SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR USING TRUNCATED ARTIFICIAL TREES TO HIDE UTILITY POLES FROM VIEW

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a system and method for hiding utility poles and other manmade structures from view by placing a plurality of truncated artificial trees either near, within close proximity, or within a utility poles right of way. Wherein, the artificial trees are sized such that a desired percentage of the utility pole is capable of being hidden when viewed from a desired location.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Not Applicable

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

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REFERENCE TO SEQUENCE LISTING, A TABLE, OR A COMPUTER PROGRAM LISTING COMPACT DISK APPENDIX

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FIELD

The present application relates to hiding electric utility poles from view.

BACKGROUND

High power lines crisscross across the country marring the landscape and the trend is to make them taller and carry higher voltages so that they are even more of an eyesore. FIG. 1 exemplifies the problem and while trees and shrubs can be planted locally to disrupt the view from say a back porch of someone's house, this does little to nothing to disrupt the view from the surrounding area.

While attempts have been made to make radio and cell phone towers look more natural by adding fake branches to them such as was specified in U.S. Pat. No. 8,035,574 B2 Robert Renfro et al. (see FIG. 2), these are additions only to solitary towers without high voltage wires running between them.

It is the high voltage wires, which makes it impractical to add fake branches to the existing high voltage poles and as a result, the public is asked to live with it the blight on our public space.

SUMMARY

In order to overcome the deficiencies in the prior art, methods and systems are described herein.

The summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

The embodiments described methods for using a plurality of truncated artificial trees to hide the view of a utility pole by placing the artificial trees either near, within close proximity, or within a utility poles right of way.

Wherein the form of truncation may be a half tree.

Wherein the trees are capable of being placed at least the minimum safe design distance from said utility pole.

Wherein the artificial trees are sized and positioned in order to achieve a desired percentage of the utility pole being hidden; wherein 100% is considered ideal, 70% or more is considered acceptable, and less than 30% is of minimal value.

The embodiments described a system for hiding a utility pole from view comprising: a plurality of artificial trees placed either near, within close proximity, or within a utility poles right of way. Where the trees are comprised of a plurality of artificial branches and a mechanical structure capable of supporting branches and are truncated on at least one side.

Wherein the form of truncation may be a half tree.

Wherein the minimum distance to the utility pole is at least the minimum safe design distance.

Wherein the artificial trees are sized such that a desired percentage of the utility pole is capable of being hidden when viewed from a desired location; wherein 100% is considered ideal, 70% or more is considered acceptable, and less than 30% is of minimal value.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 Shows a typical example of how utility poles disrupt a view;

FIG. 2 is prior art and shows adding fake branches to a radio tower;

FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of a series of utility towers with their right of way indicated;

FIG. 4 shows trees added to FIG. 3 to hide the utility tower.

FIG. 5 shows the side view of an artificial tree and its resultant profile.

FIGS. 6a and 6b show the side view of utility pole with an artificial tree behind it (6a) and in front of it (6b).

FIGS. 7a and 7b shows the line of sight of various viewers and the degree to which the utility pole is hidden.

FIG. 8 is a top view showing several configurations of artificial trees with various degrees of truncation.

FIG. 9 is a top view showing how position and number of artificial trees is able to impact how much of a utility pole is hidden.

FIG. 10a-c shows the impact of adding trees to create a viewing horizon.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 3 shows a series of utility poles 300 and their right-of-way boundary 310 and 310′. Right-of-way boundary 310 is the boundary on the near side and right-of-way boundary 310′ is on the far side. The term utility pole is used to indicate any sort electrical transmission tower or structure and not specific just to those configured as a pole.

FIG. 4 shows FIG. 3 with artificial trees 400 and 400′ added along the right-of-way boundary 310 and 310′. Artificial tree 400 was added along right-of-way boundary 310 and shows the branches of the artificial tree facing away from the utility pole 300 in order hide the utility pole from view from the near side. Artificial tree 400′ was added along right-of-way boundary 310′ and shows a truncated face of the tree facing utility pole 300. Artificial trees 400 and 400′ are supposed to represent identically configured artificial trees with both having branches facing away from the utility pole 300 and a truncated face of each tree facing towards utility pole 300.

