JPS6212486B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a metal eyeglass frame, particularly an eyeglass frame made of an aluminum alloy.

Metal eyeglass frames are generally made of materials such as copper alloy, nickel alloy, stainless steel, etc. that can be brazed with silver wax, solder, etc., and the rims, bridges, frames, etc. of the glasses are made, and these are assembled by brazing. However, the materials for eyeglass frames mentioned above are heavy with a specific gravity of approximately 7.5 to 9, and in order to obtain eyeglass frames, which are currently trending toward lighter weight, it is necessary to make the rims etc. thinner. There are limits from above.

On the other hand, aluminum alloys are lightweight and strong, and if they are coated with a relatively thick oxide film by anodizing, they have excellent corrosion and abrasion resistance, and can be dyed. It has come to be widely used in everything from precision instruments such as measuring machines to building materials. This anodic oxide film can be dyed in various colors, so if it can be used in eyeglass frames, it is possible to obtain eyeglass frames that are lightweight and have excellent durability. However, as has been known for a long time, this aluminum alloy is difficult to braze, and although solder for brazing aluminum alloys is commercially available, the strength of the brazed joint is insufficient and the corrosion resistance is poor. Because of its inferior properties, eyeglass frames assembled by brazing have not yet been developed.

Spot welding is a method for joining metals, but it is not suitable for manufacturing eyeglass frames because it is not strong enough and it is difficult to remove impressions caused by electrodes. There is also a device in which the rim, bridge, and endpiece are assembled using special machine screws, but this is not desirable in terms of design because the parts are large and the screw heads are exposed. It is also possible to manufacture eyeglass frames by making the rim, bridge, and endpiece into one piece to avoid soldering, and then making a special aluminum alloy tube by extrusion and cutting it horizontally. In the case of molding from this irregular tube, the rim groove must be machined, and the hinge pieces that protrude at right angles to the cut surface must be attached with machine screws. Furthermore, if a decorative pattern of concave and convex portions is to be provided on the surface of the eyeglass frame, further machining must be carried out, which has the disadvantage of increasing costs. Although it is possible to integrate eyeglass frames by die-casting, there is a limit to the ability to obtain a mold with a complex shape, and it is especially difficult to manufacture a mold that includes the rim groove and butterfly foot of the nose pad. , the rim groove must be machined, and the butterfly foot must be attached to the rim in some way. Furthermore, since die casting is a metal mold casting process, blowholes, shrinkage, etc. are likely to occur, so materials that generate less gas and have good castability are limited.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned drawbacks and provides brazing,
Eliminating processes such as spot welding and screwing, the rim,
To provide, in large quantities and at low cost, extremely lightweight and highly fashionable eyeglass frames in which a bridge, an endpiece, etc. are integrally molded, and an uneven pattern can also be added.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail based on Examples.

FIG. 1 shows a prototype of an eyeglass frame according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows a prototype of a temple portion.

As shown in the first figure, rim grooves 2a, 2' are carved with uneven patterns 1, 1' and support the lens on the inner surface.
rims 2, 2' having a rim 2, 2', blow tips 3, 3' projecting from the rims 2, 2' to the left and right, end pieces 4, 4', hinge pieces 5, 5' on the end piece side, and nose pads. The butterfly legs 6, 6' and the bridge 7 are each made of soft metal, and are assembled by joining with high-temperature adhesive or brazing to form a prototype of the eyeglass frame. After covering this prototype with liquid silicone rubber and fixing it by heating, a part of the silicone rubber is incised and the said prototype is taken out using the elasticity of the rubber to make a female mold of silicone rubber. Note that a sprue portion is added to the above-mentioned master mold in order to attach a sprue for pouring wax into this female mold. A fusible wax or polystyrene resin (hereinafter simply referred to as "wax") is injected into the cavity of this silicone rubber female mold, and after solidification, it is taken out from the female mold in the same manner as the above-mentioned master mold was taken out,
A wax model with the same shape as the original can be obtained. Of course, in order to mass-produce eyeglass frames, it is necessary to make multiple silicone rubber female molds using the above-mentioned master mold, inject wax into these molds, and prepare many wax models with the same shape as the master mold. There is no.

