WIND FORCE RESPONSIVE UMBRELLA

摘要

Umbrella An umbrella that closes when the inside surface of the open umbrella's cover is exposed to a gust of wind normally strong enough to invert the umbrella's rib linkage system. Each stretcher rib of the umbrella's rib linkage system is connected to the umbrella's runner when the umbrella is opened during normal use such that each stretcher rib extends beneath a plane that includes the connections of those stretcher ribs to the runner at a downwardly directed acute angle with the umbrella's centerpost. A latch mounted in the centerpost defines a latch edge which does not support the umbrella's runner on the centerpost, and therefor does not hold the umbrella's rib linkage system open, when the underside of the umbrella's cover is exposed to substantially no wind forces. The latch's latch edge is adapted to restrain the runner in that position where the linkage system is held in the erected position when the underside of the umbrella's cover is exposed to minor wind forces not sufficient to turn the umbrella inside out. And the latch edge also is configured to cooperate with the runner to depress the latch interiorly of the centerpost so that the linkage system can collapse when the stretcher ribs are extended above that transverse plane such as might occur when the umbrella is open during normal use and major wind forces in the form of a gust of wind hits the underside of the umbrella's cover.