Patent ID: 7013674

Claim:
A jewelry article comprising at least two jewelry-forming components, wherein a first jewelry-forming component comprises a body member having a first magnetized portion and a tubular female element associated therewith for magnetically attracting and receiving a tubular male element of another jewelry-forming component, and wherein a second jewelry-forming component comprises a body member having a magnetized portion and at least one tubular male element associated therewith that is magnetically attracted to the magnetized portion of the tubular female element of the first jewelry-forming component, with the magnetized portions of the components providing a minimum magnetic strength that is sufficient to retain the tubular male element within the tubular female element and a maximum magnetic strength that can be overcome by a person's hand strength to separate the male and female elements; and wherein the body member of the first component also includes a further element that is magnetically responsive for magnetically coupling with the second or another jewelry-forming component to form an article of jewelry, with the tubular female element of the first jewelry-forming component located at one end of the body member and having a tubular end portion with internal dimensions defining a cavity having a depth sufficient to receive the male element of the second jewelry-forming component, and the tubular male element of the second jewelry-forming component having a forward end with external dimensions that are smaller than the internal dimensions of the cavity of the female element of the first jewelry-forming component, so that the forward end of the tubular male element can be received at different positional relationships within the female element cavity to enable the article to be self-sizing to the wearer and with the magnetic strength between the elements enabling the user's hand force to withdraw the forward end of the male element from the cavity of the female element, and further wherein the further element of the first component is a tubular male element that extends away from the female element and is located on the opposite end of the body member, with the male element having a forward end that is magnetically attracted to a magnetically responsive tubular female element of the body member of the second or another jewelry-forming component.