US775030A - Gem-setting. - Google Patents

Description

No. 775,030. PATENTED NOV. 15, 1904. P. A. FAIRBROTHER, JR.

z GEM SETTING.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 9, 1904.

N0 MODEL.

'WITNESEES- INVENTDR.

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UNITED STATES Patented November 15, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

GEM-SETTING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 775,030, dated November 15, 1904.

Application filed February 9, 1904. Serial No. 192,812. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FEEDERIG A. FAIR- BROTHER, Jr., a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Providence, inthe county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Gem-Settings, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to certain novel improvements in gem-settings; and it consists,es sentially, of a one-piece cup-shaped polygonal hollow member or unit having closed vertical sides, its thickness or depth being substantially equal to its diameter, or, in other words, the improved gem-setting is a prism-shaped shell having continuously-connected smooth parallelogrammic sides. The upper peripheral edge of themember forms a seat or support for the gem or stone and has spurs or prongs integral with the setting capable of being bent inwardly to retain the gem in position.

Gem-settings heretofore produced have usually been provided with a series of upwardly bent or inclined laterally-separated arms or members, the free end of each being adapted to receive the stone and having a prong or finger arranged to be bent over the stone to hold it in place. Sometimes settings are formed or punched from thick stock, the gem in such case being secured in place by staking or forming burs in the setting by asuitable tool after the gem is in position. In such former settings in case plated stock is employed it is obvious that the exposed edges are not protected by the coating or plating of finer metal. Another objection to former settings is that they are not adapted to be assembled and secured or soldered together closely enough to produce when the stones are mounted therein the effect of solid or cluster work. V

The object I have in view is toovercome the disadvantages or objections above referred tothat is to say, the blanks cut from thin plated or other suitable stock are transformed into polygonal cup-shaped units having closed vertical sides, its exterior presenting an unbroken plated surface. By providing the units with three, four, six, or more sides, as the case may be, they are capaole of being formed into various geometrical figures or designs. the vertical sides of adjacent units touching one another and being secured together by solder. As thus arranged it is clear that the individual settings are separated laterally merely by the thickness of the stock itself, no waste space whatever being present. Now upon placing the stones in the upper edge or top of the several individual members constituting the multiple setting, brooch, or pin and bending the small prongs downwardl y upon them the resulting effect produced will'be that of a cluster of stones in engagement with one another. In my improved setting the diameter of the stone used may be substantially equal to the minor outside diameter ot' the unit. The retaining-prongs being located at the angle or intersection of the sides or major diameter are readily adapted to be bent inwardly onto the stone. The prongs do not project laterally or horizontally beyond the parallelogrammic sides of the units, but are merely short integral extensions formed on the upper edge or gemseating surface.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation, in greatly enlarged scale, representing my improved gem-setting, the stone or gem being omitted. Fig. 2 is acorresponding plan view. Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken on line 00 w of Fig. 2 and also showing a stone mounted therein. Fig. 4 is a horizontal or transverse sectional view showing other forms of the units; and Figs. 5 and 6 are side and plan views, in reduced scale, of an article of jewelry, as a pin or brooch, composed of a plurality of the units or gemsettings embodying my improvement, the stones being omitted. I

My improved one-piece gem-setting or unit a is produced by suitable mechanism or tools from a blank cut from thin sheet-metal stock.

It is cup-shaped, the sides (4 thereof being congrammic throughout. The lower end 6 of the unit is substantially flat and is or may be provided with an opening therethrough,as b. The upper edge of the unit forms a seat or support for a gem or stones, Fig. 3, and has a plurality of prongs integral with the unit, the prongs being located at the angle a formed by the intersection of adjacent sides a, and as said prongs do not extend in a lateral direction the units may be placed snugly together side- Wise.

By means of my improved gem setting or unit a the stones may be set or placed much closer together than formerly that is, the diameter of the stone may be substantially the same as the outer minor diameter of the unit, as shown in Fig. 3.

When a number of the units are grouped or assembled together to produce a setting for a correspondingnumber of stones, as in a pin or brooch, the adjacent side walls a are soldered to each other as, for example, as indicated at A in Figs. 5 and 6.

It is obvious that various figures or designs may be produced in articles of jewelry of the class referred to by the employment of my improved polygonal or prism shaped gem settings or units a.

By means of my improvement before described an attaching-base for the units is rendered unnecessary, as the hinge and catch members may be soldered directly to thebase of the units.

Another advantage possessed by my improved gem-setting a is that it may have considerable depth, thus giving to it a greater degree of solidity than other devices of this class heretofore produced.

I do not claim, broadly, as my invention a hollow gem setting or jewelry mounting struck up or formed from a sheet-metal blank.

I claim as my invention and desire to secure by United States Letters Patent* 1. As a new article of manufacture, a prismshaped gem-setting formed from a thin sheetmetal blank shaped to form a base, a plurality of rectangular sides extending upwardly from the base at right angles thereto, and having their corners in the same plane as the sides, and upwardly-projecting prongs formed integral with the upper end of the sides, adapted to be bent over to hold a gem in position on the upper ends of the sides.

2. As a new article of manufacture, an article of jewelry consisting of a number of prism-shaped gem-settings each formed from a thin sheet-metal blank shaped to form a base, a plurality of upwardly-extending sides projecting at right angles to the base and having the outer edge of their corners in the same plane as the sides whereby the individual settings may be nested closely together with their contiguous faces in abutting engagement, and prongs on the upper end of the sides for holding-gems in the settings.

Signed at Providence, Rhode Island, this 8th day of February, 1904.

.FR'EDERIC A. FAIRBROTl-IER, JR.

Witnesses:

GEo. H. REMINGTON, CALVIN H. BROWN.

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