Patent Publication Number: US-2007113878-A1

Title: Assembled secure runner

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      A secure runner applied on an umbrella is popular for many years, which provides users to operate the umbrella more conveniently and safely since they are unnecessary to touch an elastic stop extended from a shaft of the umbrella. For example in U.S. Pat. No. 5,494,604, it discloses a safety runner, which make use of a slidable sleeve that has an internal flange at the upper portion thereof and rides on a runner element embracing the shaft. By means of a slide motion of the sleeve relative to the runner element, a resilient bow lever housed in the shaft being depressed by the internal flange to release the detention of the runner to close the umbrella in secure. Another conventional structure is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,615,698, which discloses a different runner with a sleeve to close the umbrella safely.  
      The above-mentioned traditional designs although provide users to close the umbrella safely, but they include the runner and the sleeve, both of which are not separable after assembly. If there is any fault in the runner, the runner or the sleeve is difficult to be repaired that always causes the umbrella broken and useless forever.  
      The present invention is to overcome the drawback of prior art and to provide an invented umbrella, which includes an assembled secure runner including a base and a connector being separable that facilitates the utilization of the umbrella when the repair is needed. Now, accompanying with the following drawings, the character of the present invention will be described here and after.  
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  is an exploded perspective view showing an assembled secure runner according to the present invention.  
       FIG. 2  is an assembled perspective view of  FIG. 1 .  
       FIG. 3  is a partly cross-sectional plan view of  FIG. 1 .  
       FIG. 4  is a perpendicular cross-sectional plan view of  FIG. 3 .  
       FIG. 5  is a plan view showing the runner of  FIG. 3  applied on an umbrella according to the present invention.  
       FIG. 6  is a plan view showing the umbrella being opened related to  FIG. 5 .  
       FIG. 7  is a plan view showing a movement of operating the runner to close the umbrella related to  FIG. 6 .  
       FIG. 8  is a perpendicular cross-sectional plan view of  FIG. 7 .  
       FIG. 9  is a plan view showing the umbrella being closing related to  FIG. 7 .  
       FIG. 10  is a perspective view showing a modified umbrella runner according to the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
      Please refer to  FIG. 1  to  3 , the present invention relates to an assembled secure runner of an umbrella, which includes a connector ( 1 ) and a base ( 2 ), wherein the connector ( 1 ) has a tube ( 11 ) with two side rectangular openings ( 13 ) and a joint bottom ( 12 ) connected with the tube ( 11 ). Two side engaging edges ( 14 ) are formed under the openings ( 13 ) respectively. The base ( 2 ) includes a lower ring ( 21 ) and an internal projection ( 22 ) in central hole. Two elastic slices ( 23 ) are provided on both sides of the base ( 2 ), each of which is folded to have a hooking end ( 24 ). Because the slice ( 23 ) is elastic, it can be pulled outward for that the hooking end ( 24 ) is easy to engage with the opening ( 13 ) of the tube ( 11 ). Then, the connector ( 1 ) and the base ( 2 ) are assembled together firmly to complete a secure runner.  
      As the runner of the present invention is applied around a shaft ( 3 ) of the umbrella, the elastic slice ( 23 ) is engaged with the engaging edge ( 14 ) while the hooking end ( 24 ) is received in the opening ( 13 ) with a space at top portion and also a space exists between the ring ( 21 ) and the joint bottom ( 12 ), as shown in FIGS.  3  to  5 .  
      When to open the umbrella as in  FIG. 6 , the tube ( 11 ) contacts an upper nest ( 31 ) and stops while the ring ( 21 ) can still move upward a distance till to contact the joint bottom ( 12 ). Meanwhile, the hooking end ( 24 ) reaches a top position of the opening ( 13 ) and the internal projection ( 22 ) in the ring ( 21 ) is just positioned in a concave ( 41 ) and engaged by a convex ( 42 ) of an elastic stop ( 4 ) provided in the shaft ( 3 ) that makes sure the umbrella being opened in stable.  
      Referring to  FIGS. 7 and 8 , when to close the umbrella, users can use fingers to pull the ring ( 21 ) downward. The internal projection ( 22 ) can press the convex ( 42 ) of the elastic stop ( 4 ) to move inward that forces a top edge ( 43 ) of the stop ( 4 ) to move inward at the same time. Accordingly, the connector ( 1 ) is released and can be moved downward together with the base ( 2 ), as shown in  FIG. 9 . The umbrella is thus closed.  
      Under above operation, it is found that the user can close the umbrella very easily and safely by just pulling the ring ( 21 ) of the base ( 2 ) downward without touching the elastic stop ( 4 ) directly. If a fault is happened, the runner can be separated easily by pulling two hooking ends ( 24 ) outward and as the elastic slices ( 23 ) get away from the engaging edges ( 14 ) of the connector ( 1 ) that the base ( 2 ) is apart from the connector ( 1 ). Hence, the fault can be resolved without trouble. This improves the utilization of the present invention obviously.  
      Accordingly, it can be understood that the above-mentioned embodiments are only exemplary of the present invention. Any modification with the same or similar merit is still claimed in this application. Such as shown in  FIG. 10 , a round joint bottom ( 5 ) can be used to replace the flat joint bottom ( 21 ), while a ball ring ( 51 ) is provided related to the shape of the round joint bottom ( 5 ).