U.S. patent number 3,848,803 [Application Number 05/363,811] was granted by the patent office on 1974-11-19 for decorative room air treating device.
Invention is credited to John S. Levey.
United States Patent |
3,848,803 |
Levey |
November 19, 1974 |
DECORATIVE ROOM AIR TREATING DEVICE
Abstract
A decorative room air treating device in the shape of a flower
pot or other aesthetically appealing container having a body
portion with circular cross-sections, which might comprise a
single-walled container capped by a fixed orificed circular disc
and a coaxially rotatable disc having orifices which, in a certain
angular disposition, may be brought into registry with the orifices
in the fixed disc, alternatively, the device might comprise a pair
of cylindrical containers dimensioned to fit closely, but rotatably
one within the other. A cake of an air treating substance is
disposed within the inner container and the side walls of the two
containers are so orificed that in one rotational position relative
to each other, none of the orifices of the two containers fall into
registry, but in a second rotational position, they are disposed in
registry. In positions intermediate the two extremes, the orifices
of the two containers may be disposed in various degrees of
registry. Means may be provided at opposite ends of the two
containers to enable them to be rotated relative to each other.
Inventors: |
Levey; John S. (Westlake
Village, CA) |
Family
ID: |
26997780 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/363,811 |
Filed: |
May 25, 1973 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
Issue Date |
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353086 |
Apr 23, 1973 |
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250181 |
May 4, 1972 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
239/59; 239/60;
428/905 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A61L
9/12 (20130101); A01M 1/2055 (20130101); Y10S
428/905 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
A01M
13/00 (20060101); A61L 9/12 (20060101); B05b
001/30 () |
Field of
Search: |
;239/34,57,58,59,60 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Wood, Jr,; M. Henson
Assistant Examiner: Mar; Michael
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Pavitt, Jr.; William H.
Parent Case Text
PRIOR RELATED APPLICATION
This application is a continuation-in-part of my prior application
Ser. No. 353,086 filed Apr. 23, 1973, now abandoned and which,
itself, was a continuation-in-part of my prior application Ser. No.
250,181 filed May 4, 1972, now abandoned. Another
continuation-in-part application is filed concurrently herewith.
Claims
I claim:
1. A decorative room air treating device, said device
comprising:
an inner container and an outer container, said containers both
having sidewalls with circular cross-sections about a common axis,
and, at least, one of said containers being closed by a transverse
bottom wall, and both said containers being so dimensioned that the
inner container fits closely but rotatably within the outer
container, the side walls of each of said containers being provided
with a plurality of orifices spaced thereabout, the orifices of the
inner container being so disposed that in a first rotational
angular position relative to the outer container, none of the
orifices of the inner container falls in registry with any of the
orifices in the outer container, and, in a second such relative
rotational angular position, a plurality of the orifices of the
inner container falls into registry with those of the outer
container;
an evaporative air treating substance disposed within the walls of
the inner container, a decorative base to support both said
containers;
means to interlockingly engage the bottom of the sidewall of one of
said containers with said base;
and a decorative capping to be placed coaxially over both said
containers, said capping having means to interlockingly engage the
top rim of the other of said two containers not so engaged with the
said decorative base, whereby, when the capping is rotated about
said axis relative to the base, the container interlockingly
engaged with said capping will be correspondingly rotated relative
to the other container interlockingly engaged with the base,
thereby to dispose said inner container in either its said first or
second rotational angular positions relative to the outer
container, or in any position therebetween.
2. The decorative room air treating device described in claim 1
wherein the base is interlockingly engaged with the bottom of the
sidewall of the inner container and the capping is interlockingly
engaged with the rim of the sidewall of the outer container.
3. The decorative room air treating device as described in claim 1
wherein the base is interlockingly engaged with the bottom of the
sidewall of the outer container and the capping is interlockingly
engaged with the rim of the sidewall of the inner container.
