Abstract:
A cord reel apparatus for holding and winding cords includes a housing, a spool and a handle. The housing and spool further have three outlets to conveniently access the two plugging ends of the cord. The handle extends from exterior of housing and a crank handle internally connected to spool helps in faster and smoother winding and unwinding of the cords. Also the cord reel apparatus includes a gear system (outer, central and inner gears) to help in faster winding and unwinding of cords.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/148,578 filed Apr. 16, 2015, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. This application also claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/151,343 filed Apr. 22, 2015, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
     
    
     FIELD 
       [0002]    The inventive subject matter relates to a method and apparatus for an improved cord storage reel. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0003]    Building construction sites, where residential and commercial buildings are being fabricated typically use a large number of electrical equipment, such as saws, drills, and other fabricating equipment. It is not uncommon during the building process to have long electrical cords being connected from a central power source, such as a generator or the main utility line. 
         [0004]    What is also ubiquitous at a construction site are “five gallon” construction buckets. These buckets are inexpensive and are used to carry tools, construction materials, and water. Also, one can purchase fabric organizers that sit on top, or around the edge of the bucket and have pockets for holding hand tools. These tool management systems that are placed on the buckets also serve are a convenient way to organize and transport tools to and from the construction site. 
         [0005]    There are different types of cord and hose management systems. For the purpose of this application, the term “cord” may refer to a cord, hose, wire, rope, fishing line, or other similar type of material. 
         [0006]    U.S. Pat. No. 2,801,303 issued to Grace N. Pailing discloses a cord reel for winding and storing the power cords of electrical appliances such as toasters and kitchen mixers. 
         [0007]    U.S. Pat. No. 3,313,498 issued to Lawrence W. Wasson discloses a wire dispensing reel particularly useful for dispensing the wire ties that masonry workers use to temporarily hold sections of re-bar together until the concrete can be poured around them and rigidified. 
         [0008]    U.S. Pat. No. 4,132,367 issued to Norman Meson et al, assigned to Indicel Co., Ltd. discloses a cord winder that features a number of planetary drums that orbit about a fixed sun drum when driven by a crank or spring motor. 
         [0009]    U.S. Pat. No. 6,186,433 issued to James D. Kovacik et al., assigned to Alert Stamping and Mfg. Co., Inc. discloses a manually wound cord storage unit featuring a spool that is rotatably mounted on a hub. 
         [0010]    U.S. Pat. No. 6,557,792 issued to Mark Snow discloses an apparatus for storing and dispensing holiday light strings, particularly of the “icicle” variety that feature a plurality of short light segments that hang down orthogonal to the main line. 
         [0011]    Accordingly, there exists a need for an improved cord storage reel that can easily wind, unwind and store long wires, cables, and cords more conveniently. And also it would be beneficial to have a protective cover to protect the wires, cables or cords from further physical damage, which could be mounted on a five gallon bucket for ease in portability. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0012]    The present inventive subject matter in its first embodiment describes a cord reel apparatus for holding and winding cords, which includes an internal shaft/spool, a housing, and a handle to facilitate in the process of winding and unwinding of cords. The housing further has three (top, bottom and side) outlets to conveniently provide access to the two plugging ends of the cord. 
         [0013]    In a second embodiment is described a gearing mechanism to improve the winding of cords. This gearing mechanism may also be integrated within a protective case, a spool, a gear system, and a handle. A handle is connected to the outer/input gear system to help in faster winding of the cords. This handle may also be placed on the other gears to allow the use of multiple turn ratios. 
         [0014]    These and other embodiments are described in more detail in the following detailed descriptions and the figures. The foregoing is not intended to be an exhaustive list of embodiments and features of the present inventive subject matter. Persons skilled in the art are capable of appreciating other embodiments and features from the following detailed description in conjunction with the drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0015]      FIG. 1  shows an isometric view of the cord storage reel apparatus according to the first embodiment. 
           [0016]      FIG. 2  depicts a side cross section view thereof. 
           [0017]      FIG. 3  illustrates the dimensions of the cord storage reel apparatus according to the first embodiment. 
           [0018]      FIG. 4  depicts an exploded view of the cord storage reel apparatus according to the second embodiment. 
           [0019]      FIG. 5  illustrates a gear mechanism for winding the cord according to the second embodiment. 
           [0020]      FIG. 6  illustrates a gear mechanism with the crank attached to the outer gear according to the second embodiment. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0021]    According to the first embodiment of the present inventive subject matter, a cord reel that is shaped to fit into the upper portion of a standard five gallon bucket is described. The lip like those found on buckets extends from the side to prevent the reel from going too far into the bucket. The reel is intended to be used either in-hand or within the top of a bucket. This makes the cord reel easier to hold as the longer sized cords are wound up and the reel becomes heavy. This also creates a convenient, centralized place for the consumer to store supplies inside the bucket near their cord. 
