GB1590143A

GB1590143A - Spectacle frame

Info

Publication number: GB1590143A
Application number: GB31431/77A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: MUST CARTIER FRANCE
Current assignee: MUST CARTIER FRANCE
Priority date: 1976-07-27
Filing date: 1977-07-26
Publication date: 1981-05-28
Also published as: IL52600A0; ES230156U; BE857159A; IT1082229B; NL7708251A; FR2360095A1; CH618021A5; IL52600A; DE2733499A1; JPS5315847A; MC1161A1; BR7704906A; ZA774492B; ES230156Y

Description

(54) SPECTACLE FRAME (71) We, LES MUST DE CARTIER-FRANcE, a French Body Corporate of 4, rue de la Paix - 75002 - Paris, France do hereby declare the invention for which we pray that a Patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement:- The present invention relates to a spectacle frame.

The invention more precisely relates to a spectacle frame of the type comprising two encircling members, each surrounding and maintaining in place a respective one of the lenses, said two encircling members being joined by a bridge which, in use, rests on the nose of the wearer, each encircling member being provided with a detachable pivotally mounted side arm which, in use, rests on the upper part of the start of the auricle so as to maintain the spectacles in position without tilting on the nose of the wearer.

According to the invention each encircling member has a gap on the outside, that is to say on the side opposite to the side having the said bridge, the open ends of the gap in each encircling member being bent generally outwardly in such a way as to form upper and lower external lateral tabs; each side arm of the frame having a fork-shaped end with two prongs, and the external lateral tabs being inserted between the prongs of said fork in in such a way that the outer face of each lateral tab and the inner face of the corresponding prong of each fork are pressed against one another, the outer faces of said external lateral tabs and the inner faces of the prongs of said fork being provided with complementary members which ensure on the one hand the retention of the lateral tabs within the said fork whereby the encircling members are contracted into a lens locking position, and on the other hand the pivotal mounting of the side arms of the spectacle frame on the tabs, the complementary members being in the form of pairs of complementary pins and holes on the facing faces and the prongs of the fork at the end of the side arms with the inner faces of the terminal fork of each side arm having a pin directed towards the inside and the outer faces of the of the external lateral tabs of the encircling members are provided with holes which serve to receive the said pins.

Obviously the complementary members are oriented in such a way that each hinge formed thereby has an axis located substantially in the plane of the encircling members, said axis being parallel to the plane of symmetry of the spectacle frame.

It is obvious that the spectacle frame defined hereinbefore has a plane of symmetry perpendicular to the plane defined by the encircling members and passing through the centre of the bridge of the two encircling members.

Preferably those portions of the external lateral tabs and the fork prongs which are in mutual contact are planar or substantially planar.

In a first embodiment of the spectacle frame according to the invention the external lateral tabs of each encircling member are inserted into the terminal fork of the corresponding side arm by elastic deformation of the encircling member in such a way that the outer face of each lateral tab resiliently bears against the inner face of the corresponding prong of the fork.

In a second embodiment the two prongs of the terminal fork of each side arm are articulated relative to one another about an axis located at the junction point of said two prongs and perpendicular to the plane of said fork, each side arm of the spectacles being provided with means for pivoting the two prongs relative to one another.

By spreading apart the two prongs it is then possible to insert the external tabs of the relevant encircling member between the prongs of the fork. As a result of further pivoting in the opposite direction which brings the two prongs together the latter act as jaws and compress the outer faces of each lateral tab of the encircling member.

Preferably the side arms of the spectacles have means for locking the two prongs in the position in which the tabs of the encircling member are engaged, that is to say with the ends of the two prongs in the close together position.

To this end each side arm of the spectacles can have one side arm member rigidly fixed to one of the prongs of the terminal fork and a second side arm member which intersects with the first and is rigidly fixed to the other prong of the fork, the ends of the two side arm members opposite to the ends fixed to the fork prongs being arranged to overlap and being movable to open or close said fork by sliding a ring surrounding the two side members at their intersection point in such a way as to vary said intersection point. The position wherein the intersection point is furthest from the fork corresponds to the position of maximum closeness of the two fork prongs, that is to say the locking position of the encircling member and the fixing position of the side arm of the spectacles.

