Arrangement for retaining a cover on a piece of upholstered furniture

This invention relates to an arrangement for holding a cover on a piece of upholstered furniture, preferably applicable to armchairs and settees having seat cushions and the corresponding cover which covers the various external surfaces of the whole.

With such furniture, the cover generally slides towards the front of the seat cushions under the weight and friction caused by the users, whereby at said front portion of the piece of furniture, the cover tends to separate from the cushions and deform itself unpleasantly.

With a view to avoiding or attenuating as far as possible the above drawback, several efforts have been made, one of them being to provide the cover internally with tapes with which it is possible to tie it to the cushions and try and fix the cover in the affected area.

Nevertheless, none of the tests carried out up to date have provided an ideal solution, either because of their low efficiency or because they are hard to implement or handle. In view of such circumstances, it is of interest to adopt an appropriate procedure such as the one afforded by the present arrangement, which is characterized in that it comprises a plurality of anchoring means, each formed by a flexible member and a retaining body, located on points of the periphery of the concealed portion of the cover corresponding to the seat cushions, so that the longitudinal dimension of the flexible member is on the order of the height of the cushions and the major dimension of the retaining body is greater than the width of the slot between the cushions and between the latter and the internal edges of the seating surface of the cushions.

The invention is also characterized in that the flexible member of the anchoring means is preferably formed by a tape-like member, which may be longitudinally unextensible or may be resiliently extensible.

A further feature of the invention is that the retaining member of the anchoring means is formed by a discoid body having means holding it to the flexible member, while alternatively it may be formed by a longitudinal body also having said holding means to the flexible member.

Yet a further feature of the invention is that the flexible member and the retaining body are integrally formed.

The drawings relating to the present arrangement are explained and described below:

Figure 1 is a perspective view partly showing a cover for a piece of upholstered furniture, one of the cushions of which is seen to be provided with anchoring means.

Figure 2 is a cross section view of a cover for a piece of upholstered furniture showing anchoring means therefor.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of one piece of cover anchoring means.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary view, partly in cross section of one embodiment of the retaining means and the anchoring means.

In Figure 1, there is to be seen a cover 1 for a piece of upholstered furniture, situated in the position of use. The piece of furniture, such as a settee, has seat cushions 2 covered by the cover 1 and resting on the corresponding base of the piece of furniture. In this case, two anchoring means 3 are shown, attached to the cover and partly inserted under the relevant cushion 2.

The anchoring means 3 for each piece comprise a flexible member 4 and a retaining body 5, so that the flexible member 4 is attached to a point on the inner surface of the cover 1, while the retaining body 5 is inserted between a cushion 2 and the support base 6 of the piece of furniture, as per Figure 2.

The anchoring means 3 may take on various forms and dimensions. Regarding the height of the flexible member 4, the height of the cushions 2 must be taken into account, while for the retaining body 5, the need to be able to lodge it partly under the cushion or cushions, according to the form of the body itself, must be taken into account. One anchoring 3 situated at the end of the piece of furniture is inserted between the side wall of the armrest and the immediately adjacent cushion, while one anchoring means located between the cushions will be inserted in the slot between both cushions.

In one embodiment, the anchoring means 3 are formed by a flexible member 4 such as a tape or cord, which may be unextensible or elastically extensible. In turn, the retaining body 5, of circular, polygonal, elongate or other form, is flattened and provided with a link 7 for the flexible member and the upper surface 8 thereof may also have a non-slip treatment for engaging the underside of the cushion 2. The upper end of the flexible member 4 will be provided, as the case may be, with a terminal loop 9 to facilitate attachment to the cover by sewing or other means.

It is also possible to make an integral anchoring means 3, i.e. one in which a tail in form of flexible member 4 and adapted for attachment to the cover 1 by appropriate means extends from the retaining body 5 .

The behaviour of the retaining arrangement 3 is that the retaining body 5 thereof is blocked under the cushion 2 by the weight of the seated person, whereby in turn the cover 1 is neither moved out of place nor deformed, as it is wished, such that this arrangement satisfies the proposed objective simply.

In the embodiment of Figure 4, the retaining body 5 is formed by a lenticular shaped disc having a through hole 10 in the centre thereof. In this case the linking means 7 is formed by a deformable pin having a head 11, the free end region 12 whereof having a larger diameter than the hole 10. The head 11 is extended by wings 13 adapted to be folded at the centre portion 14 thereof, such that in the extended position thereof, shown in solid lines, they hold the pin in the retaining body 5, while in the folded position (shown in phantom line) the pin 11 is adapted to pass through the hole 10. The pin also has an intermediate space 15 through which the flexible member 4 passes.