Patent Grant
10531714
The present invention relates to a jewelry piece, and more particularly, relates to a jewelry piece that allows an ornament attachment member to be retained at any longitudinal position of an elongated body of the jewelry piece.
Traditional jewelry related items such as a necklace that uses a pendant generally do not allow a pendant attachment part to freely move along the necklace. Also, the jewelry components of the traditional jewelry related items such as pendants, ornaments, and the like are generally not replaceable.
Jewelry pieces including necklaces are generally provided with clasps at each end of the elongated member of a jewelry piece. There are various types of the clasps that are applied to the jewelry piece, for example, (1) one end of the elongated member is provided with a retractable pin, and the other end thereof is provided with a ring, whereby the pin is engaged with the ring so that the one end of the elongated member is engaged with the other end thereof; and (2) one end of the elongated member is provided with a ring that can be opened and closed, and the other end thereof is inserted into the ring so that the elongated member can form a ring having any diameter, whereby the jewelry piece formed into a ring is put on a wearer.
Those clasps are generally made small so as not to affect the aesthetic value of the jewelry piece. However, people who are not skillful with their fingers such as elderly persons, or the persons who have poor eyesight feel difficult in dealing with such small clasps when they try to wear a jewelry piece or unclasp an engaged jewelry piece. In order to facilitate the easiness of wearing a jewelry piece, magnet materials have been used as a clasp means. For example, a string-shaped plastic magnet or rubber magnet has been produced by injection molding or extrusion molding using magnet powder that is mixed with a suitable material.
However, the clasp means using magnetic materials does not exert a strong magnetic attraction because the amount of the magnet materials contained in the clasp means is limited. Therefore, such clasp means fails to tightly join a jewelry piece, whereby if a strong force is applied to the jewelry piece in such a way that the clasp means is disjoined, the jewelry piece easily comes off from a wearer. Accordingly, such jewelry piece involves a risk that, for example, it is easily taken away forcibly from a wearer thereof.
If a metal magnet is used for the clasp means, the attraction force thereof is too strong to disjoin a jewelry piece, which causes inconvenience to the wearer of the jewelry piece.
Disclosed is a jewelry piece that allows for easy attachment of an ornament to the jewelry piece, allows for easily relocating the position at which the ornament is attached to the jewelry piece, and allows for easily replacing the attached ornament to a new ornament. The jewelry piece of the present invention also includes an elongated body that allows for easy wearing and removal of the jewelry piece.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a jewelry piece includes (1) an elongated body including a tube that is formed by a flexible material, multiple magnet pieces that are inserted into the inside of the tube over the entire length of the tube other than both end sections of the tube 3, and caps that close both ends of the tube; and (2) an ornament attachment member that the elongated body passes through, and that is retained due to the magnetic attraction force exerted by a magnetic substance at a prescribed position in the longitudinal direction of the elongated body.
In a preferred embodiment of the jewelry piece, the ornament attachment member is formed by a core body made of a magnetic material, through which the elongated body passes, and an ornament that is integrally formed with the core body so as to surround the core body.
In a preferred embodiment of the jewelry piece, the ornament attachment member is made by forming a magnetic material in a ring shape through which the elongated body passes.
In a preferred embodiment of the jewelry piece, each of the magnet pieces is formed so as to be rotatable inside the tube.
In a preferred embodiment of the jewelry piece, the tube includes an inner tube into which the magnet pieces are inserted, and an outer tube that covers the inner tube, and wherein the caps are provided to the inner tube and the outer tube at the both ends thereof respectively.
The jewelry piece according to the present invention allows an ornament attachment member to be retained at any longitudinal position of an elongated body of the jewelry piece, and allows for easily replacing the attached ornament to a new ornament. Also, the jewelry piece includes an elongated body that allows for easy wearing and removal of the jewelry piece.
Referring to
The tube 3 is formed by an inner tube 3a into which the magnet pieces 4 are inserted and an outer tube 3b that covers the inner tube 3a. The caps 8 are provided at the both ends of the elongated body 2 so as to close the both ends of the inner tube 3a and the outer tube 3b. Each of the magnet pieces 4 is formed so as to be rotatable inside the tube 3.
The ornament attachment member 5 is formed by a core body 9 made up of a magnetic material 6, through which the elongated body 2 passes, and an ornament 7 that is integrally formed with the core body 9 so as to surround the core body 9.
In another embodiment, the ornament attachment member 5 is made by forming a magnetic material 6 in a ring shape through which the elongated body 2 passes.
As shown in
Each of the adjacent magnet pieces 4 (4a, 4b, 4c, 4d, 4e) is rotatable inside the tube.
