Visual aid

Abstract

To provide a visual aid which is stably fixed to the face of a wearer without having a nose pad.SOLUTION: A vision aid for aiding vision of a wearer includes a frame including a lens located in front of an eye of the wearer, a front portion holding the lens, and a pair of temple portions extending from both left and right ends of the front portion, and a pair of cheek pads provided to protrude from a lower end portion of the lens or the frame so as to abut on left and right cheekbone peripheral regions of the wearer, respectively, wherein neither the lens nor the frame includes a nose pad abutting on a nose of the wearer.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a visual aid (e.g., eyeglasses, sunglasses, etc.) that corrects the wearer's vision or has an anti-glare function, and in particular to a visual aid that has cheek pads that are arranged to abut the area around the cheekbones of the wearer when worn. [Background technology]

[0002] Visual aids (e.g., eyeglasses) that correct the wearer's vision or have anti-glare functions have been in practical use for some time. Such visual aids generally consist of lenses and a frame. The frame is made up of a front part that holds the lenses and a pair of temple parts extending from both the left and right ends of the front part. The temple parts are foldably attached to end pieces provided on both sides of the front part via hinges. The front part also consists of a rim that holds the left and right lenses and a bridge that connects the rims, and between the rims (below the bridge) are attached nose pads that come into contact with the wearer's nose.

[0003] When wearing such a visual aid, the nose pads touch the left and right ends of the wearer's nose, and the temple tips at the rear end of the temples are hooked onto the ears. The fit of the visual aid is adjusted primarily by adjusting the shape of the nose pads and temple tips. However, because the entire weight of the front part is applied to the nose via the nose pads, adjusting the fit too tightly can cause pressure at the contact points of the nose pads, resulting in contact marks and pain. Adjusting the fit too loosely can also cause pressure at the contact points of the nose pads to be weak, leading to discomfort and the glasses slipping easily due to facial movement or sweat. Furthermore, conventional visual aids having nose pads have also had the problem that the nose pads can block part of the wearer's field of vision depending on the direction of the wearer's line of sight.

[0004] To solve this problem, visual aids with special frames that do not use nose pads have been proposed in recent years. For example, Patent Document 1 describes an eyeglass frame that has support members (cheekbone pads) extending downward from the temples instead of nose pads. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] International Publication No. 2009 / 090733 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] However, the eyeglass frame described in Patent Document 1 is configured to be fixed to the wearer's face by support members (cheekbone pads) extending downward from the temples, so when the eyeglass frame is worn, the support members (cheekbone pads) apply a certain amount of pressure from the outside to the inside of the face, which causes problems such as contact marks and pain near the cheekbones (temples) where the support members come into contact. Furthermore, the eyeglass frame described in Patent Document 1 is configured to be fixed to the face by applying pressure from the outside to the inside of the face (i.e., lateral pressure), so the fixing force is weak against vertical stress applied to the front part, and there remains the problem that the frame is easily displaced by facial movement or sweat.

[0007] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and its object is to provide a visual aid that is stably fixed to the wearer's face without having nose pads. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the visual aid of the present invention is a visual aid that assists the wearer's vision, and comprises a frame having a lens positioned in front of the wearer's eye, a front portion that holds the lens, and a pair of temple portions extending from both the left and right ends of the front portion, and a pair of cheek pads that protrude from the lower end of the lens or frame so as to abut the areas around the wearer's left and right cheekbones, respectively, and is characterized in that neither the lens nor the frame has nose pads that abut against the wearer's nose.

[0009] With this configuration, the lens and the front part of the frame are supported from below by the cheek pad, so that the rotational stress generated by the weight of the lens and the front part acting downward is supported by the support force and friction force of the cheek pad. Therefore, the visual aid of the present invention has a strong fixing force against vertical stress applied to the lens and front part, and is less likely to slip due to facial movement or sweat. Furthermore, since there are no nose pads, there are no problems such as leaving marks on the nose or feeling pain, and there is no problem of nose pads partially blocking the field of vision.

[0010] Each cheek pad preferably has a flexible, elongated arm and a connecting portion that connects the base end of the arm to the lower end of the lens or frame, and the distal end of the arm is preferably configured to abut against the area around the cheekbone of the wearer. In this case, it is also preferable that the position of the distal end of the arm is freely adjustable.

