US3682421A - Tree stand - Google Patents

Abstract

A simplified, easily assembled and disassembled tree stand for use primarily to support artificial Christmas trees. The stand comprises a tube into which the mid-portions of two relatively long rigid wire elements are inserted and held in place, at right angles to each other. The wires are essentially flat on the ground and provide the legs of the stand. A tree receiving insert is fastened in the tube at the upper end.

Description

United States Patent Spiegel [4 Aug. 8, 1972 [54] TREE STAND 2,917,188 12/1959 Menin ..211/l77 [72] Inventor: Si Spiegel, Briarcliff M31101, N.Y. FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS [731 Asslgnee= Industries 257,630 2/1965 Australia ..248/27.8

[22] Filed: Sept. 14, 1970 Primary Examiner-William H. Schultz [21] pp 71 663 Attorney-Sandoe, Hopgood & Calimafde I [57] ABSTRACT [2%] A Simplified easily assembled and disassembled we Id 1 1 431 stand for use primarily to support artificial Christmas 1 o m H1117 6 trees. The stand comprises a tube into which the midportions of two relatively long rigid wire elements are inserted and held in place, at right angles to .each [56] References Cited other. The wires are essentially flat on the ground and NITED TATE PATENTS provide the legs of the stand. A tree receiving insert is l 015 183 H 248/165 fastened in the tube at the upper end.

, ermg 853,762 5/1907 Botsford ..21 l/ 177 5 Claims, 10 Drawing Figures PATENTED AUG 3 3 3 6 8 2,421

sum 1 OF 3 INVENTOR. 5/ .SP/EGEL ATTORNEYS FlG l PA TENTEDAUB 8 1912 SHEET 2 [IF 3 INVENTOR. 5/ .SP/E'GEL PATENTEmus 8 1912 3,682,421

sum 3 or 3 :2; YEN TOR. 5/ SP/E'GEL A 7' 70R NEYS' TREE STAND FIELD OF INVENTION This invention relates to a tree stand for supporting, primarily, but not necessarily exclusively, artificial Christmas trees. The stand is intended to be easily assembled ordinarily during the Christmas season and thereafter it may be easily disassembled and conveniently placed in storage until the next season.

DESCRIPTION OF PRIOR STANDS AND THE DISADVANTAGES THEREOF Conventional artificial tree stands in use today are relatively expensive and cannot be easily assembled or disassembled. A brief discussion of some of the major prior conventional stands will illustrate such disadvantages.

The tripod stand includes three legs diverging from a small metallic cylindrical holder. This tripod is an expensive article, and may lack relative structural stability for relatively large trees. The tripod can accommodate only relatively small trees without encountering a problem of tipping. As the tree size increases, a much larger and more expensive tripod must be used. Other stands may use fourrigidly spaced legs, extending from a square or circular body, but such stands become more expensive, ornate, heavy and in some cases use many parts. As tree size increases, the stand size must also increase; this increases manufacturing cost, shipping cost and such size aggravates the problem of stand storage when the tree is not being used.

OBJECF S AND ADVANTAGES OF THE INVENTION It is a primary object of this invention to provide a simple, relatively cheap, structurally stable and secure tree stand, which is easily transported, assembled and disassembled.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a tree stand using few parts, and the parts which are used, being readily available or easily made.

Yet it is another object of this invention to use two rigid wires positioned atright angles to each other and which are in contact with the ground along their entire length, except for their midsections. The midsections structurally fit into, lend support to, andhold a tubular or apertured body having an insert fixed thereto, into which the tree is inserted and held.

Still it is another object of this invention to provide a simplified, economical, easily assembled and disassembled stand for supporting an artificial tree whose frame comprises vertical wires, a plurality of which lead into the stand.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a tree stand using a simple and economical tube, made of cardboard for example, into which the parallel sides of I tional engagement reinforces the tubular body and lends increased stability to the stand.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION stand.

The above-mentioned and other features and objects of this invention and the manner of attaining them will be come more apparent and the invention itself will be best understood by reference to the following description of an embodiment of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a front view, partially broken away, illustrating the preferred tree stand holding a wire, artificial Christmas tree frame.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the tubular body of the stand.

FIG. 3 is a side view illustrating the two wire legs having bent-up midsections shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the tubular body.

FIG. 4a is a perspective view of another alternate embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a front view of another alternate embodiment using a square shaped apertured body.

FIG. 6 is a front view of an alternate embodiment of the tree stand for supporting artificial trees using an extending central pole to support the tree branches.

FIG. 6a is a front view of an alternate embodiment of the tree stand for supporting a natural tree.

