US2857507A - Electric lawn ornament - Google Patents

Description

.E. A. STEC ELECTRIC LAWN ORNAMENT Oct. 21, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 50, 1954 I INVENTOR. Edward A. ,S'zec .Hzs Attorney Oct. 21, 1958 EA. sTEc ELECTRIC LAWN ORNAMENT 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 30, 1954 INVENTOR. Edward A Siec BY .HZSAZZOFrzg 2,851,507 ELECTRIC LAWN. ORNAMENT Edward A.S tec, Cicero, In. Application June 30, 1954, Serial'No. 440,330 4 Claims. 01. 240-104 Theinvention relates to lawn ornaments and more particularly to ornaments which are used in celebrating holiday periods and is in the class of mechanically controlled celebrating equipment and more particularly to equipment which utilizes lightby. producing and moving shafts of different color lights for an attractive and pleasing effect.

During the Christmas season it has become an accepted practice among house dwellers to add to the spirit of the seasons occasions by having appropriate artistic showings placed on the front of their house and lawn, front porches and windows which may be enjoyed by passersby. Fourth of July and Decoration Day may also be celebrated in part by provisions of this kind as well as family celebrations which may be livened by devices of this nature, it also being remembered that people of different faiths and nationalities celebrate or make other showings upon occasion which may be enchanced by effects of this kind.

An object of the inventionis to provide light action equipment which embodies movable light elements of different colors and to provide unique reflectors for such lights which move withsame.

It is also an object to provide such reflectors in the form of wind wheel blades sothat when the device is placed out of doors and'more especially on ones lawn the wind blowing against the 'same will propel the blades and lights in rotary movements and produce an interlacing ofdiiferent color light shafts.

Itis an important object to provide for. using electrical light bulbs of different colors on a wind driven rotor and to provide frictional elements which communicate current for such lights from a stationary connection which communicates with a source of current supply.

It is also an object to produce a device for the above purposes which may be very economically constructed, and which will be very durable in operation.

It is a further object to provide for quickly mounting the device for immediate use so that it may be readily moved from one mounting location to another, and be removed from mounting provisions at will.

The above and other objects are attained by the structure illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which similar characters of reference designate similar parts throughout the different views.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the invention in operating position.

Fig. 2 is a side view of the invention.

Fig. 3 is a view from the rear showing a part of the supporting means.

Fig. 4 is a detail view indicating one choice of mounting arrangement.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged cross sectional view taken in the proximity of line 5--5 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 is a view taken in the proximity of line 6-6 of Fig. 5 with some of the parts removed.

Fig. 7 is a cross sectional view taken in the proximity of line 7-7 of Fig. 5. 4

Patiited Oct. 21 1958 Fig. 8 is an enlarged fragmentary cross'sectional view taken in the proximity of line 88 of Fig. 6.

Referring to Fig. 1, the numeral 1 designates the Wind wheel of the invention which in'this instance is con-.

veniently produced from a single piece of four cornered sheet metal preferably aluminum slit and formed in the manner of an old and well familiarized four bladed wind wheel which children have made for many years from paper. Arelatively large central hole 2 in the rear- Ward wall 3 of said wind wheel is fitted over the insulating commuter housing 4, the stationary shaft 5 mounting said housing and concentrically engaging the hub member 6 which engages each one of the flaps 7 through a suitable hole in the end of each.

Referring to Fig. 2, Fig. 3 and Fig. 5 it will be observed that the shaftS extends rearwardly to engagement with the supporting bracket Swhich'is made from a length of steel bar stock, the normally upper end beingbent flatways into a circular band formation 9 having a leg 10 from which said formation continues at substantially right angles thereto and terminates in the straight right angle section 11 which serves as a thumb lever and.

is spaced from said leg and approximately parallel there-- to. The shaft 5 is disposed diametrically across said. formation and through the bar material at two opposite points thereof, the two holes 12 being provided to thus receive said shaft.

Before said shaft is assembled as shown in Fig. 2, Fig. 3- and Fig. 5, the formation 9 is contracted as indicated by lines 13 by pressing the thumb lever 11 towards the leg 10 as indicated by lines 13. The shaft 5 is then inserted and the holes 12 are of proper size to bind on said shaft when said thumb lever is released; the shaft is thus locked in position on the bracket 8. t

The commuter housing 4 is of cylindrical character and has a flange 15 at its rearward end and the wheel 1. is confined longitudinally between this flange and the flange 16 at the forward end'of the hub member 6. Said hub member is threaded exteriorly and the other end is provided with a nut 17 which serves to hold the.wind

I wheel flaps 7 snugly together.

