US3126310A - Artificial christmas trees - Google Patents

Description

March 24, 1964 G. E. HlRscHMANN 3,126,310

ARTIFICIAL CHRISTMAS TREES Filed May l1. 1960 United States Patent O 3,126,310 ARTIFICIAL CHRISTMAS TREES Gertraud Elisabeth Hirschmann, Innere Lauter Gasse 8, Numberg, Germany Filed May 11, 1960, Ser. No. 28,312 Claims priority, application Germany May 14, 1959 1 Claim. (Cl. 161-24) The invention relates to an artificial Christmas tree the branches of which composed of garlands or the like wound on a core, are fixed on the trunk by means of the wire core.

Hitherto the procedure employed when constructing artificial Christmas trees consisted in hammering at the ends of the wire core of the branches, bending them through an angle of about '90 and then driving the bent end portions into the trunk which was generally made of wood. The branches are therefore nailed as this procedure is called in the trade. Thereupon the branches were wound with binding wire, the ends adjacent the trunk being thereby wound to the trunk. Finally a coating of glue, which may be coloured, was applied to the winding. Thus a number of operations are necessary which not only take a relatively long time to perform but also require a certain amount of skill and experience.

The object of the invention is to facilitate considerably the making of artificial Christmas trees and particularly to do away with many of the operations which have been hitherto carried out by hand. It also aims at enabling the manufacture of the trees to be more mechanical than heretofore.

This object is attained in a progressive manner by biulding up the trunk of an artificial Christmas tree of sections corresponding to the distance between two rows or sets of branches and fixing the branches of a set by fitting together two adjoining sections of the trunk.

The idea according to the invention is realized by making the sections of the trunk in the form of sleeves, whereby the end piece of each upper section is slipped into the preceding lower section and fixes the bent-over ends of the branches inserted in the lower section.

The end piece may be in the form of a pin or plug on the upper trunk section which fits snugly in the lower trunk section. At the same time it is advisable to make the trunk sections from a tube of hard material, for example plastic, and the pins or plugs of softer material such as soft wood, plastic or the like. But it is also possible to slip the end of the upper trunk section directly into the lower trunk section. In this case it is advisable to widen the lower trunk section slightly at the top or to narrow the upper trunk section slightly at the bottom.

The invention presents the advantage that the artificial Christmas tree, as regards its trunk, is built up of several sections which can easily be cut to the desired length from a tube of plastic material. As the two trunk sections are held together by the end piece of one section engaging in the other and as this end piece is at the same time the element for fixing the branches, the pro duction of an artificial Christmas tree is simplified to a surprising extent. This also offers the advantage that the amount of time required for making a Christmas tree is considerably reduced so that several artificial Christmas trees can be made by one worker in a unit of time hitherto required for making one.

Other advantages and features of the invention are hereinafter explained in the following description of the drawing which shows an embodiment of the invention diagrammatically and by way of example. In the draw- FIG. l is a longitudinal section through an artificial Christmas tree according to the invention;

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FIG. 2 a part longitudinal section on a larger scale;

FIG. 3 a top plan view, and

FIG. 4 a longitudinal section of a modified form of construction.

The artificial Christmas tree comprises a trunk a, branches b and a stand c.

Each branch may be composed in known manner of garlands wound round a wire core. The core need not however consist of metal wire. It can also be a plastic wire.

According to the invention, the trunk is built up of several sections a1, a2, a3, a4, a5 and a5. These sections correspond to the height of the distance between two rows or sets of branches. In the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. l to 3, they are held by plugs d each of which engages two neighboring trunk sections.

In the embodiment illustrated, the sections al to a5 are of uniform thickness. However, it is obviously possible to make each next higher section thinner than the preceding lower section in order to adapt it to the trunk of the natural tree from which the artificial tree is copied and whose trunk becomes gradually thinner towards the top. With this object in view it is also possible to make the sections slightly conical, whereby the upper internal diameter of each section corresponds to the thickness at the bottom of the next higher section.

The plugs d serve not only for holding together the trunk sections al to a6. They also secure the branches b in position. As shown in dot-dash lines in FIG. 2, the ends of the branches are pushed so far into holes e, which preferably extend at an incline to the axis of the trunk, that they project into the interior of the sleevelike sections. When the plug fixed in the upper trunk section enters the lower section, the ends f of the branches are bent in the manner shown in FIG. 2 and clamped between the wall of the tubular trunk section and the plug.

According to FIG. 4, the tubular trunk sections can be inserted directly one in the other. In this case, the lower trunk section a1 is widened at the top, for example as shown in FIG. 4. The end piece h of the upper trunk section now takes over the function of the plug d. The lower trunk section may be reinforced in the clamping zone by an annular bead z' on the widened neck k.

It is obvious that fixing in the manner according to the invention can not only be carried out very simply and quickly but also affords a reliable hold for the branches. At the same time it is particularly advantageous that the above-mentioned operations hitherto necessary, such as nailing, binding the wire, wrapping with paper strip, coating with glue and so forth can now be dispensed with.

It is also obvious that narrow radial grooves provided in the upper end face of the trunk sections a may be used for inserting the ends of the branches instead of the holes e.

When the branches have been fixed, they can be bent so that they are at the desired angle in relation to the axis of the trunk.

As already mentioned, it is advisable to make the trunk sections of a hard material such as plastic substance. Coloured plastic substance is preferably used so that the trunk sections are from the outset the correct colour corresponding to the natural tree which they represent.

To prevent any splitting or bursting effect when clamping the branch ends between the trunk section and the plug d, it is advisable to make these plugs d of softer material such as soft wood, plastic or the like. The branch ends f then press into the plugs d.

In the example illustrated in FIG. 4, all the sections are made of the same material. The clamping is then effected in the annular gap between the end piece h and the widened neck k.

The tree can be fixed on a stand c by means of a holding plug or pin g which engages in the lowermost trunk section a1. In the example illustrated, this pin g is fixed on a sleeve-like insertion l in the stand c.

I claim:

An artificial Christmas tree comprising: a trunk consisting of a plurality of thin-walled tubular sections disposed coaxially of one another, each of said sections having an enlarged end portion and an unenlarged end thereto, said enlarged end portion being adapted to telescopically receive the unenlarged end of the adjacent section therein in such a manner as to provide an annular space therebetween, said enlarged end portion having a plurality of radially disposed holes through the wall adjacent the end of said enlarged portion and distributed 15 about the perimeter thereof; a plurality of artificial branches having deformable stems, said branches having the stub ends of their stems passing through said holes and extending into said annular space, the telescoping wall portions of adjacent trunk sections forming said annular space serving to frictionally clamp the ends of said branch stems within said annular space to electively retain said ends within said space and to effectively clamp adjacent trunk sections together, whereby said stem end portions within said annular space comprise the sole means for connecting adjacent trunk sections together.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 891,301 Spreen June 23, 1908 1,240,392 Vierlinger Sept. 18, 1917 2,788,598 Surber Apr. 16, 1957 2,893,149 Reece et al. July 7, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 303,270 Great Britain Jan. 3, 1929 560,638 Italy Apr. 8, 1957

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