Abstract:
The disclosure describes a fastening means for attaching containers to the side of balusters of railings of porches, balconies and stairways, and the containers are used to hold plants and to store items. The containers are mounted to the side of the balusters furthest from the porches, balconies and stairways and do not take up any space on the porches, balconies and stairways. Heavier containers have a support lip that rests on the floor of the porches and balconies to support the heavier weight while the fastening means hold the container firmly against the balusters. The fastening means comprises a threaded member that extends from the rear of a container and through the balusters, and a cross bar and knurled knob with nut turn onto the threaded member to pinch the balusters, thereby creating a frictional force that holds the containers to the balusters.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims the benefit of co-pending Provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/310,000 filed Aug. 6, 2001. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to fastening means for attaching containers to balusters used in places such as on porches, balconies and stairways, and the containers may be used to hold plants or to store items. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     In the prior art balusters have been not been used for any purposes except for decorative purposes, to provide support to railings to which they are attached, and to help prevent people from falling past a railing supported by the balusters. These purposes for balusters are important but limit the use of space around the balusters. 
     In urban environments some high rise apartments have small porches or balconies that are used to sit outside, but there is little or no space to store chair cushions, magazines or other things used on such small porches or balconies. There is also little space to place flower planters. One approach to solving this space problem is to mount planters on top of or alongside a railing, as for example on the balconies of high rise condominiums, on the decks of houses, on the decks of above-ground pools, and so on. An example is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,269,095 issued Dec. 14, 1993. However, fastening of this type obstructs with the ability to use a railing as a support for people to hold. 
     Thus there is a need in the prior art for means to utilize heretofore unused space to fasten planters and storage containers on porches, decks, balconies and stairs, whether in a high rise, houses, pools, or elsewhere. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention meets the need in the prior art to provide means to utilize heretofore unused space to fasten planters and storage containers on porches, decks, balconies and stairs, whether in a high rise, houses, by a pool, or elsewhere. The novel fastening means is used for attaching such containers to the side of balusters of railings used in places such as porches, balconies and stairways, and the containers may be used to hold plants or to store items. 
     High rise apartments having small porches or balconies also have railings with balusters and the novel fastening means is used to attach planters and storage containers to the sides of the balusters, and preferably to the outside of the balusters, off the porch or balcony. Thus, the planters and storage containers may be fastened in a position and in a manner that takes up no space on the porch or balcony. In addition, the top of railings may still be utilized for their intended purpose of being used as a hand hold. 
     The fastening means attaches to the side of planters and containers and, when they are positioned on the outside of a railing, the fastening means extends through balusters and a clamping means is engaged to hold the planters and containers firmly against the balusters. 
     For heavier planters and containers a horizontal support lip is provided on one side or a bottom edge of the planter or container. The support lip sits on the edge of the floor of the deck or balcony and cooperates with the fastening means to attach the planter or container to the balusters. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The invention will be better understood upon reading the following Detailed Description in conjunction with the drawing in which: 
     FIG. 1 is a front view of a planter equipped with the novel fastening means attached to balusters; 
     FIG. 2 is a rear view of the planter in FIG. 1 showing the novel fastening means attaching the planters to the porch balusters; 
     FIG. 3 is a top view of the planter of FIG. 1 showing how the novel fastening means attaches the planter to the porch balusters; 
     FIG. 4 shows inserts that are placed in the top of the planter to grow plants; 
     FIG. 5 shows a front view of a larger planter attached to porch balusters using a plurality of the novel fastening means; 
     FIG. 6 shows a rear view of the larger planter in FIG. 5 attached to the porch balusters using a plurality of the novel fastening means; 
     FIG. 7 shows a front view of a storage container attached to porch balusters as not to take space up on a porch or balcony; and 
     FIG. 8 shows a side view of the storage container of FIG. 7 attached to the porch balusters. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     In FIG. 1 is shown a front view of a semi-circular container equipped with the novel fastening means (seen in FIG. 2) to be attached to balusters  11  and  12  that support railing  37  of a porch  38 . In FIG.  1  and in the following description the container is identified as planter  10 , but it may also have an open top or have a cover and be used for the purpose of storage such as shown in and described in greater detail with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8. The planter  10  may be made of any appropriate material such as metal, plastic, synthetic resin or wood. In addition, planter  10  can have any number of fanciful patterns molded or otherwise formed into its outer surface to enhance the aesthetical appearance of the planter. 
