Patent Application
20050213025
The present invention relates to the field of eyeglasses and methods of manufacture thereof.
Eyeglasses, and particularly sunglasses, are typically constructed of a plastic or metal frame. A pair of temple pieces is attached to the frame by hinges and a pair of lenses is fitted into openings in the frame. Because the entire frame is often molded from a single material, the material must be chosen based on criteria that are often conflicting. For example, the material should have sufficient resilience that it can be formed separately from the lenses and then allow the lenses to be snapped into place. However, the material should have sufficient rigidity so that the lenses then remain in place and so that the frame retains its essential shape despite certain stresses being placed on the frame during use. In addition, it is often desired that a single frame shape can comfortably accommodate some variation in shape and size of wearers' faces. However, because the frames rest against the wearer's face and must have a certain amount of rigidity, all too often, a particular frame can only be worn comfortably by persons whose face shape and size falls within a limited range.
In addition, wearers often desire that their eyeglasses appear stylish. At the same time, producers of eyeglasses often desire that they can be produced in significant volumes and at reasonable cost. Thus, while other materials and multiple materials have been used in eyewear, they have not always achieved satisfactory results in terms of comfort, stylishness and manufacturability.
Therefore, what is needed is improved eyeglasses. What is further needed is an improved method of manufacture of eyeglasses. It is toward these ends that the present invention is directed.
The present invention is directed toward eyeglasses and a method of manufacture thereof. In one embodiment, an eyeglass assembly includes a eyeglass frame having lens receptacles and a rib coupled to the eyeglass frame. The rib includes a brow portion, the brow portion having side portions extending above the lens receptacles and the rib having extensions coupled to the brow portion and extending downwardly along both sides of a wearer's nose and the rib having a pliable coating on at least some of its surface. The rib may be affixed to the eyeglass frame by at least one fastener and at least one attachment means being integral to the rib and the eyeglass frame.
In another embodiment, method of manufacturing eyeglasses is provided. A molded rib is formed. A pliable coating is molded on at least some of the surface of the molded rib. The molded rib is affixed to an eyeglass frame having lens receptacles by at least one fastener and at least one attachment means being integral to the rib and the eyeglass frame. The rib may include a brow portion, the brow portion having side portions extending above the lens receptacles and the rib having extensions coupled to the brow portion and extending downwardly along both sides of a wearer's nose.
In yet another embodiment, the rib is omitted as a separate piece. In which case, an eyeglass assembly includes a eyeglass frame having lens receptacles and a pliable coating coupled to the eyeglass frame. The pliable coating includes a brow portion, the brow portion having side portions extending above the lens receptacles and the pliable coating having extensions coupled to the brow portion and extending downwardly along both sides of a wearer's nose.
In a further embodiment, a method of manufacturing eyeglasses is provided. A molded eyeglass frame is formed in a first mold fixture. A pliable coating is molded on at least some of the surface of the frame in a second mold fixture.
These and other aspects of the invention are described in more detail herein.
The present invention is directed toward eyeglasses and a method of manufacture thereof. A rib is formed, preferably of plastic. A pliable coating, preferably rubber, is applied to the rib. The rib is affixed to an eyeglass frame. The rib is preferably affixed to the frame with at least one fastener, preferably a screw, and at least one tab and corresponding tab receptacle. The resulting eyeglasses include the rib, the pliable coating and the frame, and are improved over prior eyeglasses in respect to comfort, stylishness and manufacturability.
The frame 102 is preferably molded of plastic, nylon or a similar material, though the frame 100 can be formed of any material suitable for eyeglass frames. The lens receptacles 110 and 112 preferably include a lens-retaining channel molded into the frame into which the lenses are inserted after the frame 100 is formed.
The rib 114 is preferably also molded of plastic, nylon or a similar material, thought the rib 114 can be formed of any other suitable material. The rib 114 is also preferably molded as a separate piece from the frame 102. For example, they may be molded at different times and using different mold fixtures.
