A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
This invention relates to framed holders having a hinged top, side, or bottom and latch closure for holding potpourri or other decorative items.
Vessels capable of holding decorative items for use in the home, office, stores, lodging facilities, or other places seeking to establish a comfortable, stylish environment are often poorly designed, flimsy, unable to securely contain decorative items when being displayed or moved, and displeasing to the eye. As a result, the decorative items such as potpourri with or without fragrance, botanicals, mirrored balls, real, dried, or synthetic fruit, or the like are often poorly displayed and very likely to spill or cause a mess when placed in a holder. Also, displaying such decorative items in an open container or in a loosely framed container can be hazardous to children and animals if eaten, or damaging to fine furnishings if spilled. Fragranced botanicals can be particularly damaging to furnishings and toxic to children and animals.
It can be very difficult to move decorative receptacles when their contents are precariously placed inside. A simple shift, bump, or change in location may be problematic and cause unnecessary, additional cleanup and work for a caretaker.
Storing and displaying decorative items that are messy and poorly presented can easily taint an environment and make it feel disorganized, ill-kempt, and uninviting.
In addition, many decorative items such as potpourri, botanicals, and the like, are sold in a bag or sold separately without a framed container, requiring purchasers to buy a separate display container. Buying such containers adds an extra step to being able to display decorative items, and it may be difficult to locate a container that safely and beautifully displays the items.
There is a need in the an for a receptacle capable of holding decorative items that securely holds such items in a beautiful, well-presented, and functional manner to enhance well-being, lift the aesthetics of an environment, and capture the eye while suiting the needs and tastes of a wide range of people and organizations. There is also a need in the art for a vessel sold in connection with decorative items to provide a complete product for containing and displaying the items.
The present invention relates to a decorative vessel shaped as a natural product selected from the group consisting of a fruit, vegetable, nut, seed, tree, animal, reptile, sea creature, or other object, for example, an object having a Thanksgiving theme, a winter holiday theme for Christmas, Hanukkah, and the New Year, or an ocean theme such as a wreath, star, lamp, or urn, with a hinged top, side, or bottom and closure fixed firmly to the body of the vessel capable of securely holding and displaying items. The decorative holder is shaped out of wire, metal, plastic, twigs, synthetic material, natural material, and/or combinations thereof.
The decorative holder can be shaped as any fruit, vegetable, nut, seed, tree, animal, reptile, sea creature, star, wreath, orb, urn, lamp, cylinder, including such objects as an acorn, pumpkin, apple, pear, and squash. Thanksgiving themed objects may include an acorn, pumpkin, apple, pear, and squash. Winter holiday themed vessels may include Christmas trees, reindeer, angels, decorative balls or orbs, stars, menorahs, candles, sleighs, presents, Santa Claus, bows; and ocean themed vessels may include shells, fish, sea horses, sea stars, and sand dollars. The hinged top, side, or bottom is capable of being secured to the body of the vessel with a latch, nob, or lock. The vessel can be placed directly on a surface or can be placed on a stand or hook and set upon a horizontal surface or attached to a vertical structure.
The decorative holder holds potpourri with or without fragrance, and other decorative items such as botanicals, mirrored balls, real, dried, or synthetic fruit, flowers, leaves, twigs, bark, bamboo, and seeds, metal shapes, and decoupage crafts. The potpourri can be real or artificial, including dried botanicals, fruit, plants, bark, twigs, leaves, and seeds. All of the decorative items are held within the frame of the holder and of a size and shape to be contained within the holder and of a greater size than any aperture in the holder. The decorative items can be easily seen within the decorative holder and can be easily smelled, if fragranced.
Also, the decorative holder can have additional framework woven on and about the holder to decrease the size of the apertures in the holder, the framework constructed of wire, metal, plastic, twigs, other synthetic material, or other natural material that is woven on and about the framed holder to add additional structure to secure the decorative items.
