GB2214402A - Earring - Google Patents

Description

JEWELLERY This Invention relates to jewellery and more particularly to an earring having a pin or post designed to pass through the ear lobe.

It is to be understood that the term 'earring' is to be construed broadly and is not meant to imply that the earring should have any particular shape such as a 'ring-shape' and equally such an item might well be used if desired on a part of the body other than the ear, for example on the nose.

It is known to produce earrings having a decorative portion for display at the front of, or below, the ear lobe and this portion may be connected (for example by hand soldering or furnace soldering) to a solid pin which is passed, in use, through the hole in a pierced ear lobe. In order to retain the earring to the ear a grip fastener isuc as that known in the trade as a butterfly fastener) 1s introduced onto the free end of the pin and lies at the back of the ear lobe where it grips the pin.

Such earrings may be fashioned from precious metals such as gold, piatinum or silver. With the rising cost of such metals, ne pin itself represents a most significant portion of the manufacturing costs of such an earring and it is seemingly disadvantageous that the earring is not produced in a more cost effective manner whilst in most cases retaining a similar, or indeed improved, appearance in quality.

Indeed, it has been previously proposed to make the pin of hollow construction in order to save on the precious metal employed but the manner of manufacture has in general been slower, more complicated less efficient and possibly more expensive than need be the case.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an earring which alleviates the aforementioned disadvantage.

According to the present invention there is provided an earring having a decorative portion and a pin, the pin, in use, being passed through a pierced ear lobe to be engaged by a grip fastener located at the back of the lobe, said pin being: a) of hollow, seamed, tubular construction, drawn from sheet or strip stock, and/or b) of hollow/tubular construction and made from precious material which is not solder backed and not pre-prepared with solder before the pin is soldered to said decorative portion, and/or c) having an inwardly directed, preferably part-conical flange, at an open end thereof which is soldered to said decorative portion, and/or d) having a pointed (or rounded) end having been effected by swaging a length of hollow tubing comprising the pin.

By the present invention an earring may be produced in which the pin itself may possibly have an improved appearance in quality over a solid standard pin so that it looks about 25% dearer whilst being manufactured for only about 40% of the cost.

Some previously proposed methods of manufacture involve forming each pin entirely individually from individual discs of material, the material of the disc being drawn out axially into a tube with a closed end. The drawing of individual pins in this manner tends to be a slow inefficient process. Also, in order to provide a suitable soldering attachment to said decorative portion the pins are apparently, necessarily formed from solder backed strip. The cost of the specially prepared solder backed strip would appear to be as much as to effectively negate the advantages in costs in providing a hollow pin in the first place and, therefore, would appear to be of little practical significance. Some aspects of the present invention obviate the need to use solder backed strip or such a drawing process.

Advantageously, an earring with a gold pin, which is normally a .02" (.051 mm) diameter pin, may now be made economically at .03" (.76 mm) diameter, and in fact for a similar appearance in quality between a solid and a hollow pin at .03" (.76 mm) diameter, a hollow pin can be produced for about one third of the cost.

The pin will usually be straight but could be curved to some extent if desired.

Preferably, the hollow pin is swaged with a circumferential groove near a free end thereof, which groove is engageable, in use, with said grip fastener. Swaging the groove rather than providing the groove by another process such as milling is advantageous since it improves the quality of the product. Also, preferably a, or the, free end is pointed or rounded.

The external diameter of the pin is, preferably in the range .02" (.051 mm) to .035" (.76 mm) and more preferably in the range .027" to .035".

The wall thickness of the pin is, preferably, in the range .003" (.076) to .004" (.102 mm) to yield sufficient rigidity for the length of pin, which length of pin is, preferably, in the range 8 mm to 13 mm.

Where a groove is provided as aforesaid, it is preferably, of 1 mm width, preferably of .0075" (.191 mm) depth and preferably begins at a distance of 1 mm from said free end of the pin.

The pin may be of gold, platinium or silver or any other precious metal.

The earring may include the grip fastener which may be a butterfly fastener.