     It can be seen in FIG. 1 that planter  10  takes up no room up on the porch  38  while providing a decorative appearance and performing its intended purpose. While planter  10  is shown mounted to the balusters  11 ,  12  of a deck  38 , it also may be mounted to balusters of a balcony of a high rise apartment, or to the balusters on the side of a stairway, both inside and outside. 
     In addition, planter  10  may be any desired shape. While the planter  10  shown in FIG. 1 is preferably big enough to span at least two balusters  11  and  12 , more balusters may be spanned as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. Further, a planter  10  may be smaller and not span two balusters, but a portion of fastening means will be seen as described in more detail with reference to FIG.  6 . 
     FIG. 2 is a rear view of the planter  10  in FIG. 1 showing the novel fastening means attaching the planter  10  to the porch balusters  11  and  12 . The fastening means, as shown in FIG. 2, includes a cross bar member  13  and a knurled tightening knob  14  which is knob with a threaded hole through its center area. A nut (not shown) may also be insert into the center of knob  14  in a recessed manner for this purpose. In fastening planter  10  to balusters  11  and  12 , cross bar  13  is placed across the opposite side of balusters  11  and  12  from planter  10  as shown, and fastening means  14  is tightened by turning to squeeze planter  10  and bar  13  against opposite sides of the balusters  11  and  12 . 
     Member  13  spans balusters  11  and  12  and knob  14  screws onto a threaded screw that extends from the rear of planter  10  and between balusters  11  and  12 . Knob  14  preferably has a large enough diameter to permit the proper tightening force to be created when hand tightening for the fastening means to work properly. A wide knob  14  serves to spread force over bar  13  in a manner known in the art. Alternatively, knob  14  need not be provided but a flat washer and nut that is turned onto the screw extending from planter  10 , but this is not as aesthetically pleasing visually. 
     As knob  14  is tightened a force is created that holds planter  10  and cross bar member  13  tightly against opposite sides of balusters  11  and  12  and a frictional force is created thereby such that planter  10  stays in the fastening position shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. Further details of the fastening means are shown in and described with reference to FIG.  3 . Extra friction may be created by molding small, raised ridges on the surface of cross bar  13  that contact balusters  11  and  12  and can dig into wooden balusters. Alternatively, a piece of tape may be attached to the surface of bar  13  that contacts balusters  11  and  12 , and the tape has a sand like surface, similar to tape strips that are attached to concrete stairs so people do not slip and fall. The latter is more required for metal balusters. 
     In FIG. 3 is shown a top view of planter  10  of FIG. 1 showing further details of the novel fastening means and how it is used to attach planter  10  to balusters  11  and  12 . Through the flat, back wall of planter  10  is a hole having a diameter only slightly larger than the threaded shaft (not shown) of a wide headed screw  15 . A wide, fender washer  16 , or a flat piece of metal or other material, is first placed onto the threaded shaft of screw  15  until it is under the head of the screw. Washer  16  protects the rear surface  17  of planter  10  by providing strain relief in a manner well known in the art. The threaded shaft of screw  15  is then inserted through the hole through the back wall of planter  10  from the inside of planter  10 . When the threaded shaft extends past balusters  11  and  12  a hole through the center of cross bar member  13  is inserted onto the threaded shaft of screw  15 . As described in the previous paragraph cross bar  13  has small, raised elements on the surface of cross bar  13  that contact balusters  11  and  12 , as shown by the ridged surface in FIG. 3, or has tape with a sand paper like, rough surface. Knurled knob  14  with a threaded nut insert is screwed onto the end of the threaded shaft of screw  15 . As knob  14  is turned tight planter  10  and cross bar  13  are forced against opposite sides of balusters  11  and  12  creating a pinching force such that planter  10  stays in the fastening position shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. In addition, additional pieces of tape with a sand paper like, rough surface may be provided and attached to the rear side of planter  10  so as to contact balusters  11  and  12  when planter  10  is mounted on the balusters. 
     FIG. 4 shows cup like inserts  21 ,  22 ,  23  (not seen in FIG. 1) that hold dirt and plants or flowers, or plastic plants or flowers that are be placed in the open top of a planter  10 . The insert(s) either hook onto the top edge of planter  10 , or rest on molded ledges (not shown) on the inside of planter  10 . The inserts shown are typically molded of plastic, formed as a single piece  20  and partitioned into multiple, triangular cup shaped segments  21 ,  22  and  23 . When inserted into planter  10  piece  20  is bent to the shape shown in FIG.  4 . Alternately, there may be a number of separate, discrete, cup shaped inserts. While there are three pie shaped inserts shown in FIG. 4, their actual shape is determined by the shape of planter  10 . In addition, there may be a plurality of inserts as shown in FIG. 4, or there may be a single insert. 
