Abstract:
The present invention is a banner support assembly for mounting to poles of any surface or shape. The banner support assembly includes a plurality of pole brackets abutting the outer surface of the pole which are demountably secured at preselected intervals around the pole with at least one band clamp received through band slots defined in each pole bracket. A ring is slideably received within a channel defined in each of the pole brackets such that the ring is free to rotate around the pole about a longitudinal axis of the pole.

Description:
[0001]    The present application claims priority from U.S. Provisional application 62/316,026 filed on Mar. 31, 2016 by Rick Ashworth and Scott Kobryn under the title BANNER SUPPORT ASSEMBLY. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    The present concept relates to devices for attaching a flag to a pole and/or flag pole and more particular devices which permit the flag to revolve about the flag pole according to the direction of the wind without becoming wrapped around the pole. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    There have been a number of attempts to design an attachment for flag poles and/or other poles which will prevent the flag from becoming entangled with the pole but these devices have disadvantages for a number of reasons that have resulted in most not being commercially feasible. In most cases the devices are overly complicated arrangements that require great amounts of maintenance in order to keep in operation. The other factor is that the cost and expense of installing these prior art devices is so high that it is not viable to use them. 
         [0004]    Additionally flags are mounted not only onto flag poles but also onto other posts such as light posts and/or sign posts which have a number of different cross sectional shapes namely round, square and at times hexagonal. There is a need for a banner support assembly which is able to be attached to any type of cross section of pole at any height along the pole and that is simple to attach and inexpensive to manufacture. 
         [0005]    There are a number of prior art devices which have attempted to solve one or more of the issues enumerated above namely U.S. Pat. No. 4,402,220 issued to Kuhlmann, U.S. Pat. No. 5,203,672 issued to Wolf, U.S. Pat. No. 5,361,633 issued to Peet, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,270,076 issued to Evans. 
         [0006]    There is need to for a banner support assembly which is simply to install, which is inexpensive to manufacture, which is reliable in its operation, which resists corrosion and other effects of the weather upon the banner support assembly and will continue to operate with a minimal amount of maintenance. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    A banner support assembly for mounting to a pole comprising;
       a) a pole which includes an outer surface;   b) a plurality of pole brackets abutting the outer surface of the pole and demount-ably secured at preselected intervals around the pole with at least one band clamp received through band slots defined in each pole bracket; and   c) a ring slide-ably received within a channel defined in each of the pole brackets such that the ring is free to rotate around the pole about a longitudinal axis of the pole.       
 
         [0011]    Preferably wherein the pole bracket includes a mounting side contacting and abutting the pole outer surface and the channel includes a bearing surface for slideably supporting the ring thereon. 
         [0012]    Preferably wherein the pole bracket is C shaped and defines a U shaped channel for receiving the ring therein. 
         [0013]    Preferably wherein each pole bracket includes an upper band slot and a lower band slot for receiving band clamps there through such that two band clamps secure the pole brackets to the pole. 
         [0014]    Preferably wherein the ring includes a removable segment which is demountable attached to the major segment in order to assemble the ring onto the channel of the pole brackets. 
         [0015]    Preferably wherein two vertically spaced apart support assemblies an upper assembly and a lower assembly are mounted on a pole for attaching a flag frame to each ring of each assembly such that the rings and the flag frame rotate about the pole in unison. 
         [0016]    Preferably wherein the flag frame includes a vertical strut extending parallel to the longitudinal direction and spaced from the pole and connected to an upper horizontal strut at an upper end with an upper connector and to a lower horizontal strut at a lower end. 
         [0017]    Preferably wherein each connector includes a ring landing portion for abutting with and connecting to the ring. 
         [0018]    Preferably wherein each connector includes vertical strut channel for receiving the vertical strut there through and a horizontal aperture for receiving a horizontal strut therein. 
         [0019]    Preferably wherein the connector is L shaped with a vertical portion and a horizontal portion. 
         [0020]    Preferably wherein the flag frame is C shaped. 
         [0021]    Preferably wherein the pole is square in cross section and four pole brackets are deployed onto the pole. 
         [0022]    Preferably wherein the pole is round in cross section and three pole brackets are deployed onto the pole. 
         [0023]    Preferably wherein the pole is hexagonal in cross section and three pole brackets are deployed onto the pole. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0024]      FIG. 1  is cross sectional view of the present concept a banner support assembly shown deployed on a square pole. 
           [0025]      FIG. 2  is cross sectional view of the present concept a banner support assembly shown deployed on a round pole. 
           [0026]      FIG. 3  is cross sectional view of the present concept a banner support assembly shown deployed on a hexagonal pole. 
           [0027]      FIG. 4  is a top perspective view showing a portion of the banner support assembly namely upper support assembly. 
           [0028]      FIG. 5  is a side elevational view of the upper support assembly of the banner support assembly shown in  FIG. 4 . 
           [0029]      FIG. 6  is a partial side elevational view showing the upper support assembly and the lower support assembly and parts of the flag frame. 
           [0030]      FIG. 7  is a top perspective view of the banner support assembly. 
           [0031]      FIG. 8  is a bottom perspective view of the banner support assembly. 
           [0032]      FIG. 9  is a side elevational view of the banner support assembly shown complete with the upper support assembly, the lower support assembly and the flag frame. 
           [0033]      FIG. 10  is a bottom perspective schematic view of the banner support assembly  100  deployed onto a light standard or pole. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0034]    Referring first of all to  FIG. 9  the banner support assembly shown generally as  100  includes the following major components namely; upper support assembly  102 , lower support assembly  104 , and flag frame  106 . 
         [0035]    Banner support assembly  100  is shown deployed on a pole  110  in  FIG. 9 . 