Preferably the sliding ring can be locked in said "closed" position of the fork by means of clips.

Two embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a pair of spectacles with a frame according to the invention.

Fig. 2. is a part perspective view of an encircling member and a side of the spectacles prior to fixing the said side arm to the external lateral tabs of the encircling member.

Fig. 3. is a similar view to Fig. 2, but this view of the side of the spectacles is fixed to the encircling member.

Figs. 4 and 5. Show another embodiment of side arm of the spectacles, in which the two prongs of the terminal fork are articulated to one another.

The spectacle frame shown in the drawings comprises two encircling members (1, 1') which surround and maintain in place the lenses (2, 2'). These encircling members are joined together by a bridge (3). Each of the encircling members is ,equipped with a pivotally mounted side arm (4, 4').

The thus defined pair of spectacles has a plane of symmetry perpendicular to the plane of the encircling members (1, 1'), said plane passing through the centre of bride (3).

The encircling members have the same shape as the spectacle lenses which, as is known, can vary widely.

Reference will be made hereinafter to a circular shape of the encircling members, solely for reasons of simplification. The following description must not be interpreted in a limitative manner in this respect.

As can be seen in Fig. 2 the encircling members, such as (1), are gapped on the outer side, that is to say on the side opposite to that carrying the bride (3). In other words the encircling member (1) has the shape of an incomplete circle, whose opens ends which are relatively close together are bent generally outwardly in such a way as to form in each case an external lateral tab (6, 7).

Moreover, as can be seen in Fig. 2, each of the side arms of the spectacles, such as side arm (4), has at the end of which it is joined to the encircling member, a forkshaped arrangement with two prongs (8, 9).

The inner faces (8a, 9a) of prongs (8, 9) are each provided with an inwardly directed pin (10 11).

The outer faces (6a, 7a) of the external lateral tabs (6, 7) each have a hole such as (12) visible on the external lateral tab (6) (the identical hole on the external lateral tab (7) is not visible in Fig. 2).

By closing the encircling member (1) in such a way as to bring the external lateral tabs (6, 7) as close together as possible, pin (10) can be inserted in hole (12), whilst pin (11) is inserted in the identical hole in the external lateral tab (7).

The external lateral tabs are thus fixed between the prongs of the side arms of the spectacles (4) which has the effect of maintaining the encircling member in a lenslocking position. In addition, pins (10, 11) act as pivots for the side arms of spectacles (4).

It is clear that the spectacle frame thus has a (side arm mounting arrangement) serving both as the articulation axis of each side arm hinge relative to encircling members and as the means for closing the encircling members onto the lenses.

Figs. 4 and 5 show a different embodiment of a side arm for the above mentioned spectacle frame according to the invention, comprising a first side arm member (13) and a second side arm member (14), the terminal fork comprising two prongs (15, 16) articulated about spindle (17). Side arm member (13) is fixed to prong (15) and side arm member (14) is fixed to prong (16).

The two side arm members (13) and (14) are surrounded at their movable intersection point by a sliding ring (18). It can be seen that by sliding the ring to the right from the "open" position shown in Fig. 4, it is possible to remove the point of intersection of the ends of side arm members (13) and (14) to a point on the arm remote from the prongs (15) and (16), which has the effect of bringing the prongs (15) and (16) of the fork together in a "closed" position shown in Fig. 5. This closed position correspnds to the lens locking position of the encircling members and the fixing position of the side arms of the spectacles, whilst the open position corresponds to a dismantling position of the side arms from the spectacles and also optionally of the lenses.

As in the previous embodiment the inner faces (15a, 16a) of prongs (15, 16) are each provided with an inwardly directed pin (19, 20), which serves both as fixing and pivot pin means for each side arm relative to the encircling members.

Fig. 5 shows that the closed position corresponds to the intersection of the side arm members being in the vicinity of the end of the shortest side member (member 14).

