AN RUNN OF UMBRELLAS AND PARASOLS
Year: 1883

page_text: נן
LETTERS PATENT to John Imray of N° 28 Southampton Buildings, Chancery
Lane in the County of Middlesex for an Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT
communicated to him
from abroad by James Bernard Wilson of Philadelphia in the United
States of America
IN THE RUNNERS OF UMBRELLAS AND PARASOLS
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Imray at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 6th March 1883.
JOHN IMRAY of No 28 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane in the county
of Middlesex "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE RUNNERS OF UMBRELLAS AND
PARASOLS [communicated to him from abroad by James Bernard Wilson of
Philadelphia in the United States of America]
"
This invention relates to the runners of umbrellas and parasols, the object being
so to construct, in a cheap and simple manner, them and the means of holding
them at each end of their course along the stick, as to avoid the weakening of the
stick by the notching usually made to receive the springs that hold the runner.
For this purpose, the runner is made as usual as a notched and grooved disc that
receives the stretchers, and is fixed on a tube, or sleeve that runs along the stick,
but the tube is slotted along one side and has ears projecting on each side of the
slot. Between those ears is pivotted a latch lever, the one end of which can be
pressed inwards by the finger or thumb in opposition to a spring, and the other
end has formed on its inner side two catch shoulders, sloping off in opposite
directions. In the stick of the umbrella or parasol are fixed two pins or studs, one
at a point corresponding to the position of the one catch shoulder when the
umbrella is opened, and the other corresponding to the position of the other catch
shoulder when the umbrella is closed. On sliding the runner along the stick, the
catch shoulder in either case latches over the pin or stud and holds the runner,
which can be disengaged by pressing down the tail of the latch lever. The latch
lever is limited in its movement by stops, which prevent it from taking such
a position as to scratch the stick when the runner is moved along it. The lever,
D
077

page_text: instead of being made with catch shoulders projecting from it, may have holes to
receive the fixed pins or studs with sloped faces leading to those holes. The spring
which acts on the latch lever may be a caoutchouc band, encircling the sleeve of
the runner and one end of the lever, or it may be a bent wire secured to the
runner and pressing upwards the tail of the lever. A convenient method of making
the sleeve of the runner is to punch a flat plate of suitable form and to bend
this round so as to form the slotted tube with lips projecting at each side to carry
the latch lever and spring which, when it is a wire, may be secured by having
its ends inserted under tongues punched in the plate that constitutes the sleeve of
the runner.
In all cases, the ends of the slot in the tube are opened out to trumpet mouths
so as to facilitate the passage of the runner over the fixed pins or studs

