Technological background Spectacles that can be connected to auxiliary lenses have been and are today still being widely used owing to their practicality and convenience of use. The auxiliary lenses are normally arranged to be connected to the main frame of the spectacles, so as to avoid recourse to separate pairs of spectacles, for example having lenses for sight and sun, respectively, at the same time ensuring optimum conditions of visibility and adaptation to the various light conditions.

In the known spectacles, the auxiliary lenses are typically restrained on the main frame by means of a connection which is mechanical and/or magnetic in nature.

Description of the invention A principal object of the present invention is to provide a device having auxiliary lenses for spectacles, which device is designed to offer an improved screening and protective action against the sun's rays and which at the same time permits relative rapidity and practicality of use and also ensures an appreciable aesthetic impact.

This object and others too, which are pointed out hereinafter, are achieved by the invention by means of a device having auxiliary lenses which is arranged to be connectable to a pair of spectacles produced in accordance with the appended claims.

Brief description of the drawings The features and the advantages of the invention will become clearer from the following detailed description of some of its preferred embodiments which are illustrated by way of non-limiting example with reference to the appended drawings in which: - Figure 1 is a top view of an auxiliary lens device according to the invention fitted to a pair of spectacles, - Figures 2 and 3 are front and side views, respectively, of the device of Figure 1, - Figure 4 is an exploded perspective view of a detail of the device of Figure 1, - Figure 5 is a perspective view of a further detail of the device of Figure 1, - Figure 6 is a front view of the device according to the invention in a first variant, - Figures 7 and 8 are top and side views, respectively, of the device of Figure 6, - Figure 9 is a perspective view of a detail of the device of Figure 1, - Figure 10 is a front view of a device according to the invention in a second variant.

Preferred embodiments of the invention Referring to the mentioned Figures, 1 indicates generally an auxiliary lens device according to the invention, which is arranged to be connectable to a pair of spectacles 2.

The spectacles 2 comprise a main frame 3 having a pair of lens-carrying rims 4a, 4b suitable for holding respective main lenses 5a, 5b, and a pair of lateral shoulders 6a, 6b for hinged articulation to respective arms 7a, 7b. It will be appreciated that, although the example described relates to spectacles having a main frame equipped with lens-carrying rims, it is understood that the invention may equally be applied also to frames that do not have lens-carrying rims.

8a, 8b denote plate elements for bearing on the nose which are fitted on the lens-carrying rims 4a, 4b, respectively.

The auxiliary lens device 1 is designed structurally and functionally to be removably connected to the main frame. In some preferred embodiments represented in Figures 1 to 9, the device 1 is in the form of a single structure of the mono-lens type in which are identified respective portions 9a, 9b constituting the auxiliary lens regions that are to be superposed on the main lenses 5a, 5b.

According to a principal feature of the invention, the auxiliary lens portions 9a, 9b extend beyond the opposite lateral edges of the main lenses 5a, 5b (which edges extend in the vicinity of the lateral shoulders 6a, 6b) for at least some distance with respective wings 10a, 10b folded coherently with the arms 7a, 7b.

As shown in the drawings, the device 1 then assumes a wrap-around lens form (without any support frame) which is to be connected to the main frame at the location of lateral regions of the shoulders, as will emerge in more detail hereinafter.

The mono-lens structure of the device 1 is also resiliently deformable, with a configuration selected in such a manner that the opposite wings 10a, 10b are moved apart resiliently when the device is fitted on the spectacles, consequently to generate a (resilient) pressure against the lateral surfaces of the connecting shoulders of the main frame 3.

For the connection of the auxiliary lenses, connecting means of the magnetic type are provided directly on the wings 10a, 10b and are arranged to be removably connectable to corresponding counter-connecting means provided on the shoulders 6a, 6b of the main frame. The connecting means and counter-connecting means comprise, for example, a respective magnetic element 11a, 11b on the wings 10a, lOb, which is to be connected (by magnetic attraction) to a corresponding magnetic element 12a, 12b provided on the shoulders 6a, 6b. Alternatively, it is provided that only one element of the pair of elements 11a, 12a (or 11b, 12b), which can be connected to one another, is magnetic in nature, it being possible for the other one to be produced from a magnetisable material, which is at any rate suitable for obtaining locking by magnetic attraction between the connected surfaces.

