US20030000558A1

US20030000558A1 - Automatic multiple-folding umbrella

Info

Publication number: US20030000558A1
Application number: US10/004,794
Authority: US
Inventors: Lung-Chiao Chou
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2001-04-23
Filing date: 2001-12-07
Publication date: 2003-01-02
Also published as: DE20204734U1

Abstract

The present invention provides a ratio mechanism of an automatic multiple-folding umbrella, cooperating to cooperating to the opening mechanism, and main stick assembly and said handle control mechanism; wherein said terminal pulley of said ratio mechanism has a pulley for threading said inner stay wire over so that one end of said inner stay wire is fixed on said pulley assembly, and the another end is threaded through said pulley on said terminal pulley base, and the pulley of said pulley assembly, then passing through said terminal pulley base to be fixed on said locking head; said main stick is composed of four stick segments. Due to building up said switch, repeat press down said button can bring into being automatic opening and closing umbrella function.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention is relative to an automatic multiple-folding umbrella in the umbrella field, and especially to a ratio mechanism of automatic opening umbrella.

2. Description of Prior Art

So far, in the umbrella industrial, the new products are brought to light weeding the old continuously, so that the automatic multiple-folding umbrellas are changed almost every day. According to the automatic multiple-folding umbrella we can find in the market, it typically is comprised of an opening mechanism and a main stick assembly, ratio mechanism and a handle control mechanism, wherein said main stick assembly includes a traction spring and three nested stick segments, as shown in FIG. 1; said

ratio mechanism

1′ is comprised of an outer stay wire 11 an inner stay wire 12′, a pulley assembly 13′, a terminal pulley base 14′, a locking head 15′ and a sleeve 16′, therein one end 112′ of said outer stay wire 11′ is fixed on the low strut nest (un-drawn in drawings), and the another end 111′ is fixed on the top end 131′ of said pulley assembly 13′, and one end 121′ of said inner stay wire 12′ threading over the pulley 132′ of said pulley assembly 13′ is fixed on the top end of said terminal pulley base 14′ with one end, and the another end 122′ is led through said terminal pulley base 14′ to be fixed on said locking head 15′; said parts like said inner stay wire 12′, said pulley assembly 13′ and said terminal pulley base 14′ are mounted into the hollow inside of said sleeve 16′, wherein said terminal pulley base 14′ is located on the bottom end of said sleeve 16′. Referring to FIG. 2, by the ratio relation between said inner stay wire 12′ and said outer stay wire 11′ . . . 2:1 proportion of folding said three stick segments, when opening the umbrella, said sleeve 16′ is rapidly ejected by said traction spring to stretch out said inner stay wire 12 about two stick-segment length, meanwhile said outer stay wire 11′ is just drew in one stick-segment length; contrarily, it is a closing umbrella operation.

According to above description, said ratio mechanism just adapts to the three stick-segment automatic umbrella, but not to four stick-segment one because the ratio relation between said inner and outer stay wires cannot bring to pass.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The key object of the present invention is to provide a ratio mechanism suiting to open and close a four stick-segment automatic umbrella.

For archiving above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a ratio mechanism for opening and closing a multiple-folding umbrella, cooperating to the opening mechanism, comprised of upper and low strut nests and strut fids, and main stick assembly and said handle control mechanism; said ratio mechanism is comprised of an outer stay wire, an inner stay wire, a pulley assembly, a terminal pulley base, a locking head and a sleeve, wherein one end of said outer stay wire is fixed on one end of said pulley assembly, and the another end is fixed on said low strut nest of said opening mechanism; and said inner stay wire, said pulley assembly and said terminal pulley base are mounted into the hollow inside of said sleeve, therein said terminal pulley base is located on the bottom end of said sleeve; the feature of the present invention is that said terminal pulley of said ratio mechanism has a pulley for threading said inner stay wire over so that one end of said inner stay wire is fixed on said pulley assembly, and the another end is threaded through said pulley on said terminal pulley base, and the pulley of said pulley assembly, then passing through said terminal pulley base to be fixed on said locking head; said main stick is composed of four stick segments.

