Patent Application
20250034897
Beach umbrellas and the like are commonly use to provide shade. A common problem is that the wind can blow over the umbrellas.
Information regarding beach umbrellas can be found in references cited in an Information Disclosure Statement, including: US patent publications 2011305867; 2014041703; and 2019059318
Despite previous efforts for securely anchoring umbrellas such as beach umbrellas, there remains a need for an anchoring system for umbrellas that is versatile, easy to use, and easy for storage.
An umbrella according to the present invention that satisfies this need comprises a canopy, a pole, and a plurality of pouches suitable for holding ground material such as sand, rocks or dirt. The umbrella includes a cord for each pouch for linking the pouch to the canopy, and hook and loop fastener pairs for removably attaching each pouch to the canopy, wherein one of the pairs is secured to the pouch and the other pair is secured to the canopy. To anchor the erect umbrella the pouches with grounding material therein are buried in a ground surface.
Optionally each pouch has a loop for receiving a stake for staking the umbrella to a surface as an optional way of anchoring the umbrella.
Typically, the pole has a bottom section and a hollow section at the bottom section, with the umbrella having a removable cap on the bottom of the pole. The pole can contain a stake in the hollow section for each pouch.
The cap can comprise an integral hammer that is in the hollow section, wherein the hammer can be used for hammering stakes in place.
The cap can be threaded onto the bottom of the pole where the pole has a corresponding thread. Optionally for retrofitting an existing umbrella an adapter can be provided for connecting the cap to the bottom section of the pole. The adapter has first and second opposed end sections, wherein the first end section of the adapter is fitted onto the bottom section of the pole and the cap is threaded to the second end section of the adapter.
Typically, the hook and loop fastener pairs are secured to the canopy equidistantly spaced apart from each other.
Not all of these features need to be used together. For example, stakes being within the pole can be used without other features such as removeable pouches. Likewise, a cap with an integral hammer for hammering in stakes can be used without other features of the invention.
In a method of using the umbrella for staking the umbrella to a ground surface, the cap, including the hammer, can be removed from the pole and at least one stake is withdrawn from the pole. Then the stake is pounded into the ground surface with the hammer.
In another method of anchoring an umbrella, the pouches are removed from the canopy, the umbrella is erected, and the pouches are at least partially filled with a grounding material. Thereafter, the pouches are buried in a ground surface.
These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with regard to the following description, the following claims and the accompanying drawings where:
With reference to the figures, an umbrella 10 comprises a canopy 12 supported by a pole 14. A collapsible framework (not shown) is used for supporting the canopy 12 on the pole 14 for raising and lowering the canopy 12. The canopy 12 as shown in the figures is in a up position, and can be collapsed into a down storage position (not shown).
There is a plurality of pouches 16, and as shown in
Hook and loop fasteners, such as Velcro (trademark), are provided for removably attaching each pouch 16 to the canopy 12. The hook and loop fasteners comprise first and second components 20a and 20b, where the first component 20a has tiny hooks and the second component 20b has small loops. The hook component can be attached to the pouches with the loop component attached to the canopy as shown in
The pouches 16 have an opening such as an open edge 22 so they can be filled with a grounding material for anchoring the umbrella. The grounding material can be any material providing sufficient weight for grounding. Exemplary grounding materials are dirt, stones, metal fillings, metal balls, or any combination thereof. As shown in
The cord 18 is attached to each respective pouch 16 through an eyelet 24, wherein the cord is threaded through the eyelet 24 and tied to itself, and the length of the cord 18 can be adjusted as needed.
Optionally a ring 26 can be in the eyelet 24 and the cord 18 can be adjustably connected to the ring 26 so the length of the cord can be adjusted.
As shown in
The pole 14 comprises a bottom section 32 and a top section 33, wherein there is a hollow section 34 in the bottom section 32 of the pole 14.
The umbrella 10 comprises a cap 36, which in the version shown in
The stakes 28 can be stored in the hollow section 34 as shown in
The bottom section 32 has at its bottom end 39 threads 40 corresponding to and for engaging threads 41 on the cap.
The cap 36 can comprise an integral hammer 42 which comprises a shaft 44 with a first end 46 of the shaft attached to the cap 38 and an opposed second end comprising a hammer head 48. The hammer 42 extends into the hollow section 34 of the pole 14
For clarity, any of the following features can be used independently or any combination with the other features.
In the version of the invention shown in
To use the invention as shown in
In the version of the invention as used and shown in
Among the advantages of this invention are that it is versatile, easy to use, and easy for storage.
Although the present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain preferred versions, there are other versions possible. For example, the stakes need not be stored in the pole, but can be removable secured to the outside of the pole. Therefore the scope of the following claims should not be limited to the description of the preferred versions thereof.
