Abstract:
The present invention relates to decorative imitation set jewels. A process for producing these imitation jewels is also disclosed. 
     The imitation jewels are formed by causing a narrow margin of metal foil to adhere to the edges of a piece of a plastic film. The film may be cut by a heated die to any desired shape and may be of any color. The foil adhering to the edges of the plastic film gives the product an image of depth which is aesthetically pleasing. The rounding of the plastic film edge caused by the heated die enhances this effect. 
     An adhesive backing is provided so that the imitation set jewels may be placed where desired. One envisioned utilization of the invention is for ornamenting one&#39;s fingernails.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Prior fingernail art designs have have only a two-dimensional appearance. Furthermore, because of limitations inherent in their design, prior designs do not exhibit a jewelled appearance. A device which provides an appearance of raised edges is desired to provide both an enhanced cosmetic effect and a three-dimensional appearance. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to both the process for making three-dimensional imitation set jewels and to the three-dimensional imitation set jewels themselves. These imitation set jewels are an attractive decorative item because reflective, metallized edges give the center portion of the product a jewelled appearance as well as giving their edges an attractive impression of depth. 
     The imitation jewels of the present invention are particularly suitable for use as costume jewelry. For example, a person may wear them upon their fingernails, on other portions of the body, or upon other articles of jewelry, particularly earrings. 
     A process for manufacturing the imitation set jewels is disclosed that is simple and efficient. A standard heat transfer foil is placed atop a plastic film of the desired color. The heat transfer foil has a layer of mylar, a very thin layer of metal, and a heat sensitive adhesive backing the metal. The plastic film may also have an adhesive backing. This assembly is then placed into a press. When a heated die is impressed upon these materials, the heat applied to the die causes the die to cut the patterns on the die through the plastic film under the heat transfer foil. 
     The die does not cut through the heat transfer foil because of the foil&#39;s flexiblity, and because the mylar backing of the foil will not melt at the temperature of the die. However, the heat from the die causes the portions of the foil which are in contact with the die to adhere to the film beneath the foil. This transfer occurs because the heat from the die activates the heat activated adhesive which forms the backing of the metal foil. The result is that the metal foil adheres to the edges of the plastic film along the borders of the patterns cut in the film by the heat of the die. 
     The portions of the plastic film which are not a part of the final product, as well as those parts of the foil which did not transfer to the film, are then peeled away. The remaining imitation set jewels will be in the shape of the unpraised portions of the die, each with a reflective, metallized, rounded border. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is an illustration of a typical die which can be used with the process of the present invention. 
     FIG. 2 illustrates the orientation of the various materials used in the process of the present invention within the press. 
     FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of one of the elements of the die of FIG. 1. 
     FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the layers which comprise the metal foil used in the preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
     FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the layers which comprise the base material used in the preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
     FIG. 6 is a drawing showing the orientation of the various materials used in the process of the present invention when the die is impressed upon them. 
     FIG. 7 is a view of the product which is the subject of the present invention. 
     FIG. 8 is a cross-section along lines 8--8 of FIG. 7. 
     FIG. 9 is a drawing of a preferred use of the product of the present invention. 
     FIG. 10 is a drawing of the materials used in the process of the present invention after they are removed from the press. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     FIG. 1 shows a typical die 1 which may be used in the process that is the subject of the present invention. Plural, product-forming elements 2 of the die 1 may be spaced apart, as they are in the preferred embodiment of the invention, or they may be closely packed on the die 1. 
     The die 1 is positioned in a press 5 as shown in FIG. 2. A sheet of heat transfer foil 3 and a sheet of base material 4 are shown about to be positioned in the press 5. The mylar coating 9 of the heat transfer foil 3 faces the die 1 while the layer of plastic 12 of the base material 4 faces the heat activated adhesive surface 11 of the heat transfer foil 3. 
     The means for heating the die 1 are not shown in this drawing, but, as is typical in operations of this type, the upper plate of the press 5 includes a heating element which raises the temperature of the die 1, typically to about 500° F. The product-forming elements 2 of the die 1, as shown in FIG. 3, include raised edges 8 which may be either pointed, as shown in FIG. 3, or somewhat flattened. In either case, however, the element 2, which may be of any desired shape, includes a recessed central area 17. 
