Attempts to make decorations on flocked products have not proved satisfactory. One particular approach has been to spread the adhesive in the form of a design, so that the flocking also makes a design; however, the flocked areas are very exposed to abrasion, and the support itself is visible and must have some aesthetic qualities.

The flock usually tends not to be very firmly attached and is therefore unsuitable for applications in which it is subject to abrasion, as on furnishing fabrics and more particularly for upholstering stuffed furniture and for certain uses even in the clothing sector.

For whatever purpose it is intended, current systems also have aesthetic limitations.

The invention solves the aforementioned problems, enabling decorated fabrics of appreciable aesthetic quality to be produced, and even succeeds-on a support of the types indicated above-in giving the flock greater resistance to abrasion.

These and other objects and advantages will be clear from the following text.

The invention relates firstly to a method for producing fabrics or equivalent products that are flocked and decorated, according to which: a discontinuous decoration is applied to a support (which may be a woven or nonwoven fabric or other equivalent material) that is uniformly spread with adhesive, after which flocking is carried out, so that the flock fibers are stuck to those areas of the support that are not covered with the discontinuous decoration.

In a practical and advantageous embodiment of said method, a mesh

is first applied to a support that is uniformly spread with adhesive and flocking is then carried out so that the flock fibers are fixed to those areas of the support that are not covered with the mesh.

It is possible to use a mesh that is uniform or patterned, and/or a mesh decorated with colors, printed and/or made with colored threads in a jacquard weave.

In a further alternative, the discontinuous decoration may be formed from particles spaced apart on the support and fixed to it; said particles may be differently colored.

In yet a further alternative, the discontinuous decoration may be formed from threads; said threads may be differently colored and/or each exhibit differently colored zones.

The invention also relates to a flocking machine for carrying out the method as defined above. Such a machine is of the type comprising means for advancing the support and, along the path of advance of the support, means for spreading the adhesive, means for distributing the flock fibers and means for stabilizing the fixing of the fibers in the adhesive. According to the invention the machine also comprises-between the adhesive spreading means and the flock fiber distribution means-means for distributing and applying a discontinuous decoration on and to the support by means of the adhesive with which the latter is spread.

The decoration distribution and application means may comprise means for unwinding and guiding a mesh or thread decoration, and means- of roller type or equivalent-for applying and sticking the decoration to the surface of the support spread with adhesive. Comb means may be provided as a guide for thread-type decorations, where such types of decoration are used.

For applying decorations consisting of separate particles, the machine may comprise, traveling around a deflection member, an endless flexible conveyor means containing cavities able to hold the decorative particles; and means for feeding decorative particles to said cavities. The motion of said conveyor means causes the particles to be discharged, at spaced out intervals, onto the surface on which the adhesive has previously been

spread.

The invention additionally relates to a decorative product comprising a support with flock fibers fixed to one of its surfaces by means of an adhesive; according to the invention, there is also a discontinuous decoration fixed to said surface, and the flock fibers are fixed to those parts of said surface that have been left uncovered around the components of the decoration. The decoration may be a mesh, optionally with a pattern, and/or may be formed from threads, and/or may consist of particles. Said decoration may exhibit a variety of colorations.

A clearer understanding of the invention will be gained from the description and the accompanying drawing, which latter shows a practical, non-restrictive example of said invention. In the drawing: Fig. 1 schematically shows the operation of the method according to the invention with partial cross section on 1-1 as marked in Fig. 2; Fig. 2 shows a partial view from the plane marked ll-ll in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 shows in section a structure formed by means of a jacquard weave mesh; Fig. 4 being a schematic view from the plane marked IV-IV in Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a diagram of an installation; Fig. 6 shows a detail of an embodiment of the zone indicated by arrow f6 in Fig. 5; Fig. 7 shows an alternative to the embodiment shown in Fig. 6; Fig. 8 is a view from the plane marked VIII-VIII in Fig. 7; and Fig. 9 shows a further alternative to the embodiment shown in Fig. 6.

As illustrated in the accompanying drawing, the number 1 denotes a continuous support, which may be a relatively thin fabric of greater or lesser flexibility, a continuous nonwoven product, an imitation leather, a plastic film, a wood veneer or other equivalent continuous support over which a decorative flock covering is to be distributed in accordance with the invention. This support 1 is spread with a layer of adhesive 3, which is typical of flock processes. A shower of fibers that are given the appropriate orientation by techniques known per se, and that are relatively long or relatively short depending on the effect desired, is normally allowed to fall in

the direction of arrow f onto the surface spread with adhesive 3; the fibers, marked 5, are oriented and come into contact via one end with the adhesive layer 3 and are fixed to it to create a velvet-like covering or equivalent (which is produced by flock technology rather than by other much more complicated and expensive fabric-forming methods). To date, flocking techniques have not given a satisfactory result when it is wished to achieve a decorative effect in the flocked surface, whereas the operation of uniform flocking is satisfactory. On the other hand the fixing of the fibers 5 is not sufficiently strong when the fabric or other flocked support is subjected to relatively fierce abrasion such as occurs, for example, with the covering fabric for stuffed furniture such as settees, armchairs and the like during use.

According to the invention, in order to achieve both a decorative effect in which the flocking operation participates and in addition to give greater resistance to fierce abrasion, a discontinuous decoration, for example (Figs.

