IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHODS OF MAKING UP THE COVERINGS OF UMBRELLAS OR PARASOLS AND ATTACHING THE SAME TO THE FRAMES
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John P. Onderdonk, of 520, Commerce St., in the City
of Philadelphia, and State of Pennsylvania, United States of America, for the
Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHODS OF MAKING UP THE COVERINGS
OF UMBRELLAS OR PARASOLS AND ATTACHING THE SAME TO THE FRAMES.”
Sealed the 16th June 1876, and dated the 20th March 1876,
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said John P Onderdonk at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 20th March 1876.,
JOHN P. ONDERDONK, of the City of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania,
United States of America, Manufacturer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF
MAKING UP THE COVERINGS OF UMBRELLAS OR PARASOLS AND ATTACHING THE
SAME TO THE FRAMES."
My Invention relates to the art of umbrella manufacture, and has for its object
the simplifying and cheapening of the present methods of making up the covering
and attaching it to the frame.
Coverings are ordinarily made up from several pieces of material (in shape,
sectors, of any given but of uniform dimensions, and varying in number with the
number of the ribs), which pieces or sectors are united by stitching, pasting, or like
methods, upon their lateral edges the radii of the sectors, so as to form one complete
covering, which is then either sewed direct to the frame or attached by means of
twine passing through the covering and through holes in the ribs, or by means of
hooks and rings or like devices.
To obviate the labor and expense of fitting and stitching together the sectors of
covering, which must perforce be very exact, laborious, and costly work, and co-
existently and co-operatively with the same, to create a simple method of attaching
the coverings, made up in the manner herein-after described with the purpose above
in view, to the frames, are the specific objects of my Invention, to which ends it
consists, first, in attaching the previously cut out sectors of covering at one and
the same time together and to the frame by clamps, clutches, catches, springs, teeth,
or wires, without sewing or pasting.
It further consists of a duplex rib for umbrellas or parasols composed of two
parts, between and around which the edges of the sectors of covering pass or are
wrapped, by which they are neatly and effectively attached together and to which
they are secured by elastic or forced pressure exerted by the ribs, or by clamps
[Priced.]

page_text: around the ribs, or by tongues, teeth, or points, upon one part, taking into corre-
sponding grooves, seats, or depressions upon the other, whose action is either to
perforate, wedge, or otherwise retain.
It further consists of the clamp rib D, herein-after described.
It consists, lastly, of the combination of a duplex rib with a clamp to secure the
covering of an umbrella or parasol.
In the Drawings, which are all cross sections illustrative of various modifications
of my Invention, "A" represents the covering of the umbrella; "B, B," different
forms of my double rib; and "C" the clamp or clutch employed in certain of the
forms to hold the double rib firmly together.
For the better information of the public I will proceed to describe the various
modifications, and the construction thereof, with reference to the Drawings.
In Figure 1 the ribs are represented as of circular section with the covering
simply wrapped around them, and a spring or other clamp around the whole.
In Figure 2 the arrangement is similar, but slots or grooves are worked in the
ribs to form seats for the teeth of the clamps.
In Figure 3 one rib is inside and the other outside of the covering, the inside
being gutter or channel-shaped while the outside is smaller and stretched or sprung
into the other, securing the covering between the two by compression. This form
I employ as an intermediate rib, when a smaller number of sectors than ribs are
employed by reason of its simplicity and general efficiency.
In Figure 4 a long gutter-shaped clamp D alone forms the rib, and being squeezed
up secures the covering within itself without auxiliary device.
In Figure 5 the inner edges of the ribs are tongued and grooved, their section
being either blunt or wedge-shaped.
In Figure 6 one rib is provided with spears, points, pins, or studs, and the other
with corresponding holes or depressions, in which arrangement the covering is
pierced and so held between them.
In Figure 7, a modification of Figure 6, the point does not perforate the covering
but merely jams or wedges it, the clamp securing the whole; the point in this
special form is readily made by punching the rib with an awl or punch, whereby
the point and corresponding hole are both made at once on different sides of the
same rib.
In Figure 8, a modification of Figure 2 is represented, the teeth of the clamp
piercing the covering upon the outside of the rib and penetrating into holes or
depressions in the rib.
The materials of which the ribs may be composed are various, and the clamps
may be of any number or form, elastic to spring on, or malleable to be bent into
position.
The double ribs may be jointed to the stick in any convenient manner, and
pointed and held together at their free extremities by any suitable point or tip,
and any less number of sectors than ribs may be employed, so that it may be even
convenient to cut the whole covering out in proper curvature of one piece and unite
it at a single line by my double rib and clamp, using intermediately any method
of attaching desired, and ordinary ribs or the rib and method shown in Figure 3.
The advantages are the ease and rapidity with which the covering can be attached
or removed, the avoidance of all stitching or pasting, and great durability. I do
not propose to limit myself to any precise form or material, but what I do claim
as new and as my Invention and desire to have protected by Letters Patent is,-
1. An umbrella or parasol in which sectors or portions of covering are attached
at one and the same time to each other and to the frame by clamps, clutches,
catches, springs, teeth, or wires, without sewing or pasting, substantially as
described.
2. A duplex rib for umbrellas or parasols, composed of two parts between which
the covering passes, and to which it is secured by elastic or forced pressure, or by
tongues, teeth, or points, upon one part, taking into corresponding grooves, seats, or
depressions upon the other, substantially as described

page_text: 3. The clamp rib "D," shown in Figure 4, as and for the purpose specified.
4. The combination of a duplex rib "B, B," with a clamp "C," to secure the
covering of an umbrella, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John P. Onderdonk, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of February, A.D. 1876.
JNO. P. ONDERDUNK. (L.S.)