GLASSES WITH FLEX ZONE

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a pair of glasses comprising a flex zone obtained by processing the material of the glasses in a flex zone area and thereby increasing the flexibility of the material in said area such that the side pieces can be moved in a direction towards and away from the lenses, and wherein the frame is connected to the side pieces in at least two connection points.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Glasses and spectacles have been offered with a great variety of designs over the last many decades. The designs have varied along the parts of the glasses, such as the frames, side pieces (also referred to as temples), lenses, bridges and have also been produced in hingeless versions. Despite this, manufacturing glasses is still encumbered with a great number of operations. Skilled persons are also needed in the adaption of the glasses to the specific user, such as the insertion of the lenses. Further, many glasses require continuous maintenance, e.g. adjustment of assemblies and fastening of screws.

OBJECT AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The objective of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems.

The present invention provides a pair of glasses comprising a frame part comprising two connected lens frames for holding lenses, and wherein the lens frames are interconnected by a bridge; further, the frames are connected to side pieces for fixing the glasses to a user, and wherein the glasses are characterized in that they comprise a flex zone of metal obtained by processing the metal of said flex zone area and thereby increasing the flexibility of the metal of said flex zone such that the side pieces can be moved in a direction towards and away from the lenses, and wherein the

frames are connected to the side pieces in at least two connection points. The advantage of these glasses is that they eliminate the need for hinges - as well as the disadvantages of having these such as in the case of adjustment of screws. In addition, by omitting hinges a greater freedom to design is provided. Further, these glasses are advantageous as the side pieces via the flex zone are connected to the frame part in at least two connecting points. This increases the rigidity of the glasses, which strengthens the construction and improves the robustness of the glasses.

In another embodiment of the glasses of the present invention, the side pieces and the frame part are in one piece of metal. This is advantageous as the number of operations, manual as well as machine operations, is reduced, whereby the manufacturing costs are reduced. This embodiment can further add to the desired aesthetics of the glasses.

In a further embodiment of the glasses of the present invention, the flex zone is comprised in the side piece. The flexible or bendable properties obtained by this treatment are an advantage as they enable the side pieces to be moved back and forth without risking fatigue failure.

In another embodiment of the glasses of the present invention, the flex zone is comprised in the frames. Again the flexible or bendable properties obtained by this treatment are an advantage as they enable the side pieces to be moved back and forth without risking fatigue failure.

In yet another embodiment of the glasses of the present invention, the flex zone is comprised in the side pieces and the frames. Here the advantages are as mentioned above.

In another embodiment of the glasses of the present invention, the frame comprises an upper and a lower frame part held together at the bridge by bridge assembly means. The advantage of these glasses is that the number of assembly points is minimized to only one, which is the bridge. Further, by

opening the frame in the bridge assembly the lenses can be easily positioned and fastened in the frame. The complexity of the operation of inserting the lenses in the frame of the glasses is therefore reduced considerably.

In a further embodiment of the glasses of the present invention, the bridge assembly means is a screw. Here the advantages are as outlined above.

In another embodiment of the glasses of the present invention, the bridge assembly means is a hook. Here the advantages are as outlined above.

In yet another embodiment of the glasses of the present invention, the bridge assembly means is a slider. This is an advantage as the slider is an integrated part of the glasses, which enables a separation of the bridge when the slider is pushed aside.

In a further embodiment of the glasses of the present invention, the bridge assembly means is a clamp. This is advantageous as the clamp can easily be clamped onto the two bridge parts, whereby they are held together. The clamp can be manufactured in many types of material such as metal, titanium, plastics, rubber, ceramics or the like. The clamp is further advantageous as it can be embodied in a way constituting a certain kind of expression.

In yet another embodiment of the glasses of the present invention the frame of the glasses comprises an upper frame part only. The lenses are in this embodiment fastened in the upper frame part by e.g. a threas, as known in the art. This embodiment provides the designer of the glasses with an advantageous, increased degree of freedom.

