Abstract:
The collapsible case of the present invention may be used for umbrellas, glasses, electronic gadgets and devices, cosmetic bags, men&#39;s and women&#39;s bags, for the storage of keys, and other uses. The case has flexible part that can extend increasing the inside volume of the case and can collapse thus reducing the volume, which makes it convenient to keep the case. A special design of the flexible portions is described.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    The current patent application claims priority to U.S. provisional application No. 62/079,064 filed on Nov. 13, 2014 and U.S. provisional application No. 62/094,290 filed on Dec. 19, 2014. The current design is also disclosed in US Design patent No. D740,547 filed on Dec. 30, 2014 and US Design patent application No. 29/526,765 and US Design patent application No. 29/526,767 filed on May 13, 2015. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    This invention generally relates to folding umbrellas including mini umbrellas and pocket umbrellas. The collapsible case of the present invention also may be used for glasses, electronic gadgets and devices, cosmetic bags, men&#39;s and women&#39;s bags, for the storage of keys, and other uses. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0003]    A variety of different designs of umbrella&#39;s case are disclosed. Soft cover made of the same material as the umbrella cupola is the most common. It is convenient to keep in the pocket, while the umbrella is in use. However, it is quite hard to fit the wet folded umbrella into such cover. 
         [0004]    A number of technical solutions were proposed for the use of hard cases to cover the umbrella. Rain water stays inside such cases and does not trench on the floor or on somebody&#39;s clothes. However, it is not convenient to keep an empty casewhile the umbrella is in use. 
         [0005]    In order to solve the latter problem, Chen et al. proposed a telescopic umbrella case in their U.S. Pat. No. 5,425,388. The umbrella case is composed of several sleeve members which have different inner diameters and are telescopically connected with one another. For storage, the case can be kept in contracted state, in which all sleeves are placed inside each other. 
         [0006]    Another solution for a collapsible and extendable case is proposed in the present patent application. A hard case for an umbrella should have enough internal volume for the placing folded umbrella, which in many cases doesn&#39;t allow to store an empty case in the pocket of a suit, coats or a handbag. The proposed invention solves this problem by providing improved consumer properties of the umbrella and convenience. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0007]    The objective of the invention is to improve properties of an umbrella taking into account convenience and comfort, and to create a new fashion trend. 
         [0008]    The umbrella case of the present invention is a collapsible and extendable case made of a rigid material with flexible sections. 
         [0009]    A special design of flexible portions is provided. In one embodiment, a flexible loop surrounds a central rigid part of the case&#39;s top and bottom surfaces. The central part can move up and down thus changing the volume of the case. 
         [0010]    In another embodiment, a series of flexible loops form a corrugated surface. The movable part of the case has three positions: extended, collapsed and coplanar with fixed parts of the top and bottom surfaces. 
         [0011]    In the preferred embodiment the curvature of the flexible portions are the arcs of circumferences having the same origin. 
     
    
     
       DRAWINGS 
         [0012]    The present invention will now be discussed in further detail below with reference to the accompanying figures in which: 
           [0013]      FIG. 1  shows a front left top perspective view of the extendable and collapsible umbrella case closed and in extended form illustrating the novel design. 
           [0014]      FIG. 2  is a front left top perspective view of the extendable and collapsible umbrella case open and in extended form of  FIG. 1  with a folded umbrella inside. 
           [0015]      FIG. 3  shows the case with rounded ends in extended state. The case has an elastic movable section  5 . 
           [0016]      FIG. 4  shows an open extended case of  FIG. 3 . 
           [0017]      FIG. 5  shows the case of  FIG. 3  in collapsed state. 
           [0018]      FIG. 6  shows the open collapsed case of  FIG. 5 . 
           [0019]      FIG. 7  shows another embodiment of the case in extended state. The case has a section with a few elastic steps. 
           [0020]      FIG. 8  shows open case of  FIG. 7 . 
           [0021]      FIG. 9  shows the case of  FIG. 7  in collapsed state. First option. 
           [0022]      FIG. 10  shows open collapsed case of  FIG. 9 . 
           [0023]      FIG. 11  shows cross section of the case of  FIG. 10 . 
           [0024]      FIG. 12  shows the case of  FIG. 7  in collapsed state. Second option. 
           [0025]      FIG. 13  shows open collapsed case of  FIG. 12 . 
           [0026]      FIG. 14  shows cross section of the case of  FIG. 13 . 
           [0027]      FIG. 15  shows top view of the collapsible case. 
           [0028]      FIG. 16  shows a principle of constructing elastic sections in the case of the present invention. 
           [0029]      FIG. 17  shows top view of the cone from  FIG. 16 . 
           [0030]      FIG. 18  shows elastic part curvature in one embodiment. 
           [0031]      FIG. 19  shows elastic part curvature in another embodiment. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0032]    This patent application discloses cases for accessories: the cases that are carried in a handbag when the item is inside it or the case is empty. Though we describe their use for umbrellas and glasses; the use of such cases is not limited to these examples. 
         [0033]    The drawings show elongated cases of almost rectangular shape or oval shape, however, the application obviously is not limited to these examples. The principle of the case building is applicable to cases of any shape. 
         [0034]      FIG. 1  shows the basic concept of the present invention. The case of the present invention has rigid side parts  1  and  2  which protect the item inside. At least one, but preferably both top  3  and bottom  4  surface parts of the case have flexible or elastic portions. The portion  5  is the flexible part of the top surface  3 . In the preferred embodiment the flexible part is in a form of a closed curved strip as shown in  FIG. 1 , and the width of the strip is from 0.5 cm to 2 cm. 
