Safety umbrella-holder

Abstract

 Safety umbrella-holder, wherein recesses (133) are made along one lateral edge (132) of the longitudinal type, or other suitably shaped, element (13) for supporting and hooking the handles (22) of umbrellas (2). Said recesses (133) are sized in such a way as to contain a respective handle (22) of an umbrella (2). The opened portion of each recess (133) is engageable with a bar (134) which is pivotally mounted on a lateral end of said recess and operated by a blocking element (135) of per se known kind. Said bar (134) can be operated to move in an opened position, wherein the bar (134) is orthogonally positioned towards the outside thus permitting the insertion and/or the removal of an handle (22) of an umbrella (2) through the free open portion of the respective recess (133), or in a closed position wherein said bar (134) is transversely positioned in the free portion of the recess (133) thus engaging the opening of the recess (133) and preventing the removal of the handle (22) of the umbrella previously inserted into the corresponding recess (133).

Description

[0001] The present invention pertains to a safety holder for umbrellas which is substantially constituted by a umbrella-holder well known in the art provided with a device which locks the umbrellas to the holder so as to prevent an umbrella from being removed from the holder by a person which is not the owner.

[0002] Racks or stands for holding umbrellas are well known and widely used.

[0003] As it is also well known, said devices are made in different manner with widely varied shapes and typologies.

[0004] Some kinds of such devices are constituted by a simple tubular element presenting different cross sections and having a closed base and a top opening.

[0005] Such kind of rack is practically a circular or polygonal or a differently shaped container into which can be inserted the umbrellas.

[0006] Other kinds of umbrellas holders may further be constituted by structures having a variety of shapes and comprising, in their upper portion, convenient elements for supporting or hooking the handles of the umbrellas and, in their lower underlying portion, an element for receiving the rain water dripping from the umbrellas inserted into such holders.

[0007] The use of such solutions normally entails some considerable drawbacks.

[0008] For example, the intentional or unintentional exchange of umbrellas or the theft of the umbrellas by a third person.

[0009] Clearly, it happens to everyone to forget the umbrella into the holder and, for the same reason, the umbrella often becomes lost.

[0010] Not one of the known holders for umbrellas is designed to prevent theft, exchange and/or forgetfulness of the umbrellas in a variety of completely different places.

[0011] The object of the present invention is to provide a holder for umbrellas which solves the above stated drawbacks and which prevents an umbrella from being abstracted from its legitimate owner.

[0012] In order to better understand the features and the advantages attainable by the present invention, a possible embodiment of this invention is hereinafter described, by way of a not limitative example only, and with reference to the accompanying drawing, wherein:

• The Figure 1 is a perspective view of a possible generical umbrella-holder or rack for holding umbrellas according to the present invention;
• The Figure 2 is an enlarged partial view of the device according to Figure 1.

[0013] In the above mentioned figures, the same numerical references have been used to mark equal or similar parts.

[0014] With particular reference to the Figure 1, there is illustrated an example of a umbrella-holder or a rack for holding umbrellas which substantially consists of a pair of lateral elements which are formed by respective rectangular plates 11 of suitable thickness extending vertically as well as parallel to each other.

[0015] Said plates 11 are reciprocally connected to each other by a lower horizontal trasverse element 12 and an upper horizontal trasverse element 13.

[0016] The lower horizontal trasverse element 12 consists of a basin formed by a pair of flat walls which are converging towards their lower portions. Such basin is suitable to receive the top ends 21 of the umbrellas inserted into the rack 1 and to collect the rain water dripping from these latter umbrellas 2.

[0017] The upper horizontal trasverse element 13 substantially consists of a rectangular plate which presents a rectangular cross section of adequate thickness with its greater sides 131 extending in a horizontal plane.

[0018] One of the smaller sides 132 of said transverse element 13 has a plurality of semicircular recesses 133 which are vertically extending and spaced at regular intervals along said smaller side 132.

[0019] Said recesses 133 will serve to receive the handles 22 of the umbrellas inserted into the rack 1.

[0020] Although the recesses 133 are made along only one of the vertical sides 132 of the illustrated embodiment it is obvious that recesses 133 may also be provided along both opposed smaller sides 132.

[0021] At one end of said recesses 133 is mounted a locking and/or opening element for said recesses 133.

[0022] The locking and/or opening element is well known and consists of a bar 134 which is pivotally mounted on a respective blocking element 135.

