Patent Publication Number: US-2019169854-A1

Title: Decorative balusters

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     The present application claims the benefit of prior provisional application Ser. No. 62/593,524, filed Dec. 1, 2017, the contents of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     Balusters are used to support railings of stairs, decks, and patios. Balusters are typically decorative in design to enhance the visual appeal of a balustrade. 
     A user may wish to alter the look of the balusters but may be reluctant to do so due to the cost and time needed to replace the balusters by reconstructing the railing. 
     SUMMARY 
     To address this problem, decorative wrappings are provided which may be wrapped around the balusters of the railing. Each wrapping can have an end-to-end longitudinal slit to allow its installation. 
     Where the railing balusters are of uniform cross-section, the wrapping can be made of resilient plastic and be tubular with a closed cross-sectional shape matching the cross-sectional shape of the balusters. 
     Where the balusters have a varying cross-section, each wrapping can be a heat shrinkable plastic which is wrapped around a baluster and then shrunk in place using heat. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       In the figures which illustrate example embodiments, 
         FIG. 1  is a front view of a portion of a balustrade in accordance with an embodiment; 
         FIG. 2  is a cross-sectional view along the lines II-II of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 2A  is an alternate cross-sectional view along the lines II-II of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective view of a wrapping of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 4  is a front view of a portion of a balustrade in accordance with another embodiment; 
         FIG. 5  is a front view of a portion of a balustrade in accordance with a further embodiment: 
         FIG. 6  is a cross-sectional view along the lines VI-VI of  FIG. 5 ; 
         FIG. 7  is a front view of a wrapping which has been unfurled; 
         FIG. 8  is a longitudinal sectional view of a baluster showing a dryer, in accordance with another embodiment; and 
         FIG. 9  is a cross-sectional view along the lines IX-IX of  FIG. 8 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Turning to  FIG. 1 , a balustrade  10  has a deck  12  supported by supports  14  and a handrail  16  supported by balusters  18  extending between the deck and handrail. Each railing baluster is wrapped by a wrapping  20 . 
     With reference to  FIG. 2 , which is a cross-sectional view of one of the balusters  18 , wrapping  20  is a round tube with an end-to-end longitudinal slit  22 . The interior diameter of the tubular wrapping is the same as (or slightly smaller than) the diameter of the cross-section of the baluster such that the open ends of the slit just meet (or leave a slight opening) when the tubular wrapping extends around the baluster. Alternatively, as shown in  FIG. 2A , where the balusters have a square cross-section, the tubular wrapping  20 A also has a square cross-section. Where the wrapping  20 A has a square cross-section, as illustrated, the longitudinal slit  22  can bisect one of the planar faces  25  of the wrapping. 
     With brief reference to  FIG. 3 , tubular wrapping  120  is fabricated of resilient plastic such that when it is not wrapped around a baluster it will curl in on itself and form an overlap along the longitudinal slit  22 . 
     To install a resilient tubular wrapping on a baluster, the closed tubular wrapping is worked so that it is opened along its longitudinal slit  22  by overcoming the recovery force imparted by the resilient plastic to create a mouth large enough to receive a baluster. The tube is then placed over the baluster and released, whereupon the resilient plastic tube closes around the baluster. With the interior diameter of the tube, once closed, matching the diameter of the baluster, the tube will snugly receive the baluster. Ideally, when closed around the baluster, the edges of the tubular wrapping on either side of the longitudinal slit abut. For aesthetic reasons, the wrappings can be oriented such that the longitudinal slit of each is at a side of each baluster such that these slits lie within the line of the balusters and are thus not in the line of sight when looking at the balusters from either in front of, or behind, the balustrade. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 1 , each tubular wrapping can have the same decorative surface pattern or decorative surface patterns that are essentially randomly different. Alternatively, the decorative surface pattern may vary in a defined way from wrapping to wrapping. In this instance, sets of wrappings can be provided so that a wrapping set provides an overall pattern on the balusters as, for example, to create an image of a flag or a fish.  FIGS. 3 and 4  illustrate a wrapping set. 
