Patent Publication Number: US-8539940-B2

Title: Jewelry bench dust shield

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     The present application claims priority to co-pending U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/111,682, filed 5 Nov. 2008, which is hereby incorporated by reference into the present application. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to jewelry bench dust shields. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Jewelers typically work at benches where stones are ground and cut. Dust is a bothersome byproduct of this profession. It gets in the eyes, hair, and orifices of the jewelers. Moreover, the dust generated obscures the jewelers vision 
     There is a need for a dust shield that protects a jewelers face from the dust generated from cutting stones and which helps reduce the vision obscurity created by such dust. 
     SUMMARY AND ADVANTAGES 
     A jewelry bench dust shield including a base attachable to a jewelry bench, an arm pivotally attached to said base, and a dust shield attached to said arm. A jewelry bench dust shield including a vacuum triggering pivoting arm, a trigger holding arm pivot base attachable to a jewelry bench, and a face plate connected to said arm. A jewelry bench dust shield including a base attachable to a jewelry bench, a vacuum trigger connected to said base having a wire connectable to a vacuum, an arm pivotally attached to said base, said arm having an extension portion which depresses said trigger when arm is lowered, and which releases said trigger when arm is raised, and a face plate connected to said arm. 
     The jewelry bench dust shield of the present invention presents numerous advantages, including: (1) stops stone and metal ground dust and/or polished dust from reaching the jeweler&#39;s orifices, hair and face; (2) automatically triggers a vacuum when the shield face plate is lowered and automatically ceases the triggering action when the shield face plate is raised; and (3) can easily be attached to existing jewelry benches; improves jeweler vision during grinding. 
     Additional advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. Further benefits and advantages of the embodiments of the invention will become apparent from consideration of the following detailed description given with reference to the accompanying drawings, which specify and show preferred embodiments of the present invention. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated into and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate one or more embodiments of the present invention and, together with the detailed description, serve to explain the principles and implementations of the invention. 
         FIG. 1  shows an embodiment of Applicant&#39;s jewelry bench dust shield attached to a jeweler&#39;s bench. 
         FIG. 2  shows another view of the embodiment of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  shows another view of the embodiment of  FIG. 1  unattached from a jeweler&#39;s bench 
     
    
    
     REFERENCE NUMBERS USED IN DRAWINGS 
     Turning now descriptively to the drawings, in which similar reference characters denote similar elements throughout the several views, the figures illustrate the jewelry bench dust shield of the present invention. With regard to the reference numerals used, the following numbering is used throughout the various drawing figures:
           10  Jewelry bench dust shield     12  Base     14  Arm     16  Arm extending portion     18  Face plate     20  Trigger     22  Vacuum line   B Jeweler&#39;s bench   BA Jeweler&#39;s bench anvil   BP Jeweler&#39;s bench pin       

     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Before beginning a detailed description of the subject invention, mention of the following is in order. When appropriate, like reference materials and characters are used to designate identical, corresponding, or similar components in differing figure drawings. The figure drawings associated with this disclosure typically are not drawn with dimensional accuracy to scale, i.e., such drawings have been drafted with a focus on clarity of viewing and understanding rather than dimensional accuracy. 
     In the interest of clarity, not all of the routine features of the implementations described herein are shown and described. It will, of course, be appreciated that in the development of any such actual implementation, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made in order to achieve the developer&#39;s specific goals, such as compliance with application- and business-related constraints, and that these specific goals will vary from one implementation to another and from one developer to another. Moreover, it will be appreciated that such a development effort might be complex and time-consuming, but would nevertheless be a routine undertaking of engineering for those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure. 
     A jewelry bench dust shield including a base attachable to a jewelry bench, an arm pivotally attached to said base, and a dust shield attached to said arm. A jewelry bench dust shield including a vacuum triggering pivoting arm, a trigger holding arm pivot base attachable to a jewelry bench, and a face plate connected to said arm. A jewelry bench dust shield including a base attachable to a jewelry bench, a vacuum trigger connected to said base having a write connectable to a vacuum, an arm pivotally attached to said base, said arm having an extension portion which depresses said trigger when arm is lowered, and which releases said trigger when arm is raised, and a face plate connected to said arm. 
     As shown in  FIGS. 1-3 , a jewelry bench dust shield  10  is provided and includes a base  12 , an arm  14 , and a face plate  18 . A jewelry bench dust shield  10  can further include a vacuum trigger  20  connectable to a vacuum (not shown) by a wire (not shown) for automatically triggering a dust vacuum when the arm  14  and face plate  18  are lowered, and stopping the dust vacuum when the am  14  and face plate  18  are raised.
         Base  12  attaches to a jeweler&#39;s bench B, immediately behind jeweler&#39;s bench anvil BA and jeweler&#39;s bench pin, BP, as shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 .       

     Arm  14  pivotally connects to the base  12  to be raised and lowered. Arm  14  is preferably not loosely connected, but connected with friction opposition so that arm  14  stays in the position at which the user leaves it. 
     Face plate  18  connects to the arm  14  and is a transparent shield, preferably curved, of sufficient width and length to provide a shield to the users face, preferably 4 inches by 10 inches. 
     Vacuum trigger  20  is attached to the base  12  below the arm  14 . Arm  14  preferably has an extending portion  16  where it connects to the base  12  such that when the arm  14  is lowered, the extending portion  16  depresses the trigger  20 . Electric line  22  runs from the trigger  20  to the vacuum (not shown). 
     In operation in one embodiment, the jeweler at the dust bench B, having previously attached the jewelry bench dust shield  10  to the bench B as shone in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , lowers the arm  14  and face plate  18  upon preparing to grind and polish metals and stones. This depresses the trigger  20 , starting the vacuum. The dust generated by the grinding or polishing is stopped from obscuring the jeweler&#39;s face and from reaching the jewelers&#39; hair, face, eyes, and orifices by the face plate  18  and also by the action of the trigger  20  activated vacuum which reduces the amount of dust being generated between the object being ground or polished and the face plate  18 . When the jeweler is done grinding or polishing, the jeweler raises the arm  14  and face plate  18 , which ceases the depression of the vacuum trigger  20  stopping the vacuum. 
     In operation in another embodiment, the jeweler at the dust bench B, having previously attached the jewelry bench dust shield  10  to the bench B as shone in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , lowers the arm  14  and face plate  18  upon preparing to grind and polish metals and stones. The dust generated by the grinding or polishing is stopped from obscuring the jeweler&#39;s face and from reaching the jewelers&#39; hair, face, eyes, and orifices by the face plate  18 . When the jeweler is done grinding or polishing, the jeweler raises the arm  14  and face plate  18 . 
     Those skilled in the art will recognize that numerous modifications and changes may be made to the preferred embodiment without departing from the scope of the claimed invention. It will, of course, be understood that modifications of the invention, in its various aspects, will be apparent to those skilled in the art, some being apparent only after study, others being matters of routine mechanical, chemical and electronic design. No single feature, function or property of the preferred embodiment is essential. Other embodiments are possible, their specific designs depending upon the particular application. As such, the scope of the invention should not be limited by the particular embodiments herein described but should be defined only by the appended claims and equivalents thereof.