Improvements in Umbrellas.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 31st May, 1898-Accepted, 2nd July, 1898
.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Umbrellas.
I, ERNEST SYDNEY Ross, of Hobart, in the Colony of Tasmania, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
The object of this invention is to improve upon the hitherto known devices for
retaining in closed position the tips of umbrella ribs. What is called a tip cup,
both with and without a spring in combination therewith is old and well known,
but within the last few years it is only in an extremely small minority of umbrellas
that I have found tip cups in use, and these have been of the kind having no
spring.
I attribute this result to the fact that in all previous constructions there has
been some serious practical defect which in my construction has been avoided.
Referring to the accompanying drawings; (which show the invention applied
to an umbrella upon a scale somewhat larger than the ordinary full size), the con-
struction and its advantages will be explained together.
Figure 1 shows what may call the screwed form and Figure 2 a form which
may be called the flanged form and exhibits a slight modification. In each view
the device is shown partly in section.
A is the stick of the umbrella, B are the ribs, C is a runner fastened immovably
upon the stick and provided with two distinct enlargements C1 and C2. D is a
spiral spring around C, abutting at one end against enlargement C¹, and enclosed
by a cylindrical sheath having two distinct diameters, viz., El around the spring
(at one side of the enlargement C¹) and E2 on the other side of enlargement C¹, and
having either a screwed or a flanged end E³, the screw or flange as the case may
be ensuring firm connection with a tip cup proper F, the end of which facing the
ribs has a bevelled edge F¹, whereby when in closing the umbrella, the ribs are
pressed inward against the said edge F¹, the tip cup is forced to slide slightly in a
longitudinal direction' as per arrow marked 3 until the ribs meet the stick A,
whereupon the spring D forces the tip cup to assume its original position, thus
locking the ribs in the umbrella's closed position.
This however cannot be satisfactorily accomplished with a wide tip cup liable
to be indented (or thrown out of adjustment) by the continuous hard usage
umbrellas often receive, or where the spring is not enclosed in a cylindrical sheath.
I find that the whole should be so arranged that neither the tip cup nor the
sheath shall have any edge contacting with the runner C, but parallel surfaces
only; and I further find that the sheath should be comparatively long and the cup
short, so that in grasping the device to release the ribs, by pulling in the direction
of arrow 3, the fingers will take hold naturally of the roomy sheath E¹, E²
avoiding handling of and strain upon the tip cup F. The spiral spring D abuts
upon a shoulder F at the inner end of the tip cup, and though well protected
from the entry of dust and water by the length of the cylindrical surfaces which at
each end of the spring are arranged to closely encircle the runner C, yet in time
it will be found if the umbrella proves durable, that the spring will weaken and