The present invention relates to an eyeglass frame comprising a rim for the accommodation of lenses and comprising two connection elements, one arranged on the left and one arranged on the right side of the rim for mounting a temple, the connection element extending substantially in the direction of the temple in the expanded state thereby forming an integral arrangement with the temple with a substantially common longitudinal extend.

It is essential that eyeglass frames include adjusting means to adapt to the various anatomies of the eyeglass wearer in order to enable pleasant wearing comfort whereby pressure marks will be avoided as the wearer shall not purposely be aware of wearing a vision aid during an extended period of time. It is thus necessary on the one hand to be able to adapt the eyeglass frame to the location on and shape of the nose the rim of the frame is supported on, and on the other hand to be able to perform alignment with location and relative height of the ears of the wearer which the temples rest on.

Resting on the nose will generally be accomplished by way of an adjustable supporting surface between the lenses. For compensation of the height between the ears of the wearer for example the temples which consist of horn or acetate or other plastics are often heated to a specific temperature and then will be bent into a desired shape for compensating. Since the position of the temple at the joint of the connection element at the frame is more or less rigid the required bending of the temple may be accomplished by permanent deflection especially of the freely converging rear end of the temple which consequently represents a respective offset or deflection in relation to the frame. With metal temples bending will generally be facilitated by proper selection of material.

However deflection of any kind of the end of the temple will not be feasible because either the material, for example horn, will only allow a predetermined bending until breaking or because compensating of the anatomic irregularities will only be possible up to a certain extent. The closer the bending would be located to the frame the easier compensating would be accomplished, even relative to the position of the nose. On the other hand, position and safety of functioning of the generally rigid joint mechanism, i. e. which is fixed in position in relation to the frame and/or temple will counteract.

Furthermore the problem exists that temples which become strongly bent will optically be unfavorable, what, due to esthetic reasons, is not desirable at all for an eyeglass temple which is utilized as a fashion accessory, such as e.g. for sunglasses.

Especially with very filigree eyeglasses made from flat metal sheet, such as it is known from the European Patent No. 0 863 424 excessively strong bending of the temple will counteract the optical appearance of such a fashion product.

Accordingly it is an object of the present invention to provide an eyeglass frame which especially but not exclusively is provided for metal eyeglasses as well as an appropriate eyeglass rim which in a simple manner allow compensating of anatomic irregularities and at the same time may be produced at low cost and are easy to handle.

The object will be solved by an eyeglass frame according to claim 1 or claim 2, by an eyeglass temple according to claim 13 and by an eyeglass rim according to claim 14.

The eyeglass frame according to the present invention is characterised in that the arrangement comprising the connection element and the temple integrally forming essentially a longitudinal extension basically include a recess in the extension thereof. The recess which basically is a material interruption is arranged and formed according to the present invention such that it will allow offset or deflection of said arrangement in relation to the frame.

According to one embodiment the invention relates to an eyeglass frame comprising a rim for the accommodation of lenses and comprising two connection elements, one arranged on the left and one arranged on the right side of the rim for mounting a temple, the connection element extending in the direction of the temple in the expanded state, whereby said connecting element comprises at least one recess which is arranged and formed such that it allows deflection of said connecting element in relation to said rim, i.e. traverse to its longitudinal direction.

According to another embodiment the invention relates to an eyeglass frame comprising a rim for the accommodation of lenses and comprising two connection elements, one arranged on the left and one arranged on the right side of the rim for mounting a temple, the connection element extending in the direction of the temple in the expanded state, whereby said temple comprises at least one recess which is arranged and formed such that it allows deflection of said temple in relation to said rim, i.e. traverse to its longitudinal extend.

In other words, the deflection of the temple, of the connecting element and/or of the arrangement formed by these components traverse to their longitudinal extend, respectively, will be realized by the provision of said at least recess in the area of said temple, in the area of said connecting element and/or in both components .

