US3520759A - Decorative wreath - Google Patents

Description

July 14, 1970 F. M. AGENA ET AL 3,520,759

DECORATIVE WREATH Filed March 80 1.967 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 11 4 jg ,flvvs/vraa. 1! J0 A jZwA/c/s MA6E/W4; SH/QLEy M- AIS-5 July 14, 1970 AGENA ET AL 3,520,759

DECORAT IVE WREATH Filed March 8, 1967 2 Sheets-$heet 2 JvvEA/m/Qsi fiAA AC/S M. AG 5/4/2455/ M. A 65x44,

United States Patent 3,520,759 DECORATIVE WREATH Francis M. Agena and Shirley M. Agena, both of 1931 W. 20th St., Los Angeles, Calif. 90018 Filed Mar. 8, 1967, Ser. No. 621,528 Int. Cl. A47g 33/08; B32b 3/06 U.S. Cl. 161--15 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The main objects of this invention are to provide an ornamental wreath structure easily fabricable from inexpensive, readily available material, the structure comprising a support plate to which is secured a circular array of flexible cards having outwardly facing conically formed ends, the cards being built up in layers with the conical points of each successive layer being more steeply inclined with respect to the surface of the support plate so that the wreath will have a quadrantal cross-sectional configuration.

The novel features which are believed to be characteristic of the present invention, together with further objects and advantages thereof, will be better understood from the following description in which the invention is illustrated by way of example. It is to be expressly understood, however, that the description is for the purpose of illustration only and that the true spirit and scope of the invention is defined by the accompanying claims.

In the drawing:

FIGS. la, 1b and 1c are perspective views of a flexible card, illustrating the formation of a conical end portion;

FIG. 2 is a partial perspective view showing how the card of FIG. 1 is secured to a support plate;

FIG. 3 is a plan view, partially cut away, of a completed wreath;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view taken along the line 44 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an end view of a mounted card, as in FIG. 2;

FIGS. 6a and 6b are perspective views illustrating the formation of an alternative card embodiment;

FIGS. 7a and 7b are perspective views illustrating formation of another card embodiment; and

FIG. 8 is a plan view of the completed card shown in FIG. 7d.

Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to FIGS. 1alc, there is shown one technique for forming the flexible cards which comprise the wreath. FIG. 1a shows one of the elongate flexible rectangular cards, generally indicated by the reference numeral 10, the card being of any suitable material such as thin cardboard or plastic. The cards 10 may be of any convenient size, with punch-coded IBM cards being presently preferred for wreaths on the order of 18 inches in diameter. In the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 1, the two end portions of the card are indicated by the reference numerals 11 and 12. The card 10 is formed by bending the corners of the end portion 11 in an arcuate fashion toward each other, as indicated in FIG. lb, and bringing the end portions together until they overlap. The corners are secured in overlapping relationship by any convenient means such as by stapling as shown in FIG. 10, or by gluing. In this fashion a plurality of the cards 10 are formed, the thus formed cards providing the points of the wreath. By tightly overlapping the card corners at the pointed end 11 3,520,759 Patented July 14, 1970 the conical end will terminate in almost a perfect point, whereas if the corners are secured in only slightly overlapping relationship a somewhat truncated point will be formed, the aperture at this truncated point being sometimes preferable to create a different ornamental effect.

A plurality of cards 10 are formed in the abovedescribed manner for mounting to a circular support plate 15, shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4. The support plate 15 may be fabricated of corrugated cardboard, or other suitable material. Construction of the wreath is begun by placing one of the conically pointed cards on the upper surface of the support plate 15, the card being inverted so that the overlapped corner portions of its pointed end 11 are facing downwardly toward the support plate 15, as indicated in FIG. 2. The flat end 12 of the card 10 is secured to the upper surface of the support plate 15, with the card oriented in radial alignment with its conically formed end facing outwardly and overhanging the edge of the support plate, as indicated in FIG. 2. It is presently preferred to glue the cards to the support plate, although other suitable fastening techniques, such as stapling for example, will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

Then, another card 10 is inverted and placed on the support plate adjacent the previously mounted card and secured thereto in radial alignment and partially overlapping the flat portion of the first card, as indicated in the cut away portion of FIG. 3. More cards are successively added in radial alignment to form a singlelayer circular array on the support plate, all of the cards being inverted and mounted with their conically formed ends facing outwardly in the manner shown in FIG. 2.

Next, a second layer of cards is mounted, the cards in the second layer being indicated in FIGS. 3 and 4 by the reference numeral 10a. The cards 1011 are also in radial alignment, but displaced from the underlying layer of cards 10 so that the pointed ends of the cards 1011 will be approximately midway between the pointed ends of the underlying cards 10. Also, the cards 10a are positioned slightly more towards the center of the support plate so that the pointed end portions of the underlying cards 10 will support the pointed end portions of the cards 10a and force the conical points of the cards 10a into a steeper angular alignment, as indicated in FIG. 4.

Then a subsequent radially aligned layer of cards, indicated by the reference numeral 10b is added, followed by succeeding layers of cards 10c, 10d, etc. As each succeeding layer of cards is added, the pointed end portions of the underlying layers force the pointed end portions of the succeeding layers into a steeper inclination with respect to the support plate, thereby forming a wreath having a substantially quadrantal cross sectional configuration. Sufficient additional layers of cards can be added until the pointed end portions of the cards in the last layer are substantially perpendicular to the underlying support plate, only a relatively small diameter open space remaining in the center of the wreath structure.

