The present invention refers to an improved eyeglass frame and to a related eyeglass.

Various types of eyeglasses are known in the art, substantially comprising a front adapted to contain two lenses and a nose support, to which two side rods are connected for bearing on the ears of the person wearing such eyeglasses. The hinged connections between rods and front and the modes for inserting the lenses in the front housings are the subject matter of several arrangements, all more or less complex and costly according to the objectives they aim to reach, such as for example use comfort, light weight, practical storage of the bent eyeglasses, etc.

In order to make all these front eyeglasses, however, many parts are necessary, some of which having complex (and therefore costly) shape and configuration, which must then be assembled together in a factory, leaving the optician with the task of inserting the lenses in the so-called "frames", operation also not easy and cheap. Moreover, in case of failures, almost never is the optician capable of directly performing the related repairs, and therefore he has to ship back the eyeglasses to the factory, with a new increase of costs and discomfort for the end user.

In the most recent past, eyeglasses and related frames also appeared, made of an elastic and flexible (preferably metallic or plastic) material, in which hinging between rods and front is of a type which is at least quadrangular (and preferably with a squared section) . Currently adopted solutions for making this type of hinging however still have some inconveniences, the main one of which being that, due to the particular geometric shaping of such hinging and due to used materials, when they are use, after a certain period of time, they start suffering from more or less relevant mechanical clearances.

Therefore, object of the present invention is solving the above prior art problems, by providing an improved eyeglass frame and a related eyeglass in the quale the particular configuration of the hinging allows a gradual and constant recovery of mechanical clearances possibly occurred. The above and other objects ad advantages of the invention, as will result from the following description, are obtained with an improved eyeglass frame as claimed in claim 1.

The above and other objects and advantages of the invention are obtained with an eyeglass as claimed in claim 9.

Preferred embodiments and non-trivial variations of the present invention are the subject matter of the dependent claims.

It is intended that all enclosed claims are an integral part of the present description.

It will be immediately obvious that numerous variations and modifications (for example related to shape, sizes, arrangements and parts with equivalent functionality) can be made to what is described, without departing from the scope of the invention as appears from the enclosed claims.

The present invention will be better described by some preferred embodiments thereof, provided as a non-limiting example, with reference to the enclosed drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows a front perspective view of a preferred embodiment of an eyeglass frame according to the present invention; Figure 2 shows an enlargement of the detail included in the dashed circle B of Figure 1 ;

Figure 3 shows a top and longitudinally- sectioned perspective view of a part of the frame according to the present invention;

Figure 4 shows a top plan view of the part of frame of Figure 3;

Figure 5 shows an enlargement of the detail included in the dashed circle C of Figure 4 ;

Figure 6 shows a possible variation of the detail included in the dashed circle C of Figure 4.

With reference to the Figures, a preferred embodiment of the frame 1 and of the related eyeglass according to the present invention is shown and described.

According to the invention, the frame 1 for eyeglass substantially comprises:

- a front 3 equipped with a first housing 5 and a second housing 7 for two respective lenses 9; and

- a first rod 6 and a second rod 8 hinged connected to the front 3 for resting onto the ears of the person wearing them.

In particular, the hinging 29 between each of the rods 6, 8 and the front 3 allows the opening and closing movement of the rods 6, 8 with respect to the front 3 in order to respectively obtain the usage and storage positions of the eyeglasses made through the frame 1 according to the present invention. In order to make the hinging 29, the front 3 is equipped with two side appendixes 11, 13, each of which comprises at least one eyelet OP (preferably, each of the side appendixes 11, 13 comprises two overlapped eyelets OP) and each of the rods 6, 8 is equipped with a barrel -shaped end BP, each one of such barrels BP being housed inside at least one corresponding eyelet OP (preferably, inside each pair of overlapped eyelets OP) , as can be noted in particular in Figure 2.

Preferably, the hinging 29 between each of the rods 6, 8 and the front 3 has a cross section shaped as a polygon with a minimum of three sides: the Figures show the preferred configuration, represented by a square cross section, but obviously also sections shaped as a pentagon, hexagon, heptagon, etc. are possible, which perform the same functionality. Sections (not shown) with three perpendicular sides and a curvilinear fitting side are also possible.

In particular, in order to obtain the polygonal shape of the hinging 29, at least one of such eyelets OP has a polygonal shape and at least one corresponding barrel BP has a polygonal shape: preferably, the polygonal shape of the barrel BP is complementary to the shape of the eyelet OP.

Advantageously, each one of the side appendixes 11, 13 is further equipped with at least one elastic means for recovering the space between at least one barrel BP and at least one respective eyelet OP inside which it is housed. Preferably, such elastic means are composed of at least one elastic tongue 43 pressing, for example externally, against the barrel BP and equipped with elastic pre-loading. Preferably, such elastic pre-loading is obtained through molding with a suitable curving (as can be noted, in particular, in Figure 5) : still more preferably, such curving has a convexity oriented towards the corresponding barrel BP.

In a further possible variation, as shown for example in Figure 6, the elastic pre-loading can be obtained through at least one runner 49, preferably made of a self-lubricating plastic material, interposed between the tongue 43 and the respective barrel BP.

In a preferred embodiment thereof, the tongue 43 can be obtained from the same material of the corresponding side appendix 11, 13 and is defined by at least one upper half-cut 45 and at least one lower half-cut 47, such half-cuts 45, 47 being preferably mutually parallel.

Obviously, at least the front 3, the first and the second housing 5, 7 and the side appendixes 11, 13 can be made in a single piece.

In order to structurally complete the frame 1 according to the present invention and confer it a traditional shaping, it can further comprise a first support 2 and a second support 4 respectively connected to the first and to the second housing 5, 7 for resting the front 3 onto the nose of the persona wearing them.

In such case, at least the front 3, the first and the second housing 5, 7, the side appendixes 11, 13 and the first and the second supports 2, 4 can be made in a single piece.

Preferably, the frame 1 according to the present invention as described above is therefore made of an elastic and flexible, metallic or plastic material.

The present invention obviously also refers to an eyeglass composed of a frame 1 as previously described and of one or more lenses 9 (being indifferently for viewing, corrective, sunglasses, etc. depending on their specific uses) , each of which is arranged in the respective housing 5, 7 of the frame 1 itself.

As previously described, the frame 1 and the related eyeglass according to the present invention reach the pre-set objects, because the presence of the elastic means, and in particular of the tongue 43, allows a gradual and constant recovery of the mechanical clearances possibly occurred in the hinging 29, and in particular between the barrel BP and the corresponding eyelets OP inside which it is housed .