Upholstery fabric tack strips and methods of making same

Details Upholstery fabric tack strips and methods of making same Upholstery fabric tack strips and methods of making same

2001-06-08

2003-03-25

Pyon, Harold (Department: 1772)

Stock material or miscellaneous articles

Structurally defined web or sheet

Including aperture

C428S133000, C428S134000, C470S158000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06537646

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to the field of upholstery fabric tack strips and methods of making the same, especially tack strips that are used to attach upholstery fabric to an underlying furniture frame member.
BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Conventional upholstery tack strips are made from flat metal (e.g., metal) ribbons by a punch-press operation. Specifically, generally triangularly-shaped nails are formed by punching out correspondingly shaped, partially cut-out sections from the metal ribbon at spaced-apart locations along the ribbon's length and then bending the sections so each is at substantially a right angle relative to the ribbon stock. Thus, the nails remain unitarily attached to the metal ribbon, but project outwardly therefrom.
In use, the metal from which conventional tack strips are made can physically mar and/or abrade the upholstery fabric. For example, the ribbon, if formed from metal, may rust over time which might in turn visibly discolor the fabric. Furthermore, the edges of the metal tack strip may abrade or cut the upholstery fabric. In order to prevent such problems, it has been conventional practice to provide upholstery tack strips with a separate C-shaped plastic sleeve which slides over the tack strip along its length. The plastic sleeve, however, is itself problematic in that it involves a separate manufacturing step to slideably mate it with the tack strip. Furthermore, unless some means are provided to restrict relative lengthwise movement between the metal tack strip and the sleeve, the latter can become separated from the former during use and/or installation.
What has been needed therefore are upholstery tack strips that minimize, if not eliminated entirely, the problems noted above. It is towards providing solutions to such problems that the present invention is directed.
According to the present invention, upholstery tack strips are provided which include a thermoplastic sleeve and a metal ribbon embedded within the sleeve. The sleeve itself includes a plurality of removed material sections forming opposed pairs of sleeve windows, while the metal ribbon integrally includes nail sections which protrude outwardly from the tack strip through respective ones of the sleeve windows. Most preferably, the sleeve is extrusion-coated onto the metal ribbon stock using a cross-head die with a screw extruder. The thus-coated metal strip preform may then be transferred to downstream fabrication operations whereby the sleeve windows and nail portions are formed. Since the nail portions protrude outwardly from the tack strip through the sleeve windows, relative lengthwise slippage between the metal ribbon stock and the sleeve is prevented.
These and other aspects and advantages will become more apparent after careful consideration is given to the following detailed description of the preferred exemplary embodiments thereof.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5613817 (1997-03-01), Bush et al.
patent: 5956804 (1999-09-01), Dunne

Affiliated with

Also associated with

Rating

Upholstery fabric tack strips and methods of making same does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Upholstery fabric tack strips and methods of making same, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Upholstery fabric tack strips and methods of making same will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3070567