Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G02—OPTICS
  • G02C—SPECTACLES; SUNGLASSES OR GOGGLES INSOFAR AS THEY HAVE THE SAME FEATURES AS SPECTACLES; CONTACT LENSES
  • G02C3/00—Special supporting arrangements for lens assemblies or monocles
  • G02C3/04—Arrangements for supporting by hand, e.g. lorgnette, Arrangements for supporting by articles
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G02—OPTICS
  • G02C—SPECTACLES; SUNGLASSES OR GOGGLES INSOFAR AS THEY HAVE THE SAME FEATURES AS SPECTACLES; CONTACT LENSES
  • G02C11/00—Non-optical adjuncts; Attachment thereof

Definitions

• the present invention relates to eyeglass clip accessories for attaching eyeglass frames to garments, such as shirt pockets or belts and methods of assembling same.
• U.S. Patent no. 1,779,015 of Schmitt which teaches temple clips that are either molded as one piece with the temple bar or attached by riveting or by a clamp form fit to the temple bar cross section.
• U.S. Patent no. 1,898,059 of McDonald discloses a temple clip attached with a split barrel clamp and retained with a set screw.
• DiFranco describes an inexpensive plastic clip which simply attaches to a variety of temple pieces through the use of two rubber "o" rings.
• This retrofit system of DiFranco "375 is not a rigid attachment however.
• U.S. Patent no. 5,235,727 of McCloskey teaches several embodiments of an attachable pocket clip made of an elastically deformable material, such as a U-shaped spring steel clasp.
• McCloskey "727 does not teach a rigid attachment, and its U-shaped embodiment does not provide a secure fit. Different designs are used for different temple piece cross sections.
• McDonald "059 teaches attaching a retrofit clip to an eyeglass temple bar piece by an artificial, extra attachment member, such as a sleeve attached to the clip which slides over the temple bar piece.
• an artificial, extra attachment member such as a sleeve attached to the clip which slides over the temple bar piece.
• Kren discloses an eyeglass storage clip attached to a temple piece with a dual barrel design. It consists of several parts and uses spring clips to attach to a garment or pocket.
• the present invention relates to pocket clips which are of the general shape of molded plastic pocket clips commonly used on inexpensive pens.
• the clip is intended to be molded of thermoplastic resins such as polycarbonate or polyvinylchloride in a variety of colors to match eyeglass temple pieces.
• these clips can also be finished in a metallic tone.
• the clip is manufactured and molded integral with the temple bar piece as a one piece unit, to engage the edge of an article of clothing.
• the pocket clip includes a base having a cantilevered clothing engaging portion extending therefrom.
• the clip is die cast integral with metal temple bars of metal eyeglass frames.
• the eyeglass frame can be made of a combination of plastic and metal.
• the eyeglass frame temple bar pieces with integral clips thereon can be made from a weldable or solderable, metallic material that is sufficiently resilient and flexible to withstand torsional forces that are applied to the eyeglass frame, such as described in US patent no. 5,801,806 of
• the temple bar pieces with integral clips thereon can be made from a nickel silver, stainless steel, titanium, or from a Monel alloy, such as a nickel silver known as M215 available from Salero Maddalena &
• the eyeglass frames can be from non-metallic materials, such as plastic, which is sufficiently resilient and durable.
• the resilient and durable plastics can include thermoplastics, polypropylene, polyethylene or thermosetting polymers, such as those with silicone or metals therein.
• the one piece temple bar piece with an integral clip can also be made by such processes for making eyeglass frames as described in U.S. patent no. 5,708,489 of Jannard. Jannard •489 discloses a variety of materials can be utilized to produce a eyewear pieces.
• a variety of metals and alloys, such as chrome molybdenum, chromium, nickel molybdenum, nickel molybdenum and chrome vanadium steel alloys, can be used. Copper, aluminum and silver based alloys can also be used.
• lightweight, high strength materials such as titanium a titanium-based alloy or titanium based metal matrix composite such as TI6AL4V, available from Timet Corp., are utilized in constructing the eyeglass frames.
• any investment castable metal or metal containing material can be used in making the eyeglass frame and integral clip, such as through routine experimentation by one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the disclosure contained herein.
• metal framed eyewear can be produced utilizing permanent mold castings, dye castings, sand castings, or investment casting techniques, utilizing a ceramic mold.
• the mold is formed by pouring a slurry of a material such as a known mold forming refractory material around an orbital or eyeglass pattern, which is maintained in position within a flask as is understood in the investment casting art. Following a preliminary drying, the mold is baked in an oven to melt the pattern, thereby leaving an empty mold cavity.
• the investment mold is thereafter fired at a temperature which is appropriate for the metal to be used, and, while still hot, molten metal is poured into the mold and allowed to solidify.
• the mold is thereafter broken away from the casting to produce the cast orbital or eyeglass.
• the cast component may thereafter be subject to post-casting operations such as sanding, polishing, grinding, or otherwise as desired to produce the finished product.
• post-casting operations such as sanding, polishing, grinding, or otherwise as desired to produce the finished product.
