A HINGE FOR GLASSES

Technical field

The present invention relates to a hinge for glasses which is particularly recommended to guarantee accurate and flexible opening and closing movements so as to considerably facilitate the action of putting on the glasses and closing them after removal, with the said hinge being applicable to both sunglasses and corrective glasses.

Background Art

As is known, glasses are essentially constituted of a frame which supports and engages a pair of lenses. In greater detail, the frame is generally formed of a front frame having a pair of rims which are mutually connected by means of a bridge and a pair of arms joined to the rims by means of hinges.

At present, different types of hinges are in use. A first type of hinge is the classic metal (barrel) hinge, which is the most commonly used and has a pivot element which rotatably engages the arm with the rim. This hinge features a weld to secure the pivot to the rim and a screw secures the rim and the arm together. The screws are prone to loosening and the continuous tightening they undergo causes wear. Indeed, in this type of hinge it is quite frequent for the screws to break or the threads thereof to become damaged, rendering the glasses unusable and therefore requiring replacement. Furthermore, in order to weld the pivot, an advanced level of technology is required, in addition to specialist personnel, and these conditions increase the production costs of the glasses. In addition, these hinges are not flexible as they do not open beyond 90° and are rather stiff, with the consequence that the glasses are uncomfortable to both put on and remove, as well as to wear. In particular, this

SUBSTITUTE SHEETS (RULE 26) type of hinge greatly limits the design possibilities of the said hinge, of the arm, and of the glasses as a whole.

A second type of hinge is that known as a "flex hinge" . This type of hinge also requires a weld to engage the hinge to the rims and, moreover, the internal mechanism, composed of a spring, a piston, and a ball, is prone to wear and breakage. Furthermore, these hinges are expensive and are not repairable if broken. In addition, these hinges are prone to instability along all the axes because the coupling of the components is not precise and is decidedly prone to wear.

Also this type of hinge greatly limits the design possibilities of both the said hinge and of the arms.

A further type of hinge is composed of a barrel/core made of a plastic material; This hinge is not flexible and does not open beyond 90° so if you force the opening, the arm or the frame deforms and therefore the frames must be made of flexible materials to contain the risk of deformation and breakages.

Another type of hinge allows the rotation of the arm, with respect to the rims, around faceted pins made of a plastic material, which allow a certain flexibility of movement but, also in this case, the opening angle of each arm is little greater than 90°, which causes discomfort when putting on the glasses and as a result of the stiffness thereof against the face. Furthermore, this type of hinge causes quite a few design limits.

A further type of hinge available on the market is composed of a shaped coupling of metal sheets that exploit the elasticity of the said sheet to provide a certain flexibility. Unfortunately, it has been found that the movement resulting therefrom is uneven and uncomfortable. Moreover, these hinges present an annoying drawback consisting of the fact that often the user's hair can get caught therein, with all the consequences thereof.

In addition to that illustrated so far, there is a type of hinge which, mechanically speaking, is not actually a hinge since the arm does not have a joint, but the arm itself features a certain flexibility and elasticity which allows the movement thereof. In greater detail, since the arm does not have a joint, the said arm - in the resting condition - features a 45° inclination, therefore - in order to put on the glasses - it is essential to use both hands to be able to open the arms by 90°. This detail creates difficulty of use when one is, for example, driving the car or working.

In addition to the explanations so far, there is a demand expressed by the market for glasses which feature a hinge which is capable of providing, at the same time, appropriate grip on the user's face and practicality and adaptability during use. In particular, glasses are required which have a hinge composed of a limited number of elements whose operation does not change over time and with prolonged use, such changes annoying the user. Moreover, due to the pressure exerted by the hinge on the arms, the glasses must not create discomfort on the face limiting the wearability thereof.

The applicants are aware of patent WO 2014/1 80976, which illustrates a hinge for glasses consisting of a central block and a pair of covers. The central block is connected to a side body provided with recesses, one upper and one lower, designed to accommodate the hooks of an arm.

