EXPLANDABLE SHELTER

Abstract

The present invention relates to an expandable shelter, the shelter includes an upright support and ribs for supporting