Patent Application
20110072851
The present invention relates to the jewelry art, and specifically to jewelry made from a diamond.
Diamonds have long been viewed as the symbol of eternal love and therefore associated with marriage through the use of diamond engagement rings and wedding rings.
The prior art is replete with jewelry that includes diamonds, such as wedding bands, engagement rings, and earrings. The settings to hold diamonds in place are widely varied. For example, it is known in the art to make a ring or band to encircle a finger from precious metals. A setting may be included at some point or points, on or embedded in the band. Precious stones, such as diamonds may be held in place by the settings.
In the following description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration specific embodiments which may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that structural, logical and electrical changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. The following description of example embodiments is, therefore, not to be taken in a limited sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims.
Various items of jewelry may be made from diamond. Some embodiments include a circular band made out of solid diamond. Further embodiments include multiple portions made out of solid diamond to form earrings, chains and other forms of jewelry.
The term diamond is used to describe crystallized carbon. The present invention can be made of any of the commonly known types of diamond including the 4 types, known as type 1a, 1b, 2a, and 2b.
Diamond is comprised made mostly of carbon, and can be extremely pure. In almost all diamond material, however, there exists some portion of other elements, interspersed within the carbon as part of their crystal structure. These “impurities” are not what are commonly known as inclusions, visible to the naked eye or via magnification. These impurities are so subtle they may not even be visible under a very powerful microscope. Diamond material used to make the embodiments described herein are likely to contain some amount of other elements, or impurities.
The presence of other elements or combination of elements in diamond can give the diamond material a colored appearance. Various embodiments may be made out of diamond material having impurities such that it appears colored, including diamond material known as fancy colored diamond.
Diamond material is available from a number of sources. Diamond material may be mined from the earth or synthesized in a laboratory. Various embodiments may utilize diamond material from any source, as long as that material can be cut into a solid piece of diamond as described herein.
There are many diamond cutting techniques known in the art. Embodiments may be made utilizing any of the presently known cutting techniques. One of the methods used to create solid diamond jewelry include laser cutting solid diamond shapes out of a sheet of diamond made using a chemical vapor deposition process. Such a sheet of diamond may be formed as a single crystalline sheet using plasma assisted chemical vapor deposition. In further embodiments, the diamond may be formed by high pressure high temperature methods.
In one embodiment, the band 100 is substantially circular in shape, with straight sides. It may be cut from a sheet of diamond that is polished flat on both sides of the sheet, The sides of the sheet form the edges of the band 100 as indicated at 110. The inner edge 115 of the band 100 may be smooth in one embodiment, or may include a series of straight cuts by laser or other cutting device. In one embodiment, a large number of straight cuts may be used to form the inner edge of the ring to avoid potential discomfort of a wearer. In addition, a large number of cuts, such as 500 or more, may appear smooth or perfectly circular to a casual wearer. The inner edge defines a band or ring size, which may be customized to individual wearers in one embodiment.
An outer edge 120 of the band 100 may also be smooth, or consistent of a series of straight cuts similar to the inner edge 115. In further embodiments, such as shown in a partial view of a band in
In one embodiment as shown in
In further embodiment in
Many further portions may be included, providing the ability to from an infinite number of different shapes of earrings, or other items of jewelry. In some embodiments, portions may be formed of interlocking loops to provide a chain or necklace appearance, and may be worn by a person. The loops may be fixed in relation to each other, or may be separate loops that are moveable relative to each other. The loops may be formed from a plate of diamond, rotating the diamond to form alternate loops, and freeing the loops from each other via one or more laser cuts from various angles. In further embodiments, selected portions of jewelry, such as posts in an earring, may be formed of other material if desired.
In one embodiment, a portion may be formed in the shape of an animal or insect, or other desired subject, including abstract art. As indicated above, the possibilities for design of a portion or connected portions may be infinite. In one embodiment, the set of designs may be limited by the size and shape of the starting material. When a plate of chemical vapor deposition diamond is used as a starting material, it is a block of diamond from which material is removed to form the jewelry. In one embodiment, if a ring with gemstone feature is being made, the ring will likely be cut primarily from the top of the plate, with an outline of the gemstone feature also being first cut from the top of the plate. In such an embodiment, the gemstone may not be larger than the thickness of the plate. Further, it will have a crystalline orientation that is defined by the crystalline orientation of the plate.
When a plate of single crystalline chemical vapor deposition diamond is used to form a band or other multi-component jewelry, the components will all have the same crystalline orientation, and may be perfectly matched in terms of color and clarity. Since such plates may be made with various colors, such as pink, blue or yellow, in addition to colorless to near colorless, the matching of the color among the components of the jewelry may provide for striking, all diamond, combinations formed into a wide array of different solid diamond items of jewelry.
This invention is intended to cover all changes and modifications of the example embodiments described herein which do not constitute departures from the scope of the claims.
