DE20218172U1 - Stand for mounting of rod-form components has housing with cover and base inseparably interconnected by seam so that chamber formed between them is sealed pressure and moisture tight allowing complete filling with weighting material - Google Patents

Abstract

The stand for the mounting of rod-form components such as Christmas trees has an opening (2) to receive the end of the components, and a clamping device and a holding device in a plastic housing which has a cover (3) and a base (4) between which is formed a chamber. The cover and base are inseparably interconnected by a seam so that the chamber in relation to the regions of the stand adjacent to it is sealed pressure and moisture tight so that it can be filled completely with weighting material.

Description

STAND FOR CLAMPING ROD-SHAPED PARTS

The invention relates to a stand for clamping rod-shaped parts, in particular Christmas trees according to the preamble of claim 1.

Such a stand is known, for example, from German utility model 2 99 23 753.2. In the housing, an essentially ring-shaped* chamber is formed in the outer area of the stand, into which hardening filling material can be filled. This filling material is inserted before the housing cover and housing base are joined together. The filling material forms a weighting body that gives the stand the high weight required for its stability. In this way, the housing walls of the stand can be made relatively thin-walled, which means that less plastic is required to manufacture the stand. Shorter cycle times can be achieved in production with thin-walled stands.

In the known stand, an embodiment is described in which anchoring elements are provided on both the housing cover and the housing base, which are attached in such a way that they protrude into the chamber when the housing cover and housing base are joined together and are surrounded by the hardenable filling material.

After the filling material in the chamber has hardened, an inseparable connection is created between the housing cover and the housing base, whereby the hardenable weight body simultaneously represents an additional weight in the outer area of the stand.

In the known stand according to the aforementioned German utility model, further embodiments are described in which, after the chamber has been filled with hardenable filling material, the housing cover and the housing base are detachably connected to one another by means of a screw or by means of a locking device.

However, it has been shown that due to the fact that the connection between the housing cover and the housing base is only made after the chamber has been filled, and due to the fact that the connection can also be designed as a detachable connection, leaks occur between the housing cover and the housing base. These leaks can lead to filling material leaking out at the contact points between the housing cover and the housing base. If the filling material is hardenable, drops or beads can form at the exit points after it has hardened, which on the one hand result in a poor appearance of the stand and on the other hand can also get into the area of the clamping device and, after hardening, can also lead to the clamping device blocking.

A Christmas tree stand is also known from German utility model 1 881 703, which has a conical pressed plate made of sheet metal with a cylindrically bent edge, the tip of which is drawn outwards to form a neck which is connected to a base plate covering the plate by a cylindrical piece of pipe. All components are detachably connected to one another. In order to give the stand the required weight, the cavity between the conical plate and the base plate is completely filled with a hardenable filling compound. Several anchor hooks which engage in the filling material are led out of the base plate. The entire cavity formed up to the receiving area for the trunk of the Christmas tree is filled with the weighting material. The disadvantage of this stand is that the housing cover and

The housing base is not connected in such a way that the weighting material can be completely excluded from escaping. Since the upper housing section, which is pressed into a plate, is detachably connected to the cylindrical pipe section, which forms the receiving area for the trunk of the Christmas tree, by means of the wing screws used to attach the trunk to the stand, it cannot be ruled out that hardenable fastening material gets into the threaded area of the wing screws due to manufacturing tolerances. If the fastening material hardens there, it is impossible to use the wing screws later.

Furthermore, German utility model 82 15 224 discloses a Christmas tree stand consisting of a single molded part, which is shaped in such a way that a channel is open at the bottom into which a hardenable filling material can be poured. This hardenable filling material is preferably concrete. If metal is used as the filling material, the filling material can also be welded to the molded part. Such a stand does not have a two-part housing consisting of a housing base and a housing cover. The molded part of the known stand can be made of plastic. Since the chamber, an open chamber, is designed in the form of a channel, additional precautions must be taken to ensure that the filling is held securely in the channel. In the known Christmas tree stand, for example, the inner shape of the channel is designed in such a way that the filling is held in place in a form-fitting manner. Since the opening of the channel is in the base of the stand, the hardenable filling material is open to the outside on at least one side. Since concrete is often used as a hardenable filling material, a disadvantage of such a well-known Christmas tree stand is that concrete parts can come loose and not only represent a source of dirt in a home, these concrete parts can cause significant scratches in the parquet when the Christmas tree stand is moved, for example if it is on a parquet floor.