Said handle control mechanism of said ratio mechanism for opening and closing umbrella automatically is comprised of a handle base, a button component and a handle shell, wherein said handle base has a base hole at the center axially for holding said main stick in, a flange at the topside and an adjacent case at the bottom side of said flange for containing said button, a restoring strip and a lever hung on at the openings on the both open sides by a dowel pin separately, and a spring located on the bottom side of said restoring strip, and a slot for containing a cramp below next said restoring strip, said cramp connected with a spring with one end located on said handle base cooperating to a stopper, and touching against said lever with another end; said button assembly is comprised of a button and a switch connected together with a dowel pin, and a spring located between said button and said switch, wherein said switch has a central hollow space for containing a portion of said main stick and the low strut nest of said opening mechanism, said button covers on said restoring strip and said switch, and mounted at said case of said handle base; said low strut nest of said opening mechanism has a snap slot coordinating to said switch; said handle shell is a shell nesting over said handle base with a U-shape slot for holding said button. Said cramp is a flat frame with a lug extending inward; said switch has a tilt coordinating to said low strut nest of said opening mechanism.

In said ratio mechanism of automatic opening and closing umbrella, said low strut nest of said opening mechanism has a track-way at the outside wall holding on a restoring spring covered on top end by a sliding disk.

Applying above-mentioned structure, due to adding a pulley on said terminal pulley base in said ratio mechanism of the present invention, said inner wire threads through two pulleys sequentially in said sleeve so as to come into being 3:1 ratio relation between said inner stay wire and said outer stay wire to make a four stick-segment automatic umbrella come true, additionally due to increasing the movement of said traction spring, the power of opening umbrella is increased too; on the other hand, due to setting upon said switch of handle control mechanism, cooperating to said button backing up with said restoring spring, press down said button with finger to make switch release said low strut nest to bring into being automatic opening umbrella function; by said restoring spring, said switch is contacted with said lever, when pressing down said button again, make said cramp release the locked locking head to bring into being automatic closing umbrella finction. Therefore, by repeating to press down said button, the present invention carries out automatic opening and closing umbrella functions conveniently and simply.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of the prior art ([0011] 1).
FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the prior art ([0012] 2).
FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing the combination of the ratio mechanism of the present invention. [0013]
FIG. 4 is an enlarged solid view showing the terminal pulley base of the present invention. [0014]
FIG. 5 is an exploded view showing the handle control mechanism of the present invention. [0015]
FIG. 6 is a cross-section view showing closing state of the present invention. [0016]
FIG. 7 is a cross-section view showing opening state of the present invention ([0017] 1).
FIG. 8 is a cross-section view showing opening state of the present invention ([0018] 2).
FIG. 9 is a cross-section view showing closing state of the present invention. [0019]
FIG. 10 is a part solid view showing the main stick assembly of the present invention. [0020]
FIG. 11 is an exploded view showing the opening mechanism of another embodiment of the present invention. [0021]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIG. 3 to FIG. 10, the present invention cooperates to an opening mechanism B, a main stick assembly C and a handle control mechanism D, wherein said opening mechanism B is comprised of an upper [0022] strut nest B 1, a low strut nest B2 and proper number of strut fids (undrawn in drawings).
Referring to FIG. 3 in following, a ratio mechanism provided in the present invention, as the same as the conventional products, is comprised of an [0023] outer stay wire 11, an inner stay wire 12, a pulley assembly 13, a terminal pulley base 14, a locking head 15 and a sleeve 16, wherein one end 111 of said outer stay wire 11 is fixed on the top end 131 of said pulley assembly 13, the another end 112 is fixed on the low strut nest B2 of said opening mechanism B (as shown in FIG. 6), co-referring to FIG. 4, the key feature of the present invention is that said terminal pulley base 14 is attached on the topside with a pulley 141, and has a through-hole 142 at the bottom portion for passing through said inner stay wire 12; said inner stay wire 12 is fixed on said pulley assembly 13 with one end 121, the another end 122 is threaded downward over said pulley 141 of said terminal pulley base 14, then upward through said pulley 132 of said pulley assembly 13, next downward again to pass through said through-hole 142 of said terminal pulley base 14 to be fixed on said locking head 15; these parts like said inner stay wire 12, said pulley assembly 13 and said terminal pulley base 14 are located into the inside of said sleeve 16, and said terminal pulley base 14 is retained on the bottom end of said sleeve 16.
Said main stick assembly C is comprised of a [0024] traction spring 21 and four nested stick segments (referring to FIG. 6 to FIG. 9).
As shown in FIG. 5, said handle control mechanism D is typically comprised of a [0025] handle base 3, a button 4 and a handle shell 5.
