Patent Abstract:
A vertically stacking assembly for retainment of objects for hiding from view or displaying of the objects at incremental heights, providing selectably configurable appearance for discrete stacking components, and which is collapsible for storage or relocation. It supports configuration so as to provide an ornamental appearance of a tree or other shape which preferably tapers to progressively smaller diameter with increasing height.

Full Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    There are no prior applications related to this application, and no claim is made to any prior document. 
       STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
       [0002]    This invention is not subject to any requirement to assign any part or interest to the US Government. It was not developed according to any federal sponsorship, nor was there any research conducted under federally sponsored research or development. 
       FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    The invention relates to display structures, storage structures, hideaways, secret compartments, tree-like displays, assemblies, freestanding storage structures, holiday decorations, collapsible structures, and stackable assemblies. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0004]    There exists in several gift giving holidays a need to provide festive displays or a temporary location for gifts. In particular, a common practice is that of a seasonally erected and decoration of a tree, such as the celebration of Christmas. These displays frequently appear in private homes, social gatherings, offices, and even commercial areas such as shopping malls or offices. 
         [0005]    One common practice is to decorate such trees with strings of lights, small toys, holiday signs, photographs, shiny or brightly colored objects, and any other object which is suitable to retainment on such a tree. The entire category of such objects is broadly referred to as “Christmas tree ornaments.” Another common practice with respect to such holidays is to dedicate an area as a temporary gift-holding area until an appropriate time of dissemination. Lastly, another common practice in the field is to provide the functional and aesthetic value of a tree through use of an artificial tree. 
         [0006]    Artificial trees have numerous advantages over a natural tree. Many can be collapsed and stored, do not decay or fall apart, and are less likely to be a fire hazard. However, there are problems in natural trees that remain persistent problems in the field of artificial trees. Predominantly across the art, the only place for storage of objects is in the space between the supporting surface and the lowest rung of branches of the tree. This can be a very difficult and inconvenient place to reach. It also does little to aid people who are tempted to open presents to resist the urge to peek or even open and use such gifts. There remains the limitation that providing a treelike appearance requires conceding the internal volume of the assembly as being necessarily dedicated as solely inaccessible structure of the plant. 
         [0007]    These persistent problems of the art therefore provide several objects of the invention. 
         [0008]    It is an object of the invention to provide a structure which has the ornamental appearance of a tree. 
         [0009]    It is a further object of the invention to provide a structure which provides areas for storage or display of objects. 
         [0010]    It is a further object of the invention to provide a structure which is easily collapsible for storage or otherwise being moved. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0011]    The invention achieves the stated objects of the invention by providing an assembly configurable to provide an ornamental appearance of a tree while also providing areas within the assembly for objects to facilitate either displaying objects or hiding them. It also provides for configurability into a compact assembly which is sufficiently small so as to be easier to store or otherwise put in a collapsed position. 
         [0012]    The assembly comprises a plurality of stackable spools. When assembled, each spool provides its own area capable of receiving objects. Such objects can include decorations or gifts or other things which are desirable to site within the structure or retain by connection to an element within the assembly. To provide the desirable ornamental appearance, each spool is adapted to receive ornamental elements. To provide an ornamental appearance of a tree, any or all of the plurality of spools can be fitted with tree-like elements, such as a branch or branches. To provide the appearance of a tree or other shape of configuring the assembly, the spools may be fitted with a cover. Such a cover can in whole or in part occlude view of the area of a spool for receiving objects. Contemplated covers include ones which, like spools which comprise branches, also provide an ornamental appearance of a tree. For purposes of considering the broadest set of elements that provide ornamental appearance of a tree, any cover  34  applied to the assembly should also be considered a type of ornamental element. 
         [0013]    To further provide the appearance of a tree, the assembly may also include a cap, the cap providing the assembly with a top piece that provides the ornamental appearance of the very top of a tree. 
         [0014]    The assembly is variously configurable according to the preferences of a user. All spools are capable of being configured as any type of spool without interference with the function of any other spool of the assembly. While the objects of the invention include the desire to provide the appearance of a tree, the assembly is also configurable to achieve other shapes with a tapered overall appearance. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0015]      FIG. 1  shows a front elevation of an assembly having the appearance of a tree. 
           [0016]      FIG. 2  shows a front elevation of an assembly having the appearance of a tree with an open shelf portion. 
           [0017]      FIG. 3  shows components of an assembly spaced apart and showing method of assembly. 
           [0018]      FIG. 4  shows a sectioned front elevation of an assembly having the appearance of a tree with an open shelf portion. 
           [0019]      FIG. 5  shows a sectioned front elevation view of an assembly having the appearance of a tree, showing internal components. 
           [0020]      FIG. 6  shows several high-angle front views of an assembly in an erect position, 
           [0021]      FIG. 6A  shows a sectioned high-angle front view of an assembly in an erect position. 
           [0022]      FIG. 6B  shows a high-angle front view of a supporting post of an assembly in an erect position. 
           [0023]      FIG. 6C  shows a sectioned high-angle front view of stacking spools of an assembly stacked in a collapsed position. 
           [0024]      FIG. 6D  shows a sectioned high-angle front view of a supporting post of an assembly in a collapsed position. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0025]    Referring now to  FIG. 1 , shown is the assembly  10  comprising a support  26 , a post  12  and a plurality of spools  14 . Each spool  14  is an incremental progression from bottom to top. Spools which are towards the lower end of the tree are “prior” spools and each of the spools which are successively higher up in the assembly are “successive” spools. The assembly as shown in  FIG. 1  has the appearance of a tree, though the invention inventor contemplates other embodiments which are not limited to the shape of the tree. 
