IMPROVEMENTS IN UMBRELLAS AND PARASOLS
Year: 1869

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Avery at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 30th
November 1869.
I, WILLIAM AVERY, of the Firm of William Avery and Son, of
Redditch, in the County of Worcester, Needle Manufacturers, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN UMBRELLAS
AND PARASOLS," to be as follows:-
My Invention has for its object principally to give greater room for
the head under the open or expanded umbrella or parasol, for which
purpose I adopt the combinations or arrangements of parts herein-after
described.
I will describe my Invention as applied to an umbrella.
According to one of my improvements the umbrella stick passes
through a tube, and is furnished at top with a screw. The ribs are
jointed to the said tube. The said screw takes into a screw box, to which
the ferrule of the umbrella is attached, and by turning the handle of
the umbrella with one hand, the tube being held by the other, the said
screw box may be made to move in one or other direction upon the

page_text: screw.
To the said screw box a series of stretcher wires are jointed at
one end, the other ends of the said wires being jointed on the outside
of the umbrella to the ribs of the umbrella. When the handle of the
umbrella is turned so as to make the screw box recede on its screw the
said screw box gives motion to the wires jointed to the ribs and the said
wires to the ribs, thereby opening the umbrella. The umbrella when
opened has the usual hemispherical form, the covering fabric giving the
required curvature to the ribs. By turning the handle of the umbrella
so as to make the screw box advance on the screw the jointed wires are
brought into a position close to the ribs and the umbrella closes; the
said ribs and jointed stretcher wires on closing the umbrella resume
their rectilinear figure. The opening and closing may be effected by
means of a slide instead of a screw. I cover the top joints to protect
them and to prevent the wire which binds the ribs to the ring or joint
box escaping from the groove in which it lies.
According to another of my improvements I use stretchers jointed at
or near their middle so that they can slide longitudinally upon one
another, the inner end of each stretcher being jointed to the stick at a
short distance from the place where the ribs are jointed. An ordinary
runner on the stick has stretchers jointed to the inner half of each of the
first-mentioned or sliding stretchers. By the motion of the runner the
umbrella is opened or closed, the outer end of each of the sliding
stretchers sliding outwards on the opening of the umbrella, and inwards
on the closing of the umbrella.
According to another of my improvements the opening mechanism
consists of a series of stretchers jointed so as to form frames having
the figure of a parallelogram, to which the stick is a diagonal. By the
sliding of the runner the sides of the frames may be made to open out
or collapse, and in opening out to open the umbrella, and in collapsing
to close it. The frames are jointed to the ribs by sliding junctions.
According to another of my improvements I connect stretchers of the
ordinary kind between the runner and the ribs, but I joint the said
stretchers to the said ribs very near to the stick of the umbrella. To
these stretchers I joint supplementary stretchers nearly at right angles
thereto, their other ends being jointed to the ribs by sliding joints.
According to another of my improvements I joint a series of short
stretchers to the runner, the said stretchers being capable of opening
into a plane at right angles to the axis of the runner. Slides jointed to

page_text: the ends of the ribs work on the said stretchers. By raising the runner
the ribs take a position at right angles to the axis of the runner, the
slides passing up the stretchers, thereby raising them and distending
the umbrella. The joints of the slides enable them to accommodate
themselves to the changing position of the ribs.
All the arrangements herein-before described give great head room
under the umbrella.
According to another of my improvements I make the umbrella very
portable by jointing the ribs at the middle, thus enabling them to fold
back, and making the stick telescopic, so that it can be drawn out to its
full length or closed up to about one-third its length.
The jointed ribs may be provided with slides which when passed over
the joints make the ribs rigid; or the ribs may be made telescopic and
lengthen or shorten by sliding instead of folding. I secure the runner
in its place by a spring tongue working in a plane at right angles to the
axis of the runner, the tongue passing through a slot in the runner and
taking into a recess made in the umbrella stick. In order to connect
the ribs to the fabric I form small plates of metal having tubular caps
or sockets at one end. These plates are attached to the fabric and the
ends of the ribs are sprung into the tubular caps or sockets described.
In some cases I form the joint on the ribs by means of a small metallic
plate attached thereto. In attaching the ribs to the fabric I sew a small
sheet metal piece, two small wings on the said metal piece being closed
upon the rib.
My several improvements are applicable to parasols as well as to
umbrellas