US2331828A - Curtain - Google Patents

Description

A. O. ERNST Oct. 12, 1943.

CURTAIN INVENTOR 4 .flRm z/R QER/VST Filed April 1 WITNESS ATTORNEYS Patented Oct. 12, 1943 UNITED STATES." PATENT OFFICE CURTAIN Arthur 0. Ernst, Larchmont,N. Y. Application April 1, 1942, Serial No. 437,136

' (Cl. 160-330) I 4 Claims.

This invention relates to" improvements in ourtains and draperies, particularly curtains and draperies that are to be tied back when in use.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved tie-back curtain or drapery having a greater fullness and a more luxurious appearance than the usual type of curtain cut from the same width of fabric material.

Another object of the invention is to provide a curtain or drapery having improved draping qualities over the conventional type of curtain or drapery. p

A further object 'of the invention is to provide a tie-back curtain or drapery which canb manuiactured at less cost than the conventional type of curtain and yet will not only accomplish the same purposes as the conventional type of 'curtain but will have additional advantages.

Other objects of the invention as well as the advantages thereof will become more apparent after a perusal of the following description, read in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic view of a piece of fabric material illustrating the method of making the curtain of this invention; Fig. 2 is a front view of a left-hand curtain made in accordance with the invention; Fig. 3'is a front view of a comple-' mentary right-hand curtain; Figs. 4 and 5 illustrate the form which the curtains shown in Figs. 2 and 3, respectively, take when hung on rods, and Fig. 6 shows the two curtains in assembled condition on a rod and secured by tie-backs,

In order that a better understanding of the invention may be had, it will be first pointed out that the conventional curtain or drapery is cut on the straight of the fabric material along lines at right angles to the length of the fabric. Thus the usual curtain or drapery is no wider than the width of the strip of fabric material which is used in its manufacture. Furthermore, the conventional curtain tends to hang straight and'any draping efiects which are attained therewith are accomplished only with the aid of a tie-back which brings the curtain into a form which is contrary to its natural straight hanging tendency. This tying back of the conventional curtain also has the tendency to eliminate the folds in the upper part of the curtain and to produce a skimpy effect unless a curtain wider than necessary is used and care exercised in draping it. Also, a straight cut curtain under the influence of the tie-back has a tendency to travel on the curtain rod and to separate from its associated curtain, thereby not completely hiding the curtain rod, which is an undesirable condition.

In Fig. 1 of theidrawing, the dotted lines A-B indicate the manner in which curtains of conventional form are cut from a length of fabric material C. The full lines BD indicate the biased lines of cut utilized in forming the curtains E and F of the instant invention from the strip of fabric C. It will be quite evident that the upper edges BD of the curtains E and F will be substantially longer than the upper edges of the conventional form of curtains which are indicated by the dotted lines A-B. The lengths of the edges BD, or in other words, the widths of the resulting curtains E and F, will be dependent upon the angle of bias at which the curtains are cut. Thus, if a strip of fabric thirty-six inches wide is cut at an angle from the straight so that the dotted line A--D is twelve inches long, the resulting length of the line of out BD will be thirty-eight inches, two inches longer than the original width of the fabric. As the angle of cut is increased, so will the length of line BD be correspondingly increased, for example, if A-D is eighteen inches, BD will be forty inches; if A-D is twenty-four inches, BD will be fortythree inches; if A-D is thirty'inohes, BD will be forty-seven inches, etc. The length of the line BD, or width of the curtain desired can be accurately obtained from a strip or strips of fabric of a given width by keeping in mind that the square of such length will be equal to the sum of the squares of the dotted lines A-B and A-ZD.

If the curtains E and F are out from a fabric material which is similar in appearance on both sides, they are matched by arranging the edges BD thereof in opposed relation, with the ends B, B of such edges adjacent to one another, as is illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawing. To do this it will be necessary to reverse curtain F. If, however, the fabric material has only one face side, the left-hand curtain will be cut from a diiferent strip of the material than the other or right-hand curtain and the lines of bias cut BD of such stripswill be opposed to each other so that the upper edges of the curtains extending from the ends B will form one leg of an acute angle and extending from the ends D of such edges will form one leg of an obtuse angle, the other legs of such angles being the side edges. of the curtains as will be readily apparent from an examination of Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawing. With this arrangement of the curtains in mind the curtains may be trimmed, lined or have ruffles G applied thereto, as is indicated in the drawing.

