Patent Publication Number: US-8536991-B2

Title: Wireless decorative doorbell device

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention relates to door bell devices, and in particular relates to an ornamental doorbell device for alerting persons inside a house or building that a person is waiting at an entrance door. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Door bells for alerting people to the presence of someone at the door are known. Such prior door bells are generally small hard-wired push button switches that when pushed complete an electric circuit resulting in the operation of an interior bell or chime. Wireless door bells also exist, as do novelty sound-producing devices that may be hung on a door and intercom devices. 
     A decorative door bell actuator is provided by the patent of Lusareta et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,883,570) and has a cover pivotally mounted on a surface with an adjustable lever extending out the back of the cover. When the cover is pressed toward the wall, the push lever rings the door bell and actuates an electronic circuit inside the cover causing light display, sound emission and movement of objects on the cover. 
     The patent of Grady (U.S. Pat. No. 5,604,478) is a pet operable door chime. There is a switch unit on the ground or floor, which when activated by a pet, causes a signal to be sent to a remote chime unit. 
     These prior door bells are either not decorative, are hard-wired, or include use of a preexisting doorbell. 
     It is an object of the invention to provide a decorative doorbell device that is wireless, in which an ornamental housing is attachable to a base unit mounted near a door of a building. 
     Other objects and advantages will be more fully apparent from the following disclosure and appended claims. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention herein is a decorative doorbell device that in its preferred embodiment includes a base unit attachable to a door; an ornamental housing unit rotatably lockable to the base unit; a doorbell ringer attached to the ornamental housing unit and having a wireless activator; and a sound-producing unit that is remotely activated by the wireless activator. The ornamental housing unit may be formed in the shape of a football helmet and decorated with a particular team&#39;s logo and colors, or in any other ornamentation and shape. 
     Other objects and features of the inventions will be more fully apparent from the following disclosure and appended claims. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic view of the doorbell device of the invention mounted on an outer wall of a building, showing the remotely located sound-producing unit. 
         FIG. 2  is a cross-sectional view taken along line  2 - 2  of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  is an exploded view of the doorbell device of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 4  is a top view of the base unit. 
         FIG. 5  is a front view of the base unit shown in  FIG. 4 . 
         FIG. 6  is a cross-sectional view taken along line  6 - 6  of  FIG. 5 . 
         FIG. 7  is a bottom view of the device shown in  FIG. 5 . 
         FIG. 8  is a top view of the cover mounting ring of the ornamental housing unit. 
         FIG. 9  is a front view of the cover mounting ring of  FIG. 8 . 
         FIG. 10  is a side view of the cover mounting ring of  FIG. 9 . 
         FIG. 11  is a bottom view of the cover mounting ring of  FIG. 9 . 
         FIG. 12  is an exploded perspective view of one embodiment of the doorbell device of the invention herein. 
         FIG. 13  is an exploded perspective view of an embodiment of the doorbell device of the invention not attached with screws to a building. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION AND PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS THEREOF 
     The present invention provides a preferably wireless, stand-alone doorbell device that may be attached to the wall of a building over an existing doorbell or in a position where there is no existing doorbell. 
     As used herein, the term “front” and “back” refer to the doorbell device as viewed when mounted on a wall. Thus, the front is the portion of the doorbell device closest to the person approaching and using the doorbell device, and the back is the portion of the device closest to the wall on which the doorbell device is mounted. The term “wall” includes any portion of a wall near a door, including the door jam or areas around the door as known in the art for mounting of doorbells. 
     Referring now to the figures, the doorbell device  10  of the preferred embodiment of the invention comprises a base unit  12  ( FIGS. 3-7 ) attachable to a wall  14  near a door; an ornamental housing unit  16  ( FIGS. 3 and 12 ) rotatably lockable to the base unit  12 ; and a doorbell ringer  18  attached to the ornamental housing unit  16  ( FIGS. 1-3 ). 
