The present invention relates generally to the field of upholstered furniture. More specifically, the present invention relates to protective strips that are employed to fasten upholstery fabrics to furniture frames.
During the manufacture of upholstered furniture, it is conventional to employ tacks and staples to fasten upholstery fabric to the underlying furniture frame. Various tack strips are known for such purpose. For example, conventional tack strips include a ribbon of metal from which generally triangularly shaped nails or tacks are punched and bent at right angles. See, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,647,610, 6,857,178 and 6,989,186 (the entire contents of each such patent and patent application being expressly incorporated hereinto by reference).
Sometimes tack and/or staple guns are employed so as to fasten upholstery fabric to the furniture frame by means of individual fasteners such as staples, tacks, brads and/or nails. In this regard, a tail portion of the fabric is typically first fastened to the furniture frame by means of the fasteners so that the remaining portion may be folded over, and thereby cover, the fastener heads. It can be appreciated however that over time pressure or rubbing of the covering fabric portion on the tack or staple head will result in fabric wear.
It has been conventional practice to place a paperboard strip against the fabric tail and then drive the individual fasteners through the paperboard strip and fabric tail to secure the fabric to the underlying furniture frame. Such conventional practice has however not been entirely satisfactory Specifically, the fastener heads are still placed in contact with the covering fabric section and thus cause localized fabric abrasion and wear to occur. The likelihood of fabric abrasion and wear is more acute even with such a conventional paperboard strip in those instances where the tack or staple does not fully penetrate into the wood frame of the furniture piece or bends due to improper and/or incomplete installation.
Therefore, it would especially be desirable if upholstery fabric wear due to underlying tack and staple heads could be eliminated if not significantly minimized. It is toward fulfilling such a need that the present invention is directed.
Broadly, the present invention is embodied in a protective strip for use in the manufacture of upholstered furniture comprised of a fastening strip portion, a cover strip portion and a hinge portion which flexibly connects the fastening and cover strip portions to one another. In use, therefore, the protective strip of the present invention may be positioned such that a portion of the upholstery fabric is sandwiched between the fastening strip portion thereof and a region of the furniture frame to which the fabric is to be attached. Suitable fasteners (e.g., staples, tacks, nails, brads and the like) may then be physically driven through the fastening strip portion and the underlying fabric portion into the furniture frame. In such a manner, the fabric portion is attached physically to the furniture frame.
Once the fastening strip portion has been attached to the furniture frame, the remaining fabric portion may be doubled over the fastened tail portion which in turn causes the cover strip portion to be folded over the fastening strip portion. The heads of the fasteners are therefore physically covered by the cover strip portion so as to prevent contact with the overlaid fabric. As such, rubbing of the fabric against the fastener heads is prevented so as to thereby preclude (or at least substantially minimize) fabric abrasion and wear.
These and other aspects and advantages will become more apparent after careful consideration is given to the following detailed description of the preferred exemplary embodiments thereof.
Reference will hereinafter be made to the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals throughout the various figures. denote like structural elements, and wherein;
a is an interior perspective view of a protective strip in accordance with the present invention;
b is an enlarged cross-section of the protective strip shown in
c is an enlarged cross-section of the protective strip similar to
An exemplary upholstered furniture piece UF shown in
Staples will be referenced below as a presently preferred fastener to attach upholstery fabric to the furniture frame. The present invention is not limited to the use of staples as any other suitable fastener may be employed and is dependent upon the particular furniture manufacturers' preferences. Thus, as used herein and in the accompanying claims the term “fastener” means staples, tacks, brads, nails and the like that are employed to attach upholstery fabric to the furniture frame. Reference only to staples below is for the mere purpose of description simplicity.
As can be seen from
The protective strip 10 of this invention integrally includes a fastening strip portion 10-1, a cover strip portion 10-2 and a hinge portion 10-3 integrally and flexibly joining adjacent edges of the fastening and cover strip portions 10-1, 10-2, respectively, to one another. As is perhaps better seen in
Each of the terminal edges 10-1a and 10-2a of the fastening and cover strip portions 10-1 and 10-2, respectively, is most preferably rounded so as to present a smooth surface to the overlying upholster fabric when affixed to the furniture frame.
As shown in
The length of the protective strip 10 is not critical. Thus, the protective strip 10 can be provided to furniture manufacturers in an indefinite length (e.g., in roll form) or may be pre-cut to lengths that may be convenient. Preferably, however, it is currently envisioned that the protective strips 10 of this invention will most conveniently be supplied to furniture manufacturers as a roll of indefinite length (e.g., up to several thousand feet). The furniture manufacturer may then simply withdraw the protective strip 10 from the roll and cut it on site to desired custom lengths using conventional scissors or shears to suit the particular furniture being made.
As shown in
The remaining (visible portion) of the fabric F1 is tautly doubled over the fabric tail section F1a. The cover portion 10-2 of the protective strip 10 is thus folded over the heads of the staples S. Moreover, as discussed previously, the interior generally V-shaped space 10-4 (see
In use, as depicted in accompanying
It will of course be appreciated that the protective strips 10 in accordance with the present invention may be used with any fasteners instead of, or in addition to, the staples S as depicted in the accompanying drawing FIGS. Thus, staples, tacks, nails, brads and like fastening means may be employed with equivalent desired results.
Accompanying
While the invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the disclosed embodiment, but on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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2266466 | Linder | Dec 1941 | A |
2673600 | Cramer | Mar 1954 | A |
3040343 | Neely | Jun 1962 | A |
3099058 | Pettingell | Jul 1963 | A |
3281185 | Albinson et al. | Oct 1966 | A |
6537646 | Haygood et al. | Mar 2003 | B2 |
Number | Date | Country |
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3732836 | Dec 1988 | DE |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20070096520 A1 | May 2007 | US |