EP1498053A1 - Indoor canopy - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to the provision of a canopy for useprimarily indoors which is provided to be positioned with anitem of furniture, such as a bed. The canopy, which isparticularly attractive to children, gives the appearance that theitem of furniture is enclosed by the canopy . The canopyincludes a frame having a cover section and support membersdepending downwardly therefrom. The support members of thecanopy can be adjusted with respect to the cover section toallow the same to be adjustable to accommodate different sizesof items of furniture within a range of dimensions.

Description

• The invention to which this application relates is to a canopyapparatus and the use of the same in an innovative way.
• The provision of canopies is known in outdoor environments toprovide shelter from the sun, rain, wind or the like. The outdoorcanopy typically comprises a number of substantially verticalsupport members provided as part of a frame, with the frameincluding a roof section. Sheet material is provided to beattached to and stretched between the members of the roofsection to provide the required cover from the environmentalconditions. In many instances wall sections can also be providedbetween some or all of the vertical members as required toprovide a partially or fully enclosed area within the canopy.
• While it is known to provide the canopies with sheet material ofcolour or pattern which can have some decorative effect therehas been no attempt to allow the conventional canopy to appearto be or act as anything other than a shelter for persons in anoutside environment.
• Furthermore, while it is possible, if space permits, to placetables, chairs and the like inside said canopies, it has alwaysbeen a matter of choice and convenience and the furniture isplaced independently of the canopy. It is also known fromUS5718254 to provide apparatus for the location of curtainsover a bed to give the appearance of a four poster. However thisapparatus tends to be provided to be permanently positionedwith the bed frame and, while adjustable, requires either or bothof the height of the vertical members and/or horizontal framemembers to be adjustable by the provision of overlapping jointsand L shaped members which makes the product relativelycomplex and expensive to manufacture.
• The aim of the present invention is to provide a canopy for usein an environment where such use is not known and to providethe canopy in use with at least one other article to provideentertainment and enjoyment, to children in particular.
• In a first aspect of the invention there is provided a canopy forplacement with at least one item of furniture, said canopyincluding a frame, said frame having a cover section, and a seriesof support members depending downwardly therefrom, thecover section providing a roof to the canopy and the supportmembers are positioned with respect to the at least one item offurniture to allow the said item to be substantiallyaccommodated within the canopy area as defined by the supportmembers, and wherein said support members are selectivelyangled in a range from a substantially vertical position to anoutwardly angled position as they depend down from the coversection to lie outside of but adjacent to the sides of the item offurniture.
• By providing for the outward angling of the support legs so theappearance of the canopy can be improved and the specificangling of the legs can be selected to allow the canopy to befitted around items of furniture of differing dimensions.
• Thus there is provided canopy apparatus which in oneembodiment includes a frame having a plurality of spacedupstanding support members and a cover section, and sheetmaterial, said sheet material spread over and retained on at leastthe cover section of the frame to provide a roof to the canopyand wherein the support members are positioned with respect toat least one identifiable item of furniture to allow the said itemto be substantially accommodated within the area of the canopy.
• In an alternative embodiment the cover section is formed as amoulded item located on the support members.
• In one embodiment the canopy is for indoor use and so neednot be resistant to external conditions such as rain, sun or thelike.
• Typically the support members are connected to the coversection of the frame with sufficient resilience to allow thecanopy to be range taking with respect to variations in thedimensions of the items of furniture to be located therein. Forexample, in one preferred embodiment, the canopy is of a sizeand dimensions to be placed around and over an item offurniture in the form of a child's single bed. While single bedscan be provided of dimensions within a certain range, there arevariations within that range. Typically the canopy of theinvention is range taking in that the support members can beadjusted within a range, typically by adjusting the angle or splayof the support members inwardly or outwardly such that thesame lie adjacent to the edges of the item of furniture.
• Preferably the frame members are formed by interlockingsections, thereby ensuring that the frame can be moved betweena relatively small storage condition and a larger erectedcondition, by assembling the member sections.
• Typically, in addition to the provision of sheet material to formthe roof of the canopy, sheet material is provided to dependfrom the cover section at least partially downwardly along thesupport members to mask the same, at least when viewed fromexternally of the canopy.
• Yet further, additional sheet material can be provided, and maybe rendered more rigid by the provision of further members which act as stiffening means and are provided as part of thecover section of the frame. The provision of the additionalsheet material enhances the appearance of the canopy andfurthermore alters the shape and appearance of the same.
• Typically the cover section of the frame comprises a series ofmembers which define the outer shape of the section and one,two or more intersecting members which traverse and joinopposing points of the cover section. For example, in oneembodiment, the intersecting members pass diagonally fromopposing corners of the cover section.
• The cover section can also be provided to be three dimensionalin that rather than a two dimensional flat roof being providedthe cover section can include raised and/or sloping sections.
• In one embodiment the canopy is free standing in as much as itstands clear of the item of furniture with which the supportmembers are located adjacent thereto when the item is placedwithin the canopy. Alternatively, the canopy and/or item offurniture is provided with attachment means which, in oneembodiment, allow the canopy to be retained in location withthe item of furniture. In a further embodiment the canopy isattached to the furniture by the attachment means and the itemact to support the canopy via the item of furniture.
