Abstract:
An item of jewelry having an having an essentially linear construction made of swivel elements linked together to produce a closed loop by connecting first and second end pieces belonging to opposite ends, wherein a clasp thereof includes a pin attached to the first end piece and passes through a hole belonging to the second end piece, at least one end of the pin having a swelling (enlarged end) suited to snapping into a safety clip provided with intrinsic elasticity and rotatably coupled to the first or to the second end piece.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The invention concerns a simplified clasp for items of jewelry or costume jewelry produced with linked elements suited for instance to produce bracelets or necklaces. 
     2. The Prior Art 
     According to known techniques both bracelets and necklaces, or likewise any items that have a closed loop form, are fastened to the arm of whoever wears them by mechanical devices called “clasps”. These clasps basically consist of a box with a slot that holds a male member, which works together with the connecting devices in the box and makes a firm connection of the two ends of the linked item. 
     There are various types of clasps, but it can be said that every clasp essentially has a female member with a basically boxed construction, being rather complicated to produce, and a male member with a tongue that fits into the slot in t he female member. The production of clasps is quite intricate because it involves several stages of processing such as for example blanking, bending and soldering the boxed female member and other processes for the male member. What&#39;s more, both the female fastener and the male piece have to be soldered or somehow attached to the ends of the linked elements that they have to fasten. Besides, since various work cycles have to be carried out on the clasp, such as for instance soldering the various pieces, and since the jewelry, and especially the goldsmith sector which employs these clasps, demands a high quality finish, it is understandable that the processing of the clasps requires the commitment of specialist personnel and also considerable time to work and refine the finish of the clasp. 
     The main object of this invention is to dramatically eliminate work time on the clasp, proposing a simplified clasp that nevertheless achieves the same scopes of known clasps. 
     One of the objects of this invention is also for the proposed clasp to be a very reliable fastener, that resists well to tugs and opening whether by accident or due to acts of violence. 
     Another object that the invention intends to achieve is that the proposed clasp is easy to use and can even be handled by a just one hand so that the user can open and close the clasp without the help of another person, as is the case for instance with bracelets where one hand is blocked since it has to be kept still to receive the actual bracelet. 
     Another object that it intends to achieve is to drastically reduce the cost of the clasp and its production time. 
     Yet another object is to produce a clasp as effective as any made from known techniques and that actually weighs considerably less than known clasps. The reason for this second need is evident especially in clasps made of precious metals, where the lighter weight of the product is an essential condition for keeping down the cost of the item, this being an important factor for it&#39;s success on the market. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     All the aforementioned objects and others that shall be better explained below are achieved by a clasp for items of jewelry having an essentially linear construction made of swivel elements linked together to produce a closed loop by connecting first and second end pieces belonging to opposite ends of the item where the clasp is characterised in that it includes a pin attached to the first end piece through a hole belonging to the second end piece, at least one end of the pin having a swelling suited to snapping into a safety clip provided with intrinsic elasticity and rotably coupled on said first or said second end piece. 
     One advantage of this invention is that the so-called box of the clasp, in other words the female part, has now been completely eliminated with the device invention being replaced, as will be seen below, by a spring clip that works together with the male part made, under this invention, of the swollen tip of a pin. Additional characteristics and details of the invention shall be better explained in the description of two preferred forms of execution of the invention given as a guideline but not a limitation, illustrated in the attached drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 illustrates a typical example of a linked chain suited to producing a bracelet with the clasp invention; 
     FIG. 2 shows the end pieces before being joined together; 
     FIG. 2 a  shows a detail of FIG. 2; 
     FIG. 3 shows the end pieces joined together by the clasp invention; 
     FIG. 4 shows another example of a chain with linked elements that are interlocked one over another; 
     FIG. 5 shows the end pieces before being joined together by the clasp invention; 
     FIG. 5 a  is an enlarged detail of part of FIG. 5; 
     FIG. 6 shows the end pieces now joined together by the clasp invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     With reference to the above figures, a bracelet with the clasp invention can be seen in FIG. 1, indicated by  1 . FIG. 2 shows how the first end piece  2  has a pin  3  soldered to it, having a swollen tip  31  produced for instance by partially melting the tip of the pin under a flame. The second end piece of the bracelet  1 , indicated by  4 , has a hole  5  with a large enough diameter to allow the entry of swollen tip  31  and therefore also the pin  3 . The second end piece  4  also has an elastic element indicated by  6  that is a clip shaped in the form of a figure of eight and is provided with intrinsic elasticity so that the widening  61  can flex apart to receive the knob  31  and then close back over it in order to prevent the spring clip  6  and pin  3  from detaching, if not due to an intentional action of the user by a lifting movement that gives rise to the deformation. 
