Patent Publication Number: US-2015075112-A1

Title: System and method for using truncated artificial trees to hide utility poles from view

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     Not Applicable 
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
     Not Applicable 
     REFERENCE TO SEQUENCE LISTING, A TABLE, OR A COMPUTER PROGRAM LISTING COMPACT DISK APPENDIX 
     Not Applicable 
     FIELD 
     The present application relates to hiding electric utility poles from view. 
     BACKGROUND 
     High power lines crisscross across the country marring the landscape and the trend is to make them taller and carry higher voltages so that they are even more of an eyesore.  FIG. 1  exemplifies the problem and while trees and shrubs can be planted locally to disrupt the view from say a back porch of someone&#39;s house, this does little to nothing to disrupt the view from the surrounding area. 
     While attempts have been made to make radio and cell phone towers look more natural by adding fake branches to them such as was specified in U.S. Pat. No. 8,035,574 B2 Robert Renfro et al. (see  FIG. 2 ), these are additions only to solitary towers without high voltage wires running between them. 
     It is the high voltage wires, which makes it impractical to add fake branches to the existing high voltage poles and as a result, the public is asked to live with it the blight on our public space. 
     SUMMARY 
     In order to overcome the deficiencies in the prior art, methods and systems are described herein. 
     The summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter. 
     The embodiments described methods for using a plurality of truncated artificial trees to hide the view of a utility pole by placing the artificial trees either near, within close proximity, or within a utility poles right of way. 
     Wherein the form of truncation may be a half tree. 
     Wherein the trees are capable of being placed at least the minimum safe design distance from said utility pole. 
     Wherein the artificial trees are sized and positioned in order to achieve a desired percentage of the utility pole being hidden; wherein 100% is considered ideal, 70% or more is considered acceptable, and less than 30% is of minimal value. 
     The embodiments described a system for hiding a utility pole from view comprising: a plurality of artificial trees placed either near, within close proximity, or within a utility poles right of way. Where the trees are comprised of a plurality of artificial branches and a mechanical structure capable of supporting branches and are truncated on at least one side. 
     Wherein the form of truncation may be a half tree. 
     Wherein the minimum distance to the utility pole is at least the minimum safe design distance. 
     Wherein the artificial trees are sized such that a desired percentage of the utility pole is capable of being hidden when viewed from a desired location; wherein 100% is considered ideal, 70% or more is considered acceptable, and less than 30% is of minimal value. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  Shows a typical example of how utility poles disrupt a view; 
         FIG. 2  is prior art and shows adding fake branches to a radio tower; 
         FIG. 3  shows a perspective view of a series of utility towers with their right of way indicated; 
         FIG. 4  shows trees added to  FIG. 3  to hide the utility tower. 
         FIG. 5  shows the side view of an artificial tree and its resultant profile. 
         FIGS. 6   a  and  6   b  show the side view of utility pole with an artificial tree behind it ( 6   a ) and in front of it ( 6   b ). 
         FIGS. 7   a  and  7   b  shows the line of sight of various viewers and the degree to which the utility pole is hidden. 
         FIG. 8  is a top view showing several configurations of artificial trees with various degrees of truncation. 
         FIG. 9  is a top view showing how position and number of artificial trees is able to impact how much of a utility pole is hidden. 
         FIG. 10   a - c  shows the impact of adding trees to create a viewing horizon. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       FIG. 3  shows a series of utility poles  300  and their right-of-way boundary  310  and  310 ′. Right-of-way boundary  310  is the boundary on the near side and right-of-way boundary  310 ′ is on the far side. The term utility pole is used to indicate any sort electrical transmission tower or structure and not specific just to those configured as a pole. 
       FIG. 4  shows  FIG. 3  with artificial trees  400  and  400 ′ added along the right-of-way boundary  310  and  310 ′. Artificial tree  400  was added along right-of-way boundary  310  and shows the branches of the artificial tree facing away from the utility pole  300  in order hide the utility pole from view from the near side. Artificial tree  400 ′ was added along right-of-way boundary  310 ′ and shows a truncated face of the tree facing utility pole  300 . Artificial trees  400  and  400 ′ are supposed to represent identically configured artificial trees with both having branches facing away from the utility pole  300  and a truncated face of each tree facing towards utility pole  300 . 