The connection element and the temple, respectively consisting of a material having a specific elasticity, whereas the recess serves to generate an attenuation of material in the region of its location on the one hand and on the other hand to generate a free space for motility such that bending may be realized in the course of this arrangement.

Preferably this at least one recess is substantially transversally to the longitudinal extend of the arrangement, of the temple or of the connecting element.

In one preferred embodiment two recesses which are arranged vertically one above the other are provided. This mode of arrangement substantially creates a tilt axis, the arrangement of temple and connection element or exclusively the temple being tilted over this axis and may thereby be offset and deflected in relation to the frame. In one mode of deflection of the arrangement exclusively via the connecting element the temple does not have to be altered in shape. It is also conceivable that more than one recess, e. g. at least two recesses, will be arranged along the longitudinal extend of the superimposed arrangement. Alternatively one recess may also be provided in the region of the connection element and another recess may be provided in the region of the temple.

According to the invention the geometric shapes of the recesses may be selected such that they differ from each other. Preferably they are in the shape of vertical gaps or slots, respectively allowing simple and easy creation of the tilt axis in the case of two vertically superimposed slots.

Furthermore the dimensions of the recesses may be selected depending of the desired pliability and aesthetics.

In one preferred embodiment circular shaped enlargements are provided at the bottom of the slots, which further enhance the extensibility of the connecting element or of the temple traverse to their longitudinal extend.

To allow deflection of the arrangement by about +/- 5° in relation to the frame a slot width of about 0.6 mm and a slot height of about 1 .3 mm will be sufficient for vertically superimposed recesses. For the compensation of anatomic irregularities occurring most often a deflection of about 2 ° will generally be sufficient.

According to the invention the recesses are selected such that during deflecting of the arrangement or temple, respectively, the risk of generating cracks or breaks will not exist at any time, especially not in the region between two vertically superimposed slots, which furthermore will be decreased by the provision of the circular broadenings.

Preferably the compensation mechanism according to the present invention applies to an eyeglass frame wherein the frame, the connection element and the temples are made of a material, especially flat metal sheet having very low thickness of material transversally to the planar extend thereof. Due to intrinsic elastic properties of flat metal sheet the recess provided by the present invention is useful, especially in the embodiment comprising vertically superimposed gaps or slots, respectively, to accomplish deflection of the temple or the arrangement comprising temple and connection element, respectively, including reversible deflection, without altering the shape, i. e. the longitudinal extend of the temple. The temple will, in its entirety, be "tilted" in relation to the frame in order to realize the desired compensation.

In the case that the connection element or the temple, respectively, will be produced from said flat metal sheet as a punched or bent part introduction of the recesses will be accomplished with ease during punching or may subsequently be milled for example by laser cutting.

Furthermore the eyeglass frame may for example be formed such that the connection element comprises vertical recesses and the frame-side end of the temple is divided in three leaf springs which are parallel to each other wherein one central leaf spring will, with its free end, be adjacent to the surface of the connection element which is averted from the face of the spectacle wearer and the two external leaf springs will initially be adjacent to the surface of the connection element facing the face of the spectacle wearer in the direction of their free ends and then will pass the vertical recesses of the connection element and finally will become adjacent to the surface of the connection element which is averted from the face of the spectacle wearer.

The connection element may thus be integrally formed with the frame and by means of a slot may be separated into an upper and lower strut. Such a separation enables easy changing of lenses. In order to fix the struts in the mounted state of the eyeglass frame a clamp may become engaged on top of the connection element. For detailed functioning of the joint of such an eyeglass frame reference shall be made to the European patent no. 0 863 424.

Additional advantages and features of the present invention will arise from the illustrative examples represented by the attached figures, wherein Figure 1 shows an eyeglass frame according to the present invention while wearing; Figure 2 shows the eyeglass frame comprising a temple displaced in the upward direction;

Figure 3 shows the eyeglass frame comprising a temple displaced in the downward direction;

Figure 4 shows an eyeglass temple according to the present invention; and

Figure 5 schematically shows a connecting element according to the invention.

