Patent Publication Number: US-2009235689-A1

Title: Gemstone jewelry with enhanced appearance

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to enhancing the appearance of gemstones, and particularly to enhancing the size and sparkle appearance of gemstones such as diamonds in presentation jewelry settings such as rings, pendants, bracelets, brooches and the like. 
     Gemstones are almost always worn or displayed in jewelry settings which are designed to enhance appearance. The most common of such settings and displays are rings, pendants, bracelets, brooches and the like and typical expedients for enhancing settings include the decorative use of surrounding a large central gemstone with smaller gems or chips of smaller sizes or of different cuts such as baguettes. Precious metals, such as gold and platinum, most commonly provide the base settings. Other expedients for enhancing appearance include the use of settings or mountings which elevate the gemstones to provide a larger appearance or the use of different gem cuts which enhance sparkle or brilliance. Since appearance with respect to jewelry is paramount, measures which provide illusions of enhanced or increased size, innovative decorative settings, and improved gem sparkle or brilliance are prized. 
     SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE 
     It is accordingly an object of the present disclosure to provide a method and a setting element for gemstones, such as diamonds, which provides the realistic illusion of a significantly larger gemstone. 
     It is a further object of the present disclosure to provide setting elements for gemstones which are matched in general color to that of the gemstones and which are non-planar to provide efficient reflective interaction with facets of the gem to make the gemstone appear larger. 
     It is another object of the present disclosure to provide a setting for gemstones such as diamonds which enhances the appearance of the gemstone by increasing the sparkle of the gemstone under ambient light. 
     It is yet another object of the present disclosure to provide such increased sparkle by providing a holding setting of the gemstone with one or more openings to permit increased ambient light to strike the underside of the gemstone normally not viewably exposed. 
     These and other objects, features and advantages of the present disclosure will become more evident from the following discussion and drawings in which: 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a front view of a round yellow diamond in a setting having peripheral diamond chips and the size enhancing setting element of the present invention; 
         FIG. 1   a  is a side view of the setting element shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 2  is a front view of a ring with a setting having an octangular yellow diamond gemstone; 
         FIG. 3  is a front view of a ring with a setting having an emerald cut white diamond gemstone; 
         FIGS. 4   a  and  4   b  are partial front views of pendant settings for triangle and pear shaped diamond gemstones; 
         FIG. 5  is a front view of a bracelet setting for a cushion shaped diamond gemstone; 
         FIG. 6  is a bottom perspective view of a ring comprised of substantially separated elements; 
         FIG. 7  is a side view of the ring of  FIG. 6  (with both right and left side views being symmetrically identical); 
         FIGS. 8 and 9  are views similar to those of  FIGS. 6 and 7  but of a ring of different design, with separated ring elements, a setting without the main gemstone and with fitted translucent small gemstone fitted into the separations between the separated ring elements; 
         FIGS. 10 and 11  are views similar to those of  FIGS. 6 and 7  but of a ring of different design with separated ring elements, with a series of tapered progressively smaller gemstones fitted into a gold insert within the separation between the separated ring elements; and 
         FIGS. 12 and 13  are views similar to those of  FIGS. 10 and 11  but without the side fitted gemstones. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     Generally the present disclosure comprises a gem setting and a method therefore for enhancing gemstone appearance, such as a diamond, in articles of jewelry by causing an optical perception of increased size and/or enhancing the sparkle of the gemstone. The present invention further comprises the gemstone settings and articles of jewelry with gemstones having such enhanced appearance. In accordance with the present invention a visible exposed surface of a gemstone having a lateral contour (determined by the particular cut of the gemstone) is closely surrounded by a length of a narrow strip of a reflective material such as of a precious metal of platinum or gold having an exposed non-planar reflective surface. It is understood that reflective materials of non-precious metals and the like are similarly operable in accordance with the present invention but in keeping with the value and cachet of jewelry it is preferred that precious materials be used. The length of the narrow strip follows at least a portion of the contour with the side of the narrow strip closely abutting the contour and preferably completely surrounds the visibly exposed surface of the gemstone whereby the exposed non-planar reflective surface of the narrow strip provides a lateral extension of the visibly exposed surface of the gemstone. The width of the narrow strip across the reflective surface is preferably between about 0.2 to 0.6 mm and is regularly non-planar with a repeated uniform pattern, preferably along its length, such as with a continuous sinusoidal type pattern of flats and troughs. If overall symmetry is not required, such as with non symmetrical gemstones, the non planer configuration may be appropriately and correspondingly non-regular or asymmetrical. 
     To further enhance the size enhancement appearance as an extension of the gemstone, the color of the narrow strip is approximately matched to that of the gemstone with, for example, yellow gold being used with a yellow diamond and platinum being appropriately used with colorless gemstones. Other colored gemstones can be matched to the gray or mirror-like reflective platinum. The color matched reflective strip is positioned adjacent the exposed surface of the gemstone and preferably directly adjacent a line on the gemstone such as the girdle line of the exposed portion of a diamond, whereby its non-planar surface efficiently reflectively interacts with the facets of the diamond or other gemstone to create an optical illusion of a larger size gemstone. With the strip size width of from 0.2 to 0.6 mm, the exposed surface diameter of the diamond or other gemstone is increased in size, by perception, by from about 0.4 to 1.2 mm. 
     Depending on the cut of the gemstone, this can provide a significant illusional increase in size of, for instance, from the appearance of a four and a half carat gemstone to that of a six carat gemstone or about an additional third of the original gemstone size. 
