Tent – canopy – umbrella – or cane – Umbrella – Cover or lining feature
Reexamination Certificate
2000-05-03
2001-06-26
Canfield, Robert (Department: 3635)
Tent, canopy, umbrella, or cane
Umbrella
Cover or lining feature
C135S033200
Reexamination Certificate
active
06250319
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to umbrellas and more particularly to a vented umbrella that is resistant to inversion from the wind as well as is effective in ventilating air between the underside of umbrella and the upper side thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, an umbrella is a foldable means carried by people for protection against the rain and/or sun. Further, canopy is typically an opaque cloth with a close texture. This also means the permeability thereof is poor. As such, an umbrella user often feels muggy under the hot sun due to the poor ventilation. To the worse, in a rainy windy day, a wind will catch an umbrella user unaware and exert a force against the inner surface of the canopy which will cause the canopy to invert from its normal operable position to an upwardly convex position.
A conventional windproof umbrella is shown in
FIG. 4
wherein umbrella
3
comprises a lower canopy
30
and an upper canopy
31
. Lower canopy
30
is in a covering position over the fully stretched ribs
41
. A plurality of openings
301
are formed on lower canopy
30
wherein each opening
301
is located between two adjacent ribs
41
. Upper canopy
31
is smaller than lower canopy
30
in size. Upper canopy
31
is in a concentric covering relation with respect to lower canopy
30
wherein openings
301
are also covered by upper canopy
31
. With this, during windy weather, wind caught beneath the upper canopy
31
exits through the openings
301
and applies pressure to the underside of the lower canopy
30
. This forces lower canopy
30
lift away from upper canopy
31
to provide a path for wind to escape the umbrella
3
.
Another conventional windproof umbrella is shown in
FIG. 5
wherein umbrella
5
comprises a lower canopy
50
and an upper canopy
51
. Lower canopy
50
is in a covering position over the fully stretched ribs
61
. A multilateral canopy
501
is in a concentric covering relation with respect to lower canopy
50
. This umbrella
5
also can ventilate air through canopy
501
.
But these are unsatisfactory for the purpose for which the invention is concerned for the following reasons:
1. Ventilation is poor. In detail, upper canopy is in a close covering relation with respect to lower canopy, whereby only a small vent exists between upper canopy and lower canopy for ventilating when a strong wind applies pressure to the underside of lower canopy.
2. Cost ineffective. It is seen that lower canopy and upper canopy are relatively large. Further, the covering area of upper canopy with respect to lower canopy is also large, resulting in an increase in the manufacturing cost.
3. Complex manufacturing processes. The provision of openings inevitably complicates the manufacturing processes.
A still another conventional windproof umbrella is shown in
FIGS. 6 and 7
. This one eliminates the drawbacks of above two prior art umbrellas. In detail, peripheral edge
211
of upper canopy
21
is held taut by attaching elastic strips
22
to the fasteners
121
on stretchers
12
to form a plurality of V-shapes. This can prevent elastic strips
22
from sliding along the stretchers
12
as shown in
FIG. 7. A
plurality of large openings
204
are formed in the umbrella. However, elastic strips
22
generally have the same orientation as ribs
11
, i.e., nearly parallel each other. Also, peripheral edge
211
of upper canopy
21
is partially closed by the open openings
204
. To the worse, openings
204
may be closed by a strong wind coming from above the top of umbrella as indicated by arrow A. Thus the ventilation is poor. Further, the elasticity of elastic strips
22
will be worn out as time passes because the elastic strips
22
are often stretched. This in turn causes openings
204
to shrink. Furthermore, the provision of fasteners
121
is time consuming in assembly, resulting in an increase in the manufacturing cost.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a vented umbrella having the features of resistant to inversion from the wind, effective in ventilating air between the underside of umbrella and the upper side thereof, fabric saving, and simplified manufacturing process.
To achieve the above and other objects, the present invention provides a vented umbrella comprising a frame and a canopy covered on the stretched frame wherein the frame includes a shank, a hub, an upper ring, and a lower ring all provided on the shank, a plurality of ribs, and a plurality of stretchers being foldable. Canopy includes a lower canopy and an upper canopy in a concentric partial covering relation with respect to lower canopy with a small overlapped peripheral area therebetween. The peripheral edge of upper canopy is covered on the upper peripheral edge of lower canopy. A plurality of nonelastic ropes are provided each connected between the center portion of peripheral edge in each sectors of lower canopy and the upper ring. As such, an opening is formed at the junction between each sectors of upper canopy and lower canopy when the umbrella is fully extended. Thus an effective ventilation in the umbrella is achieved.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken with the accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3032047 (1962-05-01), Wendorf
patent: 5890506 (1999-04-01), Kupferman
patent: 6006769 (1999-12-01), Lin
patent: 6039063 (2000-03-01), Lin et al.
patent: 6155278 (2000-12-01), Lin
patent: 928634 (1947-12-01), None
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