(19)
(11) EP 0 162 517 B1

(12) EUROPEAN PATENT SPECIFICATION

(45) Mention of the grant of the patent:
24.04.1991 Bulletin 1991/17

(21) Application number: 85200752.5

(22) Date of filing: 13.05.1985
(51) International Patent Classification (IPC)5: A47G 19/02, A47G 23/06

(54)

A method for obtaining a metal tableware article, in particular a plate or tray, with improved peripheral border, and article so obtained

Verfahren um Tafelgeschirrartikel aus Metall, insbesondere Schüsseln oder Servierbretter mit einem Rand zu versehen sowie nach dem Verfahren hergestellter Artikel

Méthode pour munir un article de table en métal, en particulier un plat ou un plateau, d'un bord et article ainsi obtenu

(84) Designated Contracting States:
AT BE CH DE FR GB IT LI NL SE

(30) Priority: 21.05.1984 IT 2187484 U

(43) Date of publication of application:
27.11.1985 Bulletin 1985/48

(73) Proprietor: FINDESIGN S.p.A.
I-20121 Milano (IT)

(72) Inventor:
  • Sambonet, Sergio
    I-13100 Vercelli (IT)

(74) Representative: Faraggiana, Vittorio, Dr. Ing. et al
Ingg. Guzzi & Ravizza S.r.l. Via Vincenzo Monti 8
20123 Milano
20123 Milano (IT)


(56) References cited: : 
AT-B- 14 622
DE-B- 2 160 753
DE-C- 109 998
 AT-B- 265 566
DE-C- 105 175
US-A- 2 605 929
   
       
    Note: Within nine months from the publication of the mention of the grant of the European patent, any person may give notice to the European Patent Office of opposition to the European patent granted. Notice of opposition shall be filed in a written reasoned statement. It shall not be deemed to have been filed until the opposition fee has been paid. (Art. 99(1) European Patent Convention).


    Description


    [0001] The present invention relates to a method for producing a metal tableware article, in particular a plate or tray, with an improved peripheral border, and the article so obtained.

    [0002] It is known to form plates, trays or other tableware articles from sheet metal, suitably deformed by means of known technologies.

    [0003] For practical and aesthetic reasons such articles are advantageously provided with a raised peripheral border. This raised border is generally applied, and existing technology traditionally welds it onto the periphery of the formed sheet metal. This operation is very time-consuming and its incidence on product-costs is disproportionate, chiefly when the product is not made of precious material.

    [0004] It is known to braze in order to obtain a firm connection, without cavities, as disclosed in AT-B-14 622.

    [0005] Connections for resilient crimping can be used for elements like handles which occupy a small space in the edge of a tableware article. This kind of connections are disclosed, for example, in AT-B-265 566 but they are not adaptable for a border which must be circular, continous and without cavities between border and edge.

    [0006] Borders can be also produced by deformation and back-fold of the peripheral portion of sheet material from which the tableware article is made but such type of bordering causes cavities which are troublesome in use because of the accumulation of liquids expecially during washing.

    [0007] The object of the present invention is therefore to provide a method for obtaining a metal tableware article with a raised peripheral border, for example a plate or tray, which will avoid the aforesaid disadvantageous time comsumption and the other disadvantages of the known art.

    [0008] To attain such object, the invention proposes a method for obtaining a metal tableware article with a central body the edge portion of which features a raised peripheral border, characterized in that said raised border consists of an annular element made of plastically deformable material which receives the edge portion of the central body in a slot within it and which is deformed by pressing to take on the final configuration, said slot being compressed to cause it to crimp onto said edge portion.

    [0009] The object, advantages and characteristics of the invention will become more apparent from an examination of the following illustrative and not limiting description of one form thereof, with reference to the appended drawings in which:
    Figure 1 is a partial plan view of a plate obtained according to the invention;
    Figures 2 and 3 are sectional views taken through the line II-II of Figure 1, in two successive processing steps.

    [0010] As is shown in the Figures, the plate comprises a central body indicated overall by 10, which can be formed by any known method of pressing or turning or the like.

    [0011] According to the invention, an annular element 11 is mounted around the edge-portion of the central body. As can be more clearly seen from Figure 2, said element receives said edge-portion in a slot 12: the element 11 is readily mounted while still open, and is then closed by a butt weld, shown schematically at 13.

