Foldable decorative light assembly

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6419373
  • Patent Number
    6,419,373
  • Date Filed
    Monday, April 23, 2001
    23 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, July 16, 2002
    22 years ago
  • Inventors
  • Examiners
    • Husar; Stephen
    • Lee; Guiyoung
    Agents
    • Rosenberg, Klein & Lee
Abstract
A foldable decorative light assembly includes a central post, an umbrella-shaped foldable supporting frame mounted on the central post, a meshed covering covered on the umbrella-shaped foldable supporting frame. A light string including a plurality of light units is arranged on the meshed covering for decoration. The foldable supporting frame includes a runner moved along the central post, a plurality of resilient ribs respectively pivotally connected to the central post, and a plurality of stretchers respectively coupled between the runner and the resilient ribs. Two umbrella-shaped foldable supporting frames can be correspondingly coupled to form a globular foldable supporting frame.
Description




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




1. Field of the Invention




The present invention relates to a decorative light assembly and, more particularly to a foldable decorative light assembly.




2. Description of the Prior Art




During Christmas holidays or particular festival holidays, people usually decorate the houses with Christmas trees and a variety of decorative light strings. These Christmas trees occupy much storage space when not in use because they are not possible to be folded. When removing decorative light strings from Christmas trees, decorative light strings may be tangled with one another. Further, when preparing a party or the like, people tend to decorate the place with decorative light assemblies, for example, stage lights. However, these conventional decorative light assemblies are not attractive to people.




Thus, it is desired to have an improved decorative light tree that can be easily assembled and stored for overcoming the problems discussed above.




SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




Accordingly, a primary object of the present invention is to provide a foldable decorative light assembly.




Another object of the present invention is to provide a foldable supporting frame for a decorative light assembly.




One more object of the present invention is to provide a foldable decorative light assembly including a light string arranged on the light assembly.




To achieve the above objects, in accordance with the present invention, there is provided a foldable decorative light assembly including a central post, an umbrella-shaped foldable supporting frame mounted on the central post, a meshed covering covered on the umbrella-shaped foldable supporting frame. A light string including a plurality of light units is arranged on the meshed covering for decoration. The foldable supporting frame includes a runner moved along the central post, a plurality of resilient ribs respectively pivotally connected to the central post, and a plurality of stretchers respectively coupled between the runner and the resilient ribs.




Alternatively, two corresponding umbrella-shaped foldable supporting frames may be coupled to form a globular decorative light assembly. Each of the umbrella-shaped foldable supporting frame is composed of a runner moved along said central post, a plurality of resilient ribs, and a plurality of stretchers.











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS




The present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art by reading the following description of preferred embodiments thereof, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:





FIG. 1

illustrates an umbrella-shaped foldable supporting frame of the decorative light assembly according to a first embodiment of the present invention;





FIG. 2

shows that a meshed covering and a light string are arranged on the foldable supporting frame of the first embodiment of the present invention, and a tapered rod member is further mounted on a bottom end of a central post of the decorative light assembly;





FIG. 3

shows that a meshed covering and a light string are arranged on the foldable supporting frame of the first embodiment of the present invention, and a stand is further mounted on a bottom end of a central post of the decorative light assembly;





FIG. 4

shows the decorative light assembly of the first embodiment of the present invention is folded;





FIG. 5

is an exploded view showing the decorative light assembly is composed of two umbrella-shaped foldable supporting frame in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention;





FIG. 6

is perspective view showing two umbrella-shaped foldable supporting frames are correspondingly coupled to form a globular decorative light assembly in accordance with the second embodiment of the present invention; and





FIG. 7

shows that a meshed covering and a light string are arranged on the foldable supporting frame of the second embodiment of the present invention.











DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS




Referring to

FIG. 1

, it illustrates an umbrella-shaped foldable supporting frame of the decorative light assembly according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The umbrella-shaped foldable decorative light assembly


1


of the present invention comprises a rigid central post


10


having a top end and a bottom end. An anchoring member, for example a tapered rod member


11


, may be mounted to the bottom end of the central post


10


for fastening into earth. An umbrella-shaped foldable supporting frame


12


may either in an extended status as shown in

FIG. 2

or in a folded status as shown in FIG.


4


. The umbrella-shaped foldable supporting frame


12


may be mounted on the top end of the central post


10


.




In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the umbrella-shaped foldable supporting frame


12


comprises a runner


123


moved along the central post


10


, a plurality of resilient ribs


121


, and a plurality of stretchers


122


. Each of the resilient ribs


121


has a top end pivotally connected to the top end of the central post


10


. Each of the stretchers


122


has one end pivotally connected to the runner


123


and an opposite end pivotally connected to a middle part of one resilient rib


121


.




When moving the runner


123


upwardly along the central post


10


toward the topside, the stretchers


122


are moved with the runner


123


to extend out the resilient ribs


121


, and therefore the foldable supporting frame


12


is extended.





FIG. 2

shows that a meshed covering


13


is covered on the foldable supporting frame


12


. The covering


13


may be made of polyvinyl chloride fabrics or metal wires. A plurality of light units


14


may be arranged on the covering


13


, connected by electric wires


15


to form a light string.




A tapered rod member


11


may be further mounted on the bottom end of the central post


10


of the decorative light assembly


1


. After installation of the tapered rod member


11


, the foldable decorative light assembly I can be fastened to ground with the tapered rod member


11


.




