[0018] As shown in FIGS. 1-5, the rib assembly 2 of the present invention will be provided in an automatic umbrella automatically opening or closing the umbrella, including: a central shaft 1, a rib assembly 2, an opening spring 3 installed in the central shaft 1 for opening the umbrella, an umbrella cloth 4 secured on the rib assembly 2, and a control device 5 for controlling the opening or closing of the umbrella. The umbrella may be triple folds or any other multiple folds, not limited in this invention.

[0019] The central shaft 1 includes: a lower tube 11 having a grip 12 secured to the lower tube 11 for mounting major parts of the control device 5 in the grip 12, a middle tube 13, and an upper tube 14 telescopically engageable with one another. The control device 5 is a conventional mechanism for operatively opening or closing the umbrella and thus not described in detail in this application. The rib assembly 2 includes: a top rib 21 pivotally secured to an upper notch 15 formed on a top of the central shaft 1, a stretcher rib 22 pivotally secured between the top rib 21 and a lower runner 23 slidably held on the central shaft 1, an intermediate rib 24 pivotally secured to the top rib 21 and pivotally secured to the stretcher rib 22 by a connecting rib 25, and a tail (or outer) rib 26 pivotally connected to the intermediate rib 24 through a joint 28 and also pivotally connected to a spring rib 27 which is slidably coupled to the intermediate rib 24 by a coupling ring 240 and with the spring rib 27 pivotally secured to the top rib 21.

[0020] Each top rib 21 includes: a pair of elastic plates (or rods) 212 bifurcated inwardly towards the central shaft 1 from a middle portion 211 of the top rib 21, having an inner end 212 i of each elastic plate 212 inserted or fixed in a sleeve member 213 pivotally secured on the upper notch 15 on the shaft 1 and having an outer end 212 t of each elastic plate 212 inserted or fixed in a socket 211 a of the middle portion 211 of the top rib 21; having the middle portion 211 of the top rib 21 pivotally connected to the stretcher rib 22 and having an outer end portion 214 of the top rib 21 pivotally connected with the intermediate rib 24; whereby upon opening of the umbrella, the elastic plates 212 of the top ribs 21 will form a lotus shape arrangement by arcuately bending the elastic plates 212 to store resilience of the elastic plates 212 as urged by the opening spring 3 of the umbrella; and upon closing of the umbrella by releasing the tension of the opening spring 3, the elastic plates 212 of lotus shape will restore to flatten the plates 212 to release their resilience to retract the rib assembly 2 for automatically closing the umbrella. By the way, the conventional “closing springs” as provided in U.S. Pat. No. 5,441,065 are now eliminated. And each lotus-shape rib (the top rib 21 having elastic plates 212) will play double duties both for supporting umbrella cloth 4 and also for serving as “closing spring” for automatically closing the umbrella from its opening state. Once closing the umbrella, the resilience from the lotus-shape rib will tension the lower runner 23 towards the central shaft 1 for stably folding the ribs without being easily unfolded.

[0021] The intermediate rib 24 has its inner end portion 241 pivotally secured to the top rib 21 and having an outer end portion 243 of the intermediate rib 24 pivotally secured to the joint 28 secured with the tail rib 26.

[0022] The spring rib 27 has its inner end 271 pivotally connected with an outer portion 215 of the top rib 21 adjacent to an outermost end portion 214 of the top rib 21, and having an outer end 272 of the spring rib 27 pivotally connected with the joint 28 of the tail rib 26.

[0023] The connecting rib 25 has its inner end potion 251 formed as a ring pivotally secured to an outer portion 223 of the stretcher rib 22, and having an outer end portion 252 also formed as a ring pivotally connected with an innermost end portion 242 of the intermediate rib 24. The connecting rib 25 may be formed as a spring rod.

[0024] The stretcher rib 22, which may be made of plastic, reinforced plastic or composite materials, and including: a solid inner end portion 221 pivotally secured to the lower runner 23; a solid outer end portion 222 pivotally connected to the middle portion 211 of the top rib 21; an outer portion 223 pivotally connected to the inner end portion 251 of the connecting rib 25 (FIGS. 2, 4); a longitudinal groove 224 longitudinally recessed in the stretcher rib 22 for receiving the connecting rib 24 into the groove 224 when closing the umbrella and folding the rib assembly 2; and a pair of reinforcing extensions 225 longitudinally formed on opposite side portions of the stretcher rib 22 for reinforcing the mechanical strength of the rib 22.

