US3915419A

US3915419A - Sling hanger for pots

Info

Publication number: US3915419A
Application number: US483534A
Authority: US
Inventors: Cedric B Brown; Christine K Brown
Original assignee: Cedric B Brown; Christine K Brown
Current assignee: BOOK PETER
Priority date: 1974-06-26
Filing date: 1974-06-26
Publication date: 1975-10-28
Anticipated expiration: 1992-10-28

Abstract

Disclosed is a plurality of rope strands braided at the upper ends to form an attachment loop and knotted at their lower ends to form a pot sling. A plurality of beads are positioned on the ropes so that every other bead is lower than its adjacent beads. Sliding adjustment of the location of the beads on the ropes permits the rope strands to be formed into a net and fitted to pots of different configurations.

Description

United States Patent [1 1 Brown et a1.

[ Oct. 28, 1975 SLING-HANGER FOR POTS Inventors: Cedric B. Brown; Christine K.

Brown, both of 948 N. Arthur, Fresno, Calif. 93728 Filed: June 26, 1974 Appl. No.: 483,534

U.S. Cl. 248/318 Int. Cl. F16M 13/00 Field of Search 248/102, 317, 318; 150/1,

ISO/1.7; 224/49; 47/35, 36

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 11/1886 Greenwood 248/318 11/1909 Haglund 248/318 Snee 224/49 X Sherwood 248/318 Hielscher 248/318 Gabriel 1 248/318 X Paprocki et a1 248/102 Primary Examiner-William H. Schultz ABSTRACT Disclosed is a plurality of rope strands braided at the upper ends to form an attachment loop and knotted at their lower ends to form a pot sling. A plurality of beads are positioned on the ropes so that every other bead is lower than its adjacent beads. Sliding adjustment of the location of the beads on the ropes permits the rope strands to be formed into a net and fitted to pots of different configurations. I

6 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures US. Patent Oct. 28, 1975 Sheet 1. of2 3,915,419

4m W v suN'c HANGER FOR POTS BACKGROUND OF INVENTION This invention relates generally to slings for supporting hanging pots and more particularly to slings formed from hanging strands and interconnected at their lower ends to provide a' po'tholding net.

In the art of macrame it has long been known to form artistic sling pot hangers from rope strands. These slings have been made in'a variety of waystogive different esthetic effects. Such'slings have-been used to support baskets,metal containers and pottery vases or potg. I

Recently, such slings have enjoyed an increased popularity and commercial manufacture is now .quite prevelant; Particularly. where pots are to be supported bythe slings, structure :must be incorporated in the lower portionof-the sling fora net that willkeep the pot in the sling. In the past thishas generally been done by knotting adjacent rope strands together to achieve a net-like configuration. This technique has the advantage of tailoring each sling to a pot of a particular configuration, or, at least a limited number of related configurations, since shorter, larger pots require a different net configuration for pro per support than do tall, narrower pots.

Moreover, macrame slings, being limited to strands of rope or other materialwhich can be easily knotted,

are not capable of effectively utilizing other forms of flexible strands such as wire and chain.

In commercial manufacture, this requirement of tailoring the net to a particular pot, or related group of pots, is a serious limitation because it requires many different sling models to be made, stored and marketed.

A need, therefore, exists for an improved pot hanging sling in which the pot holding net can be adapted by the user to the configuration of any of a large variety of pots.

It is, "therefore; a major object of our invention to provide a pot hanging sling in which the net is formed by interconnecting adjacent flexible strands with alternately' positioned beads or rings which are slidable on the strands to vary the configuration of the net.

Another object of our invention is to provide a pot hanging sling of the type described in which every other bead is positioned below: its adjacent beads and passes one of the two strands passed by each of its adjacent beads. i

A further object of our invention is to provide a pot hanging slingof the type described-which is esthetically pleasing and yet easilymanipulable by a user to adapt it to the configuration of a particular pot.

Still another object of our invention is to provide a pot hangingsling of the type.describedwhichassures satisfactory usage by reason of its ability tobe fitted to the particular pot to be supported and thereby provide the maximum support in combination with the most artistic appearance possible. 1

Yet another object of our invention is to provide such a pot hanging sling which is economical to manufacture and highly durable, andis adaptable to use with nearly FIG? 1 is an elevational view of a preferred embodiment of our invention showing it in use for supporting a relatively slender pot; I

"FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken on line2'2 in FIG.

- FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view of the preferred embodiment at 'FIG. 1;

FIGI4' is an enlarged sectional view of a single bead with the'rope strands passing through it;

' FIGCS 'is a partial elevational view showing our invention supporting a more bulbous pot;

FIG. 6 is a side elevational view of our preferred embodiment applied to hold a pot of still another shape;

and Y are utilized.

Referring now to the drawings and particularly to FIG. 1 thereof, the numeral 10 designates generally a preferred embodiment of our sling hanger. The sling is formed of rope strands 12, the upper ends of which are braided back up themselves at 14 to form an attachment loop 16. i Y

-.At ther-lower ends of the rope strands 12, a knot 18 is formed to hold the strands together, and the distal lower ends hang downward as a tassle 20.