Further according to the present invention there is provided a method of making an earring comprising: a) drawing precious metal into a seamed, hollow tubing; b) cutting a length of said hollow tubing and pointing one end thereof to form a hollow pin whilst, preferably, forming an open end of a length of hollow tubing individually adjacent said pointed end of said length with a dissimilar shape to said pointed end, and preferably forming said end adjacent said pointed end with an inwardly directed flange (of preferably .03 depth) c) soldering an end of the pin opposite said one end to a decorative earring portion.

The method, preferably, comprises swaging a circumferential groove into the pin for engagement with a grip fastener.

It is an advantage of at least some embodiments of the present invention that a fully automatic, continuous production method of jewellery pins or posts may be provided. In particular sheet or strip stock may be fed into one end of drawing and swaging apparatus and finished jewellery pins or posts (finished except for final polishing) are provided at the other. By this method as many as two hundred or more pins may be produced per minute from sheet stock, representing a very significant advance in the art.

Still further according to the present invention there is provided a method of making jewellery posts, for example for earrings, said method comprising:a) feeding tubing stock into swaging apparatus to perform swaging operations on integral stock lengths before said lengths are severed from the stock to provide jewellery posts, and, preferably, b) arranging a pointed end on a length of stock integral with and adjacent a dissimilar end of an adjacent length of stock, said dissimilar end, preferably being provided with an integral flange.

Still further according to the present invention there is provided a method of making jewellery pins or posts for example for earrings, said method comprising: a) drawing a sheet or strip of precious, preferably not solder backed material into a hollow tubing stock, b) feeding the tubing stock into swaging apparatus, c) automatically performing swaging operations on integral lengths of the stock with the swaging apparatus in timed relationship to the drawing and feeding of said tubular stock, before severing said lengths from said stock to provide jewellery posts and, preferably, d) said swaging operations comprising a first swaging operation on the stock at a particular location along the stock length and at least a second swaging operation on the stock length at said particular location some time later than said first operation once said stock has progressed further through said swaging apparatus.

Still further according to the present invention there is provided swaging apparatus for swaging a pre-shaped groove into a hollow tubular jewellery post, for example, for an earring said apparatus comprising a die set comprising at least first and second forming parts arranged to act on hollow tubing stock being fed into said apparatus, said parts being arranged to act on the stock at the same location along the length thereof at different points in time as the stock is fed through the die set, the first part being arranged to partially shape a circumferential groove into the stock and the second part being arranged to finally shape the groove and sever through the stock to automatically provide jewellery posts having a pointed end and an end dissimilar to the pointed end, said swaging providing said end of the jewellery post adjacent a pointed end of the adjacent jewellery post, preferably a further groove is swaged in each jewellery post by said swaging apparatus at a spaced location from the pointed end of the jewellery post before said post is severed from the stock, said groove preferably being formed by third and fourth swaging parts acting at. a particular location along the length of the stock at different points in time as the stock is fed through the die set.

Still further according to the present invention there is provided a method of making an earring comprising: a) automatically continuously drawing a sheet or strip of precious, preferably not solder backed material into a hollow tubing stock whilst swaging one or more grooves in the tubing in timed relationship with said drawing process and cutting lengths from the tubing in timed relation therewith, in seriatim, and b) soldering a cut length of tubing stock comprising a jewellery pin to a decorative portion of the earring.

An embodiment of an earring. method of, and apparatus for making same, as well as jewellery pins therefor in accordance with the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings in which: - FIGURE 1 shows a sectional view of the earring; FIGURE 2 shows in much simplified manner a stage in the method of manufacturing a jewellery pin or post, for use, for example in an earring; FIGURE 3 shows the shape of adjacent ends of hollow tubing of the sheet stock; and FIGURE 4 shows a modified view of the general arrangement shown in FIGURE 2 as well as an end view of a die set.

FIGURE 1 shows an earring 1 (of the 'stud' type) comprising a decorative portion 2 (shown in chain dotted lines) with a straight, hollow, generally cylindrical pin 3 and an individually formed grip fastener 4 in the form of a butterfly fastener (shown in chain dotted lines). The decorative portion 2 of the earring 1 may be any convenient and desired shape carrying any particular surface embellishment and may, for example, be a decorative shell configured in gold or perhaps a cup receiving a pearl, or alternatively a wedding band.