[0025] For saving material, a recess 226 may be formed in the stretcher rib 22 opposite to the longitudinal groove 224 as shown in dotted line of FIG. 5.

[0026] Naturally, the materials for making the ribs of the rib assembly 2 are not limited in this invention. The aluminum alloy is light in weight; while the plastic rib may provide good mechanical strength; either of them being optionally chosen in this invention.

[0027] As shown in FIG. 1, every pair of elastic plates 212 of the top rib 21 when opening the umbrella simulatively forms a petal of a lotus flower having two inner ends 212 i of two neighboring elastic plates 212 diverging outwardly from the upper notch 15 of the central shaft 1 and then having two outer ends 212 t of two neighboring elastic plates 212 converging in the middle portion 211 of each top rib 21, thereby forming a lotus shape when opening the umbrella for storing elastic energy for the ribs 21 adapted to be used for next closing or folding operation.

[0028] Each “petal” (pair of elastic plates 212) has a length generally equal to one sixth of a radius of the rib assembly 2 or umbrella cloth 4 when opening the umbrella. Even the elastic plates 212 may be made of steel plates, they will not cause or increase much weight of the rib assembly since the length of each elastic plate 212 of each top rib 21 merely equals to one-sixth length of the radius of the umbrella as opened.

[0029] However, it is not necessary to further install so many “closing springs” on the rib assembly as required by a conventional automatic opening or closing umbrella, thereby decreasing the production cost.

[0030] As shown in FIGS. 6, 7, the lotus-shape ribs of the rib assembly have been modified from the top ribs to the stretcher ribs 22.

[0031] Each stretcher rib 22 includes: a sleeve member 221 a pivotally secured to the lower runner 23 slidably held on the central shaft 1; a pair of elastic plates (or rods) 220 having their inner ends 221 inserted or fixed in the sleeve member 221 a and bifurcated outwardly from the central shaft 1 to have two outer ends 222 of two elastic plates 220 to be pivotally connected with a middle portion 211 of each top rib 21 of which the middle portion 211 may be a socket or a recess for receiving and pivotally connecting each outer end 222 of each elastic plate 220 of the stretcher rib 22, whereby upon opening of the umbrella, the elastic plates 220 of the stretcher ribs 22 will be arcuately bent to form a lotus shape arrangement as urged by the opening spring 3 in the shaft 1 to store elasticity of the elastic plates 220; and upon closing of the umbrella by releasing the tension of the opening spring 3, the elastic plates 220 of lotus shape will restore to flatten the plates to release their elastic energy to retract the rib assembly for automatically closing the umbrella.

[0032] Each stretcher rib 22 has its outermost end portion 222 pivotally connected to the middle portion 211 of the top rib 21, an outer portion 223 of the stretcher rib 22 pivotally connected with an inner end portion 251 of the connecting rib 25.

[0033] The sleeve member 221 a may be made of light-weight plastic materials. The length of each stretcher rib 22 is generally equal to one sixth of a radius of the rib assembly 2 or umbrella cloth 4 when opened. The stretcher rib 22 has its length generally equal to one half of the length of each top rib 21 (FIG. 6).

[0034] Each elastic plate 220 (or 212) may be made of steel or elastomers including elastic plastics. The sleeve member 221 a (or 213) may also be eliminated by directly pivotally connecting an inner end portion of each stretcher rib (or top rib) to the ferrule (runner 23 or notch 15) formed on the central shaft 1.

[0035] As shown in FIGS. 8-10, the rib assembly 2 of another preferred embodiment of the present invention may be used in a topless umbrella as manually operated or an automatically closing umbrella, which includes: a central shaft 1, and a rib assembly 2 for securing an umbrella cloth 4 thereon. The umbrella may be triple-fold or multiple folds.

[0036] The central shaft includes: a lower tube 11 having a grip 12 secured thereto, a middle tube 13, an upper tube 14 telescopically engageable with one another, and a catch 16 resiliently held on the shaft 1 for locking the lower runner 23 of the rib assembly 2 on its opening state when opening the umbrella.

[0037] The rib assembly 2 includes: a top rib 21 pivotally secured to an upper notch 15 formed on a top of the central shaft 1, a stretcher rib 22 pivotally connected between the top rib 21 and a lower runner 23 slidably held on the shaft 1, an intermediate rib 24 pivotally secured to the stretcher rib 22 and pivotally connected to the top rib 21 by a connecting rib 25, and a tail (or outer) rib 26 pivotally secured to the intermediate rib 24.

