Stock material or miscellaneous articles – Special occasion ornament – Knockdown
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-08
2001-12-25
Thomas, Alexander S. (Department: 1772)
Stock material or miscellaneous articles
Special occasion ornament
Knockdown
C428S020000, C428S066600
Reexamination Certificate
active
06333083
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a foldable artificial Christmas tree and more particularly pertains to allowing for quick and easy assembly and disassembly.
The use of artificial Christmas trees is known in the prior art. More specifically, artificial Christmas trees heretofore devised and utilized for the purpose of simulating real Christmas trees 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.
By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,928,689 to Mottel discloses an artificial tree with branches hinged around the circumference of the trunk using a collar assembly. U.S. Pat. No. 4,109,345 to Sargent discloses a hinge assembly for holding the branches of an artificial Christmas tree. U.S. Pat. No. 4,172,913 to Ballah discloses an artificial Christmas tree with a hinge assembly for extending the branches from the base.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objective and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not describe a foldable artificial Christmas tree for allowing for quick and easy assembly and disassembly.
In this respect, the foldable artificial Christmas tree according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in doing so provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of allowing for quick and easy assembly and disassembly.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there exists a continuing need for a new and improved foldable artificial Christmas tree which can be used for allowing for quick and easy assembly and disassembly. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In the view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known types of artificial Christmas trees now present in the prior art, the present invention provides an improved foldable artificial Christmas tree. As such, the general purpose of the present invention, which will be described subsequently in greater detail, is to provide a new and improved foldable artificial Christmas tree which has all the advantages of the prior art and none of the disadvantages.
To attain this, the present invention essentially comprises a plurality of sections couplable together to form a Christmas tree. Each of the sections includes a central pole portion. A plurality of collars are provided that each have a central opening for receiving the central pole section therein. Each of the collars has a generally circular configuration. The collars each have an outer periphery. Each of the collars has a plurality of radially extending apertures disposed within the outer periphery thereof in a spaced relationship. Each of the radially extending apertures has opposed side walls. The opposed side walls have an inverted U-shaped bracket secured therebetween. The bracket includes an upper horizontal segment and a pair of opposed vertical segments. The opposed vertical segments have a support bar extending therebetween whereby the support bar is parallel with the upper horizontal segment. A plurality of branches are foldably coupled with the plurality of collars. Each of the branches has a limb portion. The limb portion has an inner portion and an outer portion. The outer portion has a plurality of artificial pine needles extending outwardly therefrom. The inner portion has a downwardly turned portion secured thereto.
The downwardly turned portion is receivable between the support bar and the upper horizontal segment of the bracket of the collars.
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, of course, 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 and improved foldable artificial Christmas tree which has all the advantages of the prior art artificial Christmas trees and none of the disadvantages.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a new and improved foldable artificial Christmas tree which may be easily and efficiently manufactured and marketed.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a new and improved foldable artificial Christmas tree which is of durable and reliable construction.
An even further object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved foldable artificial Christmas tree 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 a foldable artificial Christmas tree economically available to the buying public.
Even still another object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved foldable artificial Christmas tree for allowing for quick and easy assembly and disassembly.
Lastly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved foldable artificial Christmas tree including a plurality of sections couplable together to form a Christmas tree. Each of the sections includes a central pole portion. A plurality of collars are provided that each have a central opening for receiving the central pole section therein. Each of the collars has a generally circular configuration. The collars each have an outer periphery. Each of the collars has a plurality of radially extending apertures disposed within the outer periphery thereof in a spaced relationship. A plurality of branches are foldably coupled with the plurality of collars. Each of the branches has a limb portion. The limb portion has an inner portion and an outer portion. The outer portion has a plurality of artificial pine needles extending outwardly therefrom. The inner portion has a downwardly turned portion secured thereto. The downwardly turned portion is receivable within the radially extending apertures of the collars.
These together with other objects of the invention, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the invention, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and the specific objects attained by its uses, reference should be had to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which there is illustrated preferred embodiments of the invention.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4451510 (1984-05-01), Boisvert et al.
patent: 5150874 (1992-09-01), Spiegel et al.
Smedley Donald
Smedley Rick
Goldstein Law Offices P.C.
Thomas Alexander S.
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