CUSTOMIZED JEWELRY DESIGN BY TRANSPOSITION OF DATES INTO TIMES
The present invention provides customized jewelry designs for pendants, earrings bracelets, rings and other pieces of jewelry that display a specific time or specific calendar date on the piece of jewelry to commemorate a special time or calendar date. The piece of jewelry is invisibly divided into sixty segments and one or more sets comprised of two design elements are placed on the surface of the jewelry. The first design element of the one or more sets is positioned on the jewelry at one of the sixty segments and represents an hour hand of a clock. The second design element of the one or more sets also is positioned on the jewelry at one of the sixty segments and represents a minute hand of a clock. The placement of each of the one or more sets of design elements may represent one or more specific times, or the one or more specific times may represent one or more calendar days, i.e., the number of the month and the number of the day which has been transposed into one or more specific times on the clock. The jewelry includes, without limitation, pendants, earrings, bracelets or rings.
The present invention relates to jewelry designs and, more particularly, to customized jewelry such as pendants, earrings, bracelets and rings, in which a specific calendar date is transposed onto the jewelry in order to show the date as time on a clock.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONJewelry design is one of civilization's earliest forms of decoration, dating back at least 7,000 years to the oldest known societies in Mesopotamia and Egypt. Beyond being worn for personal adornment, jewelry bought as a gift can possess meaning and sentimental value that far transcends its monetary value, as it can represent love and commitment to a relationship, a rite of passage in a person's life, or be passed down as an ancestral legacy from one generation to the next. Customization of jewelry as a gift to someone to commemorate a specific day, time or event has always been popular, such as engraving special words or names, or buying charms for a charm bracelet. The present invention provides an even more unique and memorable way to customize a particular piece of jewelry in order to commemorate a special day or a special time in one's life.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention fulfills this need by providing a unique customized jewelry design in which one or more specific calendar dates (i.e., month and day) are transposed onto a base element as if the one or more dates were shown as time on a clock. One or more specific times also may be placed on the base element. The dates and times placed on the base element may be chosen to commemorate a special occasion, such as a birthday, the day and time of a child's birth, anniversary date, graduation date or any other occasion or event that contains meaning.
In one aspect of the invention, there is provided a customized jewelry design comprised of a base element that can be divided into sixty segments so as to represent a clock; and one or more sets of two design elements. The first design element of the one or more sets is positioned on the base element at one of the sixty segments and represents an hour hand of a clock. The second design element of the one or more sets also is positioned on the base element at one of the sixty segments and represents a minute hand of a clock. The placement of each of the one or more sets of design elements may represent one or more specific times, or the one or more specific times may represent one or more calendar days, i.e., the number of the month and the number of the day, which has been transposed into one or more specific times on the clock.
In an embodiment, the base element can have a front surface, a back surface, an outer surface, and an inner surface, and the first and second design elements are positioned on the front surface of the base element. In this embodiment, the base element is any piece of jewelry including, without limitation, a pendant or a pair of earrings.
In another embodiment of the invention, the base element can have a front surface, a back surface, an outer surface, and an inner surface, and the first and second design elements are positioned on the outer surface of the base element. In this embodiment, the base element may be a piece of jewelry including, without limitation, a bracelet or a ring.
A fuller understanding of the invention can be gained from the following description when read in conjunction with the accompanying figures, where like reference numerals refer to identical or functionally similar elements throughout the separate views, which illustrate some, but not the only and exclusive, examples of embodiments of the invention and, as such, the figures disclosed herein are to be considered illustrative rather than limiting. In the drawings:
As used herein, the terms “transpose” or “transposition” are defined as transferring from one context to another context, such as transferring numbers that relate to a specific calendar date to numbers that relate to a specific time.
As used herein, the term “invisible” is defined as not being visible on a particular substrate, such as on a piece of jewelry.
A complete understanding of the present invention will be obtained from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing figures, which is intended to be illustrative only, as numerous modifications and variations therein will be apparent to those skilled in the art.