The particular relative dimensions of the pin 3 are considered to be advantageous, to yield a good quality pin which is sufficiently rigid and sufficiently easy to manufacture. The length L of the pin 3 is 9 mm and in some instances this may be reduced to 8 mm or possibly increased to as much as 10 mm or even 13 mm.

The outside diameter D of the pin 3 is .03" (.76 mm) in this instance but it could alternatively be of .025" (.64 mm).

Advantageously, in this instance, the weight of the hollow pin 3 when made in gold is equivalent to less than the weight of a solid gold pin of 0.02" (.051 mm) diameter. The wall thickness W is .003" (.076) to .004" (.102 mm).

Importantly, in this instance, the pin 3 is swaged with a circumferential groove 3a which is continuous around the circumference (if desired in some embodiments this groove could be of different form and may be, for example, discontinuous around the circumference). The groove 3a is an optional feature, which nevertheless denotes the quality of the item, and which cooperates with the butterfly fastener 4 in a manner known per se, when the fastener 4 is introduced onto the free end of the pin to thereby retain the earring on the ear with the fastener 4 located at the back of the ear lobe (not shown in the figure).

It should also be mentioned that, due to the swaging process, the groove 3a thus formed will be an attractive groove and a much more pleasing result than if the groove had actually been cut into the metal, for example, a groove cut into a solid pin.

The width g of the groove 3a is 1 mm and the depth of groove is .0075" (.191 mm) and the groove begins at a distance of 1 mm from the free end F of the pin 3.

Advantageously, the free end F is fashioned with a point which, of course, helps in locating the pin through the pierced ear lobe and, of course, into the butterfly fastener 4.

In manufacture of the earring 1, the pins are made from drawn metal tubing of appropriate dimension. The metal may be any appropriate metal such as gold, platinum or silver. The tubing is cut into appropriate lengths (usually 8 or 9 mm) and both ends automatically pointed simultaneously as the groove 3a is swaged into the pin. End F' of pin 3 is automatically pointed as a consequence of pointing end F of an adjoining tube length. The manufacturing dies may, advantageously, be arranged to swage two or more pins 3 simultaneously. In some instances two consecutive tube lengths may not be completely separated from one another during the process, in which case, the lengths may be conveyed to a barrel of a break-up machine where the lengths are finally broken away from each other and the broken ends polished.Once the pin 3 has been madekthe end F' is connected to the decorative portion D by hand or furnace soldering.

The overall result is a high quality item which has been produced with a very significant saving in costs indeed.

It is possible that the same principle employed of fashioning an earring with a hollow pin may be utilised with other selected items of jewellery, for example lapel badges.

FIGURE 2 shows a method of manufacturing jewellery pins or posts.

Sheet or strip stock S of precious metal, generally of .08" wide and .003" thick, which is advantageously not solder backed, is fed into a conical die d in order to draw the sheet or strip stock S into hollow tubing stock with a seam running therealong. Utilising a seamed drawn tube as a jewellery post is believed to be new and advantageous in itself and it has been realised that this can give the advantage of providing continuous hollow tubing stock from which individual pins or posts can be severed either before, or preferably after, one or more preshaping operations have been performed on the stock, and preferably one or more preshaping operations are performed on a plurality of integral hollow stock lengths before said lengths are served from the stock in seriatim. Somewhat surprisingly it has been found that using a seamed tube as the basis of a jewellery pin will still provide the required structural rigidity (with said pin conforming in major dimensions to those already disclosed herein and more particularly in relation to FIGURE 1) and allow suitable swaging operations to be performed thereon and in particular it is not necessary to form the pins from solder backed sheet in order to provide sufficient rigidity when the pin is eventually soldered to a decorative portion.

Manufacturing jewellery pins from sheet stock which is drawn into tubing is advantageous in several respects. Firstly, seamed tube itself is much cheaper to produce or buy than seamless tube which could cost for example, up to fifty per cent more than seamed tube stock and the available seamless tube stock would have a thicker wall than desired and, therefore, be much heavier. Some methods of manufacture of earrings involve necessarily providing a plug of solder at one end of the pin in order to secure the pin to its decorative portion. This tends to be disadvantageous for several reasons but in particular because a good soldered joint relies on the flow characteristics of the plug and therefore the pin and decorative position at least require careful specific orientation to one another during the soldering operation in a manner which is not necessary in the present invention.

