Abstract:
A personal protective enclosure carryable in a bag by hand or over the shoulder includes a plurality of poles or rods folded or rolled up with a plurality of sheets or panels for installation as a corral, with stability to maintain its degree of use during windier conditions, and with an ease of size adjustment once installed as a personal protective enclosure to accommodate greater or fewer persons than originally expected showing up.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    A Provisional Patent Application concerning the invention described herein was filed on Nov. 25, 2014, and assigned Ser. No. 62/084,343. As such, this present application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 119(e), whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference thereto in its entirety. 
     
    
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
       [0002]    Research and development of this invention and Application have not been federally sponsored, and no rights are given under any Federal program. 
     
    
     REFERENCE TO A MICROFICHE APPENDIX 
       [0003]    Not Applicable 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0004]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0005]    This invention relates to enclosures that are easy to set up an dismantle for personal recreational uses, in general, and to ones that are easy to carry about and store away when not needed, in particular. 
         [0006]    2. Description of the Related Art 
         [0007]    As will be appreciated, toddlers and young children tend to wander away from their families at beach and park locations when attracted by other toddlers and young children nearby. As will also be appreciated, at many of these beaches and parks when weather is nice, areas to spread out at become hard to come by: and it is not unusual for one group to encroach upon another&#39;s space, or to unintentionally infringe upon another&#39;s sense of privacy. Tents or like arrangements set up to isolate one group from another tend to block the sun, and are somewhat difficult for many to install or otherwise cumbersome to carry about. Once set up, furthermore, they tend to be difficult to expand in size to accommodate any increase in people arriving; similarly, they are oftentimes difficult to reduce in size if fewer people show up than were expected. 
       OBJECT OF THE INVENTION 
       [0008]    As such, it is an object of the present invention to provide a readily carryable, easy to set up-and-disassemble enclosure which can be easily enlarged or shortened to meet the needs of a “size” situation at hand, and particularly useful at beach and park locations. 
         [0009]    And, it is a further object of the invention to provide such an enclosure which serves these purposes not only when the weather is sunny and nice, but also when wind conditions build up and change. 
         [0010]    Additionally, it is another object of the invention to provide an enclosure of this type in a construction which not only can be enlarged or shortened, but which can be configured to accept and employ a range of accessories to enhance the adaptability of the enclosure when and wherever set up. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0011]    In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, a disassemblable and carryable beach/park corral forming a personal protective enclosure includes a plurality of poles or rods of substantially equal lengths of plastic or metallic composition, a plurality of sheets or panels of predetermined length and height, means for coupling individual ones of the sheets at opposite ends or sides thereof to individual ones of such lengths of plastic or metallic composition, means for securing the lower ends of those lengths of plastic or metallic compositions to a substrate surface, and means gathering the poles and sheets in a given package arrangement. In accordance with a specific embodiment of the invention, the sheets can be formed in the manner of individual panels, with various pockets formed thereon for storage of such items as keys, phones and wallets, with pouches and other pockets in which to store fruit, liquids and food, and with others for holding such items as towels, clothing and other articles of use commonly employed at beach and/or park settings. Awnings as sunscreens can be set up as well. 
         [0012]    In a more general embodiment of the invention, Velcro or zipper closures may be used in securing nylon sheets to the lengths of plastic or metallic composition utilized, with clips being provided along the lengths for doubling up such panels formed thereby if a smaller footprint of corral is desired. A nylon bag is utilizable in holding and carrying the dismantled components to the desired beach or park location selected—and once, set up and disassembled, the bag may be used to carry the components for subsequent storage. As will be appreciated, the corral (once set up) can be used on such substrates as sand at the beach, or on grass at a park facility. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0013]    These and other features of the invention will be more clearly understood from a consideration of the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
           [0014]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view helpful in an understanding of one embodiment of the invention as might be employed at a beach location; 
           [0015]      FIG. 2  is an exploded view of a portion of the embodiment shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0016]      FIG. 3  is an enlarged exploded view illustrating one manner of assembling the embodiment of  FIGS. 1 and 2 ; 
           [0017]      FIG. 4  is a view taken along the sectional line  4 - 4  of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0018]      FIG. 5  is a view along the sectional line  5 - 5  of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0019]      FIG. 6  is a top view as to how the embodiment of  FIG. 1  might appear once set up for use; 
           [0020]      FIG. 7  is a side view of the embodiment of  FIG. 1 , in connection with the top view of  FIG. 6 ; 
           [0021]      FIG. 8  is an exploded view helpful in an understanding as to how the embodiment of  FIG. 1  may be inserted into a carry bag for bringing the corral to a beach or park location for use, and for reinserting the component parts into the bag for carrying to a storage location when not needed; 
           [0022]      FIG. 9  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the invention illustrating the corral of  FIG. 1  reduced in size for a smaller space set up; 
           [0023]      FIG. 10  illustrates the use of clips employable in overlaying the sheeting panels in reducing the footprint size of an assembled corral; 
           [0024]      FIGS. 11 and 12  illustrate alternate embodiments of the invention for adding stability to its erection, and for use at windier locations; 
           [0025]      FIG. 13  is a view illustrating a manner of constructing the pole or rod components in stabilizing the corral of the invention in the face of developing winds; and 
           [0026]      FIG. 14  illustrates a type of duffel carry bag that may be employed with the components of the corral embodiment labelled, for example, with an advertisement by which the beach/park corral of the invention may be ordered via the Internet. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0027]    The disassemblable and carryable beach/park corral  50  of  FIG. 1  includes a plurality of substantially equal lengths of plastic or metallic composition (i.e. poles or rods)  12  in  FIG. 2 , as support posts inserted into sand at a beach  38  or grass at a park location ( FIG. 4 ). A plurality of sheets of predetermined height and length  10  couple together as panels with the poles  12  via Velcro closures  14 ,  16  (or by like zipper closures), the sheets being preferably of nylon in forming the corral or enclosure  50 , Such nylon panels are essentially unrolled out from a carrying bag  30  ( FIG. 8 ) in forming the size of the corral of any given diameter. To facilitate the setting up of the enclosure, the lower ends of the poles  12  are preferably tipped—and of the two section configuration  12   a  and  12   b  of  FIG. 13  so as to allow both a secure insertion of the poles  12  into the sand or grass, as well as to allow a shift-movement of the upper sections  12   a  of the poles relative to the lower sections  12   b  in the face of impinging wind. A sturdiness of the corral then results, becoming even more so as the numbers of panels and poles increase within a given corral diameter. As will be understood, once the corral is broken down for removal, the panels and poles employed can thereafter be rolled or folded up together as a unit for insertion into the bag  30 , secured by means of Velcro or like straps or zipper closures  52  wrapped around the outsides of the panels  10  ( FIG. 8 ); one such Velcro closure is also indicated at  18  in  FIG. 1 . 
