TITLE

EYEGLASS HOLDER ACCESSORY DESCRIPTION

Technical field of the invention The present invention relates to an accessory for holding eyeglasses, which in turn can assume the shape of a brooch, a pendant, a buckle or pin, and the like. Background of the invention

Known support devices used to hold eyeglasses while temporarily not in use take the form of accessories to be attached to clothing (by means of a pin or clasp) and provided with a ring or slot through which at least one of the eyeglass temples is passed. These devices have an advantage over simple cases, because they are smaller in size and easier to adapt to various types of eyeglasses, as well as for reasons of aesthetic appeal. Known devices of this type are described for example in US patents n.

US5699140, US5842613 and US5956812.

However, these devices have a drawback in the lack of safety and reliability of the engagement between the device and the eyeglasses, caused by the fact that the insertion of the eyeglass temple in the relative slot is loose to some extent, this because the device must be capable to hold eyeglasses of various shapes and sizes. On the other hand, the presence of a supplementary locking or gripping system, which would improve safety, is not desirable, since these systems would make the insertion and extraction operations of the eyeglasses excessively difficult and lengthy. Summary of the invention

The object of the present invention is to provide an eyeglasses holding accessory providing for a strong and

secure engagement, without involving any particular complication for repositioning and extracting the eyeglasses, having a simple structure, that can be produced in a particularly cost-effective manner, and an aesthetically pleasant appearance.

This object is achieved with an eyeglass holder accessory according to the present invention, whose essential features are defined in the first of the appended claims. Brief description of the drawings

The characteristics and advantages of the eyeglass holder accessory according to the present invention will be apparent from the description of an embodiment thereof, made purely by way of example and not limitating, with reference to the attached drawings in which:

- figure 1 is a front plane view of the accessory according to the invention; figure 2 is a rear plane view of the accessory shown in figure 1 ; - figure 3 is a side view of the accessory shown in the previous figures;

- figure 4 is a cross-section view of the accessory, taken along lines IV-IV of figure 3;

- figure 5 is a cross-section view of the accessory, taken along lines V-V in figure 2; and

- figure 6 shows a side view of the accessory in a in-use configuration.

Description of the preferred embodiment

Referring to said figures, the accessory according to the invention comprises a body 1, having for example, but not necessarily, a disk-like shape, provided with means 2 for a releasable connection to an external entity

(typically the clothing of a user) . The releasable connection means, as shown in the depicted embodiment, can consist of a pin 2 with relative safety catch 3, as commonly used for fixing brooches or other various kinds of ornamental or distinctive elements to clothing. Other systems can also be adopted, as will be mentioned further on .

A plurality of seatings 4 (figure 4) are formed in body 1 for the sliding insertion of a ring-developing wire 5 made of a flexible material, and preferably stretchable in an elastic manner, such as natural or synthetic rubber. The seatings 4 are arranged in two opposed pairs, in such a manner that the wire 5 is kept distorted in a plane configuration creating two large eyelets 6 which project from the exterior of body 1 at opposite sides.

Preferably, as shown in the illustrated example, the eyelets 6 are obtained by twisting and crossing the wire basically in the shape a figure eight. As an alternative, and possibly by arranging the seatings 4 in a different manner and/or with additional guide elements, the wire ring could be simply pressed radially, in order to keep closer to each other, without crossing, two diametrically opposite portions of the ring. In both cases, the area of crossing or constriction of the wire is positioned substantially in the centre of body 1.

In greater detail, and with reference to the box- like disk-shaped configuration adopted for body 1 in the depicted example, the seatings 4 take the form of holes formed radially in a side wall Ia, circularly developing along the periphery of the body and enclosing, along with two flat opposite bases Ib and Ic, a cavity 7. The connection means 2 project from one of the two flat bases,

Ib, to be positioned at the rear when in use, while the other flat base Ic is destined to remain visible on the front. When measured axially, the distance between the flat bases Ib and Ic, and therefore, the height of the cavity 7, is such to clench the wire 5 in the crossing area, and the forced passage through the seatings 4 on the two opposite sides of the crossing and adjacent to it, confer to the two eyelets 6 the required extent of aperture . In use, with particular reference to figure 6, once body 1 has been secured with the connection means 2, 3,

(in the depicted example to a garment T worn by a user) , the two eyelets 6 protrude upwards and downwards respectively, and thanks to the flexibility of the wire 5, they can be bent outwards (i. e. towards of the front base Ic) as shown by the arrows F in figure 3. In this bent configuration, the eyelets are in the correct position for inserting one of the temples of a pair of eyeglasses G, when closed. The eyeglass temple is engaged by inserting the free end into the two eyelets 6 in succession, until the front frame of the eyeglasses abuts and stops against the upper eyelet, in correspondence to the hinge between the same frame and the eyeglass temple.

