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Patent Abstract
A multicolored piece of jewelry is formed by producing a core made
of precious metal having a first shade or color and adding a first
layer having a different shade or color. The first layer is either
applied only partially to the core, or, more preferably, it is added
over the whole surface of the core and then is partially removed
using a known abrasion technique. Next, a second layer is deposited
on the core, preferably over the second layer. The core and the
two layers can be made of gold alloys of different shades, or the
third layer could be highly reflective metal such as rhodium.
Patent Claims
I claim:
1. A method of making a multicolored jewelry comprising: providing
a core made of a first metal of a first color; plating said core
with a second metal of a second color in a first layer; removing
partially said first layer to form a piece having said first color
where said first layer was removed leaving in place said first layer
of said second color; and plating a second layer on portions of
said layer, said second layer having a third color.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein said core is made of a gold alloy
having one of a rose, white, green or yellow shade.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein said first layer is made of a
gold alloy having one of a rose, white, green or yellow shade.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein said second layer is a gold alloy.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein said second layer is rhodium.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein said core is provided with a design
pattern formed thereon.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein said core is provided with a plurality
of lines extending at least partially circumferentially about said
core.
8. The method of claim 1 further comprising forming a design pattern
on said core prior to the plating of said first layer.
9. A method of making a multicolored jewelry comprising: forming
a core of a precious metal having a rose gold shade; forming on
said core a first layer having a first layer shade different then
the color of said core; partially removing said first layer from
said core; and partially plating some portions of said first layer
with a second layer having a second layer shade different then said
rose shade and said second layer shade; wherein said core and layers
define three sets of zones, each zone having a different shade.
10. The method of claim 9 further comprising forming said core
with a pattern on its surface.
11. The method of claim 9 wherein said first and second layer shades
are selected from the group consisting of white gold, yellow gold
and green gold.
12. The method of claim 9 wherein said first layer shade is a white
gold shade.
13. The method of claim 9 wherein said first layer shade is a yellow
gold shade.
14. The method of claim 9 wherein said second layer shade is a
white gold shade.
15. The method of claim 14 wherein said second layer is made of
rhodium.
16. A jewelry piece comprising: a core made of a first precious
metal having a first color; a first layer plated on said core and
having a second color, said first layer covering only portions of
said core; and a second layer plated on said core and said first
layer and having a third color, said first and second layers defining
first, second and third sets of zones on said core, each set of
zones having a different color.
17. The piece of claim 16 wherein said core is made of rose gold.
18. The piece of claim 16 wherein said first layer is selected
from the group consisting of yellow and green gold.
19. The piece of claim 18 wherein said second layer is rhodium.
20. The piece of claim 16 wherein said core is formed with a pattern,
said pattern being visible on each set of zones.
Patent Description
RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] None
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] 1. Field of Invention
[0003] This invention pertains to a method of making a piece of
jewelry made of precious metals and having several colors and patterns.
More particularly, the invention pertains to a method of making
a piece of jewelry with a core and several layers formed on the
core with portions of the additional layers being selectively removed
to achieve a highly desirable effect.
[0004] 2. Background of the Invention
[0005] Various pieces of jewelry are often made from precious metals
of different colors. For example, gold jewelry can be made that
has shades of yellow, white, green or rose, by mixing gold with
other metals. Shades of yellow and rose gold are typically made
by mixing gold with copper and/or silver. Green gold is obtained
from the combination of gold, silver copper and zinc. Shades of
white gold are made by mixing gold with nickel, zinc, silver or
platinum. These alloys may have a grayish tinge, and therefore they
may be plated with rhodium which is very bright and highly reflective.
However, after a while, rhodium may wear off leaving the grayish,
and by comparison, unsightly white gold underneath. Rhodium is expensive
and difficult to manipulate because it is very hard. Thus, it is
normally used to plate other alloys.
[0006] While techniques exist for making jewelry of any one of
these gold shades, it is more difficult to make a single piece of
jewelry with two or more shades. One method frequently used to obtain
this effect is to make thin strands of different gold shades and
then to intermingle the strands to form a chain, using a weaving
or braiding technique. This technique is disclosed in detail in
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,209,306; 6,481,196 and PCT/US00/09202 by Chin at
al. Of course, this technique is not suitable for making solid pieces.
[0007] Another technique for making multicolored jewelry pieces
involves forming several components of different color, for example
by casting, and then soldering or gluing the components together.
This process is time consuming and labor intensive and can be used
to make only pieces having very limited shapes. U.S. Pat. No. 3,731,726
discloses a method of casing bimetallic jewelry.
OBJECTIVES AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0008] In view of the above, it is an objective of the present
invention to provide a method of making multicolored solid jewelry
pieces.
[0009] A further objective is to provide a method of making multicolored
jewelry pieces that is simple and inexpensive.
[0010] A further objective is to provide a method of making multicolored
jewelry pieces that can be used to generate pieces of various sizes
and shapes and having various patterns.
[0011] Other objectives and advantages of the invention will become
apparent from the following description.
