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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims benefits from the Chinese invention patent application number 201210249324.X filed on 18 July 2012, and the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a spectacles, and more particularly, a spectacles with interchangeable decorative accessory. The present invention also provides an interchangeable decorative accessory for spectacles.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Spectacles (or eyeglasses) can alleviate eye defects such as myopia, hyperopia or astigmatism; or protect the eyes against bright daylight and ultraviolet light from the sun, hence become an essential product in daily life. As time goes by, people nowadays have higher demand on personalization. Also, many people believe that a good spectacles design can make them stand out from the crowd and thus spectacles now becomes a fashionable item. Thus, how to meet the need of decoration in structural design of spectacles becomes a new focus of market growth and competitiveness in spectacles industry. Nonetheless, the majority of the existing spectacles are unable to interchange corresponding decorative parts, thereby making repair of which difficult. In the meantime, when a user wants to use another spectacles, it increases the financial burden of the user.

In addition, it is required to wear spectacles when some people want to correct defects of their vision. In most cases, for example, under intense sunlight, they need to wear spectacles with ophthalmic lenses (eyeglasses), and also need spectacles with sunlenses (sunglasses) at the same time. Due to the above need, many accessory products are being developed.

A pair of interchangeable spectacles accessory enables people to change decorative accessory easily, thereby meeting the need of personalization by changing spectacles outlook. Another one is auxiliary sunglasses (for example, clip-on sunglasses), which use a part of spectacles frame to connect a pair of auxiliary sunglasses lenses for blocking sunlight.

The two above-mentioned articles and a main spectacles frame are mainly connected through a structural local clamping mechanism (mechanical/magnetic), such as a spectacles accessory as a card slot for being inserted with lenses (auxiliary spectacles lens, temple of spectacles, and etc). Based on the above mechanism, it is necessary to design a configuration on the spectacles frame for connecting the main spectacles frame with the decorative accessory or auxiliary spectacles. It would nevertheless have limitations to the design and application of spectacles. In addition, because the connection appears only on part of the configuration, other part without the connection between the decorative accessory/auxiliary sunglasses and main spectacles generates a gap that impairs either the outlook or degree of tightness of the connection. In consequence, there exists a strong need in the field to improve the connection between the main spectacles frame and decorative accessory, meaning that it is necessary to have a spectacles, with interchangeable decorative accessory thereof for meeting the need of personalization, with enhancement of the degree of tightness in the connection while not generating too many constrains to spectacles design.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To resolve the problem arising from the local connection of spectacles in the prior arts, the present invention provides a spectacles with interchangeable decorative accessory thereof for meeting the need of personalization, with enhancement of the degree of tightness in the connection while not generating too many constrains to the design of the spectacles.

The technical solution conferred by the present invention is based on the use of a soft magnet which is flexible and bendable, e.g., plastic magnet or rubber magnet, as a novel connection method for spectacles, and a spectacles with interchangeable decorative accessory.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the spectacles with the interchangeable decorative accessory of the present invention includes a main frame and at least one decorative accessory. The main frame further includes a frame front and a pair of temples. The temples include left temple and right temple. The main frame can be a rimmed frame or rimless frame, where the decorative accessory is magnetically connected with at least one part of the main frame by soft magnet. In an exemplary embodiment, the interchangeable decorative accessory is magnetically connected with the frame front or temples of the main frame.

The soft magnet is installed on at least one part of the decorative accessory which connects to at least one part of the main frame. In an exemplary embodiment, the interchangeable decorative accessory is magnetically connected with the frame front or temples of the main frame. The at least one part of the main frame connecting to the at least one part of the decorative accessory includes a magnetically attractable material. The magnetically attractable material includes metal such as iron and stainless steel or the soft magnet.

The decorative accessory includes a substrate of decorative accessory and soft magnet, where the substrate of decorative accessory and the soft magnet are bonded together by adhesion or welding.

The substrate of decorative accessory has corresponding shape and color according to the need of personalization, and the adhesion is achieved by applying adhesive, solvent, or gluing material between the substrate of decorative accessory and the soft magnet.

The welding is by applying heat and/or pressure on the substrate of decorative accessory and the soft magnet in order to weld their contact surfaces together.

The substrate of decorative accessory is produced by employing, preferably, cellulose acetate sheet with or without pattern, or by employing a colored material. The substrate of decorative accessory can also be produced by employing plastic, ceramic, wood, metal, textile, and etc.

The soft magnet is selected from plastic magnet or rubber magnet which is flexible and bendable.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the spectacles with the interchangeable decorative accessory of the present invention includes a main frame and at least one decorative accessory. The main frame further includes a frame front and a pair of temples. The temples include left temple and right temple. The main frame can be a rimmed frame or rimless frame, where the decorative accessory is magnetically connected with at least one part of the main frame by soft magnet.