In greater detail, the central block comprises an internal cylindrical element which is integrated into a curved wall and which delimits a pair of cavities connected to an axial hole in the central block. In particular, the upper and lower edges of the central cylinder are shaped so as to define a cam whose contour is composed of inclined radial surfaces so as to create ridges and troughs designed to couple with a corresponding contour featured on the covers. The configuration of the ridges and troughs leads to a j ogged rotation of the arm which is possible solely in the 90° open position or the closed position in which the arms are essential ly parallel to the front of the glasses. Moreover, the movement is not even, nor gradual or smooth either during the opening of the arms or the closing, rather the movement is abrupt and involves an intermittent, j ogged progression. Furthermore, the hinge is rather complex and consists of various elements that require many types of processing for the production thereof, in addition to the fact that the size of the said hinge is somewhat large. Furthermore, the arms can open by only 90° at the most, are stiff, and do not have that element of flexibility that is extremely sought after by users because it allows the glasses to be put on simply and easily, as well as being comfortable and not annoying during use.

As it is known, nowadays, there is a lot of interest among users in clothes and accessories which are comfortable, practical, functional, aesthetically pleasing, and fl exible in terms of the use thereof.

Indeed, it is known that people who use glasses (both corrective and sunglasses) are particularly demanding and careful in their choice of frames to aid their vision, therefore they refuse to accept compromises consisting of glasses that do not meet their expectations and requirements.

Disclosure of Invention

The obj ect of the present invention is essentially to solve the problems of the known technique by overcoming the di fficulties described above by means of a hinge for glasses which provides easy, simple, and smooth movement of the arms from the closed position to an open position of almost 180° in both sunglasses and corrective glasses.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a hinge for glasses which allows the frames to be assembled with the arms by engagement therewith not involving the presence of screws or pivots.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a hinge for glasses wherein, even with repeated use and movement, the parts of the frame do not wear out and are not damaged and which can be easily replaced in the event of breakage without having to throw the glasses away.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a hinge for glasses which provides an accurate, flexible and smooth opening and closing movement, which facilitates the act of putting on and putting away the glasses, as well as a good degree of comfort during use, with any face shape.

A further but not final aim of the present invention is to produce a hinge for glasses which is easy to manufacture and works well.

These aims and others besides, which will better emerge over the course of the present description, are essentially achieved by means of a hinge for glasses, as outlined in the claims below.

Brief Description of Drawings

Further characteristics and advantages will better emerge in the detailed description of a hinge for glasses, according to the present invention, provided in the form of a non-limiting example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 A shows, schematically, a top view of a pair of glasses with the hinge according to the present invention; - Figure I B shows, schematically, a frontal view of the glasses in Figure l A;

Figure 1 C shows, schematically, a side view of the glasses in Figure 1 A: Figure 2 A shows, schematically, a top view of a different pair of glasses with the hinge according to the present invention;

Figure 2B shows, schematically, a frontal view of the glasses in Figure 2A;

Figure 2C shows, schematically, a side view of the glasses in Figure 2A; Figure 3 shows a side view of the hinge for glasses;

Figure 4 shows a top view of the hinge for glasses;

Figure 5 shows, schematically and as an exploded view, a further side view of the hinge according to the present invention;

Figure 6 shows, schematically and in an exploded view, a perspective detail of the hinge in question;

Figure 7 shows, schematically and in an perspective view, the method for the movement of the hinge for glasses in question;

- Figure 8 shows a top view of the hinge for glasses in Figure 7 during the movement of the arms;

Figure 9 shows, schematically and in and exploded view, a further perspective view of the hinge in Figure 6.

