US2027060A

US2027060A - Finger ring

Info

Publication number: US2027060A
Application number: US709635A
Authority: US
Inventors: Henry A Niven; Kiff Earl
Original assignee: L G BALFOUR Co
Current assignee: L G BALFOUR Co
Priority date: 1934-02-03
Filing date: 1934-02-03
Publication date: 1936-01-07
Anticipated expiration: 1953-01-07

Description

Jan. 19360 HaA. EN E AL ZJQZZWU) FINGER RING Filed Feb. 3, 1954 Patented Jan. 7, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FINGER RING Application February 3, 1934, Serial No. 709,635

Claims.

Our invention relates to finger rings and particularly to that type of finger rings known as class .rings such as are commonly worn by :students in high schools and academies and which 5 bear insignia or emblems identified with the school or with the class.

These rings have heretofore been usually made of ten carat solid gold.

Due to the present high price of gold, it has become impractical to manufacture these ten caret solid gold rings .at a price within the means of a large portion of the students who normally provide the market for these rings.

Solid silver has been used .for rings but is not adapted for this type of rings, the neutral color of .silver providing an unsatisfactory background for the highly colored stones or emblems with which these rings arecommonly mounted.

Gold plate, that is base metal concealed .by a

thin casing of gold, has been used for :cheap rings but is entirely unsuitable for the better type of class rings in which, for satisfactory results, natural or synthetic stones or gems :must be used in the mounting. The high grade of die work to which the public has become accustomed is not possible in this type .of ring.

In addition there is a prejudice against gold plate jewelry, the public genera-11y associating jewelry with articles of precious metal -and;refus- 3O ing to consider or accept gold plate as precious metal.

It is desirable to substitute a less expensive metal in part for-the gold in this type of ring, and it is desirable that this substitution shall be inconspicuous when the ring is worn, but it is undesirable that rings with the high grade of stones and gems used in this type of ring should be constructed even in part of anything other than precious metal and undesirable that the substitution of a less precious metal than gold should be actually concealed by the structure of the ring.

An object of our invention, therefore, is to provide a ring of gold and a less precious metal, which less precious metal is clearly visible at close inspection but which, due to its nature and position relative to the gold surfaces of the ring, is inconspicuous when the ring is worn.

A further object of our invention is to provide 50 a ring having a laminated structure of highly colored metal and neutral colored metal, the exposed edge of the neutral colored metal being polished to provide a reflecting surface.

A further object of our invention is to provide 55 a ring having a laminated structure of gold and silver, the exposed edge of the silver being .polished to form a reflector.

Aiurther object of our invention is .to provide a ring having .a laminated structure of gold and silver, the silver being covered by the gold except at the edge.

A further object of our invention is to provide 5 aring having a laminated structure of gold and silver in which the ,gold and silver layers vary from each other in thickness in accordance with their functions in the structure.

A further object of our invention is to provide 10 a finger ring having a laminated structure .of gold and silver in which agold layer is impressed with a design and a silver layer is smooth and polished to areiiecting surface at its edge.

A further object of the invention is to provide 15 a simple and inexpensive process for manufacture of .such .a ring.

An embodiment of our inventioni-s shown in the 20 accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. l is a perspective view of the completed l'lng- Fig.2 is a view in perspective of the three layers separated and which are superimposed to form 25 the ring.

Fig. .3 is alongitudinal cross section .of the three layers joined together.

Fig. 4 is across section of the ring upon a plane at right angles to its axis.

.Fig. 5 is a side elevationof the ring.

