Connected decorative grass

Although typical decorative grass is useful for lining containers such as Easter baskets to provide an attractive and cushioned nest, such decorative grass has the disadvantage of creating messes wherever individual strands of the grass fall. When individual strands which constitute decorative grass are connected to one another, this significantly cuts down on or eliminates the mess usually associated with decorative grass. The individual strands may be connected at one end of each strand, or at the middle of the strands. The strands may also be connected to the container in which the decorative grass is placed.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
TECHNICAL FIELD 
This invention pertains to decorative grass in which each of the individual 
strands which comprise the decorative grass are connected, to avoid 
individual strands falling out and littering. 
BACKGROUND ART 
Decorative grass, commonly referred to as "Easter grass", is frequently 
used to line baskets or other containers to create a cushioned and 
ornamental nest. The decorative grass nest makes such a container more 
attractive, and may also serve as a support for candy or colored "Easter 
eggs". Decorative grass presently known in the prior art is constructed of 
thin strands of material. The material may be selected from a number of 
possibilities, including plastic, plastic-like, metallic, paper, organic 
polymers such as polystyrene or polypropylene, and cellophane. Frequently, 
each strand has a thickness of less than one fifth of a millimeter, and a 
width of less than six-millimeters. It is taught in U.S. Pat. Nos. 
4,961,375, 5,111,741, and 4,884,682 that each strand of decorative grass 
is typically between three and twenty inches in length. 
As any parent who has given an "Easter basket" to a small child will 
testify, decorative grass tends to create a mess wherever the basket goes. 
If the child carries the basket from room to room searching for Easter 
eggs to deposit in the basket, each room will undoubtedly become the 
depository of a few strands of decorative grass during the hunt. It is not 
uncommon to find individual strands of decorative grass hiding in remote 
areas of carpet and tangled in plants or coats several months after the 
original basket containing the decorative grass has been put away for next 
year. 
A method of connecting the individual strands of decorative grass to each 
other, or to the container in which they are placed, has the distinct 
advantage of avoiding the mess associated with typical decorative grass. 
Various types of decorative grass are known in the prior art. For example, 
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,199,627, 4,292,266, 4,549,908, 4,401,700, and 4,496,614, 
all to Weder et al., each describe decorative grass with particular 
qualities. However, the decorative grass described in each of these 
patents consists of unconnected strands of material which can become 
separated, fall out of the original container, and create a mess. U.S. 
Pat. Nos. 5,111,741, 4,884,682, and 4,961,375, all to Weder et al., 
describe a system for baling "Easter grass". However, even in the baled 
form, individual strands are not connected and can create litter. 
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,038,975 and 4,776,521, each to Weder et al., concern a 
process for removing uniform charges of decorative grass from a bale of 
the material. Because the "bales of Easter grass are comprised of loosely 
interconnected flakes of compacted filaments . . . the flakes tend to 
separate . . . and! there is a tendency for the flakes to drop one-by-one 
or, at most, in a group of several flakes . . . " U.S. Pat. No. 4,776,521 
at columns 6-7. 
A folding and crimping apparatus is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,134,013 to 
Parker. This device is designed to fold and crimp shredded strips of sheet 
material, such as decorative grass, to create a woven bunch of such 
strips. Once again, the various strips are not connected to each other, so 
it is possible for individual strips to be pulled out or to fall out of 
the woven bunch. 
It is anticipated that decorative grass is an art significantly different 
from the manufacture of wreaths, rosettes, and pompon bows, so that 
patents describing the manufacture of these distinct products are not an 
appropriate indicator of the level of ordinary skill in the art to which 
the claimed invention pertains. Wreaths, rosettes, and pompon bows are 
used in a variety of manners, none of which includes lining baskets or 
containers. Furthermore, these devices are customarily constructed of 
ribbon which is wider, thicker, and easier to connect to itself than the 
thin strands of material used to produce decorative grass. For example, 
U.S. Pat. No. 3,922,407 to Nimmo, Jr. et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 3,587,946 
to Christensen describe methods of producing pompon bows from a continuous 
single strip of ribbon material. U.S. Pat. No. 3,780,514 to Rodermund et 
al. teaches the use of an apparatus to manufacture artificial decorative 
evergreen. U.S. Pat. No. 3,429,019 to Linstead and U.S. Pat. No. 3,560,313 
to Herkimer each concern the making of pompons. Linstead describes a 
process that involves two lengths of yarn, while Herkimer teaches the 
construction of a pompon from multiple strips of crepe paper or similar 
substance, each of which strips is mounted at its end on a rectangular 
edge band. 