[0011] It is also desirable that the shape of the arm portion be deformable based on the shape of the area around the cheekbones of the wearer, and in this case, it is desirable that at least a part of the arm portion be in surface contact with the area around the cheekbones of the wearer.

[0012] It is also preferable that the visual aid is a pair of glasses or sunglasses. [Effects of the Invention]

[0013] As described above, the visual aid of the present invention has a pair of cheek pads instead of the conventional nose pads, and therefore, according to the present invention, a visual aid that is stably fixed to the wearer's face is realized. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0014] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a visual aid according to a first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the visual aid according to the first embodiment of the present invention, seen from the rear side. [Figure 3] FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a state in which the visual aid according to the first embodiment of the present invention is used. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view illustrating the configuration of a cheek pad provided in the visual aid according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 5] FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a connecting portion of a cheek pad provided in the visual aid according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a visual aid according to a second embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0015] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, the same or corresponding parts are designated by the same reference numerals and their description will not be repeated.

[0016] (First embodiment) Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a visual aid 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention, with Fig. 1(a) being a front view, Fig. 1(b) being a rear view, Fig. 1(c) being a right side view, and Fig. 1(d) being a left side view. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the visual aid 1 from the rear side. Fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating the visual aid 1 in use.

[0017] As shown in Figures 1 to 3, the visual aid 1 of this embodiment is a single-lens type of sunglasses with anti-glare function, and is composed of a lens 10, a frame 20, and a pair of cheek pads 30A, 30B.

[0018] Lens 10 is a thin optical element (e.g., 0.5 to 2.0 mm thick) positioned in front of the eye of the wearer U, and functions as a light-blocking lens that blocks short-wavelength light of, for example, 500 nm or less and transmits much of the other light. Lens 10 of this embodiment is a high-curve single lens shaped to fit the facial line of the wearer U (i.e., curved from the front to the side of the wearer U's face), and is formed from a resin (e.g., urethane-based thermosetting resin, (meth)acrylic-based thermosetting resin, polycarbonate resin, polyamide resin, ADC (allyl diglycol carbonate) resin, etc.) that has excellent strength and optical properties with little distortion. In addition, a notch 12 is formed in approximately the center of the lens 10 of this embodiment so as not to interfere with the nose of the wearer U, but unlike conventional general sunglasses, it does not have a nose pad that abuts against the nose of the wearer U. Although details will be described later, fitting portions 15 (recesses 15a, 15b) that fit with cheek pads 30A, 30B are formed at the lower end portions of both the left and right ends of the lens 10 of this embodiment (FIG. 4).

[0019] The frame 20 is a resin or metal member that supports the lens 10 in front of the wearer U's eye, and has a front portion 22 that holds the lens 10, and a pair of temple portions 24A, 24B extending from both the left and right ends of the front portion 22. The front portion 22 is a member that is joined to the upper end surface of the lens 10 and holds the lens 10. The temple portions 24A and 24B are attached so as to be freely foldable via hinges (not shown) provided between them and the front portion 22, and end pieces 26A and 26B are formed at the rear ends of the temple portions 24A and 24B, respectively.

[0020] The cheek pads 30A and 30B are components for fixing the frame 20 to the face of the wearer U, and are configured to protrude from the lower end of the lens 10 so as to abut against the areas around the left and right cheekbones of the wearer U, respectively (Figure 3), when the visual aid 1 is worn. The cheek pads 30A and 30B of this embodiment each have a flexible, elongated arm portion 32A, 32B and a connecting portion 34A, 34B that connects the base end of the arm portion 32A, 32B to the lower end of the lens 10. Since the cheek pads 30A and 30B of this embodiment are bilaterally symmetrical, the cheek pad 30A will be described below as a representative example.

[0021] Fig. 4 is an exploded perspective view illustrating the configuration of cheek pad 30A of this embodiment. Fig. 5 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of connecting portion 34A of cheek pad 30A, where Fig. 5(a) is a rear view (viewed from the arm portion 32A side) and Fig. 5(b) is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in Fig. 4.

