US3805548A

US3805548A - Bracelet having two spring-pressed halves

Info

Publication number: US3805548A
Application number: US00304461A
Authority: US
Inventors: J Matwijcow
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1972-11-07
Filing date: 1972-11-07
Publication date: 1974-04-23
Anticipated expiration: 1991-04-23

Abstract

A bracelet formed of two halves that are yieldably urged by a leaf spring mounted to and extending between confronting ends of the halves towards a closed position. The ends of the spring are secured in relatively narrow slots at the interior ends of cavities that intersect the ends. Relatively wide pockets, through which portions of the spring extend, are formed in the regions of the cavities that lie between the slots and the half ends.

Description

United States Patent 1191 Matwijcow BRACELET HAVING TWO SPRlNG-PRESSED HALVES [76] Inventor: John J. Matwijcow, P.O. Box 338,

52 US. c1. 63/8, 63/11 [51] Int. Cl. A44c 5/12 [58] Field of Search 63/11, 6, 7, 8, 3,14 G;

24/259, 256; 224/4 K, 4 J, 4 E

[5,6] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS R9,482 11/1880 Carlisle 63/8 139,888 6/1873 Grant 63/8 2,513,892 7/1950 Pile 63/11 X 2,306,317 12/1942 Morrow 63/7 2,947,455

Straub 224/4 E 11 3,805,548 1451 Apr. 23, 1974 164,118 6/1875 Wills 63/8 2,501,252 3/1950 Anderson 63/6 FOREIGN PATENTSORAPPLICATIONS Primary Examiner-F. Barry Shay Attorney, Agent, or FirmD. Paul Weaver [5 7] ABSTRACT 3 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures BRACELET HAVING TWO SPRING-PRESSED HALVES BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with this invention, the first endsof the bracelet halves' have internal cavities, each internal cavity having a relatively narrow slot at the interior end of the cavity remote from the half end and a relatively wide pocket at the exterior end of the cavity between the slot and the half end. The spring is fitted into the cavities so that the ends of the spring are secured in the slots and the portions of the spring in the pockets can flex in the pockets during the opening and closing of the bracelet.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of the bracelet in closed position;

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. I, but showing the bracelet in open position;

FIG. 3 is a section showing an end'of the bracelet, together with its cavity and that portion of the spring that is located in the cavity; and

FIG. 4 is a view taken along the line 4--4 of FIG. 3.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The bracelet 10 is formed of two identical halves 12. The halves 12 are preferably made of a suitable plastic material and have

ends

14 and 16 that respectively confront each other. Each end 14 is intersected by a lengthwise extending internal cavity '18 in its associated bracelet half 12. Each cavity is relatively wide where it intersects the end 14 and the outer walls 20 and the inner walls 22 of the cavities converge as they move away from the endsl4 to form pockets 24. lnwardly of the ends 14 at the interior ends of the pockets 24, the

walls

20 and 22 become parallel to each other in planes that extend from the bracelets half outer surface 26 towards the bracelets half inner surface 28 as they extend toward the bracelet half end 14 to thereby form a relatively narrow slot 30 for each bracelet half 12. i

A leaf spring 32 of substantiallyuniform thickness connects the bracelet halves 12. The spring 32 has tabs 34 (FIG. 3) at its ends which enable the spring ends to securely grip the wall 20 of the slot 30 when the ends of the spring are inserted into the pockets 24 with the spring ends located in the slots 30. The midportion of Y i 2 walls 22 of the slots 30 to thereby yieldably urge the bracelet halfends 16 towards each other.

