The present invention relates to an article of jewelry for dispensing perfumed vapors. More particularly, the present invention relates to a hollow article of jewelry which is adapted to contain a quantity of perfume and dispense perfumed vapors into the atmosphere.
Known and conventional means in jewelry for dispensing perfumed vapors into the atmosphere usually comprise an absorbent pad saturated with perfume located within a cavity in the jewelry and do not have a reservoirs of liquid perfume. The devices which employ a saturated pad are not effective since the vapors are emitted in varying strengths, are emitted for only a relatively short period of time, and are incapable of being refilled and reused a relatively large number of times. The strength of the vapors emitted from these prior art devices varies because the rate of evaporation of the perfume in the saturated pad varies as the saturation of the pad varies. Since the pads may only absorb a relatively small amount of perfume, the pads will exhaust their supply of perfume and cease emitting perfumed vapors in a relatively short period of time. Upon drying out, these prior art pads become hard, lose their ability to absorb fluids and become inoperative. Typical examples are U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,267,067, Flagg; 2,058,274, Vivaudou; 2,109,092, Roll; 2,550,828, Lawson; 2,564,860, Ryberg; and 2,740,662, Scott.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,270,525 to Sellers discloses an article of jewelry which dispenses perfumed vapors comprising a hollow body in which a quantity of perfume is contained. Extremely small holes are formed in the body of the article to permit the vapors to escape. The holes are small enough in cross-sectional area to assure that the surface tension of the perfume will prevent the perfume from leaking out of the openings. This type of device is disadvantageous since the extremely small openings are expensive and difficult to manufacture due to the close tolerances required. Also, if the openings are too large, perfume will leak out of the article and evaporate at too great a rate, or if the openings are too small, they will clog easily and will not be able to emit the vapors in sufficient quantities.
The prior art has suggested the use of a reservoir of volatile liquid which is evaporated into the atmosphere through a wick and an absorbent pad. However, these prior art dispensers have not heretofore been incorporated into a piece of jewelry to produce a practical device since their construction is too complex and cumbersome, and not adaptable for jewelry. Typical examples are U.S. Pat. Nos. 644,158, Blake; 2,572,329, Foster; and 3,587,968 to Hennart.