Units for building ornamental article

A plurality of building members and a plurality of sheet members for connection thereof are provided. Each of the plurality of building members includes a main body portion and a coupling portion to be fitted on an end of the main body portion. One of the ends of the main body portion and the coupling portion is provided with a small diameter portion and the other of them is provided with a hole for receiving the small diameter portion. Each of the sheet members has a plurality of openings for passing the small diameter portion therethrough. The small diameter portion is passed through the opening of the sheet member and inserted into the hole to sandwich the coupling sheet member between the main body portion and the coupling portion to thereby fasten the building member comprised of the main body portion and the coupling portion to the coupling sheet member. In this way, a desired ornamental article can be created.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention relates to units for constructing ornamental articles. 
2. Prior Art 
Ornamental trees are popular Christmas decorations. Although real trees are 
traditionally dressed with ornaments for Christmas decoration, there also 
exist artificial Christmas trees made of glass, in which the tree and 
ornamental parts are integrally formed and lighting equipment is provided 
internally. Although such Christmas trees are attractive, they are 
expensive to fabricate due to difficulties involved in glass forming. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
In view of the above, the object of the present invention is to provide 
units for constructing ornamental articles, in which desired ornamental 
articles, for example, the above-mentioned glass Christmas trees, can be 
created from units which can be economically manufactured from a material 
such as glass. 
Units for constructing ornamental articles of this invention are 
characterized in that they comprise a plurality of building members and a 
plurality of sheet members for connecting the plurality of building 
members, each of the plurality of building members including a main body 
portion and a coupling portion to be fitted on an end of the main body 
portion, one of the ends of the main body portion and the coupling portion 
being provided with a small diameter portion and the other of them being 
provided with a hole for receiving the small diameter portion, each of the 
sheet members having a plurality of openings for receiving the small 
diameter portion, the small diameter portion being passed through the 
opening of the sheet member and inserted into the hole to sandwich the 
sheet member between the main body portion and the coupling portion to 
thereby fasten the building member comprised of the main body portion and 
the coupling portion to the sheet member. 
The coupling portion is longer than the end of the main body portion to be 
fitted on the coupling portion. Each of the building members is so 
arranged that, when an end of one of the main body portions is fitted on 
one end of the coupling portions an end of another main body portion is 
able to be fitted on the other end of the coupling portion. 
The small diameter portion is preferably provided with a male thread and 
the hole is provided with a female thread into which the male thread is 
screwed. 
In terms of appearance, it is preferable that the sheet member be formed of 
a transparent plastic sheet material, and the main body portion of the 
building member be formed of glass. 
In the first embodiment of the present invention, the main body portion has 
small diameter portions provided at both ends thereof and the coupling 
portion is a tubular member having a hole passing therethrough. 
In the second embodiment of the present invention, the main body portion 
has a bottle-like shape in which a recess portion is formed from a tip end 
of a small diameter portion formed on one end thereof to the inside of the 
main body portion. A coupling portion is provided with a hole having a 
partitioning wall provided mid-way down so as to separate the said hole 
into two portions. The coupling portion, therefore functions as a lid for 
the main body portion having a bottle-like shape, when the coupling 
portion is fitted on the main body portion. 
In the third embodiment of the present invention, the main body portion has 
a small diameter portion provided at one end thereof and a hole at the 
other end thereof. The coupling portion has at one end thereof small 
diameter portion to be inserted into the hole of the main body portion and 
has provided at the other end thereof a hole into which the small diameter 
portion of another main body portion is inserted. 
The fourth embodiment of the present invention comprises a plurality of 
building members each having threaded holes provided at both ends thereof, 
elongated coupling members each having a male thread to be screwed into 
the threaded hole of each of the building members, and a plurality of 
sheet members having a plurality of openings for passing the coupling 
members therethrough. A pair of building members are threadably engaged 
with the coupling member being passed through the opening of the sheet 
member from the opposite ends thereof to sandwich the sheet member between 
the ends of the pair of the building members facing each other to thereby 
fasten the building members to the sheet member. 
In the fifth embodiment of the present invention, the building member has a 
small diameter portion provided at one end thereof and a hole capable of 
being fitted on the said small diameter portion at the other end thereof. 