• The canopy is found to be of particular advantage and attractionto children when used in conjunction with their bed as thecanopy can be designed to provide an illusion of, for example, acastle, princess' room or the like. However it should beappreciated that the canopy and use of the same in conjunctionwith any type of furniture item is of advantage.
• In a further aspect of the invention there is provided a canopy,said canopy moveable between storage and erected conditionsand, when erected, including a frame having a cover section andsupport members depending downwardly therefrom, and sheetmaterial provided to enclose at least the roof section andwherein the canopy is provided for use within a premises fordecorative effect.
• An embodiment of the invention is now described withreference to the accompanying drawings wherein;
• Figure 1 illustrates an elevation of the canopy in the erectedcondition in conjunction with an item of furniture;
• Figure 2 illustrates an end elevation of the canopy of Figure 1;
• Figure 3 illustrates a plan view from the base of the canopywithout the item of furniture in position;
• Figure 4 illustrates a further embodiment of the invention; and
• Figure 5 illustrates one form of connection socket in accordancewith the invention.
• Referring now to the Figures 1-3, there is illustrated acanopy 2in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. Thecanopy comprises a frame 4 and, in thisembodiment sheetmaterial 6, supported by the frame. The sheet material isattached to the frame by suitable fastening means such as ties,hook and loop fastening means, to retain the sheet material inposition when the frame is erected as shown. In oneembodiment the sheet material can be used to form the roof byspreading the same over thecover section 12 and/or partlyalong the support members. Alternatively, as shown in Figure 4, thecover section 12 can be formed as a preformed mouldedcomponent which is supported in position by thesupportmembers 8 and therefore need not include sheet material for thecover section. In this embodiment the cover section design maybe provided in any of a series of predetermined dimensions withthe particular size selected by the customer to suit the size ofthe item of furniture with which the canopy is to be used. In oneembodiment the moulding tool used to provide the moulded cover sectionmay itself be adjustable to allow different profiles and dimension mouldingsto be manufactured to the same design but of a series of dimensions fromthe same mould.
• The frame 4 is shown in broken lines in Figure 1 and partly inFigure 3. The frame comprises a series ofupstanding supportmembers 8, in this case located at each of the corners of thecover section 12. The support members depend downwardly tocontact thesupport surface 10 and support the canopy inposition. The support members are connected to thecoversection 12 via connection means which include a series oflocation sockets angled or adjustably positionable to receive anend of one of the frame members and hold the same at therequired angular position with respect to the other supportmembers connected to the connection means and thereby allowthe frame to be constructed. In the embodiment of Figure 4 theconnection means 29 can be provided as integral parts of themoulding as shown.
• In the embodiment illustrated in Figure 1-3, the cover section isshaped by a frame ofmembers 14 and includes a peakedsection formed bymembers 16 depending inwardly and upwardlyfrom the corners of the cover section to acentral peak 20 wherethe same are joined together.
• Thesupport members 8 are provided withfeet 18 to add to thestability of the canopy and portions of thesheet material 6'pass downwardly to enclose and mask thesupport members 8.Further sheet material 6" can be provided as shown to furtheradd to the decorative effect.
• Typically, to allow the canopy to be easily stored when not inuse, themembers 8,16 are disconnectable from engagementmeans, not shown, which can be formed as required and whichallow the respective members to be joined together at therequired angles. Yet further, each of the members themselvescan be formed of disengagable sections thereby allowing themembers to be moved to a smaller storage condition as required.
• As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the canopy is most effective whenused in accordance with the invention in conjunction with anitem offurniture 22, in this case a single bed and in Figure 4 asofa chair 23.
• It can be seen how thebed 22 andsofa 23 is wholly enclosedwithin the envelope area of the canopy and so a child, whenlying in the bed or sitting on the sofa is given the impression ofbeing in an enclosed environment even though they are stillwithin their own bedroom.
• In order to allow the canopy to be range taking within apredetermined range, and thereby allow the same to be used, forexample, with different sizes of bed, the splay or angle of thesupport members 8 is adjustable. For example, if the canopy isto be used with respect to a single bed which had the samewidth but which was longer then the splay of thesupportmembers 8 would be increased as indicated by the broken lines8' in Figure 1. In another example, if another bed was wider but of the same length then the splay of the support members wouldbe adjusted as indicated by thebroken lines 8" in Figure 2.
• The adjustment of the splay can be achieved in one of two ways.In a first way the support members can be angularly adjustedwith respect to the connection means 24 in Figures 1 and 2 and29 in Figure 4 at the cover section within a given tolerance dueto the manufacture dimensions of the support members andlocation sockets and the resilience of the materials being usedfor the support members and the connection means. A secondway as shown in Figure 5 is to provide thelocation sockets 31for the end of thesupport members 8 at the connection meansto be angularly adjustable with respect to their respectiveconnection means 24,29. The angular adjustment can be forexample by the provision of a ball and socket joint between thelocation socket and the remainder of the connection means.
• If required, the canopy can be provided with attachment meanssuch as ties or plates which can be attached to the item offurniture to allow the canopy to be located with the item offurniture and/or supported by the item of furniture.
• Thus it will be appreciated by the reader that the provision ofthe canopy in the design illustrated and indeed in other designsto suit particular items of furniture, allows the canopy to beused to great visual and entertaining effect in an indoorenvironment. This effect is further enhanced by the use ofparticular styles of fabric, patterns and colours to allow thecanopy to provide a particular appearance and effect to theonlooker and to depict a particular environment.
• Thus the canopy is put to a surprisingly beneficial use which iscompletely different to the conventional purpose of shelter fromenvironmental conditions when used externally.

