US2280490A - Wrist strap - Google Patents

Description

April 2l, 1942. R, KELTlE 2,280,490

WRIST STRAP Filed Nov. 2, 1939 n lllllgufej; a w,.........

AALP/f IJ KEL T/E his Patented Apr. 21, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT GFFICE WRIST STRAP Ralph J. Keltie, Wellesley Hills, Mass. Application November 2, 1939, Serial No. 302,557

2 Claims.

This invention relates to Wrist bands, straps or bracelets, and pertains more particularly to improvements in wrist watch straps.

The principal purpose of the invention is to provide a wrist strap which will hold a watch, locket or other ornament in predetermined position upon the wrist, and which will remain in fixed position even though the strap is fastened rather loosely upon the wrist of the wearer.

Although the subject matter of this invention may be incorporated in chain-link, metal mesh or othertypes of bands or bracelets, it has especial utility when embodied in leather watch straps; for another object of the invention is to provide a bracelet having the flexibility, durability and comfort characteristic of leather straps which are commonly employed to hold a wrist watch in place.

It is well known that all ordinary bracelets or wrist straps will slip or rotate about the wrist, unless they are fastened so tightly as to be uncomfortable to the wearer, and that such unavoidable displacement is not only disquieting but also inconvenient, because the watch or ornament carried thereby will slide to such a position that it cannot be properly viewed without abnormal twisting of the wrist, with the result that the position of the bracelet must be frequently adjusted.`

This inconvenience is avoided without sacrifice of comfort or appearance, by incorporating in a leather or other flexible watch bracelet, in accordance with the present invention, a relatively short length of resilient or semi-rigid material which will stiffen and tend to straighten a portion of the bracelet and thus prevent it from slipping around the wrist, while at the same time exerting a slight expansive tension which will yieldingly compensate for the desired looseness of the strap. The watch or ornament may thus be held in any position which suits the taste of the wearer, by properly locating one or more stiilening pieces with respect to the watch or ornament and the contour of the wrist.

Recommended embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of an extended wrist watch strap, with a portion thereof broken away to show a piece of resilient stiifening material;

Fig. 2 is a side view of the strap of Fig. 1 fastened as worn on the wrist;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view of a watch strap equipped with a modified form of stiftening member;

Figs. 4 and 5 are enlarged transverse sections on lines 4-4 and 5 5 of Figs. 1 and 3, respectively;

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing the wrist watch in an optional position, with a modified arrangement of the stiffening members;

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary plan view of a watch strap equipped with another optional form of reinforcement;

Fig. 8 is a view similar to Fig. 6 illustrating still another modification;

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary view of the end of a watch strap incorporating a reinforcing piece and having a loop remote from the end of the strap for connecting the strap to the bail of a wrist watch; and

Fig. 10 is a plan view of the watch strap of Fig. 8, in extended position. l

In the form shownin Figs. 1, 2, and 4, the watch strap sections II and I2 are made of two plies of leather or other flexible material, stitched together at I3 around their edges, the inner ends of the wrist sections being connected to the bails or pins I4 of the wrist watch I5 bythe loops I6 formed by doubling the leather of each section upon itself.

Each strap section is provided with a relatively short, fiat and thin piece of spring metal I'I, located intermediate the two plies thereof and between the rows of stitching I3, adjacent the Wrist watch connections I6. 'Ihese metal strips tend to stiffen and straighten the strap on opposite sides of the watch, so that when the strap is buckled on the wrist as shown in Fig. 2, the watch is centered, either on the inside or outside of the wrist, and the two reinforcing strips are located on a relative fiat portion of the wrist at the inside or outside thereof. Owing to the relative stiffness of the portion l1, a strap thus secured will be restrained from slipping or sliding around the relatively abrupt curves at the sides of the normal, oval shaped wrist, and the wrist watch will thus be retained in fixed position.

In Figs. 3 and 5, the reinforcement consists of two short lengths of flexible wire 2I, secured adjacent and parallel to the sides of the wrist strap sections 22 by stitching 23 which also serves to fasten the two plies of the leather together.

