WO2004020697A1

WO2004020697A1 - Method of producing jewelry

Info

Publication number: WO2004020697A1
Application number: PCT/KR2002/001611
Authority: WO
Inventors: Dae Sik Jin
Original assignee: Young Shin Metal Co.
Priority date: 2002-08-27
Filing date: 2002-08-27
Publication date: 2004-03-11

Abstract

Disclosed is a method of producing jewelry, which consists of the steps of forming a basic frame of the jewelry using a metal bar or a miscellaneous material to produce an early form of the jewelry; removing contaminants from the early form of the jewelry using an alkaline ultrasonic wave, and degreasing and rinsing it; plating the rinsed early form of the jewelry in a plating bath under a variable plating condition to 50 to 90% of a desired plated thickness according to a copper sulfate or a nickel plating process to produce a semi-finished product; plating the semi-finished product in the plating bath by the remaining 10 to 50% of the desired plated thickness according to the copper sulfate or nickel plating process; and plating the plated semi-finished product with a precious metal and drying a resulting structure to accomplish the jewelry.

Description

METHOD OF PRODUCING JEWELRY

Technical Field

The present invention relates, in general, to a method of producing jewelry and, in particular, to a method of producing jewelry, in which a basic frame with a desired early form of jewelry is prepared using a metal bar or a miscellaneous material including an artificial jewel constituting the jewelry, and plated in a plating bath while controlling thickness of a plated layer and the shape of the jewelry to produce a semi-finished product, thereby simply producing a high-quality jewelry with various plated layers.

Background Art

As well known to those skilled in the art, an item of jewelry worn on a portion of a human body is a kind of ornament, and examples thereof include a necklace, a bracelet, an earring, and a ring. Jewelry is classified according to its material and shape, and produced by various methods.

That is to say, jewelry is produced by various methods according to its material and kind. For example, necklaces and bracelets are conventionally produced by designing a desired shape of the jewelry and finely processing the jewelry based on a drawing of the desired shape of the jewelry. In detail, a method of producing necklaces and bracelets comprise the steps of forming an original mold, forming a mold for a casting operation with the use of the original mold, plating a cast product with a metal, grinding or post-processing the plated product, and attaching an artificial jewel to the resulting structure to accomplish the necklace and bracelet.

According to this conventional method, the original mold is formed based on the drawing depicting a desired shape of the jewelry, the original mold is finely processed, and a mold is prepared using the original mold to produce the jewelry in commercial quantities. Subsequently, a molten metal containing brass, tin, zinc, and iron is poured into the mold and subjected to a drawing process by casting or extruding the molten metal or to a press process by pressing the molten metal. The resulting metal is then plated with a metal, ground, attached with a miscellaneous material such as the artificial jewel, and subjected to a final step which completes the production process of the jewelry.

However, this conventional method is disadvantageous in that a high- quality product cannot be obtained even though the original molds with various shapes are precisely formed by a handcraft and the resulting product is manufactured after a molding process based on the original molds. The reason is that an early form of the jewelry loses its fineness while the early form of the jewelry produced in commercial quantities by the mold is subjected to multiple steps, thus not being able to obtain high-quality jewelry. In particular, it takes a long time to develop the original mold and thus production cost of the jewelry is increased, causing a producer to restrict a design of the jewelry. Therefore, the jewelry according to this conventional method fails to meet various desires of consumers.

Disclosure of the Invention

Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method of producing jewelry, in which a desired early form of the jewelry is designed using a metal bar or a miscellaneous material including an artificial jewel constituting the jewelry, an original mold is produced using the jewelry thus designed, and the original mold is plated to produce a semi-finished product, thereby simply producing a fine high-quality jewelry.

Based on the present invention, the above object can be accomplished by providing a method of producing jewelry, comprising the steps of forming a basic frame of the jewelry using a metal bar or a miscellaneous material to produce an early form of the jewelry; removing contaminants from a surface of the early form of the jewelry using an alkaline ultrasonic wave, and degreasing and rinsing it; plating a rinsed early form of the jewelry in a plating bath under a variable plating condition to 50 to 90 % of a desired plated thickness according to a copper sulfate plating process or a nickel plating process to produce a semi-finished product; plating the semi-finished product in the plating bath by the remaining 10 to 50 % of the desired plated thickness according to the copper sulfate plating process or the nickel plating process; and plating the plated semi-finished product with a precious metal and drying a resulting structure to accomplish the jewelry.

