Patent Application
20060099375
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multi-facet decoration, and in particular to a decoration ball that is assembled from multiple polygonal grates with interlock mechanism, in which polygonal grates with catch pins and slot pins are linked with other corresponding polygonal grates together forming a hollow spherical structure.
2. The Related Art
Conventional ball-shaped decorations are popular for parties to enhance the festive atmosphere. Multi-facet decorations are also favored by discriminating designers, who often use them to decorate modern homes and offices.
Though these ball decorations are eye appeasing, few people pay attention to the interior material or the internal structure. Many different kinds of ball-shaped decorations are made available to the consumers, but most of them have hollow interior for the purpose of reducing the material cost and the body weight, in spite of that their bulky size creates a problem for the conventional packaging, as large boxes are needed to hold the spherical body, which directly affects their transportation and storage costs.
Some prudent designers then provide polygonal grates that can be assembled into ball or other spherical shapes using a set of identical grates. These polygonal grates are fabricated with connecting side boards along the edges, so that multiple nodes and cups on the surface of the side board are used to lock against each other when many polygonal grates are assembled to create a hollow spherical structure.
However, the polygonal grates with connecting side boards are not easy to manipulate, especially when many polygonal grates are to be cascaded to create an article with geometrical shape. The designer has to be very careful when assembling this type of ball structure, because it just takes a little pushing force on one side to have the assembly structure completely disintegrated.
Therefore, a structural modification is needed for the decoration set, so that the decoration set can be easily assembled to be ball or other spherical shapes, and stored away with a small space. The decoration set shall also promote efficient packaging to save on transportation and storage costs.
The first objective of the present invention is to provide a multi-facet decoration assembly, which is composed of multiple polygonal grates with catch pins and slot pins alternately arranged on the outer edges of each grate to link up other grates with similar interlock mechanism, together forming a hollow spherical structure.
The second objective of the invention is to provide a multi-facet decoration assembly using multiple polygonal grates that can be locked against each other when assembled to act as a truss for the hollow decoration structure, exhibiting strong rigidity almost equivalent to a solid structure.
The third objective of the invention is to provide a multi-facet decoration assembly that is easy to build by snapping the polygonal grates together, and easy to store away when the polygonal grates and panels are completely knocked down, thus the storage and transportation costs can be reduced considerably.
The present invention will become more obvious from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, which show, for purposes of illustration only, a preferred embodiment in accordance with the present invention.
Referring to
The hexagonal grate 1 is equilateral and slightly dished toward the center, and each corner of the hexagonal grate 1 has a catch pin 11 and a slot pin 12 alternately arranged on the underside, and the center of each polygonal grate 1 has a hole 13.
The pentagonal grate 2 is also equilateral and slightly dished toward the center, and each corner of the pentagonal grate 2 has a catch pin 21 and on the underside, and the center of each polygonal grate 2 has a hole 23.
The catch pin 11 on one hexagonal grate 1 is to be matched with a slot pin 12 on another hexagonal grate 1, or a slot pin 22 on one pentagonal grate 2 depending on the intended shape of the assembly structure, whereas the slot pin 12 on one hexagonal grate 1 is to be matched with a catch pin 11 on the other hexagonal grate 1 or a catch pin 21 on the pentagonal grate 2, depending on the intended shape of the assembly structure.
The decoration ball shown in
Referring to
The gaps 101, 201 on the polygonal grates are reserved for decoration designers who may insert a finger nail into the gap to pry open the surface panel in order to need to remove the surface panel over the polygonal grate.
The detailed structure of each hexagonal grate 1 is shown in
When the decoration ball is assembled, in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the invention, each polygonal surface panel 3 shall be decorated with an insignia. The surface panels 3 may display other symbols or insignia according to the designer's choice. To secure the insignia, there is a clamping device 31 on the underside of the surface panel 3, which is to be inserted through the hole 13 on the polygonal grate 1 when the panel 3 is assembled onto the decoration ball. The clamping device 31 can be a commonly used clip to secure an insignia onto a button hole.
Likewise, a pentagonal panel 4 can be fitted with an insignia or other symbol as the hexagonal panel 3. The insignias or symbols on the polygonal surface panels can be collectively designed to create a decoration ball with a distinctive pattern.
From the foregoing, the present invention has provided a unique multi-facet decoration assembly with hollow interior that can be easily assembled. The assembly procedure only takes few steps by snapping the polygonal grates together to cause the alternate catch pins and slot pins to be engaged with each other. The polygonal grates when linked together become a strong truss to support the assembly structure, thus a hollow decoration ball can be constructed using much less materials than its solid counterpart. The decoration ball assembly can be easily stored away with the polygonal grates and surface panels in the knock-down form, thereby the storage and transportation costs for the decoration ball can be considerably reduced.
Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that a variety of modifications and changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention which is intended to be defined by the appended claims.
