Nested Fireplace Grate Design for Compact Shipping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional fireplace grates are bulky and inefficient to store and transport, making them costly to ship and display on retail shelves, and difficult for users to assemble without additional hardware.
Innovation Solution
A compact, user-assembled fireplace grate design featuring nested cross bars and support bars in a disassembled configuration, with integrated fasteners and a tool for easy assembly, allowing for efficient packaging and reduced storage volume.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If conventional fireplace grates are shipped in assembled configuration, then they provide full functionality, but they occupy excessive storage space and increase shipping costs
Solution Approach 1:
The fireplace grate is divided into multiple separable components including cross bars, support bars, and fasteners. These segments can be independently packaged in a nested arrangement, significantly reducing the shipping volume while allowing users to assemble the complete functional grate at the destination using the provided fasteners and tool.
Solution Approach 2:
The cross bars and support bars are designed to nest within each other in a compact arrangement for shipping and storage. The smaller cross bars can be placed inside or alongside the larger support bars, creating a space-efficient package that minimizes volume while preserving all necessary components for assembly into the full-sized functional grate.
2Ease of operation
If fireplace grates are designed for easy assembly, then user convenience improves, but additional hardware and tools are required
Solution Approach 1:
The fasteners and assembly tool are integrated directly into the fireplace grate components. The fasteners are attached to the cross bars or support bars, and the tool is incorporated as part of the product package, eliminating the need for separate hardware packages or additional tools that would increase device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The fireplace grate components are designed with built-in features that facilitate self-service assembly. The integrated fasteners and tool allow users to assemble the grate themselves without requiring additional hardware, specialized tools, or complex assembly procedures, thereby improving ease of operation while maintaining simplicity.
3Volume of stationary object
If disassembled configuration is used for shipping, then storage efficiency improves, but assembly requires additional hardware
Solution Approach 1:
All necessary fasteners and assembly tools are merged into the fireplace grate component set. The fasteners are attached to or packaged with the cross bars and support bars, ensuring that no additional hardware is needed for assembly. This integration maintains a hardware-free approach while enabling efficient disassembled storage and transport.
Data Source
AI summary
According to an embodiment, a fireplace grate is disclosed. The fireplace grate includes a plurality of cross bars, a plurality of support bars, and a plurality of fasteners. The plurality of support bars and the plurality of cross bars can be nested together in a disassembled configuration. Each fastener is configured to extend through a hole in one of the cross bars and engage a corresponding threaded hole in one of the support bars so that each cross bar can be fastened to the plurality of support bars in an assembled configuration with each cross bar spanning the plurality of support bars. A width of the fireplace grate in the disassembled configuration is less than 50% of a width of the fireplace grate in the assembled configuration.