Umbrella tent

Claim 1

An umbrella tent having a height that permits a person to stand upright inside the erected tent comprising a central post defining an upper end and a lower end, resilient one-piece ribs radially mounted around the central post and pivotally connected at their upper ends to the upper end of the central post for movement of each rib in a respective plane substantially coplanar with said post, a flexible tent cloth laid over said ribs and having a central portion attached to the upper end of said post and a peripheral portion attached to the lower ends of said ribs, a first ring surrounding the central post and slidable along the latter, rigid rods, equal in number to the number of ribs, radially projecting endwise around said first ring, and each defining an inner end pivotally connected to said first ring and an outer end pivotally connected to an intermediate portion of a respective one of said ribs, a post extension removably connected at one end to the lower end of said central post and coaxial therewith and having an outside diameter substantially equal to the outside diameter of said central post, said first ring slidable along said central post and along said post extension during opening and closing movements of said tents, between an uppermost position at the lower end of said central post and a lowermost position intermediate the ends of said post extension, a foot-rest fixed to the lower end of said post extension and engageable by one's foot for opening the tent by downward foot pressure exerted thereon while one's hands prevent downward movement of said first ring to thereby cause downward movement of said post extension and central post through said first ring and consequent spreading of said ribs to open-tent position, a locking device mounted on said central post near the lower end thereof and releasably holding said first ring in its uppermost position at the lower end of said central post with said rods and ribs outwardly pivoted to open-tent position, thereby allowing removal of the post extension cleared by the first ring, said ribs, in open-tent position, being maintained in a convex arc-shaped by the outward thrust of said rods on said intermediate portions of said ribs and the inward restraining force of said tent cloth exerted on the lower outer ends of said ribs, said ribs in open-tent position having a length to extend down and rest on the ground and said post extension, when fitted to said central post, terminating above ground level, and further including a spreader ring slidably mounted on said central post and said post extension, overlying said first ring and independent of the same, said spreader ring having a larger effective diameter than that of said first ring and taking a position just above said first ring in the open-tent position with said rods in substantially horizontal position underneath said spreader ring, movement of said first ring downwardly along said central post and said post extension to collapse the tent allowing downward sliding movement of said spreader ring along said central post and said post extension until said spreader ring is engaged by said rods, so that said spreader ring takes, in the fully collapsed position of said tent, an intermediate position along said post extension wherein it is spaced well above said first ring and forms an inward abutment for said rods to maintain said rods in a limit collapsed position wherein they are upwardly and outwardly inclined from said first ring to facilitate subsequent opening of said tent, said locking device comprises an elongated hook member having one end attached to the central post and the other end releasably hooking the first ring in said uppermost position to said central post in the open-tent position, said spreader ring being formed with an aperture therethrough and through which freely extends said elongated hook member in the open-tent position.