FIGS. 7 and 7a are front views illustrating the use of adapter plugs to convert the stand of FIGS. 1 and 6 respectively into a stand supporting a different type of tree.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF'PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings, there is shown in FIGS. 1 3, the preferred embodiment of the tree stand. The stand supports frame elements 1 of an artificial tree whose ends are to be inserted into the stand. This tree is the subject of Ser. No. 68,3 l9filed Aug. 3 1', 1970, entitled MODULAR TREE USING TAPERED FRAME AND RINGS OF BRANCHES, having the same assignee as this application, the contents of which may be deemed to be incorporated herein for completeness.

The stand itself comprises a hollow tube 5 open at its bottom and having a tree receiving insert 8, which may be a simple cylindrical wooded block fastened, by nails or other fastening means, to the top part of the tube. Grooves 9, 10 are formed in the top, horizontal surface of block 8 and are at right angles to each other and lead into the central aperture 1 l of the block.

The base ends of the wire tree frame elements are supported by and inserted into the block. More specifically, the horizontal base ends 2 fit into the respective grooves 9, 10, the walls of which not only are supportive of the weight carried by the frame, but prevent any twisting tendency of the tree if the tree is somewhat out of balance. The vertical ends 3 of the frame wires fit into and extend a substantial length into block aperture 1 l.-

The legs of the stand comprise at least two identical rigid wires 6, 7 (FIG. 3). Each wire has a bent or formed midsection which is adapted to slide into and through the bottom of the tube with an interference fit. In this manner, the midsections act as a male plug which fits into the receptacle provided by the tube.

While reference has been made to the elements 6 and 7 as being rigid wires, it is to be understood that rods, or other rigid bodies having non-circular crosssections could be made or used within the principles of this invention. Since the wires 6 and 7 are identical, only one will be described in detail.

Wire 6 is a straight rigid body having straight, long, horizontally extending ends 20, 21 which will lie flat on the ground (for purposes herein, -ground shall also mean fioor). Because a substantial length of the leg is in contact with the ground, the stability of the stand is increased as the stand support points extend radially outwardly, far from the center of gravity of the stand (which is in line with the tree).

Because the legs are flat, little objection will be encountered -to their effectively long distance from the center of the stand. This allows the stand to be used for taller trees and the stand will not tip so long as the tube and wires remain true and the center of gravity of the tree and stand is not at a height greater than the effective radial distance of the ends of the legs.

The midsection 22 of wire 6 defines a plug-in member and has straight parallel sides 23, 24 of different lengths L L and a downwardly angled connecting section 25. The corresponding side of rod 7 with length L, occupies a different diarnetral portion of the interior of the tube (FIG. 1); because sections 25, 25 are not of the same height, the midsections 22, 22' do not interfere with each other.

The side 23 of length L, extends preferably up into the interior of the tube to the bottom of block 8. The distance between the outer ends of sides 23, 23 (OD) is slightly greater than the diameter of the aperture of the tube. Sides 23, 23' as well as sides 24, 24 frictionally engage, and at the same time, lend support and rigidity to the tube. Thus, in the preferred embodiment the tube is reinforced along its entire length and the wires also serve as braces for the tube.

In summary, there has been provided an easily packaged tree stand, which is economical to manufacture and provides substantial stability. A tube comprises the basic part of the tree receptacle of the stand. Wires provide the legs of the stand, as well as engaging and rigidifying the tube.

ALTERNATE EMBODIMENTS Alternate embodiments of the tree stand are illustrated in the remaining figures of the drawings. In FIG. 4, internal vertical grooves 30 and 30' are provided in the walls of the internal aperture of the tube 5 to guide and align one of the wires, while orthogonally related grooves 31, 31' serve the same purpose for the other wire. If desired, additional pairs of circumferentially spaced grooves may be provided to accommodate additional wire forming legs secured at different diametral positions.

In FIG. 4 A, the aligning grooves may be provided by respective pairs of extensions 40, 40 defining a channel or recess to receive the respective wires.

In FIG. 5, the tube comprises a hollowed, rectangu- Iarly shaped body 50. Here the diametrically opposed corners (for example, 51 51') provide wire receiving. guiding and aligning purposes.

In FIG. 6, the stand comprises a tubular body with a block to receive the tapered end of a pole, which forms the basic support for the conventional artificial tree. In this tree, the branches extend radially from the pole. Here the block 60 has a long, internal tapered recess 61 which may terminate short of the bottom of the block or extend completely therethrough. The block is fastened to the tube in a simple manner by nails or other conventional fastening means.

