US20060266395A1

US20060266395A1 - Umbrella having a safety configuration

Info

Publication number: US20060266395A1
Application number: US11/135,472
Authority: US
Inventors: Chun-I Chuang
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2005-05-24
Filing date: 2005-05-24
Publication date: 2006-11-30

Abstract

An umbrella comprises a tube having a lower handle and having an upper whalebone device. A barrel is slidably engaged on the tube and couple to the whalebone device. A spring-biased catch is received in the tube and selectively engaged with the barrel to lock the barrel to the tube. A covering ring is engaged on an upper portion of the barrel to cover a wire fixed thereon for providing a safe configuration, whereby when the hand pulling the barrel to be caught with the spring-biased catch will be prevented from scraping due to the exposed wire fixed on the ring of the barrel.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an umbrella, and more particularly, to an umbrella having a safe configuration.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to the drawings, and initially to FIG. 1, an umbrella in accordance with the prior art comprises a tube 10 including a handle 11 provided and disposed on the bottom portion thereof, and including a stop 13 provided and disposed on the upper portion thereof. A typical whalebone device 14 is pivotally attached to the upper portion of the tube 10 or to the stop 13 and is openable to an open or working position, and is foldable to a folded or storing position. A ring 20 is slidably engaged on the tube 10. A number of typical staves or a typical stave device 40 is pivotally coupled between the whalebone device 14 and the ring 20.
A barrel 30 is also slidably engaged on the tube 10 and disposed below the ring 20 or disposed between the ring 20 and the handle 11. A number of stave supports 50 are pivotally coupled between the barrel 30 and the stave device 40. The barrel 30 preferably includes a ring 31 provided on top thereof for pivotally coupling to the stave supports 50. The ring 31 further has a circular groove 312 provided on surface thereof for receiving a wire 35 as shown in FIG. 2. The wire 35 thread through each of the stave supports 50 to couple each of them with the ring 31 of the barrel 30. The wire 35 has two ends. Both of the two ends of the wire 35 twist together to form a twist 352. Therefore, the twist 352 is easy to scrape the user's hands. A spring 60 is engaged between the ring 20 and the barrel 30, and is engaged to the ring 20 and engaged with the barrel 30. The spring 60 may apply a biasing force against the ring 20 and thus against the stave device 40 in order to open the umbrella to the open or working position. The above-described structure is typical and has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,422,251. It is to be noted that the umbrella includes a simplified configuration that may be easily manufactured and assembled. But the wired ring 31 formed a twist on the top of the barrel 30 is easy to scrape the user's hands. Therefore, there is a need to of design an umbrella having a safe configuration.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore a principal object of the present invention to provide an umbrella having a safe configuration.
To achieve the above object, one feature of the present invention is provided for an umbrella having a safe configuration, comprising a tube, a whalebone device, a barrel, a coupling mechanism, a spring-biased catch, and a covering ring. The tube includes an upper portion and a lower portion. The whalebone device is pivotally secured to the upper portion of the tube and movable between an open position and a folded position. The barrel is slidably engaged on the tube, and it includes a penetrated hole formed thereon. The coupling mechanism couples the barrel to the whalebone. The spring-biased catch is received in the tube and selectively engageable into the penetrated hole of the barrel when the penetrated hole of the barrel is aligned with the spring-biased catch. And the covering ring is engaged on an upper portion of the barrel to cover a wire fixed thereon for forming a safe configuration.
To provide a further understanding of the invention, the following detail description illustrates embodiments and examples of the invention, this detailed description being provided only for illustration of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The drawings included herein provide a further understanding of the invention. A brief introduction of the drawings is as follows:
FIG. 1 is a plane schematic view of an umbrella in accordance with the prior art;
FIG. 2 is a partial combination view of the umbrella in accordance the prior art;
FIG. 3 is a partial exploded view of the umbrella in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 4 is a partial cross sectional view of the umbrella in accordance with the present invention; and
FIG. 5 is a partial combination view of the umbrella in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to the drawings wherein the showings are for purposes of illustrating preferred embodiments of the present invention only, and not for purposes of limiting the same.
Referring to the drawings, and initially to FIGS. 3-5, an umbrella in accordance with the present invention comprises a tube 10 including a handle 11 provided and disposed on the bottom portion thereof, and including a stop 13 provided and disposed on the upper portion thereof. A typical whalebone device 14 is pivotally attached to the upper portion of the tube 10 or to the stop 13 and is openable to an open or working position, and is foldable to a folded or storing position. A ring 20 includes a sleeve 21 provided or disposed or extended downward therefrom and is slidably engaged on the tube 10. A number of typical staves or a typical stave device 40 is pivotally coupled between the whalebone device 14 and the ring 20.
A barrel 30 is also slidably engaged on the tube 10 and disposed below the ring 20 or disposed between the ring 20 and the handle 11. A number of stave supports 50 are pivotally coupled between the barrel 30 and the stave device 40. The barrel 30 preferably includes a ring 31 provided on top thereof for pivotally coupling to the stave supports 50. The ring 31 further has a circular groove 312 provided on surface thereof for receiving a wire 35 as shown in FIG. 3. The wire 35 thread through each of the stave supports 50 to couple the stave supports 50 with the ring 31 of the barrel 30. The wire 35 has two ends. Both of the two ends of the wire 35 twist together to form a twist 352.
A covering ring 7 including a circle 70 and a plurality of teeth 71, the teeth 71 separately formed around the side edge of the circle 70. Each of the teeth 71 has a flange 712 formed on a side edge of each of teeth 71 for engaging on the wired ring 31. The covering ring 7 is engaged on an upper portion of the barrel 30 to cover the wire 35 fixed thereon for forming a safe configuration as shown in FIG. 5.
The barrel 30 includes a bore 32 formed therein for slidably receiving the tube 10 and includes a chamber 33 formed in the upper portion thereof and having an inner diameter greater than that of the bore 32 of the barrel 30 for forming a peripheral shoulder 37 in the barrel 30 as shown in FIG. 4.
A spring 60 is engaged between the ring 20 and the barrel 30. One end of the spring 60 is engaged on the sleeve 21 and the other end of the spring 60 is engaged with the peripheral shoulder 37 of the barrel 30. The spring 60 may apply a biasing force against the ring 20 and thus against the stave device 40 in order to open the umbrella to the open or working position.
The lower portion of the tube 10 includes a slit 12 formed therein for receiving a spring-biased catch 80. The barrel 30 includes a penetrated hole 34 formed in the outer portion thereof. The spring-biased catch 80 is selectively engageable into the penetrated hole 34 of the barrel 30 when the penetrated hole 34 of the barrel 30 is aligned with the spring-biased catch 80. The spring-biased catch 80 has a knob 81 connected with an end thereof for disengaging the spring-biased catch 80 from the barrel 30 to release the barrel 30 from the tube 10. The spring-biased catch 80 may be biased inward of the slit 12 of the tube 10 to engage into the penetrated hole 34 of the barrel 30 for locking the barrel 30 to the tube 10 when the barrel 30 is moved to the bottom or the lower portion of the tube 10.
In operation, when the barrel 30 is pulled to the lower or bottom portion of the tube 10 until the spring-biased catch 80 is biased to engage into the penetrated hole 34 of the barrel 30, the barrel 30 may be latched or locked to the tube 10 by the spring-biased catch 80. Because of the formation of the covering ring 7, when the hand pulling the barrel 30 to be caught with the spring-biased catch 80 will be prevented from scraping due to the exposed wire 35 fixed on the ring 31 of the barrel 30. When the spring-biased catch 80 is depressed inward of the slit 12 of the tube 10 by the knob 81, the barrel 30 will be released from the tube 10. At this moment, the spring 60 may bias the ring 20 upward along the tube 10 to open the umbrella, until the ring 20 is engaged with the stop 13.
It is to be noted that the umbrella not only includes a simplified configuration that may be easily manufactured and assembled, but having a safe configuration. Although the twist 352 formed on the wire 35 is easy to scrape user's hand, the covering ring 7 engaged on the wired ring 31 of the barrel 30 cover the wire 35 fixed thereon for forming a safe configuration.
Accordingly, the umbrella in accordance with the present invention includes a simplified configuration for facilitating the manufacturing and the assembling of the umbrella, and includes a covering ring 31 designed to cover the wired ring 31 having a scraping twist 352 for providing a safe configuration.
Although this invention has been described with a certain degree of particularity, it is to be understood that the present disclosure has been made by way of example only and that numerous changes in the detailed construction and the combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.