Said [0026] handle base 3 has a base hole 31 at the center axially for holding said main stick C in, a flange 32 at the topside and an adjacent case 33 at the bottom side of said flange 32 for containing said button 41, a restoring strip 34 and a lever 35 hung on at the openings on the both open sides by a dowel pin X separately, and a spring 341 located on the bottom side of said restoring strip 34, and a slot 37 for containing a cramp 36 below next said restoring strip 34, said cramp 36 is a flat frame with a lug 361 extending inward, and is connected to a spring 38 located on said handle base 3 with one end cooperating to a stopper 39, and touching against said lever 35 with another end.
Said [0027] button assembly 4 is comprised of a button 41 and a switch 42 connected together with a dowel pin X, and a spring 43 located between said button 41 and said switch 42 for restoring, wherein said switch 42 has a central hollow space 421 for containing a portion of said main stick C and the low strut nest B2 of said opening mechanism B, said button 41 covers on said restoring strip 43 and said switch 42, and mounted at said case 33 of said handle base 3; said low strut nest B2 of said opening mechanism B has a snap slot B21 coordinating to said switch 42 (as shown in FIG. 6); for good looking, said upper strut nest B 1 extends a shield B 11 upward to cover an exposed pulley (as shown in FIG. 10); said switch 42 has a tilt 422 coordinating to said low strut nest B2 of said opening mechanism B.
Said [0028] handle shell 5 is a shell nesting over said handle base 3 with a U-shape slot 51 for holding said button 41.
In combination, referring to FIG. 6, firstly locate said restoring [0029] spring 341, said restoring strip 34 and said lever 35 on said handle base 3 in pivoting joint with said dowel pins X separately and sequentially; next place said button assembly 4 in said handle base 3; then secure said main stick assembly C on said handle base 3 with said dowel pin X, meanwhile slide said low strut nest B2 of said opening mechanism B downward into said base hole 31 of said handle base 3 until it is locked by said tilt 422 of said switch 42 catching into said snap slot B21 of said low strut nest B2, additionally, said locking head 15 of said ratio mechanism A is locked by said lug 361 of said cramp 36. Because said traction spring 21 on said main stick assembly C is in compressed state, under the elastic restoring force, said low strut nest B2 tends to jump up so as to make said switch 42 touch against said flange 32 tightly, at the same time, said restoring spring 43 of said button assembly 4 is in compressed state.
When the present invention is used in opening umbrella, as shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, press down said [0030] button 41 to push said switch 42 to move rightward simultaneously so as to release said low strut nest B2, by restoring up said traction spring 21 along main stick 22 of said main stick assembly C, said low strut nest B2 is pushed upward to open the umbrella; said four stick segments 22 are in extending state, because said locking head 15 is locked by said cramp 36 of said handle control mechanism D, as said sleeve 16 is driven to make an upward movement by said traction spring 21, said inner stay wire 12 threading over two pulleys 132 and 141 is dragged out from said terminal pulley base 14 about three stick-segment length, meanwhile said outer stay wire 11 is drawn into said sleeve 16 one stick-segment length to come into being 3:1 ratio relation between said inner stay wire 12 and said outer stay wire 11 to meet the necessary of four stick-fold umbrella. At this time, the restoring spring 341 of said handle control mechanism D is in compressed state, under the restoring force, said restoring spring 341 pushes said restoring strip 34 turning an angle so that said button 41 is moved to the original position.
When the present invention is used in closing umbrella, in this time said [0031] button 41 has resumed into the original state, but because said restoring spring 43 has released so that said switch 42 is pushed to touch against said lever 35 by said restoring spring 43; as closing the umbrella, as shown in FIG. 9, press down said button 41 to push said switch 42 rightward, further to turn said lever 35 an angle so that said cramp 36 is moved leftward to withdraw said lug 361 from said locked locking head 15 to free it, said outer stay wire 11 is stretched out rapidly from said ratio mechanism A, the umbrella is closed under the restoring force of said restoring spring in said opening mechanism B, then by the advantage of the hand force of the user, slide said handle control mechanism D downward to make said low strut nest B2 of said opening mechanism B take in place so as to lock said snap slot B21 on said tilt 422 of said switch 42 to finish the closing process, then co-referring to FIG. 6 again, said four stick segments 22 are in folding state, said outer stay wire 11 is stretched out from said main stick 22 one stick-segment length along the outer side wall under the drive of said low strut nest B2 of said opening mechanism B, but said inner stay wire 12 threading over two pulleys 132 and 141 just is stretched one stick-segment length to the inside of said sleeve 16.
Due to applying said [0032] 3:1 ratio relation in the present invention, the movement of said traction spring is increased, so that the power of opening umbrella is enlarged too.
As shown in FIG. 11, said low strut nest B[0033] 2 of said opening mechanism B has a track-way B3 at the outside wall holding on a restoring spring B5 covered on top end by a sliding disk B4 fastened with the outer end of said stay wire 11 of said ratio mechanism A. Because said outer stay wire 11 can drive said sliding disk B4 to slide on the track-way B3 with one end 112, by the advantage of the length of said track-way B3, the ratio relation of said ratio mechanism A can be increased such as more than 3:1.
On the other hand, said handle control mechanism D in the present invention can adapt itself to a three stick-segment or a five stick-segment automatic umbrella. [0034]