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. A spectacle frame of the type comprising two encircling members, each surrounding and maintaining in place a respective one of the lenses, said two encircling members being joined by a bridge which, in use, rests on the nose of the wearer, each encircling member being provided with a detechable pivotally mounted side arm which, in use, rests on the upper part of the start of the auricle so as to maintain the spectacles in position without tilting on the nose of the wearer, in which each encircling member has a gap on the outside, that is to say the side opposite to the side having the said bridge, the open ends of the gap in each encircling member being bent generally outwardly in such a way as to form upper and lower external lateral tabs; each side arm of the frame having a forkshaped end with two prongs, and the external lateral tabs being inserted between the prongs of said fork in such a way that the outer face of each lateral tab and the inner face of the corresponding prong of each fork are pressed against one another, the outer faces of said external lateral tabs and the inner faces of the prongs of the fork being provided with complementary members which ensure on the one hand the retention of lateral tabs within the said fork whereby the encircling members are contracted into a lens locking position, and on the other hand the pivotal mounting of the side arms of the spectacle frame on the tabs, the complementary members being in the form of pairs of pins and complementary holes carried by the facing faces of the external lateral tabs and the prongs of the terminal forks of the side arms, the inner faces of the terminal fork of each side arm having an inwardly directed pin and the outer faces of the external lateral tabs of the encircling members provided with holes which receive the said pins.

2. A spectacle frame as claimed in claim 1 in which the external lateral tabs of each encircling member are inserted into the terminal fork of the corresponding side arm by elastic deformation of the encircling member in such a way that the outer face of each lateral tab resiliently bears against the inner face of the corresponding prong of each fork.

3. A spectacle frame as claimed in claim 2 in which the two prongs of the terminal fork of each side arm are articulated relative to one another about an axis located at the junction point of the said prongs and perpendicular to the plane of said fork, each side arm of the spectacles being provided with means for pivoting the two prongs relative to one another.

4. A spectacle frame as claimed in claim 3 in which each side arm of the spectacles has a first side arm member rigidly fixed to one of the prongs of the terminal fork and a second side arm member rigidly fixed to the other prong of the fork, the ends of the two side arm members opposite to the ends fixed to the fork prongs being arranged to overlap and being movable to open or close said fork by sliding a ring which surrounds the two side members at their intersection point in such a way as to vary said intersection point.

5. A spectacle frame substantially as described hereinbefore with reference to the drawings.

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. the open position corresponds to a dismantling position of the side arms from the spectacles and also optionally of the lenses. As in the previous embodiment the inner faces (15a, 16a) of prongs (15, 16) are each provided with an inwardly directed pin (19, 20), which serves both as fixing and pivot pin means for each side arm relative to the encircling members. Fig. 5 shows that the closed position corresponds to the intersection of the side arm members being in the vicinity of the end of the shortest side member (member 14). WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. A spectacle frame of the type comprising two encircling members, each surrounding and maintaining in place a respective one of the lenses, said two encircling members being joined by a bridge which, in use, rests on the nose of the wearer, each encircling member being provided with a detechable pivotally mounted side arm which, in use, rests on the upper part of the start of the auricle so as to maintain the spectacles in position without tilting on the nose of the wearer, in which each encircling member has a gap on the outside, that is to say the side opposite to the side having the said bridge, the open ends of the gap in each encircling member being bent generally outwardly in such a way as to form upper and lower external lateral tabs; each side arm of the frame having a forkshaped end with two prongs, and the external lateral tabs being inserted between the prongs of said fork in such a way that the outer face of each lateral tab and the inner face of the corresponding prong of each fork are pressed against one another, the outer faces of said external lateral tabs and the inner faces of the prongs of the fork being provided with complementary members which ensure on the one hand the retention of lateral tabs within the said fork whereby the encircling members are contracted into a lens locking position, and on the other hand the pivotal mounting of the side arms of the spectacle frame on the tabs, the complementary members being in the form of pairs of pins and complementary holes carried by the facing faces of the external lateral tabs and the prongs of the terminal forks of the side arms, the inner faces of the terminal fork of each side arm having an inwardly directed pin and the outer faces of the external lateral tabs of the encircling members provided with holes which receive the said pins.