NOSE PAD AND EYEGLASSES PROVIDED WITH THE PAD

Abstract

A nose pad reduces an imprint after wearing eyeglasses and pain in wearing. The nose pad is attached to eyeglasses and comes into contact with the nose to support the eyeglasses, and includes a base portion formed of an elastomer material and having two opposed main surfaces, attachment portions formed of a resin material and provided at opposite end portions of one of the main surfaces of the base portion to attach to pad arms extending from the eyeglasses, and bump portions formed of an elastomer material and provided at opposite end portions of the other main surface of the base portion to rise. Each of the bump portions includes a curved convex surface, and the resin material of the attachment portions is harder than the elastomer material of the base portion and the elastomer material of the bump portions.

Claims

1. A nose pad attached to eyeglasses or a binocular loupe to come into contact with the nose so as to support the eyeglasses, comprising: a base portion formed of an elastomer material including two opposed main surfaces; attachment portions formed of a resin material provided at opposite end portions of one of the main surfaces of the base portion to attach to pad arms extending from the eyeglasses; and bump portions formed of an elastomer material provided at opposite end portions of the other main surface of the base portion to rise, wherein each of the bump portions includes a curved convex surface, and the resin material of the attachment portions is harder than the elastomer material of the base portion and the elastomer material of the bump portions.

2. The nose pad according to claim 1, wherein the base portion has the shape of a horseshoe.

3. The nose pad according to claim 2, wherein the opposite end portions of the base portion provided with the attachment portions and the bump portions are thicker than an intermediate portion positioned between the opposite end portions.

4. The nose pad according to claim 1, wherein the attachment portions and the bump portions are formed as members different from the base portion, and the bump portions are engaged in the base member.

5. The nose pad according to claim 1, wherein a portion between the two main surfaces is connected with a curved surface.

6. The nose pad according to claim 1, wherein the elastomer material of the base portion and the bump portions is one of silicone rubber, urethane rubber, fluororubber, acrylic rubber, ethylene propylene rubber and polyisoprene rubber materials.

7. Eyeglasses comprising: a front portion that holds lenses; temples coupled to outer edge portions of the front portion to be foldable; a pair of pad arms extending from the front portion; and a nose pad attached to the pair of pad arms, wherein the nose pad is the nose pad according to claim 1, and each attachment portion of the nose pad is attached to each pad arm.

8. The eyeglasses according to claim 7, wherein the front portion includes a pair of circular rims that hold lenses, and a bridge that connects between inner edge portions of the pair of rims, and the pair of pad arms extend from the inner edge portions of the pair of rims or the bridge.

9. The eyeglasses according to claim 7, wherein a box-shaped storage portion with a through hole formed is provided at a front end of the pad arm, a through hole is formed in the attachment portion, and in a state in which the attachment portion is stored in the box-shaped storage portion, by passing a retaining screw through the through hole of the attachment portion and the through hole of the box-shaped storage portion, the attachment portion is attached to the box-shaped storage portion swingably.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0021] FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an entire configuration of eyeglasses with a nose pad according to the present invention attached;

[0022] FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary view shown by enlarging a connection portion between a pad arm of the eyeglasses and the nose pad shown in FIG. 1;

[0023] FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating the nose pad in a state in which the pad is not attached to eyeglasses;

[0024] FIG. 4 is a plan view of the nose pad shown in FIG. 3, viewed from the side opposed to the side face of the nose in wearing the eyeglasses;

[0025] FIG. 5 is a view of the backside of the nose pad shown in FIG. 3, viewed from the side opposite to that in FIG. 4;

[0026] FIG. 6 is a view of the side face of the nose pad shown in FIG. 3; and

[0027] FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the nose pad along the line A-A shown in FIG. 4.

MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[0028] Embodiments of eyeglasses provided with a nose pad according to the present invention will be described below with reference to drawings.

[0029] First, referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, described is an entire configuration of the eyeglasses provided with the nose pad according to the present invention.

[0030] The eyeglasses 10 are provided with a front portion 12, and temples 16 coupled to opposite end portions of the front portion 12 to be foldable via hinges 14. The front portion 12 includes a pair of circular rims 20 that hold right and left lenses 18, a bridge 22 that connects between inner edge portions of both of the rims 20, leg members i.e. pad arms extending from the rims 20 or bridge 22, and a nose pad 30 attached to front ends of the pad arms 24 so as to enable a direction to be varied in a predetermined range, and the temple 16 is coupled to the outer edge portion of each rim 20 to be foldable. In the Embodiment shown in the figure, the pad arm 24 extends from near the center in the vertical direction of the inner edge portion of the rim 20.