FIG. 1 shows the bracelet 10 in a closed position under the influence of the spring 32 and FIG. 2 shows the bracelet 10 after it has been opened against the influenceof the spring 32. In the closed position, the spring 32 is spaced from the outer wall 20 of the pocket 24. When the bracelet is opened against the yieldable force of the spring 32, the spring portions that are located in the pockets 24 flex outwardly towards the outer walls 20 of the pockets while the spring ends are retained by the tabs 34 in the slots 30. It is noted that the entire lengths of the inner walls 22 are planar, both in the regions of the pockets 24 and in the regions of the slots 30, and that the outer walls 20 diverge from the inner walls 22 as they extend away from the exterior ends of the slots 30 towards the bracelet half ends 14 to thereby form the pockets 24 in such shapes as to accommodate the spring 32 during its flexing pursuant to the opening of the bracelet.

I claim:

I. A bracelet comprising: a pair of bracelet halves having confrontingfirst ends and confronting second ends; said confronting first ends each containing an internal cavity, intersecting each of said first ends,

formed of spaced walls that are relatively close to each other to make the cavity in the form of a relatively narrow slot at the interior end of the cavity that is remote from the associated first confronting end, said walls diverging from each other as they extend from the exterior end of the slot towards their associated first confronting end to thereby make the cavity in the form of a relatively wide pocket at the exterior end of the cavity that intersects the associated first confronting end; a leaf spring having a pair of opposed ends and being of substantially uniform thickness, said leaf spring being disposed between said confronting ends with the ends of'the leaf spring being frictionally engaged in said narrow slot portions of said cavities, said leaf spring being bent at its midportion so that the portions of the spring on opposite sides of the bend extend angularly away from each other at an angle of less than 180 and into the cavities so as to yieldably urge said second confronting ends toward each other; and a plurality of tabs on said ends of saidspring for preventing withdrawal of the ends of the springs from the slots after insertion therein; whereby movement of the second confronting bracelet ends away from each other against the urging of the spring to open the bracelet for placement on a wearers wrist will permit the portions of the spring in the pockets to more readily flex in the relatively wide space provided by the pockets.

2. The bracelet of claim 1 wherein said walls consist of an outer wall and an inner wall; wherein said inner wall is planar throughout its entire extent; wherein the slot region of the outer wall lies in a plane parallel to the inner wall; and wherein the pocket region of the outer wall diverges from the inner wall in a direction tends towards the first end.

Claims

1. A bracelet comprising: a pair of bracelet halves having confronting first ends and confronting second ends; said confronting first ends each containing an internal cavity, intersecting each of said first ends, formed of spaced walls that are relatively close to each other to make the cavity in the form of a relatively narrow slot at the interior end of the cavity that is remote from the associated first confronting end, said walls diverging from each other as they extend from the exterior end of the slot towards their associated first confronting end to thereby make the cavity in the form of a relatively wide pocket at the exterior end of the cavity that intersects the associated first confronting end; a leaf spring having a pair of opposed ends and being of substantially uniform thickness, said leaf spring being disposed between said confronting ends with the ends of the leaf spring being frictionally engaged in said narrow slot portions of said cavities, said leaf spring being bent at its midportion so that the portions of the spring on opposite sides of the bend extend angularly away from each other at an angle of less than 180* and into the cavities so as to yieldably urge said second confronting ends toward each other; and a plurality of tabs on said ends of said spring for preventing withdrawal of the ends of the springs from the slots after insertion therein; whereby movement of the second confronting bracelet ends away from each other against the urging of the spring to open the bracelet for placement on a wearer''s wrist will permit the portions of the spring in the pockets to more readily flex in the relatively wide space provided by the pockets.

2. The bracelet of claim 1 wherein said walls consist of an outer wall and an inner wall; wherein said inner wall is planar throughout its entire extent; wherein the slot region of the outer wall lies in a plane parallel to the inner wall; and wherein the pocket region of the outer wall diverges from the inner wall in a direction extending from the exterior end of the slot towards the first end, said outer wall acting as a stop to limit flexing movement of the spring.

3. The bracelet of claim 2 wherein said inner wall lies in a plane that extends from the bracelet half outer surface towards the bracelet half inner surface as it extends towards the first end.