Cushion for clip-on earrings

A cushion for securement to a clip of a clip-on earring having a decorative portion including a rear surface a clip secured thereto. The clip comprises a loop which is arranged to engage the rear of a wearer's earlobe while the rear surface of said decorative portion of said earring engages the front of said earlobe to sandwich the earlobe therebetween. The cushion comprises a disk of resilient material, e.g., silicone rubber, having a top wall, a bottom wall, a circular outer side wall having an annular groove extending about its periphery, and a central opening extending through said disk. The cushion is inserted within the loop of the clip so that the loop is disposed within the cushion's annular groove. The top wall of the cushion is convex and the central opening is small to provide a relatively large area to engage the rear surface of the earlobe and thereby spread out the force applied to the earlobe by the clip.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates generally to pads and more particularly to cushions 
for securement to clip-on type earrings. 
Clip-on earrings typically comprise a decorative member arranged to be 
disposed on the front surface of the ear lobe and a clip portion mounted 
on the back of the decorative member and arranged to engage the back 
surface of the ear lobe so that the ear lobe is sandwiched therebetween. 
One common type of clip-on earring commercially available is known as a 
"French/Omega clip earring". That earring utilizes a decorative portion 
having a pin projecting normally from the rear surface thereof to extend 
through a hole in the wearer's ear lobe. A clip in the form of a planar 
loop of wire is also mounted on the rear of surface of the decorative 
portion and is biased to pivot toward the decorative portion to sandwich 
the ear lobe therebetween while the pin extends through the opening in the 
loop. Due to the nature of the loop, such earrings are somewhat 
uncomfortable. In addition the earrings are somewhat unstable, i.e., they 
tend to migrate or pivot about. 
In order to reduce the pressure which the loop of the French/Omega clip 
earring concentrates on the ear lobe when the earring is in place and to 
reduce the earring instability cushions are commercially available for 
mounting on the clip loop. One such cushion is sold under the trademark 
PILLOWS and basically comprises a hollow disk-like element formed of a 
resilient plastic material. The cushion includes an opposed pair of planar 
walls and a circular outer side wall having an annular groove extending 
about its periphery. The cushion is arranged to be inserted within the 
clip loop so that the loop is disposed within the annular groove, 
whereupon one of the planar side walls engages the rear surface of the ear 
lobe to spread out the force applied to the ear lobe. While such cushions 
are generally suitable for their intended purposes, they still leave 
something to be desired from the standpoint of wearer comfort. 
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION 
Accordingly, it is a general object of this invention to provide a cushion 
for a clip on earring which overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art. 
It is a further object of this invention to provide a cushion for a clip-on 
earring which is provides an increased ear lobe engaging surface than 
prior art cushions to enhance the comfort of the person wearing the 
earring. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
These and other objects of this invention are achieved by providing a 
cushion for a clip-on earring. The earring has a decorative portion 
including a rear surface and a clip secured thereto. The clip is in the 
form of a loop which is arranged to be moved toward the rear surface of 
the decorative portion of the earring to engage the rear of a wearer's 
earlobe while the rear surface of the decorative portion of the earring 
engages the front of said earlobe to sandwich the earlobe therebetween. 
The cushion comprises a disk-like element having a top wall, a bottom wall, 
a circular outer side wall having an annular groove extending about its 
periphery, and an opening extending through the disk-like element between 
the top wall and the bottom wall. The cushion is arranged to be inserted 
within the loop of the clip so that the loop of the clip is disposed 
within the annular groove. 
In accordance with the teachings of this invention the top wall of the 
cushion is convex and the opening in the cushion is of small inside 
diameter so that the surface of the top wall is relatively large, 
whereupon when the convex top wall surface engages the rear surface of the 
ear lobe as the earring is worn it spreads out the force applied to the 
ear lobe by the clip.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Referring now to various figures of the drawing where like reference 
numerals refer to like parts there is shown at 20 in FIG. 1 a cushion 
constructed in accordance with this invention for use with a conventional 
French/Omega clip earring 22 or other similar type clip-on earring. 
The earring 22 basically comprises a decorative member or element 24 and a 
clip 26. The decorative element may take any shape, depending upon the 
desired aesthetics, but typically comprises a disk like member having a 
front surface 24A which is decorative, and a planar rear surface 24B. The 
clip 26 is mounted on the rear surface 24B of the member 24. A pin 28 
projects normally from the rear surface 24A of the member 24 above the 
location of the clip 26. 
The rear surface 24 of the earring is arranged to engage the front of the 
wearer's earlobe (shown by the phantom line 30 in FIG. 3) while the clip 
26 engages the rear of that earlobe when the earring is in place. 
The clip basically comprises a loop 26A of wire terminating in a pair of 
legs 26B and 26C. The ends of the legs are journaled within a pair of 
sockets 32 located on the rear surface 24B of the member 24. Means (not 
shown) are provided to bias the loop 26A towards the rear surface 24A. 
Accordingly, when the earring 22 is in place the earlobe 30 is tightly 
sandwiched between the loop 26 and the rear surface 24B of the earring 
element 24, with the pin 28 extending through a hole (shown by the phantom 
line 30A in FIG. 3) in the wearer's earlobe 30. 
The cushion 20 of this invention is arranged to be mounted on the clip 24 
of the earring to cushion the wearer's earlobe from the clamping force 
created by the clip. As can be seen clearly in FIGS. 2-4 the cushion 20 is 
in the form of a disk-like element formed of a resilient material, e.g., 
silicone rubber. The element 20 has a top wall 20A, a bottom wall 20B, a 
circular side wall 20C having an annular groove 20D extending about its 
periphery, and an opening or passageway 20E. The opening or passageway 20E 
extends through the disk-like element between the top wall 20A and the 
bottom wall 20B. The passageway 20E enables the pin 28 of the earring to 
extend therethrough when the earring is in place on the earlobe. 
The cushion 20 is mounted on the clip by inserting it within the clip's 
loop 26A so that the loop is disposed within the annular groove 20D of the 
cushion. The outside diameter of the annular recess 20D is approximately 
the same size as the inside diameter of the loop 26C. Thus, since the 
cushion is formed of a resilient material it may be readily inserted 
within the loop. The outside diameter of the sidewall 20C of the cushion 
may be of any suitable size consistent with the construction of the 
earring 22. 
In one commercial embodiment of the invention shown herein the outside 
diameter of the cushion is approximately 11 mm. In that embodiment the 
inside diameter of the central passageway 20E is small, e.g., 3 mm, so 
that the surface area of the top wall 20A which will engage the earlobe is 
kept relatively large. Hence the clamping force applied to the earlobe is 
spread out or dissipated by the relatively large surface area of the 
cushion's top wall 20A. This feature should be contrasted to the prior art 
cushion shown in FIG. 5 wherein a comparably sized cushion has a central 
opening of approximately 6 mm. 
In order to further increase the surface area of the cushion's top wall, 
and hence increase its force dissipation properties, the surface of the 
top wall is not planar (as is the prior art). Rather the surface of the 
top wall 20A is convex. Not only does the convex top surface provide a 
greater area to dissipate the clamping force produced by the earring's 
clip it also provides a gentle curve to the periphery of the cushion where 
it engages the earlobe. This further enhances wearing comfort. 
As should be appreciated from the foregoing the cushion of the subject 
invention is simple in construction, can be manufactured at approximately 
the same low costs as the prior art, and provides enhanced comfort to the 
wearer. 
Without further elaboration the foregoing will so fully illustrate my 
invention that others may, by applying current or future knowledge, adopt 
the same for use under various conditions of service.