The invention is employed in the field of the production of seats, such as chairs, stools, arm-chairs, easy chairs, sofas or similar, to cover the padded components associated thereto such as for example, seat-parts, back-rests, arm- rests, head-rests or otherwise.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The padded components of seats, such as seat-parts, back- rests, arm-rests and similar, consist of a substantially rigid support at the front part of which a padding is attached.

The padding is then covered with an upholstery which is attached on the rear face of the rigid support, normally near the perimeter.

The upholstery is normally applied onto the padded components by tautening the upholstery on the front part of the padding and folding it back over the rear face of the rigid support, to which it is then attached by means of metal staples or clips.

This technique is achieved by means of complex and costly machines which progressively carry out the operations to fold back and attach the perimeter of the upholstery onto the rear of the rigid support.

Although this procedure is almost completely automated, it entails production times and final results which businessmen operating in this field believe to be unsatisfactory, especially in terms of a satisfactory tautening of the

upholstery which therefore tends in time to form creases, and even becomes partly detached.

Alternative techniques have been proposed which provide to glue the upholstery to the support or to apply a cord on the perimeter of the upholstery which is pulled and attached after the upholstery has been folded back.

These solutions however have proved to be completely unsatisfactory, because they limit the possibility of automating the production process, because they entail very long execution times and because the quality of the final product is unsatisfactory in the sense that the attachment does not endure and the upholstery is not sufficiently taut.

The present Applicant has devised and embodied this invention to overcome these shortcomings and to obtain further advantages.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention is set forth and characterized in the respective main claims, while the dependent claims describe other characteristics of the invention.

The purpose of the invention is to achieve a method to cover padded components for seats which will allow a considerable reduction in production times and costs, and will obtain a high quality product, particularly in terms of optimum tautening of the upholstery on the relative padding.

Another purpose of the invention is to achieve a simple and economical device which can be inserted into any production line, easy to produce and to use, even by non- specialized personnel.

The invention provides to apply the upholstery to the padded component by folding it and gluing it onto the rear face of the rigid support.

The device used to achieve this application comprises a master template, with a through cavity having dimensions

correlated to the dimensions of the padded component to be covered.

To be more exact, according to the invention, the through cavity has a transverse dimension slightly less than the transverse dimension of the padding.

According to one formulation of the invention, the walls of the through cavity narrow slightly and progressively from the inlet to the outlet thereof.

In correspondence with the outlet, the through cavity has an at least partly flexible perimeter edge defining an aperture with reduced transverse dimensions with respect to the transverse dimensions of the rigid support.

According to a preferential embodiment, the device comprises movable delivery means, suitable to distribute the glue, and thrust means arranged in a position cooperating with the through cavity on the inlet side.

The invention provides initially to position the upholstery, which is centered with respect to the through cavity, above the master template and to arrange the padded component to be covered on the upholstery.

Subsequently the delivery means distribute the glue on the rear face of the rigid support and/or on the perimeter band of the upholstery.

Then the thrust means are activated to progressively thrust the padded component and the upholstery inside the through cavity until they exit from the outlet thereof.

As it passes through the through cavity, which progressively narrows, the upholstery is first made taut and then is folded back over the rear face of the rigid support due to the action of the flexible perimeter edge located in correspondence with the outlet.

The action of folding back causes the upholstery and the rigid support to be glued together, which occurs at the same

time over the whole perimeter of the padded component, which considerably reduces the execution times.

According to a variant, below the master template the device according to the invention has a shock absorber element on which the padded component is suitable to rest as it exits from the through cavity.

In the preferential embodiments, the shock absorber element may consist of pneumatic piston means, or an air cushion, a plate associated with elastic means, or similar means.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS These and other characteristics of the invention will become clear from the following description of a preferred form of embodiment, given as a non-restrictive example, with reference to the attached drawings wherein: Fig. 1 shows an office chair with covered padded components; Fig. 2 shows a section of a covered padded component for seats, obtainable by means of the invention; Figs. 3a, 3b show schematically the covering device for padded components for seats according to the invention; Figs. 4a, 4b show a variant of Figs. 3a, 3b.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT With reference to the attached Figures, the number 10 denotes generally the device according to the invention employed to cover padded components 11 for seats 12 with upholstery 13.

In the specific case of Fig. 1, the padded components 11 constitute the seat-part 17 and the back-rest 18 of the seat 12, but the invention may equally be used to make arm-rests, head-rests or similar.

