GB2172200A - An umbrella - Google Patents

Abstract

An umbrella (2) comprising a frame (4) which is covered by material (10) and which is foldable and unfoldable between a folded storage position and an unfolded protecting position, frame support means (12) for supporting the frame (4) on a person's head (14) such that the frame support means (12) is positioned above and spaced apart from the top of the person's head (14), and releasable fastening means (28) for fastening the frame support means (12) to the person's head (14). <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION An umbrellar This invention relates to an umbrella.

Umbrellas are well known and they have a frame which is covered by material. The frame is foldable and unfoldable between a folded storage position and an unfolded protecting position. The known umbrellas are usually such that the frame is supported on a central rod which is held in the hand when the frame is in its unfolded position. The rod may be a fixed rod, in which case the umbrella is used like a walking stick when the frame is in its folded position, or the rod may be a collapsing rod, in which case the umbrella collapses to a small size and is usually stored in a bag or a case when not in use.

The known umbrellas suffer from the considerable disadvantage that, when the frame is in its unfolded protecting position, the umbrella has to be held above a person's head by the person holding the rod with one hand.

Thus, one hand of the person is constantly engaged and this often causes inconvenience and difficulty in that the person cannot easily perform other every day tasks such for example as holding shopping bags and cases and/or getting out money to purchase things.

An attempt to meet the problem caused by the need to hold umbrellas above the head by their central rod has been made in United Kingdom patent specification No. 747154. In specification no. 747154, the central rod is dispensed with and the umbrella is secured to the top of a person's head. The umbrella presses on the top of the person's head and this will invariably mess up the person's hair.

Especially with women, it is not generally acceptable for their hair to be messed up or disarranged.

It is an aim of the present invention to obviate or reduce the above mentioned problems of the known umbrellas, whilst also obviating or reducing the above mentioned problem associated with the umbrella described in patent specification No. 747154.

Accordingly, this invention provides an umbrella comprising a frame which is covered by material and which is foldable and unfoldable between a folded storage position and an unfolded protecting position, frame support means for supporting the frame on a person's head such that the frame support means is positioned above and spaced apart from the top of the person's head, and releasable fastening means for fastening the frame support means to the person's head.

In the umbrella of the present invention, the frame may be substantially any known standard frame except that the central rod that is normally held in a person's hand will not be present. Thus the frame may be a manually foldable and unfoldable frame or it may be a frame which is automatically unfoldable. The frame can also be as described in patent specification No. 747154, the frame then having pivoting ribs which are caused to pivot by twisting a control member.- The frame may be made of any desired material and it will usually be made of a metal as in the current frames of umbrellas.

The material may also be the same as currently used in umbrellas and thus the material may be a fabric or a plastics material. Where a plastics material is employed, the plastics material may be transparent or opaque.

The umbrella of the present invention can be used for all of the uses that existing umbrellas are currently used for. Thus, the umbrella will usually be used to keep off the rain but the umbrella can also be used to offer shade against the sun if desired. The umbrella of the present invention can be used for its desired purpose without messing up the person's hair. This is because the frame support means is such that it supports the umbrella frame on the person's head such that the frame support means is positioned above and spaced apart from the top of the person's head.

The frame support means may have an upper portion for passing over the top of the person's head a pair of side portions for engaging against the side of the person's head, and a connecting member for connecting to a central rod of the frame of the umbrella, the connecting member being positioned on top of the upper portion.

The upper portion may be curved and it may form with the side portions an arch.

The connecting member may be a cupshaped connecting member.

Advantageously, the connecting member is integrally formed with the upper portion.

The frame support means may be made of a plastics material. It may be moulded to the required shape. The frame support member may also be made of other materials such for example as a metal. Generally, the frame support member should be light since it is to be worn over the head.

The side portions may be provided with padding for the comfort of the person wearing the umbrella.

The releasable fastening means may be a chin fastening device.

The chin fastening device may have a chin member for going under the person's chin, and a pair of side straps for releasably fixing to the frame support means.

The pair of side straps may be provided with a press stud arrangement or with interlocking plastics hooks for forming the releasable fixing to the frame support means. The interlocking plastics hooks may be those sold commercially under the trade mark Velcro.

Preferably, the pair of side straps are releasably fixed to the side portions of the frame support means.

The material of the umbrella may be provided with perforations for letting wind out from within the umbrella in windy conditions during use of the umbrella.

Preferably, the perforations are provided along the edges and/or the rim of the umbrella material.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described solely by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 shows a first umbrella in use; Figure 2 shows the frame support means forming part of the umbrella shown in Figure 1; Figure 3 shows a frame and a frame support means of a second umbrella; Figure 4 shows in more detail the frame support means shown in Figure 3, together with releasable fastening means; and Figure 5 shows the releasable fastening means on its own.

Referring to Figures 1 and 2, there is shown an umbrella 2 comprising a frame 4. The frame 4 has a central rod 6 and ribs 8. The rod 6 and ribs 8 may be as in known standard umbrellas and the ribs 8 may be pivotable in half if desired. The frame 4 is foldable and unfoldable between a folded storage position and an unfolded protecting position, which unfolded protecting position is shown in Figure 1.

The frame is covered by a material 10. The material 10 can be any desired known material such as a fabric material or a plastics material. The umbrella 2 includes frame support means 12 which is for supporting the frame 4 on the head 14 of a person. It will be seen that the frame support means 12 is positioned above and spaced apart from the top of the person's head 14. There is a gap 16 which may be of any desired height and- is typically of approximately four inches (10 centimetres).