In Figs. 1 and 5 the band of the ring I is surmounted by a flat table 2. Upon this flat table 2 is placed the stone bezel, monogram or insignia plate which gives the emblematic character of 35 the ring. As these form no part of our present invention they need not be illustrated or further described. The outer portion of the band is a gold layer 3 and the inner layer of band 4 is likewise of gold. Between these gold layers is a 0 layer of silver, the edge of which 5 shows at the edge of the band. The upper gold layer which is contacted by the die in stamping the design is made of suflicient thickness to permit the metal to be drawn by the die without cracking or disclosing the silver. The silver layer is thicker to give weight and body to the ring. The inner gold layer need be only thick enough to resist wear. The ring is provided with an ornamented or stamped outer surface. In stamping this surface we prefer to provide a chamfer or sloped shoulder 6 adjacent the table 2 and an elevated ridge at 1. Upon those portions of the

band

8 and 9 which extend over the palm side of the finger and between the fingers, when the ring is worn, we prefer to make the edge flat, the edge of the three layers being all in the same plane. The ring is preferably colored, that is provided with a surface film to give the ring a characteristic tint such as green oryellow gold but the film does not extend over the edge 5 of the silver layer, the latter being polished to form a bright, reflecting surface.

Our process of making the ring is as follows:

We cut or blank out of a piece of sheet gold a shank l0. Out of a piece of sheet silver we blank out a shank ll. Out of a second piece of sheet gold we blank out a shank I 2. These three pieces are preferably cut with the same blanking die. The first sheet of gold is preferably thicker than the second sheet of gold but thinner than the silver sheet. When blanked out, the shanks are strips of metal with enlarged centers and fiat rectangular ends with square edges as shown in Fig. 2.

Solder is then placed upon the shanks and they are superimposed with the thicker gold shank on top, the silver shank in the center and the thinner gold shank below. With heat and pressure the solder unites the three shanks into the integral, laminated bar l3 shown in section in Fig. 3.

This bar is then placed under a hammer carrying dies which give the form to the table, and band portions of the ring, and also impress the surface ornamentation thereon. The bar is then arbored, that is the ends forming the band portion are curved and joined to form an annulus.

The ring is then stripped, wire whipped and goes through other operations such as to attach the stone bezel, monogram plate or the like all of which operations are well known to the jewelers art and as they form no part of our invention need not be here described. The ring is then colored. In coloring, the color film may be omitted from the edge of the silver shank which forms the center portion of the edge of the band. We,

however, prefer to follow the customary method of coloring which is to place the ring in a plating solution and by electrolytic means deposit a film of colored gold upon the surface of the ring. When this coloring method is used the film is deposited upon the edge of the silver shank as well as upon the surface of gold shanks, but may be readily removed with any suitable scraping or abrading tool from the silver edge.

Any other necessary operations such as setting the stone or gem, attaching the insignia mounting or the like are then performed and finally the ring is buffed and polished leaving the edge of the silver shank bright and with great reflecting properties.

When the ring is worn, the edge of the outer gold shank catches the light and is reflected on the edge of the silver shank so that the laminated structure of the ring is obscured and the ring, therefore, when worn has the appearance of an all gold ring but there is no active concealment of the compound structure of the ring and when held close to the eye its structure of laminated silver and gold layers becomes apparent.

We claim:

1. A finger ring having a laminated structure comprising a layer of neutral colored metal positioned between layers of highly colored metal, the edge of said neutral colored metal being exposed and polished to provide a reflecting surface.

2. A finger ring having a laminated structure comprising a layer of silver positioned between layers of gold, the edge of said silver layer being exposed and polished to provide a reflecting surface.

3. A finger ring having a laminated structure comprising a layer of gold, a layer of silver thicker than the gold and a second layer of gold thinner than said first layer, the edge of said silver layer being exposed and polished to provide a reflecting surface.

4. A finger ring having a laminated structure comprising a layer of gold, said layer being impressed with a design including a chamfered edge, a layer of silver, the edge of said layer being fiat and polished to provide a reflecting surface, and a second layer of gold concealing the lower surface of said silver layer.

5. A finger ring having a laminated structure comprising a layer of gold, said layer being impressed with a design, a layer of silver, the edge of said layer being flat, and polished to provide a reflecting surface, and a second layer of gold concealing the lower surface of said silver layer, said ring having a deposited film of colored gold upon its surface except at the edge of the silver layer which edge is exposed and polished to provide a reflecting surface.

EARL KIFF. HENRY A. NIVEN.