Technical field

The present invention refers to a cloth hanger clip for holding a material, such as a curtain, screen or the like and connect it to a wire, said clip comprising an inter¬ mediate portion having a resilient hook at each end, at which a first of said hooks defines a material holding space and the second hook defines a wire holding space. The in¬ vention also refers to a fabric intended to be used with the clip.

Background of the invention

There are previously known substantially S-shaped clips of this kind, which are especially intended for connecting screens of considerable lengths, tenths or hundreds of meters, e.g. greenhouse screens or shading hall screens, to a supporting wire. One of the hooks of the clip has a poin¬ ted tip which can penetrate the screen material and the other hook is snapped on the wire.

One problem with this clip is that movements of the screen can cause the material to slip off the hook. The material is also easily damaged by the pointed tip at such movements. Besides the material is exerted to wear by on one hand the clip due to insufficient clamping of the material in the hook and on the other hand by the wire due to insufficient distance therebetween. Another problem is that the hook is easily unhooked from the wire.

Object and most important features of the invention

One object of the invention is to provide a cloth hanger clip of the kind mentioned above which overcomes these

problems and safely fixes the material and prevents it from slipping off the hook. This has been obtained by the fact that the first hook has a tip which can be deflected to be received in a recess in the intermediate portion, thus that the first hook will define a closed material holding space.

Another object is to provide a fabric for use with the clip, said fabric comprising strips of flexible sheet material extending at least in the longitudinal direction of the fabric. At certain intervals the strips are substituted for reinforcing slips of a stronger material than the strips, and that adjacent said reinforcing slips at least one space is arranged, along which the fabric is easily folded, said clip in use position being attached to a reinforcing slip, which is held in the material holding space of the clip.

Description of the drawings

The invention will below be closer described with reference to an embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a side view on an enlarged scale of a cloth hanger clip according to the invention.

Fig. 2 is a front view of the clip.

Fig. 3 is a section according to the wire III-III in Fig. 1. Fig. 4 shows on an enlarged scale the mesh pattern of a warp-knitted fabric intended to be used with the cloth hanger clip according to the invention.

Fig. 5 shows on an enlarged scale and schematically a cross- section through the fabric in Fig. 4. Fig. 6 shows a view of a piece of fabric according to the invention.

Fig. 7 is a cross-section according to Fig. 6 but shows the fabric folded with cloth hanger clips applied to the fabric.

Description of embodiments

The cloth hanger clip 10 disclosed in Fig. 1 has a substan-

tially S-shaped configuration with a hook-shaped portion 11 and 12 in each end and an intermediate portion 13 therebet¬ ween. The intermediate portion 13 has a hole 14 therein, which however has no special function except for material- saving reasons. The first hook 11 defines a material-holding space 15 in which the material 26, e.g. a green-house or shading hall screen, is suspended, and the second hook 12 defines a wire-holding space 16 for a supporting wire 17. The clip is preferably made of a plastic material which provides a certain flexiblity to the hooks 11, 12.

The first hook 11 has a tip 19 which can penetrate the material 26. The tip 19 may be deflected from the position shown with continuous lines in Figs. 1 and 2 to a position in which it is received in a recess 20 in the intermediate portion 13. The tip 19 is locked in the recess 20 behind a stop lug 21. Instead of a stop lug the recess 20 may be provided with a back draught for locking the tip 19 therein. In this position, which is shown with dotted lines in Figs. 1 and 2, the first hook-shaped portion 11 defines a closed oval space 15 from which the material is prevented to slip out. The tip 19 which is received in the recess 20 outside the closed space 15, can not cause any damages on the mate¬ rial. The space 15 is in closed position small enough to exert a certain clamping effect on the material 26 held therein. Thereby sliding movements of the material in the clip, which causes wear of the material are avoided or at least reduced. This is especially important for outdoor use, such as for shade-hall screens, where the material is ex- posed to wind and weather. For these applications a firm clamping of the material is more important than for indoor use in e.g. greenhouses.

Barbs 22a and b are provided in the entrance to the space 15 on either sides thereof, which are intended to prevent the material 18 to slip out of the space 15 when the tip 19 of the hook 11 is in open position. One of the barbs 22a which

is located adjacent to the space 15 has a curved surface making an end termination of the space 15 in closed position of the tip 19 of the hook 11.

The second hook 12 defines a wire-holding space 16 into which a supporting wire 17 can be slipped while slightly deflecting the tip portion 24 of the hook 12. The tip por¬ tion 24 is curved inwards so that it extends into the space 16, where it together with a shoulder 25 provided at the entrance to the space 16 provides a labyrinth-shaped exit therefrom, so that unintentional slipping out of the wire 17 is prevented. The distance between the wire-holding space 16 and the material-holding space 15 is large enough to prevent avoid wear of the material against the wire.

In Fig. 4 there is shown on an enlarged scale the mesh pattern of a warp-knitted fabric 26 for use as a green-house or shade hall screen. The fabric 26 comprises narrow strips 27 of foil, e.g. Al, or plastic film, which are intercon- nected by textile or plastic threads in a yarn framework including transverse connection threads 28 and longitudinal connection threads 29 located adjacent to the interval between strips 27. The longitudinal threads 29 are prefer¬ ably in the form of so called pillar stitches, which provide a very rigid and unelastic structure keeping the strips 27 in place. The material in the threads 28 and 29 may be e.g. a flat, round mono- or multifilament synthetic yarn. The interval between the strips 26 have been exaggerated in order to make the mesh pattern more clear. In reality the strips 27 are preferably located closely.

At certain intervals the strips are substituted for reinfor¬ cing slips 30 of relatively rigid and strong plastic or metallic material, e.g. a wire, plastic strip or group of multifilament yarn, and which may have different cross- sections, e.g. rectangular, round or oval. The space 31 on one of the sides of the reinforcing slip 30 is empty, i.e.

strip-free, or is alternatively semi-filled with a narrower strip, so that the fabric is more pliable and easily folded along said space 31. The threads 28, 29 on either sides of the reinforcing slips 30 and in the pliable space 31 are preferably of a softer more pliable material than in the rest of the fabric, in order to facilitate folding.

As is shown in Figs. 6 and 7 reinforcing slips 30 are ar¬ ranged adjacent every other pliable space 31, i.e. at the foldings that are intended to be suspended in a supporting wire. In fabrics used for e.g. shade hall screens, which should admit more ventilation than e.g. a greenhouse screen, strip-free or semi-filled spaces 31 are arranged also bet¬ ween the foldings, so may e.g. every second or third space between the longitudinal connection threads 29 be strip-free or semi-filled. Clips 10 are attached to the fabric 26 at the foldings provided with reinforcing slips 30. The first hook 11 is passed through the space 31, under the reinfor¬ cing slip 30 and up through the interval between the rein- forcing slip 30 and the adjacent strip 27. The reinforcing slip 30 fills out an essential part of the material holding space 15 so that a certain clamping effect is exerted there¬ on by the clip 10. In fig. 7 the clips 10 are for the sake of clarity shown in a front view located perpendicular to the plane of the fabric 26. In reality when the second hook 12 of the clip 10 is attached to a supporting wire extending parallel to the pliable spaces 31 of the fabric 26, it will be turned about 45° with respect to the plane of the fabric.

The invention is of course not limited to the embodiment described above and shown in the drawings. The clip may be used with other types of fabrics than the one disclosed, so may e.g. the fabric consist of strips in both longitudinal and transverse direction at which the yarn framework can be eliminated.