Magnetically attractable components for self-sizing jewelry articles

A jewelry article comprising at least two jewelry-forming components, wherein a first jewelry-forming component comprises a body member having a first magnetized portion and a tubular female element associated therewith for magnetically attracting and receiving a tubular male element of another jewelry-forming component, and wherein a second jewelry-forming component comprises a body member having a magnetized portion and at least one tubular male element associated therewith that is magnetically attracted to the magnetized portion of the tubular female element of the first jewelry-forming component, with the magnetized portions of the components providing a minimum magnetic strength that is sufficient to retain the male element within the female element and a maximum magnetic strength that can be overcome by a person's hand strength to separate the male and female elements;

• and wherein the body member of the first component also includes a further element that is magnetically responsive for magnetically coupling with the second or another jewelry-forming component to form an article of jewelry, with the tubular female element of the first jewelry-forming component located at one end of the body member and having a tubular end portion with internal dimensions defining a cavity having a depth sufficient to receive the tubular male element of the second jewelry-forming component, and the tubular male element of the second jewelry-forming component having a forward end with external dimensions that are smaller than the internal dimensions of the cavity of the tubular female element of the first jewelry-forming component, so that the forward end of the male element can be received at different positional relationships within the female element cavity to enable the article to be self-sizing to the wearer and with the magnetic strength between the elements enabling the user's hand force to withdraw the forward end of the male element from the cavity of the female element, and further wherein the body member of the first component is tubular and the further element is another tubular female element located on an opposite end of the tubular body member and having a tubular end portion with internal dimensions defining a cavity having a depth sufficient to receive a male element of the second or another jewelry-forming component at different positional relationships therein.

A jewelry article comprising a plurality of jewelry-forming components, with a first plurality of first jewelry-forming components each comprising a body member having a first magnetized portion and a tubular female element associated therewith for magnetically attracting and receiving a tubular male element of another jewelry-forming component, and a second plurality of second jewelry-forming components each comprising a body member having a magnetized portion and at least one tubular male element associated therewith that is magnetically attracted to the magnetized portion of the tubular female element of the first jewelry-forming component, with the magnetized portions of the components providing a minimum magnetic strength that is sufficient to retain the tubular male element within the tubular female element and a maximum magnetic strength that can be overcome by a person's hand strength to separate the male and female elements;

• and wherein the body member of each first component also includes a further element that is magnetically responsive for magnetically coupling with a further element of another jewelry-forming component, and further wherein the further element of each first jewelry-forming component is magnetically coupled to the further element of a second jewelry-forming component to form an article having a closed, continuous configuration, wherein the tubular female element of the first jewelry-forming component is located at one end of the body member and has a tubular end portion with internal dimensions defining a cavity having a depth sufficient to receive the tubular male element of the second jewelry-forming component, and the tubular male element of the second jewelry-forming component has a forward end with external dimensions that are smaller than the internal dimensions of the cavity of the female element of the first jewelry-forming component, so that the forward end of the male element can be received at different positional relationships within the female element cavity to enable the article to be self-sizing to the wearer and with the magnetic strength between the elements enabling the user's hand force to withdraw the forward end of the male element from the cavity of the female element.

A jewelry article in the form of a closed ring comprising between four and two hundred jewelry-forming components including at least two first jewelry-forming components and at least two second jewelry forming components, wherein each first jewelry-forming component comprises a body member having a first magnetized portion and a tubular female element associated therewith for magnetically attracting and receiving a tubular male element of another jewelry-forming component, and wherein each second jewelry-forming component comprises a body member having a magnetized portion and at least one tubular male element associated therewith that is magnetically attracted to the magnetized portion of the tubular female element of the first jewelry-forming component, with the magnetized portions of the components providing a minimum magnetic strength that is sufficient to retain the tubular male element within the tubular female element and a maximum magnetic strength that can be overcome by a person's hand strength to separate the male and female elements;

• and wherein the body member of each first jewelry-forming component also includes a further element that is magnetically responsive for magnetically coupling with the second or another jewelry-forming component to form the ring, with the tubular female element of each first jewelry-forming component located at one end of the body member and having a tubular end portion with internal dimensions defining a cavity having a depth sufficient to receive the male element of the second jewelry-forming component, and the tubular male element of the second jewelry-forming component having a forward end with external dimensions that are smaller than the internal dimensions of the cavity of the female element of the first jewelry-forming component, so that the forward end of the tubular male element can be received at different positional relationships within the female element cavity to enable the article to be self-sizing to the wearer and with the magnetic strength between the elements enabling the user's hand force to withdraw the forward end of the male element from the cavity of the female element, and further wherein the further element of each first component is either (a) a tubular male element that extends away from the female element and is located on the opposite end of the body member, with the male element having a forward end that is magnetically attracted to a magnetically responsive tubular female element of the body member of the second or another jewelry-forming component, or (b) another tubular female element located on an opposite end of the tubular body member and having a tubular end portion with internal dimensions defining a cavity having a depth sufficient to receive a male element of the second or another jewelry-forming component at different positional relationships therein, and with each second jewelry forming component including a corresponding further element that, respectively, is either (a) a tubular female element located on an opposite end of the body member and having a tubular end portion with internal dimensions defining a cavity having a depth sufficient to receive the male element of the first or another jewelry-forming component at different positional relationships therein, or (b) another tubular male element that is located on the opposite end of the body member, with the male element having a forward end that is magnetically attracted to a magnetically responsive tubular female element of the body member of the first or another jewelry-forming component.