As will be exemplified in figure 1 the eyeglass frame, which is preferably made from flat metal sheet, comprises a rim 1 having connection elements 2 which integrally is arranged on each of the left and right side wherein a temple 3 is pivotally hinged to the connection element 2 on each of the left and right side.

The rim 1 and connection element 2 are separated in the longitudinal direction by a slot 4 such that an upper strut 5 and a lower strut 6 will be formed for the connection element 2 (see also Fig. 5).

The temple 3 comprises three leaf springs 7, 8 and 9 at its free end which are parallel to each other. The rim 1 including integrally formed connection element 2 and the temple 3 including leaf springs each are formed as a punched and bent part.

The connection element 2 includes vertical recesses 10 forming a joint axis by allowing the central leaf spring 7 including the free end thereof to be located adjacent to the surface of the connection element which is averted from the face of the spectacle wearer while the temple 3 is expanded, whereas the two external leaf springs 8 and 9 will initially be adjacent to the surface of the connection element 2 facing the face of the spectacle wearer in the direction of their free ends and then will pass the vertical recesses 10 of the connection element 2 and finally will become adjacent to the surface of the connection element 2 which is averted from the face of the spectacle wearer. Said vertical recesses 10 will accordingly be stabilized by the outer leaf springs 8 and 9, when mounted, and thus cannot provide as such a deflection of the connecting element 2 traverse to its longitudinal direction. The upper and lower strut 5 and 6, respectively, will be brought into fixed position to each other by placing a clamp 1 1 on top of both struts 5 and 6 before attaching temple 2 including leaf springs 7, 8, 9 thereof to the connection element 2. The lenses will thereby be firmly braced into rim 2.

As can be seen from figure 1 to 3 the eyeglass frame in the embodiment shown herein according to the present includes two vertically superimposed recesses 12 and 13 in the shape of slots or gaps, respectively, in the region of the connection element 2.

The slots 12 and 13 form a tilt axis alongside of which the connecting element 2 as such and thereby the arrangement 14 comprising connection element 2 and temple 3 can be tilted upwardly (figure 2) or downwardly (figure 3) depending on the anatomic conditions.

Since the connection element 2 as well as temple 3 is manufactured of a flexible flat metal sheet said tilting can be performed with ease due to the motility generated as a result of the slots 12 and 13. In return bending of the connecting element 2 and the arrangement 14, respectively, generated in this way will be reversible.

Due to the fact that the recesses 12 and 13 according to the invention are provided proximal to the rim 1 a minor deflection will already be sufficient for compensating different heights of the ears. A further advantage resides in the fact that the shape, especially the longitudinal extend of the temple 3 needs not to be altered, as a result of which aesthetic overall appearance of the eyeglass frame will not change, wherein the arrangement of the vertical slots 12 and 13 will in the present case integrate into the aesthetic appearance of the joint mechanism including the vertical recesses 10 and the free ends of the leaf springs 7, 8, 9.

By way of example figure 4 shows a temple 3 comprising two vertical superimposed recesses 15 and 16 in a slot-like shape, adjoining the rim-side leaf springs 7, 8 9. This allows deflection of at least the rear section of the eyeglass frame in relation to the front section thereof traverse to the longitudinal extend of it, thus allowing deflection and offset in relation to rim 1 . Figure 5 shows a further embodiment of the invention, in which the slots 12 and 13 of the connecting element 2 at their bottom comprise a circular enlargement 17, respectively, by which, when using flat metal sheet, by the lack of material an increased elasticity of the connecting element 2 will be provided.

It will be obvious that with such eyeglass frames the solution of the present invention will establish a way of compensating anatomic irregularities, which is easy to handle by the wearer and in the case of using flat metal will be manufactured with ease.