In the form shown in Fig.' 6, the strap sections and reinforcements are arr nged so that the wrist watch I5 is disposed o center, preferably on the inside of the wrist. In this arrangement, the outside section 26 of the watch strap is substantially longer than the inside section 2l, and a longer piece 28 .of flat spring metal (similar to that of Figs. 1 and 4) is incorporated in the outer section. A shorter metal strip 29 may be included in the inner section as shown in Fig. 6, or may be omitted as indicated in Figs. 8 and 10. When a relatively long strip of resilient metal, such as the piece 30 of a greater degree of expansivetension is produced, thus tending to straighten the strap and resiliently compensate for unusual looseness in the adjustment thereof upon the wrist. It will be apparent, however, that the wrist watch will be held in fixed position by a comfortably loose strap or bracelet even though the stiffener is of relatively short length, as shown for example in Fig. l.

In Fig. 7, the wrist. watch 3| is connected to the strap sections 32 and 33 by closed loops or rings ll made of spring wire which serve to stiffen and tend to straighten the bracelet in substantially the same manner as the ilat metal pieces I1, 28 or 30, or the enclosed wires 2|, previously described.

The strap section 31 shown with an upstanding loop 38, spaced from itsV end, so that the end portion thereof will be disposed beneath a watch connected to said loop in the manner indicated in Fig. 2. This permits the employment of a still longer spring metal strip 39, whether the watch is centered on the inside or theoutside of the wrist or is located off center; in either case the enclosed piece of spring metal will tend to expand the strap and elevate the watch for better vision. 'I'he stiffener should not, however, be so long that it will extend bebeyond the sharp curves at the sides of the wrist and cause the strap to bend at an abrupt angle.

Although the watch bracelets herein illustrated and described comprise strap sections made of two plies of leather, it will be evident that the stifIening-member may be embodied in a single-ply strap section, as by attaching a metal plate to the inside or outside of the section, without departing from the spirit of this invention. It will also be understood that the stifl'ening elements may be incorporated in bracelets made of leather cords or materials other than leather, and that the structural details of the bracelet may be varied to suit particular tastes and conditions, within the intended scope of the appended claims.

It will be observed, however, that a wrist bracelet capable of satisfying the objects of this `invention should comprise flexible portions adapted to rest upon the sharply curved sides of the wrist and preferably made of soft or yielding material which will be comfortable to the wearer, and one or more relatively rigid and preferably resilient portions which tend to straighten the bracelet and which will be disposed on the rela- Figs. 8 and 10 is employed,

tively flat parts on the inside and/or outside of the wrist, thereby to restrain rotation of the bracelet and hold the watch or other ornament in fixed position without uncomfortable pressure sharply curved sides of the wrist, and it should in Fig. 9 is formed tend to expand rather than to contract the closed bracelet.

The expansive action of the stiifener is more pronounced when the length of the stiffener approache's the width of the wrist, and this action' tends to hold the watch or ornament away from the wrist when a pair of stiieners are located close to the watch, as shown in Fig. 2, or partly beneath the watch as shown in Fig. 8.

I claim:

l. A watch bracelet comprising a pair of continuous,l freely flexible straps adjustably connectable around the wrist, at least one of said straps having a substantially fiat and relatively inflexible member spaced inwardly of its respective ends and of a length substantially less than one-half the perimeter of the connected bracelet, said member being constructed and arranged to straighten that part of the strap to which it is applied and to resist curvature of the connected bracelet at that region only, so that the watch carried by the bracelet is held in predetermined position without constrictive tension and restrained from slipping around the wrist, when the straightened part of the strap is disposed along a relatively ilat portion of the wrist while the flexible parts thereof embrace the curved sides of the wrist.

2. A watch bracelet comprising a pair of continuous freely flexible straps adjustably connectable around the wrist, each of said straps having a substantially flat and relatively inflexible member spaced inwardly on its ends and of a length substantially less than one-halfthe perimeter of the connected bracelet, said members being constructed and arranged to straighten that part of the strap to which they are'respectively applied and to resist curvature of the connected bracelet at said regions only, so that the bracelet is held without constrictive tension in predetermined position and offset laterally from the axis of the wrist and restrained from slipping around the wrist, when the straightened parts of the straps are disposed along the relatively flat sides of the wrist while the flexible parts thereof embrace the curved sides of the wrist.

RALPH J. KELI'IE.

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