ORNAMENT LOCK WITH WIDE OPENING ORNAMENT CLASP
An ornament lock with a clasp for holding pendants or other jewelry is provided. A finger grasp is positioned on an arm of the clasp for opening the clasp arms. A biasing member positioned inside the ornament lock biases closed the clasp. The clasp may be opened to a wide open position to accommodate a thicker pendant or pendant ring and to make it easier and more convenient for the wearer to insert the jewelry into the clasp.
The present invention relates to the field of jewelry and more particularly to ornament holders and ornament locks, including ornament locks attached to necklaces or the like.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONOrnament locks have been used for centuries to secure ornaments, such as pendants or other decorative objects to a necklace, bracelet or other type of chain or other device used for affixing jewelry, ornaments or other decorations to the human body.
As illustrated in
One problem with such a prior art ornament lock is that opening 18 created by the movement inward of arm 16 accommodates only ornaments or ornamental rings of a certain maximum thickness. Further, the limited access provided by opening 18 may make it difficult to insert the ornament ring into the clasping portion 17, particularly for older users or for people with vision problems, hand-eye coordination challenges or the like.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONAn ornament lock that is secured to a necklace, chain, bracelet or the like is disclosed. The ornament lock includes a clasp for securing decorations, such as pendants, pins, chains, rings or other decorative items or jewelry.
The arms of the clasp are opened when a force is applied to a finger grasp positioned on one of the clasp arms. A biasing member, such as a spring, is positioned inside the body of the ornament lock to snap back the clasp to the closed position when the finger grasp is released. The clasp can be made of two clasp arms and can be positioned on a disc-shaped lock body on the side of the lock body away from a ring used to fasten the necklace that is worn by the wearer.
In accordance with preferred embodiments of the invention, the ornament arms are arguably arcuately shaped, defining a closed space for an ornament therebetween. An internal spiral spring biased the ornament arms such that their distal ends are adjacent to each other, and the ornament arms are integral with the lock body which has a first portion and second portion, preferably disc-shaped, which are held together via a stem and tubular opening and a complementary tubular opening. A loop attached or integral with one of the half portions of the lock body enables the threading therethrough of a jewelry chain. Both the lock body and the arms have exterior surfaces which may be decorated with surface ornamental shapes or representations.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the invention which refers to the accompanying drawings.
Ornament lock 20 will herein be described with reference to
An attaching surface 35 may be provided near the inside of peripheral wall of first portion 28 of lock body 22 and may be positioned on a portion of the peripheral wall adjacent clasp arm 26b. Alternatively, attaching surface 35 may be provided on the second portion 29 In this way, biasing member 33, which may be a spring, such as a leaf spring, may be attached at either end, respectively, to first attaching surface 35 and to attaching point 37 located on receiving member 40 of second portion 39. Biasing member 33 may be a compression spring or an extension spring.
As finger grasp 29 on clasp arm 26a is pressed, the portion of lock body 22 illustrated in
With reference to
With further reference to
Normally, the spring 63 biases the two portions 38, 39 to the closed position shown in
According to an embodiment of the present invention, clasp arms 26a and 26b may be moved apart to an open position in which joining region 27 between clasp arm 26a and 26b provide no constraint or only minimal constraint on the size of the object that will be placed inside of clasp 25. That is, according to this embodiment, the distance between the ends of clasp arm 26a and 26b in the open position is almost as large or as large as the inside diameter of the clasp.
It would have been understood that only one of the clasp arms 26a and 26b needs to move in relation to the lock body 22. That is, clasp arm 26a can move in response to pressure exerted on finger grasp 29 positioned on clasp arm 26a while clasp arm 26b can remain entirely stationary. Also it would be understood that while
Although the present invention has been described in relation to particular embodiments thereof, many other variations and modifications and other uses will become apparent to those skilled in the art. It is preferred, therefore, that the present invention be limited not by the specific disclosure herein, but only by the appended claims.
Claims
1. An ornament lock, comprising:
- first and second, substantially symmetrical and juxtaposed ornament arms, each of said ornament arms having a respective distal end;
- a lock body having a first portion and a second portion coupled to each other so as to rotate around a common rotation axis, said first ornament arm being integral with said first portion of said lock body and said second ornament arm being integral with said second portion of said lock body; and
- wherein said first and second arms have a normal closed position defining a closed space for receipt therein of an ornament, said closed space being defined by said first and second ornament arms and said lock body, and an open position wherein said distal ends of said ornament arms are spaced apart in juxtaposition to one another.
2. The ornament lock of claim 1, wherein each of said ornament arms is arcuately shaped, substantially in the form of an arc of a circle.
3. The ornament lock of claim 1, wherein said lock body comprises internally thereof a spring that biases the ornament arms such that their distal ends are adjacent each other.
4. The ornament lock of claim 1, wherein said first and second portions of said lock body are coupled to each other via a stem integral with one of said portions and a tubular opening located on the other of said portions, said tubular opening being sized to receive therein said stem.
5. The ornament lock of claim 1, further comprising a finger grasp protruding from one of the ornament arms.
6. The ornament lock of claim 1, wherein each of said first and second portions of said lock body is disc shaped.
7. The ornament lock of claim 1, further comprising loop attached to one of said portions of said lock body for enabling the threading therethrough of a jewelry chain.
8. The ornament lock of claim 3, wherein said spring is a spiral spring.
9. The ornament lock of claim 1, wherein each of said portions has an exterior surface and said respective exterior surface contains a surface ornamentation thereon.
10. The ornament lock of claim 1, wherein each of the arms has an exterior surface and comprises ornamental shapes formed on said exterior surface.
11. The ornament lock of claim 3, wherein the spring is formed as a spiral spring made of spring wire with two distal ends.
12. The ornament lock of claim 11, wherein the distal ends are juxtaposed to one another, and extend outside a winding of the spring.
13. The ornament lock of claim 11, wherein the first and second distal ends are respectively secured to the first portion and the second portion of the lock body.
Type: Application
Filed: May 5, 2011
Publication Date: Nov 8, 2012
Applicant: MIDAS CHAIN, INC. (Bergenfield, NJ)
Inventor: Lutfi OZKOK (Istanbul)
Application Number: 13/101,513
International Classification: A44B 99/00 (20100101);