WO1999035530A1 - Method of making eyeglasses with a flexible wire and eyeglasses - Google Patents

Abstract

In an improved eyeglasses-making method, in a first cycle of operations, a bridge (10) is equipped permanently with a middle (2) of a flexible smooth wire (1). Endpieces (20, 21) of the eyeglasses' temples are put on the ends (3', 4') of said wire (1). Said ends (3', 4') are slipped through the sides of said bridge (10) in order to form a couple of coils or rings (3, 4). In a second cycle of operations, lenses (30, 40) are interposed in said coils or rings (3, 4) and fixed therein.

Description

Method of making eyeglasses with a flexible wire and eyeglasses

The present invention is dealt with a new eyeglasses-making method, with a pre-arrangement of a generic front adaptable to all lenses' shape, as well as the association and the hinging of the temples, which are beforehand prepared in order to make eyeglasses completely devoid of any encumbrance about the rimming and without recourse to temples-junction pivots or lens' closing-screws within the front supporting them, as well as new eyeglasses.

The need to equip lenses with very light and less-bulky but sufficiently stiff and safe frames is well-known, in order to save their protective or optical features which are extremely important when eyeglasses are used.

It is also so well-known the search for eyeglasses' models offering the best visibility with the minimum reduction or with the absolute removal of eyepieces or small control-rings or rims, which work as support and link between lenses and side temples.

According to the Prior Art a first reduction of the eyeglasses' fronts' encumbrances, especially on metal frames, is achieved by the partial removal of eyepieces and by the support and retention of the lenses, by means of a nylon yarn fixed on the arch ends forming the new cut front.

This first technique has only partially solved the problem of guaranteeing the best visibility and a reduction of weight and of eyeglasses' encumbrance; moreover, it has highlighted some limits during the assembly phase and about the frames ' durability.

Modern technique goes beyond these problems, providing the complete removal of the traditional front, by the use of a central element and two side elements which are to be bolted or to be fixed onto the lenses' ends, the central element working as a nose pad or a bridge, while the side elements function as hinges for the temples which support and position said lenses.

Though this new system of support for lenses achieves the end of the best visibility by the complete removal of bordering or rims on the lenses, it shows some functional problems about the making which very often lead to prefer traditional frames .

One problem is that the bores of the lenses must be made in a radial way, in order to bolt and fix the elements to the lenses, to avoid a wrong disposition of the lenses with reference to the optical axes.

Another problem arises from the direct contact between the central elements and the side metal ones in the holes of the lenses which are to be bolted on otherwise steadily fixed, a problem which involves the frequent cracking or the complete breaking of the lenses, provoked by unavoidable casual collisions or irregular stresses on the frames.

Another inconvenience that may be found in the cited technique of the self-supporting lenses, or with three-element frames, is represented by the fact that the link elements of the lenses are not assembled by the manufacturer, who has suitable devices and highly precise machines at his disposal, but are assembled by the optician who cannot always rely on such devices and then puts these elements on the lenses, as requested by the customer, in an often approximate way and with scarce precision, thereby determining a bad visual working as well as a rapid eyeglasses deterioration.

An object underlying to the present invention is to put into practice a method, or eyeglasses-making system and eyeglasses, which, notwithstanding the removal of the encumbrance or the view of the eyepieces or the lenses' small control- -rings or rims, can guarantee the utmost simplicity and precision of assembly, with a perfect steadiness and a very durable positioning on the face.

Another object underlying to this invention is to remove any need to make holes on the lenses, thus avoiding the well- -known problems about the precision and the difficulties in the making of radial bores.

Another object underlying to the present invention is to remove any kind of possible cracking or breaking of the lenses due to the contact between the bolting or the fixing parts passing through the holes on the lenses.

Another object underlying to the present method is to allow the optician to build up the eyeglasses by lenses made of any kind of shape, asymmetrical shapes as well, in order to make a great variety of constructive shapes, suitable to and personalised to any request.

