Patent Abstract:
The invention relates to an interleaved illumination support. The support includes a base and a wire coupled to the base. The wire includes beads attached to the wire along the length of the wire. A first leaf is coupled between the base and a bead that is the second bead above the base so as to maintain the wire in tension. A second leaf is coupled between a first bead and a fourth bead so as to maintain the wire in tension. A light source is coupled to the wire. Other features are disclosed.

Full Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates generally to illumination, and more particularly to support of light sources for lamps. 
     2. Background Information 
     A lamp is generally viewed as a piece of furniture holding one or more electric light bulbs. The electric light bulbs operate as an artificial source of visible illumination. Most table lamps vertically support light sources by employing a vase having a light bulb in a socket and a harp that supports a lamp shade about the light bulb. Other types of lamps such as floor lamps employ a pole or post having adjustable ball and socket light supports attached to the pole. The benefit of such table or floor lamps is that they may be quickly located and installed in one place or another. The problem with such lamps is that the vertical height of each light source on the lamp is fixed by the manufacturer. 
     Some light sources are supported by line-wire or cable. For example, holiday lights include a series of light bulbs coupled to a flexible wire that is horizontally strung to the eaves of a roof. This allows a user to adjust the vertical height of each light source on the lamp. For example, the string of lights may be suspended from the ceiling of a home. The benefit of flexible line-wire lamps is that the vertical position of each light source may be controlled by the consumer. However, line-wire lamps lack the locational flexibility of table and floor lamps. Thus, what is needed are light sources that include the locational flexibility of table and floor lamps as well as the vertical height adjustibility of line-wire lamps. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention relates to an interleaved illumination support. The support includes a base and a wire coupled to the base. The wire includes beads attached to the wire along the length of the wire. A first leaf is coupled between the base and a bead that is the second bead above the base so as to maintain the wire in tension. A second leaf is coupled between a first bead and a fourth bead so as to maintain the wire in tension. A light source is coupled to the wire. Other features are disclosed. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is an isometric view of an embodiment of lamp  10 ; 
     FIG. 2 is a side view of lamp  10  of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 is a plan view of light source  40  taken off of line  3 — 3  of FIG. 2; 
     FIG. 4 illustrates leaf  20  disposed below beads  104 ; 
     FIG. 5 is a detailed view of the tension of wire  60  between two leaves as taken off of line  5  of FIG. 2; and 
     FIG. 6 is a detailed view of vase  12  showing leaf  20  placed into cutout  16  as taken off of line  6 — 6  of FIG.  1 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     For purposes of explanation, specific embodiments are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be understood by one skilled in the art from reading this disclosure that the invention may be practiced without these details. Moreover, well-known elements, devices, process steps and the like are not set forth in detail in order to avoid obscuring the invention. 
     Reference is now made to FIGS. 1 through 6 to illustrate the embodiments of the invention. FIG. 1 is an isometric view of an embodiment of lamp  10 . FIG. 2 is a side view of lamp  10  of FIG.  1 . Included with lamp  10  is base  12 , leaf  20 , light source  40 , wire  60 , power cord  70 , and plug  72 . 
     Base  12  preferably is composed of cone  14  that extends to flat bottom  16 . Base  12  includes cutout  16  and aperture  18  as best seen in FIG.  6 . However, base  12  may be any structure that permits lamp  10  to stand on its own, that serves to anchor wire  60  and leaf  20  as discussed below. 
     Leaf  20  preferably is an oblong shaped piece of resilient plastic into which slots  26  are cut into each end as best seen in FIG.  4 . In one embodiment, leaf  20  measures 12×4×0.125 inches and is used as a light deflector. Additional leaves, such as leaf  22  and leaf  24  may be added to lamp  10  as discussed below. 
     Light source  40  preferably is a light source that is clipped on to wires  60 . FIG. 3 is a plan view of light source  40  taken off of line  3 — 3  of FIG.  2 . Included with light source  40  may be bulb  42  coupled to housing  44 . So as to be able to clip light source  40  to two wires  60 , light source  40  further includes two terminals  46 . Each terminal  46  may have an opening that is narrower than the diameter of wire  60 , but is made of a resilient conductive material that works to return to its original position once wires  60  are snapped into place. Alternatively, the distance between each of the two terminals  46  is slightly greater or less than the distance between each of the two wires  60 . 