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said John Imray in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 4th September
1883.
JOHN IMRAY of No. 28 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane in the county
of Middlesex -"AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE BUNNERS OF UMBRELLAS AND
PARASOLS A communication to me from abroad by James Bernard Wilson
of Philadelphia in the United States of America
"
This invention relates to the runners of umbrellas and parasols, the object being
so to construct, in a cheap and simple manner, them and the manner of holding
them at each end of their course along the stick, as to avoid the weakening of the
stick by the notching usually made to receive the springs that hold the runner.
For this purpose, the runner is made as usual as a notched and grooved disc that
receives the stretchers and is fixed on a tube or sleeve that runs along the stick,
but the tube is slotted along one side, and has ears projecting on each side of the
slot. Between those ears is pivotted a latch lever, the one end of which can be
pressed inwards by the finger or thumb in opposition to a spring, and the other
end has formed on its inner side two catch shoulders; sloping off in opposite
directions. In the stick of the umbrella or parasol are fixed two pins or studs,
one at a point corresponding to the position of the one catch shoulder when the
umbrella is opened, and the other corresponding to the position of the other catch
shoulder when the umbrella is closed. On sliding the runner along the stick, the
catch shoulder, in either case, latches over the pin or stud and holds the runner,
which can be disengaged by pressing down the tail of the latch lever. The latch
lever is limited in its movement by stops which prevent it from taking such a
position as to scratch the stick when the runner is moved along it. The lever,
instead of being made. with catch shoulders projecting from it, may have holes
to receive the fixed pins or studs with sloped faces leading to those holes. The
spring which acts on the latch lever may be a caoutchouc band encircling the
sleeve of the runner and one end of the lever, or it may be a bent wire secured to
the runner and pressing upwards the tail of the lever. A convenient method of
making the sleeve of the runner is to punch a flat plate of suitable form and to
bend this round so as to form the slotted tube with lips projecting at each side
to carry the latch lever and spring which, when it is a wire, may be secured by
having its ends inserted under tongues punched in the plate that constitutes the
sleeve of the runner.
In all cases, the ends of the slot in the tube are opened out to trumpet mouths,
so as to facilitate the passage of the runner over the fixed pins or studs.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figs. 1 and 2 are elevations of parts of the stick with the runner held in its
two extreme positions, fig. 3 is a front view of the runner without the latch lever,
fig. 4 is a front view of the runner with the latch lever in position, fig. 5 shews
part of the stick with a holding stud having a sloped end. A is the stick, having
fixed in it two pins or studs a and a', which may have sloped heads as shewn at.e
in fig. 5, the two studs being sloped in opposite ways. B is the runner consisting
of the notched disc b, which receives the ends of the stretchers fixed on a tubular
part or sleeve b¹. The sleeve b¹ has a slot 6* along its front, the edges of the slot
being rounded off at the ends 6. Two ears 6 projecting at the edges of the slot
receive a pin which forms the pivot of a latch lever C. This lever has on its
inner face two catches c³ c² sloping opposite ways at c³c with perpendicular faces

page_text: cc. A caoutchouc band D presses the lever C against the disc b, which forms
a stop for the lever, so that its catches c¹ c³ cannot scratch the stick as the runner
is moved along it. The lever C has extending beyond its pivot a tail C', which
can be pressed by the finger or thumb.
On moving the runner along the stick to its one extreme position, the catch c¹
engages, the stud a, and on moving it to its other extreme, the catch cengages the
stud, a. In either position, pressure applied to C' releases the catch from the
stud. The studs may be as shewn at Fig 6 pins with heads to them, the lever C
being a strip of metal bent so as to present slopes and having holes to receive the
pins. The sleeve B'may be made by bending into tubular form a plate of metal
such as is shewn' in fig. 7. According to a modified construction shewn in figs 8
to 16 inclusive, the plate may be of the form F shewn in figs 8 and 16 with two
edges such that when the plate is bent into the form of a tube G with slot g, they
form projecting flanges g₁ which receive the pivot h of the catch lever, H. The
one end of the plate, as shewn in fig. 8, or both ends f¹ f, as shewn in fig. 16
are rounded off at the parts f, and tongues f³ are punched in the plate to secure
a spring K of wire bent, as shown in fig. 14, the two ends being engaged
T
under the tongues which are turned back and closed down upon them as shewn
at 92, and the bend of the spring pressing upwards the tail h¹ of the latch
lever, H. The lever H is; made, as before described with two sloping catches h³h³
to engage one or other of the two studs L shewn in fig. 15, each of which consists
of a pointed shank and a sloped head l.
f:
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Having thus described the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, as, communicated to me by my foreign correspondent,
I claim in respect, of runners of umbrellas and parasols
1.
AV
First: Mounting on the notched sleeve of the runner a spring lever having
sloped shoulders or their equivalents to catch on studs fixed on the stick, sub-
stantially as described with reference to figs 1 to 7 inclusive.
.
Second: The modified construction of runner, and its spring lever, substantially
as described with reference to figs 8 to 16 inclusive
In Witness whereof, I the said John Imray have hereunto set my hand
and seal this Fourth day of September in the year of our Lord, one
thousand, eight hundred and eighty three.
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