US20030000557A1

US20030000557A1 - Structure of lightening umbrella

Info

Publication number: US20030000557A1
Application number: US09/891,372
Authority: US
Inventors: Jin-Sheng Lai
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2001-06-27
Filing date: 2001-06-27
Publication date: 2003-01-02

Abstract

A structure of a lightening umbrella having a plurality of lamp strings fixedly provided beneath the ribs and stretchers thereof, the conductors of the lamp strings are extended into the shaft of the umbrella through a top fixed collar of the umbrella to connect with an electric control circuit provided in the umbrella, the control circuit is further provided at the middle position of the shaft with a lamp-controlling switch and an indicating light, conductors from the control circuit are connected to a power supply on the bottom of the shaft to obtain the required power. Thereby, the lamp strings can have various lightening modes by selection and controlling with the switch, and effects of illumination and decoration can be obtained. By virtue that the electric lines are provided in the shaft, they do not affect the activity of the runner. Besides, the lamp-controlling switch can do remote control with a remote controller.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention is related to a structure of a lightening umbrella, and especially to such a structure in which lights can change in their various lightening modes. The umbrella provides the effects of illumination and decoration without affecting operation of collapsing and opening of the umbrella by means of a runner. The present invention suits particularly sun-shading big umbrellas.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Generally sun-shading big umbrellas are used at beaches, swimming pools or in courtyards, more and more of coffee shops or restaurants also use sun-shading big umbrellas on tables outdoors not only for sun-shading and rain-shielding but also for providing the mood of being in the suburb. Thereby, the big umbrellas are quite practical.

However, it is obscured in the nights, and illumination equipment provided outdoors is not so helpful to distinct the positions of the sun-shading big umbrellas, besides, the big umbrellas themselves also obscure some light beams therearound to render the areas within the umbrellas more dark. In order to get rid of the defects stated above, there has been a fixing device for lamp strings arranged in a radiant style. Wherein, one end of a main conductor is connected to a plug, while the other end thereof is connected to an annular wire from which a plurality of branch lines separated from one another are extend outwardly, the branch lines are provided thereon with lamp bulbs; the connecting areas between the branch lines and the annular wire are fixed by means of a water repellent fixing device in a “T” shape; the branch lines are clamped on the ribs and stretchers by means of fixing means with “U” shaped sections and with hooking clamping portions on the upper ends thereof. The device can improve visibility of the areas under such a big umbrella at nights, however it only makes connection for lamp bulbs to the ribs and stretchers of the umbrellas. The lamp bulbs are directly controlled with a plug for turning on/off, they can not have any variations; the annular wire is provided on the stretchers, when the runner of the umbrella slides up and down to open/collapse the umbrella, the annular wire is subjected to being hooked and pulled or even inadvertently pulled to break. Such device thereby is not desired.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, it is the motive of the present invention to provide a structure of a lightening umbrella in which lights can changes in their various lightening modes, while operation of the runner in collapsing and opening the umbrella is not affected by conductors. The umbrella can thereby be safely used.

The main object of the present invention is to provide a structure of a lightening umbrella in which lights can change in their various lightening modes and provide the effects of illumination and decoration.

The secondary object of the present invention is to provide a structure of a lightening umbrella in which conductors will not affect displacement of the runner.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a structure of a lightening umbrella in which the effects of illumination can be controlled by means of a remote controller.

To get the above stated objects, the structure of the lightening umbrella of the present invention has a plurality of lamp strings fixedly provided beneath the ribs and stretchers thereof, the conductors of the lamp strings are extended into the shaft of the umbrella through a top fixed collar of the umbrella to connect with an electric control circuit provided in the umbrella, the control circuit is further provided at the middle position of the shaft with a lamp-controlling switch and an indicating light, conductors from the control circuit are connected to a power supply on the bottom of the shaft to obtain the required power. Thereby, the lamp strings can have various lightening modes by selection and controlling with the lamp-controlling switch, and effects of illumination and decoration can be obtained. By virtue that the electric lines arc provided in the shaft, they do not affect the activity of the runner. Besides, the lamp-controlling switch can do remote control with a remote controller.

