Fountain with an oil lamp

Abstract

A fountain has a base, a body and an oil lamp. The base has a cavity receiving water. The body is mounted in the cavity and has a lamp seat a pump and a pipe. The pipe is connected to the pump and is mounted through the lamp seat. The oil lamp is mounted in the lamp seat and has a jar, a cap and a wick. The jar an oil chamber, an inner thread and a cap retainer mounted slidably on the jar. The cap is mounted detachably to the jar and has an outer thread and multiple slots corresponding to the cap retainer. The wick is mounted through the cap in the oil chamber. The oil lamp provides flickering flame effect to improve the visual presentation of the gushing water of the base and make the fountain look vivid at night or in the dark.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a fountain, and more particularly to a fountain that has a durable oil lamp operating without electricity and providing flickering firelight effect.

2. Description of Related Art

Fountains are usually set in courtyards or gardens for embellishment.

A conventional fountain has a base, a body, a pipe and a pump. The base has a cavity defined in the base and receives water. The body, which is hollow and mounted in the cavity, has a top. The pipe is mounted through the hollow base with one open end connected to the pump under water in the cavity and another open end protruding out of the top of the base. When the fountain operates, the water in the cavity is pumped through the pipe and gushes out of the top of the body to provide dynamic visual effect.

To work the fountain at night or in the dark, electric lamps such as halogen lamps or light emitting diode lamps are mounted to the fountain to light up the spring water.

However, the electric lamps include electric components such as circuit boards, switches and wires that easily break and need to be replaced frequently.

Some fountains capable of working in the dark use exclusive candles to light up the spring water. However, these fountains cannot operate with other kinds of candles.

To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides a fountain with an oil lamp to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The main objective of the invention is to provide a fountain that has a durable oil lamp operating without electricity and providing flickering firelight effect.

A fountain in accordance with the present invention comprises a base, a body and an oil lamp.

The base has a cavity receiving water.

The body is mounted in the cavity and has a lamp seat a pump and a pipe. The pipe is connected to the pump and is mounted through the lamp seat.

The oil lamp is mounted in the lamp seat and has a jar, a cap and a wick. The jar an oil chamber, an inner thread and a cap retainer mounted slidably on the jar. The cap is mounted detachably to the jar and has an outer thread and multiple slots corresponding to the cap retainer. The wick is mounted through the cap in the oil chamber.

Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a fountain with an oil lamp in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the fountain in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side view in partial section of the fountain in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of the oil lamp of the fountain in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the oil lamp of the fountain in FIG. 4; and

FIG. 6 is a cross sectional side view of the oil lamp of the fountain in FIG. 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, a fountain in accordance with the present invention comprises a base (10), a body (20) and an oil lamp (30).

The base (10) has a cavity (11) defined in the base (10) and receiving water.

The body (20) is mounted in the cavity (11) and has a top, a top recess (21), a lamp seat (23), a pump (24) and a pipe (25). The top recess (21) is defined in the top. The lamp seat (23) is mounted in the top recess (21) and has a top, a lamp chamber (231) and multiple passages (232). The lamp chamber (231) is defined in the top of the lamp seat (23). The passages (232) are defined through the lamp seat (232) and communicate with the lamp chamber (231) and top recess (21) in the body (20). The pump (24) is connected to the cavity (11) in the base (10). The pipe (25) is connected to the pump (24) and extends through the top of the base (20) into the top recess (21). When the pump (24) operates, the water in the cavity (11) is pumped through the pipe (25) into the top recess (21) and the lamp chamber (231) and then gushes out of the top of the base (20).

With reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, the oil lamp (30) is mounted detachably in the lamp seat (23) of the body (20) and has ajar (31), a cap (33), a wick (37) and a lampshade (35).

