US536223A - Combined cane and umbrella - Google Patents

Description

' (No Model.)

. G. H. MORGAN.

COMBINED CANE AND UMBRELLA.

Patented Mar. 26; 1895.

fiara W01" Mi 747666652 Q V UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE.

CHARLES'HENRY MORGAN, OF WEST CHESTER, PENNSYLVANIA.

COMBINED CANE AND UMBRELLA.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No, 536,223,tdated March 26, 1895. Application filed December 8, 1893. Serial lie-493,107. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that 1, CHARLES HENRY MOR- GAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at West Chester, in the county of Chester and i State of Pennsylvania, have inven'ted'certain new and useful Improvements in a Combined Cane and Umbrella; and I do hereby declare the following to be a fnll,clear, and exact de:

'inclosed within a tubular staff and used as a walking stick, or said device can be with drawn from the staff and attached thereto to serve as an umbrella.

One part of my presentimprovement relates to the runner which is constructed on the principle of the lazy-tongs and consists of a series of links pivoted together in a peculiar manner to enable a soft lining to beused in connection with the lazy-tongs runner.

This lining, which may be composed of a piece of leather, fabric or other pliable material, serves to limit the distension of the runner and to protect thetubular stafi from being scratched or defaced when the runner is moved up or down on the stalf. The runner consists of alternate long and short links, and these short links are pivoted to the long links a short distance from the ends of said Iong' links; and in the projecting ends of these long links are provided suitable eyes or apertures through which can be passed the stitches or other means for uniting the pliable lining to the pivoted links of the runner. To accommodate the stretchers of the umbrella-frame,

I provide the runner with a series of brackets which correspond in number to the number of stretchers employed; and these brackets are pivoted to the links at thesame' points and by the same pivots which lconnect the or working of the links on the pivots which join the links of the runner and which enables the runner to expand or contract very freely. V f

Another improvement which I have made consists in the retainer by which the stretchers and ribs are held in their distended positions when the umbrella-frame is opened for use; This retainer consists of a strip of spring metal which is attached at its upper end to the extension spindle of the umbrella and the lower end'of this spring-retainer is formed with a loop which is arranged to be engaged with one of the stretchers of the umbrella frame instead of being connected with or engaged to the sliding runner as is usual in umbrellas. To this spring retainer is secured a guide loop or ring through which the tubular staff of the umbrella or cane is passed and this ring serves to prevent displacement of the spring-retainer when it is engagedwith one of the stretchers, whereby the umbrellaframe is'not liable to collapse owing to accidental disengagement of the retainer from the umbrella frame. In my improved folding umbrella-frame I having the collapsible runner forming a part thereof, I construct the stretchers somewhat longer than the stretchers of ordinary folding umbrellas in order that the runner will be ex tended or projected, when the frame is folded, beyond the ends of the ribs; By this construction, I am able to more compactly fold the umbrellaframe because the ribs and stretchers will not be interfered with by the runner; and when the umbrella frame is inserted into the tubular stafi, this runner protrudes beyond the larger end of said staff.

To completely inclose the umbrella-frame and its runner within the tubular stafi, I pro-' vide a handle which has a chamber formed therein to receive the runner, and this handlechamber is provided with screw threads which are engaged with similar threads on the larger end of the tubular staff. I,

' The invention further consists in the peculiar construction and arrangement of parts which will be hereinafter more fully described and pointed out in the claims.

To enable others to more readily understand my invention, I have illustrated the prehoused within the tubular-staff, thus adapting the device for service as a walking stick.

Fig. 3 is a view of my runner constructed to provide two links'to each of the stretchers, and Fig. 4 is a like view of the runner in which four links are provided to each of the stretch t5 ers. Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail view show: ing the manner of pivoting the long and short links and the bracket which forms the means for attaching the inner end of the stretcher to the runner. Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail :0 View of the spring retainer, and Fig. 7 is a detail view of the staff showing theremovable ferrule for use in connection therewith as a walking stick.