The detailed description set forth below in connection with the appended drawings is intended as a description of presently-preferred embodiments of the invention and is not intended to represent the only forms in which the present invention may be constructed or utilized. The description sets forth the functions and the sequence of steps for constructing and operating the invention in connection with the illustrated embodiments. However, it is to be understood that the same or equivalent functions and sequences may be accomplished by different embodiments that are also intended to be encompassed within the spirit and scope of the invention.
As shown in
Also, the decorative holder contains decorative items such as potpourri 115 within the holder, the decorative items of a greater size than any aperture in the holder, thereby securing the decorative items in the container so they don't spill out. The apertures in the decorative holder are of a size and shape allowing the decorative items to be easily seen and smelled, if fragranced.
As shown, the first support frame 370, the second support frame 390, and the third support frame 400 all maintain a circular shape. The first support frame 370, the second support frame 390, and the third support frame 400 may also be of a shape having three or more sides such as a triangle, square, rectangle, trapezoid, or other similar shape. The area defined by second support frame 390 and the area defined by the third support frame 400 may be of the same size, for example, they may have the same circumference.
The holder 300 may have objects 430 at the top 420 of the holder 300 may in the shape of one or more leaves. In yet another embodiment, the objects may be in the shape of one or more balls or seeds, shapes having three or more sides, natural objects or whimsical shapes.
The holder may be constructed of metal, plastic, twigs, synthetic material, natural material, and combinations thereof. As shown in
Yet another embodiment of the invention includes a method of displaying objects in a framed holder described herein having a lid and a base comprising lifting the lid of the holder, placing objects into the base of the holder, closing the lid of the holder, and securing the lid to the base of the holder. The method may further comprise holding the container with the lid side down when the base of the container defines an area that is smaller than the area defined by the lid, the base being the side that opens or holding the container with the base side down when the base of the container defines an area that is larger than the area defined by the lid, the lid of the container being the side that opens.
While the present invention has been described with regards to particular embodiments, it is recognized that additional variations of the present invention may be devised without departing from the inventive concept.
This invention may be industrially applied to the development, manufacture, and use of containers for holding objects such as potpourri, candy, decorative items, food, and personal belongings.
This patent application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/282,779 filed Mar. 31, 2010 for “Wire frame botanical wreaths, made of metal or plastic with or without fragrance. Back side with nob latches few locks and hangers.” U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/282,821 filed Apr. 7, 2010 for “Wire frame botanical wreaths, made of metal or plastic with or without fragrance. Shaped for example as acorns, pumpkins, apples, pears, etc. with few nobs latches locks and stands,” U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/282,925 filed Apr. 23, 2010 for “Wire frame botanical urns, orbs, and lamps made of metal and plastic with or without fragrance shaped as urns, orbs, lamps, with few nobs, latches, locks and stands,” U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/344,400 filed Jul. 14, 2010 for “Wire frame cage botanical potpourri shaped as roll orbs urns lamps cube wreaths, made of metal and plastic with or without fragrance. The roll or cube have few holes acting as a dispenser with nobs, latches tops locks and stands,” and U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/344,349 filed Jul. 2, 2010 for “Wire frame botanical potpourri shaped as orbs urns lamps cylinders lamps wreaths, made of metal and or plastic, with or without fragrance. The orbs have a net of holes acting as a dispenser with nobs, latches, tops, locks, and stands,” which applications are incorporated here by this reference.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
1499665 | Kaufman | Jul 1924 | A |
2367448 | Thiele | Jan 1945 | A |
2456419 | Jackson et al. | Dec 1948 | A |
2575149 | Watson | Nov 1951 | A |
2632578 | Brickman | Mar 1953 | A |
3419175 | Laughlin et al. | Dec 1968 | A |
3874547 | Howard | Apr 1975 | A |
4300697 | Dickens | Nov 1981 | A |
4836392 | Constantino | Jun 1989 | A |
D356149 | Tatman et al. | Mar 1995 | S |
D379651 | Rondeau | Jun 1997 | S |
6237788 | Shuen | May 2001 | B1 |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
61282779 | Mar 2010 | US | |
61282821 | Apr 2010 | US | |
61282925 | Apr 2010 | US | |
61344400 | Jul 2010 | US | |
61344349 | Jul 2010 | US |