To'provide structure for holding a pot 21 in the lower portion of the sling, beads are mounted on the rope strands. ,By positioning, these beads consist of lower beads 22 and upper beads 24. Each of the beads has a passage 25 which passes two rope strands and is slidable on these strands.

The lower beads 22 are alternated around the periphcry of the sling with upper beads 24, and each bead joins two adjacent rope strands. For example, lower bead 22a (see FIG. 1) joins rope strands 12a and 12b,

and is located lower on strand 12b than the next adja .cent bead (moving leftward in the Figure), upper bead 240. Upper bead 24a joins strands 12b and 12c. The next bead, lower bead 22b, joins strands 12c and 12d, and is lower on the rope strands 12 than upper bead 24a, and horizontally aligned with lower bead 22a. Fi-

the net structure 26 can be located about the lip 28 of the pot 21 and expanded or contracted in vertical coverage to provide the best possible stability. By illustration, the lower beads 22 in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 are arranged at the base of the lip 28 of the pot and the upper beads 24 are located about as far above the upper rim 30 of the pot as the lower beads are below it. As best shown in FIG. 3, this provides a network of inverted Vs in the strands as they pass over the rim 30 and causes equally spaced support points 32 from each strand about the pot rim.

With our sling hanger thus formed and arranged about a pot 21 it will be seen that the knot 18 at the lower ends of the rope strands 12 centers itself under the pot bottom and supports the weight of the pot and FIG;"7 'is'a side elevational view of a modified form of our invention in which three rows rather than two its contents. The function of the net structure 26 is to contain the upper portion of the pot by keeping it centered on the knot 18 and preventing it from tipping out of the sling between the rope strands. Control of the upper portion of the pot is achieved not only by the multiple support points 32 which the strandsprovide on the rim 30, but also by the ring of lower beads 22 which provide somewhat of a band about the pot throat just below the lip 28. Actually, for the pot 21 to escape from the-sling, the full diameter of the rim 30 must be passed between the legs of the alternately upright and inverted Vs formed by the net structure 26. As best seen in FIG. 3, this is possible when the net structure is properly adjusted.

A comparison of FIGS. 1 and 2 will illustrate the facility of our sling to provide the equally sure support for pots of different configurations. Where the net structure 26 is formed by knots instead of beads, this would not be possible and stable support could be provided for only one pot configuration per sling. The commercial implications of our variable net structure sling can, therefore, be readily appreciated.

In FIG. 6 we show our sling 10 applied to support of a substantially spherical pot 36. Since the major diameter of the pot 36 is at its midpoint rather than at its rim, as in the pots of FIGS. 1 and 2, the upper beads 24 are positioned somewhat above the midpoint of pot 36 and the lower beads 22 somewhat below the midpoint. The net structure 26 is thus arranged to span the center portion of pot 36 where the best stability against tipping is achieved.

In FIG. 7 we show a modified form of our sling applied to the support of a tear-shaped pot 38. The modified sling 40 has a third row of beads which are disposed between the upper beads 24 and lower beads 22 and constitute middle beads 42. In this form, as in the first embodiment, the middle beads 42 each pass a pair of the strands 12, one from each of two upper beads 24 on each side of the particular middle bead.

With this modified form the net structure 26 is expanded to provide a full diamond configuration rather than the peripheral series of alternatedupright and inverted Vs.

To assure the best stability of the pot 38, the net structure 26 in this form is arranged about the center of the pot where its diameter is maximum and extends over a greater area above and below the center. The upper beads 24 are below, but near, the pot rim, the middle beads 42 band about the center, and the lower beads 22 are quite near the bottom. By properly placing the rows of beads, they can be made to cinch up on the individual strands 12 which form' the net structure 26 and draw the net structure into close conformity with the periphery of the pot 38. This illustrates another advantageous feature of our invention which is available in the first form of our preferred embodiments as well, albeit to a lesser extent.

From this description of the two forms of our invention, it should be understood that it is also possible to add additional rows of beads where it is anticipated that the pot or object to be supported may require them for adequate stability. The two or three rows of beads will suffice; however, for a great variety of pot shapes.

Fromthis description it should also be understood that the placement of the bead rows on the pot contour and cinching upor spreading the beads as the net structure 26 is formed, provide additional benefit and versatility to our sling.

It is also possible to satisfactorily contain a pot within our sling by locating all the beads, upper, lower and 5 middle (if used), above the pot and cinching up on the strands above the pot. This necks down the sling above the pot and draws the lower strands passing along the pot snuggly against the pot walls.

It should also be understood that our sling provides great versatility not present in previously known slings. In addition to the features described above, it is possible, by reason of the mobility of the beads, to reverse the sling and hang it with the bottom knot 18 at the top, and the top braid 14 and loop 16 at the bottom. Furthermore, it is possible to position a pot on a slant to vertical as well as in vertical alignment, and still support it securing the sling. Also, by utilizing appropriate beads or rings, it is possible to accommodate flexible strands which cannot be readily knotted such as wire or chain.

