BACKGROUND

The present invention generally relates to handheld reel devices about which string lights (e.g., Christmas tree lights) can be manually wound for storage and unwound for deployment (e.g., draped around a Christmas tree), and it is specifically directed to such a reel that features removable winding handles so that substitute handles of a variety of lengths can be employed as may be needed to spool and unspool lights at any range of height positions (e.g., around the upper reaches of an exceedingly tall Christmas tree).

Traditionally, most American households erect Christmas trees and decorate them with a variety of ornaments and string lights during the Winter. Because these string lights can easily become tangled during the process of removing them from trees and during their subsequent storage, a host of handheld reel devices have been developed in the prior art. These devices are designed to allow light to be orderly coiled around them for storage, rather than being balled up into an unwieldy, tangled mess. Nevertheless, as will be explained, the present inventor has recognized a common deficiency of virtually all these prior art reel devices.

In many instances, adorning a Christmas tree with string lights is a considerably easier task than is later removing those same lights from the tree. That is because, while string lights can be flung onto the tree branches (real or synthetic) to rest along the tree in a generally upwardly spiraling fashion, it takes a bit more care and diligence to remove them from their resting places along the tree limbs and unwrap them from the tree. In fact, portions of the string that are at limb elevations higher than the upward reach of the lights removing person's arms are at risk of damaging limbs (severing pine needles at the very least) or even causing the tree to topple due to the downward force that is likely to be applied to those limbs during the attempts to pull the string down from those higher elevation limbs. Of course, the taller the tree and/or lower the reach of the lights removing person, the more pronounced this issue can be. Accordingly, that tree height/remover reach relationship can make uninstalling string lights from a Christmas tree a very tedious, physically taxing task to perform with the requisite degree of finesse. In fact, one may need to use a ladder—and continually reposition it at various points around the perimeter of the tree—in order to successfully and safely unwrap a string of lights from the tree. One may also need to use a ladder, in similar fashion, to install string lights at higher tree elevations, because tossing them upward onto a tree may produce disorderly looking results.

Consequently, the present inventor has recognized a need for a new, handheld reel for string lights and other cords that is unique in that its handle components used for gripping when winding and unwinding string lights therefrom are easily removable and substitutable with handles of widely varying lengths (or are, themselves, length adjustable). This enables the present invention to be used in comfortably and neatly installing and uninstalling string lights along vertical positions that are well above a user's arm reach without the aid of a ladder. The present invention fulfills that recognized need.

SUMMARY

It is an object of the present invention to provide a handheld reel for string lights and other cords that can be variable with respect to the perpendicular distance between its central plane of coiling and where a user's hands are placed in order to manually impart string light coiling and uncoiling rotation.

In one aspect of the inventive reel apparatus, it features a pair of longitudinal extending members, akin to rigid ladder's rails, and a pair of laterally extending attachments that connect those members in spaced relation and are akin to a ladder's rungs. In fact, the lateral attachments serve as rods about which string lights are to be spooled, and the longitudinal members serve the dual purposes of (i) providing outer barriers that prevent the spooled string lighting from sliding laterally off of the rods and (ii) anchoring, at times, two laterally extending handles, and at other times, one such handle that enable a user to manually rotate the apparatus in its string lights coiling and uncoiling motions, respectively. More specifically concerning that latter purpose, unlike as is the case with prior art reel devices made for spooling string lights, the handle elements of the present apparatus are not permanently attached to the apparatus (be it at fixed axes or pivotable between alternative axes). Rather, they are insertable into and rotatable within holes, or “ports,” formed in the longitudinal extending members at different positions which enable manual rotation in clockwise and counterclockwise directions. This allows different handles of different lengths to be employed—which, in turn, enables a user that is utilizing lengthy handles to rotate the apparatus while the central plane of coiling is oriented horizontally and is raised vertically above his arms' upward reach. Consequently, the present device enables a user to release string lighting from the reel so that it neatly deposits along a desired path at high positions along a tall Christmas tree, rather than haphazardly flinging the string lights up onto the tree or having to use a ladder that must be continually repositioned around the tree perimeter.

In another aspect of the invention, the handle elements may be of variable length, not only by virtue of detachable handles of differing lengths being able to be alternatively used, but by virtue of individual handles being, themselves, length adjustable. For example, each handle may be formed by a pair of telescopically engaged tubular pieces, where the inner tubular piece features a spring-loaded, radially outwardly biased pin, and the outer tubular piece has a plurality of pin receiving holes, formed along its length, that allow the two pieces to be locked into place at different positions to render different composite handle lengths. Other structural configurations that allow for length adjustment of the handles are within the scope of the invention as well.