Referring to the drawings, in which like lettors of reference denote corresponding parts in all the figures, A denotes thetubular staif which may be made of metal or any other suitable material. I prefer to make this'tubular stafi of aluminium and to apply afinish of hardwood veneering, or other material, to

the outside thereof, in order to produce alight device which will have the necessary rigidity and durability; but it is obvious that the staff can be made and finished of other ma- 5 terials than those herein referred to. Hence I do not limit myself to these materials. This tubular stafl is tapered throughout its length, and at its small end it is provided with atenon, a, which is exterior-1y screw-threaded, to en-. 40 able the ferrule B to be screwed thereon when the stafi is to be used as a walking stick, or

this ferrule can be detached,andan extension I tip, O,'screwed on the threadedtenoma, when the umbrella frame is to be attached. to the 5 tubular staff to convert thedeviceinto an um;

brella. The larger end of this staff, A, is exteriorly screw-threaded, and .on this end of the stafi is screwed a detachable handle, D. This handle has one end made with a socket,

(Z, which is of such diameter as to receive within itself the lazy-tongs runner when the umbrella-frame is collapsed and thrust within the tubular staff, and this socket or chamber, d, is exteriorly screwthreaded to enable the same to be I screwed upon the larger threaded end of the tubular staff.

The extension tip, 0, of 'my umbrella is formed with a crown piece, 0', which is preferably. integral with the extension tip; and

this crown piece is made with radial seats, 0, in which are titted the inner ends of the ribs, E, which are of the usual construction. This crown piece, 0, is also provided with an,annular groove in which is fitted, thensual ring on which are pivoted the ribs, E, in theusnal manner. This extension tip, 0, is made with a threaded socket at its inner end, which is adapted to be screwed upon the threaded tenon, a, of the staff, A, whereby the tip can be readily detached from or attached to the end of the tubular staff.

The stretchers, F, of my umbrella-frame are of the usual or any preferred construction, and said stretchers are pivoted to the ribs at points intermediate of the length of said ribs while the innerends of the stretchers are pivoted to the brackets, G, of the runner II. This runner is of pecular construction as indicated by Figs. 3, 4 and 5 of the drawings. The runner is made of links which are pivoted together to enable them to be expanded when the umbrellaframe is to be attached to the handle or staff, A, and to be folded compactly within a small spacewhen the u mbrella-frame is to be housed. or inclosed, within said tubular staff. The runner consists of the long links, h, and the short links, 11, and these links are arranged to cross each other, said links being pivoted, near their middle, as atj, and the short links being pivoted tothe long links near the ends ofthe latter, as at 75, thus leaving a certain part of the longlinks extending beyond theends of the shortlinks, as indicated in Figs. 3 aud Within the runner formed by these pivoted links isarranged a pliable sheath or thimble, J, which is com. posed of leather, fabric or othersuitable material of a pliable nature, and this sheath or thimble isattached to the protrudingends of the long links by means of stitches, or other suitable fastenings, which are passed through expansion of the runner and to protect the tubular statf from the runner so that thestaff will not bescratched or defaced.

The runner may consistrof any suitable number of links connected together in the manner shown and described, and in Fig. 3 I have shown two links to each stretcher, but in Fig. 4 the runner consists of four links to each stretcher, although the number of links is not material. In the construction of the ,runner shown by Fig. 3, a bracket G is provided on each of the long links, 72., but in Fig. 4 a bracket, G, is provided for each alternate long link. The brackets, G, to which the stretchers are pivoted, are connected to the long links by means of the same pivots which connect the long and short links together,

thus simplifying the construction and giving. the lazy-tongs runner the necessary play when the umbrella-frame is opened. or closed.

In the practical construction of. my um,-

brella, I make thestretchers somewhat longer than the stretchers of the ordinary umbrellaframe, and thus when the frame is collapsed ICO the runner'will be caused to extend beyond the ribs, whereby the frame can be more compactly folded as the runner does not interfere in any way with the ribs and stretchers folding close together.