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A Christmas tree stand is known from US 1 240 376 which has an inner tube as a container for the trunk of a Christmas tree and a conical housing. The conical housing is firmly connected to the tubular container. The tubular part has larger perforations or openings at the points where the housing is connected to the tube at its uppermost part, through which the chamber below the upper part of the housing and up to the tubular part can be filled with water or a granulate such as sand. In this known stand, the material that increases stability can be removed from the stand by turning the stand upside down so that the material can flow out again through the openings in the tubular part. On the one hand, this stand does not have any significant space for water to keep a Christmas tree fresh, and on the other hand, the chamber for holding a filling material is not closed off. A hardenable filling material should not be filled into the chamber.

US 2,613,899 describes a Christmas tree stand which has a hollow space formed by welding a housing cover and a housing base together. The housing cover has a receiving opening into which the trunk of a Christmas tree is placed. The space is completely filled with water to keep the Christmas tree fresh for as long as possible. The weight of the water does increase stability, but the known Christmas tree stand does not provide for any external hollow space to be filled.

Compared to the known Christmas tree stands, the invention is based on the task of designing a stand of the type mentioned at the beginning made of plastic in such a way that a high level of stability of the stand can be achieved by means of a weighting material in a chamber in the outer edge area of the stand, whereby the weighting material can be filled directly into the chamber.

The weighting material that has been filled in cannot escape at any point between the base of the housing and the cover of the housing, but there is still a large space for water to ensure that a Christmas tree stays fresh for as long as possible.
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This object is achieved by a stand having the features according to claim 1. Expedient further developments are defined in the dependent claims.

According to the invention, a housing cover is permanently connected to a housing base. For this purpose, the housing cover has ribs which point towards the housing base, and the housing base has ribs which point towards the housing cover. The respective ribs are adapted and coordinated with one another in such a way that, according to the invention, they are connected to one another with a seam essentially around the entire circumference, so that a moisture- and pressure-tight seal is formed in the outer area of the stand for the chamber via the seam. This provides the advantage that the chamber is preferably filled with an initially liquid, usually viscous weighting material, which then hardens in the chamber. The weighting material is preferably pressed into the chamber under increased pressure so that the chamber is completely filled with the weighting material. Concrete is preferably used as the weighting material. Any other hardenable material, such as a heavy plastic or a plastic that contains heavy parts of granulate or chips, such as metal, can also be used to completely fill the chamber and is preferably pressed into the chamber. Of course, it is also possible to completely fill the chamber with a granulate, such as metal granulate or a granular material, such as sand. In this case, too, the non-hardening weighting material can be placed under

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Pressure must be pressed into the chamber so that the chamber is essentially completely filled.

The seam is preferably designed in a perforation-like manner, in such a way that the weighting material can be filled in under pressure and essentially does not escape via the perforation, but moisture or air/gas can escape.

Since, according to the invention, the housing cover and the housing base are permanently connected to one another at a seam in such a way that the chamber is sealed against pressure and moisture from the adjacent areas of the stand via the seam and is essentially completely filled with the weighting material, after the chamber has been filled, preferably under pressure, it can be closed definitively and permanently.

The chamber preferably has at least one filling opening on the housing base through which the chamber can be filled. At least one ventilation opening can also be provided. However, it is also possible for a single opening to serve as a filling opening and a ventilation opening at the same time. The initially viscous weighting material is pressed into the chamber via the filling opening, with so much material being pressed in until weighting material squeezes out of the filling opening. Filling the ring-shaped chamber is particularly easy if the chamber rotates completely over 360 degrees.

According to one embodiment, the ring-like chamber does not run completely around the circumference, but rather has a recess for attaching a clamping device. Even in this case, where the ring-like chamber does not run completely around 360 degrees, the circumferentially interrupted chamber is sealed against pressure and moisture from the rest of the stand.

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is sealed completely around the circumference, it has web-like walls towards the recess which delimit the chamber opposite the recess. These web-like walls can be formed on the one hand on the housing base, but can also be formed on the other hand on the housing cover or on both housing parts. If the web-like walls are divided so that part of them is on the housing base and another part on the housing cover, it goes without saying that these web-like walls are manufactured so precisely in terms of manufacturing tolerance that when the housing cover is placed on the housing base, the partial walls are exactly opposite each other. The seam is located on the front sides of the web-like walls or the web-like partial walls and, according to this exemplary embodiment, runs from an upper part to a lower part over the front sides of the web-like walls so that a closed structure is formed to seal the chamber.

The seam is therefore endless all the way around. Despite the arrangement of a recess, this type of construction not only ensures a completely pressure and moisture-tight chamber, it also creates a stable structure for the stand, which means that the plastic walls of the stand do not have to be unnecessarily thick.

