Jewelry closed-link element, assembled chain, and method of manufacture

A jewelry closed-link chain link element of the type that is assembled with other link elements to form a closed-link chain, said link element comprising:

• a first major surface;
• an opposite second major surface;
• an exterior edge;
• at least one enclosed open area, extending through said link element between said major surfaces, for receiving a linking portion of an adjacent link element during assembly of a closed-link chain;
• said link element made of a material exhibiting a plurality of regions adjacent ones of which exhibit different visual properties the link element comprising segments of at least two of said plurality of regions.

A closed-link element of the type that is assembled with other closed-link elements to form a closed-link jewelry chain, said closed-link element comprising:

• a first link element portion exhibiting a first visual property, and a second link element portion exhibiting a second, different, visual property;
• an enclosed open area extending through said link element;
• and
• a linking portion adapted to pass through the enclosed open area of an adjacent link element, wherein said link element portions define first and second major surfaces for said link element, and wherein at Least one of said first and second major surfaces comprises segments, adjacent ones of which exhibit different visual properties.

A closed-link element of the type that is assembled with other closed-link elements to form a closed-link jewelry chain, said closed-link element comprising:

• a first link element portion exhibiting a first visual property, and a second link element portion exhibiting a second, different, visual property, said link element portions defining first and second major surfaces for said link element;
• an enclosed open area extending through said link element;
• and
• a linking portion adapted to pass through the enclosed open area of an adjacent link element, the link element being in combination with, and interconnected with, other similar closed-link chain link elements to form a length of jewelry chain, wherein:
• said link elements are coupled together along said length of jewelry chain such that all first major surfaces of all link elements face in the same direction, and all second major surfaces of all link elements face in the opposite direction, whereby said chain is reversible to display, when worn in one orientation of the chain, the visual properties of said first major surfaces, and to display, when worn in another orientation of the chain, the visual properties of said second major surfaces.

A closed-link element of the type that is assembled with other closed-link elements to form a closed-link jewelry chain, said closed-link element comprising:

• a first link element portion exhibiting a first visual property, and a second link element portion exhibiting a second, different, visual property;
• an enclosed open area extending through said link element;
• and
• a linking portion adapted to pass through the enclosed open area of an adjacent link element, the link element being in combination with, and interconnected with, other similar closed-link chain link elements to form a length of jewelry chain wherein:
• each said link element linking portion is adapted to pass through the enclosed open areas of an adjacent link element and the next downstream link element in both directions along a length of assembled link elements forming said length of jewelry chain, thereby presenting the appearance of intertwining helical strands of rope, whereby each link element has a total of four adjacent and next-adjacent link element linking portions passing through its enclosed open area;
• and
• each said helical strand of rope has a unique visual property.

A closed-link element of the type that is assembled with other closed-link elements to form a closed-link jewelry chain, said closed-link element comprising:

• a first link element portion exhibiting a first visual property, and a second link element portion exhibiting a second, different, visual property;
• an enclosed open area extending through said link element;
• and
• a linking portion adapted to pass through the enclosed open area of an adjacent link element, wherein:
• said first link element portion comprises a relatively thick layer of a first material exhibiting a first visual property;
• and
• said second link element portion comprises a relatively thin layer of a second material exhibiting a second visual property.

A method of manufacturing a link element of the type that are assembled to form a closed-link chain, said method comprising:

• providing a sheet of material having a plurality of regions, adjacent ones of which exhibit different visual properties;
• stamping, with a stamping device, an elongated strip of said material, said strip having a prescribed length, width, and thickness;
• and
• forming said strip into a chain link element having a generally closed-link configuration, a first major surface, an opposite second major surface, an interior edge, an exterior edge, a width, and a thickness, the link element so produced comprising portions of said sheet of material that exhibit at least two of said visual properties.

A method of manufacturing a closed-link element of the type that is assembled with other link elements to form a closed-link chain, each of said link elements being generally O-shaped in configuration and define a closed gap between facing ends thereof, each of said link elements having a first major surface, an opposite second major surface, an interior edge, and an exterior edge, said method comprising:

• providing a plurality of relatively thin wire strands;
• bonding said plurality of wire strands together, each exhibiting a different visual property along their lengths to form a relatively thicker compound wire;
• cutting predetermined lengths of said compound wire to form elongated strips of bendable material, each said strip having a left end, a right end, and a plurality of regions exhibiting different visual properties;
• and
• bending said strip into a generally O-shaped configuration until said left and right ends face one another defining a closed gap between said left and right ends.