Patent Document

TECHNICAL FIELD 
     This invention relates generally to jewelry and more particularly to a flexible chain of substantially constant cross-sectional outline throughout a major portion of the length thereof and having a narrower necked down area and at least one decorative piece slidable along and retained on the chain and which can be placed on or removed from the chain at said necked down area. 
     BACKGROUND INFORMATION 
     The amount of jewelry worn can vary considerably from one function to another depending upon the occasion and/or mood of the individual wearing the jewelry. To satisfy this it is desirable to have a basic piece of jewelry that decorative pieces can be easily added to and removed from as desired without fear of accidental removal of the added pieces. 
     It is known in the prior art to have a basic jewelry piece and add thereto decorative pieces as desired and by way of example reference maybe had to U.S. Pat. No. 5,816,072 granted Oct. 6, 1998 to T. Michaels. Disclosed therein is a band bracelet with decorative pieces that have a pair of projections defining prongs or lugs and can be slid onto the band from an end or the band may be wedged inbetween the prongs using a twisting motion. The pieces can slide on or off from either of the two ends of the band and thus the patentee discloses utilizing some means to anchor the decorative pieces to the band at the desired location on the band. 
     SUMMARY OF INVENTION 
     The present invention comprises a means of mounting a jewelry piece on a flexible member such as a chain with one or more decorative jewelry pieces having a pair of spaced apart prongs extending therefrom for removably mounting on the chain by way of a narrow necked down minor length portion of the chain preferably adjacent the clasp. Of course, the narrow portion could be located on any position of the chain or the clasp as well, just so that there is a neck having a reduced width between adjoining wider portions of the chain, necklace, or clasp or other means of attachment. By locating the neck adjacent the clasp, decorative mountings can be added or removed by the wearer even without having to disconnect the clasp. The decorative jewelry pieces have an open ended channel in the rear face thereof slidably receiving therein the necklace. A gap in the channel is wider than the narrow necked down portion but narrower than the remainder of the necklace. 
     More particularly, in accordance with the present invention there is provided a jewelry piece comprising a length of flexible chain having detachably interconnectable clasp portions. The clasp portions permit changing the chain from one state to another. It may be worn as a single discrete length or alternately worn in an endless loop. The chain has a necked down narrow portion proximate the clasp with the remainder being of a substantially constant cross-sectional outline dimension throughout its length. At least one ornamental piece having a front decorative face and a rear face, and a pair of spaced apart prongs projecting from the rear face define a channel slidably receiving therein the chain length portion of a constant cross-sectional dimension. The prongs have a space thereinbetween greater than the width of the necked down chain portion but less than the width of the remainder of the chain length. 
     The instant invention may also define a jewelry piece, having a first flexible member having a discrete length and including co-operating inter-connectable clasp portions on opposite ends thereof. A major length portion of the first member is of substantially constant cross-sectional outline and a minor length portion, proximate one of the clasp portions is or reduced width being necked down providing a cross-sectional outline smaller than that of the the major length portion. A second decorative jewelry piece is mounted thereto. The second decorative jewelry piece has a front face and a rear face, and an open ended channel on the rear face. The channel extends in a direction there across and slidably receiving therein the first member. An opening into the channel that is narrower in width than the channel and wider than the necked down portion of the first member permits removably mounting the decorative second member on the first flexible member. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     A better understanding of the present invention will be had upon reference to the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which like numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views and wherein: 
     FIG. 1 is a front view of a piece of jewelry provided in accordance with the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a view of the encircled portion designated  2  in FIG. 1 but on a larger scale; 
     FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line  3 — 3  of FIG. 2; 
     FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line  4 — 4  of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 5 is an oblique exploded view of an ear attachable piece of jewelry; and 
     FIG. 6 is an exploded front face view of an alternative construction for the necklace. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Illustrated in FIGS. 1 to  4  is a piece of jewelry commonly known as a necklace and comprises a length of flexible chain  10  having co-operating detachably inter-connectable clasp portions  30 A and  30 B at opposite ends thereof. The clasp portions permit changing the chain length from one state to the other. In one state the chain is of a discrete length and in the other state the chain is in an endless loop. 