Claims (16)

1. A canopy for placement with at least one item offurniture, said canopy including a frame, said frame having acover section, and a series of support members dependingdownwardly therefrom, the cover section providing a roof to thecanopy and the support members are positioned with respect tothe at least one item of furniture to allow the said item to besubstantially accommodated within the canopy area as definedby the support members, and wherein said support members areselectively angled in a range from a substantially verticalposition to an outwardly angled position as they depend downfrom the cover section to lie outside of but adjacent to the sidesof the item of furniture.

2. A canopy according to claim 1 wherein the canopy isprovided for use indoors.

3. A canopy according to claim 1 wherein the supportmembers are connected to the cover section of the frame withthe support members capable of being adjustable to alter thesize of the canopy area to accommodate the dimensions of theat least one item of furniture to be located therewith.

4. A canopy according to claim 3 wherein the supportmembers are angularly adjustable with respect to the coversection to allow the splay of the support members to beadjustable.

5. A canopy according to claim 4 wherein the splayadjustment is achieved by angularly adjusting the supportmembers and location sockets with respect to connection meanswhich act to connect the support members to the cover section.

6. A canopy according to claim 1 wherein the cover section isformed by a plurality of elongate members engaged with eachother.

7. A canopy according to claim 1 wherein the members areformed by interlocking sections which can be released to allowthe frame to be moved to a storage condition.

8. A canopy according to claim 1 wherein the cover sectionincludes sheet material spread over and retained on the coversection frame members.

9. A canopy according to claim 8 wherein the sheet materialdepends downwardly from the cover section to at least partiallymask the support members when viewed externally of thecanopy.

9. A canopy according to claim 1 wherein the canopy includesstiffening means which depend upwardly from the cover section.

10. A canopy according to claim 1 wherein the cover sectionof the frame comprises a series of members which define theouter shape of the cover section and one or a number ofintersecting members which traverse and are respectivelyattached to opposing sides of the cover section.

11. A canopy according to claim 1 wherein the canopy is freestanding and stands clear of the item of furniture placed withinthe canopy area.

12. A canopy according to claim 1 wherein the canopy isprovided with attachment means to allow the canopy to beattached to the item of furniture.

13. A canopy according to claim 12 wherein the canopy issupported by the item of furniture.

14. A canopy according to claim 1 wherein the cover section isformed as a moulded item located on the support members.

15. A canopy, said canopy moveable between storage and erectedconditions and, when erected, including a frame having a coversection and support members depending downwardly therefrom,and sheet material provided to enclose at least the roof sectionand wherein the canopy is provided for use within a premisesfor decorative effect.

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