While each of these products is useful for its intended purpose, none is 
suitable for being placed in a container to provide an attractive 
cushioned nest, in such a way that single strands are connected and cannot 
drop out to create a mess. 
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
An object of this invention is to provide a new and useful decorative grass 
product which eliminates the mess typically associated with the use of 
decorative grass. 
Another object of this invention is to provide a decorative grass product 
which does not tend to disintegrate and loose mass while being used. 
Yet another object of this invention is to provide a decorative grass 
product which does not tend to disintegrate and loose mass while being 
produced, packaged, shipped, and marketed. 
Decorative grass is frequently used in many settings, including Easter 
baskets, candy boxes, window displays, and decorative packaging. While 
decorative grass is easy to arrange and use, because it is made of 
multiple thin strands of material, individual strands tend to separate 
from the bulk of the decorative grass. As a result, the decorative grass 
eventually needs replenishing, as part of the original mass has 
disappeared. As the nest of decorative grass disintegrates, the consumer 
experiences a frustrating loss of value. The individual strands which 
separated from the bulk decorative grass may end up in a variety of 
inconvenient places, creating an undesirable mess. 
The decorative grass product which is claimed herein consists of one or 
more thin strands of material. A variety of materials may be used to 
create decorative grass, including paper, plastic, metallic, organic 
polymers, and cellophane. Frequently each strand is substantially similar 
in size to all of the other strands in the same bunch of decorative grass, 
but it would be possible to create decorative grass which consisted of a 
variety of sizes of strands. For example, it would be possible to have 
substantially similar strands in terms of width and thickness, while 
utilizing a variety of lengths in the strands which together form the 
decorative grass product. 
As mentioned above, it is customary in the industry for each individual 
strand of decorative grass to be no longer than twenty inches. However, in 
one embodiment of the new and useful improvement of decorative grass which 
is claimed herein, a single thin strand of material, longer than twenty 
inches, is crimped and folded onto itself to form a bunch of decorative 
grass. Because this decorative grass product consists of only a single 
strand, there are no individual strands which can become separated from 
the decorative grass. If desired, the single strand can be attached to a 
basket or other container, at an end of the single strand or at some 
location between the two ends. 
The new and useful improvement of decorative grass claimed herein can also 
be made from multiple thin strands of material, which strands are attached 
to each other, either at one end of each strand, or at a point between the 
ends of the various strands. Numerous attachment options are available. 
For example, the strands may be attached to one another by an adhesive 
applied to each strand in the chosen location. If the strands are made of 
material which becomes sticky upon an application of heat, such as 
polypropylene, then heat may be applied at an end of each strand or at 
some location in between the ends, to adhere the individual strands 
together. A variety of mechanical clamps may be used to attach the strands 
as well. For example, wire twist ties, rings, bands, straps, staples, or 
stitches may be used as a clamp to hold the individual strands together. 
Once again, it is possible for such clamps to be applied at one end of 
each strand, or at a location between the two ends of each such strand. 
It is possible to attach the decorative grass product to the container in 
which it is to be used, to further secure the individual strands together 
and to that container. The method of attachment can be adhesion, such as 
by glue, or mechanical, such as by means of a clamping device. The same 
attachment method that was used to connect the strands together may be 
used to attach the strands to the container. Alternatively, two separate 
attachment methods may be used, one to attach the strands to each other 
and one to attach the strands to the container. If the container in which 
the decorative grass is to be used is a woven basket, then it may be 
advantageous to use a single clamp to snugly fit around each thin strand 
of material as well as to fit around one of the woven osiers, attaching 
each strand to that osier. 
By connecting the individual strands to each other, and possibly to a 
container as well, a new and improved decorative grass product is created. 
This new decorative grass will be welcomed by anyone who has struggled to 
clean up the individual strands of grass which have dropped from a typical 
Easter basket. Furthermore, this new and improved decorative grass will 
provide more value for consumers, as a purchased nest of decorative grass 
will be unlikely to disintegrate.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
The present invention concerns a new and improved decorative grass product 
which is not subject to loss of individual strands. 
In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth, in 
order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It 
will be obvious, however, to one skilled in the art that the present 
invention may be practiced without these specific details. Some well-known 
methods and structure have not been set forth in order not to 
unnecessarily obscure the description of the present invention. 
