Lighting apparatus with convenient and concealed mounting mechanism and a slip-resistant vertical adjustment and attachment/removal mechanism

• US 6,959,996 B2
• Filed: 01/26/2004
• Issued: 11/01/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 01/26/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Ken Ip
• Original Assignee: Ken Ip
• Inventors: Ip, Ken
• Primary Examiner(s): O'Shea, Sandra
• Assistant Examiner(s): PAYNE, SHARON E
• Application Number:
  US10/764,796
• Publication Number:
  US 20050162855A1
• Time in Patent Office: 645 Days
• Field of Search: 362/102, 362/650, 362/640, 362/249, 362/250, 362/418, 362/429, 362/430, 362/410, 362/431, 362/396, 362/97, 362/134, 362/227, 362/368
• US Class Current: 362/102
• CPC Class Codes: A45B 3/02 with illuminating devices
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 33/006 General building constructions or finishing work for buildings, e.g. roofs, gutters, stairs or floors; Garden equipment; Sunshades or parasols

Abstract

The present invention is directed to a lighting apparatus to be used on an umbrella pole or similar upright structure with a convenient and concealed mounting mechanism and a slip-resistant vertical adjustment mechanism, designed to provide the user with an easily adjustable and removable/attachable source of light, wherein the means by which it is removed or attached is attractively concealed from the casual observer.

Claims

1. An apparatus for attaching a lighting device with one or more light bulbs to an umbrella pole or similar upright device, comprising:

an electrical cord;

one or more light fixtures into which one or more light bulbs and light globes can be attached;

an encircling ring made of plastic, metal, or some other rigid material which encircles the pole; and

an adjustment mechanism consisting of an adjustment handle attached to a screw body with screw threads projecting through the encircling ring into screw thread countersunk grooves built into a tightening block, made of the same material as the encircling ring;

wherein the tightening block can be moved forward or backward through the encircling ring by manually twisting the adjustment handle, and;

wherein at the end of the tightening block furthest away from the adjustment handle is a thin layer of slip-resistant plastic which, when tightened up against the umbrella pole or other upright device by applying pressure against the umbrella pole or other upright device against a bracing layer of slip-resistant plastic set on the inner face of the encircling ring on the opposite side of the umbrella opening, provides a non-slip means of maintaining the vertical position of the lighting device without slippage down, and provides a convenient means of adjusting the lighting device up or down the umbrella pole.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, where,

the means of attaching the device to and from an umbrella pole or other upright device comprises:

a removable section of the encircling ring designed to appear as a seamlessly integrated part of the ring, wherein;

the removable section is designed to slide into the encircling ring along attachment tracks built into the encircling ring; and

at the end of the attachment tracks on the encircling ring closest to the umbrella pole or other upright device are two attachment cavities, into which attachment clips on the removable section snap into place, thereby securing the removable section into the encircling ring in an almost seamless manner by which it appears that the removable section is a part of the encircling ring rather than being a separate unit.