CA1093522A - Cover and support for decorative lights - Google Patents

Cover and support for decorative lights

Info

Publication number
CA1093522A
CA1093522A CA296,184A CA296184A CA1093522A CA 1093522 A CA1093522 A CA 1093522A CA 296184 A CA296184 A CA 296184A CA 1093522 A CA1093522 A CA 1093522A
Authority
CA
Canada
Prior art keywords
support side
support
tabs
conductor
invention according
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired
Application number
CA296,184A
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
John W. Golls
Peter Griep
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Custom Tool and Die Ltd
Original Assignee
Custom Tool and Die Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Custom Tool and Die Ltd filed Critical Custom Tool and Die Ltd
Priority to CA296,184A priority Critical patent/CA1093522A/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of CA1093522A publication Critical patent/CA1093522A/en
Expired legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • FMECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F21LIGHTING
    • F21VFUNCTIONAL FEATURES OR DETAILS OF LIGHTING DEVICES OR SYSTEMS THEREOF; STRUCTURAL COMBINATIONS OF LIGHTING DEVICES WITH OTHER ARTICLES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • F21V27/00Cable-stowing arrangements structurally associated with lighting devices, e.g. reels 
    • FMECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F21LIGHTING
    • F21SNON-PORTABLE LIGHTING DEVICES; SYSTEMS THEREOF; VEHICLE LIGHTING DEVICES SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR VEHICLE EXTERIORS
    • F21S4/00Lighting devices or systems using a string or strip of light sources
    • F21S4/20Lighting devices or systems using a string or strip of light sources with light sources held by or within elongate supports
    • FMECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F21LIGHTING
    • F21WINDEXING SCHEME ASSOCIATED WITH SUBCLASSES F21K, F21L, F21S and F21V, RELATING TO USES OR APPLICATIONS OF LIGHTING DEVICES OR SYSTEMS
    • F21W2121/00Use or application of lighting devices or systems for decorative purposes, not provided for in codes F21W2102/00 – F21W2107/00
    • F21W2121/004Use or application of lighting devices or systems for decorative purposes, not provided for in codes F21W2102/00 – F21W2107/00 mounted on the exterior of houses or other buildings to illuminate parts thereof

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Non-Portable Lighting Devices Or Systems Thereof (AREA)

Abstract

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
An inverted, substantially U-shaped channel, is secured to the underside of a roof overhang or the like and is provided with clips on the upper side to engage and hold the wires or conductors of a string of decorative lights so as to support the lights in position within the channel. Decorative cutouts are provided at spaced inter-vals along the vertical sides of the channels and the lights are positioned at the locations of the cutouts. Clips on one end of each channel permits engagement of the other end of the adjacent channel to detachably secure the channels together in a longitudinally extending relationship.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION :~
. This invention relates to new and useful improve~
ments in covers and supports for decorative lights such as Christmas lights normally attached to or adjacent the eaves ¦
of a residence or other building, for decorative purposes and although the present invention refers to-Christmas decor-ative lights, nevertheless it will of course be appreciated that any form of decorative light can be used.

Conventionally, decorative lights such as Christmas lights, are provided at spaced intervals along a flexible conductor and these conductors and/or the lamp holders for the lights, are detachably secured either to the eaves trough or to the overhang of the building by means of clips, `

' ~' ~

35~

nails, hooks or other supporting devices.

Not only are these relatively unslightly but they are preferably removed after the Christmas season in order to prevent severe deterioration occurring to the string of lights in the summer months due to the action of -rain, wind, sunlight and the like.

Furthermore conventional nails or hooks often rust and stain the paint on the building and often become unslightly after continual use.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION `
The present invention overcomes these disadvan-tages by providing a cover and support for a string of lights which may be secured to the underside of the con-ventional roof overhang and which contain the light string in a protected and hidden manner. This is accomplished by a two or three sided panel secured to the overhang and hav-ing means within the channel to support the conductors.
Decorative cutouts are provided in the face or vertical side of the support and cover and the lamp holders together with the lights therein, are positioned immediately behind these cutouts so that, when illuminated, the light shines through the decorative cutouts. The conductors and the lamp holders together with the lamps are protected from the elements and 3~;2~

may be left for extended periods without severe deteriora-tion occurring.

The principal object and essence of the inven-tion is therefore to provide a device of the character ;
herewithin described which may be secured to the overhang or soffit panel of a bullding and which includes means to support and retain a decorative light string in a sub-stantially protected and covered manner.

Another object of the invention is to provide a device of the character herewithin described in which the ~, decorative cutouts can be provided in either the front or front and rear walls of the cover so that light may shine through one or both sides thereof depending upon the pre-ference of the user.

