WO2008072263A1

WO2008072263A1 - Termination strip for linen products and linen products provided with said termination strips

Info

Publication number: WO2008072263A1
Application number: PCT/IT2006/000847
Authority: WO
Inventors: Enrico Zorzi; Davide Zorzi
Original assignee: Emporiotessile Di Zorzi Enrico & C. S.A.S.
Priority date: 2006-12-14
Filing date: 2006-12-14
Publication date: 2008-06-19

Abstract

A termination strip (2) for linen products (3) like for example tablecloths, curtains, bed spreads, pillow-cases, and so on I 5 proposed, wherein said strip consisting either of a woven fabric made with natural, synthetic or mixed fibers or of a non-wove fabric at will on the side thereof to be fixed to said linen product (3 consisting either of a woven fabric made with natural, synthetic or mixed fibers or of a non-woven fabric is provided with a thermoweldable adhesive layer. Said strips (2) as well as printed decoration designs which may by cut out from said strips (2) a inserts (4) may then be fixed on a respective linen product (3) b means of a thermofixing phase by ironing.

Description

"Termination strip for linen products and linen products provided with said termination strips"

Field of the invention The present invention relates to a termination strip for linen products and to linen products provided with said termination strips according to the preambles of the claims 1 and 3 as well as to the respective fixing method according to claim 6.

In the present application with "linen products" are intended tablecloths, window curtains, bed spreads, pillow-cases and the like which are made of woven or non-woven fabrics.

Background of the invention

In order to industrially rationalize the manufacturing of linen products which are offered for selling with different printed decoration pattern or designs for example decoration reproducing flowers, fruits, animals or fancy designs in general it is known to produce in great quantities equal cloth sheets or bodies for tablecloths or the like and then to complete said tablecloths or similar with perimetrical termination strips consisting of woven fabric on which are printed the mentioned decorative pattern or designs like flowers, animals or fancy decorations in general, wherein said strips are then sewn on the edges of the tablecloth body as shown in figures 1 and 2 according to the orders of the linen product sellers or distributors.

Said termination strips, which have for example a width of 5-15 cm, are printed the one near the other onto a cloth having a width of, for example, 140-180 cm and then separated from each other by means of longitudinal cuts. In this way along the strip and tablecloth edges may occur so-called open weft threads or loose threads on the strip and tablecloth edge ending without selvedge. Therefore, it is known to avoid said open weft threads by sewing little hems. It is obvious that the mentioned hem sewing operations require rather expensive sewing-machines and rather long sewing times as well as clever needle-women, which has negative repercussions on the manufacturing costs. A further drawback of the known fixing of the termination strips is that on the linen products, for example tablecloths, may occur shrinkage irregularities between the tablecloth body cloth and the termination strip cloth which are due either to the overlapping irregularities between the table cloth body and the cloth strip during the sewing of the latter or due to different shrinkage behaviours of the tablecloth cloth and the termination strip cloth after washing. Therefore, it were desirable to produce linen products having termination strips which do not have the drawbacks mentioned above. It is likewise known the always greater diffusion of linen products, for example tablecloths and sheets consisting of non-woven fabrics, which latter have a great quality range including products having a very low cost, for example disposable sheets, as well as higher quality products, for example tablecloths for restaurants, which tablecloths may be repeatedly washed and used.

Even if also the linen products consisting of non-woven fabrics have the requirement of an industrial manufacturing concerning the finishing of such linen products consisting of non-woven fabrics with termination strips likewise linen products consisting of woven fabrics, this has not up to now taken place yet both for technical and economical reasons. The sewing of termination strips onto linen products consisting of non-woven fabric does not guarantee a sure, uniform and lasting fixing due to the irregular strength features of said non-woven fabrics and due to the manufacturing cost increasing which is actually too high with respect to the low cost of linen products consisting of non-woven fabric.

Therefore, it were desirable to use termination strips also for linen products consisting of non-woven fabric, in particular for non- woven fabrics of the best qualities.

What said hereinabove with reference to tablecloths is obviously also valid for other linen products like, for example, window curtains and bed linen like bed spreads, pillow-cases, and sheets, for the latter at least for the visible sheet top part which is externally folded above the bed.

Summary of the invention

The main object of the present invention is to suggest termination strips consisting of woven fabric for linen products and linen products consisting of woven fabric provided with such strips which do not present the drawbacks of the prior art. Another object of the present invention is to further suggest termination strips consisting of woven fabric for linen products consisting of non- woven fabric and linen products consisting of non-woven provided with such strips which do not present the mentioned disadvantages which are well known in the specific prior art field. The mentioned objects are achieved according to the present invention with termination strips for linen products and with linen products consisting of woven fabric and/or non-woven fabric provided with such strips, and with the respective fixing method which present the features stated in the indipendent claims 1 , 3 and 10.

