WO2005062107A1

WO2005062107A1 - Friction hinge, particularly for the arms of spectacles

Info

Publication number: WO2005062107A1
Application number: PCT/IB2004/004152
Authority: WO
Inventors: Erika Maierotti; Milan Kacavenda
Original assignee: Erika Maierotti; Milan Kacavenda
Priority date: 2003-12-19
Filing date: 2004-12-16
Publication date: 2005-07-07
Also published as: ITBL20030019A1

Abstract

Friction hinge, particularly to connect one end (10) of an arm (A) to one end (20) of a front-piece (F) of spectacles. The end (10) of the arm (A) has at least an eyelet (11, 12) equipped with a relative axial hole (14, 15), and the end (20) of the front-piece (F) has at least an eyelet (21) equipped with a relative axial hole (22) able to be aligned, during use, with the axial hole (14, 15) of the eyelet (11, 12) of the arm (A). The hinge also comprises a hinging element (30) equipped with a shank (32) able to be inserted and clamped in the aligned axial holes (14, 15; 22). The hinge comprises an elastic means (31) associated with the shank (32) and able to be inserted through one of said axial holes (14, 15; 22) in order to exert an elastic thrust on a surface of the eyelet comprising the other (22; 14, 15) of the axial holes, in order to generate a constant contact to guide and adjust the movement of the arm (A) on the front-piece (F), such as to eliminate every involuntary and non-random radial and orthogonal oscillation of the arm (A) on the hinging element (30).

