The presently disclosed umbrella device accomplishes both automatic opening, as accomplished by the previous art (but by a means different from that of the prior art) and in addition discloses a means by which the automatic closing of the umbrella can be accomplished (by a means not disclosed in the prior art). Novel mechanical means are used to open and close the umbrella without the need to move the hand from its normal position on the handle (13 or 58), the normal carrying position. A preferred embodiment of the invention uses compressed gas in an ampule (23) to extend a spring (7) provided for the opening of the umbrella (1) while extending the telescoped handle cylinders (9 and 5) which closes the umbrella. The preferred embodiment also features a sleeve (12) which can simultaneously exhaust gas to atmosphere through the port (18) while releasing the mechanical latch (34) to allow a spring (7) to telescope the handle cylinders (5 and 9) and deploy the umbrella canopy (11).