       FIG. 5  shows a representative construction of an artificial tree. Tower  500 , is shown with a plurality of artificial branches  510  added to it a resultant profile  520  represented by the dashed line and truncation lines  540  and  560 . Tower  500  is representative of any sort of mechanical structure capable of supporting branches. The resultant profile  520  could be that of any sort of tree that grows such as an evergreen, oak or palm tree. The plurality of artificial branches  510  may be placed all the way around tower  500  to form a symmetric resultant profile  520  when the tree is viewed from all orientations or truncated on one or more sides. Truncation line  540  represents a tree that is truncated through tapering of the profile produced by the branches and truncation line  560  represents the case where profile is truncated by being terminated at a particular point. Truncation Lines  540  and  560  are representative of the types of truncation that might be employed. Other forms of truncation such as a combination of a taper and termination as well as completely removing branches from one side of the tree are also anticipated. 
       FIG. 6   a  shows a utility pole  600  with an artificial tree  520 ′ behind it. This would be the situation when there would be an artificial tree located on the far right-of-way boundary only. In this particular case, the utility pole  600  is hidden by blending in and being camouflaged by artificial tree  520 ′. 
       FIG. 6   b  shows a utility pole  600  with an artificial tree  520  in front of it. This would be the situation when there would be an artificial tree located on the near right-of-way boundary only. In this particular case, the utility pole  600  is hidden by directly obscuring the view of utility pole  600 . 
     The term hidden as used in this document to refer to both blending in and being camouflaged as well as directly obscuring the view. 
     In  FIGS. 6   a  and  6   b  utility pole  600  is not completely hidden by either artificial tree  520  or  520 ′. The portion of any utility pole that is unhidden is hereby defined as the unhidden portion and the portion that is hidden is hereby defined as the hidden portion and is a function of an artificial trees size and shape. 
       FIG. 7   a  shows utility pole  600 ; viewers  700  and  710 ; viewing angles  705  and  715 ; and artificial trees  720  and  720 ′. Viewer  710  is elevated above viewer  700 . Artificial trees  720  and  720  hide a portion of utility pole  600  from both viewers  700  and  710 . However, in this particular case, both artificial trees  720  and  720  are sized to independently hide utility tower  600  from viewer  700  as represented by line-of-sight  705 . However, this is not the case for viewer  710 . For viewer  710 , only artificial tree  720 ′ would independently hide utility pole  600  from view. If artificial tree  720 ′ was removed then artificial tree  720  would leave a significant portion of utility pole  600  unhidden, as can be seen by line-of-sight  715 . 
       FIG. 7   b  shows the same viewers  700  and  710 . However, in this particular case both artificial trees  725  and  725 ′ are sized to independently hide utility tower  600  from viewer  710  as represented by line-of-sight  715 ′. However, this is not the case for viewer  700 . For viewer  700 , only artificial tree  725  would independently hide utility pole  600  from view. If artificial tree  725  was removed then artificial tree  725 ′ leave a significant portion of utility pole  600  unhidden, as can be seen by line-of-sight  705 ′. 
     As can be seen from  FIGS. 7   a  and  7   b  assuming the height of a utility pole is fixed then the hidden portion of the utility pole is influenced by the size of the artificial trees, the distance from a viewer and their height in relationship to the tower. 
       FIG. 8  is a top view showing a series of three utility poles  300 ; right-of-way boundary  310 ; artificial trees  800 ,  810 ,  820 ,  830 ,  840 ,  850 , and  860 ; and distances  805  and  845 . 
     Artificial tree  800  is located a distance  805  from right-of-way boundary  310 . Artificial tree  800  is indicated as a non-truncated. The further an artificial tree is from a utility poles border the less it is able to hide a utility pole form viewers at an angle (as will be seen shortly in  FIG. 9 ). Therefore, an artificial tree should be placed “near” the right-of-way of a utility pole, where near is hereby defined as being within 91.4 meters (300 feet) of a utility pole. 
     Artificial tree  810  is located directly on right-of-way boundary  310 . Artificial tree  810  is indicated as also indicated as a non-truncated tree and is in “close proximity” to right-of-way boundary  310 . Where close proximity to a right-of-way boundary is hereby defined as the minimum practical distance from a right-of-way boundary in which a non-truncated artificial tree can exist without crossing the right-of-way boundary and where the minimum practical distance is theoretically zero but may be offset from the right-of-way boundary by as much as 22.9 meters (75 feet). 
     Artificial tree  820  is located directly on right-of-way boundary  310 . However, unlike artificial tree  810 , artificial tree  820  is a one-sided truncated tree and is located within close proximity to right-of-way boundary  310 . 
