Stone Setting Process for Jewelry and Jewelry Formed by the Same Process

Not applicable.

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The present inventive concept relates to a process of setting stones in a piece of jewelry, and a piece of jewelry formed by the same process. More particularly, but not exclusively, the present inventive concept relates to a process of setting stones in a piece of jewelry by setting stones upside down into one surface of a piece of jewelry and then setting stones right side up on an opposite surface of the jewelry, and a piece of jewelry formed by the same process.

Processes for making jewelry by setting precious stones in a piece of metal, such as precious metals made from gold, sterling silver, etc., have been used for many centuries. A common process for setting precious stones in jewelry includes forming one or more housings in a piece of precious metal and then placing a stone in each housing. Once the stones are set in the corresponding housing the stones can be fixed within the housing by the use of a specific tool or by using an adhesive. The jewelry can be one of a ring, a bracelet, a pendant, a broch, etc.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,731,913 by Plantureux et al. discloses a process for making jewelry illustrated in. This process includes forming one or more rows of cylindrical housingsthat extend to form a conical seatingin a support, such as a piece of precious metal. The angle of opening of each conical seatingcorresponds to the angle of the cut of stones. Each cylindrical housingcomprises an outer bore, a conical seatingand a counterbore, whose diameter is less than that of bore. Each outer boreis surrounded by islets of metal. The stones are placed in the housings to abut the conical seatingand then a concave-headed toolis applied on the islets to deform them permanently by buckling. As a result, there is formed a piece of jewelry comprising one or more rows of stones on a single surface of a piece of metal.

As illustrated in-C, EP 1568291A1 by Schmid discloses an item of jewelryincluding a front face, a rear faceand an aperturein which a stoneis set therein. Here the stoneis attached to the jewelry through the rear facesuch that the top of the stoneis flush with or protrudes from the front faceof the jewelry item. Here there exists one layer of stones along the surface of a piece of jewelry.

There is a need for a process that sets stones in both a front surface and a rear surface of a piece of jewelry.

There is also a need for a process that can set a plurality of stones into a front surface of a piece of jewelry and also into a rear surface of a jewelry such that a plurality of stones of different heights are visible at the front surface of a piece of jewelry to create a three-dimensional appearance of stones set within a piece of jewelry.

The present inventive concept relates to a process of setting stones in a piece of jewelry, and a piece of jewelry formed by the same process. More particularly, but not exclusively, the present inventive concept relates to a process of setting stones in a piece of jewelry by setting stones upside down into one surface of a piece of jewelry and then setting stones right side up on an opposite surface of the jewelry, and a piece of jewelry formed by the same process.

Additional features and utilities of the present general inventive concept will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the general inventive concept.

The foregoing and/or other features and utilities of the present general inventive concept may be achieved by providing a process for making a piece of jewelry, comprising: drilling at least one hole through a piece of metal from a back surface thereof; forming a seat within each hole to receive an outer periphery of a crown of a stone thereon; setting a stone within each hole such that the crown of each stone rests on the corresponding seat and is viewable through the corresponding hole from a front surface of the piece of metal; securing each stone within the corresponding hole; forming at least one partially drilled hole through the front surface of the piece of metal; setting a cutlet of a stone into each partially drilled hole such that a crown of each stone is facing upward with respect to the front surface of the piece of metal; and securing each stone in the at least one partially drilled hole.

In an example embodiment, the steps of drilling at least one hole through a piece of metal from a back surface thereof and forming a seat within each hole can be performed by a burnish setting process.

In another example embodiment, the steps of drilling at least one hole through a piece of metal from a back surface thereof and forming a seat within each hole can be performed by a bead setting process.

In still another example embodiment, the steps of drilling at least one hole through a piece of metal from a back surface thereof and forming a seat within each hole can be performed by a hammer setting process.

In still another example embodiment, the steps of forming at least one partial drilled hole through the front surface of the piece of metal and setting a cutlet of a stone into each partial drilled hole can be performed by a pave setting process.

In still another example embodiment, the steps of drilling at least one hole through a piece of metal from a back surface thereof and forming a seat within each hole can be performed by the steps of drilling the least one hole with a drill bit and then forming the seat within the corresponding hole using a bur tool.

The foregoing and/or other features and utilities of the present general inventive concept may also be achieved by providing a piece of jewelry, comprising: a piece of metal including: at least one stone set therein by a process of drilling at least one hole through the piece of metal from a back surface thereof, forming a seat within each hole to receive an outer periphery of a crown of the stone thereon, and setting the stone within each hole such that the crown of each stone rests on the corresponding seat and is viewable through the corresponding hole from a front surface of the piece of metal, and at least one stone set within a front surface of the piece of metal by a process of forming at least one partially drilled hole through the front surface of the piece of metal, setting a cutlet side of the stone into each partially drilled hole such that a crown side of each stone is facing upward with respect to the front surface of the piece of metal and securing each stone in the at least one partially drilled hole.

In an example embodiment, the crown side of the at least one stone resting on a corresponding seat within the piece of metal can be set below the front surface of the piece of metal.

In another example embodiment, the crown side of the at least one stone resting on a corresponding seat within the piece of metal can be set at the same level as the front surface of the piece of metal.

