Abstract:
This invention relates to a balancing means provided as part of an ornament worn around the neck for maintaining an inertial balance and predetermined degree of symmetry about the neck while alleviating or completely eliminating pressure directly exerted on the neck. More particularly, the balancing means includes shoulder rests on different portions of a closable loop necklace ornament, and also balancing weights on other different portions on the loop.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Ornaments worn around the neck are generally referred to as a necklace. Necklaces may be of many different structural configurations, thick or thin, rigid or flexible, solid or hollow, heavy or light, smooth or disjointed and continuously coupled or attachably connected . . . etc. Necklaces may be used in combination with a pendant of any kind or other jewelry to enhance their ornamental appeal. But, whatever the design, whatever the configuration, a necklace, as up to now conceived, must remain around the wearer&#39;s neck. A necklace ordinarily forms a closed loop encircling and thus latching on to the neck. The problem with necklaces of the prior art is that as the diameter of the necklace gets larger, the necklace portion before or behind the neck would tend to droop downward thus pulling on the opposing side of the necklace which would in turn lodge forcibly against the neck. The resulting effect of this condition is the degeneration of necklace symmetry and inertial balance about the neck when worn, and undesirable pressure exerted against the front or back side of the neck. This lost of symmetry and balance is evidenced by a lob-sided configuration in which one portion of the necklace is lodged against the neck and the portion directly across the necklace diameter from said one portion is the furthest away from the neck. 
     OBJECT OF INVENTION 
     It is an object of the instant invention to provide a balancing means for maintaining appreciable symmetry around the neck when the necklace diameter becomes larger, as a necklace variation or other similar ornaments. 
     It is an object of the instant invention to rest a necklace firmly upon the shoulders of the wearer. 
     It is an object of the instant invention to centrally balance necklaces or other similar ornament on a wearer&#39;s shoulders. 
     It is also an object of the instant invention to include balancing inertia units on opposing sides of a necklace or similar ornament. 
     It is also an objective of the instant invention to include shoulder rests as part of a necklace or similar ornament. 
     It is also an objective of the instant invention to effect a combination of the aforesaid objectives. 
     SUMMARY OF INVENTION 
     A balancing means provided as part of an ornament worn around the neck including shoulder rests and balancing weights for balancing the ornament and maintaining appreciable symmetry about the neck while alleviating or completely eliminating pressure directly exerted on the neck. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 shows a balancing means in accordance to a preferred embodiment of the invention, constituting parts of a necklace type ornament. 
     FIG. 2A shows a rigid shoulder rest of the balancing means of FIG. 1. 
     FIG. 2B shows a shoulder rest of the balancing means of FIG. 1 made of flexible material. 
     FIG. 3A shows a shoulder rest in form of a solid rod. 
     FIG. 3B shows a shoulder rest in form of soldered links. 
     FIG. 4 shows a flexible shoulder rest made of rigid material flexibly linked. 
     FIG. 5A shows an enclosed connecting chain, without any operable means for opening the same. 
     FIG. 5B shows an enclosed connecting chain having a means for opening the loop. 
     FIG. 6 shows a balancing means in accordance to another embodiment of the invention, wherein the front and back portions with respect to the shoulder rests are asymmetrical. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Referring to the drawings wherein like numbers indicate like parts, FIG. 1 shows one embodiment of the instant invention in a necklace type ornament 10. The necklace 10 comprises shoulder rests 12 and 14, balancing weight units formed by ornaments 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, and 26 strung together by a linked chain 28. Shoulder rests 12 and 14 are located at opposing ends of the necklace with weight pieces 16 and 18 situated therebetween. In between each shoulder rest, the weight unit are ornaments of aesthetic design. Furthermore, the weight units themselves may be of aesthetic design. In FIG. 1, the ornaments 20, 22, 24 and 26 are shown as including two separate and smaller ornaments; however, it should be understood that these ornaments may be of arbitrary design and configuration having one or many pieces. The shoulder rests 12 and 14 as shown are hollow and rigid rods such that the connecting chain can pass easily therethrough. 
     If the rests are rigid, their curvature may not fit every wearer comfortably; thus it may be desirable to have a range of varied curvature for the shoulder or some kind of mechanism to adapt to different sizes which would accommodate to a wide spectrum of wearers. 
     In another embodiment of the instant invention, the shoulder rests may be made of flexible material such that the same shoulder rests may accommodate the particular physique of a wide range of wearers, thus eliminating a need to have varying sizes of shoulder rests. FIG. 2A shows a rigid shoulder rest; FIG. 2B shows a flexible shoulder rest. 
     In another embodiment of the instant invention, the shoulder rests may not be hollow but is a solid rod coupled at its ends to the connecting chain. FIG. 3A shows such an arrangement. 
     In another embodiment of the instant invention, the shoulder rests may not be rods at all but are preshaped soldered links with fixed curvature. FIG. 3B shows such an arrangement. 
     In another embodiment of the instant invention, the shoulder rests may not be made of flexible material and yet still fit flexibly over the wearer&#39;s shoulders. The flexibility may be derived via mechanical connections such as that illustrated in FIG. 4. A plurality of sub-units are flexibly linked and thus wrap around the shoulder due to gravitational pull from the weight units on front and back. 
     The weight units on front and back of necklace shown in FIG. 1 comprise a plurality of pieces. It should be understood that these pieces may be of equal or varying weight, that total mass of units 16 and 18 are not necessarily equal, that units 16 and 18 may each have many mass pieces of varying weight or just one mass piece, and that the number of mass pieces respectively in units 16 and 18 are not necessarily equal. 
     It should be understood that the connecting chain in any of the embodiments of the instant invention may be a linked chain, a string of any kind, a cord, a wire, or any other kind of thread or fiber capable of stranding together elemental pieces of a necklace type ornament in any way. It may be generally referred to as a connecting means. 
     Furthermore, this connecting means may either be permanently enclosed or controllably opened for adding, removing, or replacing, any of the other elements of the instant invention. FIG. 5A shows a generic connecting means of this type which is permanently enclosed. FIG. 5B shows a generic connecting means of this type which includes a control portion for opening and closing the chain loop. With the arrangement in FIG. 5B, the weight units may be altered relative to its respective total mass so as to adjust the balance. There may be more than one such opening portions on the chain means. The openings may be located between two adjacent portions of the connecting chain, between a shoulder rest and a chain portion, between a chain portion and a weight unit, between pieces in a weight unit, or between any other adjacent portions of two elements in the necklace ornament. Furthermore, these opening controls may be comprised of portions of one or more other elements in the necklace ornament. The opening controls may be any kind of latch for opening or closing a chained loop. 
     It should be understood that the distance from one shoulder rest to the other via one side of the connecting means is not necessarily equal to that via the other side. If they were equidistant, the necklace would be substantially symmetrical when worn. A variation in the distance detracts from this symmetry would achieve various objectives mentioned herein. FIG. 6 shows such an asymmetrical configuration. It also would eliminate the problem of complete lob-sidedness of the prior art discussed in the Background of the Invention. 
     FIG. 1 shows weight units as having holes through which the chain is strung. It should be understood that other variations for coupling the weight units to the chain may just as well be suitable, such as coupling each mass piece at its opposing ends instead of threading it through a bore, or tying the mass pieces to the connecting chain, etc. 
     In describing the invention, reference has been made to several preferred embodiments. Those skilled in the art, however, and familiar with the disclosure of the subject invention, may recognize additions, deletions, substitutions, modifications, and/or other changes which will fall within the purview of the invention as defined in the following claims.