Patent Application
20100064484
This invention relates to ornamental devices, and more particularly, to a device for securing ornamentation to personal items.
It is often desirable and fun for people to place ornamental elements on personal items such as clothing, accessories and housewares. One conventional way to accomplish this, is through the use of decorative pins. It is not always possible or desirable, however, to place a pin through a selected personal item. Other conventional methods include stitching or the use of adhesives, both of which have associated drawbacks.
Prior art systems also exist for securing ornamentation to an item through hook and loop fasteners, such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,776,043 and 5,359,734. Other conventional systems teach to secure plates of ferrous material to the underside of a garment or in a pocket stitched within a garment, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,175,963. Such systems have several shortcomings, including being expensive to manufacture, being unattractive, and having low stability such that the magnetic emblem of the prior art may be easily knocked from the personal item.
Applicant therefore believes that it is possible and desirable to provide an improved system for securing ornamentation to a personal item. The present invention provides such a system.
The present invention provides a system for securing an ornamental element to a personal item. As used throughout, “personal item” is meant as a broad term, to encompass such things as an article of clothing, purse, backpack, belt, etc., as well as all manner of housewares, toys, jewelry and items for pets. These potential uses are presented merely by way of example, and the invention is not limited to such uses.
In one embodiment, an ornamental device includes a first member adapted to be coupled to a personal item. While this may be accomplished in any known available way, in one embodiment, the first member is a rivet that is coupled to a personal item in a known manner. Alternatively, the first member is secured to a selected surface, for example by an adhesive.
The first member is provided with a first end having a sidewall. A second member is releasably engagable with the first member, and is provided with a recess that receives the first end of the first member when the first and second members are engaged. The second member is further provided with a flange that contacts the sidewall of the first member substantially along a width of the sidewall when the first and second members are engaged. The first and second members are magnetically coupled. More particularly, one of the first and second members includes a magnetic element, and the other of the first and second members is attractable to a magnet. It will be understood that this may be accomplished through use of a magnet and a ferrous element, or through the use of two magnets.
In one embodiment, a lens is coupled to an upper region of the second member and an ornamental element is provided beneath the lens. In one embodiment, the lens is removably secured to the second member, allowing a user to replace the ornamentation visible through the lens. In other embodiments, the lens is fixed or is eliminated. In these and other embodiments, an upper region of the second member may be provided directly with ornamentation. It will be understood that “ornamentation” as used throughout is a broad, encompassing term, and may take any form, including, but not limited to, the use of jewels, glass, metal working, enamel, embroidery, plastic, etc., and may be decorative or serve an identification function.
The present invention provides many benefits over prior art systems for securing ornamentation to a personal item. More particularly, by securing an ornamental member magnetically to a rivet that is received within a recess of the ornamental member, and by ensuring that a flange of the ornamental member extends along a sidewall of the rivet, lateral stability is provided between the two pieces, further securing the ornamental element to the rivet. Given that rivets are conventional in appearance and inexpensive to install, a user may choose to mount a variety of first members, or rivets, to a personal item and then secure one or more ornamental second members as desired. As discussed above, rather than merely being magnetically attracted, the arrangement of the flange secured over the width of the rivet provides lateral stability, which helps prevent the ornamental item from being accidentally dislodged from the first member.
Furthermore, it is fashionably acceptable to have rivets on personal items. Therefore, even if the user chooses to not use the decorative second members, it will be acceptable to have the first members provided on the personal item alone, unlike prior art systems where failure to have the selected indicia attached to the personal item may result in an exposed metal disc. The present system is therefore more secure, cost-effective, and fashionably acceptable.
As illustrated in
As further illustrated in
In one embodiment of the invention, a lens 20 is coupled to an upper region of the second member 14, and an ornamental element 21 is positioned beneath the lens 20 to be visible through the lens. In one embodiment, the lens is removably secured to the second member, thereby allowing a user to change the ornamental element positioned within the second member 14. Alternatively, an upper surface of the second member 14 may be provided directly with ornamentation, and the second member may or may not include lens 20.
In an alternative embodiment, as illustrated in
Alternatively, as illustrated in
It will be understood that although the illustrated embodiments show a magnet provided in the second member and the first member being attractable by a magnet, this arrangement may be reversed, in that the first member may have a magnet, and the second member may be attractable by a magnet. While this may be accomplished through use of a magnet and a ferrous material, it may also be accomplished through the use of two magnets having reverse polarity. By providing a magnet in the second member, however, the second member 14 may be placed on another surface, for example a refrigerator, to display the ornamental element 21. For purposes of display, it may also be desirable to have a board to which multiple second members are attachable.
In another embodiment illustrated in
It will be understood that while the first member 11 of the present invention may be secured to a selected personal item as conventional rivets are attached to personal items, any available method may be used to secure the first member 11 to a personal item at a selected location. Furthermore, the first member 11 does not need to extend through a personal item, but rather, could be secured to an upper surface of a personal item. For example, a first member 11 could be secured to a hard surface, such as a ceramic or metal surface, for example by an adhesive, thereby allowing decorative second members to be attached to personal items such as plates or coffee mugs. If a first member 11 is attached in this way to a surface, the shaft 28 and backer 29 may be eliminated, such that a first end 12 having a sidewall 13 effectively forming a disc 37, is coupled directed to a selected surface. For purposes of illustration, a plurality of discs 37 are shown coupled to a mug 36 in
All of the above U.S. patents, U.S. patent application publications, U.S. patent applications, foreign patents, foreign patent applications and non-patent publications referred to in this specification and/or listed in the Application Data Sheet, are incorporated herein by reference, in their entirety.
From the foregoing it will be appreciated that, although specific embodiments of the invention have been described herein for purposes of illustration, various modifications may be made without deviating from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not limited except as by the appended claims.
This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/293,418, filed Dec. 1, 2005, now pending, which application is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 11293418 | Dec 2005 | US |
| Child | 12624024 | US |