         [0035]      FIG. 2  shows the case of  FIG. 1  being opened. The folded umbrella  6  is inside the case. 
         [0036]      FIG. 3  shows spectacle case of oval configuration. However, any shape of the case is covered by the present invention. The case is in extended state. The side portions  9  and  10  of the case have a curved shape, which is different from the straight shape of the portions  1  and  2  of  FIG. 1 . Any shape of the side portions is covered by the present invention. 
         [0037]      FIG. 4  shows open extended case of  FIG. 3 . The top and the bottom parts of the case are connected by at least one joint. 
         [0038]      FIG. 5  shows the same case of  FIG. 3  in collapsed state. The flexible part  5  is pushed down thus reducing the internal volume of the case. Here part  8  is the rigid part of the top surface. It can have the shape similar to the contour of the rigid side parts  9  and  10 , or, alternatively, it can have a different shape. 
         [0039]      FIG. 6  shows the case of  FIG. 5  being opened. As one can see from this  FIG. 6 , the bottom part of the case has the similar structure as the top part. The section  11  of the bottom surface is collapsed inside the case thus reducing the volume of the case. In the preferred embodiment both the top and the bottom parts have flexible sections, however in some embodiments only one (top or bottom) part may have the flexible section. 
         [0040]    Another embodiment of the extendable and collapsible case is shown in  FIG. 7 . Three steps  20 ,  21 , and  22  are extended above the case surface  23 .  FIG. 8  shows the same case of  FIG. 7  being opened. The steps  27 ,  28 ,  29  provide extension in the bottom portion of the case. In general case—the extension may have any amount of steps. The steps may be on one side or on both sides. Flexible portions  25 ,  26  and  27  can move up and down. 
         [0041]      FIG. 9  shows the first embodiment of collapsed steps of the case shown in  FIG. 7 . Both top and bottom parts of the case of  FIG. 9  are shown in  FIG. 10 . The cross section of the collapsed case of  FIG. 9  is shown in  FIG. 11 . Flexible portions  24 ,  25 ,  26  form a goffer. The rigid portion  22  is in the same plane as the cover  23 . 
         [0042]      FIG. 12  shows the second embodiment of collapsed steps of the case shown in  FIG. 7 . Both top and bottom parts of the case of  FIG. 12  are shown in  FIG. 13 . The cross section of the collapsed case of  FIG. 12  is shown in  FIG. 14 . Flexible portions  24 ,  25 ,  26  are collapsed inside the case. The rigid portion  22  is below the plane of the cover  23 . 
         [0043]      FIG. 15  is a top view of the case of  FIG. 7 .  FIG. 16  shows in more details how the flexible elements in the end part of the case of  FIG. 7  are built. In  FIG. 15  the flexible portions of the top part are shown in collapsed state. The best performance is achieved when the flexible portions are formed as arcs  31  (A 1 -A 2 ) and  32  (B 1 -B 2 ) of circumferences  33  and  34  laying on one cone  30 . In the preferred embodiment, the planes of the circumferences are perpendicular to the axis  35  of the cone  30 . The arcs A 1 -A 2  and B 1 -B 2  of  FIG. 15  correspond to the arcs A 1 -A 2  and B 1 -B 2  on the cone shown in  FIG. 16 . 
         [0044]      FIG. 17  is a top view of the cone from  FIG. 16 . 
         [0045]    The main idea is to make interconnection between curvatures of flexible portion of the case. They have different radii, but they are parts of circumferences having a common origin O, which is a central point for a circle with a circumference following the shape of the flexible part.  FIG. 18  shows three flexible portions, each of them has at least one curved part  41 ,  42  and  43 . In this embodiment the curved parts are half circumferences with radii R 1 , R 2 , R 3  coining from the origin O. 
         [0046]    In another embodiment shown in  FIG. 19  the flexible portions  45  and  46  have two curved portions A 1 -A 2  and A 3 -A 4  for  45 , and B 1 -B 2  and B 3 -B 4  for  46 . In general case portions A 1 -A 2  and A 3 -A 4  may have different radii. The same for B 1 -B 2  and B 3 -B 4 . 
         [0047]    In the preferred embodiment, the corresponding such as A 1 -A 2  and B 1 -B 2  are limited by the same angle X between lines  49  and  50 . In one embodiment the angle is between 20 and 50 degrees. In another embodiment the angle is between 80 and 100 degrees. In general case, the angle is between 1 and 180 degrees. The connecting portions (steps)  47 ,  48  between the flexible portions  41 ,  42 ,  43  can be either rigid or flexible. 
         [0048]    The flexible parts of the cases of the present invention are made of plastic, leather, fabric, rubber or of any other flexible material. The rigid parts of the case are of leather, plastic, wood or of any other rigid material. 
         [0049]    The description of a preferred embodiment of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Obviously, many modifications and variations will be apparent to practitioners skilled in this art. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the following claims and their equivalents. 
         [0050]    Moreover, the words “example” or “exemplary” are used herein to mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. Any aspect or design described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects or designs. Rather, use of the words “example” or “exemplary” is intended to present concepts in a concrete fashion. As used in this application, the term “or” is intended to mean an inclusive “or” rather than an exclusive “or”. That is, unless specified otherwise, or clear from context, “X employs A or B” is intended to mean any of the natural inclusive permutations. That is, if X employs A; X employs B; or X employs both A and B, then “X employs A or B” is satisfied under any of the foregoing instances. In addition, the articles “a” and “an” as used in this application and the appended claims should generally be construed to mean “one or more” unless specified otherwise or clear from context to be directed to a singular form.