The tubing stock t is fed through a specially developed swaging die set W (and the upper die is shown - in practice a lower die is provided which is the mirror image of the upper die). The stock T is fed in timed relationship with the dic set. The conical die has a horizontal reciprocating stroke of 9m1 to feed the stock to the die set W; the upper and lower dies open and close six times before the stock is further advanced by said reciprocating stroke. The reciprocation is provided by a mechanical linkage between the die set and drawing die. The die blocks open and close vertically whilst feed die rotates, then clamp work whilst feed die moves back drawing another 9mm then from strip stock, then dies open and feed die feeds new tube between dies to be progressively swaged and cut off on last die works.The die set W provides a 3 station swaging process (in an improved alternative only 2 stations are provided) which allows integral stock lengths to be preshaped before being severed from the stock. Since the circumferential groove (see FIGURE 1) is swaged rather than milled the seamed tube will be sufficiently rigid (hollow tubes which are milled rather than swaged to provide a groove seemingly disadvantageously require a greater wall thickness - for example at least .005" rather than .003") but there is in fact a considerable practical problem in efficiently swaging the groove (and indeed in preshaping the jewellery pin stock lengths to the seemingly optimum desired shape)-without causing deformation or local collapse of the pin and this problem is such that such manner of manufacture may in the usual way have been discarded as impractical.However, the present invention includes the development of the precision three station (or two station) die set W which provides that at a particular location X along the length of the stock a first pre-shaping operation is performed by a first swaging part P1 at a first station S1 as the stock continues on its way through the die set W, two further preshapings are performed at two further stations S1, S2 at the same location X at spaced intervals in time, by swaging parts P2, P3.

Therefore, the necessary swaging and shaping of the stock lengths is carried out gently and progressively in a three stage (or two stage) intermittent manner which allows the swaging and shaping do be achieved efficiently and reliably and at a comparatively great speed without causing undesirable deformation of the stock. Also, advantageously, swaging parts P1, P2, P3 are all operable simultaneously (since they form integral parts of the same die set) and therefore some shaping of at least two adjacent stock lengths is carried out simultaneously. Each swaging part P1, P2, P3 comprises two precision shaped projections r1, r2, r3, r4, r5, r6.Projections r1, r3, r5 are progressively larger to pro progressively swage the required depth of circumferential groove into the stock lengths in a manner which should be evident and r2, r4, r6 are progressively larger and form a separate series to pro progressively shape adjacent ends of stock lengths to the from shown in FIGURE 3 (this form is preferred to that actually shown in FIGURE 1).

Projection' r6 is of a depth to finally sever adjacent stock lengths. The shaping of the adjacent ends of the stock lengths is believed to be highly desirable since the pointed end E, is already of the correct, traditionally desired shape (and due to the manufacturing process should have no structural weakness as might be the case in other manufacturing process, as for example, in drawing a tube out axially from a disc) and the adjacent end E2 is advantageously configured for soldering to a decorative portion (in a manner which requires less critical constraints as previously explained), an internally directed part-conical, reinforcement, flange F being provided for supporting solder material rather than the outwardly directed radial flange which is normally provided on jewellery pins formed by some other processes.The inwardly directed flange allows a neater soldering joint to be achieved since some (or nearly all) of the solder will rest in between the pin and decorative portion within the external diameter of the pin and effectively yield a smooth continuous (if not integral) appearance of the pin with its decorative portion. This aspect alone is believed to provide a distinct improvement in quality over other earrings with previously proposed pins of hollow construction. The flange F advantageously provides a large surface area for attachment to the decorative portion and this is a very important aspect of the swaging process and can seemingly only be perfected by the multiple swaging station technique already described.The flange F is about .03" depth along its part conical surface which clearly provides a stronger soldered joint than the ,003" depth which would be available on a straight open tube end.

Perhaps the most significant advantage of the production process is the convenient, automatic and greatly improved speed of production which is achievable. Sheet or strip stock goes into one end of the apparatus and finished (finished except in some instances for polishing of the ends of the pin) pins emerge from the other end at the rate of two hundred per minute. Advantageously, the sheet or strip stock is drawn and swaged in one continuous process and the seam tube will have the appearance of a high quality grooved earring pin.

