Flag Storage And Display Housing

Abstract

A flag storage and display housing having an enclosure for a flagstaff which is pivotally mounted therein for tilting movements in a vertical plane and the housing is adapted to be selectively opened to admit of tilting the staff to a selected angular position extending from the enclosure. Means are provided to frictionally secure the staff at the selected angle and other means facilitate axial rotation of the flagstaff to furl the flag thereabout preparatory to storage within the enclosure.

Description

My present invention is a flag storage housing which is adapted to display a flag when it is not being stored.

It is common practice to display flags, such as the Flag of the United States, during daylight hours; furling it at sunset and unfurling it at sunrise under specific circumstances. Many citizens display flags only at certain times such as, Memorial Day, Independence Day, or the anniversary of the death or burial of a military person killed in the line of duty. Of course, there are numerous times the Flag is displayed with respect and pride and intermittently stored.

My present invention seeks to provide a very convenient storage housing for any flag while having means for properly displaying said flag according to manual selection.

To this end, it is an object of my invention to provide a housing for a flag which is constructed from a minimum number of parts and therefore one that is relatively inexpensive and not liable to become inoperative in normal use.

Yet another object of this invention lies in the provision of a flag storage display housing adapted to be mounted out of doors and which will protect the flag from the elements during storage and i readily converted to display the flag.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent and meaningful during the course of the following specification when considered in association with the accompanying drawings wherein a preferred form of the invention is graphically illustrated. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings are illustrative only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. It should also be understood that various changes in construction may be resorted to in the course of manufacture without in any way departing from the spirit of the invention which is to be understood only in accordance with the appended claims. Furthermore, it is to be understood that while the invention is described in one particular association, it is not my intention to unnecessarily limit the applicability of the invention, but I desire to reserve to myself the claimed invention for every use of which it is now known or subsequently discovered to be susceptible.

Other advantages and features of this invention will become apparent from the more detailed description following in which like reference numerals are employed to designate similar parts in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the housing with the flagstaff disposed to display the flag;

FIG. 2 is a vertical section taken longitudinally through the housing;

FIG. 3 is a horizontal section taken substantially on the plane indicated by line 3-3 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view vertically through the staff-butt wheel socket.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, the numeral 10 indicates a mounting board which together with the upper and lower spaced brackets 11-11 comprise a supporting base 12. The base 12 may be secured to a wall (not shown) by utilizing bolts, screws or nails as at 13-13. Brackets 11 are secured to the mounting board 10 by means of fasteners 14-14 which may be bolt-and-nut combinations as shown or other readily substituted fastening means.

Upper bracket 11 has an horizontal arm 15 while lower bracket 11 has an horizontal arm 16 which extends further than its counterpart and terminates in a key-actuated lock 17 having a latch tongue 18 movable by the key 19 from its upright locking position, seen in FIG. 2, to a horizontal "unlocked" position.

The enclosure 25 comprises inner and outer concentric cylindrical members 20 and 21 rotatable with respect to each other. The inner cylindrical member 20 has end caps 22-22 which close the ends of the cylinder 21 and terminates in an annular flange 24-24 encircling it respective marginal end portion of the cylinder 20, in spaced relationship to form an annular groove.

Cylinder 21 encircles cylinder 22 and has its end portions confined by the flanges 24 in the said groove thus providing for relative concentric assembly but also rotational movement with respect to each other. At its lower end, cylinder 21 has an indentation 26 adapted to receive the latch tongue 18 to lock the cylinders together against rotation.

Each cylinder 20 and 21 is provided with an opening 27 and 28 of sufficient size and configuration to admit of tilting the flagstaff 30 from its stored position (FIG. 2) to a display position (FIG. 1). As shown here, the openings are substantially semicylindrical but enough less to provide for an overlap (FIG. 3) when the en enclosure 25 is closed. In the vertical dimension, the openings 27 and 28 terminate spaced from the ends to define uninterrupted rings 29-29.

Within the enclosure 25 on the inner cylinder 20, I fix, as by bolts 31, a U-shaped bracket 32 having parallel horizontal arms 33-33. Disposed between the arms 33-33 is an axially elongated wheel 34 having a bore to receive a two-part axle 35 which is adjustable in length by threading the male portion 36 into and out of the female portion 37. The heads 38 of the respective portions are enlarged and will not pass through the leaf-spring washers 39-39 superimposed with respect to the bracket arms 33-33 which support the ends of axle 35. The arms 33-33 have, spaced from the axle 35, aligned bores which receive aligned friction blocks 40-40 which press against the end faces of wheel 34 to restrict its pivotal movement about axle 35. The frictional engagement of said blocks 40-40 may be varied by threadedly adjusting the length of the axle to cause various degrees of deflection to the leaf-spring washers 39-39.

