Patent Application
20150083116
The present invention is directed to an outdoor heating apparatus, and in particular to an outdoor heating apparatus that has an easy and convenient assembly/disassembly process.
In recent years, outdoor heating devices have become extremely popular in both commercial and residential setting. As the demand for the outdoor heating apparatus increases, the need for inexpensive shipping costs (for both international and domestic shipping) and cheaper installation cost has also increased. Throughout the time, a variety of outdoor heating apparatus has been developed, yet most of these products focused more on the technical aspect of the product without considering additional costs a user may have to incur. Moreover, the user has to spend a long time to go through a complicated assembly process of the heating apparatus.
U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2011/0076627 to DiVentura discloses an outdoor heater apparatus that has a vertical tube containing a flame exposed along its length to increase the efficiency of the product's function. However, DiVentura does not disclose or suggest how can this heater apparatus be stored and transported. Most likely, this heater apparatus requires a container equal to the height thereof, and thus the shipping and distribution cost of this heater would be relevantly high as the price is reflected on the size of the container. Also, this product has several small parts, such screws and clippers, which may place an unnecessary burden on the consumers to bare the risk of losing important materials during the assembly process. Furthermore, the consumer may have to spend a long time to assemble this heater apparatus. Although this product would bring high utility in term of technicality to the consumers, it is inconvenient for the consumer to assemble it and the consumer may need a large space to store it.
U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2010/0236544 to Hall Jr et al. discloses a similar type of outdoor heater apparatus as disclosed by DiVentura. However, Hall Jr has placed more emphasis on reducing the costs of distribution. Hall Jr actually reduced the size of the container by breaking the heater into several small and separate parts. Even though the distribution costs may be reduced, there are more separate parts so the consumer may have to spend more time and efforts to assemble the heater apparatus during the assembly process.
Therefore, there remains a need for a new and improved outdoor heating apparatus that can be assembled in a more convenient and efficient manner to overcome the problems presented above.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an outdoor heating apparatus that can be assembled in a more convenient and efficient manner.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an outdoor heating apparatus that includes fewer parts so the consumer can more efficiently assemble the heating apparatus.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an outdoor heating apparatus that the size of the outdoor heating apparatus can be significantly reduced, so it can be more easily stored and transported.
In one aspect, an outdoor heating apparatus may include a top cover, a supporting structure including upper supporting members and lower supporting members, protection members and lower panels. The upper supporting members and the lower supporting members are connected together to form the supporting structure for the heating apparatus. In one embodiment, the supporting structure is a triangular prism.
The outdoor heating apparatus may further include a connecting unit, a securing unit and a glass tube. The glass tube is disposed at nearly the center portion of the supporting structure formed by the upper and lower supporting members. One end of the securing unit is used to connect and secure an upper portion of the glass tube, and the other end of the securing unit is used to connect to one end of the connecting unit. The other end of the connecting unit connects to a bottom portion of the top cover to further secure the upper portion of the glass tube. A lower portion of the glass tube is secured on a top surface of an inner base at a lower portion inside the supporting structure.
In an exemplary embodiment, each upper supporting member is telescopically connected with corresponding lower supporting member. More specifically, the size of the lower supporting member is slightly smaller than that of the upper supporting member, so the lower supporting member can be received in a hollow space provided by the upper supporting member. Thus, the size of the heating apparatus is significantly reduced, so it can be easily stored and transported. The heating apparatus may also include a flame generating unit having a switch located underneath the inner base. When the flame generating unit is turned on, the flame can be generated in the glass tube attached on the other side of the inner base to raise the temperature near the heating apparatus.
A bottom unit is connected to each lower supporting member close to the floor. In one embodiment, the bottom unit is nearly perpendicular to the lower supporting member. In other word, the lower supporting member and the bottom unit forms a substantially L-shaped structure at the bottom portion of the supporting structure. The heating apparatus may include a securing ring that has a plurality of receiving holes and locking elements on the periphery of the securing ring. The securing ring is used to provide more support to the bottom portion of the supporting structure. More specifically, each receiving hole is used to receive corresponding bottom unit and the locking element is configured to insert into corresponding through hole on the bottom unit to further secure the supporting structure.
The detailed description set forth below is intended as a description of the presently exemplary device provided in accordance with aspects of the present invention and is not intended to represent the only forms in which the present invention may be prepared or utilized. It is to be understood, rather, that the same or equivalent functions and components may be accomplished by different embodiments that are also intended to be encompassed within the spirit and scope of the invention.
Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood to one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Although any methods, devices and materials similar or equivalent to those described can be used in the practice or testing of the invention, the exemplary methods, devices and materials are now described.
All publications mentioned are incorporated by reference for the purpose of describing and disclosing, for example, the designs and methodologies that are described in the publications that might be used in connection with the presently described invention. The publications listed or discussed above, below and throughout the text are provided solely for their disclosure prior to the filing date of the present application. Nothing herein is to be construed as an admission that the inventors are not entitled to antedate such disclosure by virtue of prior invention.
In order to further understand the goal, characteristics and effect of the present invention, a number of embodiments along with the drawings are illustrated as following:
Referring to
The outdoor heating apparatus 300 may further include a connecting unit 304, a securing unit 306 and a glass tube 308. The glass tube 308 is disposed at nearly the center portion of the supporting structure 310 formed by the upper and lower supporting members (312, 314). One end of the securing unit 306 is used to connect and secure an upper portion of the glass tube 308, and the other end of the securing unit 306 is used to connect to one end of the connecting unit 304. The other end of the connecting unit 304 connects to a bottom portion of the top cover to further secure the upper portion of the glass tube 308. A lower portion of the glass tube 308 is secured on a top surface of an inner base 322 at a lower portion inside the supporting structure 310.
In an exemplary embodiment, each upper supporting member 312 is telescopically connected with corresponding lower supporting member 314, as shown in
Referring to
As illustrated above, conventional outdoor heaters either have too many parts so it is difficult for the user to efficiently put together the heater, or the size of conventional outdoor heaters is too big for the user to store it. As can be seen in
On the other hand, the assembly process for the heating apparatus 300 is relatively easy. The user can first dispose the glass tube 308 at the center portion of the supporting structure 310 and secure the glass tube 308 with the securing unit 306 and then to the connecting unit 304, so the upper portion of the glass tube 308 can be secured to the top cover 302 on the top of the supporting structure 310. The user can then put the protection members 320 on the outer surface of the supporting structure 310. As shown in
The lower supporting members 314 can then be pulled out from corresponding upper supporting members 312, and the bottom units 316 of the lower supporting members 314 can be inserted into the receiving holes 3181 and locked by the locking elements 3182 to further secure the supporting structure 310. The lower panels 330 can be attached to the lower portion of the supporting structure 310 to complete the assembly process of the heating apparatus 300.
Having described the invention by the description and illustrations above, it should be understood that these are exemplary of the invention and are not to be considered as limiting. Accordingly, the invention is not to be considered as limited by the foregoing description, but includes any equivalents.