The cap 8 at one end is constituted by a disk-shaped cap that has the same diameter as the outer diameter of the tube 3, and a cylindrical insertion part that has the same diameter as the hole diameter of the inner tube 3a and that projects from the flat surface of the disk-shaped cap. The cylindrical insertion part of the cap at one end is inserted into the opening at the one end of the elongated body 2, so that the opening at the one end is closed by the cap 8. Similarly, the cap 8 at the other end is constituted by a disk-shaped cap that has the same diameter as the outer diameter of the tube 3, and a cylindrical insertion part that has the same diameter as the hole diameter of the inner tube 3a and that projects from the flat surface of the cap 8. The cylindrical insertion part of the cap at the other end is inserted into the opening at the other end of the elongated body 2, so that the opening at the other end is closed by the cap 8.
Permanent magnets used for the magnet pieces 4 include ferrite magnets, samarium-cobalt magnets, and neodymium magnets.
The raw materials of the permanent magnets include iron oxide, cobalt, and nickel. The elements that show ferromagnetism at room temperature by a single substance are limited to these three elements. Samarium and neodymium can be listed as raw materials for magnets, and they do not exhibit ferromagnetism by a single substance, but if they are used as a raw material to produce magnets, the resultant magnets exert strong magnetic force.
Ferrite magnets are made from iron oxide by sintering. The ferrite magnets have the following features. The magnetic flux density is low, but the coercive force is high and demagnetization hardly occurs. The electric resistance is high and eddy current loss is low. They can be applied to devices that generate high frequencies. The hardness is relatively high, and cracking easily occurs. They are strong against chemicals and will not rust because of the properties as ceramics. The ferrite magnets are formed into various shapes by sintering because the original form is powder.
To manufacture the ferrite magnets, the mixture of iron oxide and barium or strontium of a small amount is baked, and is pulverized into particles of about 1 μm. The resultant powder is molded and sintered. Because the ferrite magnets use iron oxide as a main material, they are inexpensively made and chemically stable, whereby they are used for various purposes.
Samarium cobalt magnets are made from samarium and cobalt. There are SmCo 2:17 series magnets and SmCo 1:5 series magnets, which are different in composition ratios. Because SmCo 1:5 series magnets contain a high proportion of expensive samarium, they have become less used since SmCo 2:17 series magnets have appeared. The samarium cobalt magnets are extremely resistant to demagnetization and have good temperature stability (usable up to 200° C.).
Neodymium magnets are the most widely used type of rare-earth magnets, made from an alloy of neodymium, iron, and boron. They have high magnetic flux density and exert strong magnetic force. Because they contain iron and are rusty, plating is usually applied to the surface thereof. Thermal demagnetization is relatively high, and shows about −0.12%/K. Their Curie temperature (the temperature above which the ferromagnetism disappears) is about 310° C. Because of the strong magnetic force exerted by them, they are applied to the drive of a hard disk and CD player, the vibration motor of a mobile phone, and a field magnet of a permanent magnet synchronous motor used for the drive of a train, hybrid car, and elevator.
The ornament attachment member 5 made of a circular-shaped magnetic substance as shown in
In another embodiment of the ornament attachment member 5, a magnetic material 6 is formed in a ring shape as the ornament attachment member 5, through which the elongated body 2 is inserted, and to which an ornament 7 is attached.
In the ornament attachment member 5 in
In the ornament attachment member 5 in
Because the elongated body 2 of the present invention is made of a magnetic substance, just overlapping the both ends of the elongated body 2 enables those ends to be joined because of the magnetic force exerted by the elongated body 2, which eliminates the use of a clasp at one end of the elongated body 2, and enhances the easiness of wearing the jewelry piece 1 on a wearer's neck.
Also, the magnetic force exerted by the both ends of the elongated body 2 is set to a level of strength that the joined ends can be separated without applying a strong force, and therefore the jewelry piece 1 worn around the neck can be easily removed.
The jewelry piece 1 of the present invention allows the ornament attachment member 5 to be retained at any position in the longitudinal direction of the elongated body 2, and also makes the ornament 7 to be replaceable with other ornaments.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015-182985 | Sep 2015 | JP | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2016/077046 | 9/14/2016 | WO | 00 |
| Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| WO2017/047611 | 3/23/2017 | WO | A |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20080256979 | Okamura | Oct 2008 | A1 |
| 20150189403 | Magi | Jul 2015 | A1 |
| 20150359301 | Lavorato | Dec 2015 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 2001204522 | Jul 2001 | JP |
| 2007044131 | Feb 2007 | JP |
| 2007135739 | Jun 2007 | JP |
| 2011078524 | Apr 2011 | JP |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20180255884 A1 | Sep 2018 | US |
