Illumination assembly for an umbrella

An illumination assembly for an umbrella has a transparent tubular member, a sleeve detachably mounted on the tubular member, an LED with two legs securely received in the sleeve and a control unit mounted in the sleeve to provide electricity to the LED. The tubular member has a longitudinal central hole and a conical division wall integrally formed in the central hole. The LED faces the conical division wall of the tubular member. By such an arrangement, the illumination from the LED can be reflected repeatedly by the conical division wall of the tubular, and the transparent tubular member can become into a lighting member with the light of the LED. This can improve the illumination effect to other people to increase the safety of using the umbrella.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
 1. Field of the Invention
 The present invention relates to an illumination assembly, and more
 particularly to an illumination assembly for an umbrella to improve the
 safety of using the umbrella.
 2. Description of Related Art
 A conventional umbrella in accordance with the prior art mainly comprises a
 shaft, a hub slidably mounted on the shaft, multiple ribs pivotally
 mounted on the shaft, multiple spreaders pivotally mounted between the hub
 and each of the ribs and a canopy covering all of the ribs. However,
 because the sight view is very vague in the rain and the conventional
 umbrella has no any illumination device mounted thereon. Therefore, the
 user using the conventional umbrella could easily have an accident
 occurred in a rainy dark night.
 A conventional umbrella with an illumination device is provided. The
 conventional illumination device comprises a transparent tubular member
 mounted on the top end of the shaft, an LED mounted in the tubular member
 and a control device to provide the electrical power to the LED in
 addition to controlling the LED lighting or not. However, the light of a
 normal LED is very small so that it is not bright enough to provide an
 effective warning to the other people or vehicle in a dark raining night.
 In addition, the conventional control device is mounted on either the top
 end of the shaft or a handle on the bottom end of the shaft. It is
 difficult to operate the control device if the device is mounted on the
 top end of the shaft. If the control device is mounted on the handle to
 improve the convenience of operating the control device, long electrical
 wires are needed to connect the LED on the top end of the shaft and the
 control device on the bottom end of the shaft.
 To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention tends to provide an
 improved illumination assembly for au umbrella to mitigate or obviate the
 aforementioned problems.
 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
 The main objective of the invention is to provide an improved illumination
 assembly having a transparent tubular member, a sleeve detachably mounted
 on the tubular member, an LED with two legs securely received in the
 sleeve and a control unit mounted on the sleeve to provide electricity to
 the LED. The tubular member has a central hole defined longitudinally
 through the member and a conical division wall facing the LED integrally
 formed in the central hole. The light from the LED can be reflected
 repeatedly by the conical division wall, and the transparent tubular
 member will become a lighting member. This can improve illumination effect
 for other people to increase the safety of using the umbrella.
 The other objective of the invention is to provide an improved illumination
 assembly further comprising a switch mounted in the top end of the sleeve
 and electrically connecting to the LED. By such an arrangement, the LED
 can be turned on or off when the top end of the umbrella is pressed a
 rigid body. The convenience of controlling the illumination assembly
 lighting is improved.
 Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become
 more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in
 conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
 Referring to FIGS. 1-3, an illumination assembly in accordance with the
 present invention comprises a transparent tubular member (10), a sleeve
 (12), an LED (13) and a control unit.
 The transparent tubular member (10) comprises a central hole (102), an
 internal conical division wall (104) and a bottom flange (106). The
 central hole (102) is defined through the tubular member (10) so the top
 end of the umbrella shaft (20) can extend into the bottom end of the
 central hole (102). A conical division wall (104) is integrally formed on
 the inner surface of the central hole (102) to divide the hole (102) into
 two portions. A bottom flange (106) integrally extends outward from the
 outer periphery near the bottom end of the tubular member (10), such that
 a gap can be provided between the tubular member (10) and the flange (106)
 to receive the canopy (22) of the umbrella.
 The LED (13) is received in the top portion of the central hole (102) away
 from the shaft (20) and faces the conical division wall (104). The LED
 (13) has two legs (132). One is the anode, and the other is the cathode.
 The sleeve (12) is made of conducting material and is screwed onto the top
 end of the tubular member (10).
 The control unit comprises of a switch (16) and at least one battery (15).
 A conducting base (17) for the switch (16) is screwed into the top end of
 the sleeve (12). The base (17) has a recess (172) defined in the top end.
 The switch (16) is mounted in and extend out of the open end of the base.
 A resilient, waterproof cap (19) is mounted on the base (17) to cover the
 recess (172) to provide a waterproof effect for the switch (16) in the
 recess (172). A circuit board (18) is fixedly mounted on the bottom end of
 the base (17) and is electrically connected to the switch (16). The
 batteries (15) are received in the sleeve in series. The battery (15)
 fartherest from the switch (16) abuts one of the legs (132) of the LED
 (13), in practice the anode, and the battery (15) adjacent the switch (16)
 is electrically connected to the circuit board. This provides electricity
 from the batteries (15) to the LED (13). A spring (182) is mounted on the
 circuit board (18) and abuts the battery (15) adjacent the switch (16).
 The spring (182) pushes the batteries (15) to ensure that one abuts the
 leg (132) of the LED (13) whether the umbrella is in use or folded.
 A positioning block (14) with the LED (13) attached is mounted in the
 sleeve (12) at the junction between the tubular member (10) and the sleeve
 (12). With the inside diameter of the central hole (102) of the tubular
 member (10) smaller than that of the sleeve (12), a shoulder is formed on
 the interior surface of the sleeve (12) at the junction of the sleeve (12)
 and the tubular member (10). The positioning block (14) abuts the shoulder
 at the top end of the tubular member (10) when the sleeve (12) is screwed
 onto the tubular member (10). A recess (142) is defined in the bottom side
 of the positioning block (14) to receive the LED (13). A through hole
 (144) is defined longitudinally through the positioning block (14) and
 communicates with the recess (142) so that one of the legs (132) of the
 LED (13) can pass through the through hole (144) and contact the battery
 (15). A passage (146) extends radially from the recess (142) to the edge
 of the block (14). The other leg (132) of the LED (13), in practice the
 cathode, is received in the passage (146) and extends outward from the
 periphery of the block (14) to abut the conducting sleeve (12). By such an
 arrangement, a circuit can be formed to include the LED (13), the sleeve
 (12), the base (17), the switch (16), the circuit board (18) and the
 batteries (15).
 In operation, when a user is holding the umbrella with an illumination
 assembly in accordance with the present invention, the user only has to
 press the top end of the umbrella against a rigid object like a wall, the
 ground, a tree, a post or the like to turn the switch (16 on or off. This
 improve the convenience of operating and controlling the illumination
 assembly.
 In addition, because a conical division wall (104) is formed in the
 transparent tubular member (10), and the LED (13) faces the conical
 division wall (104), the illumination from the LED (13) can be reflected
 repeatedly by the conical division wall (104). This can increase the
 apparent brightness of the LED (13) to an observer, and the transparent
 tubular member (10) will become a source of illumination. This can improve
 the illumination effect to other people on dark rainy nights. The safety
 of using the umbrella with the illumination assembly can be improved.
 Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present
 invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with
 details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is
 illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in
 matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of
 the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of
 the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.