io Field of the invention

The present invention relates to a perimetrical termination and/or integration strip for textile products as well to textile products obtained therewith according to the preambles of the claims 1 , 4 and 7.

15

Background of the invention

In the tablecloth manufacturing industry it is known to make the perimetrical termination of said tableclothes by means of the application of termination strips which may have any desired color

20 and/or pattern. In said tablecloth manufacturing the tablecloth bodies with the desired sizes are produced which latter are then completed by sewing or thermofixing thereon said termination stripes. In this manner on the one hand the keeping in stock of the tablecloth bodies having different monocolor, kinds of fabrics,

25 fancy designs or pattern and so on is simplified and, on the other hand, the final user is free to choose said perimetrical termination strips according to his personal tastes.

It is implicit the fact that after having chosen the termination strips the tablecloth does not allow any modification of its aesthetic look.

30 From the GB 2,393,118 Al it is known to removably fasten decorations 7 to a bedding item 2 by means of removable means and counter-means in the form of press studs or hook-and-loop

fabrics like Velcro ® and similar.

Decorative elements which may be removably fastened by means of the mentioned fastening means and counter-means are also disclosed in the patents US 2,748,517, US 2,692,387 and US 4,890,347 as well as in the US publication No. 2005/0011618 A 1. Window curtains are also known on which animal illustrating drawings are printed, wherein the tails of said animals are formed by a removable element which should be removably fastened on the curtain to the associated animal by means of the above mentioned Velcro ® like securing means and counter-means. These curtains are sold by the company IKEA. Each animal has a tail in the form of a typical tail for the respective animal so that the child has to play the game of fastening on the curtain the right tail for each animals. No game variants are provided for.

Summary of the invention

Starting from the prior art discussed above a first object of the present invention is to suggest termination strips for tableclothes which allow the final buyer or housewife to carry out, if and when desired, a modification of the aesthetic look of said tableclothes. Another object of the present invention is to use the termination strip suggested for tableclothes also for other textile products, for example bedspreads, window curtains, and similar. Still another object of the present invention is to use the mentioned termination strips as inserts for the manufacturing of textile products like tableclothes, window curtains, bedspreads and similar by using said termination/insert strips.

These objects are achieved with termination/insert strips and with textile products like table-clothes, curtains and similar which present the features of the claims 1, 4 and 7, respectively.

Further developments and conformations of the termination/insert strips according to the present invention as well as of the textile

products like table-clothes, window curtains, bedspreads and the like containing said termination/insert strips according to the present invention are inferable from the characterizing parts of the dependent claims. With the teachings of the invention several important advantages are achieved.

Firstly, in the case of, for example, table-clothes the use of termination strips having decorative elements which may be removably fastened and replaceable by other sets of decorative elements allow, as frequently desired, to utilize table-clothes having a different look for example for the daily use from time to time or for the use during parties and celebrations, for example for birthday parties, school parties, parties with friends and so on by using the same tablecloth with different sets of decoration elements, for example with decorations reproducing flowers of different types, geometrical figures, animals like domestic animals, fishes, wild animals and so on, reproductions of toys, musical instruments, masks (for example in carnival periods), Christmas and Eastern decorations like Christmas trees, leverets, colored eggs and the like. This is easily achieved for the buyers by buying only one tablecloth with a number of sets of decorations either when buying the tablecloth or in a later time. The easy and quick application/removal of said decorations or decorative elements also allow further to wash the proposed tablecloth like any known tablecloth without decorative elements.

The proposed termination strips may have any desired width with one or more rows of fastening means, wherein said fasteners may be distributed with a regular or irregular pitch and reciprocally parallel or offset on more rows. A further advantage is to be seen in the fact that the mentioned strips may be surely utilized as insert strips, which allows to obtain tableclothes with decorative elements which are also placed in

desired places on the tablecloth body, that is on the tablecloth surface lying onto the table. This also permits to obtain tablecloth bodies or lengths which instead of one piece are formed by more pieces like a "mosaic". In this way for forming a tablecloth it is possible to also use remnants so that the tablecloth may be produced at lower costs.

Said perimetrical and/or insert applications of the proposed decorative strips according to the present invention in addition to the tableclothes can be also used in other textile products like, for example, in window curtains, bed spreads and the like.

A further advantage is that the strips according to the present invention can also be used directly as decorative items for mural tapestry and for decorations to be applied onto walls or to hang to a ceiling as well as to other support elements in a temporarily way for parties and receptions, for Christmas, Easter and carnival periods and the like as well as said strips could be used in clothes, for the decoration of lamps and other items for the decoration of the latter. An advantageous utilization field is to be seen in nursery-schools and primary schools where the interchangeable decorative elements may be of pure decorative or teaching nature, for example in the form of letters and numbers.

Brief description of the drawings

Further characteristics, advantages and details of the strips according to the present invention* will become more apparent hereinafter from the following disclosure of several embodiments according to the invention, which are schematically shown as examples in the accompanying drawing.

