Title of Invention: Angle adjusting mechanism for hanging parasols
Abstract: 
An angle adjusting mechanism for hanging parasols includes a hollow housing member and an anchor means located in the housing member. An adjusting element with a turning member located at a lower end thereof is housed in the housing member for fastening a supporting bracket. The turning member may be turned for a selected displacement in the housing member to change the angle of a hanging parasol relative to the supporting bracket to block sunshine, and a displacement element of the anchor means may be moved to constrict the adjusting element at a selected position to keep the hanging parasol stationary at the selected angle. 

Summary of Invention: 

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
&lsqb;0001&rsqb; The present invention relates to an angle adjusting mechanism for parasols and particularly a mechanism capable of changing the parasol hanging angle according to sunshine projecting angles to block sunshine. 
&lsqb;0002&rsqb; Outdoor leisured and recreational activities are very popular these days. As many people live and work in highly competitive environments, and have accumulated a lot of tension and stress, to participate some outdoor activities such as field trips, camping, or Bar-B-Q help people to release the tension and stress, and can improve quality of life. 
&lsqb;0003&rsqb; However exposing under scorching sunshine could be very uncomfortable and even harmful to people. People exposing to sunshine for a prolonged period of time will absorb too much ultraviolet light and suffer from sunburn or cause skin injury, or even suffer from heatstroke. As the availability of tree shades are limited by geographical factors, users often have to prepare and carry parasols with them to block the undesirable sunshine. Whereas, sunshine angles are constantly changing, and most hanging parasols do not have designs or means to change the parasol angle responding to the sunshine projecting angle. Some people would try to tilt the parasols by force and anchor the tilted parasols with ropes. The parasols are prone to deform and become not functioning properly. 


SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
&lsqb;0004&rsqb; The primary object of the invention is to resolve the foregoing disadvantages. The invention aims to provide a mechanism that allows users to change easily the relative angle between a hanging parasol and a supporting bracket according to changing sunshine projecting angles or wind blowing angles. The mechanism of the invention includes an adjusting element fastened to a supporting bracket. The adjusting element has a turning member located in a housing member and turnable for a selected displacement. Through the turning displacement of the turning member in the housing member, the parasol may be turned relative to the supporting bracket to change the parasol hanging angle. There is an anchor means which has a displacement element bucking on a harness element to constrict the adjusting element at a stationary position thereby to anchor the parasol at the selected angle. 
&lsqb;0005&rsqb; The foregoing, as well as additional objects, features and advantages of the invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.


Detailed Description: 

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
&lsqb;0012&rsqb; Referring to FIGS. 1, 2, and 4A, the mechanism of the invention is located between a supporting bracket 11 of a hanging parasol 1 and the central shaft 12 of the parasol 1 for adjusting the angle of the parasol 1 to block sunshine, and consists of a hollow housing member 2 and an anchor means 4 located in the housing member 2. 
&lsqb;0013&rsqb; The housing member 2 has one end opening engaged with an adjusting element 3 which has an anchor strut 31 fastened to the supporting bracket 11 and a turning member 32 located at a lower end thereof capable of turning a selected displacement in the housing member 2. The anchor means 4 includes a displacement element 41 fastening to the central shaft 12 of the parasol 1, an anchor element 42 fixedly mounted to the housing member 2 for controlling the displacement of the displacement element 41, and a harness element 44 located between the anchor element 42 and the turning member 32 and may be actuated by the displacement element 41 to harness the adjusting element 3. The turning member 32 may be turned for a selected displacement in the housing member 2 to change the angle of the parasol 1 relative to the supporting bracket 11 to block sunshine. The displacement element 41 may be turned and moved to push the harness element 44 bucking against the adjusting element 3 to keep the parasol 1 stationary at a selected angle. 
&lsqb;0014&rsqb; Referring to FIGS. 3A and 4A, the adjusting element 3, harness element 44, washer 43, anchor element 42 and displacement element 41 are disposed sequentially in the housing member 2. The anchor element 42 consists of two half bushing members 421 and 422 each has a coupling stub 424 and a coupling cavity 425 for coupling the two half bushing members 421 and 422, and a fastening section 426 to engage with a fastener 427 through an aperture 22 formed on the housing member 2 for fastening the two half bushing members 421 and 422 to the housing member 2. The anchor strut 31 of the adjusting element 3 and the displacement element 41 are exposed outside of two ends of the housing member 2, and are fastened respectively to the supporting bracket 11 and central shaft 12 of the parasol 1. When sunshine angle or wind blowing angle has changed, and users want to change the angle of the parasol 1 relative to the supporting bracket 11 in response to the changing situations as shown in FIG. 4B, as the turning member 32 is spherically shaped, and the harness element 44 has a bowl shaped section 441 facing the turning member 32, hence the adjusting element 3 fastened to the supporting bracket 11 may remain stationary while the bowl section 441 and the housing member 2 and the fastening central shaft 12 and hanging parasol 1 are turned about the turning member 32 to change the angle of the hanging parasol 1 relative to the supporting bracket 11 so that the hanging parasol 1 will be tilted at an angle desired as shown in FIG. 3B. At that position, turn the central shaft 12 and the fastened displacement element 41, as the displacement element 41 and the anchor element 42 have respectively a screw thread section 411 and 423 engaging with each other, turning of the displacement element 41 in the stationary anchor element 42 will result in moving up or down of the displacement element 41 for a selected displacement in the anchor element 42. The displacement element 41 and harness element 44 further have respectively a braking strut 412 and a bucking end 442 opposing to each other with a washer 43 of a low friction coefficient interposed therebetween. When the displacement element 41 is moved upwards by the turning of the central shaft 12, the harness element 44 will be pushed upwards such that the bowl section 441 will also lift the turning member 32 upwards. As the turning member 32 has a larger diameter than the upper end opening of the housing member 2, the turning member 32 will be retained in the housing member 2 without slipping away. When the turning member 32 is pressed against the upper end opening of the housing member 2, the upward force it received and the inherent frictional resistance will keep the turning member 32 under a compact condition such that the parasol 1 will remain stationary at the selected tilted angle relative to the supporting bracket 11 when the turning force on the central shaft 12 is released. 
&lsqb;0015&rsqb; When sunshine projecting angle changes again, turn the central shaft 12 to move the displacement element 41 downwards to release the compact condition of the adjusting element 3, the angle of the parasol 1 may be changed and adjusted again. 
&lsqb;0016&rsqb; Referring to FIGS. 5A, 5B and 6, when the parasol 1 is folded, the hanging parasol 1 is nearly in parallel with the supporting bracket 11, and the adjusting element 3 is almost normal to the housing member 2. The opening end rim of the housing member 2 holding the adjusting element 3 may have a notch 21 matching the anchor strut 31 to receive and hold the anchor strut 31 when the parasol 1 is folded. Furthermore, the turning member 32 may have another notch 33 formed on the edge rim thereof to hold an actuating cable 13 which is used for folding the parasol 1 such that the actuating cable 13 will be prevented from crushing or rupturing between the adjusting element 3 and the housing member 2. 



{'app_number': '09915315', 'application_number': None, 'doc_number': '20030019511', 'publication_number': None, 'source_file': './application/2003/pa030130.xml', 'source_data': 'USPTO-Application'}