Background Art The gemstone industry is essentially a trading profession in which participants buy stones, be they coloured gemstones or diamonds and then attempt to sell them at a higher price to customers. To this end three areas are important; the value of the stones needs to be maintained during checking, storage, transport and display, an inventory record has to be kept and various marketing techniques employed in order to make a successful sale.

Packaging and display boxes exist for larger stones. They are often much heavier and bulkier than the stones themselves, requiring large suitcases to transport them and set up for a gem-show for example.

Gem papers and individual plastic bags are more compact for transport, but the gems can not be displayed easily.

Gemstones require particular care in handling. "Paper-wear"is the term for the abrasion of facet- junctions which is common when a number of gemstones or diamonds, known as a"lot", are stored too loosely in the same packet and are able to knock against each other, which does not occur when stones are stored individually. Any direct handling of the stones out of their packet incurs the risk of loss or damage to some of them. Stone lots are weighed by pouring them out onto the pan of a precision scale, during which process the stones may collide with each other and become chipped. They are counted by pouring them out onto a pad and dragging them from one heap to another with tweezers, five at a time. This procedure is time-consuming and it must be done more than once, to check the tally. Then the stones are scooped up with a gem-scoop and poured back into the gem-paper or plastic bag. Damage and loss may occur during any and all of these procedures.

When a"mlée"stone, typically about 4mm in diameter, is picked up by diamond tongs for close examination, it is not uncommon for it to slip on the metal of the tweezer-tips and suddenly spring out with great velocity.

There exists a transparent package of flexible vacuum-formed plastic, 12.5 x 14mm for larger stones, with a loose-fitting lid of the same material. The indentations are rectangular, are not arranged to best advantage (i. e. staggered) and will not display stones upright. There is also a disposable foam packaging made by a manufacturer of mlée stones, but this takes fewer stones and is not transparent.

Stone packaging systems often fail to provide an attractive background upon which to display their contents.

Nothing is believed to exist that combines packaging, safeguarding, inventorying and displaying lots of smaller stones, typically below 4 mm in diameter. Tiny gemstones and diamonds can be scattered when a container is opened, or blown around by a sudden strong draft. They are hard to find once lost and a nuisance to re-count and weigh once found; however, collectively they can represent significant amounts of money, so a compact package for small stones which will also allow for easy checking and display would be useful to the gem dealer, diamond dealer and jeweller. Transparent packaging also speeds up the process of locating stock for inventory control.

The general practice hitherto has been for stone lots to be placed in a small plastic bag or gem paper, making them difficult to view and susceptible to loss and damage. Some attempts have been made at developing more easily-used packaging methods, but these have failed to deal with lots of small stones or provide a satisfactory method of holding small stone lots in situ and yet easily examined without opening the package.

Hitherto, gemstone packaging has failed to address the problems of both secure personal transportation and ease of display. Packaging exists which separates each stone into an indentation, but it fails to allow for ease of access for examination or display. Other devices have been designed for display purposes but fail to accommodate the need for convenient storage and transportation.

Accordingly, existing methods of storing and displaying smaller gemstone as lots have several failings: (1) Bulky containers; (2) risk of damage to stones; (3) risk of loss of stones; (4) non-uniform and haphazard display; (5) Unattractive display; (6) difficulty in viewing; (7) difficulty in inspection; (8) difficulty in weighing; (9) difficulty in counting; (10) inadequate inventory mechanism; Disclosure of Invention The current invention has thus been conceived with the objective of addressing the shortcomings outlined.

One aspect of the invention provides an easily transportable packaging system through the design of a small, slim, rigid pocket-sized'tray', about the size and shape of a business card holder in which gemstones may be stored and displayed. The indentations for the stones are as close together as possible in order to keep the tray so small. There is a separate sliding lid. A standard business card or a data card may be attached to the bottom, where it will be held in place by the lid assembly.

Another aspect of the invention is the structure of the tray. It is molded in plastic, which is fashioned to include a series of indentations in which the stones are held. These molded indentations are faceted to accommodate both square and round stones while ensuring that each stone is stored separately from the others, avoiding contact and thus accidental damage. There is a series of trays, all of the same outside dimension, for different sizes of stones. The stones must be graded by size first and the appropriate model of tray chosen for that particular size of stone. If the stone is too large for the indentation the lid will not close properly, if it is much too small then more than one stone may fall into one indentation, rendering the count incorrect.

