Patent Publication Number: US-9888750-B2

Title: Manual tool for precision forming of ear wires for jewelry

Description:
CLAIM FOR PRIORITY 
     This Non-Provisional patent application is based on U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/989,613, of the same title, filed on May 7, 2014, the priority of which is claimed, and the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Beading is a hobby which had become highly popular for forming unique, inexpensive decorative items of adornment. As beaders progress in their level of skill, it becomes increasingly important to them to produce items of high quality and professional appearance even though they are often given away to grand children and other family members. To this end, beading supplies are offered to ensure that the beaded items have a quality that would be considered attractive by the intended wearers. However, these supplies must also be inexpensive and easily manipulable by the intended users even if hampered by arthritis and failing strength. Ear rings for pierced ears have been quite difficult for beaders to produce to levels of quality that they would consider acceptable, particularly because hand formed wires simply do not meet the expected level of appearance that can be obtained with other commonly produced beaded items, particularly bracelets and necklaces. The large loop in a standard ear wire is particularly difficult to form using tools heretofore available to beaders. However, even if the beader purchases preformed ear wires, those items commonly sold still require the beader to form bends or kinks in the ear wire which can be difficult to form to the beaders&#39; standards of acceptability. This invention relates to a tool for reproducibly forming ear wires of a highly finished appearance from beading wire which provides ample levels of mechanical advantage so that beaders can form ear wires using very little effort. This can be especially important for beaders of advanced age. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention provides a manually operable tool for bending of an ear wire blank into a configuration including an open “U” section and a smaller substantially closed loop terminating one of the uprights of the “U”. The manually operable tool comprises: a pair of handles urgable together; an anvil plate having an arcuate minor forming slot, an arcuate major forming slot, a circumferential gear formed on one side of the anvil plate adjacent to the minor forming slot; and a forming anvil formed on the other side of the anvil plate; a first forming link having a downwardly projecting forming link rod projecting through the major forming slot and engagable against one side of a wire blank disposed upon the anvil plate; a second forming link having a downwardly projecting stanchion projecting therefrom and protruding through the major forming slot; each of the first and said second forming links being pivotably joined to anvil plate; a planetary gear rotatable around the downwardly projecting forming link rod on said upper forming link, the forming link rod projecting through said minor forming slot, the planetary gear being engagable against the circumferential gear and having an eccentric forming rod projecting downwardly through the minor forming slot and engaging the side of a wire blank on the anvil plate; the handles being pivotally joined to said anvil plate and urgable toward each other; and a linkage urging: the upper forming link to rotate in a first direction in response to said handles being urged toward each other; urging said lower forming link to rotate in a second direction counter to the first direction; and forcing the ear-wire blank against the forming anvil. 
     Other aspects and advantages of the present invention are described in the detailed description below and in the claims. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The invention is described in detail below with reference to the appended drawings, wherein like numerals designate similar parts. In the Figures: 
         FIGS. 1, 2 and 3  are forming side, elevational and reverse views of a forming tool of the present invention, respectively. 
         FIGS. 4 through 6  are exploded isometric perspective views of the forming tool of the present invention with  FIG. 5  being an enlarged detail of  FIG. 4 . 
         FIG. 7  is a detail of a plan view of the forming side of the anvil plate of the forming tool of the present invention. 
         FIG. 8  is an isometric perspective of the lower side of the anvil plate of the forming tool of the present invention. 
         FIG. 9  is a detail of a plan view of the lower side of the forming tool of the present invention illustrating the linkages and mechanism thereof visible in the assembled tool. 
         FIG. 10  is an isometric perspective of the forming linkages of the forming tool of the present invention. 
         FIGS. 11-13  illustrate the details of the forming motion forming a substantially closed loop in an ear wire blank. 
         FIG. 14  illustrates an ear wire produced by the forming tool of the present invention. 
         FIGS. 15 and 16  are exploded isometric perspective views of a mirror image forming tool of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     The invention is described in detail below with reference to several embodiments and numerous examples. Such discussion is for purposes of illustration only. Modifications to particular examples within the spirit and scope of the present invention, set forth in the appended claims, will be readily apparent to one of skill in the art. Terminology used herein is given its ordinary meaning consistent with the exemplary definitions set forth immediately below. 
     Ear wire forming tool  22  of the present invention comprises right handle  24  and left handle  28  wherein both handles  24  and  28  are preferably of substantially full tang construction so that right handle tang  26  and left handle tang  30  extend for most of the full length of handles  24  and  28  respectively leaving, of course, a cushion at the very end, providing for rigidity and the ability to accommodate the considerable mechanical advantage provided by the present invention. Handles  24  and  28  are pivotably joined to anvil plate  32  by major pivot stanchion  142  interpenetrating right handle tang  26  via right handle pivot aperture  100  and left handle tang  30  via left handle tang pivot aperture  102 . For easy assembly and disassembly, major pivot stanchion  142  is capped with retaining ring  106  which restricts dislodgment of tangs  26  and  30  from major pivot stanchion  142  during use. Throughout the remainder of this specification, retaining rings will not be belabored with numbers even though illustrated in the drawings as any convenient retention means may be employed to retain pivoting structures in proper relationship to each other including integrally formed caps, cotter pins, capped screws, bolts, nuts and the like. 
