US3901469A

US3901469A - Christmas tree stand

Info

Publication number: US3901469A
Application number: US436518*[A
Authority: US
Inventors: Billy Ray Davis; Bob G Davis
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1974-05-03
Filing date: 1974-05-03
Publication date: 1975-08-26
Anticipated expiration: 1992-08-26

Abstract

A tree stand of the type useful for holding Christmas trees is disclosed herein. The stand has a rectangular base having at least two opposing members with slot means associated therewith. These slot containing members are formed into a rectangle by two remaining members which are attached at the ends of the slot containing members. A first pair of upright members form a triangle with one of the slot containing members and similarly a second pair of upright members form a triangle with the second slot containing member at the base. A notch supporting arm having tree holding means located near the mid-point thereof is affixed at one end to one of the pairs of upright members and at the other end to the corresponding upright member of the second pair. Spring means are affixed to the same corresponding upright members as the notch supporting arm. The spring means is longitudinally displaced along said corresponding members so as to cause a torque in any tree or other object placed between the spring means and the notch supporting arm. A longitudinal rod is held in the slot means located in the opposing members and serves to restrain the torque caused by the spring means and notch supporting arm. The members may be pivotally attached and made detachable at the upper extremities whereby the stand can be folded for storage. Extension bars may be affixed at each corner of the base to provide further stability for the stand.

Description

United States Patent [191 Davis et al.

[ Aug. 26, 1975 CHRISTMAS TREE STAND [76] Inventors: Billy Ray Davis; Bob G. Davis, both of 1501 Launer Dr., La Habra, Calif. 90631 22 Filed: May 3,1974

21 Appl. No.: 436,518

Primary Examiner-William H. Schultz [57] ABSTRACT A tree stand of the type useful for holding Christmas trees is disclosed herein. The stand has a rectangular base having at least two opposing members with slot means associated therewith. These slot containing members are formed into a rectangle by two remaining members which are attached at the ends of the slot containing members. A first pair of upright members form a triangle with one of the slot containing members and similarly a second pair of upright members form a triangle with the second slot containing member at the base. A notch supporting arm having tree holding means located near the mid-point thereof is affixed at one end to one of the pairs of upright members and at the other end to the corresponding upright member of the second pair. Spring means are affixed to the same corresponding upright members as the notch supporting arm. The spring means is longitudinally displaced along said corresponding members so as to cause a torque in any tree or other object placed between the spring means and the notch supporting arm. A longitudinal rod is held in the slot means located in the opposing members and serves to restrain the torque caused by the spring means and notch supporting arm. The members may be pivotally attached and made detachable at the upper extremities whereby the stand can be folded for storage. Extension bars may be affixed at each corner of the base to provide further stability for the stand.

9 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures CHRISTMAS TREE STAND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The field of the invention is Christmas tree support stands of the type useful for artificial or natural Christmas trees. Such stands provide support of the tree as well as adjustment to provide the proper angle of support.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The Christmas tree stand of the present invention is constructed from light weight material such as aluminum, tin, plastic, wood and the like and may be manufactured at a very reasonable cost. The invention is for a tree stand having a rectangular base with at least opposing members which have slot means associated therewith which members are attached to other members comprising the rectangular base. Two pairs of upright members are affixed to the base, a first member of each pair has a tree supporting arm attached thereto and the tree supporting arm has holding means located near its midpoint. Spring means are attached to the first of each pair of upright members and a longitudinal rod is affixed to the two opposing members. The tree is supported between this logitudinal rod, the spring means and the supporting arm.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the stand of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the pin connecting a pair of upright members of the stand of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the notch of the stand of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4'is a perspective view of the stand of FIG. 1 in a folded configuration.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged side elevation of the fingers of the base of the stand of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS As shown in FIG. 1, the tree stand has a spring 1 which may be a coil spring and must be of a high tension metal. The frame is approximately 12 by 12 inches in width and inches in height when in the assembled configuration of FIG. 1. Two pairs of upright members, each form a triangular structure with the base of the stand. The first member of each pair has coil spring 1 affixed to it by means of a ring which is inserted through a hole in these first members.

A suporting arm 2 is welded to the first members of each pair of upright members. As shown in the drawings, arm 2 is located above the point of attachment of spring 1. It has been found that a displacement of about 4 inches is appropriate for a frame having a 12 by 12 inch base.

The upper frame section, or upright members, may be A-inch thick and l-inch wide angle iron, 10 inches in length. These upright 'members are connected to the bottom portion of the frame by pivot rivets that are loosely fitted to allow movement of the upright mem-,

bers and to permit the device to be folded in a manner shown in FIG. 4.

The lower frame sections may be 12 inches long, 1% inches wide, and are securely fastened together to form a square base.

Small grooves are formed in the notch located on supporting arm 2 as shown in FIG. 3. These grooves secure a tighter grip on the tree.

A tree may be held by the stand by placing the tree over spring 1 and contacting the tree in the notch in supporting arm 2 at a point about 6 to 7 inches from the bottom of the tree. Force is then applied to the top of the tree to raise it into a vertical position and to stretch or extend spring means 1. Longitudinal rod 3 is then inserted in one of the slots 6 of the opposing members 5 and the bottom of the tree is urged by the spring against rod 3. The bottom of the tree should clear the floor by a minimum of inch. The longitudinal rod 3 is preferably 15 inches long and approximately V4 inch in diameter. The rod may be of any desired shape and is preferably round. Slots 6 may be 5/16 inch so that rod 3 is securely held thereby.