[0038] Each top rib 21 includes: a pair of elastic plates (or rods) 212 bifurcated inwardly towards the central shaft 1 from a middle portion 224 of the stretcher rib 22, having an inner end 212 i of each elastic plate 212 inserted or fixed in a sleeve member 213 pivotally secured on the upper notch 15 on the shaft 1 and having an outer end 212 t of each elastic plate 212 inserted in a socket (or groove) of the middle portion 224 of the stretcher rib 22; having the middle portion 224 of the stretcher rib 22 pivotally connected with the outer ends 212 t of the elastic plates 212 of the top rib 21; whereby upon opening of the umbrella, the elastic plates 212 of the top ribs 21 will form a lotus shape arrangement by arcuately bending the elastic plates 212 to store resilience of the elastic plates 212 as tensioned by the umbrella cloth and the rib assembly 2 of the umbrella as locked by the catch 16 on the shaft 1; and upon closing of the umbrella by depressing the catch 16 to unlock the runner 23, the elastic plates 212 of lotus shape will restore to flatten the plates to release their resilience to retract the rib assembly 2 for automatically closing the umbrella.

[0039] The connecting rib 25 has its inner end portion 251 pivotally connected to an outer portion 215 of the top rib 21 and an outer end portion 252 of the rib 25 connected to the intermediate rib 24. The sleeve member 213 may be made of light-weight plastic materials. The length of each top rib 21 may be one half of the length of the stretcher rib 22.

[0040] As shown in FIGS. 11, 12, the lotus-shape rib has been modified from the top rib 21 to the stretcher rib 22. The top rib 21 has its inner end portion 213 a pivotally secured to the upper notch 15 on the shaft 1 and having an outermost end portion 214 a pivotally connected to a middle portion 224 of the stretcher rib 22, and having an outer portion 215 of the top rib 21 pivotally connected with an inner end portion 251 of the connecting rib 25. The stretcher rib 22 has its outer end portion 222 pivotally connected with the intermediate rib 24. Each stretcher rib 22 includes: a sleeve member 221 a pivotally secured to the lower runner 23 slidably held on the central shaft 1; a pair of elastic plates (or rods) 220 having their inner ends 221 inserted or fixed in the sleeve member 221 a and bifurcated outwardly from the central shaft 1 to have two outer ends 220 t of two elastic plates 220 to be inserted or fixed in a socket (or recess) 224 a of a middle portion 224 of each stretcher rib 22, of which the middle portion 224 of the stretcher rib may be a recess for receiving and pivotally connecting each outermost end portion 214 a of each top rib 21, whereby upon opening of the umbrella, the elastic plates 220 of the stretcher ribs 22 will be arcuately bent to form a lotus shape arrangement as tensioned by the umbrella cloth and the rib assembly to store elasticity of the elastic plates 220 p and upon closing of the umbrella by depressing the catch 16 on the shaft, the elastic plates 220 of lotus shape will restore to flatten the plates to release their elastic energy to retract the rib assembly for automatically closing the umbrella.

[0041] As shown in FIG. 13, when the umbrella is folded and turned the upside down, the lotus-shape rib of the rib assembly 2 will tension the lower runner 23 towards the central shaft 1 to prevent its gravitational descending and to prevent from “loosening” (opening) of the rib assembly 2 already folded, thereby maintaining a stable folding state when closing the umbrella as effected by each lotus-shape rib which serves as a “closing spring” for helping closing of the umbrella.

[0042] The prevent invention may be modified without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

[0005]FIG. 1 is an illustration showing an opened umbrella of the present invention.

[0006]FIG. 2 is a partial sectional drawing of the present invention when opened.

[0007]FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing partial top ribs of the present invention.

[0008]FIG. 4 is a bottom perspective view of the stretcher rib when viewed from 4-4 direction of FIG. 2.

[0009]FIG. 5 is a cross sectional drawing of FIG. 4.

[0010]FIG. 6 shows an opened umbrella of another preferred embodiment of the present invention.

[0011]FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing the top ribs and the stretcher ribs of the umbrella of FIG. 6.

[0012]FIG. 8 shows an opened umbrella of still another preferred embodiment of the present invention.

[0013]FIG. 9 is a front view of the umbrella as shown in FIG. 8.

[0014]FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the top rib and the stretcher rib of the umbrella of FIG. 9.

[0015]FIG. 11 shows further preferred embodiment of an opened umbrella of the present invention.

[0016]FIG. 12 is a perspective view of the top ribs and the stretcher ribs of FIG. 11.

[0017]FIG. 13 shows a folded umbrella when turning the upside down.