US2269657A - Decorative article - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 13, 1942. FR NKE DECORATIVE ARTICLE Filed May 13, 1941 INVENTOR ARD P. FRANKIE ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 13, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DECORATIVE ARTICLE Edward P. Franke, Baltimore, Md.

Application May 13, 1941, Serial No. 393,195

7 Claims. (Cl. 41-10) The present invention relates to decorative articles. More particularly it relates to decorative articles having distinctive and/or representative forms.

Artificial articles, such as miniature Christmas trees, have been made heretofore by shaping a supporting member from wood, building it up from cardboard or the like and covering the member by spiralling a flexible decorative material, for example, of the type commonly known as hanoka rope, about the frame member until it is covered. Such articles have been expensive to make, however, in view of the cost of producing the solid or at least continuous supporting members, and such articles have also been expensive to transport because of their weight. Furthermore, these articles were relatively fragile and any crushing of the articles tended to fracture or otherwise deform the supporting members which ruined the articles because of it being impossible to bend or otherwise reshape the frangible supporting members.

It is an object of the present inventionto provide a decorative article having a distinctive and/or representative form which is free from all of the foregoing undesirable features.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a decorative article having a distinctive and/or representative form which is light in weight and, at the same time, is strong and capable of being reshaped if crushed or otherwise deformed.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a decorative, light-weight article in the form of a basket or other container which has sufl'icient strength to retain small objects placed therein.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a decorativ article of distinctive and/or representative form which presents a maximum of strength and attractiveness with a minimum of solidity.

Other objects and advantages, if not particularly specified, will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of what are now considered the preferred embodiments of the invention.

The article of the invention in general comprises a skeleton frame work formed of relatively stiff members, such as metallic wires, and a covering disposed over the frame work comprising at least in part a decorative garland material comprising two or more relatively stiff strands twisted together and a web of decorative material disposed between the strand members and spiralled therebetween and formed into a multiplicity of overlapping folds. The form of the decorative article may be varied as desired to produce distinctive articles and/or represent various 0 jects.

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an article of the present invention in the form of a basket;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of an article of the present invention in the form of a bell;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view of the garland material used in fabricating the articleof the present invention, and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of a skeleton structure of an article of the present invention.

The article of the present invention which is illustrated in Fig. 1 as a basket, comprises a skeleton frame work I0 which may be shaped as illustrated in Fig. 4. The skeleton frame work In of this embodiment of the invention comprises a plurality of wires, in this particular instance three wires, I2, I and I6. Each of the Wires is bent substantially in the shape of a U, and is provided with hooks I8 at the extremities of the legs of the U and outwardly curved portions 20 substantially at the base of each U. The members I2, l4 and 16 are positioned so that their bases cross substantially at a central point 22 and may be suitably fastened together at this point, for example, by means of a drop of solder or a short length of wire. As an alternative to the central fastening, or in addition thereto, 'a base member 24 in the form of a piece of light cardboard or the like may be placed within the legs of the members l2, l4 and I5 and retained in place by frictional contact with the members.

The skeleton frame work previously described is covered by spiralling thereabout a length of decorative garland material of the type disclosed in United States Patent No. 2,234,338. This type of garland material is illustrated in Fig. 3 and comprises at least two relatively stiff strands 26 whichare twisted together and grip one or more lengths of web material 28 which is spiralled between the strands 26 and is disposed in a multiplicity of overlapping folds. The web material may be any of the materials described in. said' patent but the most brilliant and attractive deco-v rative effects are produced when Cellophane is used for the web material.

The strand material 30 is preferably disposed over the skeleton frame work by positioning the first convolution of the spiral within the legs of the U shaped members [2, I4 and I6 and within the curved portions 20, and wrapping the other convolutions of the spiral on the outside of the leg portions of the members [2, l4 and I6, and positioning the upper convolution of the spiral under the hooks I8 of the leg members l2, l4 and IS. The end of the spiral may be secured by wrapping the core members 26 about the un-E derlying convolution or about one of the wire members l2, l4 or IE. It is convenient to defer formation of the hooks 18 until the last convolution of the spiral is in position, and the hooks may then be formed by bending the extremities of the legs of the members l2, l4 and I6 down about the core of the upper convolution of the spiral. The hooks l8 and the curved portion 20 bury themselves in the folds of the web material and are thereby rendered invisible from the outside.

Although the decorative article may be formed substantially entirely by hand, as previously described, the articles may be more accurately and more rapidly produced by shaping a mandrel into the general form which the article is to take, mounting the mandrel for rotation about a central axis and forming the decorative article thereon by shaping the wire members of the skeleton frame work over the mandrel and then applying the garland material in a, spiral over the frame work by rotating the mandrel either by hand or by power. The formed article is then removed from the mandrel in substantially completed form. The lowermost spiral of the article covering may be positioned within the wire frame members l2, l4 and I6, as illustrated in Fig. 4, when using a mandrel by applying the first convolution of the spiral to the mandrel before the wires l2, l4 and I6 are positioned over the mandrel.