With reference to the figures. 1 denotes, as a whole, a pair of glasses with the hinge according to the present invention.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

The hinge in question is suitable for use in frames for both sunglasses and corrective glasses. As shown in Figure 1. a pair of glasses is essentially constituted of a frame 2 envisaged to hold vision or sun lenses 3. The frame 2 is generally formed of a front frame composed of a pair of rims 20 which are mutually connected by means of a bridge 21 and a pair of arms 22, each one of which is connected to the respective rim by means of a connecting element consisting of a hinge 4. According to the present invention, the hinge 4 in question is essentially constituted of a central body 40 and a pair of end pieces 41 and 42, respectively an upper one 41 and a lower one 42, connected to the arm 22 by means of an interlock which can be easily disassembled, as shown in Figures 6 and 7.

Furthermore, each hinge 4 is joined to the respective rim 20 by means of an engagement element 5 which is a removable part of the front frame.

In greater detail, the said central body 40 is engaged to the upper end piece 41 by means of a first pin 40a and to the lower end piece 42 by means of a second pin 40b. The two pins constitute the central axis of the hinge. One variant envisages that the first pin engages with the upper end piece, while the second one engages with at the lower one and both are engaged within the central body.

In the present embodiment, the central body 40 features, on both surfaces thereof, both the upper and the lower, a plurality of small housings 40c and 40d respectively, which have a hemispherical configuration as shown in Figure 5. In a similar manner, the upper end piece 41 features, a plurality of small housings 410. and, on the lower surface, which is envisaged to be coupled with the upper surface of the central body the said housing having an identical hemispherical configuration to the corresponding housings on the upper surface. Also the lower end piece 42 features a plurality of small housings 420 on the upper surface, which are identical to the corresponding ones on the lower surface of the central body, with which the housing is envisaged to be coupled, as shown in Figures 3 and 5.

In accordance with the present embodiment and as shown in Figure 6. each small housing 40c in the central body 40 is designed to accommodate a small sphere 6. In greater detail, a first portion of the small sphere 6, the lower one, is housed in the small housing 40c of the central body 40 while the other portion, the upper one, is housed in the small housing 410 on the upper end piece 41 .

In exactly the same way, each small housing 40d in the central body 40 is designed to accommodate a small sphere 7. in greater detail, a first portion of the small sphere 7, the lower one, is housed in the small housing 420 in the upper end piece 42, while the remaining portion, the upper one, is housed in the small housing 40d in the central body 40.

In the present embodiment, there are at least two small spheres 6 and 7, preferably four, but there can be even more in order to confer an elastic clockwise and counter-clockwise rotation of 90° or less to give greater continuity and uniformity, in addition to sequentiality and elasticity, to the hinge movement.

Indeed, the sequence of small spheres promotes the movement of each end piece on the central body and the rotation of the arms 22 with respect to the front 2.

For the sake of clarity, when there are four spheres, they are arranged in a radial manner at a 90° angle, in this way the rotation has 90° intervals. As explained earlier, the small spheres are held in the small housings, which have different depths in the central body with respect to the end pieces, in this way the balls remain securely held in the deeper housing. In the embodiment illustrated, the deeper housings are located in the end pieces 41 and 42, as shown in Figure 5.

One variant provides that the balls are made directly in the construction of the piece or are integral with the central body or alternatively with the end piece In addition to the explanation so far, each end piece 41 and 42 features a recess 41 1 and 421 at the free end, envisaged to house the end of the arm 22 that features a shaped hooking element 220, designed to engage and press together the central body 40 with the two end pieces 41 and 42.

In particular, as shown in Figure 3 , each recess 41 1 and 421 is configured to house and engage with the hooking element 220 which has the upper portion engaged within the recess 41 1 of the end piece 41 while the lower portion is engaged within the recess 421 of the end piece 42.

In addition, the hooking element 220 featured on the arms can have various configurations, but the task thereof must always be to engage the hinge at the upper and lower ends, so as to compress and retain the components of the said hinge.

With the configuration shown, the hinge proves to lock in a stable, precise, and progressive manner, as well as being modulatable according to the elasticity and the grip exercised by the hooking element 220 of the arms 22.