Preferably, the walls delimiting the recess are designed as triangular side walls, so that at this point the upper, essentially circumferential part of the seam passes over the front sides of the side walls into the lower, also essentially circumferential part of the seam. The web-like side walls can now be designed in such a way that, in the case in which they are arranged on the housing base, they have a shape such that they are designed to be congruent with the inner shape of the hood-like housing cover. If the web-like walls are attached to the housing cover, these walls are designed in such a way that they fit the preferably essentially flat shape of the housing base. If a part of the web-like walls is on the housing base and on the housing cover

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It is understood that the respective parts of the web-like walls are designed in such a way that when the housing cover is placed on the housing base, the webs with their preferably straight end faces sit exactly on top of each other and enable the endless circumferential seam.

If the stand has no recess, i.e. the ring-like chamber runs 360 degrees around the outside of the stand, a closed structure is created per se, with the pressure- and moisture-tight seam between the housing cover and the housing base being formed in two levels. One seam is endless in an upper level, and a second endless seam is formed in a lower level. This is particularly easy to manufacture if the known hot mirror welding process is used. This is equally easy if the housing cover and the housing base are glued together at the seam, because the adhesive then only needs to be applied mechanically in two levels, with the seam in each level being in the shape of a circle.

In the embodiment in which the stand has a recess in the area of the chamber, meaning that the chamber does not extend over 360 degrees, the hot mirror welding process, which is also preferably used, must be modified so that the seam not only has to be provided in two circular planes, but also has a spatial formation in the area of the front sides of the web-like walls that delimit the chamber towards the recess. This complicates the device with which the hot mirror welding process is used to permanently and permanently connect the housing cover to the housing base in a pressure- and moisture-tight manner.

Of course, this also applies to a device with which adhesive is applied to the circumferential seam, whereby this adhesive application device then describes a spatial trajectory from the upper part to the lower part.

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The advantage of the closed structure and the endless seam is that stress peaks in the area of the seam, which could otherwise occur if the seam were interrupted in the area of the recess, are prevented. Such stress peaks pose a problem in forming a completely pressure and moisture-tight seam, and they also often lead to cracks later in use. Since water is often poured into the container of the stand in order to keep the Christmas tree fresh for longer, such structural cracks can lead to moisture penetrating the chamber and being absorbed by a porous weighting material such as hardened concrete, for example. If such a stand is set up outdoors, such moisture problems could lead to the entire stand bursting due to frost. The stand according to the invention avoids this, which is a further advantage.

According to a further embodiment, an elastically flexible intermediate layer is inserted into the chamber at least on one wall, so that after the housing cover is permanently connected to the housing base and the weighting body is filled in, the latter rests against this elastically flexible intermediate layer. The elastic intermediate layer has the advantage that even large temperature fluctuations can be easily absorbed by the stand without it being damaged. The elastically flexible intermediate layer has the advantage that the weighting body can expand and press into this intermediate layer when there are temperature fluctuations. When the chamber is subsequently heated, this is compensated for by the expansion of the elastic intermediate layer. This also has the advantage when heating that the weighting body does not lie loosely in the chamber and perhaps rattle when the stand is moved. Excessive mechanical stress on the housing as a result of

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This eliminates any movements of the weighting body in the chamber that would otherwise occur. Generally, two elastically flexible intermediate layers are provided in two mutually perpendicular planes of the chamber; if necessary, one intermediate layer is sufficient.

If the chamber has only one opening, preferably in the housing base, which is designed as a filling opening and as a ventilation opening, then complete filling of the chamber can be achieved, for example in a case where a recess is provided, meaning that the chamber does not rotate 360 degrees, by pushing a hose into the chamber through the opening until the beginning of the hose touches the other end of the chamber, which is delimited by the web-like wall. The weighting material is then pressed in through the hose and the hose is slowly retracted during pressing, so that voids are avoided and the air in the chamber displaced by the introduced weighting material can slowly escape through the opening in the housing base, which is not completely sealed by the hose. This means that the chamber can be completely filled with weighting material without any voids.

When using weighting material in the form of concrete, for example, the opening of the chamber in the housing base can remain open for a certain time so that moisture can escape. However, a hardening weighting material that is completely free of moisture is also possible. In such a case, the opening can be closed permanently and permanently immediately after the chamber has been completely filled. The use of a weighting material that requires the opening to be kept open to dry out, i.e. to allow moisture to escape, is in principle advantageous for mass production. However, it is also possible to arrange at least one opening in the seam.