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In this embodiment, which may include pieces of jewelry such as, without limitation, pendants and earrings, each surface 112, 114, 108, 110 of the base element 102 is planar and is positioned at right angles from its adjacent surface, with all of the surfaces being substantially the same width. However, the invention contemplates base elements with decorative shapes that are circular, ovoid, elliptical, rectangular, square, or multi-sided. Further, the base element may be a solid that is irregularly-shaped, a closed loop, an open loop, a flat plane, or three-dimensional.
In order to accurately position the hour hand design element 104 and the minute hand design element 105 on the base element 102, the front surface 112 of the base element 102 is divided into sixty invisible segments (shown on the figures in five minute increments) which correspond to sixty minutes on a clock.
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In another non-limiting embodiment of the invention, as shown in
In this embodiment, which may include pieces of jewelry such as, without limitation, bracelets and rings, the outer surface 110 and the inner surface 108 of the base element 102 is rounded and the front surface 112 and the back surface 114 of the base element 102 is planar. The width of the outer 110 and inner 108 surfaces can be about 3 to about 6 times the width of the front 112 and the back 114 surfaces. However, the invention contemplates base elements having decorative shapes that are circular, ovoid, elliptical, rectangular, square, or multi-sided.
In addition, as in the first embodiment, placement of the one or more sets of design elements on the outer surface 110 of the base element 102 may represent one or more specific calendar dates, one or more specific times, or any combination of specific calendar dates or specific times; the outer surface 110 of the base element 102 is divided into sixty invisible segments (shown on the figures in five minute increments) corresponding to sixty minutes on a clock; and with dates or times that occupy substantially the same position on a clock, the design elements are positioned adjacent to one another in a stacked or staggered configuration.
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The invention contemplates that any suitable material may be used to fabricate the base element of the invention, including, without limitation, natural or artificial gold, silver, platinum, copper, nickel, titanium, palladium, rhodium, tungsten, iridium, cobalt, ruthenium, niobium, osmium, zirconium, rhenium, wood, plastic, other natural or artificial materials, or combinations thereof.
Design elements that may be used in the invention comprise ornamental stones of any size and shape and may include, without limitation, natural or artificial agate, amethyst, aquamarine, beryl, bloodstone, carnelian, citrine, diamond, emerald, onyx, opal, garnet, lolite, lapis lazuli, onyx, opal, pearl, peridot, quartz, ruby, sapphire, turquoise, topaz, tanzanite, tourmaline, any other stone, mineral, or jewel.
Alternatively, the design elements may be comprised of decorative elements fabricated from the same material as the base element or from a different material that aesthetically complements or contrasts with the base element.
While specific embodiments have been described in detail, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various modifications and alternatives to those details could be developed in light of the overall teachings of the disclosure. Accordingly, the particular embodiments disclosed are meant to be illustrative only and not limiting as to the scope of the customized jewelry design described herein, which is to be given the full breadth of the appended claims and any and all equivalents thereof.
Claims
1. A customized jewelry design, comprising:
- a base element which can be divided into sixty segments so as to represent a clock; and
- one or more sets of two design elements, wherein the first design element of the one or more sets is positioned on the base element at one of the sixty segments to represent an hour hand of a clock, wherein the second design element of the one or more sets is positioned on the base element at one of the sixty segments to represent a minute hand of a clock, wherein placement of each of the one or more sets of design elements represents one or more specific times or one or more specific calendar dates.
2. The customized jewelry design of claim 1, wherein the base element has a front surface, a back surface, an outer surface, and an inner surface, wherein the first design element and the second design element of the one or more sets are positioned on the front surface of the base element.
3. The customized jewelry design of claim 1, wherein the one or more of the specific times on the clock corresponds to the one or more calendar dates by transposing the one or more calendar dates into the one or more specific times by taking the numbers of the one or more months and transposing them to one or hours on the clock, represented by the one or more hour hands, and taking the one or more numbers of the one or more days and transposing them to the one or more minutes on the clock represented by the one or more minute hands.