At this time, the copper sulfate plating process is conducted using a solution of 150 to 250 g of copper sulfate in 1 liter of distilled water with 40 to 100 g of sulfuric acid, and the nickel plating process is conducted using a solution of

240 to 450 g of nickel sulfate in 1 liter of distilled water with 30 to 60 g of nickel chloride and 30 to 60 g of boric acid.

In addition, the copper sulfate plating process or the nickel plating process is preferably conducted for 3 to 10 hours.

Further, parts including artificial jewels and glass are inserted into the basic frame, and the basic frame having the parts is plated in the plating bath to attach the parts to the basic frame.

Furthermore, an original mold for a casting operation is formed by the use of said semi-finished product, and semi-finished products are produced with the use of the original mold.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

A first embodiment of the present invention discloses a method of producing a chain-type jewelry such as a necklace and a bracelet. According to the first embodiment, a desired shape of the chain-type jewelry is designed, and a basic frame of the jewelry is formed using a metal bar or a miscellaneous material according to the design of the chain-type jewelry.

The basic frame thus formed is effectively used to produce a mold used in producing the jewelry in commercial quantities, and directly rinsed and plated under a variable electric condition to 50 to 90 % of a desired plated thickness according to a copper sulfate plating process or a nickel plating process to produce a semi-finished product.

According to the present invention, a basic frame having a shape similar to a finished product is formed using a metal bar or a miscellaneous material, and the basic frame thus formed is dipped into a silicone rubber liquid to produce the mold.

Meanwhile, the semi-finished product is formed from the basic frame of the jewelry by plating the basic frame with nickel or copper sulfate in a plating bath under a variable plating and electric condition. For example, when the basic frame is plated with nickel or copper sulfate for 3 to 10 hours under a variable plating condition, an original shape of the metal bar is changed to another shape, such as hexagon.

The reason why the form change of the basic frame is feasible is that when the basic frame of the jewelry having an early form of the jewelry is plated on a rack, an upper and a lower portion of the basic frame has highest electric efficiency due to a difference between a high and a low electric current, thus differentiating the upper and lower portion of the basic frame from a middle portion of the basic frame. Such difference is a basic condition in a plating process.

When a position of the basic frame on the rack is changed at a regular interval, an inside angle of the basic frame is different from an outside angle of the basic frame. As described above, the basic frame is converted into the semifinished product having a shape different from the basic frame when the position of the basic frame in the plating bath is changed according to electrical properties and time.

At this time, the metal bar used to produce the jewelry for women is preferably 0.1 to 3 mm in diameter, and the basic frame hung on the rack is plated with nickel and copper sulfate for 3 to 10 hours under a variable electric and solution condition to produce the semi-finished product.

The copper sulfate plating process is conducted using a solution of 150 to process is conducted using a solution of 240 to 450 g/1 of nickel sulfate with 30 to 60 g/1 of nickel chloride and 30 to 60 g/1 of boric acid. The thickness of the plated layer is about 100 to 1000 microns or thicker, and is controlled by a producer.

According to a second embodiment of the present invention, a coil-type basic frame is combined with parts (artificial jewel or glass etc.) by winding the basic frame and the parts with a wire to produce jewelry with a predetermined form. The coil-type basic frame is plated with nickel and copper sulfate for 3 to

10 hours under a variable electric and solution condition, and again plated with copper sulfate and nickel for 30 to 60 min. The resulting basic frame is then plated with precious metals such as platinum, gold, and silver, and subjected to a step which completes the production process of the jewelry. Various final forms of jewelries can be diversely produced from one wire structure or one original mold according to electrical resistance and a condition of a plating liquid.

Contaminants on a surface of the wire are removed by an alkaline ultrasonic wave. The resulting wire is then degreased, rinsed, plated with copper cyanide, and rinsed.

The basic frame of the jewelry is then plated with copper sulfate or nickel under a variable electric condition until forming 50 to 90 % of a desired shape and thickness.

To more precisely produce the jewelry, the original or final mold is manufactured according to the first embodiment.

A plurality of original molds of the jewelry are cast using any one of the final mold and the original mold, thereby reproducing original molds. At this time, a general centrifuge is used as a casting machine and tin and zinc are used as a material of the original mold. Original molds thus reproduced are then ground and processed. The resulting original mold is then subjected to the alkaline ultrasonic wave process, the degreasing process, the rinsing process, the copper cyanide plating process, and the rinsing process.