A smaller flat end portion of the cards in each of the successively added layers are secured to the underlying cards and support plate, a greater portion of the cards projecting outwardly and upwardly to form the quadrantal cross section. Upon completion of the wreath structure the wreath may be sprayed with paint of any desired color, and any other desired ornamentation added. As an example of further ornamentation, there is indicated in FIG. 3 a string of miniature electric light bulbs 18 and ornamental balls 19. Also, additional ornamentation may be mounted in the center hole of the wreath.

FIG. 6 of the drawing shows how the cards formed in the manner of FIGS. 1 and 2 can be adapted so that their conically pointed ends naturally assume an angular inclination with respect to the remainder of the card. A card has a conically pointed end portion 21 formed in the hereinabove described manner and a flat end portion 22. A transverse slit 23 is out near the base of the pointed end portion 21 and the card is longitudinally creased down its center from its end 22 to the transverse slit 23 to form a central fold line 24a. The card is also creased in a straight line extending from the slit 23 to one corner of the flat end 22 to form a diagonal fold line 24b, as indicated in FIG. 6a. Note that in this embodiment the card is not inverted, i.e., the overlapped end corners are facing upwards. The card is then folded along its fold lines to form a folded over portion 24, which stresses the card to snap the pointed end portion 21 into angular alignment with the folded over portion 24. A plurality of these so-formed cards are secured to the support plate to form the multilayer circular arrays giving the ornamental wreath configuration.

FIGS. 7 and 8 of the drawing show yet another technique for forming a conically pointed card wherein the conical point is naturally angularly inclined with respect to the flat portion of the card. A rectangular card shown in FIG. 7a has opposing ends 31 and 32. A longitudinally extending central slit 34 extends from the end 32, thereby dividing the end 32 into two parallel end portions indicated as 32a and 32b in FIG. 7b. Extending angularly rearwardly from the center of the opposing edges of the card are slits 36 and 37. Next, the card corners at the end 31 are bent arcuately toward each other and secured in overlapping relationship to form a conically pointed end in the manner indicated in FIGS. la-lc the card then appearing as shown in FIG. 7c.

Then, the end portion 32a is raised upwardly and passed over the end portion 32b and then lowered so that the slit 36 engages with the slit 37, the end portions 32a and 32b then being pushed toward each other to interlock them so that the card will appear as shown in FIG. 7d, the pointed end portion 31 then naturally assuming an angular inclination. The angle of inclination of the pointed end portion is determined by the distance of the slots 36 and 37 from the end 32 of the card, the closer these slits to the end the lower the angle of inclination. For example, there are shown in phantom lines on FIG- 70 a pair of edge slits 36' and 37'. In the plan view of FIG. 8 the solid line portion indicates a true plan view of the card 30 when slitted at 36 and 37, while the phantom lines indicate the plan view of the card if slitted at 36 and 37', the difference in the angle of inclination of the pointed end portion being readily discernible.

In using the slitted embodiment shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 the first formed (underlying) layers of the wreath would utilize cards slitted at 36' and 37, the cards of the very top layers being slit even closer to the end 32 of the cards.

Alternatively, a wreath could be constructed by using cards 10 for the first few layers, with succeeding layers using cards 30. Other techniques for modifying the basically formed cards 10 will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Hence, although the invention has been described with a certain degree of particularly, it is understood that the present disclosure has been made only by way of example and that numerous changes in the details of construction and the combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the 4 spirit and the scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.

What is claimed is:

1. An ornamental wreath comprising a support plate and a plurality of elongate cards of flexible sheet material, the corner portions at one end of each card being bent inwardly and secured in overlapping relationship to form a conical end, the cards being secured together at their other ends in a multi-layered circular array on said support plates with their conically formed ends facing outwardly, wherein the conically formed ends of the cards of each successive layer of said circular array are supported by those of the underlying layers in a steeper inclination with respect to said support plate to thereby form a wreath having a substantially quadrantal crosssectional configuration.

2. An ornamental wreath as defined in claim 1, wherein said cards are rectangular in shape.

3. An ornamental wreath as defined in claim 1, wherein said cards are aligned with their overlapped corners facing toward said support plate.

-4. An ornamental wreath as defined in claim 1, wherein at least some of the cards are aligned with their overlapped corners facing away from said support plate and having a central transverse slit at the base of their conically formed ends, each of these cards also having a first straight fold line down its center from said other end to said transverse slit and a second straight fold line extending from said transverse slit to one corner of said other end, these cards being folded on said fold lines so that the triangular card segment between said first and second fold lines overlies the card segment extending between said second fold line and the adjacent longitudinal card edge and underlies the card segment extending between said first fold line and the other longitudinal card edge, whereby the conically pointed card end is snapped into angular alignment with the remainder of the card.

5. An ornamental wreath as defined in claim 1, wherein said other end of at least some of the cards is longitudinally slit and the opposing side edges angularly inwardly slit, the conically pointed end of each slitted card being bent angularly upwards from said support plate and so maintained by interlocking of the opposing edge slits.

6. An ornamental wreath as defined in claim 5, wherein said longitudinal slit is equidistant from the card side edges, and said angular edge slits are equidistant from the card end.

7. An ornamental wreath as defined in claim 1, wherein the inwardly bent corner portions of said cards are secured in such a degree of overlapping relationship that the conical end is truncated.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 12/1955 MacGregor 16ll5 7/1962 Paar 16l-9 US. Cl. X.R. 16l48

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