     The chain in a preferred embodiment is made of metal in the well known herring bone weave rendering it flexible and while illustrated as being rectangular in outline cross-sectional shape it could be round, elliptical or of other shape. Of course, the chain can be composed of plastic or other material and be fabricated of multiple links, loops, a continuous strand, or any other selected weave. The chain in the preferred embodiment however is of substantially constant cross-sectional outline size throughout the length thereof except for a minor length portion  11  proximate the clasp where it is necked down to be of narrower width than the remainder of the chain. Of course the dimension of the chain is of no importance other than that the body being greater than in width than the neck. The chain may even comprise several strands joined together at the neck. 
     The basic necklace can be easily and quickly modified by adding thereto one or more decorative jewelry pieces  40  which, as will be seen hereinafter, can also be used as an ear piece illustrated in FIG.  5 . 
     The jewelry piece  40  has a front decorative face  41  and a rear face  42  that has a spaced apart pair of prongs  43  projecting therefrom. The prongs each terminate in an end portion  45  that is turned inwardly toward the other. The prongs provide an open channel  46  that slidably receives therein the chain  10 . The prong terminal ends  45  are spaced apart a distance designated B. The chain necked down portion has a width designated A and the chain a width designated C. The dimension B is greater than A but less than C and this will make it obvious the decorative piece can be placed on and removed from the chain at the necked down portion  11  but elsewhere on the chain is retained thereon by the prongs. 
     The channel  46  is shown as being rectangular but it could readily be of other shape and preferably corresponds to the outline configuration of the chain. Entry to the channel is through the gap between the prong ends  45 . The chain maybe a link type chain with the necked down narrower portion being provided for example by a few joined together links smaller in size that the remainder of the links that provide the major length portion of the chain. 
     The chain  10  is shown in FIG. 1 as comprising length portions  10 A and  10 B having at one end thereof respective clasp portions  30 A and  30 B and at the other end are connected to a decorative piece  20 . In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1 that connection to piece  20  is permanent. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 6 there is a decorative center piece  20 A and detachably connected thereto are respective chain length portions  10 C and  10 D by respective one of a pair of clasp portions  30 A. 
     Referring to FIG. 5 there is illustrated an ear piece  50  comprising a decorative piece  40  slidably mounted on a length of chain  51  having a hole  52  proximate one end and a bar  53  at the other end serving as an abutment for the decorative piece  40 . The ear piece is mounted on the ear by a conventional headed pin  54  having a detachable clasp  55 . 
     A necklace of the present invention, in it&#39;s simplest form consists of a length of chain  10 D and one decorative piece  40  slidably mounted thereon. A more elaborate piece is shown in FIG. 1 in which the chain has a center piece  20  and a decorative piece  40  slidably mounted on each of the chain portions  10 A and  10 B. Still more elaborate forms can have additional decorative pieces  40  slidably mounted on the chain. 
     The chain can be a quality piece of jewelry and the pieces  40  may be either quality pieces or costume jewelry pieces. There can be circumstances where thievery is of concern with respect to an investment in quality pieces and with the present design there can be duplicate decorative pieces  40  with one being an expensive jewelry piece and the other a fake but perhaps identifiable as such only by a jewelry expert. 
     The jewelry piece  40  has the channel on and extending across the rear face thereof and the front face may have surface formations on or applied thereto and/or gems and/or fake gems mounted thereon to provide the decorative face. 
     The foregoing detailed description is given primarily for clearness of understanding and no unnecessary limitations are to be understood therefrom, for modifications will become obvious to those skilled in the art based upon more recent disclosures and may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention and scope of the appended claims.

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