[0023] The blocking element 135 may be a usual, standardized and well known "lock device" of adequately small size, which will operate to move said bar 134 in the locking and/or opening position.

[0024] Therefore, the "lock device" forming said blocking element 135 will realize the movement of the opening and /or locking element 134 between two positions: a first "opened" position permitting the insertion or the removal of the umbrella, wherein said bar 134 is orthogonally positioned with respect to the surfaces of the vertical sides 132 of the upper transverse horizontal element 13 as it is clearly indicated by light dashed lines in the Figure 2 or a "closed" position, wherein said bar 134 is substantially parallel to the surfaces of the vertical sides 132 of the same upper transverse horizontal element 13.

[0025] In order to prevent the exchange, the theft or the loss of the umbrella, and however, to prevent any other type of unexpected hitch caused by intentional or unintentional reasons, the user will carry out the following operations.

[0026] The user will first operate the blocking element formed by the lock 135 for moving the bar 134 in a position which is orthogonal with respect to the lateral surface 132 of the element 13, that is to say, in the already described position of the Figure 2.

[0027] As a consequence, the recess 133 will result in the "opened" position and it will be ready to house the handle 22 of an umbrella.

[0028] After which, the user will then insert the handle 22 of an umbrella 2 into the recess 133 and operate the lock 135, by means of the corresponding key, to move the opening and/or locking element, that is to say the bar 134, in the "closed" position thus blocking the handle 22 of the umbrella housed within the recess 133.

[0029] After the described operations, the owner of the umbrella will remove the key and retain it until the subsequently release of the umbrella.

[0030] To release the umbrella, the owner carries on the described sequential operations according to an inverted order and, at the end, moves the bar 134 in "closed" position and leaves the key in the lock for a next use.

[0031] Clearly, the above described embodiment can be applied to any suitable kind of rack or support in order to obtain safety racks for holding umbrellas.

[0032] For example and for clarity reasons, the above described embodiment can be applied to tubular racks for holding umbrellas.

[0033] In particular, a device for housing and safety retaining the umbrellas which is equivalent to the described embodiment, can be mounted on the inner portion of its top opening.

[0034] It is also envisioned that elements for housing and safety retaining the umbrellas which are provided with locking device or equivalent means may be applied to the upper portions, and more precisely to the portion adjacent the area for supporting the handle of the umbrella, of any other type of racks for holding umbrellas.

[0035] Although the present invention has been described in terms of a preferred embodiment for a specific type of rack for holding umbrellas, it is understood that the embodiment according to the present invention may be advantageously incorporated into other various applications.

[0036] It is well understood that the preferred embodiment of the invention described herein is exemplary and that modifications and variations may be made to the object of the present invention without departing however from the scope defined by the following claims with reference to the accompanying drawing and thence from the protection extent of the present industrial invention.

Claims

1. Safety umbrella-holder which substantially consists of a per se known kind of structure which, in its upper portion, is comprising an element as an horizontal rectilinear longitudinal element (13) that is transversely applied between two vertically extending lateral elements (11), or as a circular, polygonal or differently shaped element, for supporting and hooking the handles (22) of umbrellas (2), said structure is moreover comprising , in its lower portion, a conveniently configured element which corresponds to said supporting and hooking element in such a way as to form a respective container into which can be inserted the top ends (21) of respective umbrellas (2), said container being moreover suitable to collect the rain water dripping from these latter (2), said safety umbrella-holder being characterized in that suitable recesses (133) are made along at least one lateral edge (132) of the longitudinal, or other suitably shaped, element (13) for supporting and hooking the handles (22) of umbrellas (2) and are sized in such a way as to receive a respective handle (22) of an umbrella (2), the opened portion of said recess (133) being engageable with a bar (134) which is pivotally mounted on a lateral end of said recess and operated by a blocking element (135) of per se known kind as a usual lock device and the like , said bar (134) can be operated to move in an opened position, wherein the bar (134) is orthogonally positioned towards the outside thus permitting the insertion and/or the removal of an handle of an umbrella (2) through the free open portion of the respective recess (133), or in a closed position wherein said bar (134) is transversely positioned in the free portion of the recess (133) thus engaging the opening of the recess (133) and preventing the removal of the handle (22) of the umbrella previously inserted into the corresponding recess (133), the movement of said bar (134) being operated by a suitable key of the blocking element (135) which can be removed and retained by the user.

Drawing