     Similarly, artificial tree  830  is also located directly on right-of-way boundary  310 . However, artificial tree  830  is a special case of artificial tree hereby defined as a half artificial tree in which an artificial tree is truncated substantially at its midpoint. 
     Artificial tree  840  is located within right-of-way boundary  310  and artificial tree  840  is a two-sided truncated tree such that it is entirely within the right-of-way boundary  310 . Distance  845  is the theoretical distance between utility pole  300  (or the transmission lines running from it). Distance  845  should always be at least the minimum safe design distance between a utility pole (or the transmission lines running from it) and an artificial tree based on the conductive/grounding characteristics of the artificial tree and the danger of electrical arching and/or other design considerations typically employed. 
     Artificial tree  850  is located within right-of-way boundary  310  and artificial tree  850  represents a half artificial tree located entirely within the right-of-way boundary  310 . 
     Artificial tree  860  represents an artificial tree located near right-of-way boundary  310 , which is truncated on at least one side as indicated by the dashed lines and may or may not cross right-of-way boundary  310 . 
       FIG. 9  is a top view showing a series of three utility poles  300 ,  300   a,  and  300   b;  right-of-way boundary  310 ; artificial trees  940 ,  942 ,  944 ,  946 , and  948 ; viewers  900 ,  910 , and  920 ; viewing angles  902  and  904 ; and zones  960  and  980 . 
     Viewer  900  is looking directly at utility pole  300  using viewing angle  902  and as such utility pole  300  is completely hidden from view. However, with regard to utility pole  300   a  viewing angle  904  allows viewer  900  to have a completely unhidden view of utility pole  300   a  by viewing around artificial tree  942 . The further artificial tree  942  is from the right-of-way boundary  310  the less effective it is at hiding utility pole  300   a  from viewers viewing utility pole  300   a  at an angle, such as viewer  900 . Zone  960  indicates the region in which artificial tree  942  is capable of completely hiding utility pole  300   a  from a viewer within zone  960 . Aside from moving artificial tree  942  relative to its distance from right-of-way boundary  310 , the shape of zone  960  can also be modified by moving artificial tree  942  in a direction parallel to right-of-way boundary  310  or changing its width in a direction parallel to right-of-way boundary  310 . 
     Alternately, the shape of zone in which a view is capable of being hidden from viewer can also be increased by adding additional artificial trees, as can be seen by the size of zone  960 , which is the resulting ability of artificial trees  944 ,  946 , and  948  to hide utility pole  300   b  from a viewer located within zone  960 . In this particular example utility pole  300   b  is capable of being hidden from both viewers  910  and  920 . In order to form a single zone, the artificial trees can either be beside each other, as in the case of artificial trees  944  and  946 , or overlapping, as in the case of artificial trees  946  and  948 . 
     The term capable of being hidden has been used because whether or not a particular utility pole is fully hidden depends on its resultant profile as indicated in  FIG. 5  and its relationship to a utility pole as indicated in  FIGS. 6   a  and  6   b  and the height of the observer as indicated in  FIGS. 7   a  and  7   b.    
     All of these relationships must be considered in order to determine the portion of a utility pole that will be hidden from view from a particular viewer in a particular location. 
     Ideally 100%, or more, of the utility pole should be hidden from view for every viewer in every location. However, that is not always practical. When the ideal (of 100% or more) cannot be practically achieved, a minimum of at least 70% or more is considered an acceptable level and less than 30% is considered to be of minimal value. 
       FIG. 10   a  shows a landscape with a utility pole disrupting the natural vista.  FIG. 10   b  shows the impact of adding a single artificial tree  1000  to block the utility pole from view.  FIG. 10   c  shows the impact of adding a plurality of artificial trees to create a viewing horizon that blends in with the natural landscape. The viewing horizon may be improved by not only adding more artificial trees, as in the case of  FIG. 10   c , but it is anticipated that placing one or more trees closer to the viewer, which may or may not be truncated trees, may also help create a pleasing viewing horizon, particularly when viewed from an angle. 
     Hiding utility poles is just one of many applications for which the embodiments described may be utilized. Other anticipated applications include: hiding water towers, hiding radio towers, and other manmade structures 
     It should be recognized, however, by those skilled in the art, that changes or modifications may be made to the above-described embodiments without departing from the broad inventive concepts of the invention. It should be understood, therefore, that the present invention is not limited to the particular embodiments disclosed herein, but is intended to cover all modifications and changes that are within the scope and spirit of the appended claims.