US1637699A - Jewelry clasp - Google Patents

Description

Patented Aug. 2, 1927.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JEWELRY CLASP.

Application filed. January 4, 1927. Serial No. 158,873.

This invention relates to articles of jewelry and has particular reference to attaching devices for such articles of jewelry and particularly for the attachment of bracelets, brooches, or other devices having separable links.

Among the objects of the invention is to provide a fastener that is self-locking and so constructed that when strain is brought to bear upon it, such strain will serve but one purpose, namely, tohold the device the more firmly locked or sealed.

With the foregoing and other objects in View the invention consists in the arrangement and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed, and while the invention is not restricted to the exact details of construction disclosed or suggested herein,

still for the purpose of illustrating a prac-- tical embodiment thereof reference is had to the accompanying drawings in which like reference characters designate the same parts in the several views, and in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of the clasp closed.

Fig. 2 is a similar View with the clasp partially open.

Fig. 3 is a view showing the clasp well open as for the attachment of another member.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged view in vertical longitudinal section.

Fig. 5 is an end .view of the device closed and as would be seen looking toward the left in Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a diagram indicating one manner of use of the device.

Referring now more specifically to the drawings I show the clasp as comprising two main parts 10 and 11 pivoted permanently together at 12 and one part as 11 having a hook 13 adapted to snap into a notch 14; formed in the other.

The member 10, adjacent to the pivot 12, is bifurcated as shown best in Figs. 1 and 5 at 15, forming a slot 16 extending practically one-half the length of the member 10.

The other link member 11 is formed adj acent to the pivot 12 with a tongue 17 which projects into the slot 16 filling the same when the clasp is closed. The tongue, however, radially of the clasp is materially wider than the other members, insuring that a portion thereof will lie within the open space within the clasp. This member 11 with its tongue extension 17 is in the nature of a lever of the first class or bell crank whose pivot or fulcrum is 12.

The hinge or pivot portion of the member 7 10 closely adjacent to the pivot and at the.

outside thereof has a combined stop and brace 18 formed integral with the end portions of the spaced members of the fork 15. Not only does this brace re -enforce this bifurcation, relieving the pivot 12 from any strain that may be brought upon the clasp, but it serves as a stop to limit the opening swing of the tongue member 11 as indicated in dot and dash lines in Fig. 4, a

matter of considerable moment, considering wise freely over the pivot or joint portion of the two members 10 and 11 past the stop 18 and will find its seat in the crotch of the tongue member just beyond or within the pivot, as shown in Fig. 6, in which position the pull or strain of the link 20 upon the clasp will be borne directly upon the inner edge portion of the tongue 17, which projecting inward beyond the side portions of the fork 15 will insure that the strain will be brought directly upon the bell crank or lever member. The hook 13 may or may not be used as desired, but when used it re-enforces the locking action and makes secure the closed position.

Obviously the clasp may be made of any suitable metal or other material and of any desired size or configuration within the scope of the specific description set forth above.

I claim:

1. In a clasp, the combination of two members pivoted together and relatively movable around the axis of the pivot, the main portions of the members being of similar cross section, one of the members being forked and having a slot adjacent to the pivot, while the other has an extension beyond the pivot co-operating with the slot and forming a tongue integral and rigid with the part that carries it, said tongue being wider radially of the clasp than the reclasp.

2. A device as set forth;imclaimfldnclud-- ing means to limit the closing movement of the members whereby the strain brought upon the tongue is comp thereby.

elled to be borne 31' A'device asset forthin-claim=1-including a' combined stop and brace member in.

tegral With the fork and located closely adjacent-to the pivot and extending across the slot and serving to limit the opening swing of the tongue member.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

SAMUEL LAUTERBAOH.

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