In one embodiment of the glasses of the present invention, the metal is titanium. The low density of this metal is very advantageous in providing lightweight glasses. In addition, titanium is well-suited for plastic deformation.

In another embodiment of the glasses of the present invention, the metal is a beta titanium alloy. Apart from the advantages of ordinary titanium, the beta titanium alloy is generally weldable and has an excellent formability. The latter is specifically advantageous when processing the glasses from e.g. a sheet of the specified alloy. The former is advantageous if the glasses are manufactured in more than one piece and subsequently assembled, e.g. by means of welding.

In yet another embodiment of the glasses of the present invention, the metal is steel. This is an advantageous material as it is well-suited for a majority of the processing techniques, such as rolling, punching, deep drawing, welding or the like.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the following, preferred embodiments of the invention will be described referring to the figures, where

figure 1 illustrates a perspective view of a pair of glasses according to the present invention;

figure 2 illustrates a front view of a pair of glasses according to the present invention;

figure 3 illustrates a detailed front view of the bridge of a pair of glasses according to the present invention;

figure 4 illustrates a top view of a pair of glasses according to the present invention, where the side pieces are depicted in two different positions;

figure 5 illustrates a side view of a pair of glasses according to the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Figure 1 illustrates a perspective of a pair of glasses according to the present invention. The glasses 100 comprise a set of lenses 102 fastened in the lens frame (also referred to as front) comprised by the lower frame 110 and the upper frame 104. One end of the side pieces 112 (also referred to as temples) is fastened to the frame comprising the frame 104, 110. The other end of the side pieces 112 comprises an ear piece 114 (also referred to as end tip). The side pieces 112 comprise a flex zone 116 such that the ear piece 114 of side pieces 112 can be moved in a direction towards and away from the lenses 102. When the side pieces 112 are directed towards the lenses 102 and held in this position, the glasses 100 can be fitted in a case (not shown). Further, when the side pieces are directed oppositely (away from the lenses), the distance between the ear pieces 114 can be adjusted such that it corresponds to the facial properties of a user. The glasses 100 can e.g. be manufactured in one piece of metal, preferably titanium or beta- titanium. When the glasses are manufactured in one piece of metal, this can be done in only one process by means of e.g. rolling, punching, deep drawing or the like. Thus, the glasses 100 could e.g. be manufactured by punching the glasses from a metal sheet. In another embodiment the flex zone 116 would be of metal and the other parts comprised by the glasses would be made of other types of material, such as polymer, ceramics, wood, acetate, horn and precious metal.

The flex zone 116 is provided by processing the material in this area, whereby flexible properties are obtained. This could be by reducing the material thickness or otherwise deforming the material in this area, e.g. by plastic deformation though rolling, punching, deep drawing or the like. Providing the flexible properties in the flex zone 116 can be integrated in the single process step of manufacturing the glasses 100. However, the parts comprising the glasses 100 can also be manufactured individually and assembled afterwards. The flexible or bendable properties obtained by the treatment of the flex zone 116 enable the side pieces 112 to be moved back and forth without risking fatigue failure. By replacing the traditional hinges

