Fire escape – ladder – or scaffold – Scaffold external of shaft
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-08
2001-07-31
Chin-Shue, Alvin (Department: 3634)
Fire escape, ladder, or scaffold
Scaffold external of shaft
C182S135000, C182S116000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06267202
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Devices commonly referred to as “treestands” (or “trees stands” or “stands”) are outdoor elevated or aerial observation platforms. They are typically used for wildlife observation, photography, hunting and the like outdoor recreation activities during which it is desirable to be undetected by wildlife. Such structures are also useful for law enforcement and wildlife management purposes.
A fundamental reason for the development and use of stands is to permit a person to be positioned in close range to wildlife forms that would flee or bolt when the presence of a human or unfamiliar element in the locale is detected. When a stand is used, a person seeks to have wildlife approach him, rather than attempting to trail or track down the wildlife. Getting above an animal's line of sight hinders visual detection. An elevated position also hinders odor and motion detection.
Another reason for the development and use of treestands is the visual advantages realized when perched in an elevated position above the ground. The topography of, and the foliage and other obstructions in, the vicinity do not block the view when one is positioned above them.
A like set of principles makes treestands valuable for non-recreational uses such as law enforcement and wildlife management An elevated position for non-recreational uses also deters detection and enables an enhanced visual observation of the region.
The height at which a treestand is elevated depends on various factors, for instance the tree or other structure selected (particularly when using a climbing stand which cannot circumnavigate limbs branching off the main trunk), manual labor and/or safety considerations (particularly when a stand must be pulled up to the mounting position), inherent limitations of the stand (particularly when using a ladder stand with a set height) and the like. The reasonable minimum and maximum height elevations of course have practical utility limits; a person does not want to be positioned either too low or too high for the purposes that brought him out to the region. To achieve at least some degree of imperceptibility to life forms on the ground, a minimum height of about five or six feet, as measured at the platform component, might be reasonable. For hunting, particularly hunting high-strung or jittery game such as deer, a desirable height might be no less than about ten or fifteen feet, measured at the standing platform. (A fifteen foot minimum elevation reduces the possibility of being within a deer's direct line of sight when the deer is approaching from a distance.) For wildlife viewing with little or no vision enhancement equipment, or for instance for hunting with range-limited weapons, a maximum height of about twenty-five or thirty feet, as measured at the platform for standing, might be reasonable. For wildlife observation, photography or management purposes, or for law enforcement purposes, a maximum height of about forty or fifty feet, measured at the standing platform, might be reasonable, particularly when using vision enhancement equipment such as strong binoculars or telescopes, or long range photography equipment. The elevation height desired also may be influenced by comfort and security considerations; the actuality and/or perception of risk to physical safety is of course increased with height.
Treestands are sometimes classified as portable, semi-permanent and permanent. Although the lineations between these categories are not always distinct, the categories provide a proximate indicia of how transportable and mobile a given stand will be, and whether a stand is designed for frequent or infrequent movement. Generally a semi-permanent use of a stand is considered to be the erection of the stand in a single place for an entire season, such as a hunting season, and then its removal at the season's end. A portable stand is moved about from site to site more frequently. A permanent stand is one that is left in place longer, for instance a plurality of years or even the duration of the stand's useful life. Permanent or semi-permanent use obviously can be made of at least some “portable” stands, and at least some people will choose to use a “semi-permanent” or even “permanent” style treestand as a portable stand. Thus the terms “portable”, “semi-permanent” and “permanent” as used hereinafter each respectively include both stands designed for such use and those actually so used regardless of their design, unless expressly indicated otherwise.
The weight and handling ease of a portable treestand are extremely important factors. Some portable treestands are moved daily, and even moved in and out of an area once or more in a given day. The weight and handling ease of any treestand, even a semi-permanent and a permanent stand, is also very important if the stand must be carried or packed any significant distance. Since desirable sites for setting up treestands are often in remote areas, and normally in forested, wilderness or other secluded areas, even a permanent treestand might be packed or manually carried a far distance. Further, a person equipped solely with a semi-permanent style of stand, for instance, might encounter situations when it is desirable or necessary to move the stand repeatedly. Such a situation could arise when using a stand in a restricted area in which there is a limit to the time a stand can be left in place.
A treestand is preferably as noiseless as possible when being carried, when being erected and when in use. The advantages of an elevated position are seriously forfeited if the stand's noise alerts wildlife of the person's presence or otherwise alarms wildlife in the area into flight.
A typical treestand includes a platform upon which the user can stand upright. A platform normally will extend out from the tree or other structure on which the stand is mounted in an at least proximate horizontal orientation. The platform must securely hold the weight of at least one person and his equipment and supplies, such as photography or hunting equipment, and often heavy gear such as hiking or hunting boots. The platform should provide sound footing, particularly when the user shifts positions and directional orientation. The platform should be large enough, and have sufficient surface area, for the intended activity. Another desired platform characteristic is “transparency” or at least some degree of “viewability”; the ability of a user to see through the platform to the area directly below is highly desirable. The characteristics of load strength, low weight, and noiselessness have not heretofore been conjoined in a treestand platform. In addition, while some platforms provide a degree of downward viewability, it is believed that heretofore downward viewability at least approaching transparency has not been achieved in any commercial treestand except possibly some of the treestands having relatively heavy weight metal mesh platforms.
Treestands often, but not always, provide some type of seating structure in addition to the platform for standing. Such a seat furnishes a degree of comfort during a long waiting period while perched on a treestand. A treestand seat is normally mounted or otherwise positioned above the platform and in at least partial vertical alignment therewith.
Treestands commonly known as climbing stands include or can be associated with a climbing assist means for scaling a tree or other columnar structure. The tree-scaling features of climbing stands facilitate moving them from site to site. Climbing stands permit a person and the stand to ascend a tree as a combination. As a first example, in a stand that has a second tree surround sector attached to the platform, after securing a stand's tree surround section to the tree, a person secures the platform to his feet, for instance by placing his feet into loops or stirrups attached thereto, stands up on the platform (which is supported independently on the tree via its separate tree surround), and raises the seat together with the tree surround sect
Chin-Shue Alvin
Norek Joan I.
The Law Office of Joan I. Norek
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