METHOD FORPRODUCINGDECORATED GLASSWARE

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DESCRIPTION The present invention refers to a method for producing decorated glassware.

Glassware items in general are largely known to be quite high in demand among consumers nowadays, owing mainly to such items allowing homes and living spaces in general to be furnished and adorned in a certainly original and/or refined manner. There are many varieties and kinds of glassware items being currently available on the marketplace, actually. Apart from the kind of glass used to make them, i.e. stained, coloured and/or polychromatic glass, these items are in fact characterized by a large variety of charming, attractive forms and shapes, innovatory design concepts, etc. Furthermore, the actual glass parts in these items are quite often integrated by the addition of wooden, metal, plastic parts, or even parts made of differently coloured or differently finished glass, in view of producing even quite complex items aimed at performing one or more functions. These added parts are usually screwed on, press-fitted or bonded to the basic glass parts forming the items.

Now, the present invention, the purpose of which is to provide a novel method for producing glassware items decorated using again glass decoration means, fits exactly in this scenario. This novel metihod comprises the steps of:

(i) depositing glass fragments onto the surface of a glass semi-finished product; (ii) heating up both the fragments and the semi-finished product until the semi-finished product and the fragments are caused to weld together permanently by the sole fusion of the mutual contact area. Features and advantages of the method according to the present invention will anyway be more readily understood from the description that is given below by way of an example with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:

- Figure 1 is a three-quarter view of a decorated glass ornament made in accordance with the method of the invention; - Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view along the A-A plane in Figure 1.

Figure 1 illustrates an ornamental item 10 capable of being produced using the method according to the present invention. It basically comprises a semi-finished product comprised of a hollow glass cylinder 12, the side wall of which is clad, i.e. covered with glass fragments 14, only a few of them being shown in the Figure, actually, for reasons of greater illustrative simplicity. Appearing in Figure 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the ornamental item 10, where the way in which the glass fragments 14 are applied on to

the side wall of the cylinder 12 can best be appreciated.

Thanks to the method according to the present invention, the glass fragments 14 are welded, i.e. fusion bonded on to the cylinder 12 without any use of glues or adhesives (which would impair the aesthetic appearance of the item, owing to resulting glue trickles and the glue itself being subject to yellowing in the long run) or mechanical fastening means (such as small screws, pins or the like).

As a result, further to a pleasing appearance, owing to the fragments 14 giving the idea of being "attracted" by the cylinder 12, the ornamental item 10, if used as a light diffuser by installing a lamp (not shown) thereinside, is capable of diffusing light with the advantage that the totality of the fragments 14 will contribute to reflecting and refracting light with the added benefit of an enhanced visual effect. The presence of glues or adhesives used to join the fragments 14 to the cylinder 12 - however clear or transparent as these glues or adhesives may also be - would unavoidably create a kind of light-filter effect and, owing to them being directly hit by the light, would certainly not remain invisible. Still worse would on the other hand be the aesthetical effect of possibly used mechanical fastening means, such as screws, pins, thin wires, and the like, which would in fact prove just too conspicuous both when looked at through the object, Le. against the light, and when directly illuminated. Returning now to the method provided by the present invention, this comprises the steps of:

(i) depositing glass fragments onto the surface of a glass semi-finished product; (ii) heating up both the fragments and the semi-finished product until the semi-finished product and the fragments are caused to weld together permanently by the sole fusion of the mutual contact area. The semi-finished product itself may be planar or non-planar. In the case of the example being illustrated, the semi-finished product to be decorated is the cylinder 12, for which two options may be selected, i.e. the method itself is carried out repeatedly so as to decorate with fragments 14 a strip of side surface of said cylinder at a time, until the whole surface is eventually decorated, or both the fragments 14 and the cylinder 12 are suitably packed together so as to keep them constantly in contact with each other during the above- mentioned step (ii) of the method.

The step (i) of the method may result in the semi-finished glass product being either totally or partially covered with fragments, depending on the desired visual effect to be obtained, hi this connection, particular visual effects may for instance be obtained by depositing the fragments 14 according to a patchy pattern, so as to have clear areas adjoining other areas of the semi-finished product surface that are on the contrary covered

with fragments 14. The light would in this case also hit the margins, i.e. borders of the fragment-clad areas, thereby creating further reflection effects.

In the step (ii) of the method, the sheet or plate of glass heats up to just start melting at the surface in view of allowing the fragments 14 to get fusion- welded thereto, wherein said fragments will in addition be temporarily softened by the heat so as to get rid of all sharp edges and corners thereof in the process. Although this process usually occurs spontaneously, a further surface smoothing step may nevertheless be provided to be either performed under hot conditions during the step (ii) of the method or thereafter. The method itself may also include a compacting process, in which - during said step (ii) of the method - a slight pressure is applied onto the fragments 14 in view of causing them to more effectively adhere against the surface of the semi-finished glass product, while at the same time rounding off or smoothing away all possible exposed sharp edges and corners of said fragments. It has been found that carrying out the step (ii) of the method at a temperature situated between 650 ⁰ C and 73O ⁰ C - in particular at a temperature of approx. 680 ⁰ C - for a duration in time of 3 to 4 hours - in particular approx. 3 hours and a half - proves particularly advantageous, wherein it will however be appreciated that these values may of course also vary, mainly depending on the actual size of the fragments 14 or the semifinished glass product itself, as well as the kind of glass which they are made of. A modified embodiment of the inventive method contemplates that the fragments 14 are obtained by crumbling corresponding tempered glass sheets. In this way, the fragments 14 will exhibit particular clearness, consistency and toughness characteristics, wherein it has been found advantageous if tempering of the glass sheets is done at a temperature situated between 65Q°C and 800 ⁰ C - in particular at approx. 68O ⁰ C - and exposure of the glass sheets to tempering temperature lasts approx. one minute.

The fragments 14 may be coloured and/or be comprised of different glass materials

(and/or belong to distinct tempered glass sheets); they may also have different particle sizes.

It will be appreciated that any non-significant departure from the inventive concept as set forth in the preceding description and illustrated in ther accompanying drawings shall anyway be considered as falling within the scope of the present invention, so as defined in the following claims.