The present invention will be apparent after reading the detailed description of the preferred embodiment thereof in reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of the present invention; [0012]
FIG. 1[0013] a is a sectional view showing another embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is top view showing the runner of the present invention; [0014]
FIG. 3 is the entire circuit diagram of a control circuit of the present invention; [0015]
FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram showing remote controlling of the present invention; [0016]
FIG. 5 is the entire circuit diagram of an AC/DC circuit of the present invention.[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIGS. [0018] 1, the shaft of the sun-shading big umbrella 1 of the present invention is comprised sequentially of a hollow lower sleeve 27, a lower positioning sleeve 23 connected with the former sleeve 27, an upper sleeve 20 and an upper positioning sleeve 14, an umbrella frame formed from an upper fixed collar 11 and a lower runner 19 connected respectively with a plurality of longer ribs 17 an shorter stretchers 18 is inserted into the shaft, the upper sleeve 20 is provided thereabove equidistantly arranged with a plurality of pin holes 21 for insertion of a latching pin 22, so that the lower runner 19 can be moved up to open and position the frame. Finally, a finishing top cap 10 of the umbrella is fixedly mounted on the upper fixed collar 11 to complete the sun-shading big umbrella 1. In which, the upper fixed collar 11 of the present invention is provided centrally with a longitudinal fitting-over hole 12, and also is provided horizontally at the positions connected to the ribs 17 with a plurality of through holes 13 communicating with one another. The through holes 13 also communicate with the longitudinal fitting-over hole 12 (as shown in FIG. 2). Thereby, the lamp strings 16 (with lamp bulbs) fixedly provided on the ribs 17 have their conductors extended from the bottom thereof through the through holes 13 and the fitting-over hole 12 to connect to a control circuit 15 fixedly provided in the upper positioning sleeve 14. The control circuit 15 is controlled by a lamp-controlling switch 25 and an LED indicating light 24 fixedly provided on the lower positioning sleeve 23. The lamp-controlling switch 25 and the LED indicating light 24 are further connected to a power supply connector 26 to be connected with an AC/DC circuit 28 provided in the hollow lower sleeve 27. The AC/DC circuit 28 is extended out of the shaft of the umbrella to connect with a power supply plug 30 added with a transformer 29; alternatively, as shown in FIG. 1a, the power supply connector 26 provided in the lower positioning sleeve 23 can be directly insertion connected with a dry battery 33 provided in the hollow lower sleeve 27; these both provide power for the control circuit 15.
Referring simultaneously to FIG. 5 and [0019] 3, in the entire circuit diagrams of the AC/DC circuit 28 and the control circuit 15 of the present invention, the AC/DC circuit 28 is composed of a simple bridge-rectifier and a capacitor; while the control circuit 15 is composed of a plurality of resistors, capacitors, diodes, transistors, a Zener diode, an oscillator 151 and a single chip 150. The control circuit 15 is connected to the power supply connector 26 to be connected with the AC/DC circuit 28 for supplying power, while pins nos. 1, 2, 17 and 18 of the single chip 150 are respectively connected to two lamp strings 16 which are respectively connected further to two opposite ribs 17. Pins nos. 16, 14 and 4 are connected to a pin no. 1 of the oscillator 151, while the pin no. 4 is connected further to pins nos. 5, 2, 3 and 8 of the oscillator 151; and a pin no. 13 of the single chip 150 is connected to the lamp-controlling switch 25 and the LED indicating light 24, a pin no. 6 thereof is connected to a pin no. 6 of the oscillator 151, and a pin no. 5 thereof is connected to a the pin no. 3 and a pin no. 4 of the oscillator 151, a pin no. 7 of the oscillator 151 is connected again to the pin no. 2. In this way, referring again to FIG. 2, after the plug 30 is inserted into a house-socket, the AC voltage of 120 V is transformed into a AC voltage of 28 V through a transformer 29, then is converted into a DC electric power through the AC/DC circuit 28, and then a stable DC voltage is provided through the Zener diode. At this time, if the lamp-controlling switch 25 is pressed down, the lamp strings 16 will have the following variations:
1. When the lamp-controlling [0020] switch 25 is pressed down the first time, the single chip 150 receives a first series of signals from the oscillator 151, all the lamp strings 16 are lightened.
2. When the lamp-controlling [0021] switch 25 is pressed down the second time, the single chip 150 receives a second series of signals from the oscillator 151, all the lamp strings 16 are lightened in a way as if a rotating lamp is rotated fast.
3. When the lamp-controlling [0022] switch 25 is pressed down the third time, the single chip 150 receives a third series of signals from the oscillator 151, all the lamp strings 16 are lightened in a way as if a rotating lamp is rotated slowly.
4. When the lamp-controlling [0023] switch 25 is pressed down the fourth time, the single chip 150 receives a fourth series of signals from the oscillator 151, all the lamp strings 16 are lightened in a way of fast flashing.
5. When the lamp-controlling [0024] switch 25 is pressed down the fifth time, the single chip 150 receives a fifth series of signals from the oscillator 151, all the lamp strings 16 are lightened in a way of flashing slowly.
6. When the lamp-controlling [0025] switch 25 is pressed down the sixth time, the single chip 150 receives a sixth series of signals from the oscillator 151, all the lamp strings 16 automatically function to go in circulations from the above second to fifth situations to continuously change the modes of lightening.
7. When the lamp-controlling [0026] switch 25 is pressed down the seventh time, the single chip 150 receives a seventh series of signals from the oscillator 151, all the lamp strings 16 are extinguished.
The [0027] control circuit 15 of the present invention can also be added with a set of radio emitter/ receiver 31 and 32, as shown in FIG. 4, the push button on the radio emitter 31 can completely correspond with the lamp-controlling switch 25, thereby, at any orientation within the scope (about 25 m) of the big umbrella 1, lightening can be controlled.
This is because that, on a prototype of the present invention, the circuit and the electric lines are arranged to be all provided in the shaft of the umbrella, this is convenient in assembling, and the electric lines will not be hooked and torn during the course of opening and collapsing the umbrella; and design of the control circuit is simple and tidy, all the lamp strings are parallelly electrically connected with one another, once one of the lamp bulbs is damaged, variations of changing of the lightening modes will not be affected. And more, the lightening can be controlled with a radio remote controlling mode, hence the present invention is more convenient for use. [0028]
The structure of such a lightening umbrella is simple and tidy, it can not only get rid of the defects resided in the conventional lightening umbrella having electric lines exposed to affect collapsing and opening of the umbrella, but also can get the effects that lights thereon can vividly change in their various lightening modes. The umbrella thereby provides the effects of illumination and decoration. [0029]

