The invention concerns nets and netting in general.

Nets are well-known objects, consisting of interlaced threads knotted together to form a more or less thick mesh, the threads being made of vegetable fibres, plastic, metal and other materials, their functions being to support, surround, contain, protect, wrap up, and others as well, for a wide variety of uses.

These functions can be applied in innumerable fields from architec- ture to clothing, from travelling cases to footwear, from bricoiage to accessories, to curtains and other items of furnishing.

The materials used to make nets can include various kinds, ranging from plastic, to natural or artificial fibres, steel, copper, and so on.

The above invention discloses a system whereby nets and netting in general, especially for preventing the entry of mosquitoes, can become decorative items of furniture in a practically limitless number of applications as will now be explained.

Subject of the invention are decorated nets in general.

The decoration is applied, according to preference, on one side only or on both sides.

Decorations on both sides can be the same or diffeent.

The nets may be made of fibreglass coated with a layer of PVC, of pressed plastic material, injected, extruded.

The plastic material may advantageously be of nylon or polypropy- lene.

The net may also be made of natural fibres, of tulle, of metal such as steel, copper, metal alloys and other materials.

The disclosure may advantageously serve for making mosquito nets to mount over windows, doors, fanlights.

The decoration can be executed by means of various processes: by using transfer paper for sublimation when, after application of pressure and heat, the pigments pass from the solid to the gaseous state and are transferred onto the net ; by using physically coloured transfer paper when, after application of pressure and heat, the pigments pass straight onto the net.

Pressure is comprised between 0 and 500 atm/cm2 while tem- perature is comprised between 50° and 1000°C.

Pressure can be applied by a calender or by a flat press.

A process using digital transfer printing may be used to make the decoration.

The decoration already prepared on the computer is transferred to the sublimation paper and then to the net.

Alternatively, other well-known processes may also be used such as silk-screening, flexography, simple buffering, rotogravure.

The invention offers evident advantages.

Any net normally used for-some functional purpose can also be made into a decorative furnishing item, renewable at any time in its colours or design in line with altering fashion trends.

The possibility of having different decorations on the two sides is particularly attractive as, for example, a mosquito or some other net,

when seen from outside a building can show a certain image but a different one when seen from inside.

In the field of mosquito netting the disclosure is particularly advanta- geous in view of the demand there is for it in many countries.

The object of practical use, placed to prevent intrusion of animals or insects, becomes an item of decoration thereby adding to the pleasing effect of the environment where it is installed.

The mosquito net acquires a value in itself and may form an integral part of the items of furniture in a room.

Bearing in mind the innumerable uses of nets in general their application can be enormously extended when decorated by the processes described.

Characteristics and purposes of the invention will be made still clearer by the following examples of its execution illustrated by diagrammatically drawn figures.

Fig. 1 A window covered by a square-mesh mosquito net made of fibreglass coated with PVC, seen from inside a building, shows the head of a cat.

Fig. 2 The above window with mosquito net, seen from outside, is decorated with a floral pattern.

Fig. 3 Detail of the mosquito net in figures 1 and 2 showing the two images, one on each surface of the net.

Fig. 4 Detail of a mosquito net decorated on one side only.

Fig. 5 Door with a mosquito net made of fibreglass coated with PVC and decorated with a floral design.

Fig. 6 Detail of a piece of the square-meshed netting.

Fig. 7 Detail of a piece of triangular-meshed netting.

Fig. 8 Detail of a piece of rhomboid-meshed netting.

Fig. 9 Detail of a piece of hexagonal-meshed netting.

Fig. 10 Detail of a piece of rectangular-meshed netting.

The window 10 with glass panes 11 seen from inside a building, is fitted with a mosquito net 13, consisting of a fibreglass net 14 coated with a layer of PVC, and decorated on one side 15 with a picture 16 of the head of a cat.

This decoration has been made by sublimation transfer on paper.

The pigments are transferred to the net passing from the solid to the gaseous state by application of heat and pressure generated by a calender.

In Figure 2 the same window 10 with shutters 12 is seen from the outside of the building, the other side 17 of the net 14 being decor- ated with a floral pattern 18.

Figure 3 shows a detail of the net 14 from the side 17 with another floral pattern 19, and with one corner 20 folded back to show the face 15 of the cat's head 16 on the other side.

This decoration, having obviously been applied to the threads forming the net 14, clearly shows how one picture or the other can be seen looking at the same net either from side 15 or from side 17.

Figure 4 represents a detail of a piece of net 25 substantially the same as the net 14 in figure 3, except that it has been decorated on one side 26 only, the other side 27 having been left plain.

Figure 5 represents a mosquito net 30 mounted on a door 31, a floral pattern 32 having been printed on one side of the net by a digital transfer process.

The decoration was previously prepared on a computer and transferred to the net using sublimation paper.

Figure 6 represents a detail of the net 14 used for the mosquito net 13 in Figures 1 and 2.

This net 14, with a square mesh 35, is made of fibreglass coated with a layer of PVC.

Figure 7 represents a detail of a net 40 consisting of a triangular mesh 41.

Figure 8 shows a detail of a net 45 formed of a rhomboid mesh 46.

Figure 9 shows a detail of a net 50 formed of a hexagonal mesh 51 while figure 10 gives a detail of a net 55 made of a rectangular horizontal mesh 56.

Like those shown in figures 1-5, these decorations can be printed on nets 40,45,50,55 as well as on an innumerable number of other types.

The processes for applying the decorations may be chosen according to the materials used for making the nets.