Method for manufacturing rosettes

A rosette includes a number of pre-pleated lengths of ribbon secured as radiating rings on a body part or carrier, the body part or carrier having a plurality of resilient clips which can be used for the securement of the ribbons. The rosette will preferably include a distinctive center and ribbon tails secured in position by a snap fitted rim element. Preferably, the body part or carrier is of thin-walled form, the resilient clips being pressed outwards from the plane of the thin wall.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The invention relates to the manufacture of rosettes of the kind widely 
used at agricultural shows, dog shows, horse shows and the like, that is 
to say being awarded in competition as an indication of merit, and also as 
used to indicate for example, allegiance to a particular political party. 
Rosettes of the kind referred to are made of several radiating rings or 
bands of pleated ribbon attached to a particular carrier, the innermost 
rings or bands each partly overlapping the next larger ring or band. The 
ribbon may be pre-pleated and attached to the carrier or pleated and 
attached to the carrier in one operation. The ribbon may be attached to 
the carrier for example by stitching, stapling or by the use of an 
adhesive, the rosette being completed by the attachment of a distinctive 
center, the latter conveniently being attached by means of an adhesive, 
and by the attachment of ribbons and a clip, tape, safety pin or the like 
by means of which the rosette may be secured in position when in use. 
Rosettes of this kind may be of flat form using a two dimensional circular 
or oval carrier or may be of three dimensional form using a three 
dimensional carrier. A three dimensional carrier may, for example, be of 
frusto-conical form. Rosettes made in the manner described have been known 
for many years and are of an attractive appearance. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The object of the invention is to provide a method of making a rosette of 
either two dimensional or three dimensional form by means of which the 
resulting rosette will be equally as attractive as hitherto but which is 
produced at a much reduced cost. 
It is another object of the invention to provide a method of making a 
rosette by means of which a three dimensional rosette of an unusual shape 
can very easily be made, for example a rosette of three dimensional 
horse-shoe shape. 
In this invention, a method of making a rosette includes the steps of 
making a body part or carrier with a plurality of resilient clips, 
pre-pleating lengths of ribbon and securing the ribbon as radiating rings 
or bands on the body part or carrier by means of said resilient clips. The 
method may include the initial step of moulding the body part or carrier, 
integrally with the resilient clips, in a synthetic plastic material and 
may also include the step of moulding a rim element and the attachment of 
a distinctive center and of ribbon tails by the snap fitting of said rim 
element to the body part or carrier. The opposite ends of the pre-pleated 
lengths of ribbon on being secured to the body part or carrier by means of 
the resilient clips, may be connected together by staples or by an 
adhesive. 
The body part or carrier may be made of thin-walled form, the lengths of 
ribbon being secured on one side of the thin wall of said body part or 
carrier by being engaged beneath the resilient clips which have been 
pressed outwards from the plane of the thin wall; if preferred, the method 
may include the step of spreading an adhesive on the other side of the 
thin wall of the body part where portions of the ribbons are there 
exposed. 
The body part or carrier may be made in a three dimensional form, that is 
to say of frusto-conical form, of a three dimensional oval shape, or a 
three dimensional horse-shoe shape, or of some other three dimensional 
shape. 
The method of making the rosette may include the final step of attaching a 
clip, tape or safety pin to the body part or carrier. 
In another aspect of the invention, there is provided a rosette including a 
body part or carrier with a plurality of resilient clips, and a plurality 
of rings or bands of pleated ribbon secured to the body part or carrier by 
said clips. The rosette may include a distinctive center attached to the 
body part or carrier by a rim element snap fitted in position, and the rim 
element may be slotted for the fitment of ribbon tails. The body part or 
carrier may be provided with a clip, tape or safety pin by means of which 
the rosette can be attached, for example, to a horse's harness or to the 
wearer's person, as the case may be. The rosette may be of a three 
dimensional form, that is to say a frusto-conical form, or a three 
dimensional oval shape, or of some other three dimensional shape, or may 
be of two dimensional form.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Referring now to FIGS. 1 to 3 of the drawings, the three-dimensional 
rosette there illustrated is constituted by six elements, that is to say a 
moulded three-dimensional plastic body part or carrier generally indicated 
10 (in this case of frusto-conical form), a set of three pre-pleated 
ribbons 12, a center piece 14 of printed paper, a pair of ribbon tails 16, 
a rim element 18, and a backing piece 20 which can be clipped into 
position within the wider end of the frusto-conical body part or carrier. 
A length of tape 22 is secured to the backing piece by means of which the 
rosette can be attached, for example, to a horse's harness or to the 
wearer's person, as the case may be. (The manner in which the tape is 
secured to the backing piece is not shown but can take one of several 
forms. For example, it may be riveted thereto or trapped beneath a 
specially moulded clip configuration of the backing piece). 
As shown in FIG. 3, the body part or carrier has been moulded integrally 
with a plurality of resilient clips 24, arranged in circumferential rows, 
and the pre-pleated ribbons 12 are secured on said body part or carrier by 
means of said clips. That is to say, a marginal edge of each pre-pleated 
ribbon is secured to the body part or carrier, the arrangement being such 
that when the rosette has been fully assembled the clips securing the 
radially inner pre-pleated ribbon in position are masked by the rim 
element 18 and the clips securing the other pre-pleated ribbons in 
position are masked by the respectively overlapping areas of pre-pleated 
ribbon radially within them. The pre-pleated lengths of ribbon can be 
secured very quickly and conveniently to the body part or carrier by means 
of the resilient clips. As each pre-pleated length of ribbon is secured in 
position, its opposite ends are connected together by staples (not shown) 
but of course they could equally well be connected together by means of a 
suitable adhesive if preferred. The radially innermost row of resilient 
clips serve the dual purpose of retaining the rim element in position on 
the body part or carrier, the rim element having an inturned lip which 
snaps over the resilient clips. It will be seen that the rim element also 
has a slot 26 through which the ribbon tails can be threaded to extend, as 
shown by the chain-dotted line in FIG. 3, beneath the center piece 14 
before the rim element is snap fitted in position. 