According to the present invention, the central body 40 features a housing 43 that horizontally crosses through the central body 40, as shown in Figure 6 and Figure 9, and is envisaged to house an interlocking element 5 of the front frame there within. In this way, the fastening of the hinge to the front frame 20 is achieved by means of an interlock which can be removed and therefore is very practical or, alternatively, the engagement between the front and the hinge can be obtained by other systems, such as direct bonding, heat fastening, or screwing.

In addition to the explanations so far, the hinge is envisaged to allow the rotation of the arm and, in order to allow any movement, the end pieces rotate around the vertical axis made up of the first pin 40a and the second pin 7 on the central body and the action exercised by the arm on the end pieces in contact with the central body confers a regular linear rotary movement, without friction, as shown in Figure 7. Moreover, the hinge in question provides an elastic, flexible movement, therefore it is easy to put on the glasses, as well as offering a good level of comfort on the face.

With the hinge in question, the arm remains stable in a first or resting position at 0° (glasses closed) and in a second 90° position (glasses worn), but can open by up to 1 80° to allow a comfortable and easy manoeuvre when putting on the glasses, without running the risk of interfering with the face.

According to the present invention, the arm can also assume intermediate positions to those listed earlier when there are more than two/four small spheres.

Due to the shape of the hinge, every time a small sphere comes out of a housing, it automatically and elastically tends to go into the nearest resting position, which corresponds to the coupling with the next housing.

In addition to the explanations so far, the two end pieces 41 and 42 of the hinge can be integral with the arm 22, thereby forming a single element.

In greater detail, the hinge in question can be made of different materials such as plastic materials with different types of plastic, composite plastic that is reinforced or not reinforced, metal materials, ceramic materials, carbon fibres, mixtures of boron, or through the combination of different materials. Moreover, the hinge can be obtained by means of a moulding or tooling process. In particular, the said small spheres can be made of metal, ceramic or glass.

In addition, the hinge in question is coupled to an arm made of various materials such as steel, titanium, carbon, etc. and all these materials can be coated with plastic, rubber or wood. Moreover, the hinge as illustrated earlier can be combined with fronts that can be made of metal (sheet, drawn, etc.), according to the different style requirements, or of plastic materials, milled or injected acetate, etc.

In particular, the hinge can have different shapes; Indeed, the said hinge can have an overall cylindrical or spherical shape or can be parallelepiped in form, with one pair of flat surfaces and the other two convex or other shapes according to desirable aesthetic appearance to confer thereupon, without - however - altering the motion which characterises the said hinge.

In addition to the explanations so far, the shape of the hinge according to the present invention allows it to be used indiscriminately on fronts with a "bent end piece" (frames shown in figures 1 ) or on fronts without any bending (frames shown in figures 2). This flexibility of use allows a lowering of production costs both in terms of moulds and stocks held, since a single hinge model can be applied to and used on different types of frames. In this way, production costs are reduced because only one mould is needed, the number of hinged models can be limited to contain stock quantities in contrast with current productions where, a speci fic hinge is required for each type of frame, since the current hinges do not open beyond 90° and are not flexible. In particular, the reduced dimensions of the hinge provide - in the case of the frames in Figures 2 (without bend) - a decidedly smaller overall size when the glasses are closed, as shown in Figure 2A. The smaller overall size is an extremely interesting and attractive feature for people who are accustomed to keeping their glasses in their pockets, as it drastically reduces the overall dimensions thereof.

In addition, the hinge according to the present invention may be very small in size, almost miniature, in which case such condition makes it possible to produce extremely thin and light frames, resulting in glasses that are increasingly less obtrusive on the face.

The hinge for glasses according to the present invention is designed to transition from a resting condition, in which it is non-operative, the glasses are closed and not used, and the arms are arranged parallel to the front frame, to an operating condition, in which the arm rotates from 0° to 90° and beyond, up to 1 80°. to allow the user to put on the glasses easily and elastically.