         [0026]    Referring now to  FIGS. 1, 2, 4, and 5 , there is shown various front elevation views of the assembly in an erected position, having the appearance of a tree. The tree successively comprises a support  26 , a post,  12 , a flange  24 , a plurality of successive spools  14 , and a cap  30 . With respect to  FIGS. 4-6 , four successive spools are visible, though the invention is capable of configuration with an assembly of unlimited value quantity of such spools. Each spool comprises a shelf element  32 , and they cumulatively comprise a variety of features, including but not limited to an ornamental element  40 , a cover  34 , and an open area  36 . 
         [0027]    Referring to  FIG. 3 , each spool comprises an open region  16 , a bottom most diameter  20 , and a uppermost diameter  22 . In all of the spools shown in  FIG. 3 , the bottom most diameter is larger than the top most diameter. 
         [0028]      FIGS. 4 and 5  show sectioned front views of the assembly in alternative erected configurations. There is a plurality of spools that are stacked successively, along the direction from the support  26  toward the cap  30 . The spools are aligned to a central post  12 , the post being arranged to an upright position by the support  26 . Each of the plurality of spools  14  is successively applied atop a prior spool. 
         [0029]    For the embodiments shown in  FIGS. 1, 2, 4 and 5 , the bottom most diameter of each successive spool is smaller than the bottom most diameter of the prior spool. Cumulatively, the progression from larger bottom most diameters of prior spool&#39;s toward smaller bottom most diameters of successive spools provides the shown embodiments with a tapering overall ornamental shape.  FIG. 1  depicts an embodiment that is configured with such ornamental elements and fully assembled to provide 0 the ornamental appearance of a tree. In  FIG. 2  the assembly is also configured and assembled to provide the ornamental appearance of a tree, but one of the plurality of spools  14  does not comprise any ornamental element, and shows an area  36  atop a shelf portion of one of the spools. 
         [0030]    In  FIG. 4 , each area  36  is configured to accommodate the placement of ornamental or gift or other items within the ornamental profile of the assembly in a space bound by the bottom most diameter of a spool and the top most diameter of that spool, while in  FIG. 5 , it is defined by the bottom most diameter of a spool and the bottom most diameter of the immediately successive spool. 
         [0031]    The assemblies of  FIGS. 4 and 5  depict spools each having ornamental elements that provide embodiments of the assembly with the overall ornamental appearance of a tree.  FIG. 5 &#39;s ornamental element being each and any of the covers  34 , while  FIG. 4 &#39;s assembly comprises a spool which comprises at least one branch as its ornamental element  40 . The ornamental element  40  shown in  FIG. 4  is also visible in  FIG. 2 , sited on the spool labeled  14   c . That spool  14   c  comprises a plurality of ornamental elements which occupy at least a portion of its open area  36 . Another ornamental element shown in all figures is any instance of a cover  34 . In  FIGS. 1, 2, 4 , and  6 , each cover  34  extends from approximately the position of the bottommost shelf portion of a spool to the bottommost shelf portion of a prior spool. In  FIGS. 4 and 5 , at least one of the plurality of spools  14  shows a cover  34  assembled to at least extend vertically approximately from the position of the bottom most diameter of a spool to the bottom most diameter of the immediately prior spool. The distance covered between the bottom diameters covered defines the height of the area  36 , covering at least a portion of the shelf portion  32 , and at least partially enclosing/covering the area  36 . Both  FIG. 4  and  FIG. 5  show a post  12  which aligns the spools  14 . The post  12  in  FIG. 4  has a continuous diameter along its length.  FIG. 5  shows an alternative embodiment of a post  12  that has a stepwise progressively smaller diameter in the direction from the support  26  toward the cap  30 .  FIG. 6  also shows the post  12  of  FIG. 5  in an erect position, supporting spools in  FIG. 6A , and the post  12  standing in isolation in  FIG. 6B .  FIG. 6D  shows the post  12  common to  FIGS. 5 and 6  in a collapsed position, with each of its stepwise diameter sections concentrically retained within the support  26 . In  FIGS. 5 and 6 , it is shown that, in order to engage the stepwise progressively smaller diameters of the post  12 , the open regions  16  for each of successive spool has a correspondingly smaller internal diameter than the immediately prior spool. 
         [0032]    Referring to  FIG. 6C , The spools  14  and each of their respective covers  34  are shown in a compact/collapsed/stowed position, wherein the successive spools are stacked in reversed order, with a prior spool atop a successive spool. The stepwise larger diameter of the open region  16  of each successive spool is large enough to concentrically and nestably receive a prior spool. In so doing, each spool with a larger bottommost diameter is stacked atop a spool of smaller bottommost diameter. Each cover  34  for each spool, according to the successively smaller bottom most diameters of the spools  14  is therefore also sized to allow each to fit concentrically within the cover  34  for each successive spool. Therefore, the entire set of spools  14  shown in  FIG. 6C  is able to consume a much smaller vertical distance than the height of the post  12  in its erected position (as shown in  FIGS. 5, 6A, and 6B ), and as compared to when the same spools  14  are stacked in successive order.

Technology Classification (CPC): 0