Description

"FRICTION HINGE, PARTICULARLY FOR THE ARMS OF SPECTACLES" * * * * * FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present innovation concerns a new type of hinge, particularly to join and move the ends of arms at the ends of the front-pieces of spectacles, made to ensure a better control of the opening and closing movements of said arms, as well as to be able to possibly set and regulate said movements, following a possible wear of its contact surfaces, in order to prolong the use of the spectacles. The main characteristic of the present innovation is that it provides to interpose an elastic means between the male or intermediate eyelet and one of the two female or external eyelets of the traditional hinging system, so that, due to the effect of their reciprocal union and compression, which can be achieved by means of a normal threaded pin or hinging screw, a constant contact is generated between the male intermediate eyelet and a contiguous female external eyelet, with the consequent formation of a constant gap or play, between the opposite surface of the same intermediate eyelet and the opposite eyelet of the female external element, thus ensuring a cushioning effect of the hinge. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Joining the ends of the two arms to the two respective ends of the front-piece of spectacles is generally performed by shaping the ends of the arm like an eyelet, with a central hole, and by putting them between the respective compartments of a pair of analogous external eyelets made at the two ends of the front-piece of the spectacles, so that the eyelets are aligned with each other and can thus be hinged to a joining screw or pin. Another type of hinge instead provides a female element with two eyelets, solid with the arm, and a male element with a single eyelet, solid or aggregated with the arm, and thus the hinging effect is in any case unchanged. There are then innumerable known constructional forms of hinges, particularly for the arms of spectacles, which provide to apply elasticizing devices, generally associated with the hinge element aggregated to the arm; these systems make it possible for an elastic means to react to the thrusts or movements of normal or abnormal opening or closing of the arms, with respect to the end of the front- piece on which they are pinned. Apart from the advantage that the arms snap back to the positions of normal opening or closing on the front-piece, almost all the known elasticizing systems also have the advantage that they ensure a sufficient stability of the arms in their normal opening or closing positions, due to the thrust exerted by the elastic means against the square plane surfaces of a reference eyelet; however, very few of these hinging systems provide to accompany the opening and closing movement of the arm, as for example can be achieved with the patent application BL2001A000014. However, every elasticizing system for spectacle arms as is known at present, while ensuring said stable radial positioning of the arms, is not able to recover possible and frequent gaps or orthogonal oscillations of the arms, with respect to their hinging pin or screw, which are generally caused by wear to the surfaces of eyelets that are in contact with each other, due to the movement of the arms. The problem is even greater in the case of traditional hinges for spectacle arms that do not have elasticizing systems, where a possible adjustment of the radial and orthogonal oscillation of the arm with respect to its pin ±s entrusted solely to the level of closure of the intermediate or male eyelet inside the pair of female eyelets that house it. In fact, an excessive closure of the hinging pin or screw tends to block the movement of the intermediate eyelet, with a consequent greater wear and subsequent formation of a. new gap, apart from a burring of the seating and hence irreparable damage to the hinge. Alternatively, even a slight tightening of the screw or pin between the female external eyelets and the intermediate male eyelet naturally causes both a radial and orthogonal oscillation of the arms, with a consequent rapid deterioration of the hinge and a frequent poor condition of use of the spectacles. The aim of the present innovation is to provide hinges, particularly for the arms of spectacles wherein, irrespective of whether or not they have an elasticizing device or system for the rotary movement of the arms, it is possible to prevent the radial and orthogonal oscillation of the arms on the pin of the hinge, permanently ensuring a perfect and adjustable positioning of the arms also in the translation step. Within the framework of this aim, another purpose of the invention is to always and only present a lateral surface of the intermediate eyelet in contact, with a guide function, on the lateral surface of one of the two female external eyelets which contain it, hence ensuring the best conditions of friction guide, throughout the step of opening and/or closing the arms on their front-piece of the spectacles, as well as having always the possibility of adjusting the movement of the arm. Another purpose of the invention is to allow possible impurities or imperfections of the supporting surfaces between the two eyelets in contact to be overcome, providing an elastic means with the function of cushioning said possible defect. Another purpose of the present innovation is to resist possible knocks or forces that might cause the orthogonal oscillation of the arm, with respect to its hinging pin, again due to the cushioning effect of the elastic means provided. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The aim cited and the purposes proposed are indeed perfectly accomplished with the present invention which is characterized in that an elastic means is inserted, associated with the hinging pin or screw, able to thrust the central or intermediate eyelet against one of the two external eyelets that contain it, causing a minimum and adjustable gap between the central or intermediate eyelet and the external containing eyelet opposite that against which the intermediate eyelet is elastically thrust. To be more exact, when the hinging pin or screw is inserted through the aligned through holes of the external eyelets and the intermediate eyelet, the elastic means completely passes through the through hole of one of the two external eyelets and rests in thrust against a surface of the intermediate eyelet, being compressed in adjustable manner between a head or similar of the hinging pin or screw and said surface of the intermediate eyelet. In this way, the elastic means exerts an elastic thrust, of adjustable entity, on said intermediate eyelet against the other one of the external eyelets, that is, the one opposite that into which the hinging pin or screw is introduced. It is possible to adjust the entity of the thrust of the elastic means by acting on the hinging pin or screw, for example by screwing it more or less deeply into the through hole of the external eyelet opposite that into which the hinging pin or screw is introduced. This elastic thrust maintains a contact with constant pressure, although adjustable as desired, between a first surface of the intermediate eyelet and one of the external eyelets, guaranteeing, as said, that a gap of a desired entity is maintained between the second surface of the intermediate eyelet, opposite the first, and the other of the external eyelets, so that all the purposes indicated above are satisfied. In a preferential embodiment, the elastic means consists of a coil spring coaxially associated with the shank of the hinging pin or screw. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS These and other characteristics of the hinge proposed will become apparent from the description of one form of construction thereof, purely indicative and non- restrictive, as proposed with reference to 4 schematic figures reproduced on the attached sheet wherein:

- fig. 1 is a vertical view, partly in axial section and exploded, of the main elements of a hinge made according to the present innovation;

- fig. 2 is a plane view of the main parts of the hinge in fig. 1;

- fig. 3 is a vertical view, in cross section, of the same elements of the hinge in fig. 1, associated with each other;

