GB2283218A

GB2283218A - Umbrella compartment for motor vehicles

Info

Publication number: GB2283218A
Application number: GB9420268A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Gianluca Olivieri
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1993-10-28
Filing date: 1994-10-07
Publication date: 1995-05-03
Also published as: GB9420268D0; SE9403419D0; DE9410991U1; SE9403419L

Abstract

An object-carrying compartment (1) for motor vehicles that is suitable for holding an umbrella and that comprises side walls (2, 3) and a bottom (4) and is open at the top. Ducts 5, 6 connect to the outside where they dump the water contained in compartment (1) due to the incline of one or more of its tilted sections (7, 8). Inside compartment (1), supports (9, 10) can be attached that are suitable for holding an umbrella. The water from a wet umbrella placed in the compartment drips onto the bottom and is dumped out of the vehicle. <IMAGE>

Description

Umbrella Compartment for Motor Vehicles The invention pertains to the area of motor vehicle accessories, and more particularly to those that are referred to as object-carrying compartments, which are to be used to hold and store objects inside motorcars, trucks, etc.

The invention provides a solution for the particular case where it is necessary to store a folded umbrella and, especially when it is soaking wet, to eliminate all the problems that now arise in this situation.

Topping the list of these problems is the fact that, as far as the inventor is aware, no motor vehicle now on the road is equipped with a storage compartment that is suitable for holding an umbrella in such a way as to allow it to drip dry without soaking parts of the vehicle such as the seats or seat backs, or the floor of the passenger compartment.

As any driver can ascertain for himself, when he climbs into a vehicle holding an umbrella that he has used to keep off the rain, there immediately arises the problem of where to put the umbrella so it will do the least possible damage, and he winds up laying it on the floor of the car if there are no other people in the vehicle, or sliding it in as best he can among the various parts of the vehicle such as the seat backs, seats, or doors.

In the past attempts have been made to provide solutions to the above-mentioned problems using such things as the umbrella compartments described in patent application DE 3812571 Al and FR 7537715.

In the compartments described in these documents, the umbrella is to be slid into the compartment laterally (FR) or axially (DE).

In the former case the size of the opening is necessarily limited compared to the overall length of the compartment in order to prevent the umbrella from sticking out when the compartment cover is opened, while putting the umbrella into the compartment with the door of the vehicle closed is problematic.

In the latter case, the act of putting the umbrella in axially with the vehicle door closed also creates an awkward situation unless the compartment is placed in the hood of the vehicle, and the hood is not designed to have its opening accommodate umbrella handles that are of different shapes and diameters such as the simple pommel shapes of modern foldable umbrellas which, because they are so short, do not require a support point corresponding to their tips. The disposal of the water that drips off the umbrella is problematic in both cases and requires that connectors, ducts, etc.

be attached in order to drain the water out of the vehicle.

The inventor has come up with a solution to the above-mentioned problems by devising an object-carrying compartment that is suitable for holding umbrellas of any shape or size and that can easily be attached to the frame of the door panel of a motor vehicle and remain out of the way, as well as being able, via the frame itself, to drain water to the outside, in addition to making it easy to connect the compartment to the vehicle's ventilation system in order to let the umbrella dry out faster.

A compartment of this type, which is the object of the present application and which, like others, comprises at least two side walls and a bottom, is characterized by the descriptive section of the attached claim 1.

A more detailed description will now be given of some preferred embodiments of the umbrella compartment of the invention, and here reference will be made to the figures, where: Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the compartment of the invention; Fig. 2 shows a partial perspective view of the compartment of Fig. 1 installed in the door panel of a vehicle, in a cross-sectional view; Fig. 3 shows a perspective view in cut-away that presents the arrangement of a compartment of the invention installed in the door panel of a motor vehicle on the driver's side; Fig. 4 shows a perspective view in cut-away that presents the arrangement of two compartments of the invention installed in the door panels of the front and rear passenger seats of a motor vehicle.

