Patent Application
20230115682
The presently disclosed invention relates generally to systems and methods of lighting and, more specifically, to portable light fixtures and their associated support stands.
Portable lighting fixtures are well known and their use occurs in widely varied environments such as, but not limited to, residences, garage work stations, performance stages, movie sets, etc. Known fixtures often have collapsible support stands to facilitate moving the fixtures from one location to the next and, also quite often, have feet on the stands that provide inadequate support surfaces for the entire fixture. Known support stands often include multiple cylindrical legs in which the contact point for the foot of each leg is only a portion of the outer perimeter of a distal end of the leg. For example, the distal end face of the leg is often perpendicular to the longitudinal center axis of the leg, and when the leg is formed by a cylindrical tube, the contact point is merely tangent to the circular distal end. These minimal contact surfaces can lead to inadvertent sliding of the fixtures, which in turn can lead to damage to the support surface, instability and damage to the fixture and/or harm to nearby personnel, loss of time and added expense on film sets, etc. Common solutions, such as the placement of tennis balls on the ends of the structure's legs are frequently inadequate due to continued sliding, potential harm to personnel when cutting openings in the tennis balls to receive the corresponding legs therein, availability, etc.
As such, it is desirable to have the ability to place aftermarket covers, or boots, on the legs of lighting fixture support stands to improve stability and provide protection for the support surface.
One embodiment of the present disclosure provides a boot assembly for use with a leg on a support stand of a lighting fixture, including a body portion formed by a side wall defining a recess having a top opening, and a base portion including a substantially planar bottom surfacer, a top wall, and a perimeter side wall extending therebetween, wherein the body portion extends upwardly from the top wall of the base portion and a distal end of the leg is slidably received in the recess of the body portion.
Another embodiment of the present disclosure provides a support stand of a lighting fixture, including at least a first leg having a distal end defining a foot, and a boot assembly, having a body portion formed by a side wall defining a recess having a top opening, and a base portion including a substantially planar bottom surface, a top wall, and a perimeter side wall extending therebetween, wherein the body portion extends upwardly from the top wall of the base portion and a distal end of the leg is slidably received in the recess of the body portion.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate one or more embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
The invention now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which some, but not, all embodiments of the invention are shown. Indeed, this invention may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will satisfy applicable legal requirements.
Repeat use of reference characters in the present specification and drawings is intended to represent same or analogous features or elements of the invention according to the disclosure.
Reference will now be made to presently preferred embodiments of the invention, one or more examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Each example is provided by way of explanation, not limitation of the invention. In fact, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the scope and spirit thereof. For instance, features illustrated or described as part of one embodiment may be used on another embodiment to yield a still further embodiment. Thus, it is intended that the present invention covers such modifications and variations as come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.
As used herein, terms referring to a direction or a position relative to the orientation of a lighting fixture support stand, such as but not limited to “vertical,” “horizontal,” “upper,” “lower,” “above,” or “below,” refer to directions and relative positions with respect to the lighting fixture support stand's orientation in its normal intended operation, as indicated in the Figures herein. Thus, for instance, the terms “vertical” and “upper” refer to the vertical direction and relative upper position in the perspectives of the Figures and should be understood in that context, even with respect to a reactor that may be disposed in a different orientation.
Further, the term “or” as used in this disclosure and the appended claims is intended to mean an inclusive “or” rather than an exclusive “or.” That is, unless specified otherwise, or clear from the context, the phrase “X employs A or B” is intended to mean any of the natural inclusive permutations. That is, the phrase “X employs A or B” is satisfied by any of the following instances: X employs A; X employs B; or X employs both A and B. In addition, the articles “a” and “an” as used in this application and the appended claims should generally be construed to mean “one or more” unless specified otherwise or clear from the context to be directed to a singular form. Throughout the specification and claims, the following terms take at least the meanings explicitly associated herein, unless the context dictates otherwise. The meanings identified below do not necessarily limit the terms, but merely provided illustrative examples for the terms. The meaning of “a,” “an,” and “the” may include plural references, and the meaning of “in” may include “in” and “on.” The phrase “in one embodiment,” as used herein does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, although it may.
Referring now to
As best seen in
As shown in
As noted above the embodiment of the boot assembly 20 shown in
Referring now to
As shown, the base portion 70 preferably includes a top surface 76, a planar bottom surface 74, and an outer perimeter wall 72 extending therebetween, with the top and bottom surfaces being substantially parallel. The base portion 70 also includes a hinge 71 including a pair of parallel flanges 79 extending upwardly from the top surface 76. Each of the flanges 79 defines a cylindrical recess 75 therein that is configured to receive a corresponding cylindrical pin 67. The body portion 62 includes a central flange 69 that extends downwardly from the bottom of the body portion 62 (and is received in a gap defined between the flanges 79 of the base portion 70. Once positioned, the pin 67 is passed through the recesses 75 of the flanges 79 and a corresponding recess (not shown) on central flange 69 to secure the portions together. Each boot assembly 60 is configured to be slidably received on the foot 14 of a corresponding leg 12 of a fixture support stand and the hinged connection 71 connecting the body portion 62 and the base portion 70 allows each base portion 70 to be adjusted based on the angle the corresponding leg 14 forms with the support surface.
Referring now to
While one or more preferred embodiments of the invention are described above, it should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the scope and spirit thereof. It is intended that the present invention cover such modifications and variations as come within the scope and spirit of the appended claims and their equivalents.
This application claims priority to U.S. provisional patent application No. 63/224,671 filed Jul. 22, 2021, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63224671 | Jul 2021 | US |
