This invention relates to the field of customizable jewelry. More particularly, the present invention is a system that employs combinations of multi-connector findings and strands of jewelry to form customizable necklaces, bracelets, belts, and other accessories from a single jewelry system.
Many jewelry accessories such as necklace, bracelet, and chain belt have the same basic structure: a strand or strands of jewelry linked and secured by a multitude of available findings. While persons skilled in the art of jewelry making often utilize identical parts to construct different jewelry items, most jewelries sold on the market have fixed structures that are not modifiable by consumers. When a jewelry article is made with conventional jewelry making techniques, consumers loose the ability to utilize its components for other purposes. A consumer desiring several jewelry items with slight structural variations between them traditionally must purchase each jewelry items individually. Several methods and systems which permit some degree of modification and conversion between different types of jewelry are known in the art.
Some of the known arts allow conversions between different types of jewelry but do not permit modification. U.S. Pat. No. 1,704,919 issued to J. M. Murray on Oct. 10, 1924 discloses a necklace with a clasp element and corresponding elements evenly spaced along the chain. Corresponding elements attach to the clasp element to form equal-size loops which allows the chain to be worn as a bracelet. U.S. Pat. No. 6,962,063 issued to Irwin Pearl on Nov. 8, 2005 discloses an arrangement of stringed magnetic and non-magnetic beads that can be worn as a necklace or bracelet in loops about the user resulting contact together of the magnetic beads. Both of these inventions have fixed number of convertible modes and have no exchangeable parts. These designs allow a single jewelry item to be worn on different parts of the body, but lack customizability.
Other inventions have some degree of customizability but utilize connectors that are limited to one-to-one connection. U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,252 issued to Mochizuki on Apr. 16, 1991 discloses a method of joining stone or pearl strands with imbedded connectors to inconspicuously create necklaces of different configuration. U.S. Pat. No. 6,718,797 B2 issued to Margaret Plumly on Apr. 13, 2004 discloses a jewelry finding that enables a flexible bracelet to be worn as a necklace. Locket clasps are provided at the ends of the neck accessory to provide secure interconnection of the bracelet clasp ends with the neck accessory, while at the same time enclosing and obscuring from view the connection hardware. These inventions provide methods to connect jewelry strands in a visually pleasing manner while retaining the mobility of the jewelry strands. One major disadvantage of these connectors however, is that they are limited to linear structures. As such, consumer cannot configure jewelry strands to create multiple layer jewelry.
Another group of known art provides customizability but utilizes conventional connectors that allow multiple connections only to a limited extent. U.S. Patent Application No. 2004/0200236 A1 by Shirley I. Emberson et al. discloses a lanyard convertible to jewelry. This invention includes a Y shape neckpiece and a plurality of linear pieces. Each piece has a magnet, clasp, or hook on the opposing ends that can be detachably secured to one another to form necklaces or bracelets. The Y shape neckpiece can further be attached to an ID badge or other ornamentations. U.S. Patent Application No. 2002/0078707 A1 by Darly Lea Walker et al. discloses a configurable jewelry closure comprising a series of common jewelry fasteners on links which can be detachably secured to jewelry strand(s) to form jewelry item. These two inventions are customizable, but suffer the limitation of traditional connectors. Conventional fasters such as clasps and hooks are designed for one-to-one connections. While they are capable of being concurrently connected to several other connectors, a cluster of connectors is aesthetically unpleasing and inconvenient; the removal of one clasp in a cluster can undesirably affects the connectivity of another clasp in the cluster.
In view of the above described deficiencies associated with customizable jewelry systems, the present invention has been developed to alleviate these drawbacks and provide benefits to a user. These enhancements and benefits are described in greater detail herein below with respect to several embodiments of the present invention.
The present invention in its several disclosed embodiments alleviates the drawbacks described above with respect to methods and systems for customizable jewelry and incorporates several additional beneficial features. The general objective of the present invention is to provide a new and improved customizable jewelry system especially suitable for creating multiple layer jewelry.
The present invention described herein is a system that employs combinations of multi-connector findings and strands of jewelry to form customizable necklaces, bracelets, and belts. Different from the clasp and loop pairing in most conventional jewelry, the jewelry strands used in the system has releasable clasps attached to both ends. The body of the strand itself can be made from any material commonly used for jewelry making. The multi-connector findings are connector pieces with multiple loops, each capable of removable attachment with the clasps on the strands. The preferred embodiment of this finding is a multi-connector-shaped metal with loops attached along the edges, and a chain and hook attached to one of the loops. The system of present invention permits jewelry strands to be detachably connected by multi-connector findings to form several types of jewelry, including necklaces, bracelets, and chain belts.
The utilization of findings in the system of present invention has several advantages. These advantages are exemplified below by the differences between known methods of making a multiple layer necklace and the system of present invention. In the prior arts, there are two methods by which multiple layer jewelry can be constructed. Multiple layer necklaces sold on the commercial market often have the ends of each strand joined to the other strands. Such necklace has no customizability; none of the strands can be removed or replaced without causing damage to the original necklace. Another method is to wear multiple individual necklaces. When each necklace strand is put on individually however, individual strands have the tendency to rotate around the neck, resulting in connector misalignment. Although all the clasps and loops can be linked together to prevent misalignment, the process of putting on and removing such necklace can be time-consuming. The resulting cluster of clasps is also highly unaesthetic.
