BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to umbrellas and, more particularly, to an improved umbrella with a simplified mechanism for operation and simpler and more cost-effective manufacturing process.
2. Description of the Background
Umbrellas are an ancient technology that in large part hasn't changed for hundreds of years. The most common prior art umbrella is built around a central, typically round, tube 1, as shown in FIG. 1. The umbrella opens and closes using an outer runner 2 having a through-hole corresponding in size and shape to the central rube, which the user can slide up and down the tube between two positions—open and closed. The runner is held in one of the two positions with spring locks 3, which retract to let the runner pass over it then pop back out to prevent the runner from sliding backwards along the tube unless the user re-depresses the spring lock 3.
Typically, a plurality of stretchers 4 are attached to and extend radially out from the runner, attached at their other end to a corresponding rib 5 over which the umbrella canopy is stretched. As the runner travels up the pole, the distal ends of the stretchers are pushed outwards and the ribs and canopy expand. To achieve this movement, the ribs 5 are attached at one end in a position near the top of the umbrella pole, in the typical manufacturing process for a prior art umbrella, the ribs 5 are attached to the pole of the umbrella by fitting into a top notch 6, a thin, round nylon or plastic piece with teeth around the edges, and then held with this wire. Often, a portion of pole 1 extends beyond top notch 6 above the eventual canopy of the prior art umbrella and is fitted with a fertile or like stopper to contain the mechanism and prevent splitting or cracking of the material making up pole 1.
The standard prior art umbrella is prone to a number of drawbacks. One is that the construction of the runner 2, stretchers 4, ribs 5 and-top notch 6, typically from channeled steel or other thin metal, imparts a degree of flexibility to the umbrella's frame that makes it disposed to warping, bending, turning inside out, and the like. Given the attachment of the ribs to the top notch, i.e. by fitting multiple ribs on top of the top notch and within vertical teeth, held together by a thin wire, there is insufficient resistance to the ribs overextending above the top of the umbrella and allowing the frame and attached canopy to turn inside out under the force of even a moderate wind. In addition, the ribs and/or stretchers of the prior art umbrella are often formed with one or more joints allowing the ribs and/or stretchers to fold back upon themselves to make for more compact storage of the frame and canopy when the umbrella is closed. These joints make the prior art umbrella frame even less stable when the user encounters wind, which often accompanies precipitation events in which the umbrella is designed to be used.
Another drawback of the prior art umbrella structure is the shape of the canopy. As shown in FIG. 1, multiple ribs and stretchers are used to stretch the canopy in as many directions as possible to cover a roughly circular shape around central pole, which presumably will be held in one of the user's hands. In a typical prior art umbrella, the canopy of the umbrella is dome-shaped and to achieve the dome the canopy cannot be cut from one piece of material. Rather, it is constructed in multiple wedge-shaped panels. The panels are sewn along radial seams that form channels for insertion of the ribs. The typical rain umbrella has eight panels, although some umbrellas have six panels (children's umbrellas and parasols usually have six panels) and as many as twelve can occasionally be found. As cars be seen, however, the more panels present in the umbrella, the longer and more complex the manufacturing process.
In light of these drawbacks of the common prior an umbrella, it would be greatly advantageous to provide an improved umbrella with a simplified mechanism for operation, and simpler (and hence more cost-effective) manufacturing process. In addition, it would be advantageous to have an -umbrella that uses fewer canopy panels yet still provides the same or better coverage from precipitation or other elements as the standard eight-panel prior art umbrella. It would also be advantageous to have an umbrella that is more resistant to deformation from wind or other forces.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an improved umbrella frame comprising a limited number of solid parts to provide a more simplistic and cost-effective manufacturing process and low materials cost.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such an umbrella that is lightweight and capable of being easily and quickly assembled and disassembled by a user without the need for any tools to allow ultimate portability and packability.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved umbrella with a simplified and more reliable opening and closing mechanism that is less prone to deformation or breakage under the stress of wind or other forces.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a safe umbrella frame that does not include a sharp point to reduce the potential for harm to someone that may come into contact with the end of the umbrella, such as a person walking through a crowd.
