US3323972A - Artificial tree - Google Patents

Description

June 6, 1967 J. o. BERZINS' 3,323,972

ARTIFICI'AL TREE Filed Dec. 4, 1964 FIG. 3

INVENTOR J. O. BERZINS 7h ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,323,972 ARTIFICIAL TREE Janis Osvald Berzins, Willowdale, Ontario, Canada, as-

signor of one-half to Bellastra Products Limited, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada Filed Dec. 4, 1964, Ser. No. 416,970 1 Claim. (Cl. 16122) This invention relates to an artificial tree, and in particular to an artificial Christmas tree.

An object of the invention is to provide an artificial tree that has a full and bushy appearance and that can easily be set up and dismantled.

The invention will be described by way of example with reference to the acompanying drawings in which a preferred embodiment is shown and in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of an artificial Christmas tree;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged side view of the trunk and stand for the tree, parts of the trunk being disconnected, with broken lines indicating the distances that branches at different elevations extend from the trunk as well as the inclinations of the branches;

FIG. 3 is a further enlarged perspective view of a branch and part of the trunk showing how the branch can be engaged with the trunk, much of the branch being indicated by broken lines for simplicity of illustration; and

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line 44 of FIG. 3.

The tree shown in the drawings has a wooden trunk consisting of a bottom pole 1 and a top pole 2, the poles being connectible by twisting a threaded extension 1a of the pole 1 into a threaded socket 2a of the pole 2. A metal stand 3 of any suitable construction is removably secure-d to the bottom of the trunk.

A typical branch 4 is shown in FIG. 3. It is made of a pair of wires 5 twisted together to form a rod, with flexible filaments 6 held by the wires of the rod and radiating from the rod save at the ends of the rod. The filaments are preferably of non-inflammable synthetic plastic, for example, polyvinyl chloride. Such branches, when made in straight lengths, are known, and one such straight length 7 can be inserted in an axial hole at the top of the trunk to constitute a bushy vertical spire for the tree. However the other branches are made by bending the rods to form bushy loops 8, the ends of the rods being secured to metal support members 9 by means of which the loops can be removably secured to the trunk.

Each support member 9 consists of a metal stamping having pressed-out integral clips 10 through which the end-s of the rod are pushed to secure the loop to the support member. A pin 11 is similarly secured to the support member by clips 12 and protrudes from the support member to be received in an inclined hole 13 in the trunk and thus support the branch from the trunk. Each branch can be engaged with the trunk by pushing the support member against the trunk with the pin 11 in registry with one of the holes 13, and the branch can be disengaged from the trunk by pulling it away from the trunk axially of the pin 11.

To resist rotation of the loops 8 relative to the trunk, each support member has an arcuate recess 14 which embraces the trunk, the trunk thus being clasped by the support member. The resistance to rotation is enhanced by 3,323,972 Patented June 6, 1967 prongs 15 which protrude from the recess and embed themselves in the wooden trunk.

Each hole 13 is one of a group of three holes spaced approximately apart at one level of the trunk, and the groups of holes are at levels spaced at roughly equal distances along the trunk. The holes at one level are not directly above or below the holes of adjacent levels; rather the holes lie roughly on three imaginary lines that spiral around the trunk, and thus branches at one level protrude from the trunk in different directions than branches at adjacent levels. The branches of each group of three at a given level also of course diverge from one another, but the loops give the tree an appearance of fullness. The branches for the lower parts of the trunk have larger loops than those for the higher parts, and the lower branches protrude farther from the trunk, as do natural tree branches. Preferably the lower branches have a small inclination to the horizontal, the inclination increasing for higher branches as clearly indicated in FIG. 2. The topmost group of three branches can be inserted into holes at the top of the pole 2, adjacent the spire 7. To reduce the number of branch sizes it is preferred to use branches of identical size for two or three adjacent levels. Once the branches have been secured by means of their metal support members 9 to the trunk, the rods of the branches can be bent if desired to best fill the spaces between adjacent branches.

The loops of the branches not only give the tree a full and bushy appearance but they are strong and can support small packages or decorations. There are no sharp metal ends at the outer extremities of the branches. The tree can easily be dismantled and store-d because the branches are readily removable from the trunk, and because the trunk itself is made of two detachable sections 1 and 2 and the stand 3 can be removed.

What I claim as my invention is:

An artificial tree comprising a trunk, a plurality of branches, each of said branches comprising a separate bushy loop unconnected to the bushy loops of the other branches, and means for removably securing the loop to the trunk, the loop being secured to said means, said branches being separate from one another and diverging from the trunk, the branches extending from the trunk in a plurality of directions and at a multiplicity of eleyations, the branches comprising bendable rods and flexible filament-s held by the rods and giving the branches a bushy appearance, and the securing means comprising metal support members secured to the loops, the support members having arcuate recesses to embrace the trunk and thus resist rotation of the loops relative to the trunk, and pins protruding from the support members to be received in inclined holes in the trunk to support the branches, the metal support members having clips which secure the rods of the branches to the support members.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,23 8,134 4/1941 Schoen l61-24 X 3,101,291 8/1963 Lalick 16l24 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,272,594 1961 France.

ALEXANDER WYMAN, Primary Examiner. JACOB H. STEINBERG, Examiner.

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