         [0036]    The reader will note that upper support assembly  102  and lower support assembly  104  are very similar. 
         [0037]    Therefore by way of example we will first discuss upper support assembly  102  however all of the items discussed in regard to upper support assembly  102  have identical counter parts in lower support assembly  104  as shown in the drawings. 
         [0038]    Banner support assembly  100  preferably includes two support assemblies namely upper support assembly  102  and lower support assembly  104 .  FIG. 4  depicts upper support assembly  102  and includes the following major components namely pole brackets  112  ring  114  and band clamps  116 . 
         [0039]    The structure of pole bracket  112  is best depicted in  FIGS. 4 and 5  and therefore referring now to  FIGS. 4 and 5  pole bracket  112  includes a ring channel  120 , a relief  122  there behind the ring channel  120 , a mounting side  124 , a top side  126 , a bottom side  128 , a front side  130  and band slots  132 . 
         [0040]    Pole bracket  112  is preferably a “C” shaped bracket  134  as depicted in  FIG. 5  wherein the bottom of ring channel  120  is bearing surface  136  and the top of ring channel  120  is retaining surface  138  and ring channel  120  roughly defines a “U” shaped ring channel  140 . 
         [0041]    Ring  114  is designed to be slideably received within ring channel  120  such that the ring bottom surface  142  slides along bearing surface  136  of ring channel  120  of each of the pole brackets  112 . Ring  114  has a removable segment  150  which is attached with fasteners  152  to a major section  154  of ring  114 . 
         [0042]    Ring  114  has removable segment  150  in order to be able to mount it around pole  110 . Ring  114  therefore includes two split lines  154  which is the connection point between the removable segment  150  and the major segment  154 . The split line  154  is flush in other words there is no surface step in the ring bottom surface  142  and in particular when going from the major segment  154  of ring  114  to the removable segment  150 . 
         [0043]    Upper support assembly  102  is attached to an outer surface  156  of pole  110  using band clamp  116  which is fed through band slots  132 . 
         [0044]    It is possible that only one band clamp  116  is necessary in order to attach upper support assembly  102  to pole  110  however preferably two band clamps  116  are used namely upper band  158  and lower band  160  are used to mount the pole brackets  112  onto the outer surface  156  of pole  110 . 
         [0045]    The reader will note that the mounting side  124  of pole bracket  112  abuts against the outer surface  156  of pole  110  and is compressively held against the outer surface  156  of pole  110  by tightening and shortening the length of the band clamps  116 . Therefore preferably there is an upper band  158  and a lower band  160  wherein the upper band  158  passes through upper slots  164  and the lower band  160  passes through lower slots  166 . 
         [0046]    Ring channel  120  also preferably has a relief  122  in order that the fastener  152  of ring  114  can pass there-through and also the fastener  170  of connector  172  may also pass through relief  122 . 
         [0047]    The reader will note that ring  114  is free to rotate about a longitudinal direction  162 , as it slideably rides on bearing surface  136  of the pole brackets  112 . 
         [0048]    Referring to  FIG. 6  the reader will note that preferably there are two support assemblies namely upper support assembly  102  and lower support assembly  104  which are attached to pole  110 . 
         [0049]      FIG. 9  depicts a flag frame  106  connected to the upper and lower support assemblies  102  and  104  respectively using upper connector  180  and a lower connector  182 . A vertical strut  184  spans between upper connector  180  and  182  in the vertical direction wherein an upper end  186  of vertical strut  184  connects to upper connector  180  and a lower end  188  of vertical strut  184  connects to lower connector  182 . 
         [0050]    An upper horizontal strut  190  attached to upper connector  180  and extends perpendicularly away from pole  110  and vertical strut  184 . Similarly a lower horizontal strut  192  is connecter to lower connector  182  and extends horizontally perpendicularly away from vertical strut  184  and pole  110 . 
         [0051]    Upper connector  180  and lower connector  182  is shown generally as connector  172 . 
         [0052]    Referring now to  FIGS. 4 and 5 , connector  172  includes a horizontal portion  210 , a vertical portion  212  and is generally an “L” shaped connector as shown as  214 . Upper connector  180  and lower connector  182  are the same other than lower connector  182  is the mirror image of upper connector  180  and is positioned inverted relative to upper connector  180 . 
         [0053]    The horizontal portion  210  of connector  172  includes a horizontal aperture  202  for receiving horizontal struts  190  and  192  therein. 
         [0054]    The vertical portion  212  of connector  172  includes vertical strut channel  204  for receiving vertical strut  184  there-through. 
         [0055]    Connector  172  is fastened to ring  114  at a ring landing portion  206  which abuts and contacts with the outer surface  220  of ring  114 . 
         [0056]    The reader will note flag frame  106  is a “C” shaped flag frame  126  as depicted in  FIG. 9 . 
         [0057]    Referring to  FIG. 10  the banner support assembly  100  is shown deployed onto a light pole or light standard  230  wherein upper support assembly  102  is connected to an upper portion of light pole  230  and lower support assembly  104  is connected to lower portion of light pole  230  and flag frame  106  is connected to both the upper support assembly  102  and lower support assembly  104  using connectors  172 . 
         [0058]    The flag frame  106  together with flag  251  is free to rotate around pole  110  since it is connected to rings  114  at both the upper support assembly  102  and lower support assembly  104 . 
         [0059]    Referring now to  FIGS. 1, 2 and 3  upper support assembly  102  is shown deployed onto a square pole  250  in  FIG. 1 , deployed onto round pole  252  in  FIG. 2  and deployed onto a hexagonal pole  254  in  FIG. 3 . 
         [0060]    It should be apparent to persons skilled in the arts that various modifications and adaptation of this structure described above are possible without departure from the spirit of the invention the scope of which defined in the appended claim.