IMPROVEMENTS IN UMBRELLAS
Year: 1880

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Robert Lake at the Office
A com-
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 8th November 1880.
munication from abroad by Friedrich Hartmann, of Berlin, Germany.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, and Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN UMBRELLAS." [A com-
munication from abroad by Friedrich Hartmann, of Berlin, Germany.]
This Invention relates to the construction of umbrellas or parasols, in which the
handle is utilized to hold together the wires or ribs of the umbrella or parasol, in
the same manner in which this has hitherto been effected by a cap of metal or other
material. This construction is inexpensive, and presents a form pleasing the cye,
and generally unites the greatest simplicity with solidity and elegance.
Tho
According to this Invention, the handle of an umbrella or parasol into which the
stick of the umbrella penetrates is perforated, and rotation of the stick is prevented
either by a screw or pin, which takes into a groove upon the stick, or it may be
prevented by the end of the stick, which is squared off, passing through a disc fixed
in the interior of the handle, or by a pin passing through a slot in the stick.
upper end of the perforation of the handle is somewhat widened for the reception
of a coiled spring. This coiled spring bears against a disc screwed upon the stick
and against the shoulder in the handle formed by the widening of the aforesaid
perforation. The end of the stick is recessed for the reception of the wires or
ribs.
To prevent the stick rotating, a screw or pin is let into the handle which projects
into a groove on the stick, as herein before mentioned.
If it is desired to close the umbrella, the handle is pulled, the wires or ribs of the
umbrella or parasol are gathered, and the handle is by the spring herein before
referred to, caused to rebound over said ribs.
The perforation in the handle may be closed at the upper end by a plate
conforming to the shape of the handle, or by any suitable means, and the pin or
screw may also be hidden if desired.
According to one modification of my Invention, the rotation of the stick of the
umbrella or parasol is prevented as follows, that is to say :-
The widening of the perforation is closed by a plate which is fixed in any
convenient manner at that part where the said widening of the perforation begins.
[Price 21

page_text: This plate has a quadrangular hole, through which passes the quadrangular end of
the stick. In this construction, as in the one above described, the stick carries a
plate, and against this and the plate which closes the widening of the perforation a
coiled spring bears. The operation of this arrangement is exactly the same as that
of the former one.
Another modification of the said Invention differs from the foregoing ones, in that
the umbrella ribs are held together by a recess in the end of the handle when the
spring inserted into such handle is in tension. The rotation of the stick is in this
form of my Invention prevented by a pin fixed in the handle and working in a
slot in the stick. When the stick is in its lowest position a two-armed lever takes
into an opening provided in a bent piece, preferably of sheet metal, fixed at the ond
of the stick. The said two-armed lever is inserted into the handle together
with its bearings, which I prefer to make of wood, and which exactly fit into an
opening provided in the handle.
Against the free end of the said lever a stud presses, which stud is inserted in
the handle and kept in place by a wooden ring.
If pressure is exerted on this stud, the bent piece hereinbefore mentioned, and
consequently the umbrella-stick, are freed; a coiled spring drives the stick outwards
and allows the umbrella to fall open.
A further modification consists in preventing the rotation of the stick by a pin
passing through it; against said pin a coiled spring bears, which is attached directly
to the stick by means of a screw.