Claims

1. An umbrella comprising:

A tube including an upper portion and a lower portion;

A whalebone device pivotally secured to the upper portion of the tube and movable between an open position and a folded position;

A barrel slidably engaged on the tube, the barrel including a penetrated hole formed thereon;

A coupling mechanism coupling the barrel to the whalebone device;

A spring-biased catch received in the tube and selectively engageable into the penetrated hole of the barrel when the penetrated hole of the barrel is aligned with the spring-biased catch; and

A covering ring engaged on an upper portion of the barrel to cover a wire fixed thereon for forming a safe configuration.

2. The umbrella according to claim 1, wherein the covering ring including a circle and a plurality of teeth, the teeth separately formed around the side edge of the circle.

3. The umbrella according to claim 2, wherein each of the teeth has a flange formed on a side edge of each of teeth.

4. The umbrella according to claim 1, wherein the coupling mechanism comprises a ring slidably engaged on the tube; a stave device pivotally coupled between the ring and the whalebone device; a stave support pivotally coupled between the stave device and the barrel; and a spring engaged between the ring and the barrel for biasing the ring away from the barrel.

5. The umbrella according to claim 1, wherein the spring-biased catch has a knob connected with an end thereof for disengaging the spring-biased catch from the barrel to release the barrel from the tube.