Portable designer beach windscreen
I searched the patent files and could not find a similar product, therefore, I wish to obtain a patent on my invention.
My invention is titled the “Portable Designer Beach Windscreen.” It could also be referred to simply as a portable beach windscreen. I designed the portable designer beach windscreen to create a product that would be easy to transport to the beach which would be useful in screening the sun bather from the blowing wind/sand which one encounters at the beach. The item is compact and easy to carry (e.g. portable), and can be carried under one arm. Or the item can be placed in a bag with a handle or transported by slinging it over one's shoulder. When you arrive at the beach, you simply unroll the portable designer beach windscreen and push the dowels down into the sand at the desired depth, and then you have an instant windscreen to protect you from the wind and blowing sand. The item is made of material and is hand sewn. It can be made of various types of fabric such as cotton duck fabrics or polyester “windbreaker” type fabrics. The item can be marketed to everyone in the population, using solid colored fabrics or decorated cotton duck fabrics. The Portable Designer Beach Windscreen could also be used as a privacy screen in almost any outdoor location, where you can push the wooden dowels down into the ground where you want to create a private setting such as in the park while you are setting up a picnic area on the ground.
BRIEF SUMMARYTo summarize, my invention is a portable beach windscreen that is easy to carry and is easy to set up when you get to the beach. You simply unroll the screen length, fold under the left, right, and bottom sides of the fabric by about ¾ of an inch and press with an iron. Fold it back in half, as shown in
There are 5 drawings of the invention to clearly demonstrate the manufacturing process for the Portable Designer Beach Windscreen.
Below is a brief description of the labeled points on all of the Figures in the Drawings. The paragraphs which follow give more detailed description about the points (lettered A-Q) and what they mean describing how to make the product.
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- A. fold edge of the fabric
- B. left cut edge of the fabric
- C. shows the right cut edge of the fabric
- D. shows the selvage edge of the fabric. The length of fabric can very—use approximately 2¼ yards of fabric or 81 inches long, and about 45 inches wide—or wider to enable you to produce a windscreen that measures about 80 inches long and 21½ inches wide after sewing together.
- E. fabric design can very. You could use decorated cotton duck or a waterproof windbreaker type of polyester fabric. The pattern selected should look good when viewed from the angle shown in the diagram (
FIG. 1 ) that runs from the selvage edge to the fold edge of the fabric. - F. fabric length is 81 inches, using fabric that is about 45 inches wide. You could use longer lengths of fabric. If you were to use longer lengths of fabric, you would need to increase the number of dowels used in the design of the windscreen.
- G. Cut the fabric 81 inches long, measuring along the selvage edge. Fold under cut edges and selvage edges ½ inch to ¾ inch and iron or press. Sew or stitch along the dotted lines to close all 4 edges including along the top (fold edge of fabric).
- H. fold along cut edge of fabric
- I. fold along selvage edge of fabric
- J. Leave a one inch opening—3 places along the bottom edge to allow for the insertion of a dowel (
FIG. 3 shows the stitching lines which will hold the wooden dowels). - K. Stitch lines (solid lines), to hold the ½×36 inch wooden dowels.
- L. Leave a one inch opening at the bottom of each stitching line to allow for insertion of the wooden dowel
- M. Stitch lines between the stitched pockets where the dowels are to be inserted (shown as heavy black dotted lines). This is done to help stabilize and strengthen the design of the product.
- N. Insert dowels into the stitched pockets at this location. When the stitching is finished, if you remembered to leave an opening here, then you will be able to slip the wooden dowels into the windscreen at this location.
- O. Attach a one yard length of ¾ inch gross grain ribbon (a color that coordinates with the fabric design you selected) here by stitching it a few times back and forth to give it extra strength, as this point will take a lot of abuse as the customer ties and unties it many times.
- P. Rolled up Portable Designer Beach Windscreen—this is what the windscreen will look like when it is finished and rolled up and tied, ready to be carried to the beach.
- Q. This last drawing (
FIG. 6 ) shows the simple bag made to carry the Portable Designer Beach Windscreen in. The product could be produced without this bag if so desired
The item is made by cutting a piece of fabric 81 inches long (refer to
I believe that my invention is new and unique and there is no other product on the market which is similar to my design. I think that my invention has merit because I think that there is a need for a product such as this that will screen the wind and sand away from the sun bather. For that reason, I think that my invention has practical uses and that I should be given a patent to market this item or sell it to a manufacturer.
Claims
1. I believe that my invention is an original idea because I did a complete search of the patent files and could not find anything similar to its design. Although I did find an item that was used to protect someone from the wind and sand on the beach in the patent files, it was constructed of a plastic frame and was a very large frame in which polyester fabric was attached to it. It was designed as a larger structure and had no real resemblance to my design/invention.
- I believe that my design/invention is unique in its conception and design as a portable windscreen that can be easily carried with you to the beach and easy to set up, just like portable umbrellas are carried to the beach and used by many people. Also, because it is made with decorated fabrics. I think it will have universal appeal to many customers and will be a very marketable product.
Type: Application
Filed: Nov 1, 2006
Publication Date: May 1, 2008
Inventor: Deborah Benson Effle (Bahama, NC)
Application Number: 11/590,440