Referring to

FIG. 3

, a stand


16


may be used and mounted to the bottom end of the central post


10


instead of the aforesaid tapered rod member


11


. The stand


16


can be used to support the foldable decorative light assembly


1


on floor.




When moving the runner


123


downwardly toward the bottom side, the stretchers


122


are lowered with the runner


123


to pull the resilient ribs


121


toward the central post


10


, and therefore the foldable supporting frame


12


may be folded, as shown in FIG.


4


.




With reference to

FIGS. 5 through 7

, a globular foldable decorative light assembly


2


according to a second embodiment of the present invention is shown. According to this embodiment, the foldable decorative light assembly


2


has a globular shape when extended.




As illustrated, the globular foldable decorative light assembly


2


is composed of two corresponding umbrella-shaped foldable light assemblies. Same to the umbrella-shaped foldable light assembly of the previous embodiment, the first umbrella-shaped foldable light assembly of the second embodiment comprises a first central post


10


having a top end and a bottom end. A first umbrella-shaped foldable supporting frame


12


may be mounted on the top end of the first central post


10


. The first umbrella-shaped foldable supporting frame


12


comprises a first runner


123


moved along the first central post


10


, a plurality of first resilient ribs


121


, and a plurality of first stretchers


122


. Each of the resilient ribs


121


has a top end pivotally connected to the top end of the first central post


10


. Each of the stretchers


122


has one end pivotally connected to the first runner


123


and an opposite end pivotally connected to a middle part of one resilient rib


121


.




The second umbrella-shaped foldable light assembly of the second embodiment comprises a second central post


20


having a top end and a bottom end. A second umbrella-shaped foldable supporting frame


22


may be mounted on the top end of the second central post


20


. The second umbrella-shaped foldable supporting frame


22


comprises a second runner


223


moved along the second central post


20


, a plurality of second resilient ribs


221


, and a plurality of second stretchers


222


. Each of the resilient ribs


221


has a top end pivotally connected to the top end of the second central post


20


. Each of the stretchers


222


has one end pivotally connected to the second runner


223


and an opposite end pivotally connected to a middle part of one resilient rib


221


.




A connection rod


211


may be detachably connected between the first central post


10


and the second central post


20


for correspondingly coupling the first umbrella-shaped foldable supporting frame


12


and the second umbrella-shaped foldable supporting frame


22


together to form a globular decorative light assembly. Further, a tapered rod member


21


may be connected to the bottom end of the second central post


20


for fastening the decorative light assembly to ground.




A meshed covering


23


is covered both on the first umbrella-shaped foldable supporting frame


12


and the second umbrella-shaped foldable supporting frame


22


. A plurality of light units


24


may be arranged on the covering


23


, connected by electric wires


25


to form a light string.




When not in use, the first central post


10


and the second central post


20


may be disconnected from the connection rod


211


, and then the first foldable supporting frame


12


and the second foldable supporting frame


22


may be respectively collapsed.




Although particular embodiments of the invention have been described in detail for purposes of illustration, various modifications and enhancements may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not to be limited except as by the appended claims.



Claims
  • 1. A foldable decorative light assembly comprising:a central post having a top end and a bottom end; at least one umbrella-shaped foldable supporting frame mounted on said top end of the central post; a collapsible meshed covering externally enshrouding said umbrella-shaped foldable supporting frame, said meshed covering in an expanded configuration describing a substantially dome-shaped contour; and a light string secured to said meshed covering, said light string including a plurality of light units disposed therealong for distributed arrangement on said meshed covering.
  • 2. The foldable decorative light assembly of claim 1, further comprising a rod member connected to the bottom end of said central post, the rod member having a tapered bottom end.
  • 3. The foldable decorative light assembly of claim 1, further comprising a stand mounted on the bottom end of the central post.
  • 4. The foldable decorative light assembly of claim 1, wherein said umbrella-shaped foldable supporting frame comprises a runner moved along said central post, a plurality of resilient ribs, said resilient ribs each having a top end pivotally connected to the top end of said central post, and a plurality of stretchers coupled between said runner and said resilient ribs, said stretchers each having one end pivotally connected to said runner and an opposite end pivotally connected to a middle part of one resilient rib.
  • 5. A foldable decorative light assembly comprising:a central post portion having a top end and a bottom end; a globular foldable supporting frame supported between the top end and the bottom end of the central post portion; a collapsible meshed covering externally enshrouding said globular foldable supporting frame, said meshed covering in an expanded configuration describing a substantially spherical outer contour; and a light string secured to said meshed covering, said light string including a plurality of light units disposed therealong for distributed arrangement on said meshed covering.
  • 6. The foldable decorative light assembly of claim 5, further comprising a rod member connected to the bottom end of said central post, the rod member having a tapered bottom end.
  • 7. The foldable decorative light assembly of claim 5, further comprising a stand mounted on the bottom end of the central post.
  • 8. The foldable decorative light assembly of claim 5, wherein said globular foldable supporting frame comprises two corresponding umbrella-shaped foldable supporting frames, each of the umbrella-shaped foldable supporting frame comprising a runner moved along said central post, a plurality of resilient ribs, said resilient ribs each having a top end pivotally connected to the top end of said central post, and a plurality of stretchers coupled between said runner and said resilient ribs, said stretchers each having one end pivotally connected to said runner and an opposite end pivotally connected to a middle part of one resilient rib.
US Referenced Citations (4)
Number Name Date Kind
3851164 Intrator Nov 1974 A
5876111 Wu Mar 1999 A
5890506 Kupferman Apr 1999 A
5954417 Mai Sep 1999 A