    [0012] The element 11 is advantageously made by metal having a considerable copability of being deformed plastically, for istance copper.

    [0013] The plate is then pressed, with deformation of the element 11 which takes on its definitive configuration as shown in Figure 3. Such pressing automatically closes the slot so that the element 11 remains firmly anchored to the edge-portion of the body 10 without calling for any further welding operation or particular finishing.

    [0014] The element 11 is yet more firmly fixed to the edge-portion of the body 10 if this is even slightly curved during the pressing of the element 11 into its final form. The plate obtained definitively in the manner described can naturally be given subsequent treatments of the kind usually adopted for such products, such as electroplating or the like.

    [0015] The method and the combination of parts according to the invention, i.e. the central sheet-metal body combined with an endless raised border crimped onto the body by pressure, permits the article to be formed very rapidly and with a high satisfactory quality of finish.

    [0016] Said configuration and disposition of the parts avoids any need to weld the raised border to the edge-portion of the central body, welding being employed only to close the raised border in ring-fashion prior to final forming when the depth of the slot requires that the element 11 be open to permit mounting onto the edge-portion of the body 10.

    [0017] During a sufficiently forceful plastic deformation of the element 11, the slot 12 may in fact be opened on one side and the material of said element 11 may overrun the edge-portion of the body 10 to crimp it.

    [0018] One of the advantages offered by the present invention is than the peripheral raised border is outstandingly resistant because it is formed from material work-hardened by the deformation undergone when applied.

    [0019] Moreover, metallic materials which would be inadvisable for use in production methods involving conventional configurations of the article can be used in forming the article in accordance with the invention - for example those not suitable for the brazing operation conventionally employed to fix the border to the periphery of the sheet-metal body.

    [0020] In the configuration of articles according to the invention there is no need to use a brazing alloy, which has a far from negligible incidence on conventional production costs since silver alloys must be used if firm fixing is to be achieved and not tin alloys - which provide poor anchorage.

    [0021] An excellent finish of the predisposed raised border according to the invention can be obtained and it is therefore possible to form tableware articles in a combination of the colours of the metals used, for the body and raised border respectively, with aesthetically pleasing results.

    [0022] The advantages obtained with the method and configuration according to the invention are manifold and permit the production of tableware articles which have a very high-quality finish and appearance, but low cost. These results are attained without the structural simplifications which detract from the quality of the article - such as borders produced by deformation and bock-fold of the peripheral portion of the sheet material from which the articles is constructed. It is known that such type of bordering places a drastic limitation on the shapes that can be produced, and also causes cavities which are troublesome in use, especially during washing, because they accumulate liquids.

    [0023] With the method and disposition of parts according to the present invention it is possible naturally to obtain the very wide variety of raised borders called for by aesthetic considerations, and a broad range of metal tableware articles can be produced of which plates, trays and drinking-glasses are mentioned as typical but not limiting examples.


    Claims

    1. A method for obtaining a metal tableware article having a central body (10) with its edge-portion featuring a raised peripheral border, characterized in that said raised border consists of an annular element (11) constructed of plastically deformable metal which receives the edge-portion of said central body within a slot (12), and which is deformed by pressing to take on the definitive configuration, with compression of the slot (12) to crimp the border onto the said edge-portion.
     
    2. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that said annular element (11) is butt-welded (13) after said edge-portion has been inserted into the slot (12).
     
    3. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that said edge-portion is not flat, but curved in the area embraced by said annular element (11).
     
    4. A method according to claim 3, characterized in that said edge-portion is curved during the deformation by pressure of said annular element (11).
     
    5. A metal tableware article with a central body (10) with its edge-portion provided with a peripheral raised border, characterized in that said raised border consists of an annular element (11) constructed of plastically deformable metal which receives said edge-portion of said central body (10) in a slot (12), and which is deformed by pressing to take on the definitive configuration, with compression of the slot (12) to crimp it onto said edge-portion.
     
    6. A tableware article according to claim 5, characterized in that said annular element (11) is butt-welded (13) after said edge-portion has been inserted into said slot (12).
     
    7. An article according to claim 6, characterized in that said edge-portion is not flat, but is curved in the area embraced by said annular element (11).
     
    8. An article according to claim 7, characterized in that said edge-portion is curved during deformation of the annular element (11) by pressing.
     