Using the system of the present invention, a five strand or layer necklace is constructed by connecting five jewelry strands between two multi-connector findings each having chain and hook attachment. Such necklace has several advantages over the conventional ones described above. First of all, each strand on the necklace is removable and replaceable. Consumer can remove or replace each strand to achieve a style that best accompany an outfit and/or occasion. The same strands can also be utilized to form other types of accessories. Secondly, each clasp on the jewelry strands is attached to an individual loop on a multi-connector finding, independent from other clasps. The incorporation of multi-connector findings not only eliminates the clustered appearance, each strand can also be removed and replaced without effecting any other connection. Thirdly, once the necklace is assembled, the entire necklace can be easily worn and removed through a single pair of connectors extending from the multi-connector findings. Individual strands are secured from becoming misaligned, while the undesired rotation of the entire necklace around the neck is as easy to adjust as a single strand necklace. Finally, these multi-connector findings are also capable of being decorative objects themselves, thereby increasing the overall aesthetic appeals of the jewelry.
The present invention will be more clearly understood from the following description of illustrative embodiments thereof, to be read by way of example and not of limitation in conjunction with the apparatus and the method described. The beneficial effects described above apply generally to the examples disclosed herein of the method and apparatus for customizable jewelry. The specific components and configurations through which these benefits are delivered will be described in detail herein below.
The invention will now be described in greater detail in the following way of example only and with references to the attached drawings, in which:
As required, detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosed herein; however, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention that may be embodied in various and alternative forms. The figures are not necessarily to scale; some features may be exaggerated or minimized to show details of particular components. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the present invention.
The present invention is a jewelry system.
A second standard releasable lobster claw clasp means 12, 15, 18, 21 and 24 closes off each strand on the opposite end, with its non-clasp end attached to the thread. The standard releasable clasp means shown in the illustrations are lobster claw clasps. Other clasp means commonly known to persons skilled in the art, including, but not limited to, spring ring clasps, toggle clasps, and hooks, can be used in place of the lobster claw clasp. Also, all five jewelry strands 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 are drawn to be substantially equal in length in the illustration; however, the invention can be implemented with jewelry strands of varying lengths.
Connector module 6 comprises a standard releasable hook 27, a short chain 28, and a multi-connector finding 30 in
Multi-connector findings of other shapes and designs can alternatively be employed; some of these examples are illustrated and described in
A double ended releasable connector 8 or an S-shaped connector 9 shown in
Now referring to
The material of multi-connector findings illustrated previously has been described herein as metal. However, the particular material of the multi-connector is not a critical aspect of this invention. Multi-connector findings can alternatively be made with wood, polymer, stone, leather, or a number of other natural or man-made materials.
One specific combination of the invention is shown in
One specific combination of the invention that forms a multiple layer belt 94 is assembled with jewelry strands 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, multi-connector 72, multi-connector 86, shown in
A bracelet 95 can be made with one or more jewelry strands and one multi-connector finding. One specific combination of a bracelet made from the system of present invention includes jewelry strand 2 and multi-connector 86. Jewelry strand 2 is first connected to loop 88 of multi-connector 86 at its clasp 13, then wrapped around the wearer's wrist two to three times, and finally connected back to loop 90 on multi-connector 86 at its clasp 15. In the case of a single strand bracelet, the multi-connector 86 acts as a pendent or a charm. When multiple strands are used, the multi-connector prevents the strands from separating during movement.
Single layer belt 91 includes jewelry strands 1, 2, and 98, and multi-connector finding 86. Jewelry strands 1 and 2 are first linked together by connecting clasp 10 to clasp 13. Clasp 12 on strand 1 and clasp 15 on strand 2 are then attached to loops 87 and 89 on multi-connector 86, respectively. A shorter jewelry strand 98 is attached to loop 90 of multi-connector finding 86 to from a Y-shape for ornamental purposes. An alternative version of this belt replaces strand 98 with a chain similar to the one attached to connector module 6. Clasp 15 on strand 2 would alternatively be connected to links chain 98 to form an adjustable length chain belt.
Although the foregoing specific details describe various embodiments of the invention, persons reasonably skilled in the art will recognize that various changes may be made in the details of the method and apparatus of this invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. Therefore, it should be understood that, unless otherwise specified, this invention is not to be limited to the specific details shown and described herein.
This application is a continuation of and claims benefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/517,914 filed Sep. 8, 2006, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,980,095, which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
1704919 | Murray | Mar 1929 | A |
2644992 | McFarland | Jul 1953 | A |
3098364 | Verri | Jul 1963 | A |
3135031 | Brosse | Jun 1964 | A |
4527316 | Murphy | Jul 1985 | A |
D282727 | Bulgari | Feb 1986 | S |
5007252 | Mochizuki | Apr 1991 | A |
6438995 | Kuptzin et al. | Aug 2002 | B1 |
6675611 | Hunter | Jan 2004 | B2 |
6718797 | Plumly | Apr 2004 | B2 |
6880363 | Ma | Apr 2005 | B2 |
6962063 | Pearl | Nov 2005 | B1 |
7322214 | Ignatowski | Jan 2008 | B2 |
7350376 | Couling | Apr 2008 | B2 |
20020078707 | Walker et al. | Jun 2002 | A1 |
20040007017 | Flaherty | Jan 2004 | A1 |
20040200236 | Emberson et al. | Oct 2004 | A1 |
20060048543 | Kessler | Mar 2006 | A1 |
20070051133 | Wolff | Mar 2007 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20110247361 A1 | Oct 2011 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 11517914 | Sep 2006 | US |
Child | 13164279 | US |