IMPROVEMENTS IN UMBRELLAS
Year: 1878

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Robert Lake at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 19th March 1878. A communication
from abroad by Casimir Faure, of Paris, France, Chevalier of the Legion of
Honour.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents
Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN UMBRELLAS." [A com-
munication from abroad by Casimir Faure, of Paris, France, Chevalier of the Legion
of Honour.]
"
My Invention relates to an umbrella, to which I have given the name of the
Faure umbrella," and whose essential and original feature is its opening and
closing by the action of one finger of the hand which holds it, this action sufficing
to effect its stopping in one or other of these two positions.
For obtaining this result I adopt extremely simple arrangements, the principal
feature of which consists in placing the point of articulation of the stays or forks,
and of the whalebones or ribs of the umbrella at a very slight distance from the
stick, in such a manner that the ring which supports the forks having only to
displace itself an equally slight distance to bring the ribs from the closed to the
open position, and vice versa, a simple movement of the finger of the hand which
holds the stick suffices to make it traverse this distance.
I have represented on the accompanying Drawings several examples of this
improved umbrella.
Figures 1 and 2 shew part of an umbrella made according to this Invention, and
without any closing cup; Figure 1 is an elevation of the said umbrella open.
Figure 2 shows in elevation partly in section the stick ready to receive
the mounting, and upon which is adapted a spring with two notches, according to
this Invention, to keep the umbrella open or closed.
In these Figures similar letters designate the same parts.
A, A, are the forks or stays jointed at their upper part by means of small eyes B
with the ribs C at a point very close to the stick D, in such a manner that the
ring E which sustains the forks and the lower extremity of the tube, or of the rods
upon which it is fixed, and which is within reach of the hand, has only to slip thọ
same distance to effect the opening.

page_text: •
In the example shown in Figures 1 and 2 the ring E which receives the lower
part of the forks is mounted upon two rods F guided in grooves F in the stick D.
These rods are fixed at their lower part to a socket G furnished at the side with a
projecting foot H, which serves as a point of application of the action exercised by
the finger upwards to make the forks and ribs ascend.
A spring furnished with two projecting heads I and J, which successively
engage in an eye K of the ring G maintains the umbrella open or closed. It will
thus be seen that the umbrella being closed, it is sufficient in order to open it to
press with the thumb upon the heel of the spring, thereby disengaging its lower
notch from the eye K, and by stretching out the same finger to push the pro-
jecting head H such a distance that the upper notch of the spring engages in its
turn in the eye. The distance which separates the two notches being equal to
the distance which the ring G moves to open the umbrella, the same is thus opened
and retained in this position. The closing of the umbrella is effected by simply
pressing upon the heel of the spring and depressing the foot H.
To facilitate the working of the umbrella I have adapted to the internal part of
the whalebones a small flat spring L fixed at one end in the cap B, and at the
other in a small ring M, which is fixed upon the stick underneath the ring stop,
whereon the whalebones or ribs are jointed. This spring bending at the same time
as the ribs tends to straighten them again, and in consequence diminishes the action
which the finger has to exert upon the forks.
Figure 3 represents a longitudinal section of an umbrella made according to this
Invention, and provided with a new arrangement of closing socket. In this
Figure the umbrella is seen closed; Figure 4 is a longitudinal section of the same,
the umbrella being secured by the action of my closing mechanism; Figure 5 is
another longitudinal section of the same, shewing the umbrella open.
It will be seen in these Figures that the aforesaid flat spring is absent, and is
replaced by a ring k of india-rubber or other elastic substance, which surrounds the
stick above the place where the points of articulation of the forks and the ribs
turn down. This ring produces in a very simple manner an effect analogous to
that of the springs by augmenting the length of the lever arm, upon which acts the
horizontal component that tends to separate the ribs from the stick, and this effect
may be increased at will as it depends upon the exterior diameter of the ring.
The tube a whose upper part supports the forks instead of being terminated at
the lower part by a claw ring, as in the first-described arrangeinent, is at this
place surrounded by a sliding socket b which contains a spiral spring c as in the
ordinary cup for holding the lips, and the lower part of this socket carries a rim or
projecting flange d, which in its descent is caught and detained by a finger e
terminating a small flat spring ƒ inserted into the ring pusher 9 forming the
extremity of the tube a. The sliding socket is brought into the position shewn in
Figure 4 by pressing with a finger of the hand which holds the umbrella upon its
upper part in order to make it descend and catch, and it is caused to re-ascend by a
slight pressure upon the head e of the spring f, the latter thus liberating the
flange d. The socket in re-ascending overlaps a ring h, upon the upper part of
which are articulated the curved arms i, which it raises and maintains parallel to
the stick. These arms or forks terminate in the form of a T; they are tied
together by small chains, and serve to confine the ribs when the umbrella is closed
as shewn in Figure 3, and spread themselves out horizontally and radially in
descending under the action of their weight from the time that the socket bis
brought and maintained below their articulation, Figure 4. They thus allow the
unfolding or opening of the umbrella. For this purpose it is sufficient to push
upwards the runner g, which in re-ascending causes the receding of a spring
inserted in the stick, and which is terminated by a tooth, upon which the ring rests
and which maintains the umbrella open, as in Figure 5.
To effect the closing the spring is pressed, and in entering its resting place
permits the runner g to descend, drawing with it the forks, which thus effect the
turning down of the ribs along the stick, as in Figure 4; because the spring ƒ is

page_text: always lightly pressed with the same finger, and leaving the socket b permits it to
rise and lift the forks i, which with their small chains confine the bottom of the
umbrella, and thus prevent its opening (see Figure 3).
Upon the stick is fixed, at a convenient height, a stop j, which limits the upward
movement of the tube a, and upon the latter is cut, following one of its generating
lines, a slit m, which affords a passage for the head of a crank pin n fixed upon the
stick, and serves as a guide to the tube a in such a manner that the forks and the
ribs move always in the same plane, and are not subjected to twisting.
Figure 9 represents in section a modification of the arrangement of the closing
spring, of which the notch serving as a support to the runner g is alone apparent
from the outside when the umbrella is open; this device renders more difficult the
accidental closing of the umbrella by the involuntary pressure of the finger.
I have shewn in Figures 6, 7, and 8 an arrangement for permitting the opening
of the umbrella to be effected by a pressure upwards instead of pushing downwards,
which is less convenient. For this purpose I fix upon the stick at a certain
distance below the runner g, a collar p, serving as a support to a drum & formed of
two cylindrical boxes of different diameters, and fitting into each other con-
centrically in such a manner as to reserve between the internal calender of the
largest, and the external calender of the smallest an annular space occupied by a
flat link chain t, upon whose extremity rests by a heel a moveable finger u around
the axis r, which connects the two boxes. It will be seen that by pressing upon
the finger the part of the chain upon which it rests is caused to descend, and the
other part, which is terminated by a small spur v, whereon rests the runner g, is
caused to ascend, and thus raise the ring. The chain is guided in this movement
by a groove cut in the stick, and covered by a metallic plate y furnished with a
longitudinal mortice 2, which allows the heel v to project. The finger u having
thus caused the runner g to ascend is maintained in the position into which it has
been brought for this purpose by a small latch; it is sufficient to push back the
latter to cause the finger u to resume its first position when pushed by the chain,
which yields to the weight acting on the same.