4. A decorative room air treating device comprising an
aesthetically appealing container filled with a cake of
air-treating substance, said container having top and bottom
transverse walls and substantially vertical sidewalls housing the
cake, said side walls having a plurality of orifices through which
the cake may evaporate into the atmosphere, and a thin flexible
pealably removable plastic sheet, said sheet being tacky on one
side and being wrapped around the vertical sidewalls with the tacky
side of the sheet being laid against said sidewalls, thereby
providing an airtight covering over the orifices in said sidewalls
until exposure of the cake to the atmosphere through said orifices
is desired, whereupon said plastic sheet may be pealed or either
wholly or partially removed from said side walls to uncover said
orifices and expose the cake to the atmosphere through said
orifices.
5. A room air treating device, said device comprising a container
filled with an evaporative air treating substance in the form of a
firm cake, said container having a sidewall of circular
cross-sections about a common axis and a first transverse wall
forming the bottom of the container and a second transverse
circular wall being orificed in a first predetermined pattern
radiating about said common axis; and a third transverse circular
wall rotatably disposed upon the said second transverse wall, said
third wall having orifices disposed in a second predetermined
pattern radiating about said axis such that in a first angular
disposition of said third wall in relation to the second wall, none
of the orifices in said third wall registers with the orifices in
the second wall, but in a second angular disposition of said third
wall in relation to the second wall, a plurality of the orifices in
the third wall fall into registry with the orifices in said second
wall; and the inside of the circular cross-sectioned sidewall being
provided with a plurality of radially inwardly extending
projections, said projections serving to support said cake away
from most of the inner side wall surface of the container, thereby
exposing a greater area of the cake to the atmosphere for
evaporation thereinto and passage through the orifices in the said
second and third transverse walls when said orifices are disposed
in registry.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to room air treating devices in general,
such as room deodorizers, and in particular to such devices as have
sought to obtain their effectiveness through evaporization of a gel
or liquid type deodorizer.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
For a number of decades there have been offered to the public a
number of different devices containing gels or liquids which, when
exposed to the atmosphere, evaporate slowly into the environs and
dissipate or counteract the presence of certain stale or otherwise
offensive room odors. Examples of such devices which have been
patented are illustrated and described in the following
patents:
U.S. Patent No. Date of Issue Inventors
______________________________________ 1,732,028 Oct. 15, 1929 H.
M. Reiner 2,247,600 July 1, 1941 F. C. Brennan, et al. 2,412,326
Dec. 10, 1946 D. F. J. Dupuy 2,438,129 March 23, 1948 H. R. Rich
2,603,532 July 15, 1952 W. H. Wheeler, et al. 2,657,090 Oct. 27,
1953 George W. Meek 2,765,194 Oct. 2, 1956 T. Will 2,783,084 Feb.
26, 1957 W. Paxton 2,794,676 June 4, 1957 V. F. D'Agostino
2,878,060 March 17, 1959 A. D. Russo 2,927,055 March 1, 1960 Monroe
Lanzet 3,400,890 Sept. 10, 1968 F. E. Gould 3,552,632 Jan. 5, 1971
N. E. Wilson British Patent Number 777,303 June 19, 1957 Charles
Wasmer ______________________________________
A principal problem with all of such devices is that, despite
efforts on the part of inventors, designers and manufacturers to
provide the devices with an aesthetic appearance, they still look
like cans, jars or other objects which are usually quite
incompatible with the customary decor of a living room, den,
bedroom or bathroom. Even the Gould patent device with its
fragrance releasing simulated flower would seem to be quite
artificial in its appearance.
While undoubtedly skilled designers could, if engaged specifically
for this purpose, produce works-of-art embodiments of such devices,
there are certain practical problems which have inhibited such
efforts. In the first place, the device should be adjustable in
order that one may vary the rate of evaporation of the deodorizing
gel, depending upon the extent of the need therefor in the room or
space in which the device is placed. Should there be little need
therefor, the evaporation rate should be minimized in order to
prolong the useful life of the device; but where the room may have
been subject to heavy smoking or other offensive odor producing
activities, it may be desirable to increase substantially, for at
least a brief period, the evaporation rate of the gel and the
dispensation of the vapor into the room.
Secondly, the device should be adapted to fit in with the decor of
any of the rooms in which it is to be placed, e.g., bathroom,
bedroom, den, living room, dining room, kitchen or family room.
