HK1118099A - Hinge for glasses with closing block and method to obtain said hinge - Google Patents

Description

Hinge for spectacles with closing stop and method for obtaining said hinge

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a hinge for spectacles and to a method for obtaining said hinge. More particularly, the invention relates to a hinge with a closing block (block) for a temple (temple bar).

Background

It is known that in the eye area there are various hinges which ensure the articulation of the temple on the frame front piece.

For certain specific applications, there is a need for a hinged hinge for the temple with a closing stop, i.e. a hinge equipped with means adapted to stop the rotation of the temple in the desired position when closed.

This feature is particularly desirable in recent years for the sunglasses market, where the frame has an extremely prominent base curve, also known as the wrap-around base curve, for aesthetic and design reasons. In fact, the prominent feature surrounding the frame is that it has a particularly short temple, usually joined with a small bent tip (the part in contact with the ear), and by analysing these two features in the temple/front piece assembly it can be noted that in the temple-open condition (fig. 2A), the eyeglasses look lovely and very "tidy", whereas in the temple-closed condition it appears inconvenient, since the outermost end of the temple interferes with the inner surface of the lens (fig. 2C), thus creating permanent marks on the lens after a short period of time.

To overcome this inconvenience, hinges with a stop are used, which prevents the temple from closing beyond a certain angle (fig. 2B).

Fig. 1A to 1D show two solutions of the prior art in longitudinal section.

Fig. 1A and 1B show the two extreme states (closed and open) of a first solution, generally comprising a male part M and a female part F, connected to each other by a hinging pin P (for example a screw) of any known type; it can be clearly seen how to close while (fig. 1A) by means of a cam D projecting from the top of the protrusion M of the hinge₁To obtain a blocking function, the cam portion D₁With a step surface S provided in a recess of the hinge₁And (5) interference. The above-described hinges work quite well, but have significant drawbacks: since the cam part D is arranged when the glasses are worn₁Protruding towards the user's temple (fig. 1B) and its presence may cause injury.

Fig. 1C and 1D alternatively show two of another solution without protruding cam portionsAnd (4) an operating state. In this case, the top of the bulge M of the hinge or the washer is broken by a certain length, comprising two shaped shoulders D₁And D₂The two shoulders D₁And D₂Thus remaining constrained within the profile of the hinge's protrusion. These two shoulders, suitably spaced apart from each other, are intended to come into abutment respectively with two mutually perpendicular abutments S provided on the concave portion F of the hinge₁And S₂And (5) interference.

In this case, although aesthetic tidiness and safety are preserved for the wearer, limitations are imposed from a purely mechanical point of view. On the one hand, in fact, the two shoulders D1 and D2 are very fragile and, in the event of accidental impacts or of only concentrated use, are liable to exert a force on the blocking point upon closing, causing irreversible damage to the engagement profile (it must be remembered that the material most commonly used for these hinges is nickel silver). On the other hand, these solutions are necessarily more expensive than the traditional ones, since a tailored profile is required for the structure of the protrusion of the hinge.

Disclosure of Invention

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a hinge with blocking means and a method of obtaining said hinge, which, in addition to its operative effectiveness, provide a neat and streamlined appearance to the eyeglasses without any protuberances, ensuring overall mechanical reliability and with limited costs.

Said object is achieved by a hinge and a method as described by the essential features in the attached independent claims 1 and 4.

Further inventive aspects of the invention are described in the dependent claims.

Drawings

In any event, further features and advantages of the hinge according to the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments thereof, given by way of example and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGS. 1A and 1B are longitudinal sectional views of a prior art hinge as described above;

FIGS. 1C and 1D are longitudinal sectional views of other prior art hinges as described above;

FIGS. 2A, 2B and 2C are top views of a pair of complete eyeglasses with the temples open and folded;

FIGS. 3A and 3B are side and top views, respectively, of a hinge according to the present invention in an open state;

FIG. 4 is the same view as FIG. 3A, with the hinge closed in its blocked state;

FIGS. 5A and 5B are top and side views, respectively, of a projection of a hinge according to the present invention;

FIGS. 6A and 6B are a top view and a cross-sectional view along line VI-VI, respectively, of a recessed portion of a hinge according to the present invention; and

fig. 7A and 7B are side views of a convex portion and a concave portion of a hinge according to another embodiment of the present invention, respectively.