FIG. 5 shows a representative construction of an artificial tree. Tower 500, is shown with a plurality of artificial branches 510 added to it a resultant profile 520 represented by the dashed line and truncation lines 540 and 560. Tower 500 is representative of any sort of mechanical structure capable of supporting branches. The resultant profile 520 could be that of any sort of tree that grows such as an evergreen, oak or palm tree. The plurality of artificial branches 510 may be placed all the way around tower 500 to form a symmetric resultant profile 520 when the tree is viewed from all orientations or truncated on one or more sides. Truncation line 540 represents a tree that is truncated through tapering of the profile produced by the branches and truncation line 560 represents the case where profile is truncated by being terminated at a particular point. Truncation Lines 540 and 560 are representative of the types of truncation that might be employed. Other forms of truncation such as a combination of a taper and termination as well as completely removing branches from one side of the tree are also anticipated.

FIG. 6a shows a utility pole 600 with an artificial tree 520′ behind it. This would be the situation when there would be an artificial tree located on the far right-of-way boundary only. In this particular case, the utility pole 600 is hidden by blending in and being camouflaged by artificial tree 520′.

FIG. 6b shows a utility pole 600 with an artificial tree 520 in front of it. This would be the situation when there would be an artificial tree located on the near right-of-way boundary only. In this particular case, the utility pole 600 is hidden by directly obscuring the view of utility pole 600.

The term hidden as used in this document to refer to both blending in and being camouflaged as well as directly obscuring the view.

In FIGS. 6a and 6b utility pole 600 is not completely hidden by either artificial tree 520 or 520′. The portion of any utility pole that is unhidden is hereby defined as the unhidden portion and the portion that is hidden is hereby defined as the hidden portion and is a function of an artificial trees size and shape.

FIG. 7a shows utility pole 600; viewers 700 and 710; viewing angles 705 and 715; and artificial trees 720 and 720′. Viewer 710 is elevated above viewer 700. Artificial trees 720 and 720 hide a portion of utility pole 600 from both viewers 700 and 710. However, in this particular case, both artificial trees 720 and 720 are sized to independently hide utility tower 600 from viewer 700 as represented by line-of-sight 705. However, this is not the case for viewer 710. For viewer 710, only artificial tree 720′ would independently hide utility pole 600 from view. If artificial tree 720′ was removed then artificial tree 720 would leave a significant portion of utility pole 600 unhidden, as can be seen by line-of-sight 715.

FIG. 7b shows the same viewers 700 and 710. However, in this particular case both artificial trees 725 and 725′ are sized to independently hide utility tower 600 from viewer 710 as represented by line-of-sight 715′. However, this is not the case for viewer 700. For viewer 700, only artificial tree 725 would independently hide utility pole 600 from view. If artificial tree 725 was removed then artificial tree 725′ leave a significant portion of utility pole 600 unhidden, as can be seen by line-of-sight 705′.

As can be seen from FIGS. 7a and 7b assuming the height of a utility pole is fixed then the hidden portion of the utility pole is influenced by the size of the artificial trees, the distance from a viewer and their height in relationship to the tower.

FIG. 8 is a top view showing a series of three utility poles 300; right-of-way boundary 310; artificial trees 800, 810, 820, 830, 840, 850, and 860; and distances 805 and 845.

Artificial tree 800 is located a distance 805 from right-of-way boundary 310. Artificial tree 800 is indicated as a non-truncated. The further an artificial tree is from a utility poles border the less it is able to hide a utility pole form viewers at an angle (as will be seen shortly in FIG. 9). Therefore, an artificial tree should be placed “near” the right-of-way of a utility pole, where near is hereby defined as being within 91.4 meters (300 feet) of a utility pole.

