Patent Application
20180199680
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A portion of the disclosure of this patent document may contain material which is subject to copyright protection. This patent document may show and/or describe matter which is or may become trade dress of the owner. The copyright and trade dress owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by any one of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrights and trade dress rights whatsoever.
The disclosed subject matter relates generally to fashionable accessories and, more particularly, to systems configured to enable interchanging elements of certain articles of jewelry with others.
Wearing jewelry is one popular way that consumers have found to visibly express their individuality. Developments in communications technology and, in particular, social media have even, in some respects, placed greater emphasis on personal appearance and in turn influence quick changes to trends and offerings in the ready-to-wear market. However, continuously purchasing new accessories to update or alter their look can be expensive for consumers. Indeed, purchasing a plurality of different accessories to coordinate with different outfits alone, trends notwithstanding, may itself be a daunting and expensive endeavor.
Some suggestions to alter or personalize jewelry and accessories have been proposed. For instance, charm bracelets known in the art, may be configured to slidably receive variously formed beads and/or charms according to a wearer's tastes and interests. U.S. Pat. No. 9,326,571 to Nevatia et al. similarly discloses a jewelry configured to slidably mount decorative elements thereto. Likewise, U.S. Pat. No. 7,819,721 to Messier discloses a decorative accessory configured to removably attach a variety of charms and jewelry to shoes and articles of clothing, and even other accessories. U.S. Pat. No. 7,222,503 to Golove teaches a ring having a removable setting configured to receive one or more chains carrying a variety of differently shaped charms. Many consumers, however, find that inevitable movement of hanging or sliding charms along a jewelry or accessory to be bothersome and distracting. Others still perceive charm-type or interchangeable jewelry as having less value than others.
Thus, there remains a need for fashionable and interchangeable jewelry, and systems and kits for the same.
The present disclosure is directed to one or more articles of jewelry configured to optionally and alternatively receive any of a variety of interchangeable baubles, charms, beads, or other aesthetic or decorative trinkets in a manner that enables a wearer to selectively alter the appearance of such articles.
For purposes of summarizing, certain aspects, advantages, and novel features have been described. It is to be understood that not all such advantages may be achieved in accordance with any one particular embodiment. Thus, the disclosed subject matter may be embodied or carried out in a manner that achieves or optimizes one advantage or group of advantages without achieving all advantages as may be taught or suggested.
In accordance with one embodiment, the interchangeable jewelry system may comprise at least one article of jewelry, and at least one element that is optionally removably securable to the article of jewelry. More particularly, the article of jewelry may be a bracelet, earring, ring, necklace or other article of jewelry.
The at least one optionally removably securable element may be a decorative charm or bauble. Such charm or bauble may be configured to define a three-dimensional shape and may further define a female threaded portion penetrating at least a portion of the decorative charm or bauble. The at least one optionally removably securable element will be hereinafter referred to simply as a “bauble” for the sake of brevity, however, it should be understood that many decorative items may be made configured to be optionally removably securable to the article of jewelry in accordance with embodiments of the invention. Such baubles may take innumerable three dimensional forms, such as for example only and not limitation, spheres, squares, stars, horseshoes, hearts, octahedrons, icosahedrons, and other geometric or irregular shapes as may be desired. Similarly, the baubles may comprise a variety of materials and combinations of materials such as plated, filled, or pure silver, gold, platinum, and titanium, alloyed metals, resin, glass and even plastic. The baubles may even comprise additional embellishments such as etchings, and/or embedded or otherwise secured gemstones, crystals, and others. Thus, one skilled in the art will understand that the particular appearance and material defining any of the baubles is not dispositive.
In some embodiments, each of the at least one articles of jewelry comprises at least one end terminating in a threaded post configured to mateably receive the decorative bauble. Thus, a bauble may be mateably and threadably secured to the threaded post of any of the at least one articles of jewelry such that the threaded post may be maintained within the threaded female portion defined by the three-dimensional body of the bauble. As one illustrative example, a bauble may be threadably secured to a threaded post comprising an end of a bracelet. Of course, it is contemplated that the interchangeable nature of parts ensures that the same bauble may instead be threadably secured to a threaded post comprising an end of a different bracelet, a necklace, an earring, or even a ring configured according to the disclosure. Likewise, a variety of different baubles may be optionally and alternatively secured to the threaded post comprising an end of just one of the at least one articles of jewelry. That is, a decorative bauble may be removed from a threaded post comprising an end of a bracelet to be replaced with a different decorative bauble. Thus, it may be seen that the interchangeable jewelry system is and may be altered by a wearer as desired.