Still another object of the invention is to pro-vide a device of the character herewithin described which may include means whereby adjacent covers may be detach-ably connected to form one elongated longitudinally extend-ing support and cover.

A still further object of the invention is to pro-3rj 2~

vide a device of the character herewithin described which is simple in construction, economical in manufacture and otherwise well suited to the purpose for which it is de-signed.

With the foregoing in view, and other advantages as will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which this invention relates as this specification proceeds, my invention consists essentially in the arrangement and construction of parts all as hereinafter more partieularly described, referenee being had to the accompanying drawings in which:

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
~igure 1 is an isometric view of the preferred embodiment of the invention.
.

Figure 2 is an end elevation showing the eover seeured to the soffit of a roof overhang.

Figure 3 is a front elevation of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a longitudinal seetional view of ~3~

Figure 3.

Figure 5 is transverse cross sectional view of Figure 3.

Figures 6 through 9 are fragmentary front eleva- ;~
tions showing a selection of various shapes for the decora-tive cutouts.

Figure 10 is an end view of an alternative em-bodiment.

In the drawings li~e characters of reference indi~
cate corresponding parts in the different figures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Proceeding therefore to describe the invention in detail, reference character 10, in Figure 2, illustrates a roof of a building with the conventional overhang 11 includ-ing the soffit plate 12 and the eaves trough 13 secured to the front of the overhang.

The invention collectively designated 14 is pre-~3522 ferably secured to the substantially horizontal soffit 12, as will hereinafter be described, and is adapted to support and cover a decorative light string collectively designated 15.

The light string, in common with such devices, normally includes flexible electrical conduits 16, having lamp or light holders 17 operatively connected thereto in spaced relationship therealong, said lamp holders adapted to receive lamps 18 in the usual manner.

:;:

The conductors 16 are normally provided with electrical connector plugs (not illustrated) for connecting same to a source of electrical energy. However these are conventional and are not shown in the enclosed drawings.
.~

The invention 14 is preferably formed in the con-figuration shown, from relatively thin sheet metal such as aluminum which may either be painted or anodized (not illus-trated) if desired.

Alternatively of course relatively thin sheet steel or synthetic plastic material may be used but the aluminum sheeting has several advantages one of which is the `~
the fact it is readily cut with household scissors or/like if the ~35~

length needs adjustment for installation purposes.

~igure lO shows one embodiment of the invention in which the cover and support comprises an elongated mem- ;
ber including a substantially vertical side l9 and a sup-port side 20 which extends substantially at right angles from the upper edge 21 of the vertical side l9.
~.
,~
However the preferredembodiment is shown in the remainder of the drawings and includes an elongated member comprising the support side 20 and a pair of downwardly de-pending longitudinally extending side members l9A and l9B :
situated in substantially spaced and parallel relationship with one another and one each depending from the longitud-inal side edges of the support member 20. The formation can of course be formed by conventional breaking equipment (not illustrated).
:
' i ~

The elongated members 14 may be secured to the underside of the soffit 12 by means of screws 22 extending through apertures 23 formed in the support side 20.

Means are provided to detachably support the con-ductors of the light string 15 and take the form, in this embodiment, of tabs 24 struck out from the material forming .. .... ~ . .. .

~3~52Z

the support surface 20 as clearly illustrated in Figure 1, with said tabs remaining attached to the support side 20 by a portion or side 25 thereof. Due to the relative thinness of the material, these tabs 24 are bendable so that the conductors 16 may be engaged over the tabs where-upon the tabs may be bent upwardly as illustrated in Figure 5 thus clamping the conductors 16 between the tabs and the inner surface 20A of the support side 20. Alterna-tively of course the conductors may be secured to one of ~
the vertical sides 19 by a slmilar means if desired. :

Decorative cutouts 26 are punched through the material forming the vertical sides 19 and the lamp holders 17 together with the lamps 18 are positioned within the cover immediately behind the cutouts so that light emitted by the lamps, shines through the cutouts. The positioning of these lamps relative to the cutouts is shown clearly in Figures 3 and 4.

In the embodiment illustrated in Figure 10, the cutouts are situated in the side 19 but in the preferred embodiment, the cutouts may be provided in the front side member l9A and also, if desired, in the rear side member l9B, it being understood that the cutouts are in alignment with one another along the two sides so that light can shine forwardly and rearwardly relative to the roof structure illus-trated in Figure 2.

3~22 Clip portions 27 are struck from the vertical sides l9~at one end thereof as clearly shown in Figure l to enable overlapping engagement of the other end 28 of an adjacent cover and support thus detachably holding the cover and supports together when installed to form a sub-stantially continuous length.