To improve the stability of the stand, extension bars 5 may be attached to the frame by loose rivets to enable them to be pivoted outwardly to increase the stability of the stand. The extension bars may be 10 inches long, 4-inch thick, k-inch wide. The bottom portion of the frame is slotted out in a manner shown by reference character 7 to cause the extension bars to be at the same level as the frame when the extension bars are extended. A 1-inch downward extension has been found satisfactory for this purpose.

The upper ends of the upright members are interconnected in a manner shown in FIG. 2. A pin and key slot 4 permit each pair of members to be detachably held together so that they may be coupled or uncoupled. The pin may have a inch outside diameter at the top and a 3/16 inch diameter at the bottom portion to enable the pin to be held in the key way.

The stand may be folded in a manner indicated in FIG. 4 where each pair of upright members has been disconnected and folded downwardly and the extension bars 5 have been pivoted inwardly so that the folded stand occupies a minimum of storage space.

The sole purpose of the present invention is the decrease of the labor involved in preparing Christmas tree trunks for stands. The stand of the present invention eliminates the necessity of cutting, leveling, nailing, screwing, etc., thus simplifying the placement of a tree in a stand. The stand of the present invention may also be assembled and disassembled faster, more easily and a more stable stand is formed than those commonly in use.

A tree may be readily removed from the stand by pushing the top of the tree in the direction of the V-bar and removing longitudinal rod 3 from slot 6.

It has been found that the supporting arm containing the V-shaped notch is preferably 1 1% inches long, i-inch thick, r-inches wide. The notch or V-cut is preferably 1 7/8 inches deep, and 5 inches wide.

The present embodiments of this invention are thus to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. All changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims therefore are intended to be embraced therein.

We claim:

l. A tree stand of the type useful for holding Christmas trees comprising:

a rectangular base having at least two opposing members with a slot means associated therewith and the other members of said base being attached to said opposing members near the extremities thereof;

a first pair of upright members affixed at their lower ends to said base, one of said first pair of members being affixed near a first end of one of said opposing members and the second of said first pair being affixed near a second end of said one of said opposing members and the upper ends of said first pair being secured together; second pair of upright members affixed at their lower ends to said base, one of said second pair of members being affixed near a first end of the other of said opposing members and the second of said second pair being affixed near a second end of the other of said opposing members and the upper end of said second pair also being secured together;

a supporting arm having holding means located near the mid-point thereof, said arm being affixed at each end to the first of each pair of said upright members;

spring means attached at each end to the first of each pair of said upright members at a point longitudinally displaced along the longitudinal axis of said members with respect to the point of attachment of said arm;

slot means affixed to said two opposing members;

and

a longitudinal rod shaped to fit into said slot means, whereby an object such as a Christmas tree may be inserted into the stand and be held by said spring means, said longitudinal rod and said supporting arm.

2. The stand of claim 1 wherein the holding means comprises a V-shaped notch.

3. The stand of claim 2 wherein said notch has a plurality of teeth located along the inner edges thereof.

4. The stand of claim 1 wherein said spring means is located below said supporting arm.

5. The stand of claim 1 wherein said spring means is a metallic coil spring.

6. The stand of claim 4 wherein said slot means comprises a plurality of fingers pointing in the opposite direction as said first of each pair of said upright members.

7. The stand of claim 1 further including an extension bar pivotally affixed at each corner of said base.

8. The stand of claim 1 wherein each of said pairs of said upright members are removably affixed at their upper ends and pivotally affixed at their lower ends whereby said stand may be folded into a more compact position for storage.

9. The stand of claim 6 wherein each of said two opposing members have four fingers formed therein.

Claims

1. A tree stand of the type useful for holding Christmas trees comprising: a rectangular base having at least two opposing members with a slot means associated therewith and the other members of said base being attached to said opposing members near the extremities thereof; a first pair of upright members affixed at their lower ends to said base, one of said first pair of members being affixed near a first end of one of said opposing members and the second of said first pair being affixed near a second end of said one of said opposing members and the upper ends of said first pair being secured together; a second pair of upright members affixed at their lower ends to said base, one of said second pair of members being affixed near a first end of the other of said opposing members and the second of said second pair being affixed near a second end of the other of said opposing members and the upper end of said second pair also being secured together; a supporting arm having holding means located near the mid-point thereof, said arm being affixed at each end to the first of each pair of said upright members; spring means attached at each end to the first of each pair of said upright members at a point longitudinally displaced along the longitudinal axis of said members with respect to the point of attachment of said arm; slot means affixed to said two opposing members; and a longitudinal rod shaped to fit into said slot means, whereby an object such as a Christmas tree may be inserted into the stand and be held by said spring means, said longitudinal rod and said supporting arm.

2. The stand of claim 1 wherein the holding means comprises a V-shaped notch.

5. The stand of claim 1 wherein said spring means is a metallic coil spring.