Patent Application
20120085342
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a fire pit and more particularly to a collapsible fire pit which may be moved between an extended cylindrical position to a collapsed position for storage or shipment.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many types of fire pits have been previously provided to enable homeowners or the like to have an outdoor fireplace on the homeowner's patio or the like. To the best of Applicant's knowledge, none of the prior art fire pits are collapsible. The fact that the prior art fire pits are not collapsible makes them difficult to ship and store.
This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key aspects or essential aspects of the claimed subject matter. Moreover, this Summary is not intended for use as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the fire pit has upper and lower ends and is capable of being moved between a collapsed position and an extended cylindrical position and vice versa. The fire pit includes a horizontally disposed upper support ring. The fire pit also includes a series of truncated V-shaped connectors having a pair of legs with upper and lower ends and a straight portion extending between the lower ends of the legs. The upper ends of the legs of the truncated V-shaped connectors are pivotally secured to the upper support ring. Each leg of each truncated V-shaped connector is crossed by a leg of the adjacent connector to provide openings therebetween. The fire pit also includes a horizontally disposed lower support ring which is spaced below the upper support ring. The fire pit further includes a series of truncated inverted V-shaped connectors having a pair of legs with upper and lower ends and a straight portion extending between the upper ends of the legs. The straight portions of the truncated V-shaped connectors are pivotally secured to the straight portions of the truncated inverted V-shaped connectors by collars or sleeves whereby the fire pit may be selectively moved between an extended cylindrical position and a collapsed position and vice versa. A retaining ring extends around the center of the fire pit which is selectively detachably secured to at least some of the collars to maintain the fire pit in its extended cylindrical position.
A bottom wall or plate is secured to the lower support ring and extends thereacross which closes the lower end of the fire pit to prevent ashes or the like from passing downwardly therethrough. Collapsible legs are also secured to the lower support ring.
When the fire pit is being shipped or stored, the fire pit, and the legs thereof, may be moved to collapsed position so as to occupy a much smaller space than when in the extended position.
Therefore, it is a principal object of the invention to provide an improved fire pit.
A further object of the invention is to provide a collapsible fire pit.
A further object of the invention is to provide a fire pit which may be selectively moved from an extended cylindrical position to a collapsed position for storage, display or shipping.
These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.
Non-limiting and non-exhaustive embodiments of the present invention are described with reference to the following figures, wherein like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the various views unless otherwise specified.
Embodiments are described more fully below with reference to the accompanying figures, which form a part hereof and show, by way of illustration, specific exemplary embodiments. These embodiments are disclosed in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention. However, embodiments may be implemented in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments set forth herein. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense in that the scope of the present invention is defined only by the appended claims.
In the drawings, the numeral 10 refers to the preferred embodiment of the fire pit of this invention. Fire pit 10 includes an upper support ring 12 and a lower support ring 14. Fire pit 10 will be described as including an upper fire pit portion 16 which includes the support ring 12 and a lower fire pit portion 18 which includes the support ring 14.
The numeral 20 refer to a series of truncated V-shaped connectors including legs 22 and 24 and a straight portion 26 extending between the lower ends of legs 22 and 24. The upper ends of legs 22 and 24 have generally U-shaped eyes 28 and 30 formed therein respectively which are pivotally secured to support ring 12. Preferably, the connectors 20 are spaced apart a distance equal to one-half of the distance between the eyes 28 and 30. As seen, each leg of each connector 20 is crossed by a leg of the adjacent connector 20 to provide openings therebetween which are sized so as to contain logs or the like within the fire pit.
Lower fire pit portion 18 includes the lower support ring 14 having a series of truncated, inverted V-shaped connectors 34 secured thereto which extend upwardly therefrom. Each of the connectors 34 includes legs 36 and 38 and a straight portion 39 extending between the upper ends of the legs 36 and 38. The lower ends of legs 36 and 38 have generally U-shaped eyes 40 and 42 formed therein respectively which are pivotally secured to support ring 14.
Preferably, the connectors 34 are spaced-apart a distance equal to one-half of the distance between the eyes 40 and 42. As seen, each leg of each connector 34 is crossed by a leg of the adjacent connector 34 to provide openings therebetween which are of a size to contain logs or the like therein.
A collar or sleeve 44 pivotally embraces the straight portions 26 and 39 of the connectors 20 and 34. A retaining ring 46 extends around the upper and lower fire pit portions 16 and 18 at the juncture of the fire pit portions 16 and 18 with the retaining ring 46 being detachably secured to some of the collars 44 by clips 48 to maintain the fire pit 10 in its extended cylindrical position by preventing pivotal movement of the fire pit portions 16 and 18 with respect to each other. The lower end of the fire pit 10 is closed by a plate means 50.
If the lower end of fire pit 10 is not positioned on a non-flammable supporting surface, a folding supporting leg structure 50 is preferably collapsibly or foldably secured to lower support ring 14 to elevate the lower end of the fire pit above the supporting surface. The supporting leg structure may take one or more designs. In the preferred embodiment of this invention, an upper leg structure 52 is pivotally attached at its upper end to ring 14 with a lower leg structure 54 pivotally attached at its upper end to the lower end of upper leg structure 52 in the same manner as lower fire pit portion 18 is secured to the upper fire pit portion 16 to selectively maintain the leg structure 50 in its extended cylindrical position of
The fact that the fire pit is collapsible enables it to be more easily stored or shipped.
Thus it can be seen that the invention accomplishes at least all of its stated objectives.
Although the invention has been described in language that is specific to certain structures and methodological steps, it is to be understood that the invention defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific structures and/or steps described. Rather, the specific aspects and steps are described as forms of implementing the claimed invention. Since many embodiments of the invention can be practiced without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, the invention resides in the claims hereinafter appended.