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Further advantages, specific embodiments and possible applications of the present invention will now be explained in detail with reference to the accompanying drawing. In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a perspective top view of a stand according to the invention with a recess;

Fig. 2 shows a stand according to Fig. 1, in which a part of the

housing cover has broken off;
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Fig. 3 the stand according to the invention, in a bottom view with a broken away part of the housing base according to a first embodiment; and

Fig. 4 shows a stand in a bottom view according to a second embodiment of the invention with a chamber completely running around the circumference with the housing bottom partially broken away.

Fig. 1 shows a perspective top view of a stand according to a first embodiment of the invention. The stand 1 has a receiving area 2 and is made of plastic, with a housing cover 3 being permanently connected to a housing base 4 by means of an endless circumferential seam to form a unit. The stand 1 has a recess 7 in which a tensioning device (not shown) can be arranged, which is connected to a holding device (also not shown), for example via a force transmission element in the form of a cable. For reasons of simplicity, neither the tensioning device nor the holding device are shown, since it is generally known to the average person skilled in the art how both a tensioning device and a holding device are arranged in principle. Preferably, a holding arrangement consists of at least three claws arranged circumferentially,

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which are each movable in a plane in the direction of the rod-shaped part to be held, which essentially intersect in the longitudinal axis of the rod-shaped part.

In Fig. 2, a stand 1 with the receiving area 2 according to the embodiment shown in Fig. 1 is also shown in a perspective top view. In this stand, part of the housing cover 3 has been broken away to illustrate how the housing cover 3 and the housing base 4 are connected inseparably and in a pressure and moisture-tight manner. When the housing cover 3 is placed on the housing base 4, an annular chamber 5 is formed which runs from one side of the recess 7 to the other side of the recess 7, but therefore does not run completely over 360°. A seam 6 is shown with double hatching, which runs at the connection points between a web-like projection of the housing cover 3 and a web-like wall of the housing base 5 as well as the web-like side walls 8, 9, which delimit the chamber towards the recess 7, and a web-like lower projection of the housing base 4 and a web located opposite thereto on the housing cover 3. The seam 6 therefore consists of an upper section 12 running from one side of the recess 7 to the opposite side of the recess, a section 10 running from there downwards over the front side of the web-like wall 8, a section 13 running from there from this side of the recess 7 to the opposite side of the recess and a section 11 running from this lower section 13 of the seam over the front side of the web-like wall 9 back up to the upper section 12. This means that despite the interruption of the chamber 5 by the recess 7, an endlessly running seam is provided, which ensures a closed structure of the stand. This means that despite this recess 7, a particularly high level of stability is provided. Since the recess is only wide enough to accommodate the clamping device for clamping the holding device, the stability is

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of the stand is only insignificantly influenced by the weighting material in this chamber, which does not completely surround the circumference.

Furthermore, it can be seen from Figure 2 that a filling opening 14 and a ventilation opening 15 are provided. The chamber 5 can be filled with the weighting material via the filling opening 14, whereby when filling, the filling material in the chamber is pressed or compressed forwards towards the opposite end of the chamber, which is formed by the side wall 8, and this continues until it exits again from the ventilation opening. Before the weighting material exits again from the ventilation opening, all the air in front of the weighting material can be squeezed out via the ventilation opening. This makes it possible to fill the chamber 5 completely with weighting material. The seam can be a welded seam or an adhesive seam. In any case, however, the chamber is pressure and liquid-tight so that the weighting material can be pressed into chamber 5 under pressure and it can be reliably prevented that weighting material does not swell out at any point in the Christmas tree stand.

The device used for the hot mirror welding process to weld the housing cover 3 to the housing base 4 is designed in such a way that, although the endless seam 6 describes a spatial curve, the respective seam areas are heated evenly on all sections of the seam 12, 10, 13, 11, both on the housing base 4 and on the housing cover 3. The heating of the various areas of the seam 10, 12, 11, 13 is carried out so evenly and to such a temperature that when the housing cover 3 is placed on the housing base 4, a completely pressure and moisture-tight seam is formed. This requires a high degree of manufacturing precision and much tighter tolerances for the housing cover 3.

and the housing base 4 than was previously the case with known plastic stands.

However, according to the invention, such a high degree of precision is maintained in the case of the endless circumferential seam 6, which forms a pressure- and moisture-tight chamber. This is mainly due to the fact that the seam is endless, so that the stress peaks that would otherwise occur in run-out areas can be avoided.