According to the present invention, the above-described and other objects are accomplished by an improved umbrella frame comprising a four-rib canopy frame comprising only five parts plus a simplified four-panel canopy that greatly reduces manufacturing costs. The frame comprises four arms that snap together with a tool-less tongue and groove connection around a central shaft, allowing the four-panel canopy to be stretched over top. The tongue and groove assembly forms an improved runner that gently slides up and down the central shaft to provide open and close functions. The improved umbrella frame is lightweight and may be quickly and easily assembled and disassembled for packing or storage.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and certain modifications thereof when taken together with the accompanying drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a front view of a prior art eight-panel umbrella frame.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of umbrella 8 according to an embodiment of the present invention, looking up.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of umbrella 8 as in FIG. 2 looking down.
FIG. 4 is a composite perspective view of shaft 10 with enlarged insets showing the detail of clips 11 and 12.
FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a small arm of the umbrella.
FIG. 6 is a side view of shaft 10 of the small arm of the umbrella of FIG. 5 with enlarged insets showing the detail of tongue-and-groove tabs 23, 25.
FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a large arm of the umbrella with enlarged insets showing the detail of grooves 33, 35.
FIG. 8 is a side view of large arm of the umbrella of FIG. 7.
FIG. 9 is a perspective partially-assembled view of umbrella 8 of FIGS. 2-8.
FIG. 10 is a perspective view of an umbrella 108 according to an alternative embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 11 is a perspective view of the shaft 110 of FIG. 10.
FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a collar 114 used in the umbrella 108 of FIGS. 10-11.
FIG. 13 is a top view of collar 114.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
The present invention is an improved design for an umbrella that solves many of the drawbacks of the prior art umbrella design while also providing a lightweight frame, simplified manufacturing process, and safer construction.
Referring collectively to FIGS. 2 and 3, an embodiment of an umbrella 8 according to the present invention is shown. The umbrella 8 generally includes a shaft 10 that may be constructed from a single molded piece of polypropylene or other lightweight plastic, resin, or other polymer material. Although, co-molding or injection molding techniques are typically used in the manufacturing process of the present invention, there are other known techniques capable of forming the parts making up the umbrella described herein. The shaft 10 supports a foldable canopy 18 preferably formed of a flat flexible sheet material, which serves as a rain shield. The umbrella 8 also includes a four-piece rib assembly 9 as will be described attached to the shaft 10 and supporting the canopy 18 thereon, and movable from a stowed to a deployed position.
FIG. 4 is a front view of the isolated shaft 10. A cap clip 11 is formed in the distal top end of shaft 10 to secure the rib assembly 9 via a cap 15 formed thereby (see FIG. 2) as will be described. On what will be the bottom end of the shaft 10 during use, shaft 10 comprises a grip 13, which is formed from an undulating shape molded into the outer edges of shaft 10 from the base thereof and for a length approximately that of the width of an adult human hand, as shown in FIG. 4. A lower clip 12 is formed approximately two-thirds of the way up shaft 10 towards cap clip 11. Both the cap clip 11 and lower clip 12 are shown in enlarged insets in FIG. 4.
Referring hack to FIG. 2 it can be seen that the overall shape of shaft 10 roughly forms an elongated rectangle with a height of between 20 and 60 cm, a width of between 2 and 7 cm, and a thickness of between 0.2 and 4 cm. In a preferred embodiment, the dimensions of shaft 10 are 37.8 cm high, by 3.75 cm wide, by 0.5 cm thick. Grip 13 is formed in the long edges of shaft 10 as shown, and may comprise a total of four recesses along the width of shaft 10 at a base thereof to accommodate four human fingers for ease of gripping.
As seen in FIG. 2, the four-piece rib assembly 9 of umbrella 8 according to the present invention comprises four arms, two “small” arms 20 and two “large” arms 30, that connect to shaft 10 and support the umbrella canopy 18. This simplified, four-arm construction provides a completed umbrella 8 which is far easier and less expensive to manufacture and which comprises a much more lightweight product than prior art umbrellas.
FIGS. 5-8 illustrate the construction of arms 20, 30 including how they connect to each other and to shaft 10, as well as the simplified raising/lowering mechanism according to the invention. All four arms 20, 30 have a roughly T-shaped construction, inclusive of upper ribs 22, 32 for supporting the canopy and pivotally-connected to corresponding lower stretchers 21, 31. Each of the four stretchers 21,31 are configured at their lowermost ends to join together in a sleeve 14 that surrounds and slides along the shaft 10 between the two clips 11, 12. The four stretchers 21, 31 are pivotally connected at their uppermost end to a corresponding rib 22, 32 at about mid-length. The distal end of stretchers 21, 31 joins the middle of ribs 22, 32, respectively, at a living hinge or other pivot joint known in the art. The arms 20, 30 may be of one-piece “monolithic” construction, molded of like material(s) and having similar thickness dimensions as shaft 10.