Using the wax model obtained as above,
The Lost Wax method is as follows:
Precision casting of aluminum alloys is carried out using the following process. First, the wax model described above is immersed in a slurry containing ethyl silicate, zircon, fused silica powder, and other finely powdered refractories, then pulled out, sanded, and dried. This process of dipping, drawing out, sanding, and drying is repeated, and then heated to melt the wax and remove wax, followed by further firing to obtain a strong ceramic shell. For example, 1.5 to this ceramic shell mold
%Cu−0.3%Si−2.5%Mg−5.5%Zn−0.3%Cr−
The remaining molten aluminum alloy having a composition of Al is injected and cast, and after cooling, the ceramic shell is destroyed to obtain an aluminum alloy casting having the same shape as the original. This obtained aluminum alloy casting is then heated to 450℃ to undergo melting treatment, and after quenching, it is heated at 120℃ for 10 hours and subjected to age hardening treatment by tempering to harden it.
Strong mechanical properties of Hv150 can be obtained.
After the above-mentioned heat treatment, the blow teeth 3, 3' are cut with slots in the rim direction and threaded so that the spectacle lens can be set on the rim. Further, the hinge pieces 5, 5' are threaded to form a temple portion shown in FIG. 2 so as to be able to pivot thereon. The temple part to be combined with this eyeglass frame does not have to be made of aluminum alloy, but if it is made of aluminum alloy, the uneven pattern 8, temple 9, and hinge piece 10 are combined with the above-mentioned eyeglass frame as shown in FIG. It is desirable to make a wax model in a similar manner, cast it by the lost wax method, and then integrally mold it.

Generally, an eyeglass frame is a general term for a front part that holds a lens and a temple part that attaches the front part to the face, but the eyeglass frame in the present invention does not include a temple part.

As described above, the aluminum alloy eyeglass frames cast by the lost wax method are surface-polished and polished, and then coated with an anodized coating of approximately 30 μm.
It is possible to obtain an aluminum alloy eyeglass frame that is impregnated with a colored dye to impart corrosion resistance and abrasion resistance, and also has a colorful surface.

The alloy of the embodiment used for casting by the above-mentioned lost wax method is a type of so-called ultra-superduralumin, but since the mold is a ceramic shell, the degree of freedom in selecting the alloy is greater than that in die casting.

Although it lacks strength as it is cast, since there is no joining part by brazing, CuAl ₂ , Mg ₂ Si, MgZn is melted, quenched, and tempered after forming the cast eyeglass frame. Since it is possible to improve the strength by age hardening during the precipitation process such as ₂ , Cu0.5-5% and Si0.4-13
%, Mg0.2 to 11%, and Zn1 to 7%. In order to fully exhibit the effect of the anodic oxide film, the Cu content is preferably 3% or less and the Si content is 7% or less, but it is even better if the Cu content is 2% or less and the Si content is 4% or less.

Further, if the hardness is less than Hv80, the strength as an eyeglass frame will be insufficient, so it is desirable that the hardness is higher than this.

As described above, according to the present invention, when manufacturing eyeglass frames, no brazing or the like is required at all, and the eyeglass frames are lightweight, strong,
A colorful aluminum alloy eyeglass frame that has excellent corrosion resistance and abrasion resistance and can be freely patterned with uneven patterns can be obtained, and the cost can be reduced because the amount of machining required is extremely small compared to conventional products. Furthermore, by making many wax models, a large number of castings can be obtained in one casting process, and the brazing process, which conventionally requires the most effort and time in the production of eyeglass frames, and which is prone to producing defective products, can be avoided. Since it is not necessary, it can be manufactured efficiently.

Note that if the butterfly legs are formed integrally with the rim as in the embodiment of the present invention, the soldered portions will come off or the butterfly legs will break during the bending adjustment work to hold the glasses in the normal position on the face. There is no such fear, and since it is easy to thicken the joint between the rim and the butterfly foot, there is an advantage that the strength can be sufficiently increased.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a prototype eyeglass frame according to the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a plan view of the temple portion. 2,2'...Rim, 3,3'...Blow Chi, 4,
4'... Endpiece wisdom, 5, 5'... Hinge piece, 6,
6'... butterfly foot, 7... bridge.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 At least the rim, bridge, and endpiece of the eyeglass frame are integrally cast from an aluminum alloy, and the aluminum alloy contains 0.5 to 2 of copper, 0.4 to 4 of silicon, and magnesium in weight percent.
1. A metal eyeglass frame characterized by being made of an age-hardenable aluminum alloy containing at least one component of 0.2 to 11 and zinc 1 to 7, and having a hardness of Hv80 or more after age hardening.