The soft magnet is installed on at least one part of the main frame which connects to at least one part of the decorative accessory.

The at least one part of the decorative accessory connecting to the at least one part of the main frame includes a magnetically attractable material. The main frame further includes a substrate and soft magnet, where the substrate of the main frame and the soft magnet are bonded together by adhesion or welding.

The adhesion is achieved by applying adhesive, solvent or gluing material between the substrate of the main frame and the soft magnet.

The welding is by applying heat and/or pressure on the substrate of the main frame and the soft magnet in order to weld their contact surfaces together.

The substrate of the decorative accessory can be produced by employing cellulose acetate sheet with or without pattern, or by employing a colored material. The substrate of the main frame can be produced by employing plastic, ceramic, wood, metal, textile, and etc.

The soft magnet is selected from plastic magnet or rubber magnet which is flexible and bendable.

In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, the spectacles with the interchangeable decorative accessory of the present invention includes a main frame and at least one decorative accessory. The main frame further includes a frame front and a pair of temples. The temples include left temple and right temple of the spectacles. The main frame of the spectacles can be a rimmed frame or a rimless frame.

According to different needs of design, the interchangeable decorative accessory can be connected to one or more parts of the main frame. More particularly, decorative accessory product can be used to decorate one or more of the following parts: left rim, right rim, left temple, right temple, and/or bridge connecting the left and right rims.

The soft magnet can be positioned on some parts of the contact surface of the decorative accessory and/or the main frame of the spectacles. Preferably, the soft magnet can be installed on the whole contact surface of the decorative accessory connecting to the main frame of the spectacles. The technical effect of this configuration is the best. The part of the main frame of the spectacles connecting to the decorative accessory includes a magnetically attractable material.

The decorative accessory includes a substrate of decorative accessory and soft magnet, where the substrate of the decorative accessory and the soft magnet are bonded by adhesion or welding. Because of the softness and resiliency of the soft magnet, the decorative accessory can be tightly connected onto the main frame of the spectacles. Not only enhancing the connection, but such structure also saves an extra connecting means such that the flexibility in designing the product outlook is mostly enhanced.

The decorative accessory for spectacles of the present invention can be used in auxiliary spectacles which can be equipped with colored lenses or polarized lenses, or a decorative object connected onto the rims or temples. The soft magnet is permanent magnet. The soft magnet is formed by blending the plastic/rubber with permanent magnetic powder, then processing (could be traditional plastic/rubber processing technology), and finally magnetizing.

According to the need of the design, at least one part of the main frame of the spectacles connecting to the decorative accessory can be based on a soft magnet, and at least one part of the decorative accessory connecting to the main frame of the spectacles can be based on a magnetically attractable material.

Configuration of the interchangeable decorative accessory can accord to the need of design to produce the substrate of decorative accessory with different shapes and colors, and the connection between the substrate of decorative accessory and the soft magnet is achieved by adhesion/welding. The adhesion employs adhesive, solvent, or other gluing material, such as adhesive tape, for adhering the substrate of decorative accessory and the soft magnet together. The welding employs the heat and/or pressure to weld the contact surfaces of the substrate of decorative accessory and the soft magnet together. The substrate of decorative accessory can be selected from different designs and materials, which can be produced by employing cellulose acetate sheet with or without pattern, or by employing a colored material.

The rimmed spectacles includes various parts: left rim, right rim, and bridge connecting the left and right rims. The rimmed spectacles can be a full-rim spectacles or half-rim spectacles.

In accordance with a yet further aspect of the present invention, a interchangeable decorative accessory for spectacles is provided. The decorative accessory includes a substrate of decorative accessory and soft magnet. The substrate of the decorative accessory and the soft magnet are bonded by adhesion or welding. The decorative accessory is magnetically connected with at least one part of the spectacles by a soft magnet.

The soft magnet is installed on one part of the decorative accessory connecting to at least one part of the main frame of the spectacles. The at least one part of the main frame connecting to the decorative accessory can be the frame front, the temples, or both of them.

The part of the spectacles connecting to the decorative accessory further includes a magnetically attractable material.

The substrate of the decorative accessory has corresponding shape, color, pattern, or a combination thereof according to the need of personalization. The adhesion is achieved by applying adhesive, solvent or gluing material between the substrate of decorative accessory and the soft magnet.

The welding is by heat and/or pressure on the substrate of the decorative accessory and the soft magnet to weld their contact surfaces together.

The substrate of the decorative accessory is produced by employing either cellulose acetate sheet with pattern, or colored material.

