Patent Application
20250221556
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The disclosure relates to table covers and more particularly pertains to a new table cover for enclosing items over a table to protect the items from pests or other environmental hazards.
Various table covers are known to the prior art which cover items placed over a table to prevent pests, precipitation, or other hazards from interfering with food or other objects. Such apparatuses typically have flaps or doors for accessing the items while remaining covered. However, the prior art fails to disclose an apparatus which has a rigid canopy with doors slidably mounted so that the doors can move around the canopy and selectively cover access openings. The prior art also fails to describe such an apparatus which includes a turntable style member to facilitate access to items covered by the canopy by rotating the turntable and accessing the items via a nearest access opening in the canopy.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a base and a canopy. The canopy defines a cavity and is removably positionable atop the base in a covering position wherein the base covers an opening to the cavity. The canopy defines a plurality of access openings which extend through the canopy to the cavity. A plurality of doors is mounted to the canopy. Each door is movable to access the cavity from outside the canopy through at least one of the plurality of access openings of the canopy.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
A canopy 24 defines a cavity 26 and is removably positionable atop the base 12 in a covering position 30 wherein the base 12 covers an opening 28 to the cavity 26. The canopy 24 and the base 12 thereby enclose the cavity 26 when the canopy 24 is in the covering position 30. The canopy 24 defines a plurality of access openings 32 which extend through the canopy 24 to the cavity 26. The canopy 24 also has a break defining a pair of segments 34 of the canopy 24 which are equal in size and shape to each other. The segments 34 abut each other when the canopy 24 is positioned in the covering position 30. In some embodiments, fasteners such as snap connections, magnets, latches, or the like may selectively join the segments 34 together when the cavity 26 is in the covering position 30. The canopy 24 comprises a rigid material and has a dome shape. Each segment 34 then has a half dome shape, and the segments 34 may nest into each other for storage purposes. The canopy 24 may have other suitable shapes for defining the cavity 26 such as an ellipsoidal dome, a hollow polyhedron, or the like.
Each segment 34 of the canopy 24 also defines an air vent 36 configured for permitting air to flow through the segment 34 while preventing insects from passing therethrough. The air vents 36 comprise a plurality of through holes with widths small enough to prevent the insects from passing through into the cavity 26. It is understood that air vents 36 of some embodiments may not keep all insects from passing through and into the cavity 26. The through holes of the vents may be formed by meshed fibers, foam, or any other suitable material.
A plurality of doors 38 is mounted to the canopy 24. Each door 38 is movable to access the cavity 26 from outside the canopy 24 through at least one of the plurality of access openings 32 of the canopy 24. A track 40 is mounted to the canopy 24, and each door 38 is slidably coupled to the track 40. The track 40 extends around the canopy 24 across each segment 34 thereof. The track 40 is endless such that each door 38 may be selectively positioned over any of the access openings 32. The doors 38 may also pass between different segments 34 of the canopy 24 via the track 40, at least when the segments 34 are arranged to position the canopy 24 in the covering position 30. The track 40 comprises an upper rail 42 and a lower rail 44, and each door 38 is mounted between the upper rail 42 and the lower rail 44.
A closure 46 is provided for selectively securing the canopy 24 in the covering position 30 on the base 12. The closure 46 comprises a plurality of magnetic fasteners 48 which are coupled to the lip of the top member 16 of the base 12. When the canopy 24 is positioned in the covering position 30, the magnetic fasteners 48 magnetically engage a rim 29 of the canopy 24. In embodiments wherein the canopy 24 is comprised of a non-magnetic material, additional magnets or ferromagnetic members may be attached to the rim 29 to enable magnetic attachment. The closure 46 may have any suitable fastener such as a snap connection, a latch, a threaded fastener, or the like.
A table mount 50 is provided and is configured to couple the base 12 to the tabletop 54. The table mount 50 comprises a plurality of mounting clips 52 coupled to the base 12. Each mounting clip 52 is shaped such that it extends around a periphery 58 and an underside 60 of the tabletop 54 when the base 12 is positioned atop the tabletop 54. Each mounting clip 52 has an L-shape but may have any suitable shape to facilitate clipping the base 12 to the tabletop 54.
In use, the base 12 of the table cover assembly 10 is mounted to the tabletop 54. Food or other items may be placed on the central portion 20 of the top member 16 of the base 12. Then the canopy 24 may be placed in the covering position 30 and attached to the top member 16 of the base 12. The items may be accessed by opening one of the various doors 38 and reaching through the corresponding access opening 32. To access items near another access opening 32, the top member 16 and canopy 24 may be rotated atop the bottom member 14 to bring those items and the corresponding access opening 32 nearer to a user 62. Items may also be accessed by lifting the canopy 24 when necessary. The air vents 36 allow airflow into the cavity 26 without exposing food or other items to insects or other hazards.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