Therefore, no coupling portion such as described above is required. The 
small diameter portion of the building member is passed through the 
opening of the sheet member and inserted into the hole of one of the other 
building members to sandwich the sheet member between the building members 
to thereby fasten the building members to the sheet member.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
FIG. 1 shows components of one of units (10) for constructing ornamental 
articles in accordance with the present invention. The unit (10) comprises 
a plurality of building members, each of which (16) consists of a main 
body portion (12) and a coupling portion (14) to be fitted on an end of 
the main body portion, and a plurality of sheet members (20) for 
connecting the building members. 
The main body portion (12) of the building member (16) is generally 
cylindrical and has small diameter portions (22, 24) and shoulders (25) 
provided at both ends thereof. The circumferential surface of the small 
diameter portion is provided with a male thread. The coupling portion (14) 
is also generally cylindrical and has a through hole (18). Both ends of 
the coupling portion (14) constitute shoulders (15). The circumferential 
surface of the hole is provided with a female thread into which the male 
thread is screwed. From the point of view of appearance, it is preferable 
for the main body portion and the coupling portion to be formed of glass. 
Considering ease of manufacture, however, it is more practical that the 
main body portion be formed of glass and the coupling portion of a 
transparent plastic material. 
The sheet member (20) has a plurality of openings (26). The diameter of 
each of the openings is slightly larger than the diameter of each of the 
small diameter portions (22, 24) and small than the diameter of the 
central large diameter portion (28) of the main body portion, and the 
diameter of the coupling portion. To assemble the units (10), the small 
diameter portion (22 or 24) of the main body portion (12) is passed 
through the opening (26) of the sheet member (20) and then threaded into 
the hole (18) of the coupling portion (14) so that the sheet member (20) 
will be sandwiched and captured by the shoulders (15 and 25) between the 
coupling portion (14) and the main body portion (12). The sheet member is 
preferably formed of a thin transparent plastic sheet material with a 
thickness of less than 1 mm, approximately 0.2 to 0.5 mm, for example. 
FIGS. 2A and 2B show connection formations of the building members (16) and 
the sheet members (20a, 20b). FIG. 2A shows a connection formation of two 
stages built by the building members, using three sheet members, four main 
body portions (12), and six coupling portions (14). The small diameter 
portion (24) with a male thread at the lower end of main body portion (12) 
of the building member in the lower stage is passed through the opening of 
the sheet member (20a) at the bottom. The small diameter portion (24) 
projecting downward from the sheet member is inserted into the coupling 
portion (14) at the bottom. The small diameter portion with a male thread 
provided at the upper end of the main body portion is inserted into the 
second coupling portion (14) without being passed through the opening of 
the sheet member. The main body portion of the building member in the 
upper stage is fitted on the second coupling portion (14) by being passed 
through the second sheet member. The small diameter portion at the upper 
end of the main body portion is projected upward through an opening of the 
top sheet member. The third coupling portion (14) is fitted on the small 
diameter portion. In the same way, a desired number of building members 
can be built up. 
FIG. 2B shows another connection formation of the building members. In this 
formation, the building members are constructed to have a triangular 
formation. 
FIGS. 3, 4A and 4B show an example of a Christmas tree (30) constructed 
from the building members. The lower first and second stages of the 
building members representing the trunk section (32) of the tree (30) are 
built in such a way as described above in connection with FIG. 2A. In this 
trunk section (32), three sheet members (20d) of a hexagonal shape (FIG. 
4A) are used. Accordingly, the building members connected or built to form 
the part have a hexagonal cross section. FIG. 4B shows a sheet member 
(20e) used to construct the main stem (33) of the tree (30). As shown in 
FIG. 4B, the sheet member (20e) is formed generally in a hexagonal shape 
similar to the sheet member (20d) shown in FIG. 4A but with six additional 
tab portions (20h) at the corners of the hexagon. The sheet member (20e) 
makes the cross-section of the main stem (33) generally hexagonal. Also, 
each of the six tab portions (20h) provides a base for a branch-like 
section (31). Thus, the Christmas tree (30) has in total six branch-like 
sections (31) extending radially outward from the corners of the main 
stem(33). These branch-like sections are constituted in a way similar to 
that described in connection with FIG. 2B to spread outward in a radial 
direction, where a radially outside building member next to a radially 
inside building member is shifted upward relative to the inside building 
member by one coupling portion's length. Thus, referring to FIG. 3 as 
starting just above the trunk section (32), the branch-like sections 
increase in radial dimension in a stair-shaped manner by up to six 
building members, counted from the main stem (33) of the tree (30), and 
then decrease in radial dimension in the same manner. Finally, the main 
stem portion (33) also decreases in dimension so that the branch-like 
sections (31) converge at the top of the tree. More specifically, in FIG. 