         [0022]    Now referring to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 , specifically  FIG. 1  shows the cord reel system  100 . The cord reel system  100  is mounted on the work bucket  120  via the cord reel housings compressible flange  130 . The compressible flange  130  is fabricated from a rigid material so that a rigid radial perimeter compressibly expands out the inner pliable edge of the work bucket  120 . The openings on the top, bottom and side of the spool  250  and housing allow one cord end to remain exposed on either side of the reel while the other end is wound or unwound. It also allows the user to plug into items inside or outside of the bucket while the reel is on top of it. The reel does not have to be opened in order to load the cord and both ends are exposed throughout the winding process, making it unnecessary for the cord to be completely unwound in order to access the plug end. 
         [0023]      FIG. 2  depicts a side view of the wire spool  200 . The wire spool  200  has a rotating handle  150  that is connected to a hollow internal shaft  250  that allows for cord  240  to be wound on and off the internal shaft  250 . The cord  240  has two connection points that are located on the top  220  and on the bottom  225 . The method of spooling and unspooling involves rotating the spool in the clockwise and/or counter-clockwise direction. Openings on the top  220 , bottom  225  and side  210  of the spool allow one cord end to remain exposed on either side of the reel while the other end is wound or unwound. It also allows the user to plug into items inside or outside of the bucket while the reel is on top of it. The reel does not have to be opened in order to load the cord and both ends are exposed throughout the winding process, making it unnecessary for the cord to be completely unwound in order to access the plug end. 
         [0024]      FIG. 3  shows the measurements of the different constituents of the cord reel apparatus  300 . Several experiments and trials performed have yielded these ideal size/measurements and position for all the constituents for optimizing the ease and pace of operation of winding and unwinding extension cords. For the housing the outer diameter is represented by  310  is no greater than 11 inches, and the outermost diameter including the lip protrusion is represented by  320  is 12 inches and height of the housing is represented by  340  is 4.75 inches are found to be the ideal measurements. For the internal shaft/spool the outer diameter is represented by  330  is 10.8 inches and height is represented by  350  is 4.5 inches are found to be the most ideal measurements for conveniently winding and unwinding a cord up to 50 feet. The cord reel works best when the side outlet is centered on the housing. Based on the length of the cord the dimensions of the constituents would vary to obtain the optimum operational efficiency. 
         [0025]    Now referring to  FIG. 4 , which shows an exploded view of the cord gearing system  400  according to the second embodiment of the present inventive subject matter. The right side cover is as shown in  410 , the gear assembly with the crank handle is as shown in  420 , the housing with the carry handle is as shown in  430 , the spool is as shown in  440  and the left side cover is as shown in  450 . The crank handle or the carry handle having a handle coupling which would be capable of receiving detachable handles. Also the handle coupling can receive foldable handles for compact storage purposes. 
         [0026]    Now referring to  FIG. 5 , which shows a top view of a gear assembly  500  that interfaces the outer handle to the internal shaft of the spool and to a gear mechanism. The gear mechanism consists of an outer/input gear  510  connected to three interconnecting gears  520  which are connected to the inner/output gear  530 . 
         [0027]    Use of the cord reel system involves turning the handle to wind or unwind a cord that is wound on the spool. The outer gear  510  is rotated against the three interconnecting gears  520  that rotate in the opposite direction. When the three interconnecting gears  520  rotate, this causes the turning of the inner/output gear  530 . The inner gear/output gear  530  is connected to the spool which results in the overall winding/unwinding of the cords. 
         [0028]    The relative gear ratio between the outer gear  510  and the three interconnecting gears  520  may result in high operational efficiency, for example, the fast winding and/or unwinding of long cords. The above description serves as a representative gear system to be used in a cord reel apparatus. A gear system with a different number of gears and different gear ratios can be used to achieve higher operational efficiency. 
         [0029]    Now referring to  FIG. 6  which depicts the cord reel which uses an outer gear that turns as the attached handle  610  that may be operated by the user. This outer gear turns a smaller gear (in this case three) that turn the central gear which turns the cord spool attached to it, producing a  5 : 1  crank to turn ratio. 
         [0030]    The centering of the gear setup can be achieved by using three or more, evenly sized gears between the outer gear and central gear. The attached spool can become heavy and/or out of balance as a cord is wound, the centering of the gear setup helps maintain the smooth rotation of the spool. The gear mechanism can also accommodate a 1:1 ratio or even negative i.e. 1:2 ratio when the weight of the cord is an issue and greater torque rather than speed is preferred. Different speeds of operation can be achieved by moving the crank handle from the center gear to the outer gear or vice versa based on the requirement. 
         [0031]    The ratio produced by this reel makes rolling up a cord much faster but the concept is not limited to this style of reel. Adaptations for reels of many sizes and styles are applicable and the optimal ratio necessary for each type can be achieved by altering the gear size relationships. The central gear may also be hollow, allowing the cable to pass through after exiting the center of the spool. This allows a cord end to be accessible while the spool attached winds the rest of the cord. 
         [0032]    The many aspects and benefits of the invention are apparent from the detailed description, and thus, it is intended for the following claims to cover all such aspects and benefits of the invention which fall within the scope and spirit of the invention. In addition, because numerous modifications and variations will be obvious and readily occur to those skilled in the art, the claims should not be construed to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation illustrated and described herein. Accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents should be understood to fall within the scope of the invention as claimed herein.