FIGS. 6 and 8 provide a set of exemplary dimensions. In a preferred embodiment, stretchers 21, 31 are approximately 208.25 mm long and ribs 22, 32 site, approximately 402.2 mm long, with the attachment point to stretchers 21, 31 being approximately 172.95 mm from the distal end of ribs 22, 32. The lowermost ends of the four stretchers 21, 31 of each of the four arms 20, 30 are connected together by a tongue and groove locking mechanism (see right insets) to form a four-sided sleeve 14 (FIG. 2) surrounding shaft 10 and capable of sliding up and down thereon between lower clip 12 and cap 15 to open and close the umbrella canopy as will be described. Thus, FIG. 6 and its right inset shows a detail view of the tongue-and-groove interlocking end of stretchers 21 which are identical on both small arms 20 and molded to form the tongue portions of sleeve 14, while FIG. 7 and its right inset shows a detail view of the corresponding end of stretchers 31 on both large arms 30 which are molded to form the groove portions of sleeve 14. As shown in FIG. 7 (right inset), one or more opposing pairs of grooves 33 are formed through the entire thickness of stretchers 31 on both sides of stretchers 31 in a region approximately 23 mm long beginning at the near end of stretchers 31. Just above grooves 33 a living hinge 34 is formed by a perpendicular channel across the width of stretcher 31 as will be described. Similarly, as shown in FIG. 6 (right inset), a corresponding number of tongue projections 23 are formed in a region approximately 23 mm long beginning at the near end of stretchers 21. Tongues 23 are formed as projections extending perpendicularly out from an inner surface of stretchers 21 in a direction corresponding to the thickness of stretchers 21. Both tongue 23 and groove 33 structures are preferably evenly spaced along the length of stretchers 21, 31, and are of corresponding shape and size such that stretchers 21, 31 can be joined by tongue and groove fit to form sleeve 14 of FIG. 2, having a rectangular cross-section sized to fit around the cross-sectional dimension of shaft 10. As shown, small stretchers 21 are designed to be aligned along the sides of shaft 10 while large stretchers 31 are designed to be aligned along the front and back of shaft 10. To accommodate this configuration, large stretchers 31 should have a width of just wider than shaft 10, or approximately 32 mm, while small stretchers 21 should have a width of just wider than the thickness of shaft 10, or approximately 9.5 mm.
Identical tongue and groove locking mechanisms (see left insets) are formed at the distal end of ribs 22,32 to form a four-sided cap 15 (FIG. 2) fixedly surrounding the upper distal end of shaft 10, and each of the four ribs 22, 32 are thereby connected together to form a receptacle for engaging the top end of shaft 10.
The first step in assembling umbrella 8 is therefore to lock stretchers 21, 31 together by tongue and groove fit around the base of shaft 10 as shown in FIG. 9.
FIG. 9 shows a partially-assembled umbrella 8 in which only the large arms 30 are secured onto shaft 10 to illustrate how the remainder of arms 30 form the remainder of the umbrella's frame. As shown, the distal end of stretchers 31 attach via a flexible hinge to approximately a midpoint of ribs 32, and a near end of ribs 32 connect to the top end of shaft 10 to form two sides of cap 15. Small arms 20 would then connect to shaft 10 and large arms 30 in a like fashion to form the sides of sleeve 14 and cap 15 and the lateral dimension of the umbrella's frame, on which canopy 18 may be secured.
Referring again to FIGS. 6-7, living hinges 24, 34 are formed as reduced-thickness channels in stretchers 21, 31, respectively, directly above the tongue, and groove elements that together form sleeve 14. This provides a flexible joint in all four stretchers 21, 31 directly above sleeve 14. Thus, as shown in FIG. 9 on large arms 30, as sleeve 14 is pushed up towards the top of shaft 10, stretchers 31 flex outward to push open ribs 32 and the corresponding canopy 18.
Referring to FIG. 4 (including lower left inset), lower clip 12 prevents sleeve 14 from sliding down shaft 10 after it is pushed up to open the umbrella frame and canopy. Lower clip 12 is situated about two thirds of the way up shaft 10 towards the top of shaft 10. Lower clip 12 is formed from symmetrical grooves 121 in either side of shaft 10 by a progressive narrowing of shaft 10 in the area of upper clip 12. Further, lower clip 12 comprises two correspondingly-sized detent prongs 122 that protrude slightly from the sides of shaft 10, yet deform into grooves 121 when sleeve 14 passes over them. After sleeve 14 to passes over clip 12, prongs 122 spring back into place and form an obstruction slightly wider than the width of shaft 10, preventing sleeve 14 from sliding back down shaft 10 unless the user squeezes prongs 122 to deform them back into grooves 121.