With the teachings of the present invention several important advantages are obtained. Firstly, the application of a thermoweldable adhesive layer on the cloth on which are printed the termination strips takes place in a simple, quick and economic manner by means of traditional coating devices by rolling, wherein also the thermoweldable adhesives are well known in the prior art technics and are available on the market. During the cutting phase of the termination strips from the starting cloth thereof the preliminary application of the adhesive layer avoid the formation of the known open or loose weft threads so that the known hem sewing on the edges of the termination strips becomes superfluous.

Also the application of the termination strips onto the linen articles by means of a warm ironing or rolling operation takes place manually in a simple and quick way, as well as by means of pressing with mangles or devices having flat pressing rolls which are usually available in the field of the industrial flat pressing.

The fixing by means of a thermoweldable adhesive also permits in the case of linen products consisting of woven fabric to avoid the known open weft threads or loose threads in the fabric edges without selvedge and, therefore, the known hem sewing on the linen products are superfluous.

A further advantage is to be seen in the fact that the application of the termination strips by means of thermoweldable adhesives may be carried out both on linen products consisting of woven fabric as well as on linen products consisting of non-woven fabric without any preliminary treatment thereof so that the suggested fixing method is only reflected in a negligible manner on the final costs of such linen products.

Still another advantage of the suggested fixing by means of thermoweldable adhesives is to be seen in the fact that said fixing which is no more a linear one, that is made by a sewing line, but is made on the entire surface of the termination strips avoids the known unequal shrinkages which are sometimes visible on linen products having sewn termination strips.

A further advantage is to be seen in the fact that the cloths caring the printed termination strips after the coating thereof with a hot melt or thermoweldable adhesive layer may be preliminary stocked and the termination strips may be later separated by means of a cutting phase and then fixed on linen products without any preliminary treatment of the latter, wherein in this way it is also possible to observe the very short delivery times to the sellers, as frequently requested. The possibility of applying termination strips consisting of woven or non- woven fabrics also on linen products consisting of non- woven fabric permits to improve the quality level of these products as, for example, tablecloths, and to increase the use thereof in the hotel, restaurants and similar fields. Still another advantage is to be seen in the fact that from the termination strips it is easily possible to cut out pattern or designs, for example animals, flowers or similar, which may be then fixed on tablecloths, curtains and similar by means of a simple ironing.

Brief description of the drawings

Further characteristics, advantages and details of the termination strips and the linen products provided thereof according to the present invention will become more apparent hereinafter from the following disclosure of some embodiments, which are shown as examples in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figures land 2 show an exploded top view (fig. 1) of a tablecloth consisting of woven fabric with termination strips consisting of woven fabric too, and the finished tablecloth (fig. 2) according the prior art, respectively, Figure 3 shows an exploded top view on a tablecloth body and separated termination strips according to the invention Figure 4 shows a top view on the tablecloth of fig. 3 after fixing of the termination strips,

Figure 5 shows a top view onto a tablecloth similar to fig. 4 but additionally provided with a middle insert,

Figure 6 shows a top view onto a tablecloth consisting in a non- woven fabric provided with termination strips consisting of woven fabric,

Figure 7 shows a top view of a tablecloth having both a tablecloth body and termination strips consisting of a non-woven fabric,

Figure 8 shows a top view onto a tablecloth similar to fig. 7 additionally provided with a middle insert,

Figure 9 shows a front view on two window curtains according to the invention, and

Figure 10 shows a view on a fabric cloth on which is printed a number of parallel termination strips which are to be separated by means of cuts.

Description of the preferred embodiments

Reference is at first made to Figures I and 2 in which 1 denotes the tablecloth body or tablecloth cloth sheet consisting of woven fabric and 2 denotes the perimetrical termination strips also consisting of woven fabric and cut out from a not illustrated cloth sheet on which several termination strips parallel and in the longitudinal cloth direction are printed which are to be separated from each other by means of longitudinal cuts. After a preliminary finishing of the tablecloth body 1 by means of hem sewing the tablecloth body edges without a selvedge as well as of the termination strips 2 the fixing of the latter onto the tablecloth body 1 is carried out by means of sewing. The finished tablecloth is denoted by 3. A tablecloth manufactured in this way has the drawbacks illustrated in the introductory part.