The commuter housing 4 forms a rearwardly facing round compartment 18 extending within said housing to the hub wall 19 which forms in this example four bulb socket holes parallel to the shaft 5. Each of said holes accommodates one of the forwardlyfacing light bulb' sockets 20. All of said sockets share in mounting-the smaller commuter ring 21 to which they are secured through conducting material such as solder or brazing.

Said ring is concentric with said housing and the shaft.

5. The other, or larger commuter ring 22 is likewise mounted concentrically by the brackets 23 which are insulated from the sockets 20 and conveniently communicated to the insulated central socket contacts 24 by the rivets 25 which serve to hold said sockets and brackets 23 together, it being understood that insulating material is suitably provided as required in the art.

A stationary insulating plate having a round flange 26 is mounted on the shaft 5 and is disposed clearingly within the compartment 18 approximately flush with the respective end of the housing 4. Said plate'forms a hub 27 conveniently secured on the shaft 5 by the screw 28 which engages said shaft frictionally. Commuter brushes 29 and 30 are mounted on the forward face of said flange and ride the commuter rings 21 and 22, respectively. Said brushes are of arcuate plan as illustrated in Fig. 7 and are spirally tensioned against said rings as shown in Fig. 5, the mounted ends thereof being secured to the plate 26 by rivets 31, it being understood, of course, that said brushes are arranged so that the frictional drag of the commuter rings on said brushes is codirectional with the free ends of the same.

From the foregoing it willbe understood that current is had from a source of supply through the conductors 32 to the light bulbs 33 by way of the brushes 29 and 30,

the ,commuter rings-21 22 andthe respective. socket elements aforementioned,

Referring again to1Fig. 5, it will be observed that; the

structure ofeachofthe blades 36 serve; as individual light reflectorsfor the.-diiferent-.bulbs;tso. that each produces a controlled shaft of light and. it will berealized that bulbs of different colors throwout fusing lights of corresponding colors and also lay their combinations throw out lights] difiering in color from either of the original lights. .As thewind wheel isconveniently made with four blades itv has been found-appropriate toprovide the same number of bulbsockets in the hub structure 6.

The invention may be installed temporarily or somewhat permanently forexample fastening itto the window frame 37 by screws through holes in the *bracket 8 as designated in Fig: 1. A more temporary installation is indicated in Fig. 4, in. which said bracket is shown attachedto-a wooden stake 38, driven in the ground.

One selection of 'colored bulbs to be used as described above would be :red, blue, orange, and green, although different combinations maybe used at-will. 7

While I- have shown and described the preferred form of the invention 1; do not wish to be limited to the precise details shown and described but wish to availmyself of all the variations coming fairly Within the scope of the appending claims.

The invention claimed is:

1-. A-wind driven light ornament comprising a normally horizontal shaft, a bracket engagingone end of said shaft and. fixedly mounting the latter, a commutator brush mounting removably fixed to said shaft, a hub rotatably circumposed about said' shaft on the side of said brush mounting remote'from said one shaft end, a plurality. of lamp socketsin said hub opening away from said mounting, a plurality .oflamps in said sockets and projecting on said hub facing toward said mounting and electrically connected to the base contacts of said lamps, a pair of 5 mutator rings to feed current from a source of supply through said brushes to said rings for illuminating said.

lamps upon rotation of said hub, and wind driven blades projecting generally radially from said hub for rotation therewith and partially covering said lampsto successively obscure and expose said lamps to an observer upon rotation of said hub and blades.

2. A wind driven light ornament according to claim 1, said hub being formed with a recess facing toward said one shaft end, said commutator rings, brushes and mounting being located interiorly of said recess with said -m0unting substantially closing said recess.

3. A wind driven light ornament according to claim 1, said blades being fabricated of light-reflectivematerial, each of said blades partially covering a respective one of said lamps.

4. A wind driven light ornament according to claim 3,

each of said blades being fabricated of an ,arcuately bent. sheet adjacent to a respective one of said lamps having. its concave'surface facing toward said adjacentlamp and having opposite portions of said sheet'respectively secured to said hub and rotatably connected to the other endxof said shaft.

References Cited in the file of this patent *UNITED STATES PATENTS 505,098 ";-,-F1im Sept. 19, 1893 546,456 Montgomery Sept. 17, 1895 1,043,981 Strong Nov. 12, 1912 1,352,674 "Mitchel Sept. 14,1920, 1,734,858 Keller Nov. 5, 1929 i 1,803,598 Graig May 5, 1931 2,092,520 Nielsen Sept. 7, 1937 2,279,182 Snyder Apr. 7, 1942!, 40 2,366,950- Wright 'Jan. 9,1945

2,510,336 Donahue June 6, 1950 2,556,472 Gray June I2,, 1 951 2,562,021 Dotten ..Ju1y'2 4, 195.1 2,592,286 Jacobs .Apr. '8, 1952, v

FOREIGN P TENrs 319.880

-;Syretz July'29,"-1952

Images