Decorative Christmas tree illumination assembly

A Christmas tree light assembly in the form of a net is provided which can be draped over the tree. The assembly includes a plurality of interconnected light bulbs seated within their respective sockets at the nodes formed by the interconnecting conductive, insulating wires which are energized by an electrical switch.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates generally to decorative illumination of Christmas 
trees, and is particularly related to a Christmas tree light assembly made 
of a web or a net structure comprising a plurality of interconnected light 
elements. The net structure which comprises the interconnected light 
elements is pre-fabricated and adapted for draping as a single net over a 
Christmas tree. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
A variety of Christmas lights and decorative assemblies are available for 
illuminating and decorating Christmas trees. Conventional illumination of 
a Christmas tree involves the use of a plurality of separate elongated, 
insulative, electrically conductive wire strings on which are mounted 
several lighting elements (lamps) which are spaced apart from each other. 
Each of these lights element comprises a female socket member which is 
adapted to receive a screw-in or bayonet-type lamp, strung in series or in 
parallel. The strings are attached at one or both ends to an electrical 
plug which provides the source of electricity. See U.S. Pat. No. 5,057,976 
issued to Sheila DuMong on Oct. 15, 1991. As mentioned in said patent, 
however, the mounting of such plurality of separate strings of lights on a 
Christmas tree is both is burdensome and time-consuming task. In order to 
simplify decoration of a Christmas tree by illumination, said patent 
provides a tree lighting assembly that incorporates a multiplicity of 
lamps in a net-like structure that can be readily mounted on a Christmas 
tree, and is easy to remove when not in use. 
Other Christmas tree decorative illumination assemblies are described in 
the prior art patents disclosed in the DuMong patent. These are Crucefix 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,870,547 and Forrer U.S. Pat. No. 3,096,943. The DuMong 
patent also discloses two other patents, i.e., Ahoroni U.S. Pat. Nos. 
4,720,773 and 4,736,282 which describe a mounting collar for use with 
conventional strings of Christmas lights. 
In a more recent patent, i.e., U.S. Pat. No. 5,213,519 issued to David J. 
Dorfman on May 25, 1993, the patentee describes an electrical receptacle 
assembly which, in one embodiment, forms a flexible net. The receptacles 
receive light bulbs therein which, when illuminated, form a blanket of 
lights that can be draped over and around a Christmas tree. 
Other decorative light assemblies for Christmas trees are disclosed in U.S. 
Pat. Nos. 5,338,585; 5,424,925 and 4,720,773. 
For one or more reasons, the decorative light assemblies which have 
heretofore been described or used to illuminate Christmas trees have had 
one or more deficiencies which have limited their use for this purpose. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is an object of this invention to provide a Christmas tree illumination 
assembly that comprises multiplicity of interconnected lamps which form a 
net-like structure that can be draped over of Christmas tree. 
It is another object of this invention to provide a Christmas tree 
illumination assembly of light bulbs the form of a net of different shapes 
and sizes for ready mounting over a Christmas tree, and which is easily 
removed therefrom. 
It is still an object of this invention to provide a Christmas tree 
lighting and decorative assembly which is pre-fabricated as a unitary net 
structure, thus obviating the need for using a plurality of separate 
strings of lights and the usual difficulty of entanglements which is 
experienced when decorating a Christmas tree therewith. 
The foregoing and other objects of this invention will be more fully 
appreciated with reference to the ensuing detailed description of the 
invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
Referring first to FIGS. 1-5, there is shown, in FIG. 1, a lamp structure 
generally designated as 10 suitable for use in the Christmas tree web 
assembly of the present invention. The lamp structure 10 comprises a 
cylindrical body 11, a bulb 12 having electrical filament 13 and the base 
14 which fits into the socket 15 formed at the top of the cylindrical body 
11. 
A first elongated and electrically conductive, insulated wire 16 is 
attached, at one end, to a first metal plate member 17 in the socket 15 
(see FIG. 5), and a second electrically conductive insulated wire 18 is 
attached to a second metal plate 19 also disposed within the socket 15. 
The bulb or lamp 12 has the plastic base 14 (see FIG. 4) with exposed 
wires 21 and 22 disposed on opposite sides of the base 14 and contact the 
metal plates 17 and 19. 
In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 and 3 the sides of the cylindrical body 
11 include the elongated grooves 23, 24 disposed on opposite sides 
thereof, through which extend the wires 16 and 18, respectively. 
As shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 6, the wires 16 and 18 terminate in the 
cylindrical body 11 and are electrically connected to the bulb 12. The 
wire 25 is retained against the cylindrical body 11 by a polyvinylchloride 
(PVC) cover sleeve or a suitable adhesive tape, which also serves to 
retain the wire 18 against the other sides of the base, but which is not 
electrically connected to the bulb 12. 
As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the web of interconnected light structure 
consists of a plurality of bulbs 12 such as shown in FIGS. 1-3, and wires 
which physically and electrically interconnect these lamps. The bulbs 12 
form the nodes 26A-26N in the web, wherein N is an integer number 
representing the number of desired lamps. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 
6 only nodes 26A-26E are shown but it can be appreciated that the net 
structure can include as few as 10 and as many as 200 or more nodes 
depending on the desired size of the web and number of lamps used in the 
web. 
In the embodiments shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the web is formed such that it 
has five wires 27, 28, 29, 30 and 31 leading into an electrical control 
switch 32 as shown in FIG. 10. 
In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 9 the web is formed into a general 
conical shape having a base 33 which is wider than its top section 32. As 
in the embodiment of FIG. 8, the web includes five wires 27A, 28A, 29A 30A 
and 31A which lead to the electrical control switch 34. 
The electrical control switch 32 has an integrated circuit and a control 
dial 35. This switch may be connected to a household power source, usually 
110 volt AC, through conventional electrical plug 36. The control switch 
is provided with the control dial 35 marked with numerical indicia of from 
1 to 8 which correspond to: 
1. combination 
2. in wave 
3. sequential 
4. slo-glo 
5. sparkling/chasing 
6. fade on/off 
7. sparkling 
8. steady burn 
The dial can be set to the desired numerical indicia in order to obtain the 
desired illumination results. 
While the present invention has been described with some degree of 
particularity, it is readily apparent that many changes and modifications 
may be suggested which are nevertheless within the scope and contemplation 
of this invention. For example, the web or net structure need not 
necessarily by conical but may be rectangular, square or in other desired 
configurations. Also, the decorative net may be used to illuminate 
structures other than Christmas trees such as, for example, walls, 
buildings and other structures.