Illuminated mouth and tongue stud

#1. Field of the Invention

#The present invention pertains generally to ornamental jewelry inserted and worn by a person after body piercing. More specifically, the present invention pertains to tongue studs, a type of ornamental jewelry comprised of a metal or plastic bar with removable caps at the ends that can be inserted into an artifically formed fistulous tract previously created in the mouth or tongue of the wearer. The present invention specifically improves upon the prior art tongue stud by providing a light source so that the device is an illuminated tongue stud.

#2. Description of the Prior Art

#FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view of one preferred embodiment of the mouth and tongue stud of the present invention.

#FIG. 2 illustrates a cross sectional view of the tongue stud embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1.

#FIG. 3a illustrates a plan view of the conducting diaphragm in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

#Refering now to the drawings where like numerals indicate like parts, FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate one preferred embodiment of the present invention, which is generally a tongue and mouth stud (1) comprising a central bar (10), illumination ball (20) and power ball (30). The illumination ball is attached to one end of the central bar (10) and the power ball is removably attached to the other end of the central bar (10).

#Although the word “ball” is used to describe the illumination ball (20) and the power ball (30), these structures are not meant to be limited to spherical structures. In this context, the word “ball” defines an end piece or cap that may be sphereical or non-spherical in shape. The non-spherical shapes include cylindrical shapes, disk shapes, box shapes, pyramid shapes, and spiked or star shapes, but this list is merely exemplary and non-limiting so that other non-spherical shapes can be used to practice the end caps or “balls” (20) and (30) the invention.

#Specifically, central bar (10) has a central axial cavity (15) formed along the central axial axis by the cylindrical wall (11). Disposed inside the axial cavity (15) is conducting rod (25) that is made of a conducting metal. Wall (11) is also made of conducting metal, preferentially stainless steel although other metals can be used. A non-conducting epoxy resin or insulating material (18) is disposed between the conducting rod (25) and the wall (11) so as to electrically insulate the rod (25) from the wall (11). Central bar (10) has male threads (12) disposed at each end as shown in FIG. 2 for attaching to the balls.