Figures 1, 2 and 3 show a tablecloth manufactured according to the known production technics, before the fixing of the termination strips to the tablecloth body, after said application and, in a prospective view, the tablecloth placed onto a table, respectively;

Figure 4 shows a top view on a termination/insert strip according to the invention on which are visible removable supporting means for decorative elements which are distributed with a regular pitch along a row; Figure 5 shows a top view onto a variant of the strips according to the invention on which are also visible removable supporting means for decorative elements which are distributed with a regular pitch and offset along two parallel rows;

Figure 5A shows a lateral view of a decorative element provided with a removable counter-fastening means;

Figures 6 shows a top view of a tablecloth having perimetrical termination strips according to the invention;

Figure 7 shows a top view on a tablecloth similar to that illustrated in Figure 6 having additionally two transverse insert strips; ' Figure 8 shows a top view similar to that illustrated in Figure 6 in which the tablecloth besides the termination strips has a longitudinal insert strip,

Figure 9 shows a top view onto a tablecloth formed by a plurality of termination and insert strips according to the invention; Figure 9A shows a tablecloth similar to that of Figure 9, however formed by transverse insert strips only, that is without termination strips;

Figure 9B shows a tablecloth which is formed by transverse and longitudinal insert strips only; Figures 10 to 13 show several embodiments of a window or balcony curtain in which in Figure 10 only a lower termination strip is provided; in figure 11 additionally two lateral termination strips are provided; in Figure 12 additionally a middle insert strip is provided, and in Figure 13 the curtain is formed by a plurality of termination and insert strips according to the invention; and

Figure 14 shows a perspective view of a bed spread according to the

invention.

Description of the preferred embodiments

Reference is at first made to Figures 1 - 3 which illustrate the known technic for the manufacturing of tablecloths. The known tableclothes 1 have a tablecloth body 2 which in the shown example has a rectangular shape the sides of which are terminated with four termination strips 3 which latter are cut with the necessary length from a reel and then fixed by sewing or thermofixing to the tablecloth body 2. When finished the tablecloth presents the conformation shown in Figure 2 and, when placed onto a table, it has a look as visible in figure 3.

The known tableclothes have the disadvantages set forth in the introductory part. Reference is now made to Figures 4 and 5 in which the termination strips 4 according to the invention are provided with a plurality of removable fastening means 5, for example in the form of small disks formed by hook-and-loop fabric of Velcro ® type, the fastening counter-means 6, for example likewise in the form of small disks of Velcro ® type, are secured to decorative elements 7 having a conformation at will, as set forth in the introductory part, in the shown example as flowers.

In the shown example said decorative elements 7 are at a regular distance or pitch S from each other. While in figure 4 said decorative elements 7, or said fastening small disks 5 are placed along an imaginary line 8, in the example of Figure 5 said decorative elements 7 are distributed along two imaginary lines 8 and 9, and more precisely with a regular pitch T and offset from each other by a half-pitch T/2. The termination and/or insert strips according to the present invention may be used in the tablecloth manufacturing in more different ways.

In the tablecloth 1 of Figure 6 the tablecloth body 2 is terminated with perimetral strips 4 while in the embodiments shown in Figures 7 and 8 besides said perimetrical termination strips 4 are provided two transverse strips 4' in Figure 7 or a middle longitudinal strip 4" in Figure 8. Therefore, in the tableclothes of the Figures 7 and 8 the tablecloth body or length is no more provided in only one piece but it is formed of several partial bodies 2' or 2", respectively, for which remnants may be used, which are cheaper with respect to the tablecloth body 2 of Figure 6 having a greater surface. The strips 4 according the invention may have any desired width h in the field ranging, for example, from a few cm, for example 3 cm, to 50 cm and more, wherein each strip 4 can have, according to the provided width, one or more rows of decorative elements 7. In this way according to the invention it is further possible to manufacture tableclothes formed by a plurality of termination strips 4 or insert strips 4', 4" only, as shown in the Figures 9 and 9A. Also in this way it is possible to use fabric remnants which latter are considerable cheaper than the known tablecloths formed by a tablecloth body 2 having an important width and length. What said in relation to the tablecloth 1 is also similarly valid for other textile products, in particular for bed spreads (Figure 14) or window or balcony curtain or curtains (Figure 10-13), respectively. In particular for window curtain and curtains it is thinkable a plurality of utilizations of the termination 4 and insert 4', 4" strips according to the invention. In Figure 10 the shown curtain 11 has a curtain body 12 and a single lower termination strip 4. In the embodiment of Figure 1 1 the curtain 11 has additionally two lateral termination strips 4, wherein in the embodiment of Figure 12 it has an additional middle longitudinal insert strip 4". In the curtain 11 of Figure 13 said curtain is formed by longitudinal or vertical insert strips 4" only. How explained above for the tableclothes 1, the bed spreads 10 and the curtains 1 1 the illustrated

embodiments advantageously allow the use of cheaper remnants 2', 2" or the use of insert 4', 4" and termination 4 strips only, wherein it is always possible a remarkable aesthetic look with very low costs. To notice is here that today the costs of decorative elements of synthetic material are very low.

The termination and insert strips provided with decorative elements may be produced with monocolor or multicolor or embroidered fabrics at will as now known and the described removable fastening means and counter-means like small disks of Velcro ® type may be replaced by other functionally equivalent fastening means.

The scope of the invention also includes the products manufactured with the termination and/or insert strips according the invention like tableclothes, bed spreads and curtains having any arrangement of said termination and/or insert strips. Practically also the decorative elements as well as sets thereof may have any conformation at will.

From the structural and functional above disclosure of the termination/insert strips according to the present invention and the textile products therewith obtained it should be apparent that the stated objects are achieved in an efficient manner and also the mentioned advantages are as well efficiently obtained. Practically those skilled in the art could suggest different modifications or variants concerning the dimensions, the materials, the kinds of fastening the mentioned termination/insert strips and so on without departing from the scope of the present invention as disclosed, illustrated and claimed.