The production method represents a much less expensive, seemingly labour and maintenance free production method of making jewellery pins which effectively alleviates any structural defects inherent in some other production methods. A seamed tube is used to provide a seemingly minimum wall thickness and thus the provision of the circumferential groove could not seemingly be provided by milling (since a greater wall thickness is required). The applicant has realised that a suitable swaging process can nevertheless be developed for providing the groove and at the same time swaging the ends of adjacent tube stock lengths.

It is to be appreciated that the present invention has multiple inventive aspects including the pin itself and earring as well as production methods and apparatus involved therein. It is to be understood that individual features of the pin or earring, functions, methods or combinations thereof may be individually patentably inventive and the terminology used throughout this specification should not be construed as being unduly limiting. It is to be understood that the use of any particular term herein may extend to the use of any reasonable generally equivalent term and/or generic term where sensible. For example, the term 'solder' may be replaced by bonding material and the term 'soldering' by bonding.

Claims (19)

1. An earring having a decorative portion and a pin, the pin, in use, being passed through a pierced ear lobe to be engaged by a grip fastener located at the back of the lobe, said pin being: - a) of hollow, seamed, tubular construction, drawn from sheet or strip stock, and/or b) of hollow/tubular construction and made from precious material which is not solder backed and not pre-prepared with solder before the pin is soldered to said decorative portion, and/or c) having an inwardly directed, preferably part-conical flange, at an open end thereof which is soldered to said decorative portion, and/or d) having a pointed (or rounded) end having been effected by swaging a length of hollow tubing comprising the pin.

2. An earring as claimed in Claim 1 in which the pin is straight.

3. An earring as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2 in which the pin is swaged with a circumferential groove near a free end thereof, which groove is engageáble, in use, with said grip fastener.

4. An earring as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which a, or the, free end of the pin is pointed or rounded.

5. An earring as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the external diameter of the pin is in the range .02" (.051 mm) to .03" (.76 mm).

6. An earring as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the wall thickness of the pin is in the range .003" (.076) to .004" (.102 mm).

7. An earring as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the length of pin is in the range 8 mm to 13 mm.

8. An earring as claimed in Claim 3 or any claim dependent therefrom in which said groove is of 1 mm width.

9. An earring as claimed in Claim 8 in which the groove is of .0075" (.191 mm) depth.

10. An earring as claimed in Claim 3 or any claim dependent therefrom in which the groove is at a distance of 1 mm from said free end of the pin.

11. An earring as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the pin is of gold, platinium or silver or any other precious metal.

12. An earring as claimed in any one of the preceding claims which includes the grip fastener.

13. An earring as claimed in Claim 11 in which the grip fastener is a butterfly fastener.

14. An earring substantially as herein described with reference to the sole figure of the drawings.

15. A method of making an earring comprising: a) drawing precious metal into a hollow tubing with a seam therealong; b) cutting a length of said hollow tubing and pointing one end thereof to form a hollow-pin, and c) soldering an end of the pin opposite said one end to a decorative earring portion.

16. A method as claimed in Claim 15 comprising swaging a circumferential' groove into the pin for engagement with a grip fastener.

17. A method as claimed in Claim 15 in which two pins are swaged simultaneously.

18. A method as claimed in any of Claims 15 to 17 in which lengths of hollow tubing are conveyed to the barrel of a break-up machine and broken ends of the lengths are polished.

19. A method as claimed in Claim 15 and substantially as herein described with reference to the Figure of the accompanying drawings.

19. A method as claimed in Claim 15 and substantially as herein described with reference to the Figure of the accompanying drawings.

20. A method of making jewellery posts, for example for earrings, said method comprising:a) feeding tubing stock into swaging apparatus to perform swaging operations on integral stock lengths before said lengths are severed from the stock to provide jewellery posts, and, preferably, b) swaging a pointed end on a length of stock integral with and adjacent a dissimilar end of an adjacent length of stock, said dissimilar end, preferably being provided with an integral flange.

