Patent ID: 7775226

Claim:
An umbrella comprising: a shaft: a canopy; and a spoke system, coupled to the shaft and to the canopy, that supports the canopy and provides a mechanism to open and close the canopy; wherein the spoke system includes: a canopy spoke spindle removably coupled to the shaft; a canopy spoke, coupled to the shaft and to the canopy that includes a canopy spoke shaft with two ends with one end having a ball geometry that couples to the canopy spoke spindle, and that defines a canopy spoke pin located substantially in a central portion of the canopy spoke shaft, wherein the canopy spoke is a unitary piece; a support spoke spindle removably coupled to the shaft that slides along the shaft; a support spoke, coupled to the shaft and the canopy spoke, that includes a support spoke shaft with two ends, the first end having a fork geometry that is rotatably coupled to the canopy spoke pin, and the second end having a ball geometry that couples to the support spoke spindle, and that defines a support spoke pin located substantially in a central portion of the support spoke shaft, wherein the support spoke is a unitary piece; a first release mechanism that includes the fork geometry of the support spoke and the canopy spoke pin; wherein the first release mechanism operates in the following modes: a. joint mode wherein the fork geometry of the support spoke and the canopy spoke pin are coupled such that the support spoke and the canopy spoke pivot relative to one another; and b. release mode wherein the fork geometry of the support spoke and the canopy spoke pin are uncoupled; wherein a first force decouples a coupled fork geometry of the support spoke and canopy spoke pin of the joint mode into the release mode; and wherein the geometries of the canopy spoke and the support spoke in joint mode are substantially equal to the geometries of the canopy spoke and the support spoke, respectively, in release mode.