US3500511A - Friction pivot for jewelry article - Google Patents

Description

March 17, 1970 R. G. GLOSS 3,500,511

FRICTION PIvOT FOR JEWELRY ARTICLE Filed May 17, 1968 INVENTOR. RICHARD G. GLOSS United States Patent 3,500,511 FRICTION PIVOT FOR JEWELRY ARTICLE Richard G. Gloss, Cranston, R.I., assignor to Gloss & Grim Company, a corporation of Rhode Island Filed May 17, 1968, Ser. No. 730,186 Int. Cl. A44c 7/00; A44b 21/00 US. Cl. 24-248 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A pivot joint for jewelry clasps and the like in which two ears are on one part which is resistant to deformation with an arm between these ears formed with cam surfaces to engage the inner surface of the ears when the pivoted parts are in closed position but swinging from out of the ears when the parts are in open position.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the jewelry art means for frictioning pivoted parts has occurred in several different ways usually employing some resilient action. Often both parts which friction together are resilient, which is not desirable as it requires just the correct temper in two parts.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In the pivoting of two parts together in the present invention, there is utilized a pair of ears on one part which are resistant to deformation while in between these cars there is the other part which in this instance comprises arms back to back so that no reslient action occurs, and on these arms cams are provided to engage the ears spreading the ears as the parts are moved to closed position but moving the cams out from between the ears when in open position, thus providing the cams on one part and the resilience in the other part.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevation of the clasp in closed position;

FIG. 2 is an edge elevation in closed postion;

FIG. 3 is a side elevation with the clasp in open position;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view looking at the pivotal connection with the parts in open position and on substantially line 44 of FIG. 3 showing the ears as moved inwardly against the arms of the other part;

FIG. 5 is a section on line 5-5 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is an elevation of the arms showing the location of the cam thereon; and

FIG. 7 is an edge view thereof.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The illustration of an embodiment of this invention is shown as applied to a jewelry clasp or cli comprising two jaws which are pivoted adjaient their end and may be moved toward or away from each other. One of the members is designted 10 and the other member is designated 11. The member 10 comprises an elongated jaw 12 having a rounded contacting free end 13 and a pair of ears 14 bent from the shank part 12 at generally right angles thereto and in spaced relation to each other.

The member 11 comprises an elongated shank part 15 bent as at 16 to provide a contacting portion 17 at its ice free end with the sheet stock 15 folded inwardly in generally U-shape fashion forming a bridge connection 19 while at its hinged end the spaced walls 20 thereof are brought into contiguous relation so as to provide arms 21 located between the ears 14 Where a pivot 25 extends through the ears 14 and the arms 21 to pivotly relate the parts 10 and 11. Along the contiguous arms 21 on their outer surfaces cams 26 are provided. When the parts 10 and 11 are in open relation as shown in FIG. 3, the earns 26 will be outside of the cars 14 as there shown. However, as the parts 11 and 10 are swung about pivot 25 into closed position as shown in FIG. 1, then the cams 26 will enter between the ears 14 and spread the ears into the position shown in FIG. 2, thus placing greater tension on the ears and serving, by means of this tension, to hold the parts 10 and 11 in closed position or in any intermediate position in which the cams contact and tend to spread the cars 14. When closed, the cams are concealed. These cams may be tapered for easy initial entrance between the ears as the closure occurs. By reason of this relation the entire friction action is dependent to large extent upon the bending resistance in the ears 14. The material is chosen to exhibit suflicient elasticity to allow the ears to return to normal configuration after stress, and the heavy stock bridging back portion lends a good strong support for the ears to achieve this end result.

The bend 16 in the shank 15 provides for some resilience in the contacting pad 17 at the clamping portion of the jaw 11 which may be so related to the friction action above referred to that a flexing will occur and a cushion result obtained when a desired clamping action is attained.

I claim:

1. A jewelry article comprising a pair of members, means to pivot said members adjacent their ends to swing toward each other to closed position and from each other to open position, said means comprising spaced ears on one member and folded together back to back contiguous arms on the other member located between said ears, said ears having inherent resistance to deformation, cam protuberances in the opposite outer faces of said arms engaging and frictioning said ears tending to force them apart when said members are in closed position and moving from between said ears when in open position.

2. A jewelry article as in claim 1 wherein said ears extend at generally right angles to the length of the member on which they are located, and said arms hav:

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,303,267 11/1942 Goodwin.

3,267,694 8/1966 Ficocelli.

DONALD A. GRIFFIN, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 63-14

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