     Preferably, base unit  12  has a plurality of vertical splits  13  as shown in  FIGS. 3 and 5 . These vertical splits  13 , shown as being along lines of holes  24 , allows the location and position of the two sides of the base unit  12  that are formed by the splits  13  to be finely adjusted to fit particular screw locations on the surface on which the doorbell device  10  is to be mounted, so that selected holes  24  are correctly and easily aligned for placement of the screws  28  on the wall  14  or other surface. 
     Preferably the doorbell device  10  further comprises a wireless activator  20  attached or incorporated into the doorbell device  10 , and a sound-producing unit  22  that is remotely activated by the wireless activator  10  as is known in the art ( FIGS. 1 and 3 ). In the figures, the solid jagged line  30  with an arrow is a force applied symbol pointing to the wireless activator shows where a person&#39;s finger is to be placed to push and ring the sound-producing unit  22 . The open jagged line indicates the wireless signal from the doorbell ringer  18 /wireless activator  20  and the sound-producing unit  22 . The sound-producing unit  22  may be battery-operated or may be an electrical plug-in unit as is known in the art. 
     As shown in  FIG. 3 , one or more extra components  21  may be included within the doorbell device  10  of the invention. Extra component  21  thus may comprise a vibrator attached to the wireless activator  20  by wiring  19  as known in the art so that when the doorbell ringer  18  is depressed not only is the sound-producing unit  22  activated but the vibrator is activated. For example if the ornamental housing unit  16  is designed to show a witch on a broom, activation, depression of the doorbell ringer  18  could cause the broom to vibrate. Alternatively, extra component  21  may comprise a light that is turned on by depressing the doorbell ringer  18 . The light may be strategically located on the particular chosen ornamental housing unit  16 , for example in the air hole of a helmet-designed ornamental housing unit  16  as discussed herein. Alternatively, the light may light up a feature on the ornamental housing unit  16 , such as a star or logo or the headlights of a racecar. 
     The base unit  12  is the wall-mounting portion of the doorbell device  10  that is provided to enable the doorbell device  10  to be mounted on a home or other building. While the shape of the base unit  12  may be any that allows it to be mounted to a wall and further allows the ornamental housing unit  16  to be attached to the base unit  12 , preferably the base unit  12  has a semicircular an arc-shaped outer perimeter portion  32 . In the preferred embodiment herein, the base unit  12  has a plurality of holes  24  ( FIG. 3 ). In this embodiment, the doorbell device  10  is attachable to a building wall  14  to replace an existing doorbell that is attached to the building by attachment screws. In the invention herein, the base unit is preferably placed in a position  26  where the prior doorbell had been located and screws  28  are placed through the holes  24  in the base unit  12  to attach the base unit  12  to the wall  14  of the building so that the base unit  12 , and ultimately the doorbell device  10 , is positioned where the doorbell had been positioned. 
     Alternatively, the base unit  12  may be mounted anywhere near a door of a building as is desired by screwing the base unit  12  in place at the desired location. Because the preferred doorbell device  10  of the invention is not hard-wired, but is wireless, so long as the sound-producing unit  22  is within the wireless range of the wireless activator  20 , e.g. within the house in an entryway, the doorbell device  10  of the invention may be mounted anywhere that is accessible to being rung and can be noticed by someone approaching a door. 
     The base unit  12  and the ornamental housing unit  16  are preferably rotatably attached together by any type of perimeter interlocking means. An example of such perimeter interlocking means that may be used for the invention herein is shown in  FIGS. 3 ,  5 , and  8 - 11 . In this example, the ornamental housing unit  16  has a cover mounting ring  34  that includes a plurality of spaced outwardly projecting flanges  36  around the ornamental housing unit&#39;s perimeter. The flanges  36  are insertable in an outer perimeter track  38  on the base unit  12 . Each outwardly projecting flange  36  has a stop  40  projecting perpendicularly from the flange ( FIGS. 8-9  and  11 ). Within the outer perimeter track  38  is a plurality of locking slots  42  ( FIGS. 5-7 ) into which the outwardly projecting flanges  36  may be rotated to lock the ornamental housing unit in place when the stops  40  each abut the edge of a locking slot  42  on the base unit  12 . Other rotatable locking means as known in the art may be substituted for the preferred locking means without departing from the invention herein. 