Also as shown in FIG. 3, the backing piece 20 is capable of being clipped 
into position within the wider end of the frusto-conical body part or 
carrier, that is to say into a groove 28 extending around its inside 
surface. 
It will be understood that by reason of the very simple "clip in" 
attachment of the lengths of pre-pleated ribbon to the body part or 
carrier, and the subsequent snap on attachment of the rim element 18, a 
rosette embodying the invention can be produced very quickly and therefore 
at a relatively low manufacturing cost. However, various modifications may 
be made. For example, the rosette need not necessarily be provided with 
the length of tape 22. On the contrary, a spring clip or a safety pin 
could be secured to the backing piece 20 so that the rosette could be 
attached, for example, to a horse's harness or to the wearer's person, as 
the case may be. 
In FIG. 4 of the drawings, there is illustrated a construction of rosette 
basically similar to that described above in that a set of three 
pre-pleated ribbons 12 are secured on the body part or carrier by a 
plurality of resilient clips 24 moulded integrally with said body part or 
carrier. However, in this case the body part or carrier has been made in 
the form of a thin-walled shell, the resilient clips 24 being defined by a 
pattern of slots in the shell. The arrangement is such that the resilient 
clips can be pressed outwards from within the body part or carrier as 
shown in FIG. 5 to facilitate the engagement of the pre-pleated ribbons 
beneath them. A further advantage of this form of body part or carrier is 
that, as shown in FIG. 4, when the pre-pleated ribbons have been secured 
thereon, the portions of said ribbons beneath the clips are exposed as 
indicated at 13 within the body part or carrier (the backing piece 20 not 
yet having been clipped in position). Consequently, if preferred, a 
suitable adhesive, for example a so-called hot melt adhesive, can be 
spread within the body part or carrier so that when set it retains the 
ribbons very securely beneath the resilient clips. 
A further variation which will be observed in this modified construction of 
rosette is the fact that the rim element 18 is not provided with an 
inturned lip which snaps over the radially innermost row of resilient 
clips but is provided with a plurality of axially extending pins 42 which 
are a push fit in respective holes 43 which have been moulded in the body 
part or carrier around the outer edge of its narrower end face. In 
addition, the end face of the body part or carrier is provided with a 
narrow slot 44 through which the ends of the ribbon tails 16 can be passed 
before being masked by the center piece 14 and secured in position by the 
rim element 18 (through the slot 26 in which said ribbon tails also 
extend) being secured on the body part or carrier. 
The backing piece 20 is again capable of being clipped in position within 
the wider end of the frusto-conical body part or carrier, that is to say 
into the groove 28 which extends around the inside surface of the latter, 
but in this case the backing piece is shown to be provided with a clip 
element 46 instead of with the length of tape of the first described 
embodiment. As shown, the backing piece has been specially designed for 
securing the clip element 46 in position. This has involved the forming of 
the backing piece with a hole 48 through which part of the clip element 
visible when in use has been caused to project and the moulding of a 
central spigot formation 50 on what is to be the inside surface of the 
backing piece. A ring-like root portion 52 of the clip element can be 
forced over said spigot formation 50 of the backing piece to secure the 
clip element in position. 
Referring now to FIG. 6 of the drawings, in a further modified construction 
of rosette, the set of three pre-pleated ribbons 12 are secured on a 
carrier 30, the latter having the form of a frusto-conical sleeve secured 
on a generally plain frusto-conical body part 32. However, although the 
body part 32 is generally plain it is provided with an upturned lip 34 at 
its wider end, forming a shallow channel in which the sleeve-like carrier 
30 is engaged, and at its narrower end it is provided with a stepped ridge 
36 on which the rim element 18 can be snap fitted in position to make 
captive the sleeve-like carrier 30 and to secure the center piece 14 and 
ribbon tails 16 in position as in the first described embodiment. 
Referring now in particular to FIGS. 7 and 8, it will be seen that the 
carrier 30 has been formed from an arcuate length of card or thin plastic 
material 38, the opposite ends of which have been secured together by a 
strip 40 of self-adhesive material. The arcuate length of material has 
been provided with a plurality of resilient clips 24 by means of which the 
pre-pleated ribbons have been secured in position either before or after 
the arcuate length of material has been formed into the frusto-conical 
carrier. As in the case of the first described embodiment, when the 
rosette has been fully assembled the clips securing the radially inner 
pre-pleated ribbon in position are masked by the rim element 18 and the 
clips securing the other pre-pleated ribbons in position are masked by the 
respectively overlapping areas of pre-pleated ribbon radially within them. 
Various modifications may be made to the method of manufacture just 
described. For example, instead of the opposite ends of the arcuate length 
of card or thin plastics material 38 being secured together by a strip of 
self-adhesive material they could for example be stapled together or be 
provided with interlocking formations. 
Although the illustrated examples are of rosettes of frusto-conical form it 
will be understood that the invention may be used for the making of other 
three dimensional forms of rosette, for example by using a body part or 
carrier of a three dimensional oval form or of some other three 
dimensional shape such as a horse-shoe shape. Indeed, the invention may be 
applied to the making of a two dimensional rosette, that is to say a 
rosette of flat form, in which case the body part or carrier may be of 
flat disc or oval shape, or of some other two-dimensional shape, with 
resilient clips.