1 and 2) in the form of a mesh 7, is applied to the adhesive 3 before proceeding to flock the fibers 5. In this way a partial covering is created over the support 1 by the decoration 7 in such a way that areas of greater or lesser dimensions are left on the surface spread with adhesive 3, within which areas the fibers 5 can be flocked by distributing them under gravity, thus creating a covering of flock fibers in the areas left uncovered by the mesh 7. In Figs. 1 and 2 it is assumed that the decoration used is a hexagonal mesh, so that the structure of the mesh provides a decoration that alternates with the uniform flocked background 5 produced in the areas- hexagonal areas in the drawing-defined by the mesh 7 used as a decoration. The mesh may be colored, not necessarily uniformly, e. g. by printing.

Figs. 3 and 4 show, in a similar way to part of Fig. 1 and to Fig. 2, an embodiment in which a decoration is provided not by a hexagonal mesh like the mesh 7, but by a mesh having, say, rectangular areas that are partly covered by a decoration produced by a jacquard system shown highly diagrammatically in Fig. 4 that covers surface portions larger than those of the filaments of the mesh 7 of the previous example. In this case the areas 9, which consist of a jacquard or equivalent weave decoration, are without the

flock 5, which stays on areas that have not been covered by the decoration 9.

The design of Fig. 4 is of course an almost geometrical design, but in practice it is possible with jacquard decorative weaving systems to obtain decorative elements of any type of greater or lesser size and with more or less detail. The decoration 9 is once again fixed in place by the applied adhesive 3, which adhesive fixes the flock fibers 5 in areas not covered by the decoration 9.

Fig. 5 is a diagram of an installation capable of carrying out the method described above. The fabric support 1 is fed in from e. g. a reel and advanced in the direction of arrow f1 through an adhesive 3 spreading unit 12; the number 14 denotes a unit that feeds in a decoration which partially covers the applied adhesive 3 and leaves relatively frequent areas not covered by the applied adhesive 3 ; consequently the semifinished product emerging from unit 14 consists of the support 1, the layer of adhesive 3 spread on the upper surface of the support 1, and a decoration 16 (which may be the same as 7 or as 9 or other equivalent decoration) that partially covers the applied adhesive 3. The number 18 denotes the flocking unit, which comprises a gravity distribution system or other system suitable for the fibers to be flocked, and systems usually employing electrostatic fields or the like for orienting the path of the fibers of the flock. The product that emerges from unit 18 comprises the decoration 16 and the flock 5 both fixed to the fabric or other support 1 by the adhesive 3. Unit 20 is an oven or other equivalent system that treats the adhesive 3 in such a way as to fix whatever has been stuck to said layer of adhesive 3 spread on the support 1.

Shown in Fig. 6 is a schematic depiction of unit 14. This unit may comprise a cylinder 14A that receives the mesh or other such decoration such as 7 or 9 or 16 fed in in the direction of arrow f3 and presses it against the applied adhesive 3 to cause it to stick to said adhesive. The combined components are passed on to unit 18 where the flock layer 5 is formed in the uncovered areas of the applied adhesive, as described earlier.

In the variant illustrated in Figs. 7 and 8 the decoration feed unit 14 includes a comb 14B capable of guiding a series of threads 22 which, immediately after the comb 14B, are stuck to the adhesive 3 by a cylinder

such as 14A or equivalent means. In this case the discontinuous decoration takes the form of a series of threads 22 that may usually be parallel with each other and spaced apart from each other in any desired way to produce the decorative effect, while the flocked areas 5 will lie between adjacent threads 22. It is also possible for a cyclical movement to be applied to the thread 22 guide means, such as the comb 14B or other equivalent means, so that the threads 22 are laid not in a straight line but more or less undulating or having some other cyclical deviation, optionally with a contribution to the guidance from a member equivalent to the cylinder 14A that can, by means of annular or other indentations, contribute to the guiding of the threads as they are stuck to the layer of applied adhesive 3.

In the further variant Fig. 9, the possibility is schematically illustrated of creating discontinuous decorations that are also entirely independent of each other, being distributed appropriately over the layer of adhesive 3; these decorations may be particles of a certain dimension, other relatively thick bodies or even components in the form of granules or the like, capable of being fixed to the adhesive 3 spread over the support 1. For the distribution of these decorations use may be made of an endless flexible conveyor means 24 containing suitable cavities, in particular through cavities 26, able to hold particles P and discharge them, after deflection by a deflection roller 28 or the like, onto the applied adhesive 3, to form decorations composed of nuclei separated from one another and only partly covering the applied adhesive; a compression roller 30 can fix them in position. The subsequent flocking in unit 18 produces the covering 5 of flock fibers which completes the covering of the support 1 interrupted by the decorative particles P.

Whatever the decoration, and whatever the method of application, the result is a product that is partly flocked at 5 and partly decorated with a selected type of decorative component such as 7 or 9 or 22 or 16 or P, which is combined with the flock covering 5, which is complementary to the decoration applied to the support 1.

The decoration has some thickness of its own and therefore offers the opportunity of protecting the flock fibers 5 fixed in place by the adhesive 3;

this is because the surface to which the fibers are fixed is not directly affected by fierce abrasion, since the force applying the abrasion is largely borne by the decoration rather than directly by the fibers, which can simply bend if projecting beyond the thickness of the decoration or may actually be sufficiently short that they do not project beyond the thickness of the decoration. In either case the flock fibers 5 are not subject directly to any action of abrasion and removal. Accordingly, a fabric decorated according to the invention can even be used in cases where a fabric or other product covered entirely and only by flock would not have sufficient resistance for the purpose, e. g. as a furnishing fabric or the like.

The drawing shows only an example of the invention, which can be varied in its shapes and arrangements without thereby departing from the scope of the concept on which the invention is based. The presence of any reference numerals in the appended claims is for the purpose of facilitating the reading of the claims with reference to the description and drawing, and does not limit the scope of protection represented by the claims.