Jewelry bead and method of stringing same
OwnerRonald Prattinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A jewelry article includes an elongated support and a multiplicity of beads strung along the support. At least one of the beads constitutes a locking bead consisting of a substantially closed hollow shell with a pair of aligned holes sized to slideably receive the support. A heat-shrinkable plastic tube is positioned inside the shell with its opposite ends captured by portions of said shell around the holes. The tube has a heat-deformed inner wall which substantially conforms to the support so as to permanently anchor the bead to the support. A method of stringing the locking bead is also disclosed.
Claims7
A jewelry article comprising
- an elongated slender support, and
- a multiplicity of beads strung along the support, at least one of said beads constituting a locking bead including
- a substantially closed hollow metal shell having a pair of aligned holes sized to readily receive the support, and
- a heat-shrinkable plastic tube positioned inside the shell, said tube having a wall with an inner diameter no smaller than said holes and opposite ends captured by portions of said shell around said holes said tube having heat-deformed outer and inner walls which engage around and substantially conform to, said wall having been heat shrunk into substantial conformance with said support so as to permanently anchor said locking bead to said support.
A bead for a jewelry article, said bead comprising
- a substantially closed rigid metal shell having a pair of aligned holes therein, and
- a heat-shrinkable plastic tube fixed entirely inside the shell in alignment with said holes, said tube having an axial passage whose cross section is no smaller than each of said holes, a length that is at least as great as the spacing of said holes and an overall cross-section that is larger than each of said holes, so that an elongated support may be threaded easily through said holes and said tube, said tube being adapted to shrink radially upon the application of heat so that said tube tightens around the support thereby permanently anchoring the bead to the support.
A method of stringing a bead comprising the steps of
- forming a substantially closed seamless metal shell having a pair of aligned holes therein with a heat-shrinkable plastic tube having an axial passage no smaller than said holes inside the shell in alignment with said holes;
- threading an elongated slender support through said holes and said passage so that the shell is located at a selected location along the support, and
- heating the shell sufficiently to shrink the tube so that it tightly engages around the support.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.