In another example embodiment, the crown side of the at least one stone set within the front surface of the piece of metal can be set at the same level as the front surface of the piece of metal.

In another example embodiment, the crown side of the at least one stone set within the front surface of the piece of metal can be set higher than the front surface of the piece of metal.

Additional features and utilities of the present general inventive concept will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the general inventive concept.

The drawings illustrate a few example embodiments of the present inventive concept and are not to be considered limiting in its scope, as the overall inventive concept may admit to other equally effective embodiments. The elements and features shown in the drawings are to scale and attempt to clearly illustrate the principles of exemplary embodiments of the present inventive concept. In the drawings, reference numerals designate like or corresponding, but not necessarily identical, elements throughout the several views.

Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the present general inventive concept, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain the present general inventive concept while referring to the figures. Also, while describing the present general inventive concept, detailed descriptions about related well-known functions or configurations that may diminish the clarity of the points of the present general inventive concept are omitted.

It will be understood that although the terms “first” and “second” may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another element. Thus, a first element could be termed a second element, and similarly, a second element may be termed a first element without departing from the teachings of this disclosure.

Expressions such as “at least one of,” when preceding a list of elements, modify the entire list of elements and do not modify the individual elements of the list.

All terms including descriptive or technical terms which are used herein should be construed as having meanings that are obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art. However, the terms may have different meanings according to the intention of the inventors, case precedents, or the appearance of new technologies. Also, some terms may be arbitrarily selected by the inventors, and in this case, the meaning of the selected terms will be described in detail in the detailed description herein. Thus, the terms used herein have to be defined based on the generally defined meaning of the terms together with the description throughout this specification.

Hereinafter, one or more exemplary embodiments of the present general inventive concept will be described in detail with reference to accompanying drawings.

Example embodiments of the present general inventive concept are directed to a process of setting stones in a piece of jewelry by setting stones upside down on one surface of a piece of jewelry and then setting stones right side up on an opposite surface of the jewelry. Example embodiments of the present inventive concept will be described in detail below with reference to.

A process for setting stonesin a piece of jewelryaccording to an example embodiment of the present inventive concept is described with reference to. Referring to, holescan be formed through a piece metal, such as a flat precious piece of gold or silver. These holescan be formed by drilling through the piece of metal. However, these holescan be formed by other processes, such as, for example, by using a laser. Then a seatcan be formed in each of the holesby using a setting bur tool (or a larger drill bit which drills partially through a drilled hole). The seatwill act as a resting surface for each of the corresponding one of the stonesplaced in a corresponding hole. These seatscan be formed through a rear surface R of the piece of metal. Once the holesand corresponding seatsare formed from the rear surface R of the piece of metala plurality of stonescan be turned upside down such that the crownof the stoneis facing down and the cutletof the stone is facing up. Then the stonescan be placed in a corresponding holesuch that the crownof each stoneis seated on a corresponding seatof a hole. The stonescan then be secured within the holeby various different known processes. This process of setting the stonesin a piece of metalis referred to as a burnishing process. However, alternative processes for setting the stonesinto the piece of jewelryfrom the back surface can include, for example pave setting, bead set, burnish, hammer set, etc. With this configuration the crownof the stonecan be viewed through the holefrom a front surface F of the piece of metal.

Once the stonesare set in the corresponding holesthe piece of metalcan be turned over. A plurality of holescan then be partial drilled through the piece of metalfrom the front surface F to a depth such that stonescan be seated therein, resulting in the crownof the stonesto be flush with the front surface F of the piece of metal. These partial drilled holescan be formed adjacent to the holesextending through the front surface F where the crownsof the stonesset by the burning process are exposed. After the partially drilled holesare completed the stonescan be placed therein by placing the cutletof the stonesinto the partially drilled holes. It is to be noted that the partially drilled holesshould be formed to receive the cutletof the stonestherein such that the cutletof the stonesis securely seated within the partially drilled holesand the crownof the stonesrests at the desired height with respect to the front surface F of the piece of metal.

It is to be noted that the holesand corresponding seatscan be formed by processes other than the burnishing process which will result in a through hole with a seat on which outer surfaces of a crownof a stonecan rest. It is also to be noted that the partially drilled holescan be formed by processes other than the paving process which will result in a cutletof a stonebeing seated therein such that the crownof a stonewill be exposed at the front surface F of a piece of metal.

illustrates an elevated side view of a completed piece of jewelrymade by the processes described above with reference to. As illustrated in, the stonesset on the front surface of a piece of metalcan be configured such that the crown sidesare raised above the front surface F of the piece of metal. However, the stonesset on the front surface of a piece of metalcan be configured such that the crown sidesare at the same level as the front surface F of the piece of metal. Further, the stonesset within the piece of metalhaving their crownsresting on a seatwith a corresponding holecan be configured such that the crown sidesare below the front surface F of the piece of metal. However, the stonesset within the piece of metalhaving their crownsresting on a seatwith a corresponding holecan be configured such that the crown sidesare at the same level as the front surface F of the piece of metal.

illustrates a top view of a completed piece of jewelrymade by the processes described above with reference to.

Although a few embodiments of the present general inventive concept have been shown and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the general inventive concept, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims and their equivalents.