Patent Application
20130148366
The invention relates to mounting clips for attaching decorative lights to various structures and for holding other objects that contain a generally cylindrical body or body portion.
The use of lights for decorating the exterior of a house is well known. Decorative lights typically consist of a large number of light sockets being wired together with light bulbs positioned in the light sockets. The “string” of lights is then attached to the face of a building. The “string” of lights can be mounted by retaining either the light socket or the wire. In recent years rope lights and icicle lights have become popular. Rope lights consist of a string of miniature lights inside a transparent or translucent tube. Icicle lights have a series of short strands of light that when hung extend downward form a horizontal cord.
Oftentimes, staples or hooks having a threaded shank are used to connect these ornamental objects to a house. These fasteners, however, are often not reusable by the consumer. Moreover, they can be difficult to dismount from the ornamental objects and the house. For example, staples used to fasten ornamental lights to a house must be pulled off and then thrown away by a user. Pulling the staples out of the house is extremely time consuming due to the small size of the staples and the difficulty in moving a lever between the house and a staple to pull each staple out of the house without damaging the attached ornament. Hooks with threaded ends leave a hole in structure after they are removed. Metal hooks may rust.
Over the years a variety of removable plastic clips or holders have been developed for attaching decorative lights to gutters, shingles and siding. The object of these clips and holders is to display the lights so that they can easily be seen. They must not be adversely affected by cold temperatures and should be able to hold the lights during high winds which commonly accompany winter storms. These clips rely on a user to apply manual force to lock the clip onto an existing profile on the house, such as shingles, gutters, or shutters. As a result, these clips are typically only able to connect to a limited number of structures on a house that may resemble the existing profile relied upon by the clip. Moreover, such clips are often difficult to remove from the house. In fact, when a user does manage to remove such clips, a user may damage the structure to which the clip is attached.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,609,415 to Protz, Jr. discloses a two piece light clip for attachment to shingles or gutters that permit lights to be angularly oriented with respect to the roof line. The two part clip comprises an attaching body that attaches to a gutter or shingle and another body that attaches the light to the attaching body. Protz teaches that the attaching body of his clip should have no less than three different contact areas between a gutter and the clip. The clip disclosed by Protz, however, does not solve the problems associated with removing the clip. For instance, Protz's clip requires the removal of two separate bodies. Moreover, the attaching body, similar to the clips discussed above, lock onto existing profiles of the shingles or gutters. Consequently, different attaching bodies are needed for different gutter or shingle designs. Further, these clips are difficult to remove without damaging the shingle or gutter part to which the clip is attached.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,772,166 discloses a mounting clip which has a mounting for attachment to a shingle or siding and a light holder portion which holds the socket of a decorative light. Various configurations of light holders are disclosed, ranging from U-shapes, to C-shapes which define a circular opening smaller than the socket of a decorative light. Yet none of the various configurations is suitable for mounting all types of decorative lights to shingles or gutters so that the lights are readily visible.
Several plastic light holders known in the art are configured such that the light holder will fit under a shingle and when rotated ninety degrees will fit onto a gutter. Yet, many of these clips hold the bulb in the same orientation relative to the clip such that the light bulb will be vertical to the roof edge when the clip is attached to a shingle and the bulb will be horizontal when the light clip is attached to a gutter. It is preferred that the light bulb always be in the vertical position (i.e. vertical to the ground) on a gutter. In addition to not hanging bulbs on gutters with optimal positioning and placement, some of these clips hang rope lights in a position where they are hardly visible when hung on gutters. There are other weaknesses of these types of clips including their bulky size, the insecurity of the grip on cords, the inability to hold some sizes of bulb well, the insecurity of grip of the clip onto shingle and gutters, and the difficulty involved with hanging some types of cords or bulbs.
Consequently, there remains a need to provide a reusable clip or holder for decorative lights that is capable of attaching decorative light strings which have any size light bulb, as well as rope lights and icicle lights onto shingles or gutters of a house that is easy for a user to attach to and remove from the house. The clip should be capable of always holding the light bulb in a vertical orientation on gutters, and of holding all other lights (regardless of if they are held by cord or bulb) in optimal positions to create nicer looking light displays. The clip should be easy to use and it should hold securely. Also, it should be more sustainable by eliminating wasted plastic and inefficient logistics.