Last but not least it is an object underlying to the invention to create a method which allows to make eyeglasses which do not require expensive and difficult equipment for the assembly, as well as to present trifling costs and times of assembly.

These and many other problems have been effectively and perfectly solved by the method according to the invention for making fronts of eyeglasses.

The peculiarity of the method according to the invention is to provide a phase of forming or moulding of the nose pad, a sort of link-bridge between lenses, having first inserted one smooth flexible wire in the mould, so that its middle can be fixed and firmly associated to the injection of the nose pad, while, during the same phase of moulding, the two smooth ends of the wire are set on the side edges or sides of the bridge-injection area, after having inserted and interposed the respective endpieces placed at the hinging ends of the eyeglasses' temples to be made.

Thus a subject-matter of the present invention is an eyeglasses-making method, in which, in a first cycle of operations, a bridge is equipped permanently with a middle of a flexible smooth wire, endpieces of the eyeglasses' temples are put on the ends of said wire, said ends are slipped through the sides of said bridge in order to form a couple of coils or rings, and in which, in a second cycle of operations, lenses are interposed in said coils or rings and fixed therein.

According to an advantageous embodiment in a preliminary phase, said bridge is equipped with nose pads, preferably by injection into a mould, wherein there is a knurled or otherwise rough middle of a smooth wire, sufficiently flexible, whose opposite ends are smooth and lead by suitable spaces within said mould, thereby providing a sliding housing on said sides of said bridge.

Advantageously eyeglasses ' temples endpieces are put on ends of said wire, this phase being carried out before the making of said coils or rings, determined by the introduction of ends into spaces of mould and an adequate projection of them in relation of said middle of said wire.

According to a further advantageous embodiment in a second cycle of eyeglasses-making operations, lenses are made in accordance with the templates of the chosen models, and reliefs or chamfers are made, as well as adequate said notches on each lens.

Advantageously tension is applied on said ends of said smooth wire after having placed coils or rings of said wire on said chamfers of said lenses to be enclosed, thereby setting eyeglasses' temples-endpieces into spaces of lenses.

Conveniently in a final phase, the parts sticking out of the strained ends are cut after having previously being fixed on the edge of bridge by riveting or other well-known systems of blocking.

According to a further advantageous special embodiment the method according to the invention can be carried out also by means of a pre-moulding of bridge or nose pad, with lid, within which the wire is retained and blocked by a plate equipped with retention-holes.

A further subject-matter of the invention are eyeglasses, characterized by comprising a bridge equipped with a flexible wire and having sides in which the ends of said wire are slideably engaged.

Preferably the eyeglasses are characterized by endpieces provided on said ends of said wire.

Furthermore there are preferred eyeglasses obtainable by the method according to the invention.

The method according to the invention will be further illustrated according to a series of phases, purely indicative and not limitative, by means of 8 enclosed schematic figures in which:

fig. 1 represents a vertical and in part-section view of the frontal components, which must be assembled according to the present method, as they are given to the optician for the assembly of the lenses which are to be supported and held; fig. 2 represents a particular vertical view of wire 1, which is to be associated to the nose pad or the fixing bridge of the lenses, to make the cited front;

fig. 3 represents a vertical view of a couple of lenses, made by a casual model of eyeglasses and equipped with perimetrical chamferring plus external notches, as requested by this method;

fig. 4 represents a vertical section view of the lenses in fig. 3 which are put on the parts of the front of fig. 1;

figs. 5 to 8 represent the constructive elements of a different bridge or nose pad and by means of which a preliminary variation of the method described is made possible, particularly:

fig. 5 represents a perspective view of a bridge or a pre-moulded nose pad, within which the closing wire of the lenses is housed;

fig. 6 represents a perspective view of the lid or a closing member of the bridge or nose pad in fig. 5;

fig. 7 represents a perspective view of the wire of the lenses, shown in one of its preparation phases;

fig. 8 represents a vertical view of the bridge in fig. 5 associated to the wire in fig. 7, as well as to the lenses which this wire is to hold. In all the figures the same parts are represented by the same reference numerals.

