Adjustable Jewelry Assembly
An adjustable jewelry assembly includes a jewelry chain or other flexible member slidably mounted to a clasp for adjusting a hanging length or opening size of the flexible member. The clasp is formed from a single piece of thin sheet material and includes a pair of walls connected together by a biasing portion. Superimposed tabs with openings extend from the walls in opposite directions. The flexible member is normally held against movement in the clasp by opposing biasing forces exerted by the edges of the openings from the biasing portion. When the walls are pressed toward each other, the flexible member may be slid through the clasp until the desired hanging length or opening size is achieved, then released to clamp the clasp and flexible member against relative movement.
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This invention relates generally to jewelry, and more particularly to a jewelry assembly having an adjustable clasp and a length of jewelry chain, such as a necklace, bracelet, anklet, and so on, adjustably held by the clasp for adapting the hanging length or opening size of jewelry around a person to a desired amount to thereby accommodate the person's body size, clothing type, and fashion preferences.
For many years, people have worn necklaces at different lengths depending upon the prevailing fashion at the time. During some years the common length has been a short choker length of approximately fifteen inches. During other years the common length has been eighteen inches or longer. The trends in length have come and gone repeatedly over the decades.
Necklaces commonly comprise a fixed length of flexible chain made from one or more precious metals, such as gold, silver and platinum, and these chains are available in a wide variety of designs. The flexible chains are also commonly adorned with a wide variety of pendants, which generally comprise one or more precious stones, such as diamonds, rubies and sapphires, mounted in settings of precious metal.
Purchasers of fine jewelry currently select a pendant of a desirable style and size and have it mounted on a flexible chain having a fixed length, which is usually fifteen, eighteen, twenty-four, or thirty inches. If the popular fashion changes, the pendant can in many cases later be mounted on a chain of a different length, but this generally requires the purchase of a new chain and also often requires the services of a professional jeweler to remove the pendant from the old chain and mount it on the new chain. Thus, mounting a pendant on a new chain can be inconvenient, time consuming and expensive.
Due to the wide variety of body shapes and sizes, a necklace chain of a given length will hang differently from person to person. For example, an eighteen-inch necklace chain which hangs at a fashionable length on an average-sized person would not hang at the same fashionable length on a relatively larger or relatively smaller person. In some cases, such persons have been unable to wear necklaces and other jewelry at appropriate fashionable lengths.
Moreover, the style and type of a person's clothing can interfere with the appearance of a necklace and affect the way the necklace hangs. For example, a pendant which hangs at approximately the same length as the neckline of the person's clothing can often be hidden from view by the clothing. Likewise, a pendant which hangs at a fashionable length when worn over light clothing may not hang at the same fashionable length when worn over relatively bulky clothing.
Many necklace chains include a fixed clasp for connecting and separating opposite ends of the chain for mounting and dismounting the chain around a person's neck. Such clasps are relatively small in size and thus are relatively difficult to manipulate.
In an effort to overcome the afore-mentioned difficulties, U.S. Pat. No. 6,484,535 to Grosser-Samuels, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference, discloses an adjustable jewelry assembly having a length of chain and various clamping mechanisms for adjusting the hanging length of the chain and/or pendant mounted on the chain to accommodate the particular user's clothing style and size in a relatively quick and easy manner. Although the Grosser-Samuels adjustable jewelry assembly has found much success and enthusiasm in the jewelry industry, the clamping mechanism requires multiple small parts, such as a plunger, biasing member and cap which are most often constructed of precious metals. The parts must be separately cast, formed and assembled together using skilled labor, resulting in additional expense to the adjustable jewelry assembly.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an adjustable jewelry assembly for adjusting the hanging length or jewelry, such as necklaces and/or pendants, or to adjust the opening size of necklaces, bracelets, anklets, etc., to accommodate the particular size and clothing style of the wearer in a relatively quick and easy manner while reducing the manufacturing costs associated with the adjustable jewelry assembly.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention provides an adjustable clasp for precisely adjusting the length of jewelry, such as necklaces, to easily and conveniently accommodate the particular size, clothing type, and fashion preferences of the wearer. Those skilled in the art will understand that the present invention is not limited to necklaces, but can also be readily applied to jewelry commonly worn elsewhere, such as around the waist, wrist and ankle.