The curtains E and F in their flat form will have the appearance illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawing. When these curtains are hung on a horizontal rod H, as is illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5 of the drawing, it will be noted that these curtains naturally drape in heavy folds away from the center of the frame to which they are attached and towards the sides of the frame where they are to be tied back. When the tie-backs J, J are applied the curved folds thereabove will be naturally and automatically formed in the curtains to produce a pleasing and artistic effect, as can be seen from Fig. 6 of the drawing.

It will be seen from the foregoing, that by reason of the bias cut formation of the instant curtains, there will be an increase in the width at the top of thecurtain where increased width is most desirable for purposes of beauty. This method also has the advantage that varying widths of curtains may be obtained without changing the standard widths in which the lengths of the fabrics are now made. Furthermore, wider curtains may be obtained from narrower widths of fabrics thus reducing the cost of making the curtains to a minimum. When on a rod and tied back, observation will not indicate any difference in style from the conventional curtain but a comparison of the two will readily reveal the important difl'erence of added fullness in favor of the bias cut curtain. The bias cut curtains will properly meet to hide or cover the curtain rod, will have an adequate fullness and a natural, artistic draping effect, whereas the usual curtains often do not have sufllcient material to hide the curtain rods unless they are oversize, have a skimpy coverage and a tautness which detracts from their appearance. Furthermore, due to the substantial lack of tension on the outmost upper ends of the bias cut curtains by the tie-backs, there is practically no tendency of the curtains to creep or become separated on the rod, as is the case with conventional curtains, whereby the bias cut curtains will maintain the positions in which they have been adjusted.

While I have illustrated and described the bias cut lines B-D as being straight, it will be apparent to those in the art that substantially similar results can be attained with lines of bias out which are curved or are a combination of straight and curved cuts or are a combination of straight cuts disposed at different angles. Hence, it is within the contemplation of the instant invention to include within its scope any lines of cut which are not straight throughout and normal to the side edges of the fabric material from which the curtains are cut and which result in curtains having a greater width in their hung condition than the conventional type of curtain which is made with straight lines of cut normal to the side edges of the fabric material. The curtains illustrated and described can be modified also by providing them with linings or otherwise trimming them or making them plain without departing from the spirit of the invention. It will be apparent also that when the curtains are to be used in wide windows, two or more widths of fabric material which has been bias cut in accordance with the invention can be joined together to form extra width curtains possessing the features .and advantages above discussed. That other changes and modifications in the curtains illustrated may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art.

.I claim:

1. A tie-back curtain made of flexible material and comprising a body portion having side edges extending longitudinally of the material from which such body portion was formed and having an upper edge which forms an obtuse angle with the outer edge of the curtain, whereby when the curtain is hung from a substantially horizontal support, said body portion will naturally drape towards the side where it is to be tied back.

2. A bias cut tie-back curtain made of fabric material and comprising a body portion having at least one side edge extending along warp threads of the material and having an upper edge disposed at an obtuse angle to said side edge, whereby when the curtain is hung from a substantially horizontal support, said body portion will naturally drape towards said side edge.

3. A bias cut tie-back curtain made of fabric material and comprising a body portion having an upper edge and side edges, the angle between the upper edge and the outer side edge being greater than ninety degrees and the angle between the upper edge and the inner side edge being less than ninety degrees, whereby when the curtain is hung from a substantially horizontal support, said body portion will naturally drape towards said outer side edge.

4. A tie-back curtain made of flexible material and comprising a body portion cut from a strip and having top and bottom edges formed by cutting the strip transverse to its length, said top and bottom edges being oblique to the side edges of the body portion and having a length greater than the width of the strip from which the body portion was cut, whereby when the curtain is hung, said body portion will naturally drape towards one of the side edges thereof.

ARTHUR O. ERNST.

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