Preferably, each magnetic element 11a, lib is connected to the wings 10a, 10b by means of a support 13a, 13b which is housed and held on the wings 10a, 10b in respective notches 14 formed at the free ends of the wings 10a, 10b. The notches 14 are generally mushroom-shaped, there being defined thereon a stem portion 15 which is open at a first end thereof at the outer edge of the wings 10a, 10b and at an opposite second end thereof at a head portion 16 which is circular and widened relative to the stem portion 15.

The notches 14 constitute seats for accommodating the respective supports 13a, 13b which are slidably insertable in the notches 14 in order to be snap- fitted on the wings 10a, 10b.

For this purpose, a pair of parallel and opposite grooves 17, which are capable of sliding engagement with the edges of the wings 10a, 10b delimiting the respective notches 15, is defined on each support 13a, 13b. The profile of the grooves 17 is advantageously matched to that of the notches 14, so that, once inserted, the support 13a, b is kept connected in the respective notch. Each support 13a, b also comprises a seat 18 for accommodating the magnetic element lla, b so that the latter faces the respective shoulder 6a, b, flush with the support 13a, b.

Likewise, each magnetic element 12a, 12b is housed in a respective seat formed in the respective shoulders 6a, 6b, in which seat it is also secured by adhesive bonding. In this case too, the relative dimensions of the seats and the magnetic elements 12a, 12b are such that the latter are accommodated in the respective seats in such a manner that they are flush with the shoulders 6a, 6b.

Additionally, or alternatively, to connection with magnetic elements, connecting means and counter-connecting means comprising a coupling of the mechanical type are also provided.

As shown in Figures 4 to 9, which relate to a first variant of the invention, the coupling means advantageously comprise a respective fork element 20a, 20b (which is substantially C-shaped) fitted directly to the wings 10a, 10b of the auxiliary lens device, in the vicinity of the free ends of the wings. The fork elements 20a, b are to be coupled laterally to the shoulders 6a, 6b of the main frame 3 in order to provide mechanical support for the auxiliary lenses on the main frame.

The fork elements 20a, b can be connected to the wings 10a, b by the same methods as those described above in relation to the supports 13a, b. In this case their respective structure differs only by the presence in the fork elements 20a, b of a pair of prongs 21 which coextend and which are parallel with one another (Figure 9).

In the configuration which provides for mechanical coupling in addition to magnetic connection, it may advantageously be provided that the magnetic element on the wing of the auxiliary lens is located at a base 22 defined between the prongs 21 of the fork element 20a, b (Figure 9).

It is also provided that the fork elements 20a, b are composed of plastics material charged with magnetic powder, so that the entire fork element is capable of magnetic attraction with the respective shoulder 6a, b.

Analogously, the supports 13a, 13b described in the previous embodiment can also be produced in this manner, avoiding the provision of the magnetic element 11a, b and its respective accommodating seat.

It is also provided that the mechanical or magnetic connecting means and counter-connecting means constitute means for centring the auxiliary lens device 1 relative to the main frame. For example, the magnetic elements capable of being connected to one another may perform the function of centring the auxiliary lens, when it is fitted on the spectacles, for the simultaneous locking obtained by the mechanical coupling means, and vice versa.

Figure 10 shows an auxiliary lens device 50 in which details analogous to the previous embodiments are marked with the same reference numerals. The device 50 represents a second variant of the invention, the structure of which is not of the mono-lens type but has two separate lenses 9a, 9b which are connected to one another by a bridge element 51. The remaining structural and functional features of the device 50 are the same as those described above with reference to the device 1.

It will be appreciated that the auxiliary lens device, both in a mono-lens configuration (device 1) and in a configuration having separate and distinct lenses (device 50), may assume various geometries, in particular in the form of the wrap-around lateral wings, as shown in Figures 3 and 8, while remaining within the scope of the same inventive concept. The invention thus achieves the proposed objects, obtaining numerous advantages over the known arrangements.

These include, in particular, improved lateral screening and protection against the sun's rays, which is obtained with the device according to the invention and which is added to improved rapidity and practicality of use.

And not least is the fact that the wrap-around mask form of the auxiliary lenses according to the invention confers a pleasant aesthetic value on the device, in particular in the single-piece configuration without any support frame.