Patent ID: 7409763

Claim:
A method of stringing beads comprising the steps of providing at least one stopping bead each including a substantially closed seamless metal shell having a pair of aligned holes therein and a heat-shrinkable plastic tube having a cross-section no smaller than said holes inside the shell in alignment with said holes; threading an elongated slender support having a cross-section slightly smaller than that of said passage through said holes and said passage so that the shell is located at a selected location along the support; providing additional beads having holes therein; threading said support through the holes of the additional beads so that the additional beads are positioned along the support relative to said at least one stopping bead, and without heating the additional beads, locally heating the shell of said at least one stopping bead sufficiently to radially shrink the tube therein so that said tube therein engages tightly around the support thereby permanently fastening said at least one stopping bead to the support.