After the body of the basket is formed, a handle 32 may be applied by suitably shaping a length of the garland material 30 and attaching the strands 26 at the ends of the length of garland material to the core strands of a convolution of the spiral covering near the top of the basket. The stiffness of the strands 26 is sufficient to maintain the handle 32 in position and permit it to be lifted and carried about, even when the basket is filled with various small articles.

The decorative article illustrated in Fig. 2 is made in substantially the same manner as the basket of Fig. 1, except the wire members of the skeleton frame work are, of course, bent so as to outline the shape of a bell and, when a mandrel is used to form the hell, it is likewise shaped to give the proper contour to the finished article. Also, instead of a handle, a length of strand material 30 is fastened near the top of the bell to form a ring 34 in the same manner as the handle 32 was attached to the basket of Fi 1.

It is to be understood that the basket of Fig. 1 and the bell of Fig. 2 have been disclosed for the purpose of explanation only and are not to be considered as limitations on the invention, since the articles of the present invention may represent many objects, such as Christmas trees; Santa Clauses; card figures such as diamonds, hearts and the like; dogs; rabbits, and other animals, and many other objects both animate and inanimate.

It is within the purview of the present invention to form only a part of a decorative object from "the garland material and use other types of materials to form the remainder of the object for the purpose of securing contrasting visual effects, such as various designs, as well as producing novel structural shapes and effects.

In the production of some of the more complicated forms, such as a Santa Claus or a Scottie dog, it may be necessary to make the object in .two or more sections which may be suitably fastened together by wires, clips or the like.

The decorative articles of the present invention are extremely light in weight since a solid supporting member is not required and at the same time are rigid, due to the cooperation between the stiff frame members and the stiff core of the garland material which forms the covering. This enables the articles to support small objects such as toys, candies and the like, which renders the decorative articles well suited to serve as party favors, Easter baskets, gift boxes, souvenirs and the like. Furthermore, the articles are capable of being reshaped in the event of distortion due to crushing or the like incidental to transportation or storage, and, in addition the brilliance of the garland material produces unparalled decorative effects which cannot even be approached by any of the other materials heretofore used in the production of decorative articles.

Since certain changes may be made in the above article and different embodiments of the invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

The invention having been described, what is claimed is: I

1. A decorative article comprising a skeleton frame work, a covering disposed over the frame work comprising a decorative material formed of a plurality of stiff strands twisted together and a Web of flexible material spiralled between the strands and disposed in a multiplicity of overlapping folds, the decorative material being spiralled about the framework and the stiff strands thereof cooperating with the skeleton frame work to form a rigid structure.

2. A decorative article comprising a stiff skeleton frame work, a covering disposed over the frame work comprising a decorative material formed of a relatively stiff core and overlapping folds of flexible material radiating from the core, the decorative material being spiralled about the frame work and the stiff core thereof cooperating with the stiff skeleton structure to form a rigid article.

3. A decorative article comprising a stiff skeleton structure, a covering disposed over said structure and formed at least in part by a garland spiralled about the skeleton structure, the garland comprising a plurality of metallic wires twisted together and a web of Cellophane spiralled between the wires and disposed in a multiplicity of overlapping folds, the stiff metallic Wires cooperating with the stiff skeleton structure to form a rigid structure.

4. A decorative basket comprising a stiff frame work, a covering disposed over the frame work and formed at least in part by a decorative garland having a stiff core and overlapping folds of flexible material radiating from the core, the stifi core cooperating with the frame work to form a rigid basket.

5. A decorative basket comprising a stifi frame work, a covering disposed over the frame work and formed at least in part by a decorative garland having a still core and overlappin folds of flexible material radiating from the core, the stifi core cooperating with the frame work to form a rigid basket, and a handle carried by the basket formed of a length of the garland.

6. A decorative bell comprising a stiff frame work, a covering disposed over the frame Work and formed at least in part by a decorative garland having a still core and overlapping folds of flexible material radiating from the core, the stiff core cooperating with the frame work to form a rigid bell.

7. A decorative article having a distinctive and/or representative form comprising a relatively stiff skeleton frame work, a covering disposed over the frame work and formed at least in part of a decorative garland comprising a plurality of metallic wires twisted together and a web of flexible material spiralled between the wires and disposed in a multiplicity of overlapping folds, said web having a length 5 to 20 times the length of the Wires and the wires cooperating with the frame work to form a rigid article.

EDWARD P. FRANKE.

Images