Artificial tree 810 is located directly on right-of-way boundary 310. Artificial tree 810 is indicated as also indicated as a non-truncated tree and is in “close proximity” to right-of-way boundary 310. Where close proximity to a right-of-way boundary is hereby defined as the minimum practical distance from a right-of-way boundary in which a non-truncated artificial tree can exist without crossing the right-of-way boundary and where the minimum practical distance is theoretically zero but may be offset from the right-of-way boundary by as much as 22.9 meters (75 feet).

Artificial tree 820 is located directly on right-of-way boundary 310. However, unlike artificial tree 810, artificial tree 820 is a one-sided truncated tree and is located within close proximity to right-of-way boundary 310.

Similarly, artificial tree 830 is also located directly on right-of-way boundary 310. However, artificial tree 830 is a special case of artificial tree hereby defined as a half artificial tree in which an artificial tree is truncated substantially at its midpoint.

Artificial tree 840 is located within right-of-way boundary 310 and artificial tree 840 is a two-sided truncated tree such that it is entirely within the right-of-way boundary 310. Distance 845 is the theoretical distance between utility pole 300 (or the transmission lines running from it). Distance 845 should always be at least the minimum safe design distance between a utility pole (or the transmission lines running from it) and an artificial tree based on the conductive/grounding characteristics of the artificial tree and the danger of electrical arching and/or other design considerations typically employed.

Artificial tree 850 is located within right-of-way boundary 310 and artificial tree 850 represents a half artificial tree located entirely within the right-of-way boundary 310.

Artificial tree 860 represents an artificial tree located near right-of-way boundary 310, which is truncated on at least one side as indicated by the dashed lines and may or may not cross right-of-way boundary 310.

FIG. 9 is a top view showing a series of three utility poles 300, 300a, and 300b; right-of-way boundary 310; artificial trees 940, 942, 944, 946, and 948; viewers 900, 910, and 920; viewing angles 902 and 904; and zones 960 and 980.

Viewer 900 is looking directly at utility pole 300 using viewing angle 902 and as such utility pole 300 is completely hidden from view. However, with regard to utility pole 300a viewing angle 904 allows viewer 900 to have a completely unhidden view of utility pole 300a by viewing around artificial tree 942. The further artificial tree 942 is from the right-of-way boundary 310 the less effective it is at hiding utility pole 300a from viewers viewing utility pole 300a at an angle, such as viewer 900. Zone 960 indicates the region in which artificial tree 942 is capable of completely hiding utility pole 300a from a viewer within zone 960. Aside from moving artificial tree 942 relative to its distance from right-of-way boundary 310, the shape of zone 960 can also be modified by moving artificial tree 942 in a direction parallel to right-of-way boundary 310 or changing its width in a direction parallel to right-of-way boundary 310.

Alternately, the shape of zone in which a view is capable of being hidden from viewer can also be increased by adding additional artificial trees, as can be seen by the size of zone 960, which is the resulting ability of artificial trees 944, 946, and 948 to hide utility pole 300b from a viewer located within zone 960. In this particular example utility pole 300b is capable of being hidden from both viewers 910 and 920. In order to form a single zone, the artificial trees can either be beside each other, as in the case of artificial trees 944 and 946, or overlapping, as in the case of artificial trees 946 and 948.

The term capable of being hidden has been used because whether or not a particular utility pole is fully hidden depends on its resultant profile as indicated in FIG. 5 and its relationship to a utility pole as indicated in FIGS. 6a and 6b and the height of the observer as indicated in FIGS. 7a and 7b.

All of these relationships must be considered in order to determine the portion of a utility pole that will be hidden from view from a particular viewer in a particular location.

Ideally 100%, or more, of the utility pole should be hidden from view for every viewer in every location. However, that is not always practical. When the ideal (of 100% or more) cannot be practically achieved, a minimum of at least 70% or more is considered an acceptable level and less than 30% is considered to be of minimal value.