     FIG. 4 illustrates the commercially available heat transfer foil 3, also known commercially a &#34;stamping foil&#34;, which may be used in the process of the present invention. The foil 3, while not separable in the manner shown in FIG. 4, has been peeled apart at one corner to show its layers 9 and 10. The upper layer 9 is a substance known under the trademark Mylar. The substance 10 is the metal foil which will eventually be transfered to coat the edges of the imitation set jewel. The material 10 may be a metal foil of any color, although gold and silver are preferred. The heat sensitive adhesive 11, which covers the back of the metal foil 10, is also shown. 
     FIG. 5 is an expanded view of the base material 4 which is used in the present invention. The base material 4 has three layers; 12, 13 and 14. The layer 12 is a thin, i.e., 2-20 mills thick, plastic film. The film 12 may be any desired color, but is preferably reflective, having a jewel-like appearance when used in small areas. The layer 13 is a pressure-sensitive adhesive and, while not separable in the manner shown in FIG. 5, is usually coated on the back of the layer 12. The layer 13 is only weakly attracted to the layer 14, a paper liner. The paper liner 14 is itself coated to limit the extent to which the adhesive 13 will attach itself to the paper liner 14. 
     The material 4 may be any one of a variety of known products. The material &#34;prismatic vinyl&#34;, Stock No. DFV-3-07-1/2&#34; or a material sold under the brand name of &#34;RAZ-L/DAZ-L&#34;, both of which are made by the Universal Coating Company of Minneapolis, Minn. have been found to produce good results. The material 3 may be purchased from Admiral Coated Products, Noonachie, New Jersey under the part numbers ALUM-W718D or GOLD-W127Y. 
     FIG. 6 is an illustration of the process which is the subject of the present invention. The materials 3 and 4 are shown positioned adjacent to and in contact with each other. The materials 3, 4 are positioned in the press 5 (FIG. 2) and the heated die 1 is shown impressed upon them so that the element 2 (FIG. 3) compresses and heats the materials 3 and 4, allowing the raised edges 8 to become embedded in the materials 3 and 4 as shown in FIG. 6. 
     The material 3 is positioned so that its Mylar layer 9 is facing the die 1. The heat activated adhesive backing 11 of the metal foil 10 is in contact with the plastic film 12 of the second material 4. The adhesive backing 13 of the plastic film 12, and the paper liner 14 are also shown. It is to be understood that a cushioning material 6 (FIG. 2), such as paper, may be inserted between the press 5 and the paper liner 14, if desired, to increase the area of the die elements 2 which contact the foil layer 3 and the base material 4. 
     The force on the press 5 (FIG. 2) is such that the raised edges 8 of the die element 2 do not cut the paper liner 14. The edge 8 of the element 2 does, however, melt through the plastic film layer 12 of the material 4. Since the die 1 is heated, the heat activated adhesive 11 will cause the metal foil 10 to adhere to the edges of the plastic film 12 along the portions of the surfaces 15 and 16 of the die element 2 which are in contact with or adjacent to the Mylar coating 9 of the material 3. Since the Mylar layer 9 is tough, and resistant to high temperatures, it is not cut by the element 2. Rather, the Mylar layer 9 conforms to the element 2 and the raised edges 8, pulling the foil 10 and adhesive layer 11 to conform to the rounded cut edges of the plastic film 12. It can therefore be seen that the surfaces 19 and 24 of the plastic film 12 will assume a rounded or beveled configuration conforming to the shape of the edges 8 of the element 2. These rounded edges 19, 24 are provided with a highly reflective, metallic appearance due to the heat transfer properties of the adhesive 11 and the metal foil 10. 
     In other words, the metal foil 10 will no longer be affixed to the mylar layer 9 of the heat transfer foil 3 along the portions of the Mylar layer 9 which contact or are close to the edges 15 and 16 of the die element 2. Instead, the heat activated adhesive 11 will affix the metal foil 10, in these regions, to the surfaces 19 and 24 of the plastic film 12. 
     Therfore, those portions of the plastic film 12 which are directly beneath or adjacent the surfaces 15 and 16 of the die element 2 which contact the Mylar layer 9 will assume a metallized appearance. In contrast, the surfaces 18 and 26 of the plastic film 12 which are beneath the surfaces 17 and 25, respectively, of the die 1 and die element 2 will not become coated with the metal foil layer 10. The surfaces 18 and 26 will therefore retain their original color. 
     Referring to FIG. 10, the manufacturing process is completed by first peeling the material 3 away from the material 4, and then peeling the plastic film 12 from the paper backing 14. 
