US20060096625A1

US20060096625A1 - Illuminated umbrella

Info

Publication number: US20060096625A1
Application number: US10/982,260
Authority: US
Inventors: Lung-Chien Chen; Wen-How Lan; Feng-Ku Chien
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2004-11-05
Filing date: 2004-11-05
Publication date: 2006-05-11

Abstract

A umbrella includes a shank having a tip and a handle opposite to the tip, a bracket having first ends pivotally connected to the shank and second ends pivotally connected to skeletons each having a first end pivotally connected to the shank and second end divergently extending out from the shank, a canopy on top of the skeletons and the bracket and having the tip extending out of the canopy, a first illuminator received in the handle to light the handle and a second illuminator received in the shank to light the tip.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an umbrella, and more particularly to an illuminated umbrella having at least two illuminators mounted inside the shank of the umbrella, optic fibers extending from the shank to distal ends of the ribs and plugs each corresponding to and enclosing one of the distal ends of the optic fibers such that the at least two illuminators are able to emit light through the optic fibers to illuminate the entire umbrella.
2. Description of Related Art
When in rainy days, people use umbrellas to prevent themselves from getting wet. There is no problem for people to use umbrellas in brought daylight. However, when it's at night, people have trouble to see things clearly without proper lighting. What is more is that when it is raining at night, the difficulty to see things clearly increases and this is the primary reason that the traffic accident rate is especially high in rainy days. For pedestrians walking along the sidewalk in dark and rainy days and holding an umbrella in their hands, there seems no protection to warn others that there is someone in the dark. To obviate the chances of being hit by passing cars, there is a patent discussing the use of an electrical torch mounted at a free end of the shank to emit a light beam directly upward so as to form an illuminated area under the canopy of the umbrella. This, indeed, increases the safety of the pedestrians holding an umbrella and walking in the dark. However, the upward emitted light influences the pedestrian's ability to see things clearly. A different patent discusses the use of an illuminator mounted at the tip of the shank and on top of the canopy. With the illuminator mounted at the tip of the umbrella, the user of the umbrella is able to see things clearly without any influences. However, because the illuminator is not able to form an illuminated area big enough to enable others to see that there is a person walking in the dark such that the light effect to warn others is small.
The present invention tends to provide an improved illuminated umbrella to easily warn others there is a person walking in the rain and to enable the user of the umbrella to see things clearly.
Other objects, advantages, and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary objective of the present invention is to provide an improved illuminated umbrella to emit light without influencing the user's vision.
In order to accomplish the objective, the umbrella of the present invention includes at least two illuminators respectively mounted in the shank and multiple plugs mounted at free ends of the umbrella skeleton and connected to the second illuminator via optic fibers. Therefore, an illuminated shank as a result of the at least two illuminators and multiple illuminated plugs are provided in the umbrella of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view showing the structure of a shank of an umbrella in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing inside structure of the skeleton; and
FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing the application of the umbrella of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

With reference to FIGS. 1-4, an umbrella constructed in accordance with the present invention includes a shank 10 and a frame 20.
The shank 10 is provided with a tip 11, a handle 12 opposite to the tip 11, a first illuminator 13 received in the handle 12 and having an orientation directed toward the handle 12, a second illuminator 14 received in the shank 10 and having an orientation directed toward the tip 11 and electrically connected to the first illuminator 13 by means of a battery set 15 and connection wires 16, 17. In order to have the best illumination effect, the handle 12 is made of a transparent material and the tip is also made of the transparent material. Because both the handle 12 and the tip 11 are made of a transparent material and the first illuminator 13 is directed toward the distal free end of the handle 12 and the second illuminator 14 is directed toward the tip 11, when the first illuminator 13 and the second illuminator 14 are illuminated as a result of movement of a pushbutton 18 which is slidably mounted on an outer periphery of the shank 10 to control electrical connection of the first illuminator 13 to the battery set 15 and the electrical connection of the second illuminator 14 to the battery set 15, both the handle 12 and the tip 11 are able to emit light as indicators to warn others that there is a person walking under the umbrella.
The frame 20 includes a canopy 21, a bracket 22 having first ends pivotally connected to the shank 10 and second ends pivotally connected to U shaped skeletons 23 divergently extending outward from the tip 11 and optic fibers 24 each received in a corresponding one of the skeletons 23 and having a first end extending to a distal end of the corresponding skeleton 23 and a second end extending through holes 19 defined in an upper portion of the shank 10 under the canopy 21. Plugs 25 are provided to enclose the distal ends of both the skeletons 23 and the optic fibers 24. A seal 26 is preferably provided and sandwiched between the tip 11 and the canopy 21 to prevent water from seeping into the umbrella.
With reference to FIG. 5, when the pushbutton 18 is moved to activate the first illuminator 13 and the second illuminator 14, due to the orientation of the first illuminator 13 being directed toward the distal end of the handle 12 and the orientation of the second illuminator 14 being directed toward the distal end of the tip 11, both the handle 12 and the tip 11 will emit light. Further, because the proximate ends of the optic fibers 24 are exposed in the shank 10, light of the second illuminator 14 is received by the optic fibers 24 and thus the optic fibers 24 transmit the light to the distal ends of the optic fibers 24. Because the plugs 25 are made of a transparent material, the plugs 25 will also emit light. The first illuminator 13 and the illuminator 14 are light-emitting diodes, preferably.
Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.

Claims

1. An umbrella comprising:

a shank having a tip and a handle opposite to the tip;

a bracket having first ends pivotally connected to the shank and second ends pivotally connected to skeletons each having a first end pivotally connected to the shank and second end divergently extending out from the shank;

a canopy on top of the skeletons and the bracket and having the tip extending out of the canopy;

a first illuminator received in the handle to light the handle; and

a second illuminator received in the shank to light the tip.

2. The umbrella as claimed in claim 1 further comprising multiple optic fibers each received in a corresponding one of the skeletons and having a first end extending into the shank and a second end extending to a free end of the skeleton so that the free ends of the skeletons are able to emit light due to light from the second illuminator.

3. The umbrella as claimed in claim 1, wherein a battery set is received in the shank to electrically connect the first illuminator and the second illuminator via connection wires.

4. The umbrella as claimed in claim 3 further comprising a pushbutton slidably mounted on an outer periphery of the shank to control electrical connection of the battery set to the first illuminator and the second illuminator.

5. The umbrella as claimed in claim 2, wherein a battery set is received in the shank to electrically connect the first illuminator and the second illuminator via connection wires.

6. The umbrella as claimed in claim 5 further comprising a pushbutton slidably mounted on an outer periphery of the shank to control electrical connection of the battery set to the first illuminator and the second illuminator.

7. The umbrella as claimed in claim 6, wherein the shank has holes to allow extension of the optic fibers so as to receive light from the second illuminator.

8. The umbrella as claimed in claim 7, wherein a seal is sandwiched between the tip and the canopy to prevent water from seeping into the umbrella.

9. The umbrella as claimed in claim 8, wherein each of the skeletons has a U shaped cross section.