    Revendications

    1. Procédé pour obtenir un article de table en métal comprenant un corps central (10), dont la portion de bord comporte une bordure périphérique en relief, caractérisé en ce que ladite bordure en relief consiste en un élément annulaire (11) constitué en un matériau plastiquement déformable qui reçoit la portion de bord du corps central dans une fente qu'il comporte, et est déformé par compression pour assumer la configuration finale, ladite fente (12) étant comprimée pour l'amener à se sertir sur ladite portion de bord.
     
    2. Procédé selon la revendication 1, caractérisé en ce que ledit élément annulaire (11) est soudé en bout à bout (13) quand ladite portion de bord a été insérée dans la fente (12).
     
    3. Procédé selon la revendication 1, caractérisé en ce que ladite portion de bord n'est pas plate mais incurvée dans la région entourée par ledit élément annulaire (11)
     
    4. Procédé selon la revendication 3, caractérisé en ce que ladite portion de bord est incurvée pendant la déformation par compression dudit élément annulaire (11).
     
    5. Article de table en métal comprenant un corps central (10) dont la portion de bord est munie d'une bordure périphérique en relief, caractérisé en ce que ladite bordure en relief consiste en un élément annulaire (11) constitué en un métal plastiquement déformable qui reçoit ladite portion de bord dudit corps central (10) dans une fente (12), et qui est déformé par compression pour assumer la configuration définitive, avec compression de la fente (12) de manière qu'elle soit sertie sur ladite portion de bord.
     
    6. Article de table en métal selon la revendication 5, caractérisé en ce que ledit élément annulaire (11) est soudé en bout à bout (13) après que ladite portion de bord a été insérée dans ladite fente (12).
     
    7. Article de table en métal selon la revendication 6, caractérisé en ce que ladite portion de bord n'est pas plate mais incurvée dans la région entourée par ledit élément annulaire (11).
     
    8. Article de table en métal selon la revendication 7, caractérisé en ce que ladite portion de bord est incurvée pendant la déformation de l'élément annulaire (11) par compression.
     


    Ansprüche

    1. Verfahren zur Herstellung eines Metallgeschirrelementes mit einem mittigen Körper (10), mit einem mit einer umlaufenden Verdickung versehenen Rand, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß die Verdickung aus einem plastisch verformbaren Ringelement (11) aus Metall besteht, das in einem Schlitz (12) desselben den Rand des mittigen Körpers aufnimmt, und daß sie durch Pressen verformt wird, um die endgültige Gestaltung durch Zusammendrücken des Schlitzes (12) zur Anhaftung desselben am Rand zu erhalten.
     
    2. Verfahren nach Anspruch 1, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß das Ringelement (11) nach Umwicklung am sich in den Schlitz einfügenden Rand stumpfgeschweißt (13) wird.
     
    3. Verfahren nach Anspruch 1, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß der Rand durch Krümmung des vom Ringelement (11) umfassenden Bereiches einen unebenen Verlauf aufweist.
     
    4. Verfahren nach Anspruch 3, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß der Rand im Verlauf der Verformung durch Pressen des Ringelementes (11) gekrümmt wird.
     
    5. Metallgeschirrelement mit einem mittigen Körper (10), mit einem mit einer umlaufenden Verdickung versehenen Rand, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß die Verdickung aus einem plastisch verformbaren Ringelement (11) aus Metall besteht, das in einem Schlitz (12) desselben den Rand des mittigen Körpers aufnimmt, und daß sie durch Pressen verformt wird, um die endgültige Gestalt durch Zusammendrücken des Schlitzes (12) zur Anhaftung desselben am Rand zu erhalten.
     
    6. Metallgeschirrelement nach Anspruch 5, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß das Ringelement (11) nach Umwicklung am sich in den Schlitz einfügenden Rand stumpfgeschweißt (13) wird.
     
    7. Metallgeschirrelement nach Anspruch 6, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß der Rand durch Krümmung des vom Ringelement (11) umfassenen Bereiches einen unebenen Verlauf aufweist.
     
    8. Metallgeschirrelement nach Anspruch 7, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß der Rand im Verlauf der Verformung durch Pressen des Ringelementes (11) gekrümmt wird.
     




    Drawing