     It should be noted that the spring clip  6  in the shape shown in FIG. 2 a  is already known in the jewelry sector, although it is known as a safety element used in conjunction with known clasps and is in fact also called a “safety clasp” or simply “figure of eight”, because of its shape. In effect, it is quite common that known types of clasps can easily open by themselves after extensive use. So the clasp produced as it is, according to known techniques, is sometimes aided by the addition of this “safety clasp” made of the clip  6  and by a knob soldered on the box of the traditional clasp in order to create an additional safety element. 
     As can be seen, with the case in question the clasp&#39;s box has been eliminated, and instead, in a new and original manner, a part of the safety clasp is used, and in other words the spring clip  6 , this time working together with a specific pin having the function of the clasp&#39;s male member. 
     In fact, as can be seen in FIG. 3, when the pin  3  enters the hole  5  belonging to the second end piece  4  the swollen part  31  comes out of the hole  5  so that the spring clip  6  can be clipped onto the end piece  31  and complete the intended fastening. It is already understandable how the construction of the clasp invention has been extremely simplified, since for this purpose it is quite enough to provide a pin with a swollen tip and a shaped spring clip of extremely simple construction and most certainly does not require lengthy processes and costly finishing. 
     The clasp invention, in the form shown in FIGS. 1 to  3 , assumes that the first and second end pieces that are fastened together overlap at least to their sides. 
     On the contrary, FIGS. 4 to  6  show how the clasp invention can effectively be used even for linked elements that are interlocked together like those seen in FIG.  4 . FIG. 4 shows a bracelet  70  that has elements  7  all identical, linked together and each having a female part indicated by  71  that is a cavity in the element  7  and a male part indicated by  72  that, when the elements are linked together, fits into the female part  71 . 
     FIG.  5  and also FIG. 5 a  show a case where the pin  8  is held in the first end piece indicated by  9  that has a hole cutting crossways through the cavity  71  that can be defined as a first hole  91  and a second hole  92  coaxial with each other belonging to the first lobe  73  and the second lobe  74  defining the cavity  71 . The first hole  91  has two diameters, one larger indicated by  91   a  and one smaller indicated by  91   b . The second hole  92  has the same diameter as part  91   a  of hole  91 . The pin  8  has two beads at its two ends, one indicated by  81  and the other indicated by  82 . The bead  81  is sized so that it sits in hole  91   a  without difficulty but its diameter is greater than hole  91   b ; in this way the pin  8  cannot come out of the first hole  91 . In fact there is an additional swelling or knob  82  on the other end of the pin  8 , and therefore the pin  8  cannot come out of the first end piece  9 . In the second end piece  10  there is a hole  721  in the male section  72  with a large enough diameter to allow the bead  81  to pass through it, so that when part  72  of the male end piece  10  fits into the cavity  71 , the pin  8 , as can be seen in FIG. 6, can pass through hole  721  and hole  92  until it juts out to connect with the spring clip  6 , now mounted on the first end piece  9 . 
     Since most linked elements  7  are hollow, if the pin  8  is not adequately directed it has difficulty in finding the hole  92  and pass through it. To avoid this inconvenience, the example in question has been provided with a soldered guide tube  11  as can be seen in FIGS. 5 and 6, so that the pin  8  is always guided in a vertical direction thereby passing through the hole  92  to clip onto the spring clip  6  without difficulty. 
     It can be seen that the clasp invention can be used even in these types of linked elements. The only difference to the first example is that in this case the pin  8  is sliding and not fixed to the first end piece. 
     The description given amply proves the simplicity of construction of the clasp proposed under this invention and also the simplicity of its connection with the first and second end pieces, as this merely requires a hole in the second end piece for the pin to pass through and set a spring clip on the first or second end piece, as the case requires. 
     Therefore, according to the invention, all the lengthy and costly constructions of the clasp&#39;s box and its male member are avoided, the actual clasp is made lighter since the pin with spring clip together weigh substantially less than any kind of traditional clasp and all the finishing processes are eliminated besides the construction of the clasps according to methods conforming to former craft. The result is that, even though the clasp invention ensures absolute reliability and safety, its manufacturing cost and weight are unequivocally lower than clasps from known crafts.