         [0028]    In accordance with the invention, a series of pockets  20  ( FIG. 1 ) can be secured at the inside surfaces of the panels  10  by clips, Velcro, or zipper closures (illustrated at  22 ) for the holdings of keys, wallets, bags, purses, sandwiches, fruit, etc., and a further pocket  24  is likewise provided for the holding of bottles of water, soda, or other drinks. Such pockets  20 ,  24 , like the panels  10 , can be of a nylon fabrication. A sunscreen or shade awning  26  can be similarly secured at a top edge of a nylon panel ( FIGS. 1, 9 ) so that one can lie with their head beneath it under high sun conditions, or it can be employed in assisting to view there a smartphone or tablet screen at a high brightness beach environment, for example, without having to spread a towel overhead in providing shading. (As will be apparent, this arrangement is additionally employable in the solar charging of a smart phone placed on the awning  26 , where applicable, and in an analogous manner.) Similar poles of plastic or metallic composition are there included to support the unraveled awning as at  28  in  FIG. 2 . 
         [0029]    Reference numeral  40  in  FIG. 9  in one respect identifies further clips which may be used to connect and retain a cooler or large size bag for storing towels and/or clothing items in the beach or park corral. Or, as will be understood, clips of the type shown at  42  in  FIG. 10  may be employed to overlay one panel atop another in providing a reduced footprint for a smaller size corral (as illustrated at  54  in  FIG. 9 ) instead of employing panels of smaller size to achieve that end—or to reduce the size of the corral once it is originally set up, as when fewer people show up than were originally expected. Reference numeral  32  in  FIG. 8  identifies a handle for carrying the bag  30 , by hand or over the shoulder, with reference numeral  34  representing a pull-cord for closing up the bag  30  once the folded or rolled panels  10  and poles  12  are inserted into the bag as shown by the arrow  54 . 
         [0030]      FIGS. 11 and 12  illustrate alternative embodiments of the beach/park corral, particularly offering advantages for use in windier placements. In  FIG. 11 , an added pole or rod  70  is placed behind the section of the corral where the shade awning  26  is erected, as well as the addition of further poles or rods included within the panels or added between notches  60  provided downwardly at the top of each panel and, if desired, spaced along their respective lengths. Such intermediately placed poles where added can similarly be clad to provide protection for the inhabitants of the corral in any appropriate manner. And, in  FIG. 12 —as shown in  FIG. 11 —wind slits  77  can be provided along the lengths of the nylon panels to allow air to pass through while retaining the poles or rods in installed position as wind currents pick up. Each of the poles or rods of  FIGS. 11 and 12  are shown as coupling with the individual panels  10  by means of the Velcro closures of  FIG. 3 . Decorations on the panels are illustrated at  75 . 
         [0031]      FIG. 14  illustrates the carry bag  30  for the corral components bearing a label  80  by means of which the corral can be ordered via the Internet. The carry handle  32  is shown, along with the pull-cord closure  34  for the bag, the bag&#39;s opposite end  37  being sealed. 
         [0032]    In use, the beach/park corral would be carried in its nylon duffel bag  30 . Once a desired beach or park location is selected, the corral components are removed and placed via the poles or rods in a pattern to enclose the chairs, lounges, towels, etc. in the desired privacy protected area of concern. If a smaller size is desired because fewer persons than expected show up, the clips of  FIG. 10  can be used to overlay the panels. Once the appropriate diameter is staked out and the enclosure completed, various keys, phones, purses, etc. are placeable in the nylon pockets hung on the interior of the panels, with soda, sandwiches, etc. placed in other pouches on the interior. For tanning or laying in the sun, the poles  28  can be inserted for support into the corral in forming the appropriate sunshade awning. At the end of the day, the corral can simply be broken down, the components folded or rolled up, secured by the Velcro or like tie strap, and then reinserted back into the nylon bag holder  30 . 
         [0033]    While there have been described what are considered to be preferred embodiments of the present invention, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the teachings herein. Thus, for example, while the preferred embodiments of the invention have been described with a plurality of poles or rods fitted within a plurality of nylon panels, it will be noted that the panel sheeting can be composed of several alternate compositions—and that even a single long sheeting could be employed instead, with notches or loops at its upper edge to removably receive and retain the poles extending through them into the sand or grass subsurface. Such a configuration, according to the invention is illustrated by the notches or loops  60  in  FIGS. 1, 2 and 6 . And, as will be understood, the shade awning  26  can further be supplemented or otherwise modified to incorporate a solar energy generating mechanism or panel on its top for charging any Smart Phone or similar electronic device for further and/or future usage. For at least such reasons, therefore, resort should be had to the claims appended hereto for a true understanding of the invention.