4. The customized jewelry design of claim 3, wherein one set of two design elements are positioned on the front surface of the base element, wherein placement of the first design element represents a specific time or a specific calendar date, and placement of the other design element represents a specific time or a specific calendar date.
5. The customized jewelry design of claim 3, wherein two sets of two design elements are positioned on the front surface of the base element, wherein placement of the two sets of design elements represents two specific times, two specific calendar dates, or one specific time and one specific calendar date.
6. The customized jewelry design of claim 1, wherein the shape of the base element is selected from circular, ovoid, elliptical, rectangular, square, and multi-sided.
7. The customized jewelry design of claim 1, wherein the base element is a solid that is irregularly-shaped, a closed loop, an open loop, a flat plane, or three-dimensional.
8. The customized jewelry design of claim 1, wherein each of the surfaces of the base element is positioned at right angles from its adjacent surface, and all of the surfaces are substantially the same width.
9. The customized jewelry design of claim 1, wherein the base element comprises natural or artificial gold, silver, platinum, copper, nickel, titanium, palladium rhodium, tungsten, iridium, cobalt, ruthenium, niobium, osmium, zirconium, rhenium, wood, plastic, other natural or artificial materials, or combinations thereof.
10. The customized jewelry design of claim 1, wherein the design element comprising the one or more sets comprises ornamental stones comprising natural or artificial agate, amethyst, aquamarine, beryl, bloodstone, carnelian, citrine, diamond, emerald, onyx, opal, garnet, lolite, lapis lazuli, onyx, opal, pearl, peridot, quartz, ruby, sapphire, turquoise, topaz, tanzanite, tourmaline, or any other stone, mineral, or jewel.
11. The customized jewelry design of claim 1, wherein the design element comprises decorative elements fabricated from the same material as the base element or from a different material that aesthetically complements or contrasts with the base element.
12. The customized jewelry design of claim 1, wherein the base element is configured as a pendant or a pair of earrings.
13. The customized jewelry design of claim 1, wherein the base element has a front surface, a back surface, an outer surface, and an inner surface, wherein the first design element and the second design element of the one or more sets are positioned on the outer surface of the base element.
14. The customized jewelry design of claim 13, wherein the shape of the base element is selected from circular, ovoid, elliptical, rectangular, square, and multi-sided.
15. The customized jewelry design of claim 12, wherein the base element comprises a solid that is irregularly-shaped, an open loop, a flat plane, or is three-dimensional.
16. The customized jewelry design of claim 12, wherein the outer surface and inner surface of the base element is between about 3 to about 4 times greater in width than the front surface and the back surface.
17. The customized jewelry design of claim 12, wherein the base element comprises natural or artificial gold, silver, platinum, copper, nickel, titanium, palladium rhodium, tungsten, iridium, cobalt, ruthenium, niobium, osmium, zirconium, rhenium, wood, plastic and other natural or artificial materials, and combinations thereof.
18. The customized jewelry design of claim 12, wherein the design element comprising the one or more sets comprises ornamental stones comprising natural or artificial agate, amethyst, aquamarine, beryl, bloodstone, carnelian, citrine, diamond, emerald, onyx, opal, garnet, lolite, lapis lazuli, onyx, opal, pearl, peridot, quartz, ruby, sapphire, turquoise, topaz, tanzanite, tourmaline, or any other stone, mineral or jewel.
19. The customized jewelry design of claim 12, wherein the design element comprises decorative elements fabricated from the same material as the base element or from a different material that aesthetically complements or contrasts with the base element.
20. The customized jewelry design of claim 12, wherein the base element is configured as a ring or a bracelet.
Type: Application
Filed: Mar 23, 2021
Publication Date: Sep 29, 2022
Inventor: Steven J. Bauer (Venetia, PA)
Application Number: 17/210,208