Patent Publication Number: US-2007110931-A1

Title: Rod member

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      The present invention relates to rod members and more particularly, to a rod member having an outer wooden covering.  
      2. Description of the Related Art  
      Long wooden rod members are commonly used in home furniture, such as top rails for window coverings, for the advantage of a nice touch and good outer looking. However, moisture will make wooden rod members rot or curve. This is the major drawback of long wooden rod members.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention has been accomplished under the circumstances in view. It is therefore the main object of the present invention to provide a rod member, which eliminates the drawback of wooden rod members to be easy to rot when wet.  
      It is another object of the present invention to provide a rod member, which eliminates the drawback of wooden rod members to be easy to break.  
      To achieve these objects of the present invention, the rod member provided by the present invention comprises a main body, which is formed of an elongated metal tube, a paper layer, which surrounds the main body, and a wooden covering, which surrounds the paper layer. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a rod member according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 2  is a sectional view taken along line  2 - 2  of  FIG. 1 .  
       FIG. 3  is a schematic drawing showing an application example of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
      As shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , a rod member  1  in accordance with the present invention comprises a main body  10 , which is formed of an elongated metal tube, a paper layer  20 , which surrounds the main body  10 , and a wooden covering  30 , which surrounds the paper layer  30 .  
      The paper layer  20  is wound round and fixedly adhered to the outer periphery of the main body  10 , i.e., the paper layer  20  is a sheet of paper covered with a layer of glue on the back surface and then wound round the main body  10  through several runs. Alternatively, the paper layer  20  can be formed of a tube of paper, and then coated with a layer of glue on the inner diameter, and then tightly fitted onto the outer periphery of the main body  10 .  
      Because the main body  10  and the wooden covering  30  are relatively harder, it is difficult to adhere the wooden covering  30  to the periphery of the main body  10  directly. However, the paper layer  20  is soft, and the particular fiber structure of the paper layer  20  is in favor the absorption of glue and can easily be adhered to the main body  10  and the wooden covering  30 . Therefore, the paper layer  20  is used as an intermediate layer between the main body  10  and the wooden covering  30 , keeping the wooden covering  30  firmly adhered to the main body  10 . Further, the paper layer  20  is cheap.  
      Further, because the main body  10  and the wooden covering  30  are hard materials, directly bonding the wooden covering  30  to the main body  10  cannot make a rod member that has a soft touch. Therefore, the paper layer  20  is used and sandwiched in between the main body  10  and the wooden covering  30  to buffer the pressure employed to the wooden covering  30 , providing a soft touch.  
       FIG. 3  shows an application example of the present invention. As illustrated, the rod member  1  is used to hold window coverings. Instead of conventional solid structure, the rod member  1  is based on the hollow tough main body  10 . The outer wooden covering  30  causes a sense of beauty. The intermediate paper layer  20  enables the rod member  1  to give a soft touch.  
      As indicated above, the invention provides a rod member that has the following advantages:  
      1. Although the core of the rod member is formed of a metal tube, the stripes pattern of the outer wooden covering of the rod member gives a nice touch and good outer looking.  
      2. Because the core of the rod member is formed of a metal tube but not a solid wooden rod, it does not absorb the moisture in air. Therefore, the rod member of the present invention does not rot.  
      Although a particular embodiment of the invention has been described in detail for purposes of illustration, various modifications and enhancements may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not to be limited except as by the appended claims.