The frame support means 12 has an upper portion 18 for passing over the top of the person's head 14, a pair of side portions 20 for engaging against the side of the person's head 14, and a connecting member 22 for connecting to the rod 6 of the frame 4. As shown, the connecting member 22 is positioned on top of the upper portion 18 and it has an internally screw threaded recess 24 which receives the screw threaded end 26 of the rod 6. The frame support means 12 can be made as a one piece moulding. As can be seen most clearly in Figure 2, the upper portion 18 is curved and forms with the side portions 20 an arch.

The umbrella 2 also comprises releasable fastening means 28 for fastening the frame support means 12 to the person's head 14.

The releasable fastening means 28 as shown in Figure 1 is a chin fastening device which has a chin member 30 for going under the person's chin 32, and a pair of side straps 34 for releasably fixing to the frame support means 12. The side straps 34 are shown associated with press stud arrangements. More specifically, the side straps 34 have three press studs 36 and any one of these three press studs 36 can press into the other half of a press stud arrangement formed on a strap 38 hanging from the side portions 20.

Thus the chin member 30 can be made to fit tighter or looser as may be desired under the chin 32.

Referring now to Figure 3, there is shown the frame 4 of an existing umbrella.This frame 4 has a rod 6. In order to adapt the-rod 6 to a rod 6 of the present invention, all that is needed to be done is to remove the central portion 40 of the rod 6 as shown in Figure 3.

The rod 6 is then provided with a screw threaded end member 42 having the screw threaded end 26 shown in Figure 1.

Figure 3 shows a different shape for the frame support means 12. In Figure 3, the frame support means 12 has a straight upper portion 18 and straight side portions 20. Also the connecting member 22 is slightly different to the connecting member 22 shown in Figures 1 and 2 although -the connecting member 22 shown in Figure 3 still has the threaded recess 24.

Referring now to Figure 4, it will be seen that the three press studs 36 have been pro- vided on the side portions 20. The side straps 34 of the releasable fastening means 28 have a single complementary press stud part 44 so that the press stud part 44 can engage any one of the press studs 36 to tighten or loosen the side straps 34.

In Figure 5, the releasable fastening means 28 is shown provided with three press studs 36 for appropriate connection to the side portions 20.

It is to be appreciated that the embodiments of the invention described above with reference to the accompanying drawings have been given by way of example only and that modifications may be effected. Thus, for example, the frame 4 is preferably an automatically opening frame and it will therefore normally be provided with a catch 46 (see Figure 1) for enabling the frame 4 automatically to open to the position shown in Figure 1. However, if desired, the frame 4 can be a manually opening frame. Since the ribs 8 move up and down the frame as it opens and closes, it will be apparent that the precise opening arrangement chosen should be such that the rod 6 does not have to be too long.

Other types of frame support means 12 may be employed to-those illustrated and, similarly, other types of releasable fastening means 28 to those illustrated may be employed.

In one embodiment of the invention, the material 10 is provided with perforations 48.

These perforations 48 may be provided along the rim and/or an edge of the material 10 and they are effective to allow wind inside the umbrella 2 to escape. This is particularly helpful in windy conditions. The size of the perforations 48 and their positioning will be such that they will not allow water to drip through them during normal conditions of use. If necessary, the perforations 48 can be covered with flaps which will prevent the water running through them but will allow the wind inside the umbrella 2 to escape, raising the flaps above the perforations 48 as it does so.

Claims (13)

1. An umbrella comprising a frame which is covered by material and which is foldable and unfoldable between a folded storage position and an unfolded protecting position, frame support means for supporting the frame on a person's head such that the frame support means is positioned above and spaced apart from the top of the person's head, and releasable fastening means for fastening the frame support means to the person's head.

2. An umbrella according to claim 1 in which the frame support means has an upper portion for passing over the top of the person's head, a pair of side portions for engaging against the side of the person's head, and a connecting member for connecting to a central rod of the frame of the umbrella, the connecting member being positioned on top of the upper portion.

3. An umbrella according to claim 2 in which the upper portion is curved and forms with the side portions an arch.

4. An umbrella according to claim 2 or claim 3 in which the connecting member is a cup-shaped connecting member.

5. An umbrella according to any one of claims 2 to 4 in which the connecting member is integrally formed with the upper portion.

6. An umbrella according to any one of claims 2 to 5 in which the side portions are provided with padding for the comfort of the person wearing the umbrella.

7. An umbrella according to any one of the preceding claims in which the releasable fastening means is a chin fastening device.

8. An umbrella according to claim 7 in which the chin fastening device has a chin member for going under the person's chin, and a pair of side straps for releasably fixing to the frame support means.

9. An umbrella according to claim 8 in which the pair of side straps are provided with a press-stud arrangement or with interlocking plastics hooks for forming the releasable fixing to the frame support means.

10. An umbrella according to claim 2 and claim 9 in which the pair of side straps are releasably fixed to the side portions of the frame support means.

11. An umbrella according to any one of the preceding claims in which the material of the umbrella is provided with perforations for letting wind out from within the umbrella in windy conditions during use of the umbrella.

12. An umbrella according to claim 11 in which the perforations are provided along the edges and/or the rim of the umbrella material.

13. An umbrella substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.