Whatever design is adopted, therefore, must have a rather universal
adaptability to many different room decors.
Thirdly, the container for the gel must be able to be fabricated
and sold so cheaply that when the useful life of the gel has ended,
the householder may afford to throw the container away.
Alternatively, it might be desirable to provide a container in
which a new cake of gel could conveniently be inserted to replace
the one which has evaporated.
In addition, despite the desirability of extreme economy in
manufacture, a device of the type herein contemplated must be
carefully and specially designed to be easily operated by the
average householder and to avoid leakage of the gel and sticking of
rotatable parts.
These objectives have not hitherto been attained by any prior room
deordizing device.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a room air treating device which may
be in the form of an attractive flower pot from which protrudes a
plastic flower, such as a daisy, with or without additional
greenery, or other aesthetically appealing container. The device
may be constructed as a double-walled vessel with an inner wall
portion or vessel which fits closely but rotatably within the
outer-walled vessel. The inner-walled vessel serves as a container
for a cake of deodorizer gel and is orificed at a plurality of
locations about its cylindrical side. The outer-walled vessel is so
orificed that in one angular position of the inner-walled vessel
relative to the outer walls, none of its orifices falls into
registry with any of the orifices in the inner-walled vessel; but
in other positions, such registry occurs in varying degrees up to
complete registry of all orifices of both the inner and outer
vessels.
The top of the inner vessel may be closed by a transverse wall
which may or may not be removable. Decorative means may be provided
at each end of the pair of containers whereby by gripping such
means and twisting them in opposite directions the orifices of the
two containers may be moved into or out of registry. All components
of the deodorizer container may be readily molded of a plastic
material such as polystyrene or high-impact polyethylene, at a
minimum of expense.
In another embodiment of the invention, a single-walled pot or
vessel may be employed with a double transverse walled capping, one
of which cappings is fixed and the other of which is rotatable
relative to the fixed capping. Both walls of the capping preferably
include a downwardly projecting flange wall and the transverse and
the flange walls of both cappings may be orificed in such a way
that in one angular disposition of the rotatable capping the
orifices thereof will be in registry with the orifices in the fixed
capping, but in another angular disposition, the orifices will be
out of registry.
Thus, the deodorizing substance is contained in a decorative
simulated potted plant or other attractive container which may be
placed appealingly anywhere in the house, and deodorization may be
effected by rotating the outer wall of the flower pot vessel or
other form of container to a position relative to its inner wall
wherein the orifices of both vessels are placed in the desired
degree or registry.
When the deodorizer cake is completely evaporated, it may be
replaced by simply removing the transverse top wall on the
inner-walled vessel and dropping a new cake into the latter.
The room air treating device of the present invention may thus be
seen to be both decorative and utilitarian in that the deodorizing
cake may be fully contained or exposed for evaporation into the
surrounding atmosphere to effect deodorization thereof.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In the accompanying drawings,
FIG. 1 is a perspective view, partly in section, of the preferred
embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 2 is a side elevation of another embodiment of the
invention.
FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the embodiment of the
invention shown in FIG. 2.
FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of still another embodiment
of the invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawings, the decorative room treating
device 10 may be comprised of a container 12, preferably
frusto-conical in configuration as a flower pot, the sidewall 13 of
which is orificed at 14 about its periphery just below its rim 15.
A transverse wall 16 with radiating orifices 18 is seated within
the rim 15 of the container 12. A cap 20, comprising a transverse
wall 22 and a downwardly extending flange 24, is disposed rotatably
on the rim 15 of the container 12. Both the transverse wall 22 and
the flange 24 are orificed at 26 and 28 respectively with such
orifices being so disposed that in one angular position relative to
the transverse wall 15 and container rim 15, none of such orifices
falls into registry with the orifices 14, 18, while in a second
angular position such registry occurs.
A knob 30 and receptacles 31 may be provided in the transverse wall
22 of the cap 30 to receive and hold some type of plastic floral
display 32 shown in dotted lines. A cake 36 of an evaporative air
treating substance is placed inside the container 12 prior to its
being closed by the transverse wall 16.
