Chiu, Sin Sun (Unit 1012, 10th Floor World-Wide Industrial Centre, 43-47 Shan Mei Street, Fo Tan, Shati, New Territories Hong Kong, CN)
| 1. | A flagpole comprising a fan located within a top portion of the flagpole and operative to direct a flow of air at a flag attached to the flagpole adjacent thereto. |
| 2. | The flagpole of Claim I3 comprising a plurality of fans including said fan, positioned one above the other within the top portion of the flagpole. |
| 3. | The flagpole of Claim 2, further comprising an elongate slot at the top portion of the flagpole behind which said electric fans are mounted, the slot serving as an exit port for air blown by the fans. |
| 4. | The flagpole of Claim 2, further comprising a plurality of apertures in the flagpole serving as entry ports for air drawn by the fans. |
| 5. | The flagpole of Claim 2, further comprising a fansupport bar located within the top portion of the flagpole and to which the electric fans are attached. |
| 6. | The flagpole of Claim 2, wherein each electric fan comprises a highspeed DC motor. |
| 7. | The flagpole of Claim 6, further comprising a base from which the flagpole extends vertically, and a transformer at the base for providing direct current to the DC motors.'. |
| 8. | The flagpole of Claim 7, further comprising a control circuit powered by the transformer for controlling the DC motors. |
| 9. | The flagpole of Claim 6, further comprising one or more switches for selecting high or low speed operation of the DC motors. |
| 10. | The flagpole of Claim 6, wherein each DC motor drives a pair of impellers. |
| 11. | The flagpole of Claim 1 , comprising louvers downstream of each fan which deflect an airflow induced by the fan slightly upwardly. |
Field of The Invention
The present invention relates to flagpoles. More particularly, although not exclusively, the invention relates to a flagpole having a plurality of fans mounted adjacent to the flag within the flagpole to simulate a breeze against the flag.
Background of the Invention
It is known to provide flag-blowing flagpoles. These comprise a high-powered electric motor that pumps air through the flagpole from its base for exiting alongside the flag. These are noisy, low efficiency devices as the air must be pumped almost the full-length of the flagpole overcoming significant resistance en route.
Summary of The Invention
It is an object of the present invention to overcome or substantially ameliorate the above disadvantage and/or more generally to provide a flagpole having a number of internally-mounted fans adjacent to the flag to simulate a breeze ~ particularly useful for indoor flagpoles.
There is disclosed herein a flagpole comprising a fan located within a top portion of the flagpole and operative to direct a flow of air at a flag attached to the flagpole adjacent thereto.
Preferably, the flagpole comprises a plurality of fans including said fan, positioned one above the other within the top portion of the flagpole.
Preferably, the flagpole further comprises an elongate slot at the top portion of the flagpole behind which said electric fans are mounted, the slot serving as an exit port for air blown by the fans.
Preferably, the flagpole further comprises a plurality of apertures in the flagpole serving as entry ports for air drawn by the fans.
Preferably, the flagpole further comprises a fan-support bar located within the top portion of the flagpole and to which the electric fans are attached.
Preferably, each electric fan comprises a high-speed DC motor.
Preferably, the flagpole further comprises a base from which the flagpole extends vertically, and a transformer at the base for providing direct current to the DC motors.
Preferably, the flagpole further comprises a control circuit powered by the transformer for controlling the DC motors.
Preferably, the flagpole further comprises one or more switches for selecting high-speed or low-speed operation of the DC motors.
Preferably, each DC motor drives a pair of impellers.
Preferably, the flagpole comprises louvres downstream of each fan which deflect an airflow induced by the fan slightly upwardly.
Brief Description of The Drawings
Preferred forms of the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Fig. 1 is a schematic elevation of a flagpole flying a flag,
Fig. 2 is a schematic front elevation of a top portion of the flagpole,
Fig. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional elevation of the top portion of the flagpole,
Fig. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional plan view of the flagpole across one of the internal fan motors in one embodiment,
Fig. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional plan view of the flagpole across one of the internal motors in another embodiment,
Fig. 6 is a schematic circuit diagram for controlling the individual fans,
Fig. 7 is a schematic cross-sectional elevation of another flagpole flying a flag,
Fig. 8 is a schematic side elevation of a top portion of the flagpole of Fig. 7, and
Fig. 9 is a schematic cross-sectional plan view øf the flagpole of Fig. 8 across one of the internal motors.
Detailed Description of Preferred Embodiments
In Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings there is depicted schematically a flagpole 10 flying a flag 11. The flagpole 10 would typically be a metallic fabrication (say of stainless-steel) comprising a number of interconnected segments support upon a base 12. The base 12 might be adapted for bolting down to a concrete floor or pavement. Sitting upon the base 12 is a housing within which there is provided an electric transformer 14. The transformer 14 takes a high- voltage AC input (say 110 volts or 220 volts) and provides a low- voltage DC output (say 6 volts or 12 volts).
A number of electric fans 17 comprising DC motors 18 are mounted within the top portion of the flagpole in such manner that the fan impellers sit just within or behind an air outlet slot 20 that extends vertically at the top portion of the flagpole just beneath the flag fmial 15. The length of the slot 20 approximates the height of flag 11.
Affixed by screws as shown in Fig. 4 within the top portion of the flagpole is a fan-support bar 16 in the form of an elongate U-channel. The bar 16 is mounted within the top portion of the flagpole with pairs of diametrically opposed brackets 23 and screws as shown. As an alternative, the DC motors 18 might be mounted directly to the flagpole by brackets 23 and screws as depicted in Fig. 5.
There is provided in the flagpole about each fan a plurality of air inlet openings 19 through which the fans draw air to be blown out through the slot 20.
The fans are capable of high speed operation, typically in the order of 10,000 RPM and might be operated at such high speeds to create a high wind force to fly the flag quite vigorously as if in a gale. The fans might be slowed down to create a low wind force in which the flag might sail leisurely as in a light breeze. To this end, there is provided a control
circuit 22 receiving power from the transformer 14. The control circuit 22 would be located within the housing 13. The control circuit 22 would act in concert with a plurality of switches 21 to set the high-speed or low speed operational status of the fans.
A further embodiment of the invention is depicted in Figs. 7 to 9. Instead of providing a housing 13, the transformer 14 is provided in-line with the power cord 24. Further, each electric motor 18 has an output shaft extending from each of its ends. Each end of the output shaft has a fan 17a and 17b. Both fans rotate in the same sense and more efficiently blow a stream of air as indicated by the arrows in Figs. 8 and 9. In this embodiment, each motor 18 is mounted by brackets 23 within a horizontal tube 25 that extends transversely across the flagpole 10. An array of louvres 26 is attached to the tube 25 to effectively direct the output flow stream to a desired part of the flag 11. A slightly upward deflection of the flow stream by louvres that are tilted slightly upwardly as depicted might fly the flag quite efficiently.
It should be appreciated that modifications and alterations obvious to those skilled in the art are not to be considered as beyond the scope of the present invention. For example, instead of providing a plurality of air inlet apertures 19, a special fmial 15 might be designed to allow the ingress of air from the top of the flagpole whilst preventing rain for example from entering the flagpole.
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