- fig. 4 is a vertical view, in cross section, analogous to the view in fig. 3, of a first constructional variant of the same hinge as in figs . 1 and 2. DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERENTIAL EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION In all the figures the same elements are represented, or are intended as represented, with the same reference number. According to the constructional embodiment proposed in figs. 1 to 3, an end 10 of an arm A is associated with an end 20 of the front-piece F of a pair of spectacles, by means of a pin or threaded screw 30 which is equipped with an elastic means 31, able to thrust the intermediate eyelet 21, solid with the front-piece F, against one of the two external eyelets solid with the arm A. More in detail, one end 10 of the arm A is equipped with a pair of external eyelets 11 and 12, a first external eyelet 11 being equipped with a concentric seating 13, able to house the head of the screw 30, as well as with a coaxial hole 14 having a diameter such as to be able to house the elastic means 31; the second external eyelet 12 is equipped with a concentric and threaded through hole 15, into which the shank 32 of the screw 30 is able to be screwed. Each of the two ends 20 of the front-piece F of the spectacles has a respective male eyelet 21, or intermediate eyelet, with a concentric through hole 22, able to house the shank 32 of the screw 30, and also a concentric housing 23 having a diameter such as to be able to house the elastic means 31. Having thus described the few, simple parts of the innovation, we shall now summarize their assembly and function, particularly with the aid of fig. 3, also with reference to the specific purposes achieved. According to the constructional embodiment as exemplified until now, the intermediate eyelet 21 of the end 20 of the front-piece F is housed and interposed in the compartment between the pair of external eyelets 11, 12 of the end 10 of the arm A, so that the axis of its through hole 22 is aligned with the axis of the threaded through hole 15 of the second external eyelet 12 of the arm A; this step is in itself already known and used particularly in assembling hinges of spectacles that do not have the traditional elasticizing device. The innovative part of the present embodiment is given by the fact that a screw or pin 30, before being made to pass into the external eyelets 11, 12 and the intermediate eyelet 21, in order to hinge them, is associated with an elastic means 31 on its shank 32, before threading the shank 32 into the through hole 22 and screwing it to the threaded hole 15 of the second external eyelet 12. With the screw 30 screwed into the hole 15, the elastic means 31 finds itself closed between the head of the screw 30 and the bottom of the compartment 23 of the intermediate eyelet 21, so as to be gradually compressed, until it thrusts, due to the reaction of the elastic means 31, the lower surface of said intermediate eyelet 21 against the upper surface of the second external eyelet 12. Naturally the elastic means 31 is sized and calibrated in order to ensure, even over time, an adequate thrust reaction of the intermediate eyelet 21 against the second external eyelet 12, so that its compression on the intermediate eyelet 21 guarantees a constant guide of the movement of the arm A, without the arm A being subject to free radial or orthogonal oscillations with respect to its hinging pin 30, in accordance with one of the purposes specified above. Due to the compression of the elastic means 31, imprisoned between the head of the screw 30 and the bottom of the seating 23 of the intermediate eyelet 21, the intermediate eyelet 21 finds itself detached from the first external eyelet 11 by a gap L, which can be always adjusted, for example due to wear of the contact surfaces of the eyelets 12 and 21, in accordance with another of the purposes specified above. It is obvious that this adjustment is made possible by screwing the screw 30 along the threaded hole 15 of the lower eyelet 12. The same gap L ensures that the hinge is more resistant to possible frequent knocks or involuntary thrusts; it also allows to overcome possible imperfections or impurities of the two surfaces that are put in contact, between the eyelets 12 and 21, due to the cushioning effect of the elastic means 31, in accordance with other purposes specified above. With reference to fig. 4 of the attached sheet, as already specified, a first constructional variant is proposed among those that are made possible within the framework of the present invention. According to this constructional variant, apart from the different cross section of the arm and the hinge, it should Je noted that the intermediate eyelet 21/ does not have the housing 23, whereas the upper eyelet 11' does not have the compartment 13, so that the elastic means 31' is housed entirely inside the sole compartment 14' of the first external eyelet 11', exerting its reaction to the compression of the head of the screw 30', directly on the upper surface of the intermediate eyelet 21'. In this case too, the presence of a gap L' is guaranteed, a.s well as of a constant guide and accompaniment of the movement of the arm A on the front-piece of the spectacles, although with an elastic means of lesser height. Naturally, other analogous solutions are possible, for example eliminating the threading 15 and the threaded shank 32, in order to use a normal pin riveted at its ends; it is also possible to invert the position of the intermediate eyelet and of the pair of external eyelets with respect to the end 10 of the arm A or the end 20 of the front-piece F. It is also possible to provide to interpose a washer between the head of the screw 30 and the end of the elastic means 31; similarly, instead of the threading 15 a nut can be used outside the second external eyelet 12, in any case able to clamp the screw or pin 30. In order to prevent a possible excessive closure of the external eyelets 11 and 12 on the intermediate eyelet 21, it is possible to provide, for example, a size of the coils or the overall bulk of the elastic means 31 such as to ensure in any case the presence of a gap L. Finally, it is possible to apply the system as described heretofore also in the case of hinges that are already equipped with any one of the known elasticizing systems for opening the arms, since, in any case, said systems provide the presence of end eyelets to be hinged. These and other analogous modifications or adaptations shall in any case be considered as coming within the originality of the invention to be protected.