with these flex zones 116, the designer is offered a greater freedom in obtaining a desired idiom or expression. The pad arm 109 can also be manufactured as a part of the glasses 100 and in the same single process. When the glasses are prepared for a particular user, the pad arm 109 can easily be adjusted to fit exactly to this user. As the pad arm 109 is manufactured as an integrated part of the glasses 100, any additional cost- raising processes, such as gluing, welding or screwing, are avoided. The glasses 100 could also be embodied without the ear piece 114. This is possible without jeopardizing the use of the glasses 100 as the flex zone 116 provides a sufficient compression of the side pieces 112 against the face of the user. Due to this compression, the traditional cover, e.g. plastic or rubber cover of the ear piece (or end tip) is not needed on the side pieces. Thus, the fixation of the glasses by means of the ear piece 114 and the cover there on is, in this embodiment, not necessary. The different parts, for instance frame, side pieces, flex zone and pad arm, of the glasses 100 could also be manufactured separately and subsequently assembled by e.g. gluing, soldering or welding. Thus, the glasses 100 could be comprised by two flex zones 116, two side pieces (temples) 112 and one lens frame 104, 110, where the side pieces 112 are glued, soldered or welded onto one end of the flex zone 116 and the other end of the flex zone 116 onto the frame 104, 110. On the glasses 100 illustrated in figure 1, the side pieces 112 are connected to the frame part 104, 110 in two connection points. This is an advantage as glasses obtain a more rigid and thereby stronger construction compared to the more widely used single hinged connection point. The sidepieces could also via the flex zone 116 be connected to the frame 104, 110 in two or more connection points. The lens frame 104, 110 of the glasses 100 could also frame only a part of the circumference of the lenses 102. Thus, the upper frame 104 could end in one point of the flex zone 116 and the lower frame 110 end in another point of the flex zone 116.

Figure 2 illustrates a front view of a pair of glasses according to the present invention. In order to display the bridge assembly means 105, a partial cutaway has been made in the bridge 106. The bridge assembly 105 as

displayed here is also commercially known as a Rim lock. The upper frame 104 can be separated from the lower frame 110 at the bridge 106. The upper frame 104 and the lower frame 110 are held together by the bridge assembly means 105 such as a screw connection or hook. The bridge 106 can be opened by releasing the bridge assembly means 105 and move the upper frame 104 away from the lower frame 110. The free space created by this operation provides enough space to insert the lenses 102 between the frames 104, 110. Subsequently the lenses 102 can be fixed and held between the frames 104, 110 by closing the bridge 106 using the bridge assembly means 105. Having only to open the bridge 106 in order to insert the lenses 102 simplifies this operation dramatically, both in terms of the skills required and the time needed to complete the operation. Further, maintenance of the glasses 100 such as adjustment of hinges and other yielding components is completely omitted. The number of bridge assembly means 105 could depart from the ones illustrated in figure 2 and thus comprise one, three or more bridge assembly means. The bridge assembly means 105 could be a screw, a hook, a slider or a clamp. In another embodiment (not shown) the lens frame comprises only an upper frame part 104 (also commercially referred to as Upper Rim). In this embodiment, the lenses 102 are fastened in the upper frame part 104 with e.g. threads, which is known in the art.

Figure 3 illustrates a detailed front view of the bridge of a pair of glasses according to the present invention. In this figure the bridge 106 is assembled.

Figure 4 illustrates a top view of a pair of glasses according to the present invention, where the side pieces 112 are depicted in two different positions. In a relaxed state each side piece 112 deflects inwardly, whereby the ear piece 114 of each side piece 112 in this illustration intersects approximately at the centerline of the bridge (not indicated). In the other position the side pieces 112 are deflected outwardly to fit the facial properties of a user. Placed on the face of the user the nose pad 108 will rest on the bridge of the nose, and the ear piece 114 of the side piece 112 will rest on top of the

auricle. Further, due to the elastic properties in the flex zone 116, the side pieces 112 are pressed against the sides of the face of the user. The size of this pressure is given by the plastic deformation of the flex zone 116 and can thereby be set in this process to accommodate the properties desired by a given user.

Figure 5 illustrates a side view of a pair of glasses according to the present invention.

REFERENCES

100 glasses, spectacles (also commercially referred to as Frame)

102 lens 104 upper frame (also commercially referred to as Upper Rim)

105 bridge assembly means

106 bridge

108 nose pad

109 pad arm 110 lower frame (also commercially referred to as Lower Rim)

112 side pieces (also commercially referred to as temples)

114 ear pieces (also commercially referred to as end tip)

116 flex zone