Patent Application
20190121167
The present invention relates to optical accessories, and more particularly to clip-on assembly configured to attach onto spectacles.
It is well-recognized that the visual or optical needs of a person will vary greatly from person to person depending upon various factors including the age of the person, the specific ophthalmic needs of the person, the occasion or setting, and so forth. For example, a person may have multiple prescription glasses including one for driving, one for reading, and one for viewing screens of computer monitors. In addition, the person may maintain one or more sunglasses for various situations such as for driving, walking, playing sports, etc. In some situations, a person will concurrently need both the functionalities of corrective lens of prescription glasses, and the filtering functionalities of sunglasses. At other times, the person may only need the functionalities of only one type of glasses (e.g., corrective lens). To address these situations, various optical solutions have been developed over the years including tinted or light sensitive prescription glasses, flip-up sunglasses, and clip-on sunglasses.
Clip-on sunglasses or simply “clip-ons” have been widely available for many years. Conventional clip-ons typically include a frame with tinted lens disposed within the frame. These clip-ons will be without temples, and instead have components such as grapnels on the frame that are designed to clip and mount onto the frame or lenses of primary glasses such as prescription glasses.
Although clip-ons have proven to be an inexpensive solution to the multiple needs of eye glass wearers, they have proven to be somewhat limited as the lenses disposed within the frame of the clip-ons are usually fixed into the frame of the clip-on and are not easily replaceable. For example, if a user has different filtering needs for different occasions (e.g., filtering needs related to driving, filtering needs related to casual outdoor activities, and so forth), then the user would need to use multiple clip-ons for each occasion,
Various embodiments of the present disclosure provide for a clip-on lens assembly that is configured to attach to an eye glass frame. For these embodiments, the clip-on assembly may include at least one lens and a frame assembly. The at least one lens may have an outer edge portion along the perimeter of the lens and a first pair of lens mortises (e.g., notches) disposed at a first portion of the outer edge portion and a second pair of lens mortises disposed at a second portion of the outer edge portion located opposite of the first portion.
In some cases, the frame assembly may include at least one rim that is configured for receiving the at least one lens, the at least one rim having at least two lens tenon members, each of the at least two lens tenon members including a pair of lens tenon legs that are linked together by a lateral bar. Each of the pair of lens tenon legs of each lens tenon member may be further coupled to the at least one rim and may extend away from the at least one rim in a direction having a component perpendicular to a fitted plane defined by the at least one rim. Each of the lens tenon legs may be fixedly disposed relative to the at least one rim such that when the at least one lens is received by the at least one rim in releasably coupled fashion, each of the lens tenon legs may align into a corresponding lens mortise of the first pair of lens mortises or a corresponding lens mortise of the second pair of lens mortises of the at least one lens.
In some embodiments, the at least one lens may have a concave (e.g., concave from a wearer's perspective) shape and may be made of a resilient flexible material. In some cases, when the at least one lens is received by the at least one rim in releasably coupled fashion, a section of the outer edge portion of the at least one lens is aligned inward of the lateral bar such that the lateral bar covers the section of the outer edge portion as viewed from a front of the clip-on lens assembly. In some embodiments, the at least two lens tenon members and the a least one rim of the frame assembly may be formed from a continuous non-resilient band such as a continuous metallic band. In some cases, the lens tenon legs of the at least two lens tenon members may be formed by bending four locations of the continuous non-resilient band. In some embodiments, the at least one rim may include one or more grapnels.
In various embodiments, a lens frame assembly is disclosed herein. The lens frame assembly may include a bridge component and a pair of looped rims that are coupled to opposing end portions of the bridge component, each of the pair of looped rims having a pair of opposing rim members. For these embodiments, a looped rim may further include at least two lens tenon members, each of the two lens tenon members linking together a pair of end portions of the pair of opposing rim members of the looped rim. Each of the at least two lens tenon members may include a pair of lens tenon legs and a lateral bar linking the pair of lens tenon legs. The pair of lens tenon legs may extend away from a fitted plane of the lopped rim in a direction that includes a component perpendicular to the fitted plane. The pair of lens tenon legs may be spaced apart to align with corresponding spaced apart lens mortises on a corresponding lens to be received by the looped rim.
In the present description, certain specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of various embodiments of the disclosure. However, upon reviewing this disclosure one skilled in the art will understand that the various embodiments disclosed herein may be practiced without many of these details. In other instances, some well-known structures and materials of construction have not been described in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the descriptions of the embodiments of the disclosure.
In the present disclosure, to the extent the terms “about,” “approximately,” and “substantially” are used, they mean±20% of the indicated range, value, or structure, unless otherwise indicated. In the present description, the terms “a” and “an” as used herein refer to “one or more” of the enumerated components. The use of the alternative (e.g., “or”) should be understood to mean either one, both, or any combination thereof of the alternatives. As used herein, the terms “include” and “comprise” are used synonymously, the terms and variants of which are intended to be construed as non-limiting. The definitions in this paragraph are intended to apply throughout this disclosure unless otherwise expressly stated.
According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, a clip-on lens assembly is disclosed that may include one or more replaceable lenses and a frame assembly that is configured to receive the one or more replaceable lenses and that can be clipped/mounted onto an eyeglass frame (e.g., prescription or non-prescription glasses with corrective or non-corrective lens). For these embodiments, the frame assembly may include features that permit an end user to easily insert, remove, or replace the one or more replaceable lenses from the frame assembly with one or more other replaceable lenses. In some embodiments, each of the replaceable lenses (hereinafter simply “lenses”) may include features that may permit them to be easily mated with, as well as to remove from, the frame assembly as will be further described herein.