     The dimensional parameters of the narrow strip are generally functions of perception in a particular setting and are specifically related to the eye being able to discern the narrow strip as being separate from the gemstone. Thus, a greater width of the strip which tends to perceptibly separate the strip as a separate element or deviations from planar which are too little or too much and which do not appropriately reflectively interact with the gems facets (which may also be a function of the cut of the gemstone) to provide appropriate reflective intermeshing, is to be avoided. A planar strip is however simply decorative and does not provide the interactive reflectivity required for the optical illusion of greater size. 
     Though ideally the narrow strip should completely peripherally surround the gemstone, in settings where chips are directly set against the central gemstone or where there is little or no room for a full peripheral narrow strip, the strip may be partial rather than completely circumferential (or peripherally enclosing) to at least symmetrically enhance size appearance of portions of the central gemstone. 
     In another aspect of the present invention, with the central gemstone and smaller stones or chips which may surround it, particularly in a ring setting, the ring (or other supporting member or setting) is laterally split into separate elements to permit ambient light to enter the separation between the elements and strike the sides or underside of the gemstones to increase sparkle. In embodiments of the present invention, the separations or splits in themselves provide settings for additional chips, which are transparent or translucent and which permit the ambient light to pass through them for the requisite sparkle enhancement and increased ornamentation appearance. Alternatively, the spacing may be filled with decorative inserts of precious metal such as gold or platinum, with or without imbedded small gems. If the ring elements comprise total splits into separate members then a web connector or one or more bridging element are necessary to keep the ring from falling apart. In such embodiments, the web element may be further ornamented with monograms or designs which may be dictated by the designer for identification (with an imparted cachet) or by the purchaser for personalization. 
     With specific reference to the drawings,  FIGS. 1-5  depict various embodiments of gemstone settings with the narrow strip elements or strips of the present invention. Round yellow diamond  10  is shown in  FIG. 1  in a generic jewel setting  11 . Diamond  10  is surrounded by small chips  13  which are spaced therefrom by narrow non-planar circular strip  12  made of a generally matching yellow gold. 
     The non-planar nature of the narrow strip  12  is more clearly seen in  FIG. 1   a  , wherein strip  12  has troughs  12   a  and flats  12   b . Strip  12  is shown as being peripherally adjacent the girdle section  10   a  of diamond  10  for maximum reflective effect. Though  FIG. 1  clearly shows a demarcation between the center diamond  10  and strip  12  the actual visual effect with real reflections, not perceptible in drawing depiction, is that of the strip  12  blending into the appearance of the diamond  10  by multiple reflections of the facets with an optical effect of a larger than actual size diamond. 
       FIGS. 2 and 3  depict rings  21  and  31  with center yellow and white diamonds  20  and  30  respectively of octangular and emerald cuts respectively. The respective non-planar narrow strips  22  and  32  follow the contours of the respective diamonds with the strips being outwardly and adjacently surrounded by diamond chips  23  and  33  respectively. Similarly the pendants  41  and  51  of  FIGS. 4   a  and  4   b  having center white and yellow gemstones  40  and  50  of triangle and pear shape respectively have non planar strips  42  and  52  which adjacently follow the contours of the respective gemstones  40  and  50 . It is preferred for enhanced reflectivity and appearance that the narrow strip be adjacent to gemstones on all of its visible sides.  FIG. 5  shows a bracelet setting  61  with a cushion shaped yellow center gemstone diamond  60  surrounded by non planar narrow yellow strip  62  which is in turn surrounded by diamond chips  63 . It is understood that the diamond chips need not be color matched to the center gemstone or narrow strip and are generally clear. It is also understood that the enhanced configuration is possible with any type of gemstone based jewelry having a similar setting and configuration of gemstones. 
       FIGS. 6 and 7  depict various views of ring  71 . The band of the ring is comprised of separated elements  74   a  and  74   b  of gold which are laterally connected with yellow gold bridge members  75   a  and  75   b  respectively and a bottom web  76 . As seen in  FIG. 7 , the side section  70   a  of central diamond  70  is fully accessible to ambient light through the openings  77  on both right and left sides of the ring and through the clear diamond set between the separated elements. As a result, the light continues through the transparent to translucent gemstone to increase the sparkle and fire of the gemstone. The connecting web  76  at the bottom of the ring is modernistically configured with a monogram with such connecting web being readily replaceable for personalized use. 
     The embodiment shown in  FIGS. 8 and 9  is a ring  81  shown with the open setting seat  88  having an open bottom to permit exposed placement of an appropriately sized gemstone therein. The ring  81  is similar to the ring embodiment shown in  FIGS. 6 and 7  in overall structure but with small triangle diamond chips  88  being positioned within the openings  87  and is entirely of yellow gold. Because of the transparency of the diamond chips  88 , ambient light is able to pass through the chips to the center gemstone (when emplaced) for increased sparkle. 
     Ring  91  shown in  FIGS. 10 and 11  has similar separated elements  94   a  and  94   b  of platinum but with a centrally positioned yellow diamond  90  and decorative white diamond chips  93  placed in series along the visible circumference of elements  94   a  and  94   b . In this embodiment, the separated elements  94   a  and  94   b  define side channels  97  into which a gold insert  95  is placed and into which insert, round diamond chips  98  are positioned in a row for decorative effect and the chips permitting ambient light to pass therethrough for increasing the sparkle of central diamond  90 . 
     The ring  100  of  FIGS. 12 and 13  is similar to that of ring  91  of  FIGS. 10 and 11  but with a central white diamond  101  and without diamond chips in gold insert  105 . Instead lateral support frame  102  of gold and platinum elements  102   a  and  102   b  has diamond chips  104  imbedded therein to permit ambient light access throughout to increase sparkle of central diamond  101 . 
     It is understood that the above discussion and embodiments are merely exemplary of the present invention with changes being possible in components, structure and relative configurations without departing from the scope of the present invention as defined in the following claims.