US2088127A - Telescopic umbrella - Google Patents

Description

July 27, 1937. H. ZEITSCHLER TELESCOPIC UMBRELLA Filed July 27, 1936 Ely/.2

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iatented July 27, i937 UNITED STATS PATENT oFFicE TELESCOPIC UMBRELLA Application July 2'7, 1936, Serial No. 92,812 In Germany April 9, 1936 l Claims.

The invention relates to telescopic umbrellas provided with telescopic stick sections, telescopic rib sections and auxiliary struts pivoted to the stretchers, said auxiliary struts being connected to an auxiliary runner or sleeve slidable upon the umbrella stick.

Known umbrellas of this type have the disadvantage of a Very complicated manipulation, particularly when collapsing the umbrella. In those constructions in which the umbrellas are collapsed by mere pressure upon the ends of the extended stick, there is always the risk that on closing, the overlapping parts of the cover become jammed between ribs, stretchers and struts which lie very closely together, and are thereby damaged. The life of such telescopic umbrellas, more particularly their covers, is consequently considerably shortened.

According to the invention these drawbacks are obviated by the fact that an auxiliary runner connected with the auxiliary struts, is held in its uppermost position, that is, when the umbrella is completely opened, by a lock or catch adapted to be operated by the lower stick portion, and in such a manner that on telescoping the stick portions the auxiliary runner is automatically locked, and that on extending the stick, that is, pulling out the lower stick sec-- tion, the auxiliary slider is released.

This novel construction renders it possible to telescope on closing the umbrella, first the stick portions, and then collapse the umbrella by merely releasing the main runner in the same manner as in the case of an ordinary umbrella. Owing to the automatic locking of the auxiliary runner in its top position, automatic shortening of the ribs occurs on completely closing the umbrella and consequently the fabric of the cover can easily and without risk of damaging, assume the desired loose mushroom shape.

The locking device of the auxiliary runner may preferably consist of a drag slide guided in the hollow upper stick section and provided with a wedge-shaped resilient locking nose, which on telescoping the umbrella stick is pushed upwards and held in the locking position, whilst in the extended condition of the umbrella stick, the locking device is released so that it can yield and move out of the path of the auxiliary runner. This arrangement for temporarily locking the auxiliary runner is distinguished by great simplicity of construction and operation.

An embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing by way of example.

Fig. 1 shows the upper part of the umbrella frame in the collapsed but not folded position, in elevation and partly in section,

Fig. 2 shows the umbrella frame with the two stick portions telescoped, and the umbrella partly collapsed,

Fig. 3 shows a complete umbrella in its completely closed condition, and

Fig. 4 the umbrella frame in telescoped and completely closed condition.

In the construction shown, the umbrella stick consists of an upper tubul-arsection a of elongated cross section, and a lower section b slidable in the upper section, and provided at its free end with a handle or knob c. The two stick sections may be locked in the extended condition in the usual manner by a resilient locking member or catch d.

At the upper end of the stick section a. is

provided a ring or crown j to which are piv- Q oted the umbrella ribs 9, 9'. These umbrella ribs consist of two telescopic rib sections 9, g of which the outer sections g are pivotally connected in the usual manner with stretchers h, the latter being connected in the usual manner with a main runner i. In addition there are provided auxiliary struts k, which are pivoted at one end to the stretchers h and are pivoted at the other end to an auxiliary runner m. At the upper end of the umbrella stick there is provided in usual manner a resilient locking device 0' for the main runner 2.

In addition there is provided according to the invention, at the upper end of the umbrella a second locking member for the auxiliary runner which comprises a wedge shaped locking nose :0. This locking nose p is guided in a slot m of the umbrella stick and is fixed by means of a leaf spring q to a longitudinally slotted tubular member 1", which is slightly compressed and owing to its springinessis held with suitable friction slidable in the upper stick section. The locking device p, q, 1' of the auxiliary runner is slidably mounted after the manner of a drag slide, and is alternately acted upon either by the lower stick section b or by the auxiliary runner m, so that when the lower stick section is telescoped upwards into the upper stick section, as shown in Fig. 2, the auxiliary runner is held by the lower stick section in its upper position. 'On pulling out the lower stick seotion, that is, extending the stick, the locking device of the auxiliary runner is no longer supported and can therefore move to a limited extent in the upper stick section.