FIG. 10a shows a landscape with a utility pole disrupting the natural vista. FIG. 10b shows the impact of adding a single artificial tree 1000 to block the utility pole from view. FIG. 10c shows the impact of adding a plurality of artificial trees to create a viewing horizon that blends in with the natural landscape. The viewing horizon may be improved by not only adding more artificial trees, as in the case of FIG. 10c, but it is anticipated that placing one or more trees closer to the viewer, which may or may not be truncated trees, may also help create a pleasing viewing horizon, particularly when viewed from an angle.

Hiding utility poles is just one of many applications for which the embodiments described may be utilized. Other anticipated applications include: hiding water towers, hiding radio towers, and other manmade structures

It should be recognized, however, by those skilled in the art, that changes or modifications may be made to the above-described embodiments without departing from the broad inventive concepts of the invention. It should be understood, therefore, that the present invention is not limited to the particular embodiments disclosed herein, but is intended to cover all modifications and changes that are within the scope and spirit of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method for using a plurality of truncated artificial tree to hide the view of a utility pole supporting high voltage wires, comprising placing a plurality of truncated artificial trees near a utility pole's right-of-way, where said truncated artificial tree is truncated on at least one side.

2. The method of claim 1 where said truncated artificial tree is a half tree.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said artificial tree is at least the minimum safe design distance from said utility pole.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said near a utility pole's right-of-way is in close proximity to a utility pole's right-of-way.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein said close proximity to a utility pole's right-of-way is within the boundary of a utility pole's right-of-way.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein said plurality of artificial trees are sized and positioned in order to achieve a desired percentage of said utility pole being hidden when viewed from a particular location.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein said desired percentage is considered ideal if it is at least 100%, acceptable if at least 70% and of minimal value if less than 30%.

8. A method for hiding a utility pole supporting high voltage wires from view comprising:

placing a plurality of artificial trees near a utility pole right of way;

said plurality of artificial trees are comprised of a plurality of artificial branches and a mechanical structures capable of supporting said plurality of artificial branches;

each of said plurality of artificial trees having an actual profile when viewed from any side;

where at least one of the said plurality of artificial trees is truncated on at least one side such that said actual profile of the at least one tree is no longer symmetric.

9. The method of claim 8 where said truncated artificial tree is a half tree.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein said artificial tree is at least the minimum safe design distance from said utility pole.

11. The method of claim 8 wherein said near a utility pole's right-of-way is in close proximity to a utility pole's right-of-way.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein said close proximity to a utility pole's right-of-way is within the boundary of a utility pole's right-of-way.

13. The method of claim 8 wherein said plurality of artificial trees are sized and positioned in order to achieve a desired percentage of said utility pole being hidden when viewed from a particular location.

14. The method of claim 16 wherein said desired percentage is considered ideal if it is at least 100%, acceptable if at least 70% and of minimal value if less than 30%.

15. A system for hiding a utility pole supporting high voltage wires from view comprising:

a plurality of artificial trees placed near a utility pole right of way;

said plurality of artificial trees are comprised of a plurality of artificial branches and a mechanical structures capable of supporting said plurality of artificial branches;

each of said plurality of artificial trees having an actual profile when viewed from any side;

where at least one of the said plurality of artificial trees is truncated on at least one side such that said actual profile of the at least one tree is no longer symmetric.

16. The system of claim 15 where said at least one of the said plurality of artificial trees is a half tree.

17. The system of claim 15 wherein said plurality of artificial trees are capable of being placed at least the minimum safe design distance from said utility pole.

18. The system of claim 15 wherein said near a utility pole's right-of-way is in close proximity to a utility pole's right-of-way.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein said close proximity to a utility pole's right-of-way is within the boundary of a utility pole's right-of-way.

20. The system of claim 15 wherein said plurality of artificial trees are sized such that a desired percentage of said utility pole is capable of being hidden when viewed from a particular location.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein said desired percentage is considered ideal if it is at least 100%, acceptable if at least 70% and of minimal value if less than 30%.