Umbrella Ink Means Having Resilient Link for Accelerating Folding Operation

Heinz Weber dislosed a telescopic umbrella in his U.S. Pat. No. 4,007,752 having an umbrella stick, with a runner slidable thereon from which runner stretchers are pivoted, at the ends of which are seated dome ribs, and above each of which is located an auxiliary link running approximately parallel therewith, one end of each auxiliary link being hinged to a dome rib while the other end is hinged to a strut, said strut running, when the umbrella is in an open configuration, obliquely upwards from said slide strut towards the umbrella stick, and a control strut running from each stretcher approximately parallel with an inner dome rib part, the outer end of said control link and serving to control the folding motion of the outer dome rib part in dependence on the movement of the umbrella runner.

However, such a conventional umbrella has some technical limitations, impairing its folding motion, as shown as follows.

1. In the intermediate opening or closing phase of the umbrella, a controllable hinged parallelogram II is available between the dome rib part 86 and the control link 22. In order for increasing the effective leverage length of arm 25 for assisting the intermediate opening or closing operation, the slot 27 should be made as long as possible, thereby causing an unstable linking configuration when opening the umbrella or causing a larger volume when folding the umbrella links and ribs. If the slot 27 is made too short, the opening or closing operation of the umbrella will bear against a stronger pressure since the leverage length of arm 25 is quite limited within a shorter slot 27.

2. The folding operation of the umbrella is actuated by two parallelograms I, II, without being assisted by any resilient link or sliding mechanism, thereby causing a slow folding motion when closing the two paralellograms I, II constructed by the plural links and ribs.

The present inventor has found such drawbacks of a conventional shortenable umbrella and invented the present umbrella link means having accelerated folding operation.

The object of the present invention is to provide an umbrella link means for multiple-fold umbrella including a resilient link resiliently secured among three links of the umbrella links for accelerating a folding operation of the umbrella links.

Another objects of the present invention is to provide an umbrella link means including a sliding jacket slidably engaged on an intermediate umbrella link having a pair of reinforcing links respectively connecting an inner link and an outer link disposed on two opposite ends of the intermediate link, available for accelerating a folding operation of the umbrella links.

FIG. 1 is an illustration showing an extension of all umbrella links of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an illustration showing a folding link means of the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows a folded umbrella in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of several links in construction of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a sectional drawing of the present invention as viewed from I--I direction of FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is a sectional drawing of the present invention as viewed from II--II direction of FIG. 1.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of an outer sliding jacket of the present invention.

As shown in the figures, the present invention comprises: a first link 1 generally having a U-shaped cross section and having an inner end 11 pivotally secured to an upper bracket 81 fixed on a top portion of a central handle 8 of the umbrella and having an outer opening end 12 opposite to the inner end 11; a second link 2 generally having a U-shaped cross section and having an inner end 21 pivotally secured to a lower bracket 82 movably jacketed on the central handle 8 and having an outermost end 22 pivotally secured, by a pin 201, to an inner sliding jacket 20 slidably jacketed on the first link 1; a third link 3 generally formed as a solid rod slidably engageable in the first link 1 through the outer opening end 12 of first link 1 having an inner end 31 protruding downwardly to be pivotally connected with the outermost end 22 of the second link 2 and also pivotally connected with the inner sliding jacket 20, and having an outermost end 32 pivotally connected to a fifth link 5 by a pin 321; a fourth link 4 being a spring rod having an inner end 41 pivotally secured to an outer portion 23 by a pin proximate to an outermost end 22 of the second link 2, having an outer end 42 pivotally secured to an innermost end 51 of the fifth link 5, and having a central loop portion 43 wound on a pivot 14 secured between two lugs 13 protruding from an outer end 12 of the first link 1; the fifth link 5 generally having a U-shaped cross section and having an inner portion 52 proximate to the innermost end 51 pivotally secured to the outer end 32 of the third link 3 and having an outer end 53 pivotally secured with an inner portion 72 of a seventh link 7 by a pin 531; a sixth link means 6 which includes an inner reinforcing link 61 having a inner end 611 pivotally secured to an outer portions 33 of the third link 3 proximate to the outermost end 32 of the third link 3 and having an outer end 612 formed as a hook portion engaged in a link hole 631 formed in an outer sliding jacket 63 slidably engageable on a central portion of the fifth link 5, and an outer reinforcing link 62 having an outer end 621 pivotally secured with an innermost end 71 of the seventh link 7 and having an inner end 622 formed as a hook portion engaged in the other link hole 631 formed in the sliding jacket 63; and the seventh link 7 having an outer end 73 secured with an outer periphery of an umbrella hood or cloth (not shown).

The inner sliding jacket 20 includes; a pair of lugs 201 protruding downwardly from the jacket, having a pin 202 transversely mounted between the two lugs 201 for pivotally connecting the outermost end 22 of the second link 2 and the inner end 31 of the third link 3, and a pair of crimped edges 203 movably encasing the first link 1 and the third link 3 therein as shown in FIG. 4.

The lower bracket 82 serves for raising the second link 2 for opening an umbrella or for lowering the link 2 for closing the umbrella. A central portion of an umbrella hood (not shown) is secured above the upper bracket 81.

As shown in FIG. 1, the fourth link 4 is resiliently linearly held among the second link 2, the first link 1 and the fifth link 5 to be generally linear and positioned below the first link 1 and the third link 3 to form a generally linear configuration. Whereas, the sixth link means 6 is generally positioned above the fifth link 5, opposite to the fourth link 4.

A distance L1 between the pin 201 of the outermost end 22 of the second link 2 and the pin 511 of the outer end 42 of the fourth link 4 should be smaller than a distance L2 between the outer portion 23 of the second pin 2 next to an outermost end 22 of the second pin 2 and the outer end 42 of the fourth link 4 as shown in FIG. 1 when extending (opening) the umbrella links to slide the inner jacket 20 outwardly.

A distance L3 between the outer portion 23 of the second link 2 and the outer end 42 of the fourth link 4 should be smaller than a distance L4 between the outermost end 22 of the second link 2 and the outer end 42 of the fourth link 4 as shown in FIG. 3 when folding (closing) the umbrella links to slide the inner jacket 20 inwardly.

When folding the links of the present invention from FIG. 1 through FIG. 3, the fourth link 4 serving as a resilient link is arcuately bent (FIG. 2) to accumulate a resilience potential energy which will accelerate the folding of the links towards the central handle 8 as shown in FIG. 3. This phenomena is very helpful in folding a wet umbrella when an umbrella carrier who hurrys to get on a crowded city bus. After the umbrella is folded as shown in FIG. 3, the spring link 4 will also be straightened from its intermediate bending situation as shown in FIG. 2.

Meanwhile, the outer sliding jacket 63 as engaged by the two reinforcing links 61, 62 is slidably moving on the fifth link 5, which is very helpful for facilitating a closing or opening operation of the umbrella links. Once folded, the flat jacket 63 will not increase a volume of the folded links for convenient and esthetic purpose.