In addition, the frame assembly 100 includes a pliable coating 126, such as rubber or a similar material. The coating 126 is preferably applied over the rib 114 after the rib has been formed. For example, once the rib 114 has been formed in a first mold by a first molding process, the rib 114 is then placed in a second mold. Then, the coating 126 is molded onto the rib in this second mold by a second molding process. For example, the coating 126 may be injected into the second mold in liquid form while the rib 114 partially occupies the cavity of the second mold. As a result, the coating 126 will tend to be bonded to the rib 114 in places where the coating 126 contacts the rib 114.
The pliable coating 126 is preferably of substantially uniform thickness (e.g., approximately 1.0-1.5 mm thick) except in areas of the coating 126 that potentially contact the wearer, which are preferably thicker (e.g., approximately 1.0-4.0 mm thick). Particularly, the rubber coating 126 is preferably thicker along a brow ridge 128 that potentially contacts the wearer in the brow area. In addition, the rubber coating 126 preferably includes integrally-molded nose pads, including a left nose pad 130 and a right nose pad 132 that are thicker than other areas of the coating 126 so as to provide a cushion for the wearer's nose.
After the pliable coating 126 has been applied to the rib 114, the rib 114 and coating 126 are together affixed to the frame 102. Thus, the rib 114 provides structure for the coating 126 and a means to affix the coating 126 to the frame 102. In an embodiment, the rib 114 is affixed to the frame 102 by at least one fastener (e.g., a screw) and at least one attachment means being integral to the rib 114 and to the eyeglass frame 102. By integral what is meant is that the attachment means is molded or otherwise formed into the rib 114, the frame 102 or both. For example, an attachment means may include a tab that extends from the rib 114 or frame 102 and that is inserted into a corresponding receptacle in the opposite piece. Each such receptacle preferably accommodates the corresponding tab snugly and, possibly even causing a slight distortion of the pieces when fitted together, so that the pieces are held to together at least in part by friction between the receptacle and tab.
In an embodiment, the attachment means includes a plurality of tabs 134 extending from the eyeglass frame 102. For each such tab 134, a corresponding tab receptacle 136 is formed in the rib 114. In a preferred embodiment, there are four tabs 134 formed in the left portion 104 of the frame 102 over the left lens receptacle 110 and four tabs 134 formed in the right portion 106 of the frame 102 over the right lens receptacle 112. In addition, one tab 138 extends from the frame 102 in an area adjacent to the left side of the wearer's nose and one tab 138 extends from the frame in an area adjacent to the right side of the wearer's nose. For each such tab 138, a corresponding tab receptacle 140 is formed in the rib 114. As shown in
In an embodiment, a plurality of tabs extends from the rib 114. For each such tab, a corresponding tab receptacle is formed in the eyeglass frame 102. Preferably, the tabs extending from the rib 114 include a tab 142 near the end of the left brow portion 116 of the rib 114, a tab 144 near the end of the right brow portion 118 of the rib 114, a tab 146 (visible in
In an embodiment, the attachment means includes a pair of screws 158 (
In an embodiment, the eyeglasses frame 100 includes a plurality of air vents 160.
In addition, the vents are preferably formed such that at least one air vent has a central axis that is substantially sloped with respect to a top surface of the eyeglass frame 102. This sloping is shown in
As mentioned the rib 114 is preferably molded as a separate piece from the frame 102. In an alternate embodiment, the rib 114 is molded together with the frame 102 and, thus, the rib 114 is omitted as a separate piece. In this embodiment, once the frame 102 has been formed in a first mold by a first molding process, the frame 102 is then placed in a second mold. Then, the coating 126 is molded onto the frame 102 in this second mold by a second molding process. For example, the coating 126 may be injected into the second mold in liquid form while the frame 102 partially occupies the cavity of the second mold. As a result, the coating 126 will tend to be bonded to the frame 102 in places where the coating 126 contacts the frame 102. The resulting eyeglasses will have essentially the same features and appearance as the eyeglasses illustrated in
While the foregoing has been with reference to particular embodiments of the invention, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes in these embodiments may be made without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined by the appended claims.