With further reference to FIG. 5, the jar (31) is made of metal, is mounted detachably in the lamp chamber (231) in the lamp seat (23), receives oil and is cooled down by the water flowing through the lamp chamber (231). The jar (31) has an open top, an inner surface, an outer surface, an oil chamber (310), an inner thread (311), a mount (313) and a cap retainer (315). The oil chamber (310) is defined in the jar (31). The inner thread (311) is formed on the inner surface in the oil chamber (310). The mount (313) extends out from the outer surface and has a mounting hole defined through the mount (313). The cap retainer (315) is L-shaped, is mounted slidably through the mounting hole in the mount (313) and has two ends, a fastener (317) and a spring (319). The fastener (317) is a C-shaped clasp mounted to the cap retainer (315). The spring (319) is mounted around the cap retainer (317) between the mount (313) and the fastener (317) and moves the cap retainer (315) up when no external force is further applied to the cap retainer (315).

With further reference to FIG. 6, the cap (33) is made of metal, is mounted detachably to open top of the jar (31), covers the oil chamber (310) and has a top, a bottom, a tube (330), an outer thread (331), a wick hole (333) and multiple slots (335). The tube (330) extends out of the bottom, is mounted detachably in the oil chamber (310) and has an outer surface. The outer thread (331) is formed on the outer surface of the tube (330) and detachably engages the inner thread in the jar (31). The wick hole (333) is defined through the cap (33). The slots (335) are defined in the bottom of the cap (35) around the tube (330) and allow one end of the cap retainer (313) to detachably engages in one of the slots (335) to prevent the cap (35) from rotating arbitrarily. Pulling down the cap retainer (315) against the spring (319) disengages the cap retainer (315) from the slot (335) in the cap (35) and allows the cap (35) to be rotated and detached from the jar (31) for oil replenishment.

The wick (37) is made of fiber such as cotton, is mounted through wick hole (333) in the cap (33) in the oil chamber (310) in the jar (31), absorbs the oil in the oil chamber (310) in the jar (31) and has a top end protruding out of the cap (33) and able to be lighted up. The lighting wick (37) provides flickering firelight effect to the gushing water. The gushing water with the flickering firelight looks vivid at night or in the dark.

The lampshade (35) is transparent, is made of glass and is mounted to the top of the cap (31) around top end of the wick (37) and prevents the flame on the wick (37) from snuffing out due to wind.

The oil lamp (30) provides flickering flame effect to improve the visual presentation of the gushing water from the top of the base (20) and make the fountain look vivid at night or in the dark. Furthermore, the oil lamp (30) operates without any electric components and is more durable than electric lamps such as halogen lamps or light emitting diode lamps. Moreover, refilling the oil lamp (30) is easy and quick without depending on the size of the jar (31).

Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only. Changes may be made in the details, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.

Claims

1. A fountain comprising: a base having a cavity defined in the base and adapted for receiving water; a body mounted in the cavity and having a top, a top recess defined in the top, a lamp seat mounted in the top recess and having a lamp chamber defined in the lamp seat, a pump connected to the cavity in the base and a pipe connected to the pump and extending through the top of the base into the top recess; and an oil lamp mounted detachably in the lamp seat of the body and having a jar mounted detachably in the lamp chamber in the lamp seat and having an open top, an oil chamber defined in the jar, an inner thread formed in the oil chamber, a mount extending out from the jar and having a mounting hole defined through the mount and a cap retainer mounted slidably through the mounting hole in the mount and having two ends, a fastener mounted to the cap retainer and a spring mounted around the cap retainer and moving the cap retainer up relative to the mount; a cap mounted detachably to open top of the jar, covering the oil chamber and having a top, a bottom, a wick hole defined through the cap, a tube extending out from the bottom of the cap and an outer thread formed on the tube and detachably engaging the inner thread and multiple slots defined in the bottom, wherein one end of the cap retainer detachably engages one of the slots; and a wick mounted through the wick hole in the cap in the oil chamber in the jar.

2. The fountain as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a lampshade being transparent and mounted to the top of the cap around the wick.

3. The fountain as claimed in claim 2, wherein: the lamp seat further has multiple passages defined through the lamp seat and communicating with the lamp chamber and the top recess in the body; and the jar and the cap are made of metal.