[0012] Briefly, a method of making a multicolored jewelry piece
includes forming or providing a core made of a metal having a first
shade. This core is preferably made of a precious metal, such as
gold having a particular shade and color. The core can be cast or
otherwise formed so that it not only has a predetermined shape and
size which will be essentially the shape and size of the final piece
but also is decorated with an esthetically pleasing pattern, if
so desired. The core can be formed with the pattern on it or the
pattern can be added later.
[0013] Next, the core is plated with a first layer having a second
shade or color. The second layer can be used to cover the whole
core or only a portion of the core. Once the first layer is formed
on the core, portions of the first layer can be removed to expose
the core underneath with its first shade and pattern. This step
can be performed by using any well known process and tools, including
abrasion, rubbing, satins, polishing, diamond cutting, etc. The
core and the first layer can be selected from rose, yellow, green
or white gold, and a different color or shade being chosen for the
core and the first layer. Preferably the core is rose gold.
[0014] Finally, a second layer is deposited thereon, said second
layer having its own shade or color. Preferably, the second layer
is disposed only on some portions on top of the first layer. This
is particularly advantageous where incompatibility between the material
of the core and the second layer makes depositing of the second
layer on the core difficult. The second layer may be made from one
of the gold alloys listed above, or may be rhodium.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0015] FIG. 1 shows a flow chart for making a piece of jewelry
in accordance with this invention;
[0016] FIG. 2 shows a side view of a core of a piece of jewelry
in accordance with this invention;
[0017] FIG. 3 shows a partial side view of the core of FIG. 2 with
a plurality of patterns;
[0018] FIG. 4 shows the core of FIG. 3 covered with a first layer
with portions of the first layer being removed; and
[0019] FIG. 5 shows the core of FIG. 4 with a second layer covering
some of the remaining portions of the first layer
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0020] A piece of multicolored jewelry is made in accordance with
this invention as follows. As shown in FIG. 1, step 100, first,
a core is made from a precious metal having a specific color. For
example, a core is made of rose gold, using casting or any other
well known technique. FIG. 2 shows a partial side view of the core
10. The core 10 may be for a bracelet in which case the core has
a toroidal shape.
[0021] The outer surface 12 of the core 10 can be smooth or can
be formed with a plurality of patterns selected to give the piece
an esthetically pleasing look. The design can be made in the outer
surface 12 as part of making the core, or can be added later (step
102), using well-known techniques, such as abrasion or using a diamond
cutting wheel. The pattern can extend over the entire surface 12,
or only a part of surface 12 may be covered with the pattern. The
core 10 in FIG. 2 is decorated with a pattern that includes oblique
lines 14, and dots 16. The lines can be V-shaped, U-shaped, or can
have any other type of shaped cross-section. The dots 16 may be
grouped to form a design.
[0022] The oblique lines 14 define several peripheral zones 18,
20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30. It should be understood that the size and
shape of core 10 and the specific pattern of lines, dots and peripheral
zones are described herein in for the sake of clarity and do not
form a part of this invention.
[0023] Next, in step 104, the core 10 is covered with a first layer
32 of a metal having a different shade or color to obtain a plated
core 10A, as shown in FIG. 3. For example, the first layer may be
a layer of yellow gold with a thickness in the range of about 1
micron, and it may be deposited by electroplating or other well
known techniques.
[0024] Next, in step 106, portions of the yellow gold layer 32
from the plated core are removed, leaving the rose gold underneath.
For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the yellow gold layer 32 is removed
from zone 24 of a piece 10B. This step is performed using any well
known techniques, such as abrasion, polishing, satin, sand blasting,
etc. The same result may be obtained by depositing the yellow gold
only partially on the core 10 and leaving certain portions thereof
bare. However, in general, it is easier to plate the whole core
with the first layer and then to remove portions of the first layer,
as described above.
[0025] Next, another color is added in step 108, by depositing
on certain portions of the bicolor piece 10B of FIG. 4 a second
layer of, for example, rhodium, to obtain a tricolor piece 10C,
shown in FIG. 5. This second layer 34 may be about 1 micron thick
and can be deposited using any well known technique, such as electroplating.
It should be noted that this particular combination is are particularly
advantageous because it is difficult to electroplate rhodium directly
on rose gold. While second layer 34 can be deposited on any part
of bicolor piece 10B, in FIG. 5 the second layer 34 is shown as
being deposited on zones 20 and 28. Thus, piece 10C has three portions
of different shades or colors: a first portion (e.g., zone 24) which
is rose gold, a second portion (e.g., zones 18, 22, 26 and 30) that
is yellow gold and a third portion (e.g., zones 20 and 28) that
is highly reflective from the rhodium.
[0026] Additional layers of different colors may be added as well
using the principles set forth above.
[0027] Of course, many other combinations may be used as well to
form multicolor pieces. In each combination, a core is made, having
a rose, yellow, green or white gold shade and a first layer is selected
from the same group but different shade. Additional layers may also
be deposited made from a gold alloy, rhodium, or other precious
and semiprecious materials.
[0028] While the invention has been described with reference to
several particular embodiments, it is to be understood that these
embodiments are merely illustrative of the principles of the invention.
Accordingly, the embodiments described in particular should be considered
as exemplary, not limiting, with respect to the following claims.
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