The substrate of decorative accessory can be produced by employing plastic, ceramic, wood, metal, textile, and etc. The soft magnet is selected from plastic magnet or rubber magnet which is flexible and bendable.

The soft magnet can be installed on the whole contact surface of the decorative accessory connecting to the spectacles.

For the welding step to take place in various aspects of the present invention, welding by applying hot and/or pressure can be carried out by a hot press machine or equivalent at a temperature from 70°C to 120°C and at a pressure from 0.3 to 3 atm. In one of the embodiments, a high frequency lamination machine is used to carry out the welding process. The operational parameters of the high frequency lamination machine such as the current, welding time, cooling time after welding, can be varied depending on materials to be welded, size of the objects to be welded, and others according to various aspects of the present invention.

In conclusion, implementing the spectacles with interchangeable decorative accessory of the present invention has the following advantageous effects: by configuring the decorative accessory into detachably assembling mode, corresponding decorative accessory can be conveniently interchanged and also easily repaired. In addition, when a user wants to change the decorative accessory, he/she needs not to purchase another spectacles frame but only to interchange the existing decorative accessory by another decorative accessory with a different color, pattern, and/or material At the same time, plastic magnet or rubber magnet having respective softness and resiliency (like soft plastic/rubber magnet) can be bonded with the substrate of decorative accessory by adhesion/welding. The main frame of the spectacles employs a magnetically attractable material. Because of the softness and resiliency of the soft magnet, the soft magnet can adapt to different curvatures of surface for tightly attaching on the main body of spectacles. Not only enhancing the connection, but such structure also saves an extra connecting means such that the flexibility in designing the product outlook design is mostly enhanced. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Through the below accompanying drawings, the person skilled in the art can have better understanding, and understand clearly the advantage of the present invention. The accompanying drawings are for illustrating the aim of the selected embodiments, and not for illustrating all possible embodiments, as well as not for limiting the scope of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is an exploded schematic diagram of a spectacles frame with an interchangeable decorative accessory according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the main frame and decorative accessory of FIG. 1 after assembly according to one of the embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the decorative accessory.

FIG. 4 is an exploded and assembly schematic diagram, showing a temple and how a decorative accessory, installed with a soft magnet, is mounted on the temple of the present invention.

FIG. 5A-5C show examples of full-rimmed spectacles, half-rimmed spectacles and rimless spectacles respectively.

DEFINITION

The term "spectacles" used herein includes eyeglasses, sunglasses, vision correction glasses, and polarized glasses.

The phrase "main frame" used herein refers to any spectacles frame including a frame front and a pair of temples with/without lenses or any decorative accessory.

The phrase "frame front" used herein refers to the front part of any spectacles frame excluding temples and/or any decorative accessory.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The following preferred embodiments according to the present invention are illustrated in detail in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. In the accompanying drawings and the corresponding text description, those skilled in the art will understand the features and advantages of the present invention.

Firstly, a rimmed spectacles is used as an example to illustrate the present invention. Certainly, a person skilled in the art will understand that the present invention is also applicable to rimless spectacles. As shown in FIG. 1, an exploded schematic diagram of a spectacles with an interchangeable decorative accessory according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention is provided, where the spectacles includes a frame front 100 and a decorative accessory 200. The frame front 100 is connected to a pair of temples (104, 105). The frame front 100 includes several parts: left rim 101, right rim 102, and a bridge 103 connecting the left rim 101 and right rim 102. The temples include several parts: left temple 104 and right temple 105. In FIG. 1, the decorative accessory 200 includes a left portion 201 for the left rim 101 and a right portion 202 for the right rim 102. The decorative accessory 200 can be in strip form that is mountable on the temple 104 as shown in FIG. 4. Certainly, a person skilled in the art will understand that the decorative accessory 200 can be in other shape that is mountable on the temple 105 for realizing decorative effect which a user wishes to have. The decorative accessory 200 is magnetically connected to at least one part of the spectacles frame and the temples 104 and 105 by a soft magnet (not shown in FIG. 1).

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the main frame and decorative accessory of

FIG. 1 after assembly.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the decorative accessory 200, in which a soft magnet 204 is installed on one part of the decorative accessory 200 connecting to the frame front 100. The cross-sectional view in FIG. 3 shows that the decorative accessory 200 includes a substrate 203 and a soft magnet 204. The substrate of the decorative accessory 203 and the soft magnet 204 are bonded together by adhesion or welding. The one part of the frame front 100 connecting to the decorative accessory 200 includes a magnetically attractable material.

The substrate of the decorative accessory 203 has corresponding shape, color, pattern, or a combination thereof according to the need of personalization. In one embodiment, the adhesion is achieved by applying adhesive, solvent, or gluing material between the substrate of the decorative accessory 203 and the soft magnet 204 in order to bond with each other.