Fig. 1 shows a preferred embodiment of objectcarrying compartment 1 of the invention: this compartment, which is open at the top, comprises four walls, of which two, 2 and 3, converge toward the bottom, and a bottom 4, which connects the walls to one another and is composed to two sections 7, 8 that are tilted with respect to the horizontal and intersect at their ends higher up.

Corresponding to lower ends 7c, 8c of said two tilted sections 7, 8 that comprise bottom 4, bottom 4 is equipped with two ducts 5, 6 that open here and are connected to the outside.

A wet folded umbrella that is placed inside compartment 1 of the invention resting on two suitable supports 9, 10, which can be attached to the inside of the compartment itself, sheds the water covering it by dripping, and this water, after collecting on bottom 4, is caused by the tilt of sections 7, 8 that comprise the compartment to flow toward the openings of two ducts 5, 6 (which are rectangular in crosssection in the example shown), and these ducts carry the water out of the vehicle on which said compartment 1 is installed.

The inventor has also made provision for attaching to said compartment 1 a cover 11 which is hinged to, e.g., one of two walls 2, 3 as shown in Fig. 1, and is equipped with an gripper hole 12 to make it easier to use.

Object-carrying compartment 1 of the invention can easily be mounted inside the box-shaped structure of door panel 13 (see Fig. 2) next to the various passenger seats and/or driver's seat.

The resulting arrangements of the compartment(s) mounted in this way are shown in Figs. 3 and 4.

The installation of a compartment of this type does not pose any particular design problems, and it is also simple to connect this compartment to the outside by means of holes drilled in the lower edge of structure 13 of the abovementioned door panel; the holes may be covered with filter elements (not shown) to prevent foreign bodies (for example, dry leaves, mud) from entering.

The object-carrying compartment described here, which causes minimal hinderance, makes it possible to put back an umbrella (either of the standard or foldable type) even when sitting in the vehicle without getting other parts of the vehicle wet and ensuring that the water is drained out of the vehicle, thus achieving the goal of the invention.

In order to speed up the drying of the water that adheres to the fabric of the umbrella and does not drip onto bottom 4 of compartment 1, the inventor has made provision for connecting compartment 1 itself with the ventilation and/or heating circuit with which a motor vehicle is normally equipped.

This is facilitated by the fact that the compartment of the invention is designed as described and is placed inside the frame of the door panel, near where passengers or outlets for the air in the ventilation circuit are usually located.

The circuit itself is not shown in the figures since it comes with systems that are well known to the state of the art.

Compartment 1 itself can be constructed using any material that is normally employed in the technical field of similar applications, e.g., one of the many synthetic materials that are suitable for this purpose, or using wood in the event that more sophisticated appointments are requested.

The shape, relative proportions, and arrangement of the object-carrying compartment of the invention may also vary depending on what is required and may be different from how they are described and illustrated here, without exceeding the scope of the protection provided by the attached claims.

Claims

1. An object-carrying compartment (1) that is suitable for holding an umbrella and comprises at least two side walls (2, 3) and a bottom (4), wherein compartment (1) is open at the top, wherein two walls (2, 3) converge toward the bottom, and wherein bottom (4) connects walls (2, 3) to one another, is composed of one or more sections (7, 8) which are tilted with respect to the horizontal, and is equipped with one or more ducts (5, 6) that are connected to the outside and open into object-carrying compartment (1) at points corresponding to lowest ends (7c, 8c) of tilted sections (7, 8) of bottom (4), with this object-carrying compartment being attached to or placed in the structure of door panel (13) of a motor vehicle door.

2. An object-carrying compartment (1) according to the preceding claim, to the inside of which are attached or in which are placed one or more supports (9, 10) that are suitable for holding an umbrella.

3. An object-carrying compartment (1) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein it comprises a folding cover (11) that is hinged to a side wall or to an inside part of the vehicle and that is able to close the open top of compartment (1).

4. An object-carrying compartment according to claim 3 in which said cover (11) is equipped with a penetrating hole (12) that serves as a handle for opening the compartment itself.

5. An object-carrying compartment according to one of the preceding claims, wherein it is connected to the ventilation and/or heating air circuit of the motor vehicle.