Claims

1. Friction hinge, particularly to connect one end (10) of an arm (A) to one end (20) of a front-piece (F) of spectacles, wherein said end (10) of the arm (A) has at least an eyelet (11, 12) equipped with a relative axial hole (14, 15), and wherein said end (20) of the front-piece (F) has at least an eyelet (21) equipped with a relative axial hole (22) able to be aligned, during use, with the axial hole (14, 15) of said at least one eyelet (11, 12) of the arm (A) , said hinge also including a hinging element (30) equipped with a shank (32) able to be inserted and clamped in said aligned axial holes (14, 15; 22), characterized in that it comprises an elastic means (31) associated with said shank (32) and able to be inserted through one of said axial holes (14, 15; 22) in order to exert an elastic thrust on a surface of the eyelet comprising the other (22; 14, 15) of said axial holes, in order to generate a constant contact to guide and adjust the movement of said arm (A) on said front-piece (F), such as to eliminate every involuntary and non-random radial and orthogonal oscillation of the arm (A) on said hinging element (30) .

2. Friction hinge as in claim 1, characterized in that one of either said end (10) of the arm (A) or said end (20) of the front-piece (F) is equipped with two external eyelets (11, 12) between which is able to be interposed an intermediate eyelet (21) present on the other of either said end (10) of the arm (A) or said end (20) of the front- piece (F), a first (11) of said external eyelets having a through hole (14) able to house said elastic means (31) when the shank (32) of said hinging element (30) is inserted through it, the second (12) of said external eyelets having a guide hole (15) for the shank (32) of said hinging element (30), wherein said elastic means (31) is able to exert, during use, an elastic thrust against a surface of said intermediate eyelet (21) in order to keep it pressed against said second external eyelet (12).

3. Friction hinge as in claim 2, characterized in that the entity of the elastic thrust with which said intermediate eyelet (21) is pressed against said second external eyelet (12) is adjustable by acting on said hinging element (30).

4. Friction hinge as in any claim hereinbefore, characterized in that said first external eyelet (11) through which said hinging element (30) is introduced is arranged, during use, distanced by a certain value (L) from said intermediate eyelet (21), said value (L) being adjustable by acting on said hinging element (30).

5. Friction hinge as in any claim hereinbefore, characterized in that said first external eyelet (11) is equipped with a seating (13) substantially concentric to said hole (14) and able to house a head of said hinging element (30), said head being configured so as to exert a thrust of compression on said elastic means (31) against said surface of said intermediate eyelet (21).

6. Friction hinge as in any claim hereinbefore, characterized in that said intermediate eyelet (21) is equipped with a compartment (23) substantially concentric to said axial hole (22) and able to house the base of said elastic means (31).

7. Friction hinge as in any claim hereinbefore, characterized in that said elastic means (31) consists of a coil spring associated coaxially with the shank (32) of said hinging element (30).

8. Friction hinge as in any claim hereinbefore, characterized in that said hinging element consists of a screw or a threaded pin (30).

9. Friction hinge as in claims 2 and 8, characterized in that said guide hole (15) is threaded so that said screw or threaded pin (30) is able to be screwed therein.

10. Friction hinge as in claims 2 and 8, characterized in that it comprises a nut outside said guide hole (15) in order to clamp said screw or threaded pin (30).