US2574371A - Method of making baskets - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 6, 1951 G. c. F. BRANDES METHOD OF MAKING BASKETS Original Filed Dec.

Patented Nov. 6, 1951 METHOD OF MAKING BASKETS Guenther C. F. Brandes, Dundee, Ill.

Original application December 28, 1946, Serial No.

718,924. Divided and this application November 3, 1948, Serial No. 58,031

8 Claims.

This invention relates to a stiff paper basket, and method for making the same. This application is a division of copending application, Serial No. 718,924, filed December 28, 1946, which matured into Patent No. 2,536,590 on January 2, 1951.

For some years paper mills have offered a sheet material made of woven paper that resembles wicker or wickerwork. In this material, heavy paper cords constitute the warp, see numeral Ill of Fig. of the drawings, while strips of heavy paper I2 are woven through the cords and constitute the woof. The material as delivered by the paper mills is sold in sheets or in rolls and is comparatively weak or flexible and frays readily. Heretofore, manufacturers of containers, particularly baskets, clothes hampers and the like, have stitched this material over a selected three-dimensional type frame and then dipped the entire container in a sizing which impregnates the paper and shrinks it. When dry, the paper is very stiff and takes a coat of paint. The result is a wickerwork-appearing structure having a strength comparable to that of real wicker. The paper manufacturers offer the sheet material in various designs.

The object of this invention is to build a frameless paper wicker basket. of this invention include forming the body of the basket on a mandrel, adding stiffening end hoops and assembling the parts by means of stitching or stapling; utilizing a paper border in assembling the basket into final structural form; and then dipping in the sizing so as to contract the paper wicker around the stiff end hoops.

The disclosure illustrates the making of .a' shallow basket which may be used as a sewing basket. Referring to the drawings:

Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4 illustrate the steps employed in making applicants container;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view through a finished container; and,

Fig. 6 is a view taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5.

Continuing to refer to the drawings, applicant cuts from a roll of paper wicker a rectangular section I4 and closes the short ends by folding over a piece of ordinary adhesive strip paper, as I6 and I8, see Fig. 6. Returning to Fig. 1,

the section I4 is then wrapped around a man- The features point 28, Fig. 1, stapled to the midpoint of the height of the basket by a staple such as 30, see Fig. 6. Thereafter the border 26 is stapled in each direction to the overlapped edges of the section I4, until the top and bottom edges of the basket have been reached. At this point, the floppy, open-ended cylinder is removed from the mandrel I8.

Applicant next removes the two end strips (sometimes only one) of heavy paper constituting the woof, leaving the heavy paper cords constituting the warp projecting in a circumferential ring. Into this ring of projecting'warp members, he inserts a stiff hoop 32 which is available on the market and is called an embroidery hoop or a carnival hoop. This hoop 32 rests roughly on the outer edge of the outermost strip of paper I3, see Fig. 5. As a practical matter this stripping of the end one or two members of the woof is not an exact operation because frequently the member I3 may be under the edge of the hoop at one part of the top and may overlap a little bit as indicated by the numeral I5 in Fig. 5, which also indicates the uppermost member of the woof. The paper is thin and the important thing from the standpoint of appearance is that when viewed from the top, the only part of the wicker that appears to be engaging the outside of the hoop is the projecting warp members. Thereupon the hoop is rested on an anvil 34. The border 26 is turned at right angles and is stapled around the hoop by staples such as 36 until the end 38 reaches the point 40 where the end is tucked under the start of the circumferential border and stapled. The result is that the hoop 32 and the beading or border 26 either rest on the uppermost member of the woof or squeezes the uppermost member of the woof between the hoop and the beading so that they cannot be pushed inwardly over the wicker. This is believed to be important in providing the strength which ultimately appears in applicants basket.

Applicant then inserts in one end a stiff hoop 32 which the manufacturer sells as one of the components of an ordinary embroidery hoop, sometimes called in the trade a carnival hoop. Thereupon the hoop is rested on an anvil 34. The border 26 is turned at right angles and is stapled around the hoop by staples such as 36 until the end 38 reaches the point 40' where the end is tucked under the start of the circumferential border and stapled.

This process is repeated for the other end of the basket, the hoop 42 being inserted and the other end 44 of the border being stitched around it. A cardboard or thin wood board bottom 46 is next inserted by simply springing the hoop 42 out of shape. An alternative method of mounting the bottom is to fasten the bottom by some suitable means such as staples 47, see Fig. 5, to the hoop 42 before assembling into the basket. The diameter of the bottom ma be slightly smaller than that of the hoop or of exactly the same size. Here, again, either the one or the bottom two members of the W001 may be stripped so that the beading will rest upon the bottommost member of the woof or will squeeze the bottommost member of. the woof against the hoop.

The hoops 32 and 42 give substantial rigidity at the ends but the paper wicker is so floppy that at this stage in the construction one can grasp the hoop 32 and turn it clockwise while turning hoop 42 counterclockwise.