From this detailed description of a preferred embodiment of our invention, it should be understood that it is fully capable of providing the advantages and achiev-o ing the objects heretofore attributed to it.

I claim:

1. A pot hanging sling comprising:

a plurality of pairs of strands suspended from their upper ends and interconnected at their lower ends to form a pot support; and

strand connection means interconnected with said strands intermediate their ends and disposed to join pairs of adjacent strands, said strand connection means being movable lengthwise on said strands, and said strand connection means includes a plu- 'rality of upper strand junction members each disposed to join a pair of strands, and lower strand junction members each positioned lower on said strands than said upper strand junction members and each disposed to join strands each of which is joined to a different strand by each of two different upper strand junction members. -2. A pot hanging sling as described in claim 1, in which:

said upper strand junction members are beads each mounted on a different pair of adjacent strands,

. and said lower strand junction members are beads each mounted on a different pair of adjacent strands, said pairs of strands upon which said lower beads are mounted containing one strand from each of two different pairs of strands upon which each of two different upper beads are mounted.

3. A pot hanging sling as described in claim 2, in

which:

each of said lower beads is mounted on a pair of adjacent strands one of which has an upper head on one side of said lower bead mounted thereon, and the other of which has an upper bead on the other side of said lower bead mounted thereon.

4. A pot hanging sling as described in claim 1, in which:

said strand junction members are so disposed as to form a net structure from said strands adapted to cinch up upon the periphery of a pot to hold said pot in said sling.

5. A pot hanging sling comprising:

six flexible strands disposed to be suspended from their upper ends and interconnected at their lower ends to form a pot support; three first row beads each mounted on a separate pair row bead.

6. A pot hanging sling as described in claim 5 which further includes:

three third row beads each mounted on a separate Said strands intermediate the ends thereof and 5 pair of said strands intermediate the ends thereof Shdable g thereon}: v and nearer the lower ends thereof than said second three. secon. row eadfs eac f on a Separate row beads and slidable manually thereon, said pairs pair of said strands intermediate the ends thereof b d and nearer the lower ends thereof than said first of strandstugon W? of saltd t A": row ea 5 row beads and slidable manually thereon, said pairs 10 are moun e mg 0 ran mm Secof Strands upon which each of Said Second row 0nd row bead disposed perlphenally on one side of beads are mounted consisting of one strand from a a Pamcular one of Sam third row beacls and one first row bead disposed peripherally on one side of Strand from another second row P l p P a particular one of said second row beads and one "P y on the other slde 0f 531d Particular thlrd strand from another first row bead disposed periph- WW a erally on the other side of said particular second

Claims

1. A pot hanging sling comprising: a plurality of pairs of strands suspended from their upper ends and interconnected at their lower ends to form a pot support; and strand connection means interconnected with said strands intermediate their ends and disposed to join pairs of adjacent strands, said strand connection means being movable lengthwise on said strands, and said strand connection means includes a plurality of upper strand junction members each disposed to join a pair of strands, and lower strand junction members each positioned lower on said strands than said upper strand junction members and each disposed to join strands each of which is joined to a different strand by each of two different upper strand junction members.

2. A pot hanging sling as described in claim 1, in which: said upper strand junction members are beads each mounted on a different pair of adjacent strands, and said lower strand junction members are beads each mounted on a different pair of adjacent strands, said pairs of strands upon which said lower beads are mounted containing one strand from each of two different pairs of strands upon which each of two different upper beads are mounted.

3. A pot hanging sling as described in claim 2, in which: each of said lower beads is mounted on a pair of adjacent strands one of which has an upper bead on one side of said lower bead mounted thereon, and the other of which has an upper bead on the other side of said lower bead mounted thereon.

4. A pot hanging sling as described in claim 1, in which: said strand junction members are so disposed as to form a net structure from said strands adapted to cinch up upon the periphery of a pot to hold said pot in said sling.

5. A pot hanging sling comprising: six flexible strands disposed to be suspended from their upper ends and interconnected at their lower ends to form a pot support; three first row beads each mounted on a separate pair of said strands intermediate the ends thereof and slidable manually thereon; three second row beads each mounted on a separate pair of said strands intermediate the ends thereof and nearer the lower ends thereof than said first row beads and slidable manually thereon, said pairs of strands upon which each of said second row beads are mounted consisting of one strand from a first row bead disposed peripherally on one side of a particular one of said second row beads and one strand from another first row bead disposed peripherally on the other side of said particular second row bead.

6. A pot hanging sling as described in claim 5 which further includes: three third row beads each mounted on a separate pair of said strands intermediate the ends thereof and nearer the lower ends thereof than said second row beads and slidable manually thereon, said pairs of strands upon which each of said third row beads are mounted consisting of one strand from a second row bead disposed peripherially on one side of a particular one of said third row beads and one strand from another second row bead disposed peripherally on the other side of said particular third row bead.