The device incorporates a sliding lid, which retains the stones in their individual indentations once it has been slid closed. The stones chosen for use with the packaging should be the appropriate size for that

model. An alternative exists of placing a transparent plastic sheet on top for a lid and securing this in a closed position with a sliding overlapping bottom sheet. This is in case the stones are a tight fit.

The spacing of the indentations is uniform and each faceted indentation is designed to fit the pavilions of a variety of round stones such as Step-cut, Zircon-cut, Portuguese-cut or Brilliant-cut. Similarly the square stone may be step-cut or Princess-cut (which has a deeper bottom shape). The square stones should also sit in the same alignment as each other due to the square-ish shape of the indentation. The indentation's cross-section is"cushion-cut" (a cross between round and square) at the place where the stone's girdle sits. Other shapes might fit, but the great majority of melde stones are either round or square.

The lid of the tray and the tray itself are transparent to provide a pleasing display. Coloured stones may be shown to best advantage by placing the transparent tray over a white background, while diamonds may be displayed by placing the transparent tray over a black background. The jeweller may visualise how the stones will match the precious metal to be used by putting the tray over backings of gold and silver paper of differing colours, so that the stones will look as they will after setting. If required, the tray may also be manufactured in translucent to opaque white, black or other colours.

The lid is transparent to enable initial viewing without handling while the stones remain in situ.

The lid is also sliding, thus its removal facilitates closer inspection of the contents. The lid may be slid off without scattering the stones as is more likely to happen with a snap-top lid. Of course a round stone is difficult to extract when it fits exactly into a round indentation, as is a square stone in a square indentation. So the indentations are faceted as a"cushion-shape"which is between round and square. When they are sitting in a cushion-shaped faceted indentation, both round and square stones will leave a small gap to facilitate removal, so the stones should not become jammed in the indentations. Alternatively, there exists a vacuum device for picking up very tiny stones.

To remove all stones for inspection, one removes the lid, covers the tray with a small paper pad or book, keeping both pressed together, while inverting them both and then gently lifting off the pad. The stones will then be spread out face-down on the pad in an ideal position to be examined in situ or to be picked up individually with tweezers and examined. The procedure may then be reversed, which will minimize the chance of damage to the stones. The lid may be slid back partially to remove and examine a smaller sample of stones.

It is possible to weigh each empty tray precisely on a gem scale. Then the weight can be noted on a data card and the tray can be weighed once again when it has been loaded with stones. The net weight of the stones is determined by subtraction and noted on the data card, which is then fitted into the impression on the bottom of the tray, and the lid is slid shut to secure both stones and data card. Ideally the data card should not be taped to the tray, as the weight of the ink might affect the weight.

The indentations in each model of the tray are arranged logically so that they may be counted as "round"numbers in groups of 10, 25,50 or 100. This varies with each model, but once a merchant is familiar with any one model he will find it saves him a lot of time, which was previously wasted in counting and recounting the stones.

The transparent nature of the device also helps in inventory management. When a merchant has many different melde lots, of differing shapes, grades, even types of stone, at a distance he will, for example, be able to separate the princess-cut sapphires from the brilliant-cut diamonds from the round step- cut rubies. With a closer glance he can sort out different grades of the same stone. This saves much time compared to closed packaging material which requires inspection of labels and opening of packages for 120 verificiation of the contents.

Brief Description of Drawings The invention is best understood from the following detailed description, read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing. The drawing is not to scale and dimensions are not necessarily in proportion.

125 Included in the drawings are the following figures: Fig. 1 is a plan of the tray, omitting the faceted indentations.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation view of Fig. 1 ; Fig. 3 is a side elevation of a different version of Fig. 1 ; Fig. 4 is a plan of the top of lid; 130 Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the lid; Fig. 6 is a side elevation of an alternative lid assembly; Fig. 7 is a view illustrating an arrangement of faceted indentations that are impressed into the tray in Fig. 1 ; Fig. 8 is a view illustrating a different arrangement of faceted indentations that are impressed into 135 the tray in Fig. 1; Fig. 9 is a view illustrating a different arrangement of faceted indentations that are impressed into the tray in Fig. 1; Fig. 10 is a plan of a faceted indentation; Fig. 11 is a side elevation of a faceted indentation; 140 Fig. 12 is a sectional plan view of a faceted indentation taken along the line 12-12 of Fig. 11.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention The invention is a compact packaging, display and storage device to hold smaller coloured gemstones and diamonds. With the lid off it doubles as a small gem tray for sorting and matching stones.

145 The novelty and inventiveness of the invention is in the combination of functions as a packaging, handling and display device, and in the design of the faceted indentations to enable stones to be retained securely and separately while allowing ease of display, counting and removal.