According to the present innovation eyeglasses will be made in a preliminary cycle of preparation of generic frames adaptable to any model of lens, put into practice by the eyeglasses manufacturer, and in a final cycle of preparation and application of the lenses, following the model requested by the customer and put into practice by an optician he trusts.

In its turn, the cycle of the generic frames-making calls for a series of preparatory phases for the moulding of bridge 10 with nose pads 11 and 12, to the bridge being steadily associated a smooth and sufficiently flexible wire 1.

During the preliminary phase said wire 1 is prepared, which, in order to present a better adherence to the material injected in mould S, is first made rough for the knurling, the ashlar-work, the crushing or any other similar well-known system of superficial mechanical transformation of its central part 2, which first is to be bent, as represented in fig. 2.

The two parts 3 and 4 of wire 1, sticking out of mould S, are later on bent in the opposite direction to bend 2, so as to form a coil or ring whose ends 3' and 4' are sticking out of the central part 2 and of the edge of mould S.

During a different preparation phase, normal eyeglasses' temples are made, with the same wire or with another type of wire, these temples being equipped with hinging ends modelled in shape of a left coiled endpiece 20 and a right one 21, with one or more coils plus a sticking-out part 22, 23, whose function will be illustrated later on.

During the subsequent phase of working, the coiled endpiece 20 of the left temple is put into end 3", so that its projection 22 is turned toward the external part of bend 2, as well as the coiled endpiece 21 of the right temple is put into end 4', so that its projection 23 is turned toward the external part of bend 2.

It is clear that the coiled endpieces 22 and 23 of the eyeglasses' temples have a very small original diameter, and such as to allow only the passage of ends 3 ' and 4 ' , whereon they are respectively hinged.

During another phase of working, mould S is prepared for the making of a bridge 10, this being carried out by the injection of an adequate material, preferably made of plastic.

During the preparation of mould S a fitting cast is to be made on the upper border, so that the bent and knurled tract 2 of wire 1, as well as a couple of casts 13' - 13 ' ' and 14 ' - 14 ' ' , respectively, apt to house ends 3 ' and 4 ' of wire 1 into mould S, can be retained.

During a subsequent phase of working, wire 1 is put into mould S, with the blocking of the knurled bend 2 in the proper upper seat, as well as with the housing of end 3' in casts 13' - 13 ' ' and of the end 4' in casts 14' - 14"', before closing properly said mould S .

Then is gone on with the injection of the material suitable to make bridge 10, following a well-known technique, already used in making bridges 10 working as nose pads 11 and 12.

The first cycle of the present method comes to an end with that injection, and so these are at disposal the eyeglasses frames ready to be sent to the optician, it is to be seen in fig. 1.

As tracts 3 and 4 of wire 1 are smooth, the adherence of these tracts to bridge 10 is very relative; as a matter of fact, it is sufficient to pull ends 3' and 4' in order to have them slide within bridge 10, with a progressive reduction of the diameter of the coils or rings determined by smooth tracts 3 and 4.

On the contrary, the knurled and bent part 2 of wire 1 is fittingly blocked on bridge 10 by the injected material, thus avoiding its translation or movement.

During the preparation of mould S for the making of bridge 10, the precision of the positioning of radii or profiles Rl and R2 gains particular relevance, for they establish the level for the definition of the optical and focal parameters of any different lens¹ model to put on.

As it has already been said, the front made by bridge 10 and wire 1 with sliding ends 3 ' and 4 ' , as it can be seen schematically in fig. 1, is normally delivered to the optician, with a series of couples of templates, every couple of templates reproducing a different model of lenses to put on said front, according to the well-known technique and following the customer's requests.