     Lower linkage arm  40  is pivotably joined to left handle tang  30  by left linkage pin  116  passing through left handle tang linkage aperture  110  and right lower linkage arm aperture  150  in lower linkage arm  40 , while upper linkage arm  38  is pivotably joined to right handle tang  26  via right linkage pin  112  passing through right upper linkage arm aperture  118  in upper linkage arm  38  and right handle tang linkage aperture  120  in right handle tang  26 . Upper floating bar  36  is pivotably joined to lower floating bar  42 , upper linkage arm  38  and lower linkage arm  40  via translating pin  114  passing through upper floating bar inner aperture  154 , left upper linkage aperture  152 , left lower linkage arm aperture  108 , lower floating bar inner aperture  148  and longitudinal slot  158  in anvil plate  32 . Translating pin  114  is of sufficient length that it translates fore and aft in longitudinal slot  158  in anvil plate  32 , moving aft (away from major pivot stanchion  142 ) as right handle  24  and left handle  28  are urged together. When inward pressure is removed from handles  24  and  28 , translating pin  114  is urged forwardly toward major pivot stanchion  142  by spring  31  looped over translating pin  114  at its aft end and over major pivot stanchion  142  at its other. 
     First terraced floating bar  36  is pivotably joined to upper forming link  44  via upper forming link stanchion  127  passing through outer aperture  104  of first terraced floating bar  36 , with planetary gear  48  riding on upper forming link pin  126  which is co-axial with upper forming link stanchion  127 . Upper forming link pin  126  passes through planetary gear aperture  132  with planetary gear  48  engaging circumferential gear  52  in anvil plate  32  while upper forming link pin  126  rides in minor forming slot  156  in anvil plate  32  and planetary gear forming rod  134  similarly protrudes through minor forming slot  156  in anvil plate  32 . Both upper forming link  44  and lower forming link  46  are pivotably joined to anvil plate  32  via forming stanchion  144  passing through lower forming link aperture  130  as well as through upper forming link aperture  122 . Second terraced floating bar  42  is pivotably connected to lower forming link  46  via lower forming link central stanchion  128  passing through lower floating bar outer aperture  124  with lower forming link left stanchion  146  riding in major forming slot  140 . Note that the lower level of second terraced floating bar  42 , lower forming link  46  and planetary gear  48  all are disposed within recess  50  in anvil plate  32  in one plane with lower linkage arm  40 , right handle tang  26 , the upper level of second terraced floating bar  42  and upper forming link  44  lying in a second plane and the lower level of first terraced floating bar  36 , upper linkage arm  38 , and left handle tang  30  all lying in a third plane, thereby providing a compact, efficient arrangement of a great many moving parts. 
     As seen in  FIG. 7 , upper forming link pin  126 , passing through planetary gear aperture  132 , engages the lower side of wire  20  at recess  254  while planetary gear forming rod  134  engages the upper surface of wire  20  and lower forming link left stanchion  146  engages the lower side of wire  20  as it rests against retaining wall  252  prior to the forming operation. 
       FIGS. 7 and 11-13  illustrate the operation of ear wire forming tool  22  with wire  20  initially lying against forming wall  252  with one end entrapped between upper forming link pin  126  resting in minor forming loop forming recess  254  and planetary gear forming rod  134  at location  134   a  and the other end engaging lower forming link left stanchion  146 . In  FIG. 11 , the initial position of planetary gear  48  is shown in phantom as it lies beneath anvil plate  32 . As handles  24  and  28  are urged inwardly together, translating pin  114 , passing through apertures  154 ,  152 ,  108  and  148  and riding in longitudinal slot  158 , is urged rearwardly against the force of spring  31 . As first terraced floating bar  36  and second terraced floating bar  42  are drawn rearwardly, upper forming link stanchion  127  on upper forming link  44  is similarly drawn rearwardly, urging upper forming link pin  126  passing through planetary gear aperture  132  on planetary gear  48  to move rearwardly and inwardly as it engages circumferential gear  52  in anvil plate  32  and thereby causing planetary gear  48  to rotate counter-clockwise from the vantage point of  FIG. 5 , with planetary gear forming rod  134  initially following the outer most trace of minor forming slot  156  until it begins following the inner most trace at about the point adjacent the tip of arrow  156  in  FIG. 7 . Simultaneously, upper forming link pin  126  begins following the inner-most trace of minor forming slot  156  as shown in  FIG. 12  but as shown in  FIG. 13  switches over and begins following the outer-most trace. This motion of upper forming link pin  126  and planetary gear forming rod  134  wraps the right tip of wire  20  around upper forming link pin  126  forming loop  135  of formed ear wire  21  as shown in  FIG. 14 . Concurrently with handles  24  and  28  being urged inwardly together, lower forming link left stanchion  146  traverses major forming slot  140  and engages the lower side of wire  20  at its left end at the beginning of the forming operation and wraps wire  20  around anvil loop  136  forming bend  137  therein at the very end of the forming cycle as the left most tip thereof is pressed against anvil rod  138  thereby forming ear wire  21  as shown in  FIG. 14 . 
     In many cases, it will be possible to form most of the ear wire forming tool of the present invention almost entirely out of a polymeric material such as ABS, a relatively high molecular polyethylene, high strength nylon or any other reasonably strong material, it being of course understood that metals are in most cases more than adequate. If the election is made to use polymeric materials extensively, it may be prudent to form the planetary gear or at least the axle on which it rides out of metal. 
     While the invention has been described in detail, modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will be readily apparent to those of skill in the art. In view of the foregoing discussion, relevant knowledge in the art and references discussed above in connection with the Background and Detailed Description, the disclosures of which are all incorporated herein by reference, further description is deemed unnecessary. In addition, it should be understood that aspects of the invention and portions of various embodiments may be combined or interchanged either in whole or in part. Furthermore, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the foregoing description is by way of example only, and is not intended to limit the invention.