After the predominantly structural description, the invention in question will now be outlined.

When a user intends to put on a pair of glasses, the said user simply has to take the glasses and rotate the arms, opening them so as to have sufficient space between the arms (which are open by more than 90°) to insert the face therein without any difficulty.

Similarly, when the user wishes to take off their glasses, they simply have to grip just one arm only, pull gently towards the outside, opening the arm in such a way as to disengage the end of the arm which is resting on the ear, making the said end rotate outwards, then remove the other arm. moving the front frame away from the face. In this way it is possible to put on and take off the glasses with one hand only, which is very useful if you are on the phone or driving or you have one hand busy and you need to read or look at something, and also for all those people who have a limb with motor difficulties.

Thus the present invention achieves the objects set.

Indeed, the hinge for glasses in question allows simple and easy movement of the arms from closed (0°) to almost 1 80°, both for sunglasses and corrective glasses.

Advantageously, the hinge according to the present invention is able to provide a precise and flexible opening and closing movement, consequently facilitating putting on and removing the glasses for the user, as well as a offering considerable comfort during use. The particular shape of the central body and the end pieces facilitates the self- stabilisation of the movement which is constant, elastic, and precise over time with consequent facilitation of the use of corrective glasses for the user, without the presence of annoying and inappropriate play, as occurs with the hinges currently on the market, or of intermittent and jogged movements. Moreover, wear of the hinge is decidedly low due to the sliding/rolling of the small spheres over the surfaces which engage them.

In particular, the progressive elasticity of the shaft offers a feeling of comfort to the wearer when wearing the glasses even with different face shapes and sizes.

In addition, the hinge allows the front frame to be assembled with the arms by interlocking and to be easily replaced in the event of breakage without having to throw the glasses away.

In addition to the explanations so far, the possibility of producing the hinge by moulding offers various advantages, such as lower production costs and a component production precision that guarantees high operating efficiency with decidedly contained and reduced production waste and greater reliability of use. Advantageously, the hinge in question with the assembly by interlocking prevents the need for and the presence of costly welding, as occurs in the hinges according to prior art which, nevertheless, are not always resistant to the stresses to which are subjected; moreover, it prevents the presence of screws that lose their fastening capacity over time.

Another advantage highlighted by the hinge according to the present invention lies in the fact that the user can replace the various parts in the event of breakage without having to throw away the glasses, as occurs with many hinges according to prior art. given that the hinge is fastened by means of an elastic interlock with the arm and the front, such condition providing an interchangeability unheard of with the welded hinges according to prior art. Furthermore, it is also possible to replace a single hinge if damaged.

A further advantage lies in the considerable range of materials that can be used for the production of the hinge, which allows many possibilities from a design point of view and is therefore also advantageous in terms of production costs. In addition, the particular shape of the hinge allows the use of hypoallergenic materials, which is unheard of with the hinges according to prior art, therefore the said hinge meets and responds to the specific needs of a much broader group of users.

In particular, with the shape of the hinge in question it is possible to vary the grip in many ways and, consequently, the design and the materials and these characteristics are very important given that glasses are a functional object in relation to various issues relation to sight and the sun, wherein comfort is essential and the fashion element has, at the same time, fundamental importance.

Advantageously, the hinge according to the present invention considerably broadens the possibility of having a wide range of shapes and models of both frames and hinges, unlike in those according to the prior art.

In addition to the foregoing, the hinge in question is no longer prone to all those phenomena of wear and tear of the components as occur with the components of the hinges according to the prior art.

A further but not final advantage lies in the fact that hinge for glasses proves easy to make and works well, and the operation for the replacement thereof is simply and quick.

A further advantage lies in the fact that the hinge in question can be used on frames of any shape, whether of the closed-rim or semi-rim type or of the kind featuring a bar made of metal or many other materials.

Naturally, further modifications or variants may be applied to the present invention while remaining within the scope of the invention that characterises it.