The rinsed structure is partly plated with copper sulfate and nickel, rinsed, and plated with copper sulfate and nickel by the remaining 10 to 40 % of the desired plated thickness, thereby producing a desired form of jewelry.

After that, the resulting jewelry is rinsed, plated with gold, silver, or platinum, and dried. The dried jewelry is attached with auxiliary parts such as an artificial jewel to accomplish the desired jewelry.

According to a third embodiment of the present invention, a mold is formed using an original mold of jewelry.

A basic frame (original mold) is dipped into a silicone rubber liquid to form a plurality of molds, each consisting of an upper and a lower mold, capable of receiving parts such as an imitation stone or an artificial jewel therein.

After the parts such as the imitation stone or the artificial jewel are positioned on the lower mold and the parts on the lower mold are covered with the upper mold, a molten metal such as zinc or tin is poured through a pouring gate into the resulting structure to be cast to reproduce the basic frame of the jewelry. The basic frame thus reproduced is plated according to a plating condition described in the first embodiment to produce a semi-finished product. At this time, a general centrifuge is used as a casting machine, and tin and zinc are used as a material of the basic frame.

A plurality of basic frames thus reproduced are then ground and processed.

The resulting basic frame is then subjected to the alkaline ultrasonic wave process, the degreasing process, the rinsing process, the copper cyanide plating process, and the rinsing process.

The rinsed structure is plated with copper, nickel, or copper sulfate by the remaining 10 to 40 % of the desired plated thickness, thereby producing a desired form of jewelry. The resulting jewelry is rinsed, plated with a precious metal such as gold, silver, or platinum, and dried. It is not necessary to produce a mold in order to produce jewelry. In particular, when the jewelry is small or a wire structure is fine, the jewelry is produced by plating the basic frame instead of using a mold. In this case, contaminants on a surface of the wire structure or the wire structure having an imitation stone are removed by the alkaline ultrasonic wave, the resulting wire is then degreased, subjected to a post-processing step, rinsed, plated with gold, silver, or platinum, and dried to accomplish the desired jewelry.

As described above, a basic frame of a chain-type or a coil-type jewelry is formed using a basic material of the jewelry such as a metal bar or a wire, and a final mold for a casting operation is then formed using the basic frame.

Alternatively, the basic frame thus formed is rinsed, and plated under a variable electric condition to 50 to 90 % of a desired plated thickness and a desired form of the jewelry according to a copper sulfate plating process or a nickel plating process to produce a semi-finished product, and the semi-finished product is then subjected to a post-processing step to accomplish a high-quality jewelry.

Industrial Applicability

Therefore, the present invention is advantageous in that jewelries having various shapes being difficult to produce by a handcraft are readily and simply produced, and high-quality jewelry is obtained because fineness of the jewelry can be preserved.

The present invention has been described in an illustrative manner, and it is to be understood that the terminology used is intended to be in the nature of description rather than of limitation. Many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings. Therefore, it is to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.

Claims

1. A method of producing jewelry, comprising the steps of: forming a basic frame of the jewelry using a metal bar or a miscellaneous material to produce an early form of the jewelry; removing contaminants from a surface of the early form of the jewelry using an alkaline ultrasonic wave, and degreasing and rinsing the early form; plating a rinsed early form of the jewelry in a plating bath under a variable plating condition to 50 to 90 % of a desired plated thickness according to a copper sulfate plating process or a nickel plating process to produce a semi-finished product; plating the semi-finished product in the plating bath by the remaining 10 to 50 % of the desired plated thickness according to the copper sulfate plating process or the nickel plating process; and plating the plated semi-finished product with a precious metal and drying a resulting structure to accomplish the jewelry.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the copper sulfate plating process is conducted using a solution of 150 to 250 g of copper sulfate in 1 liter of distilled water with 40 to 100 g of sulfuric acid, and the nickel plating process is conducted using a solution of 240 to 450 g of nickel sulfate in 1 liter of distilled water with 30 to 60 g of nickel chloride and 30 to 60 g of boric acid.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the copper sulfate plating process or the nickel plating process is conducted for 3 to 10 hours.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein parts including artificial jewels and glasses are inserted into the basic frame, and the basic frame having the parts is plated in the plating bath to attach the parts to the basic frame.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein an original mold for a casting operation is formed by the use of said semi-finished product, and semifinished products are produced with the use of the original mold.