Claims

What is claimed is

1. A structure of a lightening umbrella comprising:

ribs and stretchers having lamp strings therebeneath, a hollow shaft, a top fixed collar, an electric control circuit and a power supply, said structure is characterized by:

conductors of said lamp strings are extended into said hollow shaft through said top fixed collar;

said electric control circuit is provided in said shaft, said control circuit is further provided at the middle position of said shaft with a lamp-controlling switch and an indicating light;

conductors from said control circuit are connected to said power supply on the bottom of said shaft to obtain the required power;

thereby, said lamp strings can have various lightening modes by selection and controlling with said lamp-controlling switch.

2. A structure of a lightening umbrella as in claim 1, wherein:

said electric control circuit is composed of a plurality of resistors, capacitors, diodes, transistors, a Zener diode, an oscillator and a single chip.

3. A structure of a lightening umbrella as in claim 1, wherein:

said hollow shaft is comprised of a lower sleeve, a lower positioning sleeve, an upper sleeve, an upper positioning sleeve, an upper fixed collar and a finishing top cap.

4. A structure of a lightening umbrella as in claim 3, wherein:

said upper sleeve is provided thereabove equidistantly arranged with a plurality of pin holes for insertion of a latching pin for positioning of a lower runner.

5. A structure of a lightening umbrella as in claim 3, wherein:

said upper fixed collar is provided centrally with a longitudinal fitting-over hole, and also is provided horizontally at the positions connected to said ribs with a plurality of through holes communicating with one another; said through holes also communicate with said longitudinal fitting-over hole.

6. A structure of a lightening umbrella as in claim 2, wherein:

said control circuit is added with a set of radio emitter and a radio receiver.

7. A structure of a lightening umbrella as in claim 1, wherein:

said lamp strings are parallelly electrically connected with one another.

8. A structure of a lightening umbrella as in claim 1, wherein:

said power supply is an AC/DC circuit connecting with a power supply plug added with a transformer.

9. A structure of a lightening umbrella as in claim 8, wherein:

said AC/DC circuit is a simple bridge-rectifier circuit.

10. A structure of a lightening umbrella as in claim 1, wherein:

said power supply provided on the bottom of said shaft of said umbrella is a dry battery providing a DC power source.