Each rim 22a and 22b may include a pair of opposing rim members 28a and 28b that may be coupled or bridged together by a pair of lens tenon members 30a and 30b. In some cases, the opposing end portions 25 of the bridge component 24 may be coupled to opposing rim members 28a of rims 22a and 22b. In some embodiments, lens tenon members 30a and 30b may substantially mirror each other. As will be further described herein, lens tenon members 30a and 30b may be configured to ensure that corresponding lenses 40a and 40b may be securely attached to the rims 22a and 22b.
Each of the lens tenon members 30* of rims 22* may include a pair of lens tenon legs 32a and 32b that are coupled together via a lateral bar 34 (see
Each lens 40a and 40b may include two pairs of lens mortises 44* (e.g., lens mortises pair 44a and 44b, and lens mortises pair 44a′ and 4b′) that are disposed at the outer edge portions 41 (e.g., perimeter portions) of lenses 40a and 40b. In various embodiments, the lens mortises 44* may be notches that are located along the perimeter or outer edge portions 41 of their respective lens 40a and 40b. Each of the lens mortises 44* may be configured to receive corresponding lens tenon legs 32* of the frame assembly 20 when the lens 40a and 40b are inserted between the lens tenon members 30* of rims 22a and 22b.
Note that in the following description, words such as “front,” “forward,” “inwards,” “rearwards,” and the like are used herein to refer to the direction in which a user wears and looks through the clip-on lens assembly 10. For example, the user's line of sight will generally parallel direction “Z” as illustrated in
Turning to
When lens 40a has been inserted between the two lens tenon members 30a and 30b of rim 22a, a section 46 of a first portion 42a of the outer edge portion 41 of lens 40a may be aligned inward of the lateral bar 34 of the lens tenon member 30a of rim 22a such that the lateral bar 34 covers section 46 of the first portion 42a of the outer edge portion 41 of lens 40a as viewed from the front of the clip-on lens assembly 10. As illustrated, section 46 is between lens mortises 44a and 44b. When lens 40a has been mated with rim 22a by being inserted between the two lens tenon members 30a and 30b of rim 22a, the lens tenon legs 32* (see lens tenon legs 32a, 32b, 32a′, and 32b′ of
Each lens tenon member 30* of rim 22a, as well as rim 22b, may include a pair of lens tenon legs 32*. For example, lens tenon member 30a as illustrated in
Each of the lens tenon legs 32* of lens tenon member 30a may extend away from the fitted plane 60 in a direction that includes a component perpendicular to the fitted plane 60. That is, although each of the lens tenon legs 32* of lens tenon member 30a may not extend away from the fitted plane 60 in a perfectly perpendicular direction relative to the fitted plane 60 in some embodiments as illustrated in
In some embodiments, the lateral bar 34 of lens tenon member 30a of rim 22a (as well as the other lens tenon members 30* of rims 22a and 22b) may have a length (L) that is greater than 10 millimeters (mm). That is, the length of lateral bar 34 may define how far apart the pair of lens tenon legs 32a and 32b are spaced apart. If the pair of lens tenon legs 32a and 32b, along with the other pair of lens tenon legs 32a′ and 32b′ of rim 22a (see
In various embodiments, rims 22a and 22b may be made from non-resilient material such as, for example, stainless steel or other non-resilient material. In some cases, each of the rims 22a and 22b may be a looped rim that may be formed from a continuous non-resilient band. In embodiments where the rims 22a and 22b are made from a non-resilient but malleable material such as a metal or a metal alloy, the lens tenon members 30a and 30b may be formed by bending selected portions of rims 22a and 22b, or by other means known in the relevant art.
In some embodiments, each of the lens 40a and 40b may have a concave shape (e.g., concave shape from the perspective of a wearer) and may be made from a flexible resilient material including any one or more of a variety of plastics such as polycarbonate (PC), cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB), Triacetate Cellulose (TAC), and so forth. When lens 40a and 40b are inserted between the lens tenon members 30a and 30b of their corresponding rims 22a and 22b, the lens tenon legs 32* (e.g., lens tenon legs 32a, 32b, 32a′, and 32b′) of each rim 22a and 22b may be aligned or seated into the lens mortises (e.g., lens mortises 44a, 44b, 44a′, and 44b′) of corresponding lenses 40a and 40b.
In various embodiments, the specific features of lens 40a and 40b and rims 22a and 22b, such as the lens mortises 44* of lenses 40a and 40b and the lens tenon legs 32* of rims 22a and 22b, may be particularly configured/oriented to ensure that lenses 40a and 40b will be secured to corresponding rims 22a and 22b. For example, and as illustrated in
The various embodiments described herein, are presented as non-limiting example embodiments of the present disclosure, unless otherwise expressly indicated. After reviewing the present disclosure, an individual of ordinary skill in the art will immediately appreciate that some details and features can be added, removed and/or changed without deviating from the spirit of the disclosure. Reference throughout this specification to “various embodiments,” “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “additional embodiment(s)”, “alternative embodiments,” or “some embodiments,” means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment(s) is included in at least one or some embodiment(s), but not necessarily all embodiments, such that the references do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment (s). Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. These and other changes can be made to the embodiments in light of the above-detailed description. In general, in the following claims, the terms used should not be construed to limit the claims to the specific embodiments disclosed in the specification, but should be construed to include all possible embodiments along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. Accordingly, the claims are not limited by the disclosure.