An adjustable jewelry assembly according to one aspect of the present invention comprises an adjustable clasp and an elongate flexible member releasably secured to the clasp. The elongate flexible member forms a loop portion with the clasp and is slidable in the clasp to adjust the size of the loop portion. The clasp includes a first wall, a second wall and a biasing portion that extends between the first and second walls. The biasing portion exerts a biasing force that tends to push the first and second walls apart. A first tab extends from the first wall in a first direction and a second tab extends from the second wall in a second direction opposite the first direction. At least one first opening extends through the first tab and at least one second opening extending through the second tab.
An elongate flexible member is also provided with first and second legs and a loop portion that extends between the legs. The first and second legs extend through the first and second openings, which are normally misaligned under biasing force from the biasing portion to thereby create opposing forces on the flexible member and prevent relative movement between the clasp and the first and second legs of the flexible member. The adjustable clasp can slide along the first and second legs to adjust the size of the loop portion of the flexible member when the first and second tabs are moved relative to each other against the biasing force to thereby align the first and second openings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSThe foregoing summary as well as the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention will be best understood when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein like designations denote like elements throughout the drawings, and wherein:
It is noted that the drawings are intended to depict typical or exemplary embodiments of the invention and therefore should not be considered as limiting the scope thereof. It is further noted that the drawings are not necessarily to scale. The invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring to the drawings, and to and to
As shown, the flexible member 12 includes a loop portion 16 extending from one side of the clasp 14, and a pair of legs 18 and 20 extending from the opposite side of the clasp. The loop portion 16 can extend around the neck 22 of a wearer 24 with the clasp 14 located behind the neck and the legs 18 and 20 extending generally downward from the clasp. The leg 18 terminates in a first free end to which a first end stop 26 is attached by means well known in the art, such as soldering when the components are constructed of metal. The leg 20 terminates in a second free end to which a second end stop 28 is attached by similar means. The first and second end stops 26 and 28 can be fashioned in a wide variety of decorative and ornamental shapes and can also comprise precious stones, such as one or more diamonds, rubies, sapphires and so on. Alternatively, the flexible member 12 can be a single continuous length of material which itself forms a loop and which therefore would not have a first free end or a second free end. Thus, in this alternative embodiment, the first end stop 26 and second end stop 28 would not be present.
A decorative ornament or pendant 30, which can comprise a setting with one or more precious stones, such as a diamond 32 as shown, rubies, sapphires and so on, can be mounted on the loop portion 16 of the flexible member 12. The pendant 30 is preferably mounted on the flexible member 12 according to means well known in the art so that the pendant 30 can freely slide along the length of the loop portion 16. Alternatively, the pendant 30 can be fixedly connected to the loop portion 16 in a well-known manner.
Manipulation of the clasp 14, as will be described in greater detail below, permits the legs 18 and 20 and thus the loop portion 16 to be adjusted to a desired length on the wearer. For example, when the clasp 14 is adjusted so that the loop portion 16 is of a relatively short length, the pendant 30, if utilized, hangs relatively higher on the front of the wearer's neck, with the legs 18 and 20 being of a relatively long length, as shown in
Since the clasp 14 can be positioned at any desired location relative to the first and second legs 18 and 20, the loop portion 16 of the flexible member 12 can be adjusted to any desired size and thereby accommodate any desired length, regardless of the wearer's relative size, clothing styles, and fashion preferences.
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It will also be understood that the clasp 14 can be formed partially or completely by hand. By way of example, the blank 34 may be cut manually by hand or machine, and the bending may be performed by hand. In accordance with a further embodiment of the invention, the clasp 14 may alternatively be formed by well known casting techniques in either its completed shape as shown in
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In order to assemble the adjustable jewelry assembly 10, a pendant 30 (
The material of the clasp 14 is preferably compatible with the material of the flexible member 12, pendant, and end stops. By way of example, when the flexible member is in the form of a jewelry chain constructed of 18 karat yellow gold, the strip 34 may also be constructed of 18 karat yellow gold, albeit a different alloy due to the spring requirements of the clasp. Likewise, the pendant and end stops may also be constructed of 18 karat yellow gold. When the jewelry chain 12 is constructed of precious or semi-precious metals, it is especially important to construct the clasp 14 so that, on the one hand the clamping force does not deform or kink the chain, yet on the other hand the clamping force is sufficient to clamp the jewelry chain against movement.
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While the invention has been taught with specific reference to the above-described embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that changes can be made in form and detail without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention. By way of example, it should be sufficiently demonstrated by the above exemplary embodiments that the adjustable clasp may be formed of any desired shape. Moreover, although both legs of the flexible member are shown and described as being slidable with respect to the adjustable clasp embodiments, one of the legs may be fixed with respect to the clasp, such that the loop portion is adjusted by sliding the other leg with respect to the clasp. Thus, the described embodiments are to be considered in all respects illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the invention is, therefore, indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. All changes that come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope.
