Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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Descrietion
IMPRoVED FORM AND METHOD OF FABRICATING A GLASS L~MPSHADE
Technical Field
This invention relates to forms Eor fabricaking
tiEfany-type lampshades and improved methods for fabricating
such lampshades.
Backqround Art
Tiffany-type lampshades generally comprise a
plurality of small pieces of stained glass secured to one
another by copper foil or lead came to form a desired shape
and design. The expense of purchasing finished lampshades
of this type has led to the popularity of kits and molds
which facilitate home Eabrication of -tiffany-type lampshades.
In the past, these kits have included expensive and bulky
molds upon which the fabricator assembled an entire shade.
When using these molds, it is necessary for the fabricator
to rotate relative to the mold, or ~ice versa~ to assemble
an entire lampshade.
More recently, ligh-tweight sectional forms have
been developed which allow a fabricator to assemble a lamp-
shade in sections which are -then connected together when all
sections are complete. Sectional forms of this type are
constructed by taking a solid mold with an outer surface of
a desired shape and cutting a pie-shaped section out of it.
The mold is shaped so that the sectional forms will stand
upright on a table. A pattern, or "cartoon," as -they are
known in the trade, is permanently affixed on the outer sur-
face of the sec-tional form. The cartoon is comprised of
color-coded regions to indicate the color of glass which the
fabricator is to place on each
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portion of the sectional form. Each section of the lamp
shade is assembled by placing inclividual pieces of cut glass
correspondinq in siæe and color to ~he regions of the car-
toon and connecting each piece to the surrounding pieces
uslng copper foil or lead came.
Although these sectional Eorms have many advan-
tages over the bulky molds which preceded them, they still
have several drawbacks. Once a fabricator has purchased a
given sectional form, for example, he may make only one
lampshade design from that form. Additionally, retailers of
such sectional forms must maintain a large inventory in or-
der to stock a wide variety of designs. As both the shape
of the form and the design on the form may vary, it is dif-
ficult for a retailer to offer the selection desired by the
fabricator/hobbyist. This is especially true because retail
outlets for the sectional forms are often sma]l hobby shops.
Another drawback of existing sectional forms is
that they are not well adapted to permit a fabricator/
hobbyist to fabricate a lampshade of his or her own design.
20Yet another drawback of existing sectional forms
is that the design of the completed lampshade is necessarily
a repetition of a smaller design. If the sectional form is
one-fifth of an entire mold, for example, the design of the
completed shade will be a repetitious pattern of five small-
er designs.
Disclosure of_the Invention
It is an object of this invention to provide a
sectional form for fabricating Tiffany-type lampshades which
can be used to fabricate a plurality of designs.
It is another object of this invention to provide
such a form which can be reused by the fabricator for dif-
ferent designs.
It is another object of this invention to provide
35 such a form which will permit a glass lampshade naving a
nonrepetitious design to be fabricated.
It is another object of this invention to provide
such a form which will facilitate use of original designs
wnen fabricating a Tiffany-type lampshade.
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It is another object o~ this invention to provide
a method of fabricating a Tiffany-type lampshade Erom sec-
tional forms which will permit a plurality of lampshades of
varying designs to be fabricated from a single form,
S It is another object of this invention to provide
a method of fabricating a Tiffany-type lampshade from a
sectional form which will Eacllitate the use of original
desiqns.
It is another ob~ect of this invention to provide
a method of fabricating such a lampshade from sectional
forms which will allow use of a single nonrepetitious design
for the entire lampshade.
It is another ob~ect of this invention to provide
a method of fabricating a Tiffany-type lampshade from sec-
tional forms which will permit reuse of such forms by thefabricator.
These and other objects which will become apparent
as the invention is more fully described below are obtained
by providing a sectional form of conventional shape. The
outer surface of the sectional form includes an alignment
grid affixed thereto. A plurality of thin, elongated car-
toon strips sized to correspond to the dimensions of the
alignment qrid are releasably secured to the outer portion
of the sectional form using pins or the like. The outer
surfaces of these cartoon strips combine to form a complete
cartoon covering the outer surface of the sectional form.
The fabricator may easily assemble a section of the glass
lampshade over the sectional form and cartoon strips, as
would be done with a conventional sectional form. Once a
lampshade is completely assembled, the cartoon strips may be
removed from the sectional form, leaving the alignment grid
exposed. To fabricate a second design using the same sec-
tional form, the fabricator need only acquire an additional
set of cartoon strips.
Brief Description of the Drawinqs
Fig. 1 is an isometric view of a sectional form
showing the aliqnment grid on the outer surface of the form.
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Fig. ~ is an isometric view oi a sectional form hclvirig
a plurality of cartoon strips aE~ixed thereto.
Fig. 3 is a cross-sect:ional view of the sectiona]. form
of Fig. 2 ta~en through a vertical plane extending radially
through the interi.or of the form.
Fig. 4 is an isometric view of a single cartoon stri,o.
