Flexible or portable closure – partition – or panel – Pleating type
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-04
2001-04-03
Stodola, Daniel P. (Department: 3634)
Flexible or portable closure, partition, or panel
Pleating type
C160S132000, C135S088030, C135S090000, C297S184110, C297S184170
Reexamination Certificate
active
06209611
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to coverings and more particularly pertains to a new collapsible cover apparatus for mounting to a wheel chair to protect the occupant of the wheel chair from the weather.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of coverings is known in the prior art. More specifically, coverings heretofore devised and utilized are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
Known prior art includes U.S. Pat. No. 4,754,987; U.S. Pat. No. 4,949,740; U.S. Pat. No. 4,533,170; U.S. Pat. No. 4,643,479; U.S. Pat. No. 4,389,057; and U.S. Des. Patent No. 319,202.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not disclose a new collapsible cover apparatus. The inventive device includes a covering member. The covering member comprises a plurality of panels integrally coupled to each other. A frame includes a pair of frame support bars. Each of the frame support bars is elongate and each of the frame support bars is releasably couplable to a wheel chair. A plurality of brackets are slidably mounted in the frame support bars. A plurality of covering support bars support the covering. Each of the covering support bars generally has a U-shape which includes a base portion, a first leg portion and a second leg portion. Each of the leg portions has a free end that is fixedly coupled to one of the brackets. A fastening means fastens the cover member to the frame. The fastening means is fixedly coupled to an inside surface of the panels and fixedly coupled to each of the covering support bars.
In these respects, the collapsible cover apparatus according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of mounting to a wheel chair to protect the occupant of the wheel chair from the weather.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known types of coverings now present in the prior art, the present invention provides a new collapsible cover apparatus construction wherein the same can be utilized for mounting to a wheel chair to protect the occupant of the wheel chair from the weather.
The general purpose of the present invention, which will be described subsequently in greater detail, is to provide a new collapsible cover apparatus apparatus and method which has many of the advantages of the coverings mentioned heretofore and many novel features that result in a new collapsible cover apparatus which is not anticipated, rendered obvious, suggested, or even implied by any of the prior art coverings, either alone or in any combination thereof.
To attain this, the present invention generally comprises G a covering member. The covering member comprises a plurality of panels integrally coupled to each other. A frame includes a pair of frame support bars. Each of the frame support bars is elongate and each of the frame support bars is releasably couplable to a wheel chair. A plurality of brackets are slidably mounted in the frame support bars. A plurality of covering support bars support the covering. Each of the covering support bars generally has a U-shape which includes a base portion, a first leg portion and a second leg portion. Each of the leg portions has a free end that is fixedly coupled to one of the brackets. A fastening means fastens the cover member to the frame. The fastening means is fixedly coupled to an inside surface of the panels and fixedly coupled to each of the covering support bars.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention 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 invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a new collapsible cover apparatus apparatus and method which has many of the advantages of the coverings mentioned heretofore and many novel features that result in a new collapsible cover apparatus which is not anticipated, rendered obvious, suggested, or even implied by any of the prior art coverings, either alone or in any combination thereof.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a new collapsible cover apparatus which may be easily and efficiently manufactured and marketed.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a new collapsible cover apparatus which is of a durable and reliable construction.
An even further object of the present invention is to provide a new collapsible cover apparatus which is susceptible of a low cost of manufacture with regard to both materials and labor, and which accordingly is then susceptible of low prices of sale to the consuming public, thereby making such collapsible cover apparatus economically available to the buying public.
Still yet another object of the present invention is to provide a new collapsible cover apparatus which provides in the apparatuses and methods of the prior art some of the advantages thereof, while simultaneously overcoming some of the disadvantages normally associated therewith.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a new collapsible cover apparatus for mounting to a wheel chair to protect the occupant of the wheel chair from the weather.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a new collapsible cover apparatus which includes a pair of frame support bars. Each of the frame support bars is elongate and each of the frame support bars is releasably couplable to a wheel chair. A plurality of brackets are slidably mounted in the frame support bars. A plurality of covering support bars support the covering. Each of the covering support bars generally has a U-shape which includes a base portion, a first leg portion and a second leg portion. Each of the leg portions has a free end that is fixedly coupled to one of the brackets. A fastening means fastens the cover member to the frame. The fastening means is fixedly coupled to an inside surface of the panels and fixedly coupled to each of the covering support bars.
Still yet another object of the present invention is to provide a new collapsible cover apparatus that mounts on a wheel chair and has a covering which may be removed from the frame.
Even still another object of the present invention is to provide a new collapsible cover apparatus that has a frame which has cover member support bars which slide between a collapsed position and erected position.
These together with other objects of the invention, along with the various features of novelty which characteri
Lev Bruce A.
Stodola Daniel P.
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