     Turning to  FIG. 3 , tubular wrapping  120  has a pattern which is a portion of an image of a fish, namely a portion of the body  24  of the fish and a portion of the dorsal fin  26  of the fish. The wrapping also has, on its interior surface near the top, a number, in this instance the number four, which indicates the ordinal portion of the baluster around which tubular wrapping  120  should be wrapped. In the example set of wrappings, there are six wrappings in a set and these are illustrated wrapping the ballisters of  FIG. 4 . Turning to  FIG. 4 , wrappings  120 - 1  to  120 - 6  are illustrated as wrapping consecutive balusters  18 . Each of wrappings  120 - 1  to  120 - 6  has a decorative pattern with a different portion of an image of a fish such that when all six wrappings are in place they give the visual impression of an entire fish. The gaps in the image of the fish between balusters are filled in by the viewer&#39;s eye and, indeed, the viewer may have the visual impression of seeing a fish in reeds. The position of the decorative surface pattern on the wrappings in relation to the longitudinal slit is chosen so that the pattern of the set will be properly displayed at the front (and optionally also at the back) of the baluster if these slits have a certain orientation on each baluster. With the surface pattern located as shown on the wrapping  120  of  FIG. 3 , the pattern of the set will be properly displayed if the longitudinal slit  22  of each wrapping  120 - 1  to  120 - 6  is at the right hand side of the baluster  18  around which it is wrapped and the longitudinal slits are aligned with each other and with the centrelines  27  ( FIG. 2A ) of the balusters. 
     While the overall pattern has been shown to have been achieved by six wrappings, clearly a pattern forming set may have a different number of wrappings. Indeed, with the set shown, the seventh and eighth balusters could be wrapped with further wrappings of the set which have a neutral pattern, prior to the pattern repeating or a different pattern following. 
     Significantly, with the wrapping, it would be possible to complete a railing using unfinished balusters, such as balusters of unfinished wood, since the decorative wrappings will act to finish the surface of the balusters. Moreover, at any time a user may change the decorative wrappings for different decorative wrappings with different surface patterns. Thus, the wrappings can be used, for example, to present an appropriate theme for the railing, such as a holiday theme. 
     In another embodiment, each wrapping can be illuminated. More specifically, turning to  FIGS. 5 and 6 , each wrapping  220  is a side emitting light guide. This may be achieved by each wrapping comprising a flexible plastic substrate  221  supporting a thin film light guide  223  of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 9,110,200, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. With the wrappings being light guides, a light engine is coupled to one end of each wrapping. Specifically, a two piece collar  28  has halves  28 A and  28   b  with snaps  30  that allow the two halves to be snapped together around the base of the baluster  18  and wrapping  220 . Each collar half supports an LED  32  and battery  34  powering the LED  32 . Wrapping  220  has two circumferentially extending slots  36  so that the collar halves can be oriented so that the LEDs extend into slots  36  to feed light along the wrapping  220 . If more luminous balusters are desired, a second light engine within a second collar may be installed around the baluster at the upper end of the wrapping. 
     Optionally, the thin film light guides of the wrappings may be configured to, when guiding light, guide light so as to display a pattern on each wrapping. This embodiment is illustrated in  FIG. 7  which shows an unfurled wrapping  320  with a substrate  321  and a thin film light guide  323 . Thin film light guide  323  is patterned such that light directed into the wrapping at either slot  36  will follow the pattern provided by the thin film light guide so as to result in an illuminated display of the pattern on a baluster around which wrapping  320  is wrapped. 
     In another embodiment, the baluster has a changing cross-section and/or has intricacies in its shape. This possibility is illustrated in  FIGS. 8 and 9  where baluster  418  has bulbous portions  438 . In this instance, wrapping  420  with its longitudinal slit  422  is fabricated of a heat shrinkable plastic. In this instance, after placing the wrapping  420  around baluster  418 , heat is applied to the wrapping, such as by hair dryer  440  so that the wrapping shrinks to snugly receive the baluster. As before, the wrapping may have a decorative surface pattern. With this embodiment, if it is desired to later change the pattern, the wrapping may first be peeled from the baluster to make way for a further heat shrinkable wrapping, or the further heat shrinkable wrapping may simply be applied over an underlying wrapping. 
     Other embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art.