IMPROVEMENTS IN EARRINGS
Year: 1875

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alfred Arnold at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 23rd
August 1875.
I, ALFRED ARNOLD, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,'
Manufacturing Jeweller; do hereby declare the nature of the said In-
vention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN EARRINGS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in constructing in the manner herein-after'
described the parts of earrings, the object of my said Invention being to
effect the fastening of the earring in an efficient manuer as well as to
give an improved appearance to the earring.
I make the earring of two drops, having any desired ornamental shape,.
and an ear wire having a bow figure, the said drops being situated at:
opposite ends of the said bow-shaped wire.
One of the drops is permanently connected to the end of the ear wire,..
but is capable of motion about the said end, while the other drop is,
capable of being fastened to and unfastened from the end of the ear;

page_text: ear.
For the purpose of securing the drops to the ear wire I use at the
summit of each drop a socket piece, which may be of a globular or
cylindrical figure. The fixed drop is connected to the ear wire by a
globular head on the said wire, working in the globular or cylindrical
socket after the manner of a ball-and-socket joint. The socket of the
moveable drop is fastened to the ear wire in the following way :-On the
end of the ear wire to which the moveable drop is to be fastened is
a pointed head with a neck, and in the socket is a cross slot passing
about half way round the said socket. The lower end of the slot is
expanded, and has a size proper to receive the pointed head of the wire.
After the wire to which the fixed drop is attached has been passed
through the lobe of the ear, the expanded end of the slot in the socket
of the moveable drop is passed on to and engaged with the pointed
head of the wire. By then moving the socket upon the wire through
about a semicircle the pointed head passes into the narrow part of the
slot, and the drop is securely fastened to the wire and the earring to the
ear, the weight of the drop maintaining the pointed head of the wire in
the upper and narrow part of the slot in the socket. By moving the
socket until the expanded part of the slot is brought opposite the
pointed head of the wire, the said socket can be drawn off the said head,
and the moveable drop separated from the wire, and the latter may be
detached from the ear.
In order to increase the safety of the fastening, the slot in the socket
may be covered after the drop has been fastened to the wire. This is
effected by placing inside the socket a covering plate having a slot in it
of the shape, size, and position of that in the socket. When the slot in
the covering plate and that in the socket are coincident, the drop may
be fastened to or unfastened from the wire, and when the covering plate
is moved so that its slot is no longer opposite that in the socket, the
said socket cannot be withdrawn from the head of the wire which has
been passed into the slot of the socket. When this construction is used,
I prefer to give the socket a cylindrical figure and to form the covering
plate of a slotted tube working within the tubular socket, the inner and
outer tubes having studs upon them, whereby one of them may be
turned in or upon the other when it is required to fasten or unfasten the

page_text: earring. This safety or covering plate may also be applied to globular
sockets. The connection of the fixed drop to the ear wire may be
effected in various ways.
In order to vary the ornamental character of the earring, more than
two drops, or a single drop may be employed, the connection of the
moveable drop to the ear wire being effected substantially as herein-
before described.