     Wire  60  may be any conductive material the is elongated. Preferably, wire  60  is made of flexible, twenty four gauge picture frame wire. At one end, wire  60  is coupled to a power source. This may be through power cord  70  and plug  72  as shown in FIG.  1 . Plug  72  preferably is a low voltage transformer that steps down a conventional one hundred twenty volt power supply to twelve volts. Light source  40  may be self powered such as including a battery. An insulating sleeve  74  may be placed around each wire  60  as shown in FIG.  6 . Preferably two wires  60  are provided so as to be able to use clip-on light source  40 . Where light source is coupled to power cord  70 , power is distributed to light source  40  through two wires  60 . 
     Attached along wire  60  is beads  100 . Beads  100  include the group of beads attached to wire  60 . Beads  100  may be solder drop welds or any other material that is fixed to wire  60  so as to retain the leaves of lamp  10  under compression. For example, beads  100  may be nuts screwed onto wire  60  or fishing weights clamped about wire  60 . As best seen in FIG. 2, leaf  24  is retained under compression by beads  106  and beads  112 . So as to be able to retain leaves  20 ,  22 , and  24  against wire  60  and to maintain a vertical stacking of leaves  20 ,  22 , and  24 , the spacing between beads  100  needs to be considered. 
     In one embodiment of the invention, such as that shown in FIG. 2, beads  100  include a multitude of beads attached to wire  60 . Beads  104  may be attached at two inches from bead  102 . Beads  106  may be attached at seven inches from bead  104 . Beads  108  may be attached at two inches from bead  106 . Beads  110  may be attached at seven inches from bead  108 . Beads  112  may be attached at two inches from bead  110 , and beads  114  may be at seven inches from bead  112 . If leaf  24  is twelve inches and is retained under compression by beads  106  and beads  112 , where the distance between beads  106  and beads  112  is nine inches, the length of leaf  24  is compressed by approximately three inches. This compression imparts a tension into wire  60 . 
     To assemble lamp  10 , leaf  20  is inserted into cutout  16  of base  12  as seen in FIG.  6  and FIG.  2 . Two wires  60  are placed through aperture  18  and fixed to base  12  so that leaf  20  will be placed in compression by one quarter of the length of leaf  20 . This is achieved by pre-positioning bead  104  (FIG. 2) at the distance described above. With leaf  20  in cutout  16 , leaf  20  is compressed so that slots  26  may be placed around wires  60  at a position that is below beads  104 . This is best seen in FIG.  4 . 
     With leaf  20  positioned around wires  60  and compressed at a position that is below beads  104 , leaf  20  pushes on beads  104  so as to maintain wire  60  in tension. With wire  60  in tension and leaf  20  in compression, lamp  10  stands erect. With wire  60  in tension, light source  40  is clipped onto wires  60 . As shown in FIG. 2, light emanating from light source  60  may be directed into leaf  20  so that leaf  20  acts as a light deflector. Light source  60  may be directed towards other directions as well. 
     In a second embodiment of the invention, lamp  10  may be built upon so as to increase the height of lamp  10 . To build upon lamp  10 , leaf  22  is compressed between beads  102  and beads  108 . Similar to leaf  20 , the compression of leaf  22  maintains wire  60  between beads  102  and beads  108  in tension. To insure that lamp  10  stands erect, one end of leaf  22  must be inserted around a portion of wire  60  that is in tension from leaf  20 . With leaf  22  in place, another light source  40  may be clipped to lamp  10 . 
     Similar to leaf  20  and leaf  22 , leaf  24  is compressed and placed into position between two sets of beads. As seen in FIG. 2, leaf  24  is placed into position between beads  106  and beads  112 . This maintains tension on wire  60  as one leaf flows into the next leaf as illustrated by the arrows in FIG.  5 . 
     With the addition of leaf  24 , the height of lamp  10  has now increased by the three leaves so that a third light source  40  may be placed on wire  60 . A fourth leaf may be placed between beads  110  and beads  114 . Alternatively, beads  114  may serve to prevent wire  60  from fraying. With additional lengths of wire  60 , more leaves and light sources may be stacked on top of lamp  10 . In this way, light sources may be positioned in the vertical direction at any location the user chooses. 
     While the present invention has been particularly described with reference to the various figures, it should be understood that the figures and detailed description, and the identification of certain preferred and alternate materials, are for illustration only and should not be taken as limiting the scope of the invention or excluding still other alternatives. Many changes and modifications may be made to the invention, by one having ordinary skill in the art, without departing from the scope of the subject matter of the claimed invention.

Technology Classification (CPC): 5