21. A method of making jewellery pins or posts for example for earrings, said method comprising:a) drawing a sheet or strip of precious, preferably not solder backed material into a hollow tubing stock, b) feeding the tubing stock into swaging apparatus, c) automatically performing swaging operations on integral lengths of the stock with the swaging apparatus in timed relationship to the drawing and feeding of said tubular stock, before severing said lengths from said stock to provide jewellery posts and, preferably, d) said swaging operations comprising a first swaging operation on the stock at a particular location along the stock length and at least a second swaging operation on the stock length at said particular location some time later than said first operation once said stock has progressed further through said swaging apparatus.

22. Swaging apparatus for swaging a pre-shaped groove into a hollow tubular jewellery post, for example, for an earring said apparatus comprising 'a die set comprising at least first and second forming parts arranged to act on hollow tubing stock being fed into said apparatus, said parts being arranged to act on the stock at the same location along the length thereof at different points in time as the stock is fed through the die set, the first part being arranged to partially shape a circumferential groove into the stock and the second part being arranged to finally shape the groove and sever through the stock to automatically provide jewellery posts having a pointed end and an end dissimilar to the pointed end, said swaging providing said end of the jewellery post adjacent a pointed end of the adjacent jewellery post, preferably a further groove is swaged in each jewellery post by said swaging apparatus at a spaced location from the pointed end of the jewellery post before said post is severed from the stock, said groove preferably being formed by third and fourth swaging parts acting at a particular location along the length of the stock at different points in time as the stock is fed through the die set.

23. A method of making an earring comprising:a) automatically continuously drawing a sheet or strip of precious, preferably not solder backed material into a hollow tubing stock whilst swaging one or more grooves in the tubing in timed relationship with said drawing process and cutting lengths from the tubing in timed relation therewith, in seriatim, and b) soldering a cut length of tubing stock comprising a jewellery pin to a decorative portion of the earring.

Amendments to the claims have been filed as follows 1. An earring having a decorative portion and a pin, the pin, in use, being passed through a pierced ear lobe to be engaged by a grip fastener located at the back of the lobe, said pin being:a) of hollow, seamed, tubular construction, drawn from sheet or strip stock, and/or b) of hollow/tubular construction and made from precious material which is not solder backed and not pre-prepared with solder before the pin is soldered to said decorative portion, and/or c) having an inwardly directed, preferably part-conical flange, at an open end thereof which is soldered to said decorative portion.

2. An earring as claimed in Claim 1 in which the pin is straight.

3. An earring as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2 in which the pin is swaged with a circumferential groove near a free end thereof, which groove is engageable, in use, with said grip fastener.

4. An earring as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which a, or the, free end of the pin is pointed or rounded.

5. An earring as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the external diameter of the pin is in the range .02" (.051 mm) to .03" (.76 mm).

6. An earring as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the wall thickness of the pin is in the range .003" (.076) to .004" (.102 mm).

7. An earring as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the length of pin is in the range 8 mm to 13 mm.

8. An earring as claimed in Claim 3 or any claim dependent therefrom in which said groove is of 1 mm width.

9. An earring as claimed in Claim 8 in which the groove is of .0075" (.191 mm) depth.

10. An earring as claimed in Claim 3 or any claim dependent therefrom in which the groove is at a distance of 1 mm from said free end of the pin.

11. An earring as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the pin is of gold, platinium or silver or any other precious metal.

12. An earring as claimed in any one of the preceding claims which includes the grip fastener.

13. An earring as claimed in Claim 12 in which the grip fastener is a butterfly fastener.

14. An earring as claimed in Claim 4 or any claim dependant therefrom in which said free end is rounded or pointed by swaging.

15. A method of making an earring comprising: a) drawing precious metal into a hollow tubing with a seam therealong; b) cutting a length of said hollow tubing and pointing one end thereof to form a hollow pin, and c) soldering an end of the pin opposite said one end to a decorative earring portion.

16. A method as claimed in Claim 15 comprising swaging a circumferential groove into the pin for engagement with a grip fastener.

17. A method as claimed in Claim 15 in which two pins are swaged simultaneously.

18. A method as claimed in any of Claims 15 to 17 in which lengths of hollow tubing are conveyed to the barrel of a break-up machine and broken ends of the lengths are polished.