In order to improve the air circulation around the cake 36 and
hence to increase evaporation of the cake vapors into the area
surrounding the deodorizer, the inside of the wall 13a may be
provided with radially inwardly projecting ribs or projections 34
which support the cake 36 away from inner surface 13a of the wall
13.
When a FIG. 1 type room deodorizer is to be utilized, the cap 20 is
simply rotated relative to the rim 15 of the container 12 to
provide such degree of registry of the orifices 26, 28 of the cap
with orifices 14, 18 as may be desired. When evaporation of the
cake 36 is no longer required or desired, the cap 20 may be
re-rotated to take all of the orifices out of registry.
Alternatively, the orifices 26, 28 of the cap may be placed only
partly in registry with orifices 14, 18 to provide a lesser rate of
evaporization and hence, deodorization. When the gel cake 36 shall
have been fully evaporated, it may be replaced simply by removing
the transverse wall 16 and dropping a new cake into the bottom of
the container 12.
All components of the device, with the exception of the gel cake,
may be molded of plastic materials. The container 12, cap 20 and
transverse wall 16 may be made of polystyrene or high-impact
polyethylene, while the flower 32 may be molded of
polyethylene.
In the embodiment of FIGS. 2 and 3, a different decorative design
is employed. Here, the design is in the form of a Japanese lantern
or toro. A tri-pod supported base 46 with a series of notch-like
receptacles 48 disposed in a circle, receive mating projections 50
extending down from an inner cylindrical container 52 having top
and bottom walls 54, 56, respectively, and housing an evaporative
gel cake 36'. The sidewall 58 of the cylindrical container 52 is
peripherally windowed at a plurality of locations 60. The container
52 is tightly but rotatably encased in an outer cylindrical shell
62 which is also windowed at a plurality of locations 64, such that
in one rotational angular disposition windows of the windows 64
fall into registry with the windows 60 in the inner container, but
in another such disposition, all of them do fall into registry. The
rim 66 of the outer shell 62 may be notched thereabout at 68 to
receive a series of projections 70 disposed matingly in a circle on
the underside of a roof-like member 72. It will be appreciated,
then, that when the roof-like member 72 is placed over the shell
62, housing the cylindrical container 52, with the projections 70
seated in the notches 68, and the container-shell combination 52-62
is placed on the base 46 so that the projections 50 are also seated
in the receptacles 48, any rotation of the roof-like member
relative to the base 46 will result in rotating the outer shell 62
relative to the cylindrical container 52. In this way, the windows
64 may be moved in or out of registry with the windows 60 of the
container 52.
The embodiment of FIG. 4 resembles somewhat the configuration of
that of FIGS. 2 and 3, but it does not provide for opening and
closing of the windows by relative rotation of inner and outer
containers. Instead, the gel cake 36" is packed in a single walled
cylindrical container 74, closed both top and bottom, and which
container has a series of windows 76. These are closed by a tacky,
preferably transparent mylar type flexible sheet 78, which is
wrapped around the cylinder wall 80, and may be peeled therefrom
starting with the tab 82, thus exposing the cake 36" through all
windows 76 simultaneously and fully. However, whenever a
householder desires to reclose the windows 76 to prevent
unnecessary evaporation of the cake 36", she may simply re-wrap the
tack mylar sheet 78 around the wall 80 of the container 74 and
place the decorative container wherever she desires for ready
future use.
Thus, the foregoing embodiments of the present invention not only
provide very useful and functional deodorizing devices, but devices
which, because they so resemble a flower pot with a blooming flower
or other decorative device, are aesthetically attractive enough to
fit with the decor of most rooms of the average house. Further,
since the entire containing units may be fabricated of plastic,
they may be made and sold at relatively low prices. In addition,
since such devices need not be thrown away when their evaporative
gel cakes have been dissipated, but each may be renewed with the
insertion of a new gel cake, the present invention will not only
appeal to the economic housewife, but also to all persons who are
interested in promoting ecology by decreasing the number of
throw-away items which they use and must discard.
* * * * *