Patent Publication Number: US-2015083116-A1

Title: Outdoor heating apparatus

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is directed to an outdoor heating apparatus, and in particular to an outdoor heating apparatus that has an easy and convenient assembly/disassembly process. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     In recent years, outdoor heating devices have become extremely popular in both commercial and residential setting. As the demand for the outdoor heating apparatus increases, the need for inexpensive shipping costs (for both international and domestic shipping) and cheaper installation cost has also increased. Throughout the time, a variety of outdoor heating apparatus has been developed, yet most of these products focused more on the technical aspect of the product without considering additional costs a user may have to incur. Moreover, the user has to spend a long time to go through a complicated assembly process of the heating apparatus. 
     U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2011/0076627 to DiVentura discloses an outdoor heater apparatus that has a vertical tube containing a flame exposed along its length to increase the efficiency of the product&#39;s function. However, DiVentura does not disclose or suggest how can this heater apparatus be stored and transported. Most likely, this heater apparatus requires a container equal to the height thereof, and thus the shipping and distribution cost of this heater would be relevantly high as the price is reflected on the size of the container. Also, this product has several small parts, such screws and clippers, which may place an unnecessary burden on the consumers to bare the risk of losing important materials during the assembly process. Furthermore, the consumer may have to spend a long time to assemble this heater apparatus. Although this product would bring high utility in term of technicality to the consumers, it is inconvenient for the consumer to assemble it and the consumer may need a large space to store it. 
     U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2010/0236544 to Hall Jr et al. discloses a similar type of outdoor heater apparatus as disclosed by DiVentura. However, Hall Jr has placed more emphasis on reducing the costs of distribution. Hall Jr actually reduced the size of the container by breaking the heater into several small and separate parts. Even though the distribution costs may be reduced, there are more separate parts so the consumer may have to spend more time and efforts to assemble the heater apparatus during the assembly process. 
     Therefore, there remains a need for a new and improved outdoor heating apparatus that can be assembled in a more convenient and efficient manner to overcome the problems presented above. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is an object of the present invention to provide an outdoor heating apparatus that can be assembled in a more convenient and efficient manner. 
     It is another object of the present invention to provide an outdoor heating apparatus that includes fewer parts so the consumer can more efficiently assemble the heating apparatus. 
     It is a further object of the present invention to provide an outdoor heating apparatus that the size of the outdoor heating apparatus can be significantly reduced, so it can be more easily stored and transported. 
     In one aspect, an outdoor heating apparatus may include a top cover, a supporting structure including upper supporting members and lower supporting members, protection members and lower panels. The upper supporting members and the lower supporting members are connected together to form the supporting structure for the heating apparatus. In one embodiment, the supporting structure is a triangular prism. 
     The outdoor heating apparatus may further include a connecting unit, a securing unit and a glass tube. The glass tube is disposed at nearly the center portion of the supporting structure formed by the upper and lower supporting members. One end of the securing unit is used to connect and secure an upper portion of the glass tube, and the other end of the securing unit is used to connect to one end of the connecting unit. The other end of the connecting unit connects to a bottom portion of the top cover to further secure the upper portion of the glass tube. A lower portion of the glass tube is secured on a top surface of an inner base at a lower portion inside the supporting structure. 
     In an exemplary embodiment, each upper supporting member is telescopically connected with corresponding lower supporting member. More specifically, the size of the lower supporting member is slightly smaller than that of the upper supporting member, so the lower supporting member can be received in a hollow space provided by the upper supporting member. Thus, the size of the heating apparatus is significantly reduced, so it can be easily stored and transported. The heating apparatus may also include a flame generating unit having a switch located underneath the inner base. When the flame generating unit is turned on, the flame can be generated in the glass tube attached on the other side of the inner base to raise the temperature near the heating apparatus. 
     A bottom unit is connected to each lower supporting member close to the floor. In one embodiment, the bottom unit is nearly perpendicular to the lower supporting member. In other word, the lower supporting member and the bottom unit forms a substantially L-shaped structure at the bottom portion of the supporting structure. The heating apparatus may include a securing ring that has a plurality of receiving holes and locking elements on the periphery of the securing ring. The securing ring is used to provide more support to the bottom portion of the supporting structure. More specifically, each receiving hole is used to receive corresponding bottom unit and the locking element is configured to insert into corresponding through hole on the bottom unit to further secure the supporting structure. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  illustrates an exploded view of a prior art disclosing an outdoor portable heater. 
         FIG. 2  illustrates an exploded view of a prior art disclosing an outdoor flame heater. 
         FIG. 3  illustrates a schematic view of the outdoor heating apparatus in the present invention. 
         FIG. 4  illustrates an exploded view of the outdoor heating apparatus in the present invention. 
         FIG. 5  illustrates a schematic view of the supporting structure of the outdoor heating apparatus in the present invention. 
         FIG. 6  illustrates a schematic view of the securing ring of the outdoor heating apparatus in the present invention. 
         FIG. 7  illustrates a schematic view of the protection member of the outdoor heating apparatus in the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The detailed description set forth below is intended as a description of the presently exemplary device provided in accordance with aspects of the present invention and is not intended to represent the only forms in which the present invention may be prepared or utilized. It is to be understood, rather, that the same or equivalent functions and components may be accomplished by different embodiments that are also intended to be encompassed within the spirit and scope of the invention. 
     Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood to one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Although any methods, devices and materials similar or equivalent to those described can be used in the practice or testing of the invention, the exemplary methods, devices and materials are now described. 