Fig. 3 shows the stand 1 with recess 7 (not labeled) in a bottom view with the housing base 4 partially broken away. In this bottom view, a part of the endlessly circumferential seam 6 with its sections 12, 13 is again shown. It is also shown that the seam 6 connects wall sections to one another, one part of which is a web on the housing base 4 and a web that is attached to the housing cover in a congruent shape is opposite it. According to this exemplary embodiment, a part of a web-like partial wall 16 that is congruent in shape is arranged on the web-like wall 8 on the housing base 4 and is connected to the seam section 10 in a pressure- and moisture-tight manner, so that the chamber has a closed side wall 8, 16 to the recess 7.

Furthermore, the filling opening 14 is arranged in the housing base 4, which is arranged on the end side of the chamber opposite to the broken-away part of the chamber 5.

Finally, Fig. 4 shows a perspective bottom view of a stand according to a second embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, the ring-like chamber 5a is designed as a ring chamber that extends over 360°. This stand is therefore not interrupted by a clamping device with respect to its chamber 5a. Rather, this can be arranged at another point on the stand or separately from it.

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In this stand, the endless seam is arranged in two levels and is endless in the respective level. The seam 6 is shown with double hatching. The upper part 12 of the seam is endless in a first upper level, while the lower part 13 of the seam is also endless on a lower level. This also creates a completely closed structure of the stand and a pressure and moisture-tight chamber 5a, which is formed in the outer area of the stand. The chamber 5a can be filled with a weighting material using pressure via the filling opening 14 so that the chamber can be filled completely without any hollow spaces.

This creates a stand that is very stable and can be filled directly with a weighting material without the weighting material, for example in the form of sand, having to be filled into a plastic bag beforehand, as is the case with known stands, which is then placed in the chamber. This means that the prior filling and use of such a plastic bag can be avoided, and the pressure and moisture-tight chamber on the outside of the stand means that any type of weighting material can be used and it is ensured that no weighting material can escape into any other area of the stand, even when pressurized. This means that neither the appearance of the stand nor its function is negatively affected by, for example, weighting material that hardens later.

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Krinner 18 November 2002

K81383GM F/LE/ss/hs

List of reference symbols

1 Stand 2 Recording area 3 Housing cover 4 Case back 5.5a chamber 6 seam 7 Recess 8.9 Wall 10,11,12,13 Seam section / part of the seam 14 Filling opening 15 Ventilation opening 16 Partial wall on the housing cover

Claims (8)

1. Stand ( 1 ) for clamping rod-shaped parts, in particular Christmas trees, in which a receiving area ( 2 ) receiving the fastening end of the rod-shaped part, a clamping device and a holding device are provided in a housing made of plastic, which has a housing cover ( 3 ) and a housing base ( 4 ), between which, in the assembled state, an annular chamber is formed in the outer region of the stand, spaced from the receiving area ( 2 ), for receiving a weighting material that can be poured into the chamber and in particular hardened there, characterized in that the housing cover ( 3 ) and the housing base ( 4 ) are permanently connected to one another with a seam ( 6 ) in such a way that the chamber ( 5 , 5a ) is sealed pressure- and moisture-tight from the areas of the stand adjacent to it via the seam ( 6 ) and is essentially completely filled with the weighting material. 2. Stand ( 1 ) according to claim 1, characterized in that the chamber ( 5 ) is interrupted in particular for a recess ( 7 ) for attaching the clamping device with respect to the circumference of the stand, wherein the chamber ( 5 ) is delimited towards the recess ( 7 ) by means of web-like walls ( 8 , 9 ) and the seam ( 6 ) for sealing the chamber ( 5 ) to form a closed structure runs over the seam sections ( 10 , 11 ) on the end faces of the walls ( 8 , 9 ) and is endlessly circumferential. 3. Stand ( 1 ) according to claim 2, characterized in that the walls ( 8 , 9 ) are designed as triangular side walls, over which the seam ( 6 ) passes from an upper, substantially circumferential part ( 12 ) into a lower, also substantially circumferential part ( 13 ). 4. Stand ( 1 ) according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the seam ( 6 ) is a weld seam or an adhesive seam. 5. Stand ( 1 ) according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the weighting material rests against at least one of the surrounding walls of the chamber ( 5 , 5a ) via an elastically flexible intermediate layer. 6. Stand ( 1 ) according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the chamber ( 5 ) has at least one filling opening ( 14 ). 7. Stand ( 1 ) according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the chamber ( 5 ) has at least one ventilation opening ( 15 ). 8. Stand ( 1 ) according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that the openings ( 14 , 15 ) are arranged near the recess ( 7 ).