Container assembly systems and methods and combination of container assembly and weight material assembly for stabilizing objects
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional umbrella bases often fail to provide sufficient weight to prevent tipping of free-standing umbrellas, especially in windy conditions, necessitating additional weighted materials to ensure stability.
Innovation Solution
A weight system comprising a weight material assembly and a container assembly, where the container assembly includes a panel assembly and a closure system to securely hold the weight material, such as sand or gravel, within a flexible fabric bag, providing supplemental weight to the umbrella base.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If a conventional hollow base is used to minimize shipping costs, then shipping cost is reduced, but the weight of the base is insufficient to prevent tipping in windy conditions
Solution Approach 1:
The base system is divided into separate components: a hollow base structure and removable weight material bags. This segmentation allows the base to be shipped empty (reducing shipping costs) while enabling addition of weight material (sand, gravel, water) at the destination to achieve the required stability against tipping forces.
2Reliability
If additional weighted material is added to supplement base weight, then stability against tipping is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The weight material bags are designed to be inserted into the hollow base structure, creating a nested configuration. The bags fit within the pre-formed cavity of the base, eliminating the need for complex internal compartments or integrated weight systems. This nesting approach adds stability functionality while maintaining simple base geometry.
Solution Approach 2:
The weight material bags are designed as simple, inexpensive, disposable components that can be manufactured and shipped separately. Rather than creating a complex permanent integrated weight system, the solution uses simple fabric bags that can be filled and discarded or refilled as needed, reducing overall system complexity.
3Ease of operation
If the access opening is made large enough to allow weight material assembly to be displaced through it, then ease of operation is improved, but the structural integrity of the panel assembly may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The panel assembly includes a movable access door that can be opened to allow insertion of weight material bags and then closed to restore structural integrity. This dynamic opening/closing mechanism enables easy loading operation while maintaining the strength and weather-tightness of the base when in the closed position.
Data Source
AI summary
A weight system for supporting a free-standing object comprising a weight material assembly and a container assembly. The container assembly comprises a panel assembly defining an interior chamber, an access opening, and an access flap and a closure system operable in an open configuration in which the access flap may be displaced between closed and open positions and a closed configuration in which the access flap is secured in the closed position. The interior chamber is sized and dimensioned to accommodate predetermined dimensions of the weight material assembly. The access opening is sized and dimensioned to allow the weight material assembly to be displaced through the access opening and into the interior chamber. The weight material assembly is arranged within the interior chamber with the panel assembly configured in the closed position and the closure system operated in the closed configuration.