Although the elements are described as threadably mateable, it is contemplated that other means for securing a decorative bauble to an article of jewelry may be employed. For instance, respective male and female portions of an article of jewelry and decorative bauble may be formed as mateable, snap-fit pieces that may be forcibly joined and separated.
One or more of the above-disclosed embodiments, in addition to certain alternatives, are provided in further detail below with reference to the attached figures. The disclosed subject matter is not, however, limited to any particular embodiment disclosed.
The disclosed embodiments may be better understood by referring to the figures in the attached drawings, as provided below. The attached figures are provided as non-limiting examples for providing an enabling description of the method and system claimed. Attention is called to the fact, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only typical embodiments of this invention and are therefore not to be considered as limiting of its scope. One skilled in the art will understand that the invention may be practiced without some of the details included in order to provide a thorough enabling description of such embodiments. Well-known structures and functions have not been shown or described in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the description of the embodiments.
Having summarized various aspects of the present disclosure, reference will now be made in detail to that which is illustrated in the drawings. While the disclosure will be described in connection with these drawings, there is no intent to limit it to the embodiment or embodiments disclosed herein. Rather, the intent is to cover all alternatives, modifications and equivalents included within the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims.
With reference to
Turning to
In some embodiments, removing a bauble may enable someone to thread or slide additional charms, beads, or baubles onto the length of cuff to further personalize the article of jewelry. Replacing a bauble on the end of such cuff may retain the additional charms, beads, or baubles along the cuff.
In some embodiments, the first bauble 14a may be similarly removable from the first end 12a of the cuff 10 to reveal another threaded post. However, it is also contemplated that one or more baubles may be permanently secured to the cuff. This may be desirable, for example, if the first bauble 14a comprises some indicia of branding that a seller might desire to be permanently displayed on an article of jewelry.
With reference to
Another alternative form for the article of jewelry may be seen in
It should be emphasized that the above-described embodiments are merely examples of possible implementations. Many variations and modifications may be made to the above-described embodiments without departing from the principles of the present disclosure. All such modifications and variations are intended to be included herein within the scope of this disclosure and protected by the following claims.
Moreover, embodiments and limitations disclosed herein are not dedicated to the public under the doctrine of dedication if the embodiments and/or limitations: (1) are not expressly claimed in the claims; and (2) are or are potentially equivalents of express elements and/or limitations in the claims under the doctrine of equivalents.
While certain embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described, various modifications are contemplated and can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, it is intended that the invention not be limited, except as by the appended claim(s).
The teachings disclosed herein may be applied to other systems, and may not necessarily be limited to any described herein. The elements and acts of the various embodiments described above can be combined to provide further embodiments. All of the above patents and applications and other references, including any that may be listed in accompanying filing papers, are incorporated herein by reference. Aspects of the invention can be modified, if necessary, to employ the systems, functions and concepts of the various references described above to provide yet further embodiments of the invention.
Particular terminology used when describing certain features or aspects of the invention should not be taken to imply that the terminology is being refined herein to be restricted to any specific characteristics, features, or aspects of the interchangeable jewelry system with which that terminology is associated. In general, the terms used in the following claims should not be constructed to limit the interchangeable jewelry system to the specific embodiments disclosed in the specification unless the above description section explicitly define such terms. Accordingly, the actual scope encompasses not only the disclosed embodiments, but also all equivalent ways of practicing or implementing the disclosed system, method and apparatus. The above description of embodiments of the interchangeable jewelry system is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the precise form disclosed above or to a particular field of usage.
While specific embodiments of, and examples for, the method, system, and apparatus are described above for illustrative purposes, various equivalent modifications are possible for which those skilled in the relevant art will recognize.
While certain aspects of the method and system disclosed are presented below in particular claim forms, various aspects of the method, system, and apparatus are contemplated in any number of claim forms. Thus, the inventor reserves the right to add additional claims after filing the application to pursue such additional claim forms for other aspects of the interchangeable jewelry method.
