This invention relates in general to an article of jewelry or costume jewelry such as a bracelet, necklace, earring or ring. More specifically, this invention relates to an article of jewelry or costume jewelry comprising at least one elastic or flexible support element which extends along a direction of development of the article, and a plurality of ornamen tal elements which are fitted in succession on said support element and coupled two by two along the development direction of the article.

Articles of jewelry such as bracelets, necklaces, earrings and rings are known that have a “Tubogas” (gas tube) structure, i.e. are produced by helically extending a form made of metal material, which gives the article high structural elasticity and thus makes it extreme ly flexible.

An article of jewelry that has a Tubogas structure is obtained by shaping a pair of strips made of metal material so as to have a U-shaped cross section, coupling the two strips lon gitudinally to one another by interlocking, with one strip upside down with respect to the other, and wrapping the structure obtained in this way in a helical shape around a core in order to give it the desired shape, be it tubular or prismatic.

The Tubogas process therefore produces a continuous link without joints, which gives the article high strength and ductility, as a result of which the article may be adapted to the body of the wearer.

The malleability and flexibility of the metal sheets from which the strips are made and the known techniques for working the metals, in particular precious metals, make it possible to form the metal strips and wrap them in a helical manner, which is what constitutes the Tubogas process.

Disadvantageous^, it is not possible to produce this structure using hard and non- malleable materials such as glass, ceramic or particular polymers. An object of this invention is to provide an article of jewelry or costume jewelry which has a structure similar to the well-known Tubogas structure, but which can be produced using non-flexible materials with which it is not possible to use the known techniques for pro cessing and creating the continuous link that characterizes the Tubogas structure.

A further object of the invention is to provide such an article of jewelry or costume jewelry which gives the wearer the same sense in terms of handling, elasticity and acoustic feed back upon handling.

According to this invention, this object is achieved by an article of jewelry or costume jewelry having the features set out in claim 1.

Particular embodiments form the subject matter of the dependent claims, the content of which is to be understood as an integral part of this description.

In summary, this invention is based on the principle of producing an article of jewelry or costume jewelry by fitting a plurality of ornamental elements, such as a plurality of modu lar ornamental elements, on an elastic supporting core which gives the article flexibility. The plurality of modular ornamental elements, as a result of being coupled in a stacked manner, has a similar aesthetic appearance and handling properties to those of the Tubogas structure.

The features and advantages of this invention will be clarified by the detailed description that follows, given purely by way of non-limiting example and with reference to the ac companying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a bracelet as an example of an article of jewelry ac cording to this invention;

Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 are partially exploded perspective views from the front and from the rear, respectively, of a bracelet segment according to a first embodiment;

Fig. 4 and Fig. 5 are partially exploded perspective views from the front and from the rear, respectively, of a bracelet segment according to a variant of the first embodiment; and

Fig. 6 and Fig. 7 are partially exploded perspective views from the front and from the rear, respectively, of a bracelet segment according to a second embodiment.

With initial reference to Fig. 1, an article of jewelry according to an embodiment of this invention is indicated as a whole by reference sign 10. In the embodiment proposed herein, the article of jewelry 10 is a bracelet and, for convenience, will therefore be referred to as a bracelet in the description that follows. Alternatively, the article of jewelry may be a neck lace, an earring or a ring. According to a further alternative, the article may be an article of costume jewelry.

The bracelet 10 is shown in Fig. 1 in a condition of normal use, and comprises a plurality of ornamental elements stacked one against the other. In this condition, according to the embodiment shown herein, the bracelet 10 extends along a substantially helical direction s of development (circular, oval and elliptical development directions are also possible).

Fundamentally, the bracelet 10 comprises an elastic or flexible support element 12 (not vis ible externally, but shown by dashed lines in the figure for better understanding of the in vention) which extends along the direction s of development of the bracelet, for example along the entire length of the bracelet, and a plurality of ornamental elements 14 which are threaded in succession onto said support element 12 and non-rigidly coupled two by two along the development direction of the article. An open bracelet, such as the one shown in the figure, also has a pair of end ornamental elements 14’ at the free ends of the length thereof.

The support element 12 is preferably formed by a mechanical spring, for example a helical spring, or by a metal sheet or strip, preferably made of titanium, which is adapted to bend around an axis transverse to the development direction of the article. Otherwise, the sup port element may also be made of polymeric material.

The ornamental elements 14 each have a body which comprises a first face 16 for coupling to a subsequent contiguous ornamental element 14 along the development direction of the article and, on the opposite side, a second face 18 for coupling to a previous contiguous or namental element 14 along the development direction of the article. The first face 16 of each ornamental element 14 has a raised formation, denoted by 20 in Fig. 2, 4 and 6, which raised formation is advantageously formed in one piece with the body of the ornamental element, while the second face 18 of each ornamental element 14 has a recess 22 that is complementary in shape to the raised formation of the previous contiguous ornamental el ement, which recess may be seen in Fig. 3, 5 and 7. The body may be made of metal mate rial, in particular a precious metal such as gold, or may be made of other non-metal materi als, for example glass, ceramic or polymeric material, and may be produced, for example, by machining or by a casting and pressing process.

The ornamental elements 14 are advantageously modular elements which have a generally tapered shape, i.e. a body which comprises a first portion having a larger cross section and a second portion having a smaller cross section, and may be stacked two by two in order for the raised formation thereof to be inserted within the recess of the contiguous element, thus forming connected links of the bracelet. In general, two contiguous ornamental ele ments are coupled together by accommodating the raised formation 20 of the first element within the complementary recess 22 of the second element, with at least one shock absorbing spacer element 24 arranged therebetween, as may be seen in each of Fig. 2 to 7.