[0031] At the front end of the pad arm 24 is provided a box-shaped storage portion 26, and a through hole 26a is formed in the storage portion 26. An attachment portion 34 of the nose pad 30 described later is stored in the storage portion 26. By passing a retaining screw 28 through a through hole 34a provided in the attachment portion 34 of the nose pad 30 and the through hole 26a provided in the storage portion 26, the attachment portion 34 is attached to the storage portion 26 swingably. By this means, the attachment portion 34 is capable of varying the direction in a predetermined range with respect to the pad arm 24, adapts the direction of a surface opposed to the nose of the nose pad 30 to the side face of the nose having an individual difference to come into contact with the side face of the nose, and supports the front portion 12 together with the temple 16. Further, the pad arm 24 is formed of a deformable material, and as shown in FIG. 2 in detail, preferably has a single or a plurality of curved portions. By this means, it is made possible to deform the pad arm 24 to adapt to shapes of various noses, and adjust the manner of contact between the nose pad 30 and the nose.

[0032] Referring to FIGS. 3 to 7, described next is a detailed configuration of the nose pad 30. The nose pad 30 includes a horseshoe-shaped base portion 32, attachment portions 34 protruding from the base portion 32 to connect to the storage portions 26, and bump portions 36 raised from the base portion 32.

[0033] The base portion 32 is formed of a flexible elastomer material with elasticity, and has the horseshoe shape including two nose side face opposed portions 32a, 32a extending approximately parallel, and an intermediate portion 32b that connects between two nose side face opposed portions 32a, 32a. As the elastomer material, for example, it is possible to use silicone rubber and the like. It is preferable that the intermediate portion 32b is thinner in width than the nose side face opposed portion 32a. For example, in assuming that the width of the nose side face opposed portion 32a is 8.3 mm, it is preferable that the width of the intermediate portion 32b is 4.5 mm. By such a configuration, it is possible to deform the intermediate portion 32b easier so as to curve to install in the pad arm 24 with ease. Further, the base portion 32 includes two flat main surfaces 38a, 38b extending approximately parallel, and a curved connection surface 40 that connects between the main surfaces 38a, 38b. The connection surface 40 preferably extends in the shape of an arc. By connecting between two main surfaces 38 with the curved connection surface 40, any corner is not formed, the pad is hard to bite into the nose, and such an effect is exhibited that pain occurs hard.

[0034] The bump portion 36 is formed of an elastomer material, and is provided to rise from the main surface 38a at opposite end portions (end portions of the side face opposed portion 32a positioned on the side opposite to the intermediate portion 32b) in the longitudinal direction of the base portion 32. It is preferable that the bump portion 36 is raised from the main surface 38a by a height about half the thickness of the base portion 32. For example, when it is assumed that the thickness of the base portion 32 is 2.5 mm, the bump portion 36 is preferably raised from the main surface 38a by 1.3 mm. The bump portion 36 is preferably formed of the same elastomer material as the base portion 32, and as the elastomer material, as in the base portion 32, for example, it is possible to use one of silicone rubber, urethane rubber, fluororubber, acrylic rubber, ethylene propylene rubber and polyisoprene rubber materials. Further, the bump portion 36 has a curved convex surface. In the Embodiment shown in the figure, the bump portion 36 is formed as a different member from the base portion 32, and is welded to the base portion 32, and it is also possible to form the portion integrally with the base portion 32.

[0035] The attachment portion 34 is formed of a resin material harder than the elastomer material forming the base portion 32 and bump portion 36, and is provided to protrude from the main surface 38b at opposite end portions in the longitudinal direction of the base portion 32. The attachment portion 34 is preferably disposed on the intermediate portion 32b side rather than at the center of the bump portion 36. As the resin material, for example, it is possible to use polyethylene, polypropylene and the like. Further, as shown in FIG. 7 specifically, the through hole 34a is formed in the attachment portion 34, and by passing the retaining screw 28 through the through hole 26a of the storage portion 26 and the through hole 34a of the attachment portion 34 in a state in which the attachment portion 34 is stored in the storage portion 26 provided at the front end of the pad arm 24, it is possible to attach the nose pad 30 to the front end of the pad arm 24 to be swingable in the predetermined range. Accordingly, for convenience in attaching to the storage portion 26, it is preferable that the attachment portion 34 protrudes from the main surface 38b by about 2.5 mm. In the Embodiment shown in the figure, the attachment portion 34 includes a disk-shaped base portion, and a protrusion portion which protrudes and extends from the base portion, and in a state in which the protrusion portion is disposed in a concave portion provided at the end portion of the base portion 32 to protrude from the base portion 32, by welding the member constituting the bump portion 36 to the base portion 32 so as to cover an entrance of the concave portion, is attached to the base portion 32. However, it is also possible to attach the attachment portion 34 to the base portion 32 with an adhesive, or provide integrally with the base portion 32.