FIGS. 6 and 7 (left insets) illustrate the second tongue and groove attachment at the distal end of ribs 22 that combine to form four-sided cap 15 (see also FIG. 2) fixedly surrounding the upper distal end of shaft 10, and each of the four ribs 22, 32 are connected together thereby. Cap 15 is an attachment point between the top of shaft 10 and the near ends of ribs 22, 32. Similar to sleeve 14, cap 15 is formed by the insertion of one or more tongues 25 formed in the near end of ribs 22 into a corresponding number of grooves 35 on the near end of ribs 32. Ribs 32, which form the two sides of cap 15, further comprise an opening 35 of corresponding size and shape to tongues 25.
Just as with lower clip 12, upper clip 11 includes resilient prongs or legs that project outward from the sides of shaft 10 and engage holes 26 in in ribs 22 (see FIG. 6 left inset). The resilient prongs of upper clip 11 are sized and shaped to deform into under compression into recesses in shaft 10, allowing the user to disengage and remove cap 15 from the end of shaft 10.
As shown in FIG. 4, shaft 10 may further comprises a series of decorative cutouts 16 through the entire thickness thereof along its entire length. Cutouts 16 may be sized to comprise between ¼ and ¾ of the width of shaft 10 at any given location, being of a smaller diameter where shaft 10 is narrow to preserve the structural integrity of shaft 10.
After final assembly of the components described herein, namely, attachment of stretchers 21, 31 around shaft 10 to form sleeve 14, and attachment of ribs 22, 32 around shaft 10 to form cap 15, a canopy 18 made of suitable waterproof and/or UV limiting sheet material may be attached to the four distal ends of ribs 22, 32. In a preferred embodiment the canopy 18 is preferably a rectangular sheet of Mylar™, though any other suitable waterproof and/or UV limiting material may suffice.
It should now be apparent that the foregoing results in an improved umbrella frame that comprises a limited number of solid parts to provide a more simplistic and cost-effective manufacturing process and a simplified and more reliable opening and closing mechanism. The resultant umbrella frame will also be lighter weight than a conventional umbrella frame and capable of being disassembled and re-assembled easily by the user without the need for any tools to facilitate packing.
Having now fully set forth the preferred embodiment and certain modifications of the concept underlying the present invention, various other embodiments as well as certain variations and modifications of the embodiments herein shown and described will obviously occur to those skilled In the art upon becoming familiar with said underlying concept. For example, size can be scaled up by different geometric configurations that increase the number of pieces of rib assembly 9.
For example, FIG. 10 illustrates another embodiment of the umbrella 108 with six identical arms 120 arrayed in a hexagonal array with a hexagon shaft 110 mid canopy 118. The distal top end of shaft 110 is inserted into a hexagonal cap 115 and a similar cap clip (as above) may be formed in shaft 113 to lock it in place. The bottom end of the shaft 110 during use, comprises a grip 113. As seen in FIG. 11, a lower clip 112 is formed approximately two-thirds of the way up shaft 110 towards the cap clip. In this embodiment, a hexagonal collar 114 is provided for arms 120 to snap into. Six identical arms 120 connect to shaft 110 and support the hexagonal umbrella canopy 118. All six arms 120 have the same T-shaped construction with stretchers joining ribs at a living hinge or other pivot mechanism. However, rather than the arms 120 themselves forming a four-sided sleeve 14 (as per FIG. 5), they snap-fit into a hexagonal collar 114 surrounding shaft 10 and capable of sliding up and down thereon between lower clip 112 and cap 115 to open and close the umbrella canopy 118.
FIG. 12 is a front perspective view of collar 114 illustrating the locking engagement of arm 120 therein. FIG. 13 is a top view. Collar 114 is formed with a six vertical grooves into which the distal ends of stretchers 121 may be locked in place. Again, this simplified, four-arm construction provides a completed umbrella 108 which is far easier and less expensive to manufacture and which comprises a much more lightweight product than prior art umbrellas.
It is to be understood, therefore, that the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically set forth in the appended claims.
Patent Application
20180213899