The next step is to dip the floppy container into a sizing and stiffening fluid, as illustrated in Fig. 3. Thereafter, as the sizing dries, the paper wicker at the end shrinks slightly on the hoops and with the added structural strength provided by the sizing, there is produced a basket of surprising rigidity. The basket has no vertical frame members. In order to prevent deterioration of the sizing structure, due to moisture or any kind of wetting, the basket is then given a heavy coating of paint by any suitable process.

Referring to Fig. 5, it will be noted that the hoop 42 spaces the bottom 46 from the lower edge 48 of the container. This is very desirable from an appearance standpoint. The container has a finished look and suggests superior workmanship over a container in which asolid bottom piece such as 46 is substituted at the position of the hoop 42.

While applicants invention relates primarily to the use of hoops and the manner of applying the bead thereto, it will be appreciated that a circular cross section is not essential. .An oval cross section may be used or even a rectangular or square section where the corners are curved on substantially long radii.

Having thus disclosed applicants invention, what he claims is:

1. The method of making a container which comprises the steps of overlapping the edges of a section of sheet material to form a sleeve having a seam, of fastening the central portion of a reinforcing strip to the seam so that each end of the reinforcing strip extends beyond the seam, of fastening each end of the reinforcing strip around the entire adjacent end of the sleeve, and of closing one end of the container.

2. The method of making a container which comprises the steps of overlapping the edges of a section of sheet material to form a sleeve having a seam, of fastening a reinforcing strip to the outside of the seam so that one end extends beyond the seam, of positioning a hoop inside that end of the cylinder adjacent the free end of the strip, and of fastening said end of the strip to the entire outer circumference of the sleeve end and to the hoop, and of closing the other end of the container.

3. The method of making a paper wicker container which comprises the steps of overlapping the opposite edges of a section of flexible paper wicker on a mandrel, of fastening said edges together to form a sleeve, of inserting in one end of the resulting paper wicker sleeve a hoop,

of fastening the adjacent circumferential edge of the wicker to the hoop, of inserting a bottom in the other end of the sleeve, and of dipping the resulting container in a sizing fluid which upon drying renders the paper wicker stiff.

4. The methods of making a paper wicker container which comprises the steps of overlapping the opposite edges of a section of flexible paper wicker on a mandrel to form a sleeve, of fastening a border strip and said overlapped edges to each otherso that the border strip extends beyond the top and bottom of the resulting paper wicker sleeve, of inserting in one end of the sleeve a hoop, of fastening the border and the circumferential edge of the paper wicker to the entire circumference of the hoop, of inserting a bottom in the other end of the sleeve, of fastening the border strip around the bottom edge of the sleeve, and of dipping the resulting container in a sizing fluid which upon drying renders the paper Wicker stiff.

5. The method of making a paper wicker container which comprises the steps of overlapping the opposite edges of a rectangular section of flexible paper wicker on a mandrel to form a sleeve, of stapling said edges together, of stripping one or more of the woof members at one end from the section so as to leave the warp members projecting unsupported, of inserting in said end of the resulting paper wicker sleeve a hoop, of stapling a beading to the projecting ends of the warp and to the hoop around its entire circumference, of inserting a bottom in the other end of the sleeve, and of dipping the resultin container in a sizing fluid which upon drying renders the paper wicker stiff.

6. The method making of a paper wicker container which comprises the steps of overlapping the opposite edges of a rectangular section of flexible paper wicker on a mandrel to form a sleeve, of stapling said edges together, of inserting in one end of the resulting paper wicker sleeve a hoop, of stapling the adjacent circumferential edge of the wicker to the hoop, of assembling a similar hoop in the other end of the sleeve, of springing one hoop sufficiently to receive a stiff bottom, and of dipping the resulting container in a sizing fluid which upon drying renders the paper stiff.

'7. The method of making a paper wicker container which comprises the steps of overlapping the opposite edges of a rectangular section of flexible paper wicker on a mandrel to form a sleeve, of stapling a border strip and said overlapped edges to each other so that the border strip extends beyond the top and bottom of the resulting paper wicker sleeve, of inserting in one end of the sleeve a hoop, of stapling the border and the circumferential edge of the paper wicker to the entire circumference of the hoop, of assembling a similar hoop in the other end of the sleeve, of springing one hoop sufliciently to receive a stiff bottom, and of dipping the resulting container in a sizing fluid which upon drying renders the paper wicker stiff.

8. The method of making a paper wicker container which comprises the steps of overlapping the opposite edges of a section of flexible paper Wicker to form a sleeve having a seam, of fastening a reinforcing strip to said seam so that each end extends beyond the seam, of removing at least one strand of the woof from the end of the sleeve so as to leave the warp projecting, of inserting in the projecting ends of the warp a hoop, of attaching the free end of the reinforc- 5 6 ing strip to the warp of the sleeve and the hoop UNITED STATES PATENTS around its entire circumference, and of closing Number Name Date the other end of the container. 1,198,596 Strange Sept. 19, 1916 GUENTHER BRANDES- 2,249,888 Dodge July 22, 1941 REFERENCES CITED FOREIGN PATENTS The following references are of record in the Number Country Da file of this patent: 233.587 Switzerland NOV. 1, 1944

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