The decorative grass product of the present invention can be better 
understood by reference to FIG. 1. The decorative grass product 10 
consists of numerous individual strands of material 12. Each individual 
strand 12 has two ends 14 and a middle section 16. The accompanying 
drawings attempt to show only a few strands 12 in each Figure, for the 
sake of simplicity. It will be understood that numerous strands 12 are 
contemplated in FIGS. 1-6 and 10, although only a few of such strands are 
shown. The strands 12 may be made of a variety of possible materials, 
including plastics, paper, metallic compositions, cellophane, or polymers. 
Individual strands 12 can be attached to one another by a number of 
different methods. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, the strands 12 may be 
bonded to each other by applying glue or other adhesive 20, or by heating 
the strands 12 at a point 20 to cause those strands to stick to each 
other. Heating to establish a point of adhesion is possible if the strands 
12 are composed of materials which become sticky upon the application of 
heat, such as polypropylene. The individual strands 12 may be conveniently 
attached to one another at some point in the middle section 16 of each 
strand 12, as shown in FIG. 1, or at an end 14, as shown in FIG. 4. 
FIG. 4 demonstrates the use of a mechanical clamping device 22 to attach 
the individual strands 12 to one another. Such a clamp 22 may be attached 
at the end 14 of the strands 12, or could be attached in a middle section 
16 of the strands 12. Numerous types of mechanical clamping devices may be 
utilized, including wire twist ties, staples, stitches, rings, bands, and 
straps. 
Although it may be more convenient to apply the chosen method of adhesion 
or mechanical attachment when the strands 12 are elongated as shown in 
FIGS. 1 and 4, it is a simple matter to then shape the decorative grass 10 
into a nest as shown in FIGS. 2 and 5. Advantageously, the adhesive 20 or 
mechanical clamp 22 can be positioned at the bottom of the nest, so that 
the ends 14 of individual strands 12 form a cushioned top to the nest. 
Since decorative grass 10 is frequently used in containers such as Easter 
baskets, it may be convenient to attach the individual strands 12 directly 
to a container 26. As shown in FIG. 3, the decorative grass 10 may be 
glued or otherwise secured by an adhesive 20 to the container 26. 
Similarly, as shown in FIG. 6, the mechanical clamp 22 which fits snugly 
around the individual strands 12 may also fit around a component of the 
container 26, serving the dual purpose of holding the strands together and 
attaching them to the container. If the container is a basket comprised of 
woven osiers, then a clamp 22 such as a metal twist tie can be fit around 
the individual strands 12 and an osier 28, then secured tightly so that no 
individual strand 12 can come loose from the osier 28. 
Another convenient embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 10. 
Each of the strands 12 is held together by a clamp 22. A separate 
container attachment 30 is used to connect the strands 12 to the interior 
of the container 26. The container attachment 30 may conveniently consist 
of a pad 32, having a top 34 and a bottom 36, and a tie 38. If desired, an 
adhesive substance may be applied to the top 34 of the pad 32, to cause 
individual strands 12 to be held at various points on the pad 32, holding 
the strands 12 in desirable locations to create a fluffy, spread out nest. 
Similarly, an adhesive may be applied to the bottom 36 of the pad 32, to 
cause the container attachment 30 to bond to the container 26. In this 
embodiment, it is advantageous to cause the tie 38 to have numerous 
projecting edges 40, to engage various strands 12, both holding those 
strands 12 and causing them to spread out from one another. Once the tie 
38 is pulled tightly through a slit 42 in the pad 32, the strands 12 and 
clamp 22 are held tightly against the pad 32, while the pad 32 is attached 
to and held flush with the container 26. If the container 26 is a basket, 
then the tie 38 may be pulled through the bottom of the container so that 
the tie 38 is secured around an osier 28. 
Alternatively, a decorative grass product which is not subject to loss of 
individual strands may consist of a single elongated strand 12 as shown in 
FIG. 7. The single strand 12 should ideally be longer than typical 
decorative grass strands, which is to say longer than twenty inches. The 
length of the single strand 12 should be chosen based on the amount of 
bulk desired for the decorative grass 10 to be formed from the single 
strand 12. Once the single strand 12 is crumpled as shown in FIG. 8, it 
can create a decorative grass nest from the single strand 12, so no 
separate strands exist which may become lost from the decorative grass 10. 
When the decorative grass 10 made from a single strand 12 is placed in a 
container 26, as shown in FIG. 9, it is possible to attach the strand 12 
to the container 26 by a mechanical clamp 30 or by some method of 
adhesion. 
The invention has been described in detail with particular reference to 
preferred embodiments thereof. As will be apparent to those skilled in the 
art in the light of the accompanying disclosure, many alterations, 
substitutions, modifications, and variations are possible in the practice 
of the invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the 
invention.