Patent ID: 7574966
Filing Date: 2009-08-18
Classification: E04H

Abstract:
1. A portable voting booth for a user to erect at a voting place when needed and disassemble thereafter for transportation and storage, the portable voting booth comprising: a base portion; and means for supporting the base portion on a horizontal support surface so that the base portion is elevated above the horizontal support surface, said means including a plurality of legs for the user to assembly onto the base portion as a step in erecting the portable voting booth and said plurality of legs including at least a first leg having a first end portion that is tubularly shaped with a wall thickness and an inwardly facing wall that defines a hollow interior of the first end portion; wherein the base portion defines a plurality of leg-receiving bores for receiving the plurality of legs, said plurality of leg-receiving bores including at least a first leg-receiving bore that extends along a first bore axis from an open end of the first bore to a closed end of the first bore, and said base portion including a first bore-defining wall that defines the first leg-receiving bore; wherein the base portion includes first leg-gripping means within the first leg-receiving bore for gripping the first end portion of the first leg in order to thereby restrain the first leg from falling out of the first leg-receiving bore under influence of gravity; wherein the first leg-gripping means includes a plurality of axially extending fingers that extend axially within the first leg-receiving bore toward the open end of the bore where they resiliently deform radially inward slightly when the first end portion of the first leg is inserted into the first leg-receiving bore in order to thereby fit into the first end portion: said plurality of axially extending fingers including at least a first resiliently deformable member within the first leg-receiving bore that is proximally spaced apart radially from the bore-defining wall less than the wall thickness of the first end portion of the first leg and that is adapted to resiliently deform and move radially away from the first bore-defining wall relative to the first bore axis under force from the first end portion of the first leg while extending axially into the first end portion of the first leg when the first end portion is inserted axially into the first bore; and wherein said first resiliently deformable member is adapted to fit into the hollow interior of the first end portion of the first leg as the first end portion is advance further into the first bore, and to bear radially outward against the inwardly facing wall of the first end portion with increasing force as the first end portion is advanced into the first leg-receiving bore in order to thereby restrain the first leg from falling out of the first bore under influence of gravity.