Wheel 34 has therein a radially disposed butt socket 41 adapted to telescopically receive the telescoping flagstaff 30. Adjacent to its open outer end or mouth, the socket 41 has an annular groove 42 disposed to receive the snapring 43 loosely confined in a companion annular groove 44 in the butt of staff 30. It is thus seen that the staff is releasably held in the wheel and permitted rotation axially of the staff 30 and tiltable about the axis of axle 35. The telescopic movement of the staff 30 may be great or small depending upon the depth of the socket 41 and utilizing a radial sleeve (not shown) fixed to extend radially from the wheel 34. A further telescopic section 45 is contained within the flagstaff 30 to extend its effective length and thus dispose the flag 46 at half-mast.

Obviously, the staff support wheel may be pluralized to hold more staffs 30 if desired.

To store the flag it is only necessary to tilt the staff 30 to a horizontal position, rotate the staff 30 to wind the flag 46 to thereon and then tilt the staff to the vertical position where the free end of the staff is engaged in the bracket 47. Outer cylinder 21 is then rotated by hand to the closed position (FIG. 3) and locked by means of key 19 and lock 17.

Having thus described my invention, I desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States the following

Claims

I claim:

1. A flag storage and display housing comprising a support base carrying a hollow enclosure having means for opening the enclosure; a telescopic flagstaff having a flat at its upper free end;

means releasably and rotatably supporting the butt end of said flagstaff within said enclosure for tilting movements between a position wherein said flagstaff is within said enclosure and a position extending substantially perpendicular therefrom;

means for selectively holding said flagstaff at manually selected positions within the limits of said tilting movements;

said enclosure comprises:

a first cylindrical member having end caps with annular flanges encircling the marginal end portion of said cylindrical member in spaced relationship;

a second cylindrical member encircling said first cylindrical member and rotatable thereabout; and

each said cylindrical member having an opening therethrough of a configuration to admit of said tilting movements of said flagstaff therethrough; and with said flagstaff disposed within said enclosure, the cylindrical members may be rotated relative to each other to close said openings and enclose said flagstaff.

2. The invention according to claim 1 wherein:

means are provided to lock said cylindrical members with respect to each other when in the staff-enclosing position.

3. The invention according to claim 1 wherein the means releasably and rotatably supporting the lower end of the flagstaff comprises:

a U-shaped bracket secured within the enclosure with its parallel arms extending horizontally;

a wheel disposed between said arms and mounted for rotation therebetween

adjustable friction means for resisting rotation of said wheel;

a radially disposed outwardly open socket in the periphery of said wheel and rotatably receiving the butt end of said flagstaff; and

means releasably and rotatably retaining said butt in said wheel.

4. The invention according to claim 2 wherein the means releasably and rotatably supporting the lower end of the flagstaff, comprises:

a U-shaped bracket secured within the enclosure with its parallel arms extending horizontally;

a wheel disposed between said arms and mounted for rotation therebetween;

adjustable friction mean for resisting rotation of said wheel;

a radially disposed outwardly open socket in the periphery of said wheel and rotatably receiving the butt end off said flagstaff; and

means releasably and rotatably retaining said butt in said wheel.

5. The invention according to claim 3 wherein:

said telescopic flagstaff also has a central shaft extendable beyond an outer sleeve to facilitate half-staff disposition of a flag carried at the outer end of said sleeve.

6. The invention according to claim 5 wherein:

said enclosure has a snap bracket adapted to releasably secure the free end of said flagstaff therein.

7. The invention according the claim 1 wherein the means releasably and rotatably supporting the lower end of the flagstaff comprises:

a U-shaped bracket secured within the enclosure with its parallel arms extending horizontally;

a wheel disposed between said arms and mounted for rotation therebetween;

adjustable friction means for resisting rotation of said wheel;

a radially disposed outwardly open socket in the periphery of said wheel and rotatably receiving the butt end of said flagstaff; and

means releasably and rotatably retaining said butt in said wheel.

8. The invention according to claim 1 wherein:

said telescopic flagstaff also has a central shaft extendable beyond an outer sleeve to facilitate half-staff disposition of a flag carried at the outer end of said sleeve.