Claims

I claim:

1. A ratio mechanism of an automatic multiple-folding umbrella, cooperating to cooperating to the opening mechanism, comprised of upper and low strut nests and strut fids, and main stick assembly and said handle control mechanism; said ratio mechanism is comprised of an outer stay wire, an inner stay wire, a pulley assembly, a terminal pulley base, a locking head and a sleeve, wherein one end of said outer stay wire is fixed on one end of said pulley assembly, and the another end is fixed on said low strut nest of said opening mechanism; and said inner stay wire, said pulley assembly and said terminal pulley base are mounted into the hollow inside of said sleeve, therein said terminal pulley base is located on the bottom end of said sleeve; the feature of the present invention is that said terminal pulley of said ratio mechanism has a pulley for threading said inner stay wire over so that one end of said inner stay wire is fixed on said pulley assembly, and the another end is threaded through said pulley on said terminal pulley base, and the pulley of said pulley assembly, then passing through said terminal pulley base to be fixed on said locking head; said main stick is composed of four stick segments.

2. A ratio mechanism of an automatic multiple-folding umbrella as claimed in claim 1, wherein said handle control mechanism is comprised of a handle base, a button component and a handle shell, wherein said handle base has a base hole at the center axially for holding said main stick in, a flange at the topside and an adjacent case at the bottom side of said flange for containing said button, a restoring strip and a lever hung on at the openings on the both open sides by a dowel pin separately, and a spring located on the bottom side of said restoring strip, and a slot for containing a cramp below next said restoring strip, said cramp connected with a spring with one end located on said handle base cooperating to a stopper, and touching against said lever with another end; said button assembly is comprised of a button and a switch connected together with a dowel pin, and a spring located between said button and said switch, wherein said switch has a central hollow space for containing a portion of said main stick and the low strut nest of said opening mechanism, said button covers on said restoring strip and said switch, and mounted at said case of said handle base; said low strut nest of said opening mechanism has a snap slot coordinating to said switch; said handle shell is a shell nesting over said handle base with a Ushape slot for holding said button.

3. A ratio mechanism of an automatic multiple-folding umbrella as claimed in claim 2, wherein, said cramp is a flat frame with a lug extending inward at the inside.

4. A ratio mechanism of an automatic multiple-folding umbrella as claimed in claim 2, wherein said switch has a tilt coordinating to said low strut nest of said opening mechanism.

5. A ratio mechanism of an automatic multiple-folding umbrella as claimed in claim 1, wherein said low strut nest of said opening mechanism has a track-way at the outside wall holding on a restoring spring covered on top end by a sliding disk fastened with the outer end of said stay wire of said ratio mechanism.