Patent Application
20080035820
The ceiling-suspended apparatus, hereinafter labeled “rod”, comprises fundamentally a stiff, slender four-foot plastic rod having an internal steel-cable strength member, said rod further having a spring-biased metal hook at its upper end to engage and lock onto a ceiling mounted metal eyehook, and having attached along its length three hand-grip assist elements. A precise description of the rod assembly and its component parts is first a stiff straight length of ½″ cpvc tubing 6 49″ long constituting the smooth casing of the rod assembly. Secondly a ½ od tubular metal capsule 5 3½″ long having both ends crimped closed save for a ¼″ opening at each end is snuggly inserted 3½″ into the first, top, end of the cpvc tubing. A decorative cap 3 comprising a 2½″ long wooden egg 3 having a ¼″ bore 2 drilled from the pointed end along its longitudinal centerline and a ⅝″ bore 4 drilled 1½ deep up into the bottom blunt end is inserted onto the tubing/rod and permanently cemented in place. The rod is secured to the ceiling by inter-locking the crook of the in-line inverted J-hook 1 at its top to a modified eyebolt 23 as might be embedded in a ceiling joist 24. The in-line inverted J-hook, hereinafter “J-hook” comprises a ¼″ steel rod 4 inches long threaded ½ inch at one end and bent a third of the way from the non-threaded end into a ¾ inch diameter U-bend to form the J-hook. Additionally a third of the short end of the U is bent 15 degrees outward. The means for removably locking the J-hook to any eyebolt or chain to which it might be attached comprises the following assembly: first, inserting the long leg of the J-hook 1 through the egg's ¼′ longitudinal bore and on into the top ¼″ opening of the metal capsule, a compression spring 2 inches long and 5/16″ in diameter 7 is slid onto the threaded end of the J-hook rod and a first ¼ coupling nut 8 then secures the spring between the inside surface of the crimped end of metal capsule and the nut. The long leg of the J-hook is secured within the capsule by the nut 8 which has a diameter less that the interior diameter of the metal capsule, enabling the J-hook free to spin and slide back and forth within the metal capsule with or against the bias of the compression spring. When the rod is being attached to a ceiling mounted eyebolt, the tip of the inverted J-hook with its 15 degree bend engages the eyebolt and enables one to pull the normally-closed slidable J-hook out to an open position against the bias of the compression spring. The slidable J-hook is pushed back to its original position by the compression spring when the eyebolt is fully engaged, thus locking the eyebolt within the now closed crook of the J-hook formed when the short end of the J-hook impinges on the top surface 9 of the decorative egg. Additionally inside the cavity of the metal capsule, the first end of an internal length-long safety cable, an ⅛″ steel cable 10 45½″ long is permanently silver-soldered 11 into the thread bore of a second coupling nut 12, the cable itself is fed through the ¼ opening in the crimped second end of the metal capsule 13 and down through the length of the cpvc tube 6. A third coupling nut 14 is permanently silver-soldered to the bottom end of the steel cable but such that approximately ½ inches of internal threads are left available to receive a ¼″ bolt 15. Said ¼″ bolt with ⅝ inch washer 16 is inserted into the coupling nut from the bottom of the rod, and pulled up tight thus structurally locking the rod via cable tension to the metal capsule and J-hook assembly above. A wrist sling of soft material 22, optionally positional along the length of the rod is slidably attached to the rod by inserting the rod through a ¾″ hole centered ⅝″ from the end of a 2″ long flat metal tab 23 ⅛″ thick and 1 ½″ wide, the second end of the 2″ tab being riveted to the end of the wrist sling 22, a fleece lined fabric strap loop, the fabric being 1½″ wide and the diameter of the loop 6 inches. The wrist loop sling is installed above other hand grip assists such that it may be slid up to the top of the pole close to the decorative egg to be out of the way of the normally used other hand-grip assist devices unless specifically needed. The first of these other devices is that the rod has 4 pre-determined stop points for optionally positioning a sliding ball-type hand-grip assist element comprising 4 sets of opposing transverse holes 17 at 2″ interval starting 7″ from the bottom. The slidable ball-type hand-grip assist element comprises a 2½″ soft rubber ball 18 having a ⅝″ hole through its center with opposing ¼″ side recesses 19 ½″ deep paralleling the hole inserted onto the bottom of the tube and slid up past the 7-inch set of holes. A steel pin 20, each end protruding ¼″ outside the tube, is inserted through the 7-inch set of holes. The sliding rubber ball is now slid down onto the protruding ends of the pin to be held at that level, the pin ends being captured and hidden by the ¼″ recesses provided. The sliding ball may be slid up to any of the higher set of holes and the anchor pin re-positioned as desired by the user. The steel cable 10 running down the interior of the tube flexes sufficiently to accommodate the transverse steel pin. A fixed ball-type hand-grip assist element comprising the bottom end of the rod inserted and permanently cemented into the center hole of a second ball 21, identical to the sliding first ball except the center hole is not all the way through but only 1½″ deep. The remaining element of the ensemble, the ceiling hook 23, a modified off-the-shelf #2 C ¼″ eye lag bolt 3 ¾″ long with ½″ closed eye, is provided as a component part of the ensemble but must be installed in a ceiling joist 24 by the user. The closed eye is modified slightly but significantly by being wedged open ⅛″ so as to accommodate slipping on a one or two foot length of #1 double loop chain, not shown, for 9 and 10 foot ceilings. While the above detailed description of the invention contains many specificities, these should not be construed as limitation on the scope of the invention, but rather as an exemplification of one preferred embodiment thereof. Many other variations of virtually every concept or component defined above are possible, accordingly the scope of the invention should be determined not by the embodiment illustrated but by the appended claims and their legal equivalents.
