop will be its outermost closed end portion that will cooperate with the other hinge part outside the peri¬ phery of the hinge coil, i.e. well and safely spaced from the hinge pin itself, and the loop can be arranged so as to cover not only its own free wire end, but even that of the hinge pin, should these be different.

Fig. 7 shows a hinge similar to those used in Fig. 1. The connector wires 16 from the eyelet 12 are extended so as to form a wire coil 30 or rather two superimposed, narrow eye¬ lets. The associated temple 10 is shaped so as to have its free end portion located as a hinge pin inside the coil 30, projecting out of the lower end thereof and bent forwardly in a portion 32, upwardly in a portion 34 and rearwardly in an upper portion 36 that extends tightly above the upper end of the coil 30, thus steadily covering the area where the free end of the said hinge pin is located. When the temple 10 is swung out towards its normal position of use, as shown in dotted lines, the loop section 32,34,36 will be swung for- wardly and inwardly until it abuts the connector wires 16. Thus, the rotation stop will be located with some spacing from the hinge pin, whereby the tolerance requirements are moderate for an accurately located stop.

In fig. 8 is shown a similar system, in which the loop section 32,34,36 is turned upside down compared with Fig. 2. In Fig. 8 the coil or double eyelet 30 is formed as end por¬ tions of rim wires 38 for a lens; for this aspect of the in¬ vention it is without relevance in which manner the hinge parts are fixed to the glasses. Fig. 9 shows a system corresponding to Fig. 7, yet with a base structure according to Fig. 5.

In Fig. 10 is shown an •inverted' system, where the hinge pin is formed on the connector wire 16 and the latter forms a rearwardly projecting loop cooperating directly with the foremost part of the temple, this part continuing in a real hinge coil.

Preferably, the hinge pin portions are not received di¬ rectly in the coils or eyelets, but in a central plastic bushing which will provide for a suitable resistance against the pivoting movement of the temple.

It will be appreciated that in the different embodiments the free wire end portions are not liable to be caught and deformed by coaction with textile fibres or the like, whereby the rotation stop is arranged in a very 'clean' manner.

Claims

C L A I M S :

1. Eyeglasses of the type ha Ϊ ng means for securing details such as a nose bridge or temple hinges directly to the lenses, said means comprising for each fixation a round hole in the lens, a wire eyelet on connector wire means of the relevant detail, and screw or clamping means for holding the eyelet in firm abutment with the lens surface about the hole, where¬ by the said connector wire means extend through recess means at a nearby lens edge portion in order to counteract relative rotation of the joined parts about the center of the hole, characterized in that the said recess means are provided in the lens surface between the hole and the lens edge, and that the depth of the recess means is smaller than the thickness of the lens so as to leave the outer peripheral contour of the lens unbroken.

2. Eyeglasses according to claim 1, in which the recess means are arranged with increasing depth from an area near the hole to the edge of the lens.

3. Eyeglasses according to claim 1 , where the eyelet is provided with two connector wires, each extending in respective separate recesses.

4. Eyeglasses according to claim 1, in which the connector wire means are bent at the outer end of the recess means so as to additionally contact the unbroken contour edge of the lens.

5. Eyeglasses, preferably according to any of the preceding claims, in which the temples are connected with the lens/frame structure through hinge means comprising a hinge bushing connected with one part and, rotatably received therein, a straight hinge pin connected with the other part, the hinge means being designed such that the temple reaches a pivot stop when it is swung out into its position of use, characterized in that the pivot stop is arranged by means the hinge pin being connected to its associated part through a wire loop extending over the height of the hinge bushing next to the outer side thereof and continuing as a connector wire in or to said part. such that said pivoting of the temple results in the wire loop being swung into abutting engagement with the connector means between the hinge bushing and its associated, other part.

6. Eyeglasses according to claim 5, in which the hinge bushing is of the type made as a wire coil or superimposed wire eye¬ lets.

7. Eyeglasses according to claim 5, in which the hinge bushing is the fixed hinge part and the loop is formed at the respective end of a temple made of wire material, the loop projecting beyond the pivot axis of the temple.

8. Eyeglasses according to claim 6, in which the hinge bushing is formed by the wire material of the temple and the loop is formed by wire material integrally connecting the hinge pin with the lens/frame structure.