Patent Application
20160231591
The application relates generally to eyewear and more particularly to eyewear having a pair of temples joined to a frame structure of the eyewear by respective compression hinges.
Spring hinges used in eyewear are known. They serve to connect the lens-containing central part of eyewear to the side pieces in a flexibly resilient manner. The side pieces can be displaced from a folded position in which they abut against the central part, to an unfolded position in which they are pivoted outward to extend at approximately right angles to the central part. If the side pieces are pivoted outward beyond the unfolded position, a spring device in the spring hinge is activated to allow the side pieces to over flex without breakage and to draw the side pieces back into the unfolded position. The spring hinges including the spring device are conventionally made of metal material and are conventionally configured for use in a metal frame structure of eyewear. However, these conventional spring hinges may not meet users' needs for over flexing of modern eyewear styles.
Accordingly, there is a need for eyewear having improved types of “over flexed” hinge apparatus.
In one aspect, there is provided eyewear comprising a central part including at least one lens, a pair of side pieces, and a pair of compression hinges each pivotally connecting a corresponding one of the side pieces to the central part, each compression hinge comprising a first hinge element and a second hinge element pivotally joined one with the other, and a compressible foam body accommodated in a cavity defined in one of the central part and the corresponding side piece, the first hinge element abutting the compressible foam body and being displaceable with respect to said one of the central part and the corresponding side piece which defines the cavity.
Optionally, the cavity may be located in a rigid plastic part of said one of the central part and the corresponding side piece of the eyewear.
Reference is now made to the accompanying figures in which:
It will be noted that throughout the appended drawings, like features are identified by like reference numerals.
Referring to
The compression-hinge apparatus 20 may further include a compressible foam body 40 accommodated in a cavity 42 defined in for example the side piece 18. The side piece 18 may be formed as a rigid plastic single piece or may be formed of composite materials such as plastic and metal materials in which the cavity 42 may be defined in a rigid plastic end section of the side piece 18.
The compressible foam body 40 may be made of an elastically-deformable foam material which can be compressed under external forces and can return to its original shape when the external forces are removed. The compressible foam body 40 according to one embodiment may be in a block profile defining a vertical passage 44 for receiving the abutment member 24 to be inserted thereinto, and a horizontal passage 46 for receiving the connector 22 to be inserted thereinto. The connector 22 and the abutment member 24 may be connected together with the compressible foam body 40, for example by a screw 48 extending laterally through the compressible foam body 40, the connector 22 and the abutment member 24.
The cavity 42 defined in the rigid plastic end section of the side piece 18 may be configured to have a rectangular cross section (corresponding to the block profile of the compressible foam body 40) extending through the rigid plastic end section of the side piece 18 to define a rectangular opening (not numbered) on one or both of top and bottom surfaces 50, 52 of the side piece 18. The compressible foam body 40 may therefore be inserted into the cavity 42 through the top opening or bottom opening of the cavity 42.
The cavity 42 defined in the rigid plastic end section of the sides piece 18 is thus surrounded by opposed end walls 54, 56 and by opposed inner and outer side walls 58, 60 (see
The cavity 42 according to one embodiment. may further define a side opening 66 at an inner side and/or outer side of the side piece 18. The side opening 66 may extend through the inner side wall of the cavity 42 and/or may extend through the outer side wall 60 of the cavity 42. The side opening 66 permits the screw 48 to be placed into the cavity 42 to join the connector 22 and the abutment member 24 with the compressible foam body 40. Nevertheless, the connector 22 and the abutment member 24 may be otherwise configured and otherwise joined together such that the side opening 66 may not be required.
Referring to
When a force 70 is applied to the side piece 18 in order to pivot the side piece 18 outward, past the unfolded position, a corner 72 between the end surface 64 and the outer side of the side piece (see
It should be noted that the compression-hinge apparatus 20 may be alternatively arranged. For example, the pin 28 may be attached to the side piece 18 and the cavity 42 may be defined in the central part 14. In such an embodiment, other features of the compression-hinge apparatus 20 will be similar but arranged in accordance with the alternatively positioned pin, the compressible foam body and the cavity.
Referring to
The cavity 42 defined in a rigid plastic end section of the side piece 18, similar to that shown in
A ring 74 (a second hinge element) may be attached to the rear facing surface 34 of the end base 16 of the central part 14, defining a hole 26′ therein to receive the pin 28 to extend therethrough. Optionally, the hole 26′ may be larger than the diameter of the pin 28. The ring 74 and the openings 62′ and 66′ of the cavity 42 may be configured and positioned to allow the ring 74 to be receivable and partially receivable in the cavity 42 through the end opening 62′ and the inner side opening 66′ allowing angular mobility between the two positions.
The compressible foam body 40′ according to one embodiment may have a block profile having a rectangular cross section corresponding to that of the cavity 42. The compressible foam body 40′ may have a recess 76 (see
The side piece 18 may be pivotally joined to the central part 14 by the pin 28 extending through the hole 26′ of the ring 74 which is received or partially received in the recess 76 of the compressible foam body 40′. The opposed end portions (not numbered) of the pin 28 may be embedded in the compressible foam body 40′ such as being received in holes 78 defined in the compressible foam body 40′ which is accommodated in the cavity 42 in the side piece 18.
When an external force (not illustrated) is applied to the side piece 18 to pivot the side piece 18 from the unfolded position as shown in
However, there are no openings defined in the outer side piece 18 corresponding with the side openings 66′ of the cavity 42. Therefore, the middle portion of the outer side wall 60 of the cavity located adjacent the end opening 62′ will interact with the ring 74 to prevent the side piece 52 from further outward angular motion with respect to the central part 14 when the side piece reaches a limited over flexed position such as indicated by the broken line 38 in
It should be noted that the features of the compression-hinge apparatus according to this embodiment associated with the respective central part and the side piece may also be alternatively arranged. For example, the ring may be attached to the end surface of the side piece while the compressible foam body may be accommodated in a cavity in the central part.
The above description is meant to be exemplary only, and one skilled in the art will recognize that changes may be made to the embodiments described without departing from the scope of the described subject matter. Modifications which fall within the scope of the described subject matter will be apparent to those skilled in the art, in light of a review of this disclosure, and such modifications are intended to fall within the appended claims.