[0036] In using, the attachment portions 34 at opposite end portions of the nose pad 30 are stored in respective storage portions 26 of the pad arms 24 so that the intermediate portion 32b is disposed on the bridge 22 side, and the nose pad 30 is attached to the pad arms 24. By this means, when a user wears the eyeglasses 10, the nose side face opposed portion 32a of the nose pad 30 is disposed to be opposed to the side face of the nose near the root of the nose of the user, at least a part of the nose side face opposed portion 32a comes into contact with the side face of the nose, and the intermediate portion 32b of the nose pad 30 is disposed to be opposed to the root of the nose and comes into contact so as to cover a part near the root of the nose. Thus, the pad comes into contact with the nose not only in the side face of the nose, but also in the part near the root of the nose, the area of contact between the nose of the user and the nose pad is increased, pressure is dispersed, and therefore, pain due to wearing of the eyeglasses 10 for a long time is alleviated, while the imprint is hard to remain. Further, in addition to that the portion coming into contact with the nose in the nose pad 30 is formed of the elastomer material hard to slide, when the intermediate portion 32b comes into contact so as to cover the part near the root of the nose and shifts in a drop direction, the intermediate portion 32b is caught in the root of the nose, and therefore, the pad also produces the effect that the eyeglasses 10 are hard to slip down.

[0037] Further, since the bump portion 36 and the attachment portion 34 are provided at opposite end portions of different main surfaces 38a, 38b of the base portion 32, respectively, when the attachment portion 34 of the nose pad 30 is stored in the storage portion 26 of the pad arm 24, and the nose pad 30 is attached to the pad arm 24, the bump portion 36 is disposed on the side opposed to the side face of the nose, and in wearing the eyeglasses 10, comes into contact with the side face in the vicinity of the root of the nose in the side face of the nose. While the side face in the vicinity of the root of the nose is a gentle concave shape, the bump portion 36 coming into therewith has the curved convex shape, and therefore, is apt to adapt to the shape of the side face of the nose in a region with which the portion 36 comes into contact, and the eyeglasses 10 are hard to slip down. Further, since the bump portion 36 that reliably comes into contact with the side face of the nose and the attachment portion 34 attached to the pad arm 24 are provided in positions that are almost back to back at opposite end portions of the base portion 32, the bump portions 36 are capable of reliably nipping side faces of the nose of the user, and the pad also exerts the effect of preventing slipping down. Furthermore, since the bump portion 36 coming into contact with the side face of the nose has the curved convex surface, and is hard to bite into the nose, pain is hard to occur, and the imprint is generated hard. In addition thereto, since the bump portion 36 is raised from the base portion 32, when the bump portion 36 comes into contact with the side face of the nose, a gap tends to be formed between the side face opposed portion and the side face of the nose, and it is possible to decrease the area of contact between the side face opposed portion and the nose. By this means, it is possible to make a rash caused by getting humid occur hard, and to reduce removal of makeup.

[0038] In the foregoing, the nose pad 30 according to the present invention and eyeglasses 10 provided with the pad are described with reference to the Embodiment shown in the figures, but the invention is not limited to the Embodiment shown in the figures. For example, in the Embodiment shown in the figure, the pad arm 24 extends from the inner edge portion of the rim 20 of the eyeglasses 10, but the pad arm 24 may extend from the bridge 22. Further, in the Embodiment, the nose pad 30 according to the invention is attached to eyeglasses where the front portion has a pair of rims, and it is also possible to attach the nose pad 30 according to the invention to eyeglasses where the bridge and temples are directly connected to lenses without the rim, and the pad arm extends from the bridge. Furthermore, the attachment portion 34 is connected to the storage portion 26 at the front end of the pad arm 24 by the screw 28, and may be connected by another means.