Claims
1. An adjustable jewelry assembly comprising:
- an adjustable clasp including: a first wall; a second wall; a biasing portion extending between the first and second walls, the biasing portion exerting a biasing force that tends to push the first and second walls apart; a first tab extending from the first wall in a first direction; a second tab extending from the second wall in a second direction opposite the first direction; at least one first opening extending through the first tab; and at least one second opening extending through the second tab; and
- an elongate flexible member having first and second legs and a loop portion extending between the first and second legs, the first and second legs extending through the first and second openings, the first and second openings being misaligned under biasing force from the biasing portion to thereby create opposing forces on the flexible member and prevent relative movement between the clasp and the first and second legs of the elongate flexible member;
- the adjustable clasp being adapted to slide along the first and second legs to adjust the size of the loop portion of the flexible member when the first and second tabs are moved relative to each other against the biasing force to thereby align the first and second openings.
2. An adjustable jewelry assembly according to claim 1, and further comprising first and second end stops attached to the first and second legs, respectively, of the elongate flexible member, the first and second end stops being larger than at least one of the at least one first opening and at least one second opening to prevent removal of the flexible member from the clasp.
3. An adjustable jewelry assembly according to claim 2, and further comprising a decorative pendant slidably received on the loop portion of the elongate flexible member.
4. An adjustable jewelry assembly according to claim 3, wherein the decorative pendant comprises a setting with at least one stone mounted in the setting.
5. An adjustable jewelry assembly according to claim 4, wherein the clasp, the elongate flexible member, the end stops, and the pendant are constructed of at least one of a precious and semi-precious metal material.
6. An adjustable jewelry assembly according to claim 5, and further comprising at least one third opening extending through the biasing portion with the first and second legs extending through the at least one third opening.
7. An adjustable jewelry assembly according to claim 6, wherein the biasing portion is curved.
8. An adjustable jewelry assembly according to claim 1, and further comprising a decorative pendant slidably received on the loop portion of the elongate flexible member.
9. An adjustable jewelry assembly according to claim 8, wherein the clasp, the elongate flexible member, and the pendant are constructed of at least one of a precious and semi-precious metal material.
10. An adjustable jewelry assembly according to claim 1, and further comprising at least one third opening extending through the biasing portion with the first and second legs extending through the at least one third opening.
11. An adjustable jewelry assembly according to claim 10, wherein the at least one first, second and third openings comprise first, second and third pairs of openings, respectively.
12. An adjustable jewelry assembly according to claim 10, wherein the at least one first, second and third openings comprise first, second and third slotted openings, respectively.
13. An adjustable jewelry assembly according to claim 10, and further comprising first and second end stops attached to the first and second legs, respectively, of the elongate flexible member, the first and second end stops being larger than the at least one third opening such that the first and second legs are normally not removable from the clasp through the at least one third opening.
14. An adjustable jewelry assembly according to claim 1, wherein the first and second walls extend at a first angle in an unrestrained position and at a second angle in a clamping position, with the second angle being smaller than the first angle.
15. An adjustable jewelry assembly according to claim 14, wherein the first and second walls extend generally parallel when the first and second tabs are moved relative to each other against the biasing force to thereby align the first and second openings.
16. An adjustable jewelry assembly according to claim 1, and further comprising a pair of side walls extending from at least one of the first and second walls toward the other of the first and second walls.
17. An adjustable jewelry assembly according to claim 1, wherein the at least one first and second openings comprise first and second pairs of openings, respectively.
18. An adjustable jewelry assembly according to claim 1, wherein the at least one first and second openings comprise first and second slotted openings, respectively.
19. An adjustably jewelry assembly according to claim 1, wherein the adjustable clasp consists essentially of a single, continuous thin sheet of material.
20. An adjustably jewelry assembly according to claim 1, wherein the tabs are located at a position between the biasing portion and an outer free end of each wall.
21. An adjustable jewelry assembly according to claim 1, wherein one of the first and second walls of the clasp comprises a setting with at least one stone mounted in the setting.
22. An adjustable jewelry assembly according to claim 1, wherein one of the first and second walls of the clasp comprises a decorative jewelry feature.
Type: Application
Filed: Apr 27, 2006
Publication Date: Nov 1, 2007
Applicant: (Fairview, TX)
Inventors: Jacquelin Grosser-Samuels (Fairview, TX), William Burns (Carrollton, TX)
Application Number: 11/380,542
International Classification: A44C 5/00 (20060101);