     As shown in FIG. 10, after the foil layer 3 has been stamped by the die 1 as shown in FIG. 6 and has been peeled away from the layer 4, a portion of the foil material 10 shown in the general area of numeral 22 of FIG. 10 is stripped from the mylar layer 9 because it is adhered by the temperature sensitive adhesive 11 to the layer 4. Thus the heat transfer foil 3, after it is peeled away from the layer 4, will include areas 22 where the metal foil 10 has been removed from the Mylar layer 9. These areas 22 will correspond to those places where the die element 2 (FIG. 6) heated the foil 3. The removed metal foil 10 forms a shiny metallic coating on the plastic film 12 on both sides of the cutting line where the edge 8 (FIG. 6) has melted through the plastic film 12. 
     When the plastic film 12 is peeled from the paper backing 14, as shown in FIG. 10, that portion of the plastic layer 12 shown at 12a in FIG. 10 will be removed from the backing 14. A portion of the plastic film 12 shown at 12b in FIG. 10 will remain attached, however, to the paper backing 14. This separation of the plastic film 12 into two elements 12a and 12b is caused by peeling the plastic film 12 from the paper backing 14, since peeling forces will only be applied to those portions of the plastic film 12 which are connected. The portion of the plastic film 12b was within the perimeter of the element 2 of the die 1 and cut by the edge 8 and so it is no longer connected to the remainder of the plastic film 12a. Therefore, peeling the plastic film 12 from the paper backing 14 will leave the portion 12b in place on the paper backing 14. 
     As also shown in FIG. 10, the peeled away plastic film 12a includes a void at 21 formed by the die element 2. The margin of this void 21, was cut by the edge 8 (FIG. 6) of the die 1. This margin is bordered by a perimeter 24 of metal foil caused by the edge 16 of the element 2 (FIG. 6) contacting the Mylar layer 9. 
     The portion 12b of the layer 12 which remains attached to the paper backing 14, after the plastic film 12 has been stripped from the paper 14, forms the product 20 of this invention. This product is a cut shape of the plastic film 12b, with a marginal edge or perimeter 19 coated with shiny metal foil 10. This metallized edge 19 was deposited by application of heat from the edge 15 (FIG. 6) of the die element 2 to the Mylar layer 9. 
     The material 3 shown in FIG. 10, the heat transfer foil with the void 22, is discarded, as is the plastic film 12a. The elements 20 attached to the paper backing 14 are then sold. 
     The product which results from the process of the present invention is shown in FIG. 7. It is to be understood that the embodiment shown in FIG. 7 is for the purposes of illustration and does not serve as a limitation upon the shapes which may be assumed. FIG. 7 is an illustration of the product after layer 9, those portions of layers 12 and 13 which were not within the perimeter of the die element 2, and those portions of layers 10 and 11 which were not heated by the dye element 2 have been peeled away. The edge 19 of the imitation set jewel, is beveled, as a consequence of being heat-cut by the die element 2, and this beveled portion is coated with the metal 10 from the heat transfer foil 3. The metal 10 does not cover the upper surface 18 because the surface 17 (FIG. 6) of the die element 2 did not contact or lie close to the mylar layer 9 of the heat transfer foil 3. Therefore, the heat sensitive adhesive 11 did not activate in order to cause metal 10 to adhere to the surface 18 in this region. For this reason, the portions of surface 18 which form the center of the imitation set jewel 20 do not have a metallic appearance, as does the edge 19, but are, instead, the color of the underlying plastic film 12. 
     FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of the imitation set jewel 20 taken along lines 8--8 of FIG. 7. Referring to FIG. 8, one can see that the beveled edge 19 of the imitation set jewel 20 has been coated by the metal 10 from the heat transfer foil 3. This coating 10 acts to accentuate the edge 19 of the jewel 20 as well as to give the jewel 20 an appearance of depth. The fact that the center portion 18 of the surface of the jewel 20 is not coated with the metal 10 creates the appearance of a gem set within a metal perimeter. 
     FIG. 8 also shows the adhesive layer 13 which binds the jewel 20 to the paper liner 14 so that the jewel 20 may be easily transported during shipping. It is to be understood that the adhesive 13 only weakly adheres the jewel 20 to the liner 14. This allows one to easily pry the jewel 20 from the paper liner 14 when one wishes to use the product of the present invention. 
     FIG. 9 shows a typical use for the present invention. The product&#39;s pleasant appearance makes it quite desirable for use as ornamentation. The use shown in FIG. 9, decorating one&#39;s fingernails, has proven to be especially popular.