The ornamental elements may have different cross-sectional shapes, for example polygonal shapes such as triangular or quadrangular shapes, for example rectangular or cartouche shapes, and may be made of various materials such as metal materials, precious metals, glass, ceramic, or polymeric materials. In the embodiment shown in the figures, the orna mental elements 14 have a smooth surface, but in one alternative embodiment some or all of the ornamental elements may have mounted gems or decorative patterns such as engrav ings or embossings.

With reference to Fig. 2 to 7, some embodiments of each ornamental element 14 of the bracelet 10 and of the relative coupling arrangement to the contiguous ornamental elements 14 will be described in detail. In the embodiment in Fig. 2 and 3, the body of each ornamental element 14 has a car- touche-shaped cross section, i.e. an elongate or elliptical oval cross section; the raised for mation 20 which projects from the first face 16 of the ornamental element, which first face will be described in the following as the front face, also has this shape, and the recess 22 which is formed on the second face 18 of the ornamental element, or rear face of the orna mental element, and which actually constitutes a cavity inside the body of the element, also has this shape.

In this way, the raised formation 20 of the front face of each ornamental element is adapted to positively couple to the recess 22 of the rear face of the contiguous ornamental element, forming a constraint to the translation and mutual rotation of the two elements in a plane transverse to the development direction s of the article.

In the embodiment put forth herein by way of example, the support element 12 is a band made of metal material and the body of each ornamental element has an axial through opening 30 having an area corresponding to the cross-sectional area of the support element, through which said support element extends.

In a variant embodiment, instead of a support element 12, the bracelet may comprise a pair of support elements, i.e. a pair of coplanar bands made of metal material, and the body of each ornamental element has a pair of through openings arranged symmetrically with re spect to the development direction of the article, which through openings have an area cor responding to the cross-sectional area of each band, or a single through opening having an area altogether corresponding to the sum of the cross-sectional areas of each band, through which the support elements extend.

In the embodiment in Fig. 2 and 3, the shock-absorbing spacer element 24 is an elastomer ic ring fitted on the support element 12 between each pair of ornamental elements 14, which ring deforms in such a way as to transversely surround the support element 12. When the ornamental elements are in the stacked condition, the shock-absorbing spacer el ement 24 abuts on one side against the raised formation 20 and on the other side against the bottom of the recess 22.

Advantageously, mutual movement is allowed between pairs of contiguous ornamental el ements, toward and away from one another or bending around an axis transverse to the de velopment direction s of the article, and contact between contiguous elements is softened, thus reducing wear on the elements, and the acoustic effect of this contact is also lessened.

Fig. 4 and 5 show a variant of the embodiment in Fig. 2 and 3, but in which, instead of a single shock-absorbing spacer element, two shock-absorbing spacer elements 24a, 24b are provided in the form of a pair of elastomeric elements arranged on opposite sides of the support element, in respective housing seats 22a, 22b formed in the recess 22 of the body of each ornamental element.

Fig. 6 and 7 show a second embodiment in which the body of each ornamental element 14 has a convex shape and a cross section whose perimeter is formed by a combination of two circumferential arches having different radii; the raised formation 20 which projects from the first face 16 of the ornamental element, which first face will be described in the follow ing as the front face, also has this shape, and the recess 22 which is formed on the second face 18 of the ornamental element, or rear face of the ornamental element, and which actu ally constitutes a cavity inside the body of the element, also has this shape.

In this way, the raised formation 20 of the front face of each ornamental element is adapted to positively couple to the recess 22 of the rear face of the contiguous ornamental element, forming a constraint to the mutual translation of the two elements in a plane transverse to the development direction s of the article, while at the same time facilitating the mutual ro tation thereof.

The support element 12 may be a band made of metal material or, as shown in the figures, a pair of parallel elastic or flexible support elements which form a constraint to the rotation of each modular ornamental element in a plane transverse to the development direction of the article, for example a pair of parallel helical springs 12a and 12b. The body of each or namental element has a pair of through openings 30a, 30b arranged symmetrically with re- sped to the development direction s of the article, which through openings have an area corresponding to the cross-sectional area of each helical spring, through which the support elements 12a and 12b extend, respectively.

Two shock-absorbing spacer elements 24a, 24b are also provided in this embodiment, in the form of a pair of elastomeric rings fitted on each support helical spring 12a, 12b.

Advantageously, with the aim of providing the aesthetic impression of a Tubogas structure, the ornamental elements 12 may be arranged so as to be inclined with respect to the devel opment direction, in such a way that the respective coupling faces lie in planes that are not orthogonal to the development direction of the article.

The bracelet 10 may be easily produced by threading the ornamental elements 14 alternate ly with the spacer element 24 (or with the spacer elements 24a, 24b) on the support ele ment 12, or by threading the ornamental elements 14 one after the other on the support el ement 12 while arranging the spacer element or elements therebetween in the respective seats outside the support element.

It should be noted that the embodiment proposed for this invention in the foregoing discus sion is purely a non-limiting example of this invention. A person skilled in the art will easi ly be able to implement this invention in different embodiments which do not however de part from the principles set forth herein and are therefore encompassed in this patent.

This is particularly true with regard to the possibility of producing bracelets for use as watch straps and also of producing belts, handles and shoulder straps for bags.

Of course, without prejudice to the principle of the invention, the embodiments and the de tails of execution may vary widely with respect to that which has been described and illus trated purely by way of non-limiting example, without thereby departing from the scope of protection of the invention defined by the appended claims.