In another embodiment, the welding is by applying heat and/or pressure on the substrate of the decorative accessory 203 and the soft magnet 204 to weld their contact surfaces together such that they bond with each other. The welding temperature can be from 70°C to 120°C; the pressure can be from 0.3 to 3 atm. In a preferred embodiment, a high frequency lamination machine is used to carry out the welding process. The welding temperature can be from 70°C to 120°C; the pressure can be from 0.3 to 3 atm. The time of welding is preferably more than 15 seconds, more preferably is more than 20 seconds but less than 5 minutes, and more preferably is less than 1 minute, and most preferably is from 30 to 50 seconds. In another preferred embodiment, the high frequency lamination machine uses a current larger than 0.2A, more preferably is larger than 0.5A but less than 5A, more preferably is less than 2A, and most preferably is from 0.6 to 1.3A. The assembly of the decorative accessory and soft magnet is cooled down for more than 0.5 minute, more preferably is more than 1 minute but less than 5 minutes, more preferably is less than 3 minutes, and most preferably is about 2 minutes.

The substrate of the decorative accessory 203 is produced by employing cellulose acetate sheet with or without pattern, or by employing a colored material. The substrate of the decorative accessory 203 can also be produced by employing plastic, ceramic, wood, metal, textile, and etc.

The soft magnet 204 is selected from a plastic magnet or rubber magnet which is flexible and bendable. As shown in FIG. 4 which is an exploded schematic diagram of the assembly of each part of the spectacles according to another preferred embodiment, a spectacles with temples and a decorative accessory mountable on the temple having a soft magnet is also provided. Using the temple 104 as an example, the decorative accessory 200 is installed on the temple 104. Certainly, the decorative accessory 200 can also be installed on the temple 105 (not shown in FIG. 4). The soft magnet is placed on at least one part of the decorative accessory 200 connecting to the temple 104 or 105. As shown in the cross-sectional view of FIG. 4, the decorative accessory 200 includes a substrate of the decorative accessory 203 and a soft magnet 204. The substrate of the decorative accessory 203 and the soft magnet 204 are bonded together by adhesion or welding.

The at least one part of the temple 104 or 105 connecting to the decorative accessory 200 includes a magnetically attractable material.

The substrate of the decorative accessory 203 has corresponding shape, color, pattern, or a combination thereof according to the need of personalization. In one embodiment, the adhesion is achieved by applying adhesive, solvent or gluing material between the substrate of decorative accessory 203 and the soft magnet 204 in order to bond with each other.

The welding is by applying heat and/or pressure on the substrate of decorative accessory 203 and the soft magnet 204 to weld their contact surfaces together. The welding temperature can be from 70°C to 120°C; the pressure can be from 0.3 to 3 atm. In a preferred embodiment, a high frequency lamination machine is used to carry out the welding process. The time of welding is preferably more than 15 seconds, more preferably is more than 20 seconds but less than 5 minutes, and more preferably is less than 1 minute, and most preferably is from 30 to 50 seconds. In another preferred embodiment, the high frequency lamination machine uses a current larger than 0.2A, more preferably is larger than 0.5A but less than 5A, more preferably is less than 2A, and most preferably is from 0.6 to 1.3A. The assembly of the decorative accessory and soft magnet is cooled down for more than 0.5 minute, more preferably is more than 1 minute but less than 5 minutes, more preferably is less than 3 minutes, and most preferably is about 2 minutes.

The substrate of decorative accessory 203 is produced by employing cellulose acetate sheet with or without pattern, or by employing a colored material. The substrate of the decorative accessory 203 can also be produced by employing plastic, ceramic, wood, metal, textile, and etc.

The soft magnet 204 is selected from a plastic magnet or rubber magnet having softness and resiliency.

Apart from the examples illustrated in FIGS. 1-4, the soft magnet can be installed to the substrate of any part of the main frame while the decorative accessory magnetically connected to the main frame can be partially or wholly made of a magnetically attractable material. The bonding of the soft magnet with the substrate of the main frame can be achieved by adhesion or welding according to any of the embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 5A-5C show the examples of full-rimmed spectacles, half-rimmed spectacles and rimless spectacles, respectively. In FIG. 5A, the full-rimmed spectacles includes several parts: left rim, right rim, and bridge connecting the left rim and right rim, and the spectacles can also be a half-rimmed spectacles (FIG. 5B) or rimless spectacles (FIG. 5C).

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

The present invention provides a spectacles with interchangeable decorative accessory and a interchangeable decorative accessory for any spectacles, which are applicable to the spectacles manufacturing industry.