[0022] 4, the arm portion 32A has two through holes 32Aa and 32Ab at its base end, and is fixed to the connecting portion 34A by two screws S. The arm portion 32A has a shape that gradually widens from the base end to the tip end, and the wider tip end of the arm portion 32A abuts (i.e., comes into surface contact with) the area around the cheekbones of the wearer U. The arm portion 32A of this embodiment is a member formed by coating, for example, a plate- or rod-shaped metal with resin, and is flexible so that the position of the tip end of the arm portion 32A can be freely adjusted according to the position of the cheekbones of the wearer U.

[0023] The connecting portion 34A is a resin member with a U-shaped cross section that opens toward the lens 10, and has a front surface 34Ad, a back surface 34Ae, a bottom surface 34Af, and an opening 34Ag. Three bosses 34Aa, 34Ab, and 34Ac are formed inside the connecting portion 34A. The boss 34Aa is a cylindrical boss formed to fit into the recess 15a of the fitting portion 15 of the lens 10, and is formed to protrude from the front surface 34Ad of the connecting portion 34A toward the rear surface 34Ae. The bosses 34Ab and 34Ac are cylindrical bosses formed to fit into the recess 15b of the fitting portion 15 of the lens 10, and are formed to protrude from the front surface 34Ad of the connecting portion 34A toward the rear surface 34Ae. In this embodiment, the length of the bosses 34Ab and 34Ac is longer than the length of the boss 34Aa, and the bosses 34Ab and 34Ac are exposed from the rear surface 34Ae. Furthermore, a screw hole H is formed inside each of the bosses 34Ab, 34Ac, and a screw S is threaded into the screw hole H to fix the arm portion 32A to the connecting portion 34A. The connecting portion 34A is attached to the lens 10 by inserting the fitting portion 15 of the lens 10 toward the opening 34Ag. Specifically, when the fitting portion 15 of the lens 10 is inserted toward the opening 34Ag, the boss 34Aa fits into the recess 15a of the fitting portion 15 of the lens 10, and the bosses 34Ab and 34Ac fit into the recess 15b of the fitting portion 15 of the lens 10, and the connecting portion 34A is fixed to the lens 10.

[0024] As such, the visual aid 1 of this embodiment is equipped with a pair of cheek pads 30A, 30B that protrude from the lower end of the lens 10, instead of the conventional nose pads, and the cheek pads 30A, 30B are in surface contact with the area around the cheekbones of the wearer U, supporting the lens 10 and the front part 22 of the frame 20 from below.Therefore, the rotational stress generated by the weight of the lens 10 and the front part 22 acting downward is supported by the supporting force and frictional force of the cheek pads 30A, 30B. Therefore, the fixing force is strong against vertical stress applied to the lens 10 and the front part 22, and they are unlikely to shift due to facial movement or sweat. Furthermore, since the cheek pads 30A and 30B come into surface contact with a relatively wide area around the cheekbones, the frictional force of the cheek pads 30A and 30B contributes significantly, providing a strong fixing force against lateral stress applied to the lens 10 and front part 22, eliminating problems such as leaving contact marks or feeling pain.

[0025] The above is a description of the embodiment of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited to the configuration of the above embodiment, and various modifications are possible within the scope of the technical concept thereof.

[0026] For example, in this embodiment, the visual aid 1 is a one-lens type sunglasses with anti-glare function, but it is not necessarily limited to such a configuration and use, and can also be applied to other eyewear such as ordinary glasses or medical goggles.

[0027] Furthermore, although the cheek pads 30A and 30B in this embodiment have been described as being provided at the lower end of both the left and right ends of the lens 10, this is not necessarily limited to such a configuration, and the attachment positions of the cheek pads 30A and 30B may be changed depending on the size of the wearer U's face, the height of the cheekbones, etc.

[0028] Furthermore, in the present embodiment, the cheek pads 30A, 30B have been described as having the tips of the arms 32A, 32B abutting against the cheekbone area of ​​the wearer U, but the tips of the arms 32A, 32B may be extended further so that the shape of the arms 32A, 32B can be freely changed based on the shape of the cheekbone area of ​​the wearer U. With such a configuration, the frictional force of the cheek pads 30A, 30B is further increased, allowing the visual aid 1 to be fixed more stably.