     As shown in  FIGS. 3 ,  8  and  10 , double sided tape or glue  35  may be used to mount the cover mounting ring  34 . The arched surface  37  of cover mounting ring  34  may be affixed to the ornamental housing unit  16  by means of the double sided tape or glue  35  Alternatively, instead of using screws  28  to affix the invention to a wall or other surface, for example, where there is no prior doorbell or where the owner of the doorbell device  10  does not wish to for some other reason to screw the doorbell device  10  to the surface, double sided tape or glue  35  may be used to attach the doorbell device  10  to the surface. 
     Because the ornamental housing unit  16  and the base unit  12  are preferably separate pieces that may be attached to each other to form the resultant doorbell device, it is within the invention herein to have interchangeable ornamental housing units  16  so that the home-owner may select an ornamental housing unit  16  depending on the preferences of the home-owner. The home-owner may also change the ornamental housing unit over time. 
     In an alternate embodiment, the doorbell device  10  is as the preferred embodiment described above with the ornamental housing unit  16  and the base unit  12 , but without a wireless activator or sound-producing unit. In this embodiment the doorbell device is installed over an existing doorbell and is of a size and shape so that in this embodiment, pressing the ringer  18  on the device  10  presses the existing doorbell. 
     While the doorbell device  10  of the invention preferably has a separate ornamental housing unit  16  and a separate base unit  12 , the doorbell device  10  may be permanently attached together. As used herein permanent attachment includes being integrally made together. In this embodiment therefore, there is no need for these two components to be rotatably lockable together. 
     In another alternate embodiment of the invention shown in  FIG. 13 , the base unit  12  is in the form of a semi-circular back and does not have screw holes or vertical splits. Instead, the base unit  12  may be attached to a wall  14  by means of a strip of adhesive tape as is known in the art. The integral doorbell device  10  discussed above may also be made with a semi-circular back without screw holes, so that it is attachable with tape. 
     The ornamental housing unit  16  in one embodiment is formed to resemble a small (e.g., 5-inch diameter) football helmet that may further be marked and decorated to show a particular football team logo ( FIGS. 12 and 13 ) and colors. When the ornamental housing unit is in the form of a football helmet having an ear protector area  44 , the doorbell ringer  18  is preferably positioned behind an opening  46  in the ear protector area  44 . Someone ringing the doorbell in this embodiment places a finger at the opening  46  and presses toward the back of the doorbell device  10 , causing the doorbell ringer  18  that is mounted inside the ornamental housing unit  16  to ring. To further go along with the football theme, in this embodiment the indoor sound-producing unit  22  may further be marked with the team logo, and may be programmed, for example, with a chip as known in the art, with the football team&#39;s song or other desired sound(s). 
     While the ornamental housing unit  16  is shown in  FIG. 12  in the form of a football helmet, other sports-related themes may be depicted by the shape of and/or decoration on, the ornamental housing unit  16  (e.g., a picture of a golf club, tennis racquet, soccer ball, race car etc., and/or sports team logo/name/color, and the like). Alternatively, the ornamental housing unit  16  may be designed in the form of any type of holiday or seasonal ornamentation (e.g., Thanksgiving turkey, snowman, Halloween pumpkin or witch, Christmas Santa Claus, etc.). The ornamental housing unit  16  may also be in the form or design of, or have depicted thereon, any other chosen appearance, such as logos, signs, animals (e.g., pony, frog, owl) and favorite other designs or appearances. It is also within the scope of the invention to optionally have the sound-producing unit  22  be coordinated in color and design, as well as in the sound that is produced, with the appearance of the ornamental housing unit  16 . 
     While it is preferred that the doorbell device of the invention herein be wireless, the components of the preferred invention may be augmented by hard-wiring them by means known in the art. 
     While the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments, it will be appreciated that numerous variations, modifications, and embodiments are possible, and accordingly, all such variations, modifications, and embodiments are to be regarded as being within the spirit and scope of the invention.