The operation is as follows:

In order to collapse the open umbrella indicated by chain dotted lines in Fig. 1, without telescoping the stick, the locking device or catch 0 of the main runner is released in the usual manner, and the main runner is slid downwards aiong the stick. The auxiliary runner m is during this operation carried along the stick by the auxiliary struts k, and carries with it the locking nose 19, until the latter reaches the lower end of the slot n, whereupon the locking nose is forced as shown in Fig. 1 into the hollow upper stick section, thereby yielding to the auxiliary runner in and allowing the runner to be moved further downwards by the struts. The auxiliary runner m can therefore without any hindrance be moved into the lower position shown in Fig. 1 and the whole umbrella can be collapsed in its extended condition.

The opening of the umbrella is effected in the reverse manner, by merely moving upwards the main runner, until the latter is locked by the locking device or catch 0 in its topmost position.

If it is desired to collapse the umbrella and telescope the stick, the lower stick section is first telescoped into the upper stick section in the open position of the umbrella. By the telescoping of this stick, the locking device 13, q, r is, as shown in Fig. 2, held in its upper position and consequently forms a lock for the auxiliary runner m. The locking device 0 or catch of the main runner is then released in the usual manner and the main runner is freely slid downwards as shown in Fig. 2. During this operation, the outer rib sections g are slid upwards upon the sections g, so that the ribs are shortened or telescoped, and the whole umbrella first assumes a mushroom like shape illustrated in Fig. 3. In this position, the umbrella ribs lie solely in the lower or inner portion 3 of the cover, whilst the upper portion s of the cover hangs loosely folded. Owing to this free and unimpeded folding of the umbrella cover in two layers, jamming and damaging of the cover fabric is completely avoided on closing the umbrella.

Finally, the umbrella ribs may be moved by lateral manual pressure into the final position shown in Fig. 4 in which the umbrella occupies the minimum of space. In this position too the locking nose 2) for the auxiliary runner remains operative.

It will be understood that the invention is not limited to the illustrated constructional examples, various modifications being possible within the scope of the appended claims. For instance, the locking device of the auxiliary runner might be constructed in various other ways and it might also be operated in some other way by the lower stick section.

I claim:

1. In a telescopic umbrella, the combination of: telescopic stick sections; telescopic ribs; a main runner; stretchers pivoted to said ribs and said main runner; an auxiliary runner; struts pivoted to said auxiliary runner and said stretchers; and means for locking said auxiliary runner in its top position and releasing said auxiliary manner, operable by the relative movement of the telescopic stick sections.

2. In a telescopic umbrella, the combination of: telescopic stick sections; telescopic ribs; a main runner; stretchers pivoted to said ribs and said main runner; an auxiliary runner; struts pivoted to said auxiliary runner and said stretchers; and means for locking said auxiliary runner in its top position and releasing said auxiliary runner, operable by the relative movement of the telescopic stick sections, said locking means comprising a resilient catch mounted upon a slide guided in a stick section.

3. In a telescopic umbrella, the combination of: an extensible and collapsible umbrella stick comprising an upper hollow stick section and a lower stick section adapted to be pushed into said upper hollow stick section; inner and outer telescopic rib sections; a main runner; stretchers pivoted to said main runner and the outer rib sections; an auxiliary runner; auxiliary struts pivoted to said auxiliary runner and to said stretchers; a locking device for holding said auxiliary runner in its upper position; said looking means being operable by the movement of the lower stick section into and out of the hollow upper stick section.

4. In a telescopic umbrella, the combination of: a telescopic stick comprising an upper hollow stick section having a slotted portion and a lower stick section adapted to be pushed into and pulled out of the upper stick section; telescopic rib sections comprising upper sections pivoted to the stick and outer sections slidable upon the upper sections; a main runner; stretche s pivoted to said main runner and said outer rib sections; an auxiliary runner; auxiliary struts pivoted to said auxiliary runner and to said stretchers; a cover fixed to the top of said stick and to the outer rib sections; a locking device for holding said auxiliary runner in its upper position; said locking device comprising a slide mounted in the hollow stick section and carrying a resilient catch having a lower wedge-shaped surface projecting through and guided in a slotted portion of said hollow stick section; said lower stick section being of such length that when pushed into the hollow stick section it holds said locking device in its operative position, whereby on collapsing the stick, the locking device is held in its operative position, whilst on extending the stick, the locking device can yield and move out of the way of the auxiliary runner.

HERMANN ZEITSCI-ILER.

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