• the eyeglass frame temple bar piece and integral clip can be also made with metal matrix composites, metal-polymer blends and potentially purely polymeric plastic compositions.
• the eyeglass clip of the present invention compensates for the fact that the cantilevered clip exerts a significant bending moment upon the temple bar piece to which it is attached, due to the high torsional component of a cantilevered piece being subject to twisting and bending stresses when applied to the shirt pocket over time.
• slow drying glues such as rubber cement or paper muscilage are not appropriate, since they take a long time to dry and do not have the adhesive strength of the liquid instant adhesive cyanoacrylate used in one embodiment of the present invention.
• Cyanoacrylate adhesive for attaching a clip was found to be cured in a matter of less than one minute, and it created a strong bond between the plastic clip and the plastic eyeglass frame.
• the clip was tested repeatedly under different types of thickness' of clothing, such as thin summer shirts or thicker fall and winter shirts, as well as even thicker jacket pockets under different weather conditions, such as hot or cold weather, as well as sunny or stormy, humid weather.
• the present invention is done without a protruding member to scratch the skin or eye of the user, such as the rivets of Schmitt or the sleeve of McDonald.
• the present invention does not need a longitudinally extending wire piece such as in Schmitt, which is difficult to manufacture, as the wire has to be imbedded within the temple bar piece.
• the clip becomes an integral part of the eyeglass frame and will not slip, detach or loosen as the non-fixed McDonald design will.
• the clip of the present invention obviates the need to drill holes or otherwise modify the temple bar of the eyeglass frame.
• a pair of eyeglasses includes a pocket clip which is integral with a temple bar piece, or is strongly attached to one of its temple pieces, by adhesive or the like.
• An alternate embodiment includes a clip including a slot for insertion of an adhesive band therethrough.
• the clip may be a gripper clip, such as a spring loaded alligator clip.
• Figure 1 is a perspective view of a pair of eyeglasses with a retrofit pocket clip attached thereto;
• Figure 2A is a side elevational view of a pocket clip for liquid adhesive attachment to a temple bar of a pair of eyeglasses;
• Figure 2B is a bottom view thereof
• Figure 3A is a side elevational view of a pocket clip for dry adhesive attachment, to a temple bar of a pair of eyeglasses;
• Figure 3B is a bottom view thereof;
• Figure 4 is a top plan view of die-cut double sided high bond tape, used with a dry adhesive attachment embodiment for a pocket clip for a temple bar of a pair of eyeglasses;
• Figure 5 is a top plan view of a transparent high bond tape member with a release liner, used with the dry adhesive attachment embodiment as in Figure 4 ;
• Figure 6 is an isometric exploded view showing a dry adhesive attachment method for the pocket clip as in Figures 3A and 3B herein;
• Figure 7 is an end view of a retrofit pocket clip with the temple piece shown in cross section;
• Figure 8 is an end view, a first alternate embodiment of a retrofit pocket clip, with the temple piece in cross section of clip for narrow metal temple pieces shown mounted with a dry adhesive;
• Figure 9 is a side elevational view of a second alternate embodiment for a retrofit pocket clip for eyeglasses, with narrow metal temple pieces, wherein a user uses a dry adhesive mounting method;
• Figure 10 is a side view of a third alternate embodiment for a retrofit pocket clip for eyeglasses with narrow metal temple pieces shown using a liquid adhesive mounting method;
• Figure 11 is a cross sectional view of the embodiment shown in Figure 10.
• Figure 12 shows a perspective view of another embodiment for an alligator type attachment clip according to the present invention;
• Figure 13 shows a cross-sectional view of the attachment system according to the present invention along the line 13 -
• Figure 14 shows a closeup perspective detail view of the clip as in Figure 12, shown in an open position according to the present invention.
• pocket clip 2 of the present invention is of the general shape of the type of molded plastic pocket clips commonly used on inexpensive writing pens.
• Pocket clip 2 is intended to be molded of thermoplastic resins such as polycarbonate or polyvinylchloride in a variety of colors to match the color of eyeglass temple piece 3, such as black or brown.
• clip 2 can also be finished in a metallic tone such as gold or silver through a well known process used in packaging for cosmetics. Such latter clip 2 can closely match color of temple piece 3 of frame 1 of gold or silver.
• pocket clip 2 includes base portion 2a having shirt pocket engaging portion 2b cantilevered from base portion 2a.
• the clip 2 is manufactured and molded integral with the temple bar piece 3 as a one piece unit.
• clip 2 is manufactured and molded integral with temple bar piece 3 as a one piece unit, to engage the edge of an article of clothing.
• Clip 2 includes a base 2a attached to temple bar piece 3 and has a cantilevered clothing engaging portion 2b extending therefrom.
• eyeglass frame 1 with temple bar 2 having clip 2 integral thereto may be molded from plastic for plastic eyeglass frames or may be die cast integral with a metal temple bar 3 for metal eyeglass frames.
• frame 1 of a pair of eyeglasses may have pocket clip 2 which has been attached to one temple piece 3 of the pair of temple pieces of frame 1.