Figures 6 through 9 show examples of other shapes of decorative cutouts 26A, which may be utilized if desired However these designs are not limiting and are given as ex-amples only, As mentioned previously, the support and cover l~
may be anodized if formed from aluminum or painted if form-ed from aluminum or relatively thin sheet metal. If formed from plastic, then of course the plastic may be coloured as desired, during the production thereof.

The covers and supports are easy to install and hide the conductors of the decorative light string and also provide means for supporting same within the cover so that the light shines through the decorative cutouts 26.

Since various modifications can be made in my in-vention as hereinabove described, and many apparently wide-S%2 ly different embodiments of same made within the spirit and scope of the claims without departing from such spirit and scope, it is intended that all matter contained in the accompanying specification shall be interpreted as illus-trative only and not in a limiting sense.

Claims

WHAT WE CLAIM AS OUR INVENTION:
(1) A cover and support for decorative light strings such as Christmas lights and the like which in-clude flexible electrical conductors with lamp holders operatively secured to the conductors at spaced intervals therealong; comprising in combination an elongated member having at least one substantially vertical side and a support side extending substantially at right angles from the upper edge of said vertical side, means on one of said sides for detachably securing and supporting the said con-ductors within said cover and decorative cutouts in said vertical side at spaced intervals therealong, the associat-ed lamp holders being positioned behind said cutouts.

(2) The invention according to Claim 1 in which said elongated member comprises a substantially inverted U-shaped channel including a pair of substantially vertical sides situated in spaced and parallel relationship with one another and extending downwardly one from each longitudinal edge of said support side.

(3) The invention according to Claim 1 which in-cludes clip means on at least one end of said elongated member for cooperative engagement with the adjacent end of a further elongated member connected to said first elongated member.

(4) The invention according to Claim 2 which in-cludes clip means on at least one end of said elongated member for cooperative engagement with the adjacent end of a further elongated member connected to said first elongat-ed member.

(5) The invention according to Claim 2 in which said decorative cutouts are formed through each of said vertical sides and in opposed relationship with one another.

(6) The invention according to Claim 4 in which said decorative cutouts are formed through each of said vertical sides and in opposed relationship with one another.

(7) The invention according to Claim 1 in which said means to detachably secure and support said conductors consists of tab portions struck out from said support side and remaining attached to said support side by a portion thereof, said tabs being manually bendable around the asso-ciated conductor to clamp said conductor between said tabs and said support side.

(8) The invention according to Claim 2 in which said means to detachably secure and support said conductors consists of tab portions struck out from said support side and remaining attached to said support side by a portion thereof, said tabs being manually bendable around the associated conductor to clamp said conductor between said tabs and said support side.

(9) The invention according to Claim 3 in which said means to detachably secure and support said conductors consists of tab portions struck out from said support side and remaining attached to said support side by a portion thereof, said tabs being manually bendable around the associated conductor to clamp said conductor between said tabs and said support side.

(10) The invention according to Claim 4 in which said means to detachably secure and support said conductors consists of tab portions struck out from said support side and remaining attached to said support side by a portion thereof, said tabs being manually bendable around the associated conductor to clamp said conductor between said tabs and said support side.

(11) The invention according to Claim 5 in which said means to detachably secure and support said conductors consists of tab portions struck out from said support side and remaining attached to said support side by a portion thereof, said tabs being manually bendable around the associated conductor to clamp said conductor between said tabs and said support side.

(12) The invention according to Claim 6 in which said means to detachably secure and support said conductors consists of tab portions struck out from said support side and remaining attached to said support side by a portion thereof, said tabs being manually bendable around the as-sociated conductor to clamp said conductor between said tabs and said support side.
CA296,184A 1978-02-02 1978-02-02 Cover and support for decorative lights Expired CA1093522A (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CA296,184A CA1093522A (en) 1978-02-02 1978-02-02 Cover and support for decorative lights

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CA296,184A CA1093522A (en) 1978-02-02 1978-02-02 Cover and support for decorative lights

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
CA1093522A true CA1093522A (en) 1981-01-13

Family

ID=4110686

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
CA296,184A Expired CA1093522A (en) 1978-02-02 1978-02-02 Cover and support for decorative lights

Country Status (1)

Country Link
CA (1) CA1093522A (en)

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4999754A (en) * 1989-11-02 1991-03-12 Gary Products Group, Inc. Decorative sconce assembly
US6186644B1 (en) 1998-09-09 2001-02-13 Raymond Mosseau Decorative lighting system with light string mounting channel

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4999754A (en) * 1989-11-02 1991-03-12 Gary Products Group, Inc. Decorative sconce assembly
US6186644B1 (en) 1998-09-09 2001-02-13 Raymond Mosseau Decorative lighting system with light string mounting channel

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