PORTABLE, NESTING VOTING BOOTH

• US 20100224105A1
• Filed: 03/09/2010
• Published: 09/09/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/09/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Castro & Harris Incorporated, CR Daniels Incorporated (C.R. Daniels.)
• Original Assignee: Gary V. Abel, Joseph Wilson
• Inventors: ABEL, GARY V., Wilson, Joseph
• Granted Patent: US 7,895,954 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 108/91
• CPC Class Codes: A47B 19/00 Reading-desks; Lecterns; Pulpits , i.e. free-standing
• CPC Class Codes: A47B 7/02 Stackable tables; Nesting tables
• CPC Class Codes: E04H 1/1255 Voting booths
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 13/00 Voting apparatus

Abstract

A voting booth that is easily transported between a polling-facility and a storage facility, easy to set up, and efficiently stored with other voting booths when not in use. The voting booth comprises an inclined private semi-enclosure and a leg assembly in a nesting configuration. The leg assembly optionally includes a plurality of casters. The voting booth components are configured to allow modular grouping and nesting with voting booths of like construction. The voting booth is light-weight and has a high degree of mobility. The nesting ability provides for efficient storage by minimizing the space needed to store multiple voting booths.

Claims

1. A portable, nesting voting booth comprising:

an open-topped, open-faced semi-enclosure defined by an inclined working surface and at least one privacy panel partially surrounding the periphery of the working surface; and

a leg assembly fixedly attached to the semi-enclosure, the leg assembly having an unbounded floor base and a vertical spacer extending upwardly from said floor base;

said semi-enclosure being adapted for nesting with like semi-enclosures, said leg assembly being adapted for nesting with like leg assemblies, the semi-enclosure and leg assembly combined allowing said portable, nesting voting booth to horizontally nest with other voting booths of similar construction.

2. The portable, nesting voting booth according to claim 1, wherein the inclined working surface defines a shape comprising a front edge that forms effective acute angles with the sides.

3. The portable, nesting voting booth according to claim 2, wherein the floor base comprises at least two members arrayed along an unbounded shape having an open end that forms effective acute angles with the sides.

4. The portable, modular voting booth according to claim 3, wherein the shape of the working surface and the floor base is a triangle or a trapezoid.

5. The portable, nesting voting booth according to claim 4, wherein the shape is a trapezoid, and the at least two members of the floor base are arrayed along the legs of the trapezoid.

6. The portable, nesting voting booth according to claim 5, wherein the at least one privacy panel comprises three panels arrayed along the legs and minor base of the trapezoidal working surface.

7. The portable, nesting voting booth according to claim 1, wherein the leg assembly further comprises a plurality of casters mounted underneath.

8. The portable, nesting voting booth according to claim 1, wherein the at least one privacy panel is removably attachable.

9. The portable, nesting voting booth according to claim 1, wherein the floor base is arrayed along the legs and minor base of an isosceles trapezoid.

10. The portable, nesting voting booth according to claim 1, wherein the vertical spacer comprises a single member extending from the floor base.

11. The portable, nesting voting booth according to claim 1, wherein the vertical spacer comprises a pair of members extending from the floor base.

12. The portable, nesting voting booth according to claim 1, wherein the working surface further comprises an integral flange on the shelf'"'"'s front edge.

13. The portable, nesting voting booth according to claim 1, wherein the leg assembly is formed from one contiguous piece of tubing.

14. The portable, nesting voting booth according to claim 1, wherein the floor base is configured to allow a voter in a wheel chair to access the semi-enclosure, and the vertical spacer is sized to support the semi-enclosure at a height that accommodates the voter in a wheel chair.

15. The portable, nesting voting booth according to claim 1, wherein,

said working surface trapezoidal and inclined downward from its minor end to its major end, and said at least one privacy panel comprises a pair of opposing privacy panels extending vertically upward from the sides of said trapezoidal working surface,

said leg assembly further comprises a lateral shelf support underlying and supporting said private semi-enclosure, said floor base is substantially U-shaped and open frontally, and said vertical spacer comprises a pair of vertical spacer struts extending from said floor base to said shelf support and joined thereto approximate the major end of said trapezoidal working surface at the corners thereof;

whereby the angular privacy panels, inclined working surface, and frontally-open U-shaped floor base guide the modular voting booth to nest with another voting booth of similar construction.