The padded components 11 to which the invention refers are of the type comprising a substantially plane rigid support

14, on the front face 14a of which a padding 15 is associated.

The padding 15 is lined with upholstery 13 which enwraps it at the front and sides, attaching itself around the perimeter on the rear face 14b of the rigid support 14.

The rigid support 14, in this case, is also coupled at the rear with a covering element 16 which can be associated by means of at least a male-female coupling.

The covering device 10 comprises a master template 20 arranged in a raised position with respect to a supporting plane 21, in this case by means of a perimeter frame 22.

In the center, the master template 20 has a through cavity 23 with a vertical development and transverse section correlated to the dimensions of the padded component 11 to be covered in its finished condition.

The through cavity 23 comprises an inlet section defined by an upper aperture 23a, with transverse dimensions less than the transverse dimensions of the padding 15, and an outlet section defined by a lower aperture 23b with a section less than the upper aperture 23a and of transverse dimensions slightly less than the transverse dimensions of the rigid support 14.

In the preferential embodiment shown here, the side walls 23c of the through cavity 23 are slightly convergent towards the outlet section.

The lower aperture 23b is defined by a perimeter edge 24 protruding towards the inside of the cavity 23, made of at least partly flexible and elastically deformable material (for example rubber).

Above the master template 20, the device 10 comprises a thrust organ 25, in this case consisting of an actuator advantageously of the pneumatic type, arranged axially with respect to the through cavity 23 and suitable to move around

it.

The device 10 also comprises a delivery element 26, movable vertically and horizontally around the thrust organ 25 and suitable to distribute the glue 19.

In the embodiment shown here there is also a shock absorber element 27, in a position below the lower aperture 23b.

In the embodiment shown in Figs. 3a and 3b, the shock absorber element 27 consists of a pneumatic piston 29 equipped at the end with a platelet 30 suitable to cooperate with the front face of the padding 15, in order to supply a partial contrast during the thrusting action of the thrust organ 25.

This contrast improves the tautening of the upholstery 13 on the padding 15 and the gluing of the upholstery 13 on the support 14.

In the variant shown in Figs. 4a and 4b, the shock absorber element 27 consists of an air cushion 28 arranged on the supporting plane 21.

The covering method according to the invention is achieved by firstly resting the upholstery 13 on the master template 20, in a substantially centered position with respect to the through cavity 23, with the padded component 11 to be covered being placed thereabove and with the rigid support 14 facing upwards.

Subsequently, the delivery element 26 distributes the glue 19 in correspondence with the perimeter zones of the upholstery 13 and/or the rear face 14b of the rigid support 14 (Fig. 3a); at the end of this operation, the thrust organ 25 is lowered, thrusting the upholstery 13 and the padded component 11 through the through cavity 23.

As they pass through, the upholstery 13 is tautened due to the interference with the side walls 23c of the through

cavity 23, and is folded back, together with the padding 15, towards the perimeter of the rigid support 14.

In correspondence with the lower aperture 23b, the passage of the padded component 11 causes the perimeter edge 24 to be widened and deformed; the perimeter edge 24 interferes elastically with the padding 15 and the upholstery 13, compresses them and folds back the perimeter of the upholstery 13 onto the edges of the rigid support 14 and onto the rear face 14b of the latter (Fig. 3b).

At the same time, and over the whole perimeter of the rigid support 14, this action of folding back causes the upholstery 13 to be glued onto the rear face 14b so that, as it exits from the lower aperture 23b, the padded component 11 is discharged covered and ready to be completed by being associated with the covering element 16.

The presence of the shock absorber element 27, whether it be the piston 29 or the air cushion 28, causes an effect which contrasts the padded component 11 from passing through the lower aperture 23b; therefore, the action of pressing performed by the perimeter edge 24 is longer and more intense, and thus the upholstery 13 is tautened and folded back in a better way.

Moreover, once it has emerged from the lower aperture 23b, the padded component 11 continues to be subjected to the upwards thrust by the shock absorber element 27 which makes it abut on the lower part of the perimeter edge 24, making the gluing better and more efficacious.

It is obvious, however, that modifications and additions may be made to this invention, but these shall remain within the field and scope thereof; for example the shock absorber element 27 may include a plate associated with contrasting spring means, instead of consisting of a piston 29 or an air cushion 28.