4B showing the sheet members (20e, 20f and 20g), the tab portions (20h) of 
the sheet member (20e) secure the innermost building members of the 
branch-like section (31) to the main stem (33). The sheet members (20f) 
are used for securing radially adjacent building members together in the 
branch-like section (31). The outermost building members are secured by 
virtue of the sheet member (20g). As shown in FIG. 4B, each of the 
branch-like sections (31) has a width corresponding to three rows of the 
openings. The openings in the internal middle row, however, are not used 
to fasten the building members. 
The Christmas tree constructed as described above has an internal space 
where flashing lamps of various colors can be placed. 
FIGS. 5A and 5B show a building member in accordance with the second 
embodiment of the invention. A main body portion (12a) of the building 
member is formed to have a bottle-like shape with the opening at the upper 
end. A coupling portion (14a) is provided with a partitioning wall (34) at 
the middle of a hole thereof to separate the hole into two portions and to 
close the opening at the upper end of the main body portion when the 
coupling portion is fitted on a small diameter portion (22) of the main 
body portion (12a). Due to such a design, the main body portion can be 
filled with colored water or the like to provide an enhanced ornamental 
effect. 
FIGS. 6A and 6B show a building member of the third embodiment of the 
invention. A main body portion (12b) of the building member is generally 
cylindrical and provided with a female thread (42) at the upper end. 
Correspondingly, a lower part of a coupling portion (14b) is provided with 
a small diameter portion (46) with a male thread to be engaged with the 
female thread (42) of the main body portion, while an upper half part 
thereof is provided with a female threaded hole (44) in the same manner as 
in the previous embodiments. 
FIGS. 7A and 7B show a building member of the fourth embodiment of the 
invention. A main body portion (12c) of the building member is generally 
cylindrical and is provided with female threads (50, 52) at both ends. A 
coupling portion (14c) is provided with a male thread from the upper end 
to the lower end and a length of the coupling portion equals a sum of the 
lengths of the two female threaded holes (50, 52). In this building 
member, a sheet member is sandwiched between the end faces of the main 
body portions (12c) which are fitted on the coupling portion (14c) from 
the both ends thereof. 
FIGS. 8A and 8B show a building member (16a) according to the fifth 
embodiment of the invention. This building member consists of one section 
which is equivalent to the main body portion (12b) of the building member 
shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B. The building member (16a) includes a female 
threaded hole (68) at the upper end and a male threaded small diameter 
portion (24) at the lower end so that the building members are fastened to 
the sheet member by passing the small diameter portion (24) of one 
building member through the hole (20) of the sheet member to threadably 
engage with the female threaded hole (68) of the other building member. 
FIGS. 9 to 11 show the sixth specific embodiment of this invention. As 
shown in FIG. 9A, in this embodiment, a building member (70) consists of a 
main body portion (72) having a bottle-like shape and a coupling portion 
(76) in a lid-like shape for receiving the male threaded small diameter 
portion (74) of the main body portion. In the case of constructing an 
ornamental article using the building members, the male threaded small 
diameter portion (74) is passed through an opening (82) of a sheet member 
(80) as shown in FIG. 9B, and is fitted on the coupling portion (76) to 
form a stage consisting of the building member (70) and the sheet member 
(80). A desired ornamental article can be created by forming a plurality 
of such stages and fastening the built-up stages. 
FIGS. 10 and 11 show a means for fastening the building member stages 
formed in a pyramid shape by using the building members (70) and the sheet 
members (80) as described above. In this example, the built-up building 
member stages are placed on a square base plate (86), and four legs are 
set up in an internal space (88) formed in the built-up stages in such a 
manner that the lower ends of the legs are fixed to the base plate and the 
upper ends of the legs converge at a point directly above the center of 
the plate. A central rod (92) is extended from the converged upper ends of 
the legs to an apex of the pyramid of the built-up stages. A building 
member (96) to be placed on the apex of the pyramid is fitted on a male 
threaded upper end (94) of the central rod, so that all of the building 
member stages are fastened between the said building member (96) and the 
base plate (86).