Detailed Description

As can be seen in fig. 3A, 3B and 4, the hinge comprises, in a manner known per se, a male part M and a female part F, the male part M entering between the two prongs of the female part F (fig. 3B), being engaged by a hinge pin, such as a screw V.

According to the invention, the radial plane by means of which the blocking system is formed when closing and opening the hinge is obtained by machining the inner surface of the seat of the female part of the hinge and the two outer surfaces of the male washer.

In particular, as can be seen in fig. 5A and 5B, a certain thickness, for example 0.2mm, is removed from both sides of the 180 ° sector (for example having a thickness of 1 mm) of the gasket of the projection M, so as to obtain a concave surface M_SAnd a radial step or plane M_G。

In all other respects, the projections of the hinge are the same as standard hinges.

Likewise, in the concave portion of the hinge (fig. 6A and 6B), two opposite zones of limited thickness are obtained on a 270 ° sector, also by material removal, so as to obtain a step or plane F_GAnd a joining surface F_S. By way of example and in keeping with the above statement, the recess of the hinge may have a slot with a minimum width of 0.6mm, which widens further to 1mm in its entirety (after removal of 0.2mm thickness from each opposite side of the slot) in correspondence with the 270 ° sector.

It can be noted that the above-mentioned plane F_GArranged at 90 ° to each other, but if different opening or closing angles are required, the planes F are arranged according to the angular position required_GAnd (4) finishing.

According to the embodiment shown in fig. 7A and 7B, for example, the planes of the convex portions of the hinge are always 180 ° from each other, whereas the planes of the concave portions of the hinge (fig. 7B) are arranged according to an angle below 90 °. In particular, the lower plane is inclined with respect to the vertical (in the figures) so as to allow the temple to be opened beyond a standard opening angle, thus obtaining a structure suitable for a so-called "flexible" hinge (equipped with elastic contrast means).

This feature can also be reversed between the male and female parts of the hinge, i.e. an angle of 90 ° can be provided between the planes of the female parts of the hinge, while an angle of less than 180 ° is provided for the planes of the male parts of the hinge.

It will be appreciated that the proposed solution of the invention achieves the objects previously mentioned.

In particular, the hinge according to the invention allows to have a blocking plane which is entirely located inside the hinge, and therefore without protruding parts.

Furthermore, the process of forming the blocking system does not require the protrusion of the hinge to have a special profile, but the blocking plane can be obtained from a standard hinge by introducing a simple machining process in a common production process.

In industrial processes, the above-mentioned machining can be provided in a common production cycle and can be advantageously applied to parts already manufactured by minimally changing the common process layout, whereby a large investment can be avoided both in terms of inventory and in terms of special profiles requiring special equipment.

The reliability and accuracy of the hinge is ensured by the bi-planar joint, rather than by the single tip joint of the prior art. In any case, the option of defining the blocking plane on one side only, as long as the conditions are met, all for the benefit of making the manufacture economical, may be retained. Thus, the invention can also be implemented by machining only one side of the hinge, if the size of the hinge and the materials used allow it, instead of machining on both sides as described and shown in the drawings.

It will be appreciated that the invention lends itself well to use with hinges having flexible movement in addition to the above.

The invention is not, however, limited to the particular constructions described above which represent only non-limiting embodiments of the scope of the invention, but may be subject to numerous modifications without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims, all within the reach of a person skilled in the art.

Claims (5)

1. A hinge for spectacles, of the type comprising a male part (M) and a female part (F) mutually connected by a small hinge pin (P), equipped with engagement surfaces (M)_G，F_G) Said engagement surface being adapted to define at least one blocking position when closed, said hinge being characterized in that said engagement surface (M)_G，F_G) Radial with respect to the hinge axis and obtained by material removal by machining on at least one of the two parts male or femaleIn (1).

2. Hinge according to claim 1, wherein said engagement surfaces are obtained on two opposite sides of the washer of said projection (M).

3. A hinge as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the engagement surface further defines a position to close the barrier.

4. Method for obtaining an eyeglass hinge according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein, once the two parts (M, F) male and female of the hinge are obtained from the respective profiles, the joining surface (M) is obtained radially by removing a thickness of material_G，F_G)。

5. Spectacles of the type comprising a frame front and a pair of temples, characterized in that at the point of articulation of the temples with the front, a hinge according to any one of the preceding claims is provided.