[0029] (Second embodiment) FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a visual aid 2 according to a second embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 6, the visual aid 2 of this embodiment differs from the visual aid 1 of the first embodiment in that the frame 20 has a typical eyeglass-like shape, the front portion 22 of the frame 20 has rims 23A and 23B and a bridge 25 connecting the rims 23A and 23B, and two left and right lenses 10A and 10B are held by the rims 23A and 23B, respectively. Similar to the visual aid 1 of the first embodiment, the frame 20 of the visual aid 2 of this embodiment also has a pair of temples 24A and 24B extending from both the left and right ends of the front portion 22. However, for ease of viewing, the temples 24A and 24B are omitted from FIG. 6.

[0030] Furthermore, this embodiment differs from the visual aid 1 of the first embodiment in that the arm portions 32A, 32B of the cheek pads 30A, 30B are directly screwed to the lower end of the frame 20 (i.e., there are no connecting portions 34A, 34B), but like the visual aid 1 of the first embodiment, the frame 20 of the visual aid 2 does not have nose pads that come into contact with the nose of the wearer U. In other words, the frame 20 of the visual aid 2 has cheek pads 30A, 30B instead of conventional nose pads.

[0031] As such, the visual aid 2 of this embodiment is equipped with a pair of cheek pads 30A, 30B that protrude from the lower end of the frame 20, instead of the conventional nose pads, and the cheek pads 30A, 30B make surface contact with the area around the cheekbones of the wearer U, supporting the lenses 10A, 10B and the front part 22 of the frame 20 from below.Therefore, the rotational stress generated by the weight of the lenses 10A, 10B and the front part 22 acting downward is supported by the supporting force and frictional force of the cheek pads 30A, 30B. Therefore, the fixing force is strong against vertical stress applied to the lenses 10A, 10B and the front portion 22, and they are unlikely to shift due to facial movement or sweat. Furthermore, since the cheek pads 30A and 30B come into surface contact with a relatively wide area around the cheekbones, the frictional force of the cheek pads 30A and 30B contributes significantly, providing a strong fixing force against lateral stress applied to the lenses 10A and 10B and the front part 22, eliminating problems such as leaving contact marks or feeling pain.

[0032] It should be noted that the embodiments disclosed herein are illustrative in all respects and should not be considered limiting. The scope of the present invention is defined by the claims, not by the above description, and is intended to include all modifications within the meaning and scope of the claims. [Explanation of symbols]

[0033] 1: Visual aids 2: Visual aids 10: Lens 10A: Lens 10B: Lens 12: Notch 15: Fitting part 15a: Recess 15b: recess 20: Frame 22: Front section 23A: Rim 23B: Rim 24A: Temple 24B: Temple 25: Bridge 26A: Modern Club 26B: Modern Club 30A: Cheek pad 30B: Cheek pad 32A: Arm section 32Aa: Through hole 32Ab :Through hole 32B: Arm section 34A:Connection part 34Aa: Boss 34Ab: Boss 34Ac: Boss 34Ad: Front part 34Ae: Back part 34Af: Bottom part 34Ag: Opening 34B:Connection part S: Screw U: Wearer H: Screw hole

Claims

1. A visual aid that assists the wearer's vision, a lens positioned in front of the wearer's eye; a frame having a front portion that holds the lenses and a pair of temple portions that extend from both left and right ends of the front portion; a pair of cheek pads provided to protrude from lower ends of the lenses or the frame so as to come into contact with the wearer's left and right cheekbone areas, respectively; Equipped with Neither the lens nor the frame has nose pads that come into contact with the wearer's nose. A visual aid characterized by:

2. Each cheek pad is a flexible, elongated arm portion; a connecting portion that connects a base end of the arm portion to a lower end of the lens or the frame; and 2. The visual aid according to claim 1, wherein the distal end of the arm is configured to abut against the area around the cheekbones of the wearer.

3. 3. The visual aid according to claim 2, wherein the position of the tip of the arm is freely adjustable.

4. 3. The visual aid according to claim 2, wherein the shape of the arm portion is freely deformable based on the shape of the area around the cheekbones of the wearer.

5. The visual aid according to claim 4, wherein at least a portion of the arm portion is in surface contact with the cheekbone area of ​​the wearer.

6. 6. A visual aid according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the visual aid is a pair of glasses or sunglasses.

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