Bes _ de for Carr~in~ Out the Invent,i.on_ __ _ __ _ _ _ _
An improved sectional form designed to be used in the
improved method of fabrication described herein i,s shown im Fi.g.
l. The exterior s'nape of the section form lO is selected in
accordance with the shape o:E the lampshade desired to be
fabri.cated. A ser;es of horizontal grid li.nes 12 and vertical
grid lines 14 are aEfixed to the outer surface of the sectional
form lO to create an ali.gnment gri.d 16 thereonO
In order to make the secti.onal form lO usable as a mold
on which sections of a lampshade may be assembled, cartoon strips
20, such as the one illustrated i.n Fig. 4, must be placed over
tile alignment gri.d 16 of the sectional form lO. The outer side
of each cartoon strip 20 contai.ns color-coded marking so that
when all strips 20 are secured to the sectional form lO, as seen
in Fig. 2, a complete design wi.ll be formed. The cartoon strips
2U are sixed such that the width of each stri.p corresponds to the
spaci.ng oE the horizontal grid lines 12 between whi.ch it i.s to be
placed. As seen in Fig. l, the spaci.ng oE the hori.zontal grid
li.nes 12 preferably decreases in the regions of steep curvature
of the outer surface of the sectional form lO to ensure that the
flat cartoon stri.ps 20 can conform to the outer surface of the
secti.onal form lO ~ithout excessive bending. The cartoon strips
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pre~er,ably inclu(le verticaL alignlnent indicia 22 which aid the
~abricator in alignin~ the cartoon strips 20 with the vertical
gri~ lines 1~1 ancl in(licia 24 o:E the other cartoon strips. Proper
aligrlment will ensure that the cartoon strips 2U, once placed
over the alignmetlt grid 16, will. form a coherent pattern over
which a lampshade may be fabricated.
In the embodiment illustrated in Figs. 1-4, the
sectional form is fabricated of polystyrene or similar
material. The cartoon strips 20 are oE paper construction
and are held releasably secured to the outer surface of the
sectional form 10 using pins 30.
To assemble a lampshade using the sectional form
10, as illustrated herein, the fabricator preferably first
places the form 10 on a flat supporting surface. The car-
toon strips are then selectively placed between the proper
horizontal grid lines 12 and secured to the sectional form
10 using pins 30 or other securing means. Once all of the
cartoon strips 20 are in place on the sectional form 10, the
fabricator places pieces of cut glass over the cartoon
strips, as indicated by the Pattern on the cartoon strips
20. The glass pieces are secured to one another using
copper foil, lead came, or other known means. When an en-
tire segment is complete, it is removed and set aside. The
fabricator then completes the additional number of sections
necessary to form a complete lampshade~ Once all of the
sections are complete, the individual segments of the lamp-
shade are secured to one another to form a complete shade.
If it is desired to avoid the use of a repeating
pattern for the lampshade design, a plurality of sets of
cartoon strips may be used. For example, if a one-quarter
sectional form is used, four sets of cartoon strips would be
provided. After each set of cartoon strips is secured to
the sectional form 10, the fabricator would form one section
of the lampshade as described ahove. Rather than forming
the second lampshade section in an identical manner, the
fabricator would replace the first set of cartoon strips
with the second set and proceed to fabricate a second lamp-
shade section having a different design than the first.
Proceedinq in this manner, a complete shade having one non-
repeating pattern can be fabricated.
After the lampshade has been assembled, the fabri-
cator may remove the cartoon strips and replace them with a
different set or sets of cartoon strips containing a differ-
ent pattern thereon. With a new cartoon strip in place, the
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fabricator may repeat the process described above to produce
a lampshade of the same shape, having a new design thereon.
It thus becomes unnecessary for the fabricator to purchase
duplicate forms for every design he or she wishes to assem-
ble. Similarly, retailers oE such forms need only stocksectional forms of varying shape. By stocking ~ive or six
basic exterior shapes, such retailers may offer their cus-
tomers a wide variety of differing designs by merely stock-
ing a plurality of different cartoon strips for each shape.
This is of ~reat advantage to the retailers as a set of
cartoon strips takes up much less storage space than an en-
tire sectional form.
Although the imProved sectional form and improved
method of fabricating a glass lampshade have been described
herein for use with sectional forms only, it will be obvious
to one of ordinary skill in the art that -the improvements
described herein would be equally usable on molds represent-
ing the shape of an entire lampshade. When a grid and car-
toon strip method is used with these types of molds, how-
ever, the full advantages of the sectional form molds are,of course, not obtained. Additionally, although the im-
proved sectional forms and improved method of fabricating a
glass lampshade have been described herein in reference to
Figs. 1-~1 it will be obvious to those of ordinary skill in
the art that many modifications of what is described here
could be achieved without departing from the spirit of this
invention. It is not the intent of the applicant herein to
limit his invention to the specific embodiments disclosed
herein.
