Formable Decorative Light String with Integrated Flexible Wire
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional string lights require external attachment devices for shaping and storage, leading to damage, tangling, and knotting issues.
Innovation Solution
Integration of a semi-rigid flexible wire running parallel to the current-carrying wire, allowing the string to be formed into various shapes without external devices and minimizing tangling by using clamps or coatings for attachment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If external attachment devices (staples, twist-ties, pipe cleaners, glues, tapes, nails) are used to shape and attach light strings, then the lights can be secured to structures, but the attachment process becomes time-consuming, causes permanent damage to the lighting string, and creates unsightly appearances
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the attachment function and shaping function into the light string itself by integrating a flexible wire within the string structure. This eliminates the need for separate external attachment devices, allowing the string to be shaped and attached directly to surfaces without additional tools or materials.
Solution Approach 2:
The light string becomes self-attaching through the integrated flexible wire that can be bent and shaped by hand to conform to various surfaces. The string serves its own attachment needs without requiring external devices, reducing installation time and avoiding damage from traditional attachment methods.
2Ease of manufacture
If conventional light strings are stored without special handling, then storage is simple, but the strings inevitably tangle and knot, sometimes severely enough that the strand must be discarded
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible wire integrated into the light string provides dynamic flexibility that allows the string to be easily manipulated during storage and retrieval. The wire's ability to bend and flex enables the string to be coiled or hung without creating permanent tangles, maintaining its usability after storage.
3Shape
If a rigid wire is used to maintain the shape of light strings, then the shape is held firmly, but the string becomes difficult to bend and reshape
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a flexible wire with intermediate rigidity - not completely rigid but sufficiently stiff to hold shape. This parameter change in wire stiffness allows the string to maintain its formed shape while still being manually bendable for reshaping, achieving both shape retention and adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible wire acts as a structural element that provides shape retention while maintaining flexibility. Similar to how flexible shells can maintain form while bending, the wire allows the light string to hold its shape during use but can be easily reshaped when needed.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed is a decorative light string, being formable to provide varying shapes, to hold position when wrapped around or placed upon structures to be decorated, and to facilitate storage without tangling of one or more light strings.