The eyeglasses G are therefore safely kept in a stable position, firstly because of the two separate and mutually spaced engagement points, each determined by the retaining action performed by eyelet 6. By modifying the size of the eyelets in a suitable manner, thanks to the possible use of stretchable material for the wire 5, it is also possible to obtain an engagement having a certain extent of elastic grip. As well as preventing any damage to the eyeglasses because of its softness, the rubber or

rubber-like material determines a certain friction on the eyeglass temple, preventing it from slipping out.

Furthermore, the fact that the wire 5 can be moved to slide in the seatings 4, possibly in an even easier manner if the two eyelets are obtained without a crossing of the wire, makes it possible for the same eyelets to be sized asymmetrically, so that they can adapt to the different thickness of the eyeglass temple at the two gripping points, the thickness normally decreasing going from the hinge to the free end of the temple. This characteristic, as well as the possibility of elastically changing the shape of the wire, are also very important in that they make the accessory perfectly adaptable to, and compatible with, eyeglasses of varying shapes and sizes. With the accessory according to the invention the strength of the grip does not hinder in any way an easy extraction and repositioning of the eyeglasses. Due to the possibility of elastically distorting the wire 5, the eyeglasses are easily extracted and set back in the rest position with a single vertical insertion/extraction action without any additional effort or unnatural operations (such as those required with the presence of supplementary safety catches) .

As previously mentioned, the means with which the body 1 is connected to be supported by the clothing of the user or other external entities, may vary. Remaining in the field of the clothing accessories, the single pin 2 shown in the example could be replaced by a pair of adjacent pins, so as to prevent a rotation of the body 1 which could cause the eyeglasses to flip, and possibly fall, or in any case the eyelets 6 to take an unfavourable position. Other systems based on a safety pin, as

generally known in the field of ornamental brooches, could also be used.

If the accessory is to be worn as a pendant, body 1 could simply be mounted with an attachment, ring or hook for engagement with a necklace or chain which could also be marketed as part of a kit with the accessory. With specifically designed necklaces or chains, systems with snap or click-on fasteners, or even permanent attachment systems could also be used. When aimed at other uses, such as an eyeglasses holder for a desk or the interior of a car, the connection could include magnetic means, double sided adhesive tape and similar systems.

The assembly of the accessory can be carried out with very simple operations. For example, in relation to the depicted embodiment, the body 1 can consist of two parts, one forming the rear base Ib mounted with the connection means, and the other forming the front base Ic and side wall Ia with the seatings 4, to be mutually fixed in a permanent manner, closing the wire 5 previously arranged in the desired distorted shape, by means of screws, welding, gluing, or other equivalent means.

It is apparent from the previous description that the accessory according to the invention fully achieves the prefixed objects, achieving an eyeglass hold which is stronger and safer than the devices in the prior art, without complicating by any means the operations for setting the eyeglasses in the rest position and for extracting them, with a simple structure that can be economically manufactured, and a particularly pleasant aesthetic appearance.

In relation to this aspect, it should be noted that body 1 will be preferably, although not necessarily, made

of a metal material, even a precious metal. The front base, not necessarily flat, can be decorated in a variety of ways using ornamental or precious stones, enamelling, incision or relief work, etc.. More generally, it is obvious that body 1 can take on a wide variety of decorative solutions, customised applications and the like. In fact, body 1 can even dispense with the box-like structure shown in the example, and the seatings for passing the wire can be defined simply by protrusions projecting outwards from a body having a substantially flat shape or any other suitable shape. The ring-shaped wire can also be distorted forming more than two eyelets, e.g. four eyelets in flower-like configuration.

Obviously, although this accessory has been specifically devised as a holder for eyeglasses, nothing prevents the accessory according to the invention from being used to support other items (such as a pen) if the shape of the item is compatible with the characteristics and size of the accessory. Many variations and/or changes can be brought to the eyeglass holder accessory according to the present invention without departing from the protective scope of the same invention as defined by the appended claims.