Magnetic jewelry clasp with safety catch

A jewelry clasp, comprising:

• two bodies movable between a separated condition and a connected condition;
• the two bodies each having at least one magnetically attractive surface;
• the at least one magnetically attractive surface of each body being magnetically attracted to the other in the connected condition;
• at least one of the magnetically attractive surfaces being formed by a magnet;
• the two bodies being arranged to move into the separated condition in response to manual forces that pull the two bodies apart to break the magnetic attraction between the surfaces;
• and
• a safety catch, connected to one of the two bodies, that includes an arm movable between a catch position and a release position said arm further including a further magnetically attractive surface that is arranged and configured to be magnetically attracted to at least one of the magnet and the magnetically attractive surface as the arm reaches the catch position to effect further magnetic attraction and to break the further magnetic attraction as the arm leaves the catch position to enter the release position.

A method of operating a jewelry clasp that includes two bodies and a safety catch connected to one of the two bodies in one of a pivoted and hinged manner, comprising opening and closing the jewelry clasp, the opening including releasing the safety catch from a catch position to thereby reach a release position by moving the safety catch in the one of the pivoted and hinged manner and then breaking a magnetic attraction between the two bodies of the jewelry clasp by manually pulling the two bodies apart from each other, the closing including bringing the two bodies together to restore the magnetic attraction between the two bodies by contact, and then returning the safety catch from the release position to the catch position, the two bodies aligning to a same orientation every time the two bodies are brought together because each of the two bodies has at least one magnetically attractive surface formed by a magnet that are configured so that they align to a same orientation every time each of the at least one magnetically attractive surface of each of the two bodies are brought together, blocking the two bodies from separating from each other by moving a retaining wall arranged on the safety catch into a path that the other of the two bodies could travel to separate from the one of the two bodies, unblocking the two bodies by moving the retaining wall out of the path, further blocking the two bodies from separating from each other by forming a magnetic attraction between the retaining wall and the other of the two bodies.