Jewelry Snap Setting with Arcuate Prongs for Rigidity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing jewelry settings are often unnecessarily large and heavy, lacking the necessary balance between weight reduction and strength, with flat prongs providing insufficient rigidity and memory.
Innovation Solution
A lightweight jewelry snap setting featuring a one-piece support member with elongated prongs that have contiguous biasing and retaining portions, each with an arcuate cross-section and an obtuse angle between their longitudinal axes, providing enhanced rigidity and retention memory through continuous curvature along the prong length.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If existing settings use flat prongs to reduce complexity, then manufacturing is easier, but rigidity and memory are insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies curvature by forming the prongs with a continuous arcuate cross-section along their length, replacing flat prong designs. This curvature provides inherent rigidity and elastic memory without requiring increased thickness or complex multi-part constructions, thereby maintaining ease of manufacture while significantly improving structural strength.
2Strength
If prong thickness is increased to provide desired rigidity and memory, then strength is improved, but weight and material usage increase considerably
Solution Approach 1:
The arcuate cross-section of the prongs creates a curved structural form that provides high rigidity and elastic memory. This curved geometry allows the prongs to be made thinner than traditional flat prongs while maintaining or exceeding their strength, thereby reducing the overall weight and material usage of the setting.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the geometric parameters of the prongs by introducing a continuous arcuate cross-section along their length. This parameter change optimizes the strength-to-weight ratio, allowing thinner prongs that provide equal or superior rigidity and memory compared to thicker flat prongs, thus reducing setting weight.
3Reliability
If existing settings use thicker prong construction to ensure strength, then reliability is improved, but the setting becomes unnecessarily heavy
Solution Approach 1:
The continuous arcuate cross-section of the prongs creates an optimized curved structure that maximizes strength and reliability. This curved geometry provides inherent rigidity and elastic memory, ensuring reliable jewel retention while allowing the prongs to be thinner and the overall setting to be lighter than traditional thick flat-prong constructions.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution achieves a strong and lightweight setting that maintains the strength of thicker prong constructions while reducing material usage and weight, ensuring effective retention of jewels or stones with enhanced gripping force.
Implementation Method 1
each prong has a continuous curvature along its length which provides enhanced rigidity and memory
Data Source
AI summary
A jewelry snap setting for supporting a jewel and that includes a one-piece support member having a base portion having multiple sides and a plurality of elongated prongs with one extending from each respective side of the base portion. Each elongated prong includes contiguous respective proximal biasing and distal retaining portions. Each proximal biasing portion extends integrally from a respective side of the base portion, and at least said proximal biasing portion has an arcuate cross-section in a direction that is transverse to the longitudinal axis of the proximal biasing portion.