We provide a clip for holding decorative lights which has a clamp portion, a light holding portion and a bridge. The bridge connects the clamp portion to the light holding portion such that the clamp portion, the light holding portion and the bridge lie in a common plane and are formed as a unitary plastic body. The clamp portion has a leg tapered at one end and a second end which is connected to a bridge portion that holds the bridge. The bridge portion is also connected to a clamping arm forming a corner which has an opening. A hook is provided on the end of the arm which defines a space of sufficient size to receive a cord for any type of lights except rope lights. The arm and the hook are sized and configured so that the hook will be adjacent the leg and the hook and leg together define a space between them in which a roofing shingle can be inserted such that the leg and the hook will engage opposite surfaces of the roofing shingle. The light holding portion has a U-shaped body, a projection extending from the U-shaped body and a stake attached to the projection. The stake is sized and configured to fit into and be retained in the opening in the corner of the clamp portion.
As molded, the light holding portion can be used to hold rope lights on gutters, or it can be used to hold any type of light cord, including rope lights, on shingles. Alternatively, the light holding portion can be broken away from the clamp portion. Then it can be connected with the clamp portion by placing the stake of the light holding portion into the opening in the clamp portion. We prefer to provide a pair of teeth that extend into the opening in the corner of the clamp portion. The light holding portion has a nub on the projection such that when the stake of the light holding portion is in the opening the nub may engage a selected one of the teeth to hold the light holding portion in one of two selected positions relative to the clamp portion.
Other objects and advantages of our clip for holding decorative lights can be appreciated from the present preferred embodiments thereof shown in the drawings.
A present preferred embodiment of our clip for holding decorative lights 1 shown in
To provide sufficient strength to keep the holding portion attached to the clamp portion during use and yet allow them to be separated, we prefer to make the bridge wider at the center than at the ends. We prefer that either end of the bridge be about 0.017″ wide for 0.050″ along the length of the bridge. The center portion preferably is about 0.25″ long and about 0.024″ wide. A smooth transition can be provided between the different widths. Because the product is made of plastic some shrinkage will occur as the part comes out of the mold and cools. Therefore, these widths are approximate.
The light holding portion 2 has a generally U-shaped body 6 comprised of a first arm 7 and a second arm 8 each having a pair of concave arcs or recesses which define openings 11 and 12. The opening 11 and 12 are of a different size allowing arms 7 and 8 to grip different size lights. The larger opening 11 can hold a C-7 or C-9 size light 10 as shown in
The clamp portion 4 has a leg 20, one end 21 of which is tapered. The opposite end of the leg is connected to a bridge portion 23 that holds bridge 3. The bridge portion is substantially perpendicular to the leg 20. The opposite end of the bridge portion is attached to one end of a clamping arm 24 at a corner 18. A portion of the clamping arm adjacent the bridge portion is substantially perpendicular to the bridge portion. The opposite end of the clamping arm is curved to create a hook 25 having an opening 26 which is sized to receive the cord portion of a string of decorative lights or icicle lights. We also prefer to provide a tooth 27 on the tip of the curved end that extends into opening 26. The tooth is tapered to facilitate insertion of the cord into opening 26. This tooth helps to secure cords in opening 26. A projection 28 is provided on the curved end 25 such that the projection 28 is opposite the leg 20. We prefer that the leg be curved opposite the projection to create a concave area or recess 19 on one side of the leg and a convex area or bump 38 on the opposite side of the leg. The projection 28 enables the clamping arm 24 and the leg 20 to securely hold a shingle or shingles between them. The bump 38 increases the friction of the leg and the drip edge (or possibly the leg and another shingle if the user places the leg between two shingles instead of between the bottom shingle and the drip edge) when the clip is attached to a shingle as shown in
When the clip 1 is configured as shown in
Many homeowners prefer to mount their lights so that the bulb is oriented vertically relative to the ground on gutters, which the current clip is capable of doing. The clip preferably is sold in an as molded condition as shown in
In the second orientation shown in
In addition to being able to hold lights on gutters in a vertical orientation, the present light clip has another significant advantage. The light clip is packaged in the as molded condition shown in
Another significant advantage of the present light clip is that the product can be made in single cavity mold using less plastic than many clips in the prior art.
Yet other significant advantages of the clips are their ease of use, their ability to hold all types of lights more optimally on shingles and gutters for nicer displays than can be achieved with other clips on the market, their security of grip on cords, bulbs, shingles, and gutters so that users can decorate once and have their decorations stay precisely in place throughout the decorating season.
While we have shown and described certain present preferred embodiments of our clip for holding decorative lights it will be distinctly understood that the invention not limited thereto but may be variously embodied within the scope of the following claims.