• pocket clip 2 may be alternatively attached to temple piece 3 using a small drop of liquid instant adhesive, such as cyanoacrylate, at mounting surface 5 thereof.
• Clip 2 is conformable to a wide variety of temple pieces, even quite narrow metallic ones.
• FIG. 3 This alternate attachment method involves the use of a liquid adhesive that the buyer may not have. In addition, the adhesive has limited shelf life, and the user must be familiar with its tendency to "glue fingers together".
• FIG. 3 uses a combination of dry adhesives (i.e.- tapes) to accomplish the attachment of pocket clip 10 to temper bar 3. This also facilitates the packaging of the clip with the attachment materials as an inexpensive complete retrofit kit, since it would be more expensive to package clip 2 of Figure 2 with liquid adhesive.
• Clip 10 of Figure 3 is also a molded clip of a similar shape to that of clip 2, but clip 10 it has larger base area 11 for mounting clip 10 upon temple bar 3. Clip 10 also includes slot 12 to accept some high bond transparent tape strip 16.
• Clip 10 also includes cantilevered shirt pocket engaging portion 10a By using a combination of dry adhesive types, the best features of each is used to accomplish a rigid permanent bond.
• Figure 4 shows a top view of double sided tape strip 15, which is a die cut piece of double sided high-bond tape with release liners on both top and bottom surfaces. Double sided tape strip 15 is cut to the exact size of mounting surface 11 of clip 10. As shown in Figure 5, also included in the kit is a short piece of high bond single-sided transparent strip tape 16, having a release liner. Both types of dry adhesive tape strips 15,16 are made by 3-M Company, and single-sided transparent tape strip 16 is marketed as "3-M Super Bond" tape.
• This further alternate attachment method for attaching pocket clip 10 to temple bar 3 involves the following simple steps:
• Double sided strip 15 is attached to mounting surface 11 of clip 10.
• the release liner is removed from single sided transparent tape strip 16.
• Single sided transparent tape strip 16 is placed in slot 12 of clip 10 with the adhesive face down. 6. Single sided transparent tape strip 16 is then tightly wound around temple bar 3 and trimmed appropriately.
• Figure 6 shows an exploded view of the relative position of the various components during the process just described.
• Figure 7 shows an end view in partial cross section of pocket clip 10 attached to temple bar 3, with double sided tape strip 15 located between pocket clip 10 and temple bar 3.
• Single sided transparent tape strip 16 ends up wound around temple bar 3 but is shown away from temple bar 3 for clarity.
• pocket clip 10 is resistant to shear forces, but the peel strength is not very high.
• transparent tape strip 16 has very good tensile strength, which prevents pocket clip 10 from being peeled off temple bar 3.
• single sided tape strip 16 does not resist shear forces or twisting very well. Therefore, the combination of both tape strips 15,16 provides a rigid permanent attachment.
• FIG. 8 shows two different views of such further embodiment of pocket clip 20.
• Pocket clip 20 is slightly narrower than pocket clip 10 and pocket clip 20 has two downwardly extending skirts 24, which skirts 24 form a groove that accepts narrow metal temple bar 22.
• single sided transparent tape strip 16 is placed in slot 12 as in the previous embodiment shown in Figures 3-
• pocket clip 27 is similar in configuration to pocket clip 20 but pocket clip 27 does not have a slot similar to slot 12.
• This embodiment of Figure 10 is for liquid adhesive attachment to very narrow metal temple bars.
• Eyeglass frame 101 includes temple bar piece 103 with alligator clip 102 attached thereto.
• Alligator clip 102 includes base section 102a and attachment section 102b, which is spring loaded and pivotable about fulcrum 102c by spring 102d. Alligator clip 102 engages with a garment, such as a shirt pocket or belt, so that the garment is tightly gripped by the clip, thereby holding the eyeglasses in place.
• Bottom base section 102a is attached to attachment section 102b, which comprises a top piece. As shown, top piece 102b and bottom piece 102a are interlocked in a enclosed position, by spring 102d, which exerts pressure upon top attachment section 102b when handle lever 102e is depressed.
• Clip 102 is either attached by an instant liquid adhesive, such as cyanacrylate, or is molded integral with the temple bar piece
• Attachment top piece 102b and bottom base piece 102a become interlocked about fulcrum 102c when they are joined together in the closed position. Interlocking can be achieved via movement of handle 102b may have a flat fabric engaging portion, or to enhance gripping, may include a texturized surface, such as with serrations, ribs, etc. It is further noted that other modifications may be made to the present invention without departing from the scope of the present invention, as noted in the appended claims.

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• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Ophthalmology & Optometry (AREA)
• Optics & Photonics (AREA)
• Eyeglasses (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Publications (2)

Family

ID=23443097

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (3)

Citations (6)

Family Cites Families (1)

• 1999
  • 1999-11-23 CA CA002381069A patent/CA2381069A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 1999-11-23 WO PCT/US1999/027827 patent/WO2001009666A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 1999-11-23 EP EP99967128A patent/EP1210639A4/de not_active Withdrawn

Patent Citations (6)

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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