Reference is now made to Fig. 3 in which a tablecloth body 1 consisting of a woven fabric or cloth is completed with perimetrical termination strips 2 consisting of woven fabric which termination strips on their side facing the tablecloth body 1 are provided with a hot melt or thermoweldable adhesive layer which, according to the present invention, has been previously directly applied on the known fabric cloth sheet 10, Fig. 10, wherein on said cloth sheet have been previously printed a plurality of parallel termination strips 2. According to the invention the warm fixing of said self- adhesive termination strips 2 is carried out either manually using a traditional iron or by means of known mangles or in a mixed manner.

A disposition of the termination strips 2 fixed on the tablecloth body 1 is illustrated in Fig. 4.

A tablecloth 3 according to the invention in which additionally to the termination strips 2 in the tablecloth central part on the latter is fixed a decorative insert 4 is shown in Fig. 5, wherein said insert has a convenient size and is obtained from a portion of a termination strip according to the present invention. Said insert could also have a length correspondent to the tablecloth length and forming therewith an insert strip. Fig. 6 shows a tablecloth 1 consisting of a non-woven fabric on which according to the invention are fixed termination strips 2 consisting of woven fabric and which are also provided with a thermoweldable adhesive layer according to the invention. The tablecloth shown in Fig. 7 has a tablecloth body 1 consisting of non-woven fabric and perimetrical termination strips consisting in non-woven fabric too, and having an applied thermoweldable adhesive layer according to the invention.

Fig. 8 shows a tablecloth 3 similar to the tablecloth shown in Fig. 7 but additionally provided with a decorative insert 4 obtained from a termination stripe having convenient dimensions or cut out from a not shown cloth sheet consisting of woven or non-woven fabric which is provided with a thermoweldable adhesive layer according to the invention. It is obvious that the geometrical configurations of the decorative inserts 4 may be chosen at will. In Fig. 9 is shown a couple of window curtains 3 the bodies 1 of which are perimetrically terminated by termination strips 2 which may have the same length or different lengths, as shown, which may be chosen at will. Also said curtains 3 could be provided with inserts 4 as shown and described in relation with Figures 5 and 8. According to the invention said inserts 4 may also have the form of decorative pattern or designs as, for example, animals like birds as illustrated, flowers and so on.

The fixing method according to the invention for fixing termination strips and/or inserts consisting of woven or non-woven fabric on bodies of tablecloths, curtains and similar also consisting of woven or non-woven fabric includes a preliminary application phase for applying a thermoweldable adhesive layer on one side of a cloth sheet provided for the production of strips, and a warm fixing phase carried out by means of manually ironing or mangle like devices for flat ironing of the obtained termination strips on the body of the respective linen product. The thermosensitive adhesive or hot melt may be freely chosen among the different proper adhesives which are available on the market.

From the above disclosure it should be apparent that with the teachings of the present invention the stated objects are achieved in an efficient manner and also the stated advantages are as well efficiently obtained.

Practically those skilled in the art could suggest modifications and variants concerning for example the choice of the woven or non- woven fabrics for the termination strips or inserts in function of the woven and non-woven linen products to be completed with said suggested termination strips or inserts, and so on without departing from the scope of the present invention as disclosed, illustrated and claimed in the appended claims.

Claims

1. A termination strip for linen products like, for example, tablecloths, curtains, bed spreads and so on, characterized in that said strip consisting either of a woven fabric made with natural fibers, synthetic fibers or mixed fibers or of a non-woven fabric on one side thereof to be fixed on a linen product is provided with a layer of thermoweldable adhesive.

2. A termination strip according to claim 1. characterized in. that it is provided with printed decorative pattern or devices at will which may be cut out and form inserts which may be fixed on linen products.

3. A linen product like a tablecloth, a curtain, a bed spreads, pillow-cases, and so on, characterized in that it consists of a woven fabric made of natural, synthetic or mixed fibers or of a non- woven fabric and includes termination strips consisting of a woven fabric made of natural, synthetic or mixed fibers or of a non-woven fabric, wherein said strips are fixed to the linen product body by fixing on the latter a thermowaldable adhesive layer provided on one side of said termination strips.

4. A linen product according to claim 3, characterized in that it is further provided with one or more inserts which are obtained from said termination strips.

5. A woven or non- woven cloth for obtaining by means of longitudinal cuts a plurality of termination strips for linen products, characterized in that it has a cloth side provided with a thermoweldable adhesive layer.

6. Method for fixing termination strips on linen products, characterized in that on one side of said termination strips, that is of the cloth for the production thereof, is made first a coating with a thermowaldable adhesive layer and then the termination strips which are provided with said thermowaldable adhesive layer are warm fixed on a respective linen product by means of a ironing phase carried out manually or with mangle like devices.