In FIG. 6a, the block 60 is adapted to receive a natural tree and is apertured throughout its length. The tree may rest on a supporting cup 62 which also plugs into the base of the tube, but includes vertical grooves along the longitudinal periphery to accommodate the vertical sides of the midsections of the wire legs.

In FIG. 7a, alternate embodiments are illustrated which provides for the use of any tree stand with more than one type of tree. If the stand of FIG. 1 is to be used with the pole type tree of FIG. 6, then, as illustrated in FIG. 7, an adapter plug may be used.- Plug 70 has an extension 71 on the bottom thereof which fits into aperture 11. The upper part of plug 70 has a tapered aperture 61 which is the same as aperture 61 in the embodiment of FIG. 6. And in FIG. 7a, the tube 5 and block 60 are the same as that of FIG. 6. If conversion is required to allow use with the wire from tree of FIG. 1, then adapter plug may be used. Plug 80 has a bottom tapered extension which mates with recess 61 and provides a top surface having the same crossed grooves and extending aperture as illustrated in FIG. 1.

While the foregoing description sets forth the principles of the invention in connection with specific apparatus, it is to be understood that this description is made only by way of example and not as a limitation of the scope of the invention as set forth in the objects thereof and in the accompanying claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A tree stand comprising a tubular member having a first opening at its upper end and a second opening coaxial with said first opening at its lower end, a tree receiving insert received in said first opening and having a central aperture therein for receiving the lower end of an artificial tree, and a base support including first and second rigid wires, each of said wires including a first and second elongated horizontal end portion for placement on a planar surface and a central section extending from said first and second horizontal portions, said central section including substantially parallel vertical segments having unequal lengths and a sloping bridging section extending between said unequal length vertical segments, said first and second wires intersecting one another at substantially right angles, said intersecting central sections defining a plug for establishing an interference fit into said second opening in said tubular member, said horizontal sections of said first and second wires being substantially greater in length than said vertical segments, whereby the stability of the stand is increased by the considerable ground contact of said horizontal end portions.

2. The tree stand of claim 1, in which said insert includes radial guide channels along the upper surface, to thereby receive and guide horizontal tree frame elements.

3. The tree stand of claim 2 in which said tubular member has internal guide means extending vertically along the inner wall, of the tube from the bottom thereof, to alignedly guide the respective rigid wires.

4. The tree stand of claim 1, in which the distance between said parallel vertical segments of said wires along their outer diameter is slightly greater than the diameter of said second opening of said tubular member and thus fit into said second opening with an interference fit.

5. The tree stand of claim 1, in which a wire frame tree is to be accommodated, said wire frame tree having base elements having horizontal extensions which terminate in central, downwardly directed extensions, in which the tubular member of said stand is cylindrical, and said insert includes diametric guide channels along the upper surface, to thereby receive and guide said horizontal extensions, said downwardly directed extensions being inserted into said central aperture of said insert.

Claims (5)

1. A tree stand comprising a tubular member having a first opening at its upper end and a second opening coaxial with said first opening at its lower end, a tree receiving insert received in said first opening and having a central aperture therein for receiving the lower end of an artificial tree, and a base support including first and second rigid wires, each of said wires including a first and second elongated horizontal end portion for placement on a planar surface and a central section extending from said first and second horizontal portions, said central section including substantially parallel vertical segments having unequal lengths and a sloping bridging section extending between said unequal length vertical segments, said first and second wires intersecting one another at substantially right angles, said intersecting central sections defining a plug for establishing an interference fit into said second opening in said tubular member, said horizontal sections of said first and second wires being substantially greater in length than said vertical segments, whereby the stability of the stand is increased by the considerable ground contact of said horizontal end portions.

2. The tree stand of claim 1, in which said insert includes radial guide channels along the upper surface, to thereby receive and guide horizontal tree frame elements.

3. The tree stand of claim 2 in which said tubular member has internal guide means extending vertically along the inner wall of the tube from the bottom thereof, to alignedly guide the respective rigid wires.

4. The tree stand of claim 1, in which the distance between said parallel vertical segments of said wires along their outer diameter is slightly greater than the diameter of said second opening of said tubular member and thus fit into said second opening with an interference fit.

5. The tree stand of claim 1, in which a wire frame tree is to be accommodated, said wire frame tree having base elements having horizontal extensions which terminate in central, downwardly directed extensions, in which the tubular member of said stand is cylindrical, and said insert includes diametric guide channels along the upper surface, to thereby receive and guide said horizontal extensions, said downwardly directed extensions being inserted into said central aperture of said insert.

Images