     All publications mentioned are incorporated by reference for the purpose of describing and disclosing, for example, the designs and methodologies that are described in the publications that might be used in connection with the presently described invention. The publications listed or discussed above, below and throughout the text are provided solely for their disclosure prior to the filing date of the present application. Nothing herein is to be construed as an admission that the inventors are not entitled to antedate such disclosure by virtue of prior invention. 
     In order to further understand the goal, characteristics and effect of the present invention, a number of embodiments along with the drawings are illustrated as following: 
     Referring to  FIGS. 3 and 4 , an outdoor heating apparatus  300  may include a top cover  302 , a supporting structure  310  including upper supporting members  312  and lower supporting members  314 , a plurality of protection members  320  and a plurality of lower panels  330 . The upper supporting members  312  and the lower supporting members  314  are connected together to form the supporting structure  310  for the heating apparatus  300 . In one embodiment, the supporting structure  310  is a triangular prism. 
     The outdoor heating apparatus  300  may further include a connecting unit  304 , a securing unit  306  and a glass tube  308 . The glass tube  308  is disposed at nearly the center portion of the supporting structure  310  formed by the upper and lower supporting members ( 312 ,  314 ). One end of the securing unit  306  is used to connect and secure an upper portion of the glass tube  308 , and the other end of the securing unit  306  is used to connect to one end of the connecting unit  304 . The other end of the connecting unit  304  connects to a bottom portion of the top cover to further secure the upper portion of the glass tube  308 . A lower portion of the glass tube  308  is secured on a top surface of an inner base  322  at a lower portion inside the supporting structure  310 . 
     In an exemplary embodiment, each upper supporting member  312  is telescopically connected with corresponding lower supporting member  314 , as shown in  FIG. 5 . More specifically, the size of the lower supporting member  314  is slightly smaller than that of the upper supporting member  312 , so the lower supporting member  314  can be received in a hollow space provided by the upper supporting member  312 . Thus, the size of the heating apparatus  300  is significantly reduced, so it can be easily stored and transported. The heating apparatus  300  may also include a flame generating unit  340  having a switch  341  located underneath the inner base  322 . When the flame generating unit  340  is turned on, the flame can be generated in the glass tube attached on the other side of the inner base  322  to raise the temperature near the heating apparatus  300 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 6 , a bottom unit  316  is connected to each lower supporting member  314  close to the floor. In one embodiment, the bottom unit  316  is nearly perpendicular to the lower supporting member  314 . In other word, the lower supporting member  314  and the bottom unit  316  forms a substantially L-shaped structure at the bottom portion of the supporting structure  310 . The heating apparatus  300  may include a securing ring  318  that has a plurality of receiving holes  3181  and locking elements  3182  on the periphery of the securing ring  318 . The securing ring  318  is used to provide more support to the bottom portion of the supporting structure  310 . More specifically, each receiving hole  3181  is used to receive corresponding bottom unit  316  and the locking element  3182  is configured to insert into corresponding through hole  3161  on the bottom unit  316  to tighten the conjugation of the receiving hole  3181  and the bottom unit  316  to further secure the supporting structure  310 . 
     As illustrated above, conventional outdoor heaters either have too many parts so it is difficult for the user to efficiently put together the heater, or the size of conventional outdoor heaters is too big for the user to store it. As can be seen in  FIGS. 3 to 6 , when the user wants to disassemble the heating apparatus  300 , he/she can first remove the lower panels  330  and the securing ring  318  at the bottom portion of the supporting structure  310 . More specifically, each locking element  3182  has to be released to remove the bottom units  316  from the receiving holes  3181 . Referring again to  FIG. 5 , each of the lower supporting member  314  can then be retracted into corresponding receiving space of the upper supporting member  312 , so the size of the heating apparatus  300  has been significantly reduced. For some users, the heating apparatus  300  can be stored at the present stage, however, the user can further remove the protection members  320 , the glass tube  308 , the securing unit  306 , the connecting unit  304  and top cover  302  according to the user&#39;s preference. It is noted that the size of the heating apparatus  300  is significantly reduced comparing with conventional outdoor heaters, so the user can easily store the heating apparatus  300  in the garage without occupying too much space. 
     On the other hand, the assembly process for the heating apparatus  300  is relatively easy. The user can first dispose the glass tube  308  at the center portion of the supporting structure  310  and secure the glass tube  308  with the securing unit  306  and then to the connecting unit  304 , so the upper portion of the glass tube  308  can be secured to the top cover  302  on the top of the supporting structure  310 . The user can then put the protection members  320  on the outer surface of the supporting structure  310 . As shown in  FIG. 7 , it is noted that the protection members  320  can be squeezed into a space between two upper supporting members through two positioning units  322 , so the user does not have to use any screws to secure the protection members  320 , which saves the user&#39;s time and efforts without concerning unnecessary parts of the heating apparatus  300 . At the present stage, the lower supporting members  314  are still received in the receiving spaces of the upper supporting members  312 . 
     The lower supporting members  314  can then be pulled out from corresponding upper supporting members  312 , and the bottom units  316  of the lower supporting members  314  can be inserted into the receiving holes  3181  and locked by the locking elements  3182  to further secure the supporting structure  310 . The lower panels  330  can be attached to the lower portion of the supporting structure  310  to complete the assembly process of the heating apparatus  300 . 
     Having described the invention by the description and illustrations above, it should be understood that these are exemplary of the invention and are not to be considered as limiting. Accordingly, the invention is not to be considered as limited by the foregoing description, but includes any equivalents.