Referring to Fig. 1, the tray measures approximately the size of a business card holder (10. Ocm x 6.5 cm) and is less than 5mm high, thus enabling it to be fitted into a pocket, and enabling a standard 150 business card (9. Ocm x 5. 5cm) or data card to be slid into the impression under the tray, as shown in Fig. 1 by dotted line 1 and in Fig. 2 by dotted line 2. The card is retained in position by the lip of the lid 3 in Fig. 5.

The tray is manufactured in transparent rigid plastic to enable ease of viewing of the contents and to allow it to be placed over a coloured, white or black background in order to display the stones at their best. Alternatively, the tray may be manufactured from opaque or translucent white, black or coloured 155 plastic in order to achieve a similar, albeit more permanent, enhanced display appearance.

The tray of the device is molded in plastic as a single piece in which faceted indentations have been incorporated. Each indentation is designed to hold a single stone in a face-up position. This prevents

the stones from coming into contact with each other and avoids the chipping, abrasion and other damage that is common with other forms of packaging.

Each indentation is faceted inside in such a way as to accommodate any one of a number of types of gemstone cut, including standard round brilliants (SRB), round (RD) in step-cut, zircon-cut, Portuguese- cut as well as square-cut (SQ) and Princess-cut (PR) stones.

The indentation is made by faceting the pins used to create the mould for the tray. The eight main facets in the"cushion"-shaped indentation" (between round and square), shown in 8 and 9 and 10, of Fig.

10, Fig. 11 and Fig. 12 respectively, are at 45 degrees to the horizontal, shown by 11, to accommodate the pavilion of the stone. Another eight facets, 13 in Fig. 10 and 14 in Fig. 11, are at 55 degrees to the horizontal, 15. The stone's girdle should sit at or below cross section 12 in Fig. 11.

As the size of the tray remains the same, the models of tray for accommodating larger stones have fewer faceted indentations in them than the models for smaller stones. There is some overlap in the sizes of stone that may be accommodated by the various models of tray.

Any given faceted indentation will accommodate a larger standard round brilliant-cut than it will other shapes. The table illustrates possible parameters for different examples of the design, with the estimated sizes of each type of cut that can be accommodated in each.

No. of stones Indentation diameter SRB RD/SQ/PR 60 8. 0mm 6. 6-4. 6 mm 6. 0-4. 3mm 70 7. 0mm 5. 8-4. 0 mm 5. 2-3. 7mm 100 6. 0 mm 4. 5-3. 5 mm 4. 0-3. 5 mm 150 5. 0mm 4. 0-3. 0 mm 3. 7-2. 9 mm 200 4. 0 mm 3. 3-2. 3 mm 3. 0- 2. 3 mm 300 3. 2mm 2. 6-1. 9 mm 2. 4-1. 9 mm 500 2. 5 mm 2. 0-1. 2 mm 1. 8-1. 2 mm The indentations are arranged within the tray in a staggered"honeycomb"pattern to maximise the efficient use of the space available and strengthen the tray, as shown in Figs. 7,8 and 9.

These indentations are arranged in a logical sequence of round numbers to facilitate ease of counting. They are therefore in rows or groups of 10,25, 50 or 100, thus the contents of each tray may be easily calculated, with each holding a round number of 100,150, 200,300 or 500 stones. The groups of stones are delimited by pattern changes shown by 4 and 6 or by spaces as shown by 5.

For larger sizes of stones (5.0 mm and 6.0 mm) the same arrangement can be determined for 50,60 or 70 indentations, for example, but in a thicker tray, the side view of which is shown in Fig. 3; because the stones are deeper, there is no space for the card impression, and the tray also has an indent for the lips of the lid as shown in 7 and 19.

The shape of the indentations ensures that stones will readily sit face-up, with the square ones lined up straight, so the stone's faces and inclusions may be easily viewed with a loupe, either through the transparent lid, or after removing it.

Assuming that the appropriate-sized stones for that model are inserted in the indentations, the lid will close and they should remain in situ during transportation.

The lid of the device, shown in Fig. 4, is made of plastic and slides on to the tray securely. The lips of the lid 3 also act as a clip for retaining a business card or data card within the bottom impression of the tray, 1 and 2. The flip-side of the card could also provide background colour for display.

An alternative lid design is shown in Fig. 6. It has one flat sheet of clear plastic 16 on top of the tray in Fig. 1, and the overlapping sliding lid 17, is fitted with the lips facing upward.