Patent Application
20080073245
The advantages of the instant disclosure will become more apparent when read with the specification and the drawings, wherein:
Certain decorative lights used to decorate homes, public buildings, commercial buildings and Christmas trees during the Christmas season employ multiple strands of lights. Typically these lights are comprised of both a transverse main strand as well as multiple vertical hanging strands of electric lights so as to provide an aesthetic glimering icicle effect.
During the off season or the time when not in use, these lights must be stored. As result of their configuration, storage of said lights becomes difficult and the lights become tangled. Storage of said lights is often fraught with broken bulbs, broken sockets, torn strands and tangled strands, which makes it time consuming and costly to reuse.
The present invention alleviates the above problems by offering an apparatus which provides a simple and aesthetic means for storing these lights.
In the following figures and throughout this specification, like parts are given like numbers.
Transverse strand 110 also includes junctions 117 where vertical strands 120 of varying lengths hang downward. Vertical strands 120 include a number of lights 121. As stated above, this odd geometry makes storage a problem.
Panel 1110 includes an upper row 1130 of protrusions 1131 extending from the top portion 1111 of panel 1110.
Panel 1110 also includes a lower row 1140 of protrusions 1141. The region between the upper row 1130 and lower row 1140 creates a transverse track 1190.
The transverse strand 110 of the light set 100 is wrapped around transverse track 1190. Here, and throughout the figures, all parts of light set 100 are shown in thick dashed lines.
By the nature of the geometry, the vertical strands 120 with lights 121 hang downward between holes 1121, referred to as a vertical track 1160.
A plurality of securing devices 1120 are positioned adjacent to the vertical tracks 1160 and attach the vertical strands 120 to panel 1110. The securing devices 1120 may be any commonly known attachment means. In the embodiment shown, securing device 120 employs holes 1121 and bands 1123. Bands 123 can be a tie wrap, commonly known as a zip tie, which passes through the holes 1121 and over the vertical strands 120 to secure the vertical strands 120 to panel 1110. Securing devices 1120 may also be wire, wire wraps, snaps, hooks, clips, hook-and-loop attachment means, rubber straps, rubber bands or any currently known attachment devices.
Vertical strands 120 to hang and lay between holes 1121 of the securing devices 1120. Bands 1123 pass through holes 1121 and around the vertical strands 120 securing them to panel 1110.
However, securing devices 1120 are now a plurality of vertical row protrusions 1125 connected to panel 1110 to define the vertical tracks 1160. These vertical protrusions 1125 act to hold, and prevent tangling of vertical strands 120.
Therefore, vertical impressions 1260 may be employed shown by the dotted lines. These vertical impressions 1260 allow for the vertical strands 120 to lie within the impression, effectively acting as a reservoir for the many strands that congregate while the transverse strand 110 is being wrapped around the panel 1110 in the transverse track 1190. Therefore, panel 1110 is created with vertical impressions 1260 which are wider and deeper near the top portion 1111 as compared with the bottom portion 1115. The greater depth is needed to handle greater strand density near the top due to the varying lengths of the vertical strands 120.
Protrusions 1125 are shown in this cross section. Vertical impressions 1260 are shown extending from both sides of panel 1110. This allows for more compact storage of the decorative lights.
These vertical impressions 1260 may diminish as they move toward the lower portion 1115 and flatten into a flat surface as show in phantom in this figure.
Any of the above embodiments may be employed with other types of protrusions for rows 1130 and 1140 instead of the ‘peg-like’ protrusions shown.
The invention also may be embodied with a single row of protrusions, either being rows 1130 or 1140 instead of two rows.
Above the top formed guide 1300 is a transverse track 1190 for wrapping the transverse strands 110.
The intermediate slots are spaced to receive the vertical strands 120. The formed guides 1300 may be formed and positioned such that the slots 1350 line up vertically so that they form a vertical track 1160 for vertical strands 120.
These may also be formed to have wider slots 1350 near the top with progressively smaller slots toward the bottom to hold the vertical strands which vary in length.
Optionally, the rails may be replaced by other attachment means allowing the panels 1110 to slide into, or be taken out of enclosure 1400.
While several presently preferred embodiments of the present novel invention have been described in detail herein, many modifications and variations will now become apparent to those skilled in the art. It is our intent therefore, to be limited only by the scope of the appending claims and not by the specific details presented by way of illustration.
The present Application is a Continuation-In-Part of U.S. Provisional Patent Application 60/847,346 filed Sep. 26, 2007 (the “Parent Application”) by the same inventor, Joseph Andrews. The Parent Application is hereby incorporated by reference as if set forth in its entirety herein.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60847346 | Sep 2006 | US |