     FIG. 5 shows a front view of a larger, rectangular shaped planter  30  attached to porch balusters. This larger planter  30  spans a plurality of balusters as shown. There may or may not be cup like inserts in this planter. To attach such a larger planter or storage container to the balusters a plurality of the novel fastening means are utilized. They are not shown in FIG. 5 but are shown in and described with reference to FIG.  6 . 
     FIG. 6 shows a rear view of the larger planter  30  in FIG. 5 attached to the porch balusters using a plurality of the novel fastening means. In this example two fastening means of the type shown in and described with reference to FIG. 3 are utilized, but more than two may also be utilized. As may be appreciated, due to the larger size of planter  30  a single fastening bar  13  is insufficient to mount planter  30  to the balusters. As shown in FIG. 6, multiple bars  13  and fastener elements  14  are utilized. While two bars  13  and fastener means  14  are shown, more than two may be used, if required or as desired. They are the same as those shown in and described with reference to FIG. 4 so the description is nor repeated here for the sake of brevity. 
     In FIG. 7 is shown a front view of a storage container  39  with lid  34  attached to porch balusters as not to take space up on a porch or balcony. Only two balusters  40  and  41  are shown but there are more balusters, not shown, between these two balusters. Container  39  may be deep, in the order of eighteen to twenty-four inches, several feet wide, and lid  34  is provided to seal the inside of container  39  from the elements. Lid  34  is sloped to facilitate the run off of rain. This enlarged storage container can be used to store larger items, such as porch furniture cushions that are often removed and stored when not in use to protect them from rain or prolonged exposure to the sun. By fastening storage container  39  on the outside of the balusters so it takes up no space on a porch or balcony, storage space is effectively created since the stored items are not on the normal, functional area of the porch or balcony, and are not inside a house or apartment where storage space may be or is at a minimum. 
     Storage container  39  maybe deep enough that its bottom surface will sit on the outer edge  36  of porch  38 . This is not shown in FIGS. 7 and 8. Preferably, container  39  may be provided with an extending support member  35  that sits on the edge  36  of porch  38 , such as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, when the storage container  39  is attached to the balusters. The support member  35  may alternatively be co-planar with the bottom surface of container  39  and extend in the direction of the balusters to rest on the top, outer surface  36  of the porch floor  38  to support the weight of container  39  and its contents thereon. Support member  35  is sturdy enough to support the weight of storage container  39  when it has a fair amount of weight therein. 
     With a support member  35  on a storage container  39  the novel fastening means do not support all the weight of the container. Rather, the weight of container  39  and its contents is primarily supported by the support member  35  and the fastening means are used to hold container  39  against the balusters so the container does not fall off the porch or balcony. 
     The support member  35 , no matter where located, preferably extends along the length of container  39  but a plurality of shorter support members, spaced along the length of container  39 , may also be utilized. While the support member  35  in FIGS. 7 and 8 is shown as being formed as an integral part of storage container  39 , it may be a separate part that is attached to the rear of container  39  in an adjustable manner to facilitate fastening container  39  on balusters of different heights, and to facilitate fastening container  39  at different heights. 
     FIG. 8 shows a side view of the storage container of FIG. 7 attached to the porch balusters and supported on the edge  36  of deck  38  by support member  35 . As previously described, storage container  39  may be several feet wide and will span across a number of balusters  41  that are not shown in FIG.  8 . Accordingly, similar to the wide planter shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, a plurality of fastening means of the type shown in and described with reference to FIG. 3 are utilized. The number of fastening means is basically dependent upon the weight of storage container  39  and its contents. The fastening means are the same as those shown and described with reference to FIG. 4 so the description is nor repeated here for the sake of brevity. 
     In an alternative embodiment of the invention, a container having a similar or different shape to planter  10  in FIG. 1, may be mounted on balusters  11  and  12  to face the porch side of the balusters  11  and  12 . With no insert(s) placed into the container it may be used to place items such as, but not limited to, magazines and newspapers. It may also be used as a trash basket. 
     While what is described herein is the preferred embodiment of the invention and some alternative embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that numerous changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.