Patents on the soles of your shoes...: Altina Schinasi

Showing posts with label Altina Schinasi. Show all posts

Monday, August 14, 2023

Oh, patents! Altina Schinasi design for a spectacle frame

The search for Altina Schinasi spectacle frame designs returned one additional US design patent. The US design patent USD135510S, titled Design for a spectacle frame, was granted on April 20, 1943. The patent was granted to Altina Sanders, also known by her maiden name as Altina Schinasi.

The patent Figure 1 depicts a front view of the spectacle frame, showing the Schinasi design. As a reminder, a design patent covers the ornamental aspects of an invention, or how an invention looks. In contrast, a US utility patent covers the functional aspects of an invention, or how the invention works, and/or is fabricated. Per the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Manual of Patent Examination Procedure (MPEP):

“a utility patent” protects the way an article is used and works (35 U.S.C. 101), while a “design patent” protects the way an article looks (35 U.S.C. 171) [MPEP Chapt. 1502.01; [R-07.2015]].

Reference

USPTO MPEP – Chapt. 1502-01 – Distinction between design and utility patent.
https://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/s1502.html

Friday, August 11, 2023

Oh, patents! Altina Schinasi curved and angular eyeglass frame design

The below patent Figure 1 was extracted from USD134418S, titled Design for a pair of spectacles. A US design patent awarded to Altina Sanders, also known by her maiden name as Altina Schinasi. The patent was granted on November 24, 1942.

The patent Figure 1 depicts a perspective view of the Schinasi spectacle frame design. A frame designed with an angled upper portion and a curved lower portion. A design in stark contrast to the prevalent round spectacle frames of the first half of the 20^th century.

Reference

Altina Schinasi, The Harlem Girl Who Knew Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Salvador Dali And Invented Cat-Eye Glasses. Harlem World Magazine

https://www.harlemworldmagazine.com/altina-schinasi-the-harlem-girl-who-knew-martin-luther-king-rosa-parks-salvador-dali-and-invented-cat-eye-glasses/

Sunday, August 6, 2023

Oh, patents! Hexogonal Altina Schinasi eyeglass frame design

Altina Schinasi designed several other spectacle frames, beyond the enduring cat-eye spectacle frame. The below hexagonal Schinasi spectacle frame was granted a US design patent on August 4, 1942. The hexagonal Schinasi design also accessorized the traditionally round-spectacle frame design that dominated the optometric market of the first half of the 20^th century.

The US design patent, USD133263, titled Pair of spectacles, was granted to Altina Sanders, also known by her maiden name, Altina Schinasi. Below, the patent Figure 1, showing a perspective view of the hexagonal Altina Schinasi spectacle frame design.

Reference

Altina Schinasi 1924 (1907-1999)

https://library.danahall.org/archives/danapedia/alumnae/altina-schinasi-1924-1907-1999/

Saturday, August 5, 2023

Oh, patents! Altina Schinasi cat-eye spectacle frames

On Aug. 4, 2023, the Google splash page Doodle was designed to celebrate the 116th birthday of Altina Schinasi. Altina Schinasi was the 1930s inventor of the cat-eye-shaped, spectacle frame design for women, also called Harlequin eyeglass frames. Harlequin because their shape was inspired by the mystery and romance of Venice Carnaval Harlequin masks.

Altina Schinasi, a trained artist, with Sephardic roots in Turkey and Greece, lived and worked in New York City, initially as a window-display designer for Fifth Avenue stores in Manhattan. Thus, the ingenuity of her cat-eye spectacle frame invention is said to have also stemmed from having noticed, in optician window displays, that eyeglass frames for women were all boringly round.

Altina Schinasi was married in 1928 first to a renowned architect called Morris B. Sanders, whose name she took to publish all her patented designs. The following are two US design patents that were granted to Altina Sanders, aka Altina Schinasi, specifically for the Altina Schinasi cat-eye-shaped spectacle frames.

USD113882S, titled Design for a spectacle frame, awarded March 21, 1939
USD118391, titled Spectacle frame, awarded January 2, 1940

Altina Schinasi brought her spectacle design invention to market, securing contracts with department stores and setting up a production and distribution office. Eventually, Schinasi also expanded her spectacle frame production company to the West Coast, when she moved to Los Angeles, where she lived for 17 years.

Schinasi's cat-eye-shaped spectacle frame design was by far her most successful design, and is still in vogue to date. In the 1940s, such famous people as Lucille Ball, Marilyn Monroe, and Audrey Hepburn wore her cat-eye-shaped spectacles. Schinasi was also the recipient of the Lord & Taylor American Design Award in 1939, for having transformed eye-glass frames for women into a fashion accessory.

Below, the patent Figures 1, extracted respectively from each of the two cat-eye-shaped spectacle patents, as well as the vibrant Google Doodle celebratory cat-eye-shaped spectacle frame design, which brought Schinasi back into the limelight.