Patent Grant
9888750
Beading is a hobby which had become highly popular for forming unique, inexpensive decorative items of adornment. As beaders progress in their level of skill, it becomes increasingly important to them to produce items of high quality and professional appearance even though they are often given away to grand children and other family members. To this end, beading supplies are offered to ensure that the beaded items have a quality that would be considered attractive by the intended wearers. However, these supplies must also be inexpensive and easily manipulable by the intended users even if hampered by arthritis and failing strength. Ear rings for pierced ears have been quite difficult for beaders to produce to levels of quality that they would consider acceptable, particularly because hand formed wires simply do not meet the expected level of appearance that can be obtained with other commonly produced beaded items, particularly bracelets and necklaces. The large loop in a standard ear wire is particularly difficult to form using tools heretofore available to beaders. However, even if the beader purchases preformed ear wires, those items commonly sold still require the beader to form bends or kinks in the ear wire which can be difficult to form to the beaders' standards of acceptability. This invention relates to a tool for reproducibly forming ear wires of a highly finished appearance from beading wire which provides ample levels of mechanical advantage so that beaders can form ear wires using very little effort. This can be especially important for beaders of advanced age.
The present invention provides a manually operable tool for bending of an ear wire blank into a configuration including an open “U” section and a smaller substantially closed loop terminating one of the uprights of the “U”. The manually operable tool comprises: a pair of handles urgable together; an anvil plate having an arcuate minor forming slot, an arcuate major forming slot, a circumferential gear formed on one side of the anvil plate adjacent to the minor forming slot; and a forming anvil formed on the other side of the anvil plate; a first forming link having a downwardly projecting forming link rod projecting through the major forming slot and engagable against one side of a wire blank disposed upon the anvil plate; a second forming link having a downwardly projecting stanchion projecting therefrom and protruding through the major forming slot; each of the first and said second forming links being pivotably joined to anvil plate; a planetary gear rotatable around the downwardly projecting forming link rod on said upper forming link, the forming link rod projecting through said minor forming slot, the planetary gear being engagable against the circumferential gear and having an eccentric forming rod projecting downwardly through the minor forming slot and engaging the side of a wire blank on the anvil plate; the handles being pivotally joined to said anvil plate and urgable toward each other; and a linkage urging: the upper forming link to rotate in a first direction in response to said handles being urged toward each other; urging said lower forming link to rotate in a second direction counter to the first direction; and forcing the ear-wire blank against the forming anvil.
Other aspects and advantages of the present invention are described in the detailed description below and in the claims.
The invention is described in detail below with reference to the appended drawings, wherein like numerals designate similar parts. In the Figures:
The invention is described in detail below with reference to several embodiments and numerous examples. Such discussion is for purposes of illustration only. Modifications to particular examples within the spirit and scope of the present invention, set forth in the appended claims, will be readily apparent to one of skill in the art. Terminology used herein is given its ordinary meaning consistent with the exemplary definitions set forth immediately below.
Ear wire forming tool 22 of the present invention comprises right handle 24 and left handle 28 wherein both handles 24 and 28 are preferably of substantially full tang construction so that right handle tang 26 and left handle tang 30 extend for most of the full length of handles 24 and 28 respectively leaving, of course, a cushion at the very end, providing for rigidity and the ability to accommodate the considerable mechanical advantage provided by the present invention. Handles 24 and 28 are pivotably joined to anvil plate 32 by major pivot stanchion 142 interpenetrating right handle tang 26 via right handle pivot aperture 100 and left handle tang 30 via left handle tang pivot aperture 102. For easy assembly and disassembly, major pivot stanchion 142 is capped with retaining ring 106 which restricts dislodgment of tangs 26 and 30 from major pivot stanchion 142 during use. Throughout the remainder of this specification, retaining rings will not be belabored with numbers even though illustrated in the drawings as any convenient retention means may be employed to retain pivoting structures in proper relationship to each other including integrally formed caps, cotter pins, capped screws, bolts, nuts and the like.
Lower linkage arm 40 is pivotably joined to left handle tang 30 by left linkage pin 116 passing through left handle tang linkage aperture 110 and right lower linkage arm aperture 150 in lower linkage arm 40, while upper linkage arm 38 is pivotably joined to right handle tang 26 via right linkage pin 112 passing through right upper linkage arm aperture 118 in upper linkage arm 38 and right handle tang linkage aperture 120 in right handle tang 26. Upper floating bar 36 is pivotably joined to lower floating bar 42, upper linkage arm 38 and lower linkage arm 40 via translating pin 114 passing through upper floating bar inner aperture 154, left upper linkage aperture 152, left lower linkage arm aperture 108, lower floating bar inner aperture 148 and longitudinal slot 158 in anvil plate 32. Translating pin 114 is of sufficient length that it translates fore and aft in longitudinal slot 158 in anvil plate 32, moving aft (away from major pivot stanchion 142) as right handle 24 and left handle 28 are urged together. When inward pressure is removed from handles 24 and 28, translating pin 114 is urged forwardly toward major pivot stanchion 142 by spring 31 looped over translating pin 114 at its aft end and over major pivot stanchion 142 at its other.
First terraced floating bar 36 is pivotably joined to upper forming link 44 via upper forming link stanchion 127 passing through outer aperture 104 of first terraced floating bar 36, with planetary gear 48 riding on upper forming link pin 126 which is co-axial with upper forming link stanchion 127. Upper forming link pin 126 passes through planetary gear aperture 132 with planetary gear 48 engaging circumferential gear 52 in anvil plate 32 while upper forming link pin 126 rides in minor forming slot 156 in anvil plate 32 and planetary gear forming rod 134 similarly protrudes through minor forming slot 156 in anvil plate 32. Both upper forming link 44 and lower forming link 46 are pivotably joined to anvil plate 32 via forming stanchion 144 passing through lower forming link aperture 130 as well as through upper forming link aperture 122. Second terraced floating bar 42 is pivotably connected to lower forming link 46 via lower forming link central stanchion 128 passing through lower floating bar outer aperture 124 with lower forming link left stanchion 146 riding in major forming slot 140. Note that the lower level of second terraced floating bar 42, lower forming link 46 and planetary gear 48 all are disposed within recess 50 in anvil plate 32 in one plane with lower linkage arm 40, right handle tang 26, the upper level of second terraced floating bar 42 and upper forming link 44 lying in a second plane and the lower level of first terraced floating bar 36, upper linkage arm 38, and left handle tang 30 all lying in a third plane, thereby providing a compact, efficient arrangement of a great many moving parts.
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In many cases, it will be possible to form most of the ear wire forming tool of the present invention almost entirely out of a polymeric material such as ABS, a relatively high molecular polyethylene, high strength nylon or any other reasonably strong material, it being of course understood that metals are in most cases more than adequate. If the election is made to use polymeric materials extensively, it may be prudent to form the planetary gear or at least the axle on which it rides out of metal.
While the invention has been described in detail, modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will be readily apparent to those of skill in the art. In view of the foregoing discussion, relevant knowledge in the art and references discussed above in connection with the Background and Detailed Description, the disclosures of which are all incorporated herein by reference, further description is deemed unnecessary. In addition, it should be understood that aspects of the invention and portions of various embodiments may be combined or interchanged either in whole or in part. Furthermore, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the foregoing description is by way of example only, and is not intended to limit the invention.
This Non-Provisional patent application is based on U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/989,613, of the same title, filed on May 7, 2014, the priority of which is claimed, and the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7032627 | Sheriff | Apr 2006 | B1 |
| 20090313835 | Erbrick | Dec 2009 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20150321243 A1 | Nov 2015 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61989613 | May 2014 | US |