The means which I employ for holding the umbrella-frame in its openedor distended position consists of the spring-retainer, L, which is in the form of an elastic strip or plate having its lower end formed with the loop, m, and with'the inclined free extremity, n',.form-' ing a nib by which the springretainer canbe manipulated vby hand. The upper end of thisspring retainer is fastened, ina manner similar to the ribs, to the crown-piece, 0', within the cover, so that it does not pass through the latter, and it extends close alongside of the extension tip and the upper end of the staff, A, so that the loop, m, thereof is in position to engage with one of the stretchers of the umbrella-frame instead of being engagedwith the runner, as is usual in umbrellas of the ordinary type. This spring retainer is provided with a ring or band, 0, which is attached thereto at an intermediate point of the length of the retainer; and thisjring or band encompasses the stafi, A, so as to prevent the retainer from being accidentally disengaged from the stretcher, but as this ring is of greater diameter than the part ofthe staff around which it fits, the ring or band has a limited play or movement on said stafi to enable the retainer to be engaged with or disengaged from the stretcher according as it is desired to lock the umbrella-frame in its open position or to enable the frame to be folded or collapsed. I

The cover, M, of my umbrellatmaybe of any suitable-material and it .is attached permanently to the ribs and the'crown piece in any suitable way. V I

This being the construction of my combined cane and umbrella, the operation may be described as follows: To use the device as an umbrella, the connected ribs, stretchers, extension-tip, runner, and cover are withdrawn from the tubular stafi after the handle, D, has been detached from the larger end v0f said staff. The staff is now thrust through the runner and the band or ring on the spring retainer, and the socke'ted end of the extension- Itipis screwedinto the tenon, a, of the stafi,

and the handle D is screwed upon the threaded larger end of the staff. The device is now ready for use as an umbrella, and the runner can be moved toward the outer end of the stafi to unfold the ribs and stretchers, the frame being locked in its open position by the' loop, m, of the spring retainer engaging with one of the stretchers of said umbrella-frame." Itis to be understood, that the ferrule, B, is'detached from the-tenon, a, of the stafi before the staff is thrust through the runner'and the ring or band of'the spring retainer.

To fold the umbrella frame and enable the device to be'used as a walking stick, the'staif is unscrewed from the extension tip, C, the stretchers and ribs are folded compactl'y'together to project the runner beyond the stretchers and ribs, the handle is unscrewed, I

and the whole umbrella frame comprising the extension tip,'stretchers, ribs, runner, and

cover are thrust or inserted into the stafi, with the collapsedrunner extending somewhat beyond the larger end of said staff, after which the "ferrule-is screwed on the. tenon, a, and the handle is screwed on the larger end of the staff so as to receive within its socket the'projected part of the runner.

I am aware that changes in the form and proportion of parts, and in the details of construction, of the mechanism herein shown and described as an embodiment of my invention can be made without departing from the spirit or sacrificing the advantages thereof, and I therefore reserve the right to make such modifications and alterations as fairly fall within the scope of the invention. 4

Having thus fully described my invention, whatI claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

-1. In a combined cane and umbrella, the I combination with a staff, an expansible runner, the ribs, and the stretchers, of a tip detachably connected to the staif and having the crown piece to which the ribs are pivoted, and a pendent arm L fastened attits upper end to the crown piece and provided with the band or loop which is fitted around the staff and liesin the path of the slidable runner thereon, as and for the purposes described.

2. In a combined cane and umbrella, the combination with astaff, and a collapsible umbrella frame having the tip, ribs, and stretchers, of the collapsible runner consisting of the pliable lining and the crossed pivoted links arranged outside of or around said pliable lining, the ends of said crossedlinks being prolonged beyond the-pivots which connect them together and being attached to the pliable lining, substantially as and for the purposes described.

3. In a combined cane and umbrella, the expansible runner consisting of the pliable lining, the crossed links pivoted together around the pliable lining and having the ends thereof prolonged or extended beyond the pivots thereof and attached to the pliable lining, in combination with a. staff upon which the pliable lining of the runner is adapted to slide, the ribs, and the stretchers having their ends attached to the links of the runner within the points'of attachment of the links to the pliable lining, substantially as and for thepurposes described. p

4 In 'a combined cane and umbrella, the

expansible runnerconsisting of thelonglinks, the short links pivoted at their ends at points within the terminals of the long links, the pliable lining within the links forming the metallic body of the runner and attached to the long links beyond the points Where the short links are pivoted thereto, and the bracketsG carried by the links within the point of attachment to the lining, in combination

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