The second cycle of the present eyeglasses front-making method consists of an earlier phase in which the optician, on the stock of the templates given by the manufacturer, cuts out a couple of lenses 30 and 40 each one with an adequate perime- trical chamferring 31 and 41 as well as with external notches 32 and 42.

Copying from the sample templates, lenses 30 and 40 present reference tracts Rl and R2 , perfectly adherent to seats Rl and R2 of bridge 10, so that it is possible to guarantee a perfect and a steady positioning of lenses 30 and 40 on bridge 10.

In a subsequent phase of the present method, the optician respectively lines up the chamferring 31 to the plane of coil 3 and chamferring 41 to the plane of coil 4, respectively, after having approximately set coiled and 20 of the left temple on notch 32 of lens 30 and coiled end 21 of the right temple on notch 42 of lens 30.

The optician goes on to pull the opposite ends 3 ' and 4 ' of wire 1, making them slide within their smooth seats on bridge 10, until smooth tracts 3 and 4 of wire 1 are completely housed in chamfers 31 and 41 of lenses 30 and 40.

Then it is gone on to cut the parts of ends 3 ' and 4 ' sticking out of bridge 10, preferably keeping some light rive- tings 3' ' and 4" ', such as to prevent any possibility of loosening, by the slipping of tracts 3 and 4 which are housed within bridge 10, as can be seen in fig. 4.

In consequence of the action of the tension of ends 3 ' and 4 ' and after the approximate earlier housing already cited, hinging endpieces 20 and 21 of the eyeglasses' temples perfectly place themselves within notches 32 and 42 of lenses 30 and 40, guaranteeing the correct arrangement position of the eyeglasses on the face according to what has been established by the manufacturer during his pre-arrangement of the template referring to the chosen lenses' model.

Sticking out tracts 22 and 23 of endpieces 20 and 21 are advantageously placed so that the largest divarication of the respective temples can be delimited because of their contact with lenses 30 and 40, while during the phase of closing the temples said sticking out tracts do not bother at all, being of the smallest encumbrance as well as being adequately rounded.

From what has been described so far it can be seen that, following the formation phases of the first cycle and the assembly phases of the second cycle, a eyeglasses-making method can be carried out which, though it removes the encumbrance and the view of the rims of the lenses, can guarantee the utmost simplicity of manufacturing and an assembly precision, in order to obtain an ideal and durable position of the eyeglasses in accordance with the main object of the invention.

The cited method allows the removal of any lenses' bores, as well as any danger of splitting or breaking of the lenses provoked by the presence of boltings, in accordance with other cited objects.

Following this eyeglasses-making there is the possibility of associating lenses of different shapes and encumbrances, as well as guaranteeing to the optician the utmost simplicity of assembly, in accordance with other prearranged purposes.

Referring to figs. 5 to 8 as it has already been said, a variation of the present method is illustrated which is made possible by a different conformation of the nose pad or retention bridge of wire 1.

A bridge or nose pad 100 is pre-moulded in an adequate material, so as to present, by the sustaining pad-plates 101 and 102 on the nose of the person, an horizontal body 103 whereon a hollow space 104 is obtained, as well as a curved transversal groove 105 and two curved vertical grooves 106 and 107.

Bridge 100 is completed by adequate devices of guide and pin (barbing) 108 with its lid 110. This lid 110 is equipped with a superior projection 111 suitable for its housing into space 104 of bridge 100, as well as with adequate guides or pins (barbings) 109 to couple with guides 108 of bridge 100, in order to obtain the best solidity of the two parts.

Referring to fig. 7, it is evident that ends 3' and 4' of wire 1 pass through control-holes 121 and 122 of a plate 120 which is housed at the bottom of space 104.

As it is evident, particularly in fig. 8, by pulling ends 3 ' and 4 ' , after having housed the central part 2 of wire 1 into groove 105, these ends slide into grooves 106 and 107 until they close on lenses 30 and 40, while plate 120 hinders the springing back by means of the particular shape of its holes 121 and 122.

The cutting of ends 3' and 4' sticking out of plate 120 and the application of the covering 110 are phases of working easily practicable by any optician in order to achieve a perfect retention of lenses 30 and 40 to the eyeglasses-front thus produced.

Naturally the sequence of the phases until now described and illustrated is to be regarded as purely indicative and not restrictive, as well as the shape of bridge 10 and the consequent position and shaping of wire 1. As an exemplification now it is shown the possibility of eliminating the operation of moulding of bridge 10, using a bridge made of plastic or metal material previously shaped and equipped with a system - by screw or by crushing - for the blocking of central tract 2, with the option of cutting a thread of ends 3 ' and 4 ' , in order to put on tension-nuts and blocking-nuts. It is also possible to replace coiled ends 20 and 21 of the temples by simple circular endpieces, previously put on ends 3' and 4', equipped with an adequate shaft or endpiece, in order to determine the largest divarication of the respective temples.

Claims

Claims

1.) Eyeglasses-making method, in which, in a first cycle of operations, a bridge (10) is equipped permanently with a middle (2) of a flexible smooth wire (1) , endpieces (20, 21) of the eyeglasses' temples are put on the ends (3', 4') of said wire (1), said ends (3', 4') are slipped through the sides of said bridge (10) in order to form a couple of coils or rings (3, 4), and in which, in a second cycle of operations, lenses (30, 40) are interposed in said coils or rings (3, 4) and fixed therein.

2.) Eyeglasses-making method according to claim 1, in which, in a preliminary phase, said bridge (10) is equipped with nose pads (11, 12) , preferably by injection into a mould (S) , wherein there is a knurled or otherwise rough middle (2) of a smooth wire (1) , sufficiently flexible, whose opposite ends (3', 4') are smooth and lead by suitable spaces (13' - 13'' and 14' - 14 ' ^Γûá ) within said mould (S) , thereby providing a sliding housing on said sides of said bridge (10) .

3.) Eyeglasses-making method according to claim 1 or 2 , in which eyeglasses' temples endpieces (20, 21) are put on ends (3¹, 4') of said wire (1), this phase being carried out before the making of said coils or rings (3, 4), determined by the introduction of ends (3 ' , 4') into spaces (13* - 13'' and 14 ^┬╗ - 14'') of mould (S) and an adequate projection of them in relation of said middle (2) of said wire (1) .

4.) Eyeglasses-making method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that, in a second cycle of eyeglasses-making operations, lenses (30, 40) are made in accordance with the templates of the chosen models, and reliefs or chamfers (31, 41) are made, as well as adequate side notches (32, 42) on each lens (30, 40) .

5.) Eyeglasses-making method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that tension is applied on said ends (3', 4') of said smooth wire (1) after having placed coils or rings (3, 4) of said wire (1) on said chamfers (31, 41) of said lenses to be enclosed, thereby setting eyeglasses' temples-endpieces (20, 21) into spaces (32, 42) of lenses (30, 40) .

6.) Eyeglasses-making method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that in a final phase, the parts sticking out of the strained ends (3", 4') are cut after having previously being fixed on the edge of bridge (10) by riveting or other well-known systems of blocking (3' ' , 4' ') .

7.) Eyeglasses-making method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized by the fact that it can be carried out also by means of a pre-moulding of bridge or nose pad (100) , with lid (110) , within which the wire is retained and blocked by a plate (120) equipped with retention-holes (121, 122) .

8.) Eyeglasses, characterized by comprising a bridge (10) equipped with a flexible wire (1) and having sides in which the ends (3', 4') of said wire (1) are slideably engaged.

9.) Eyeglasses according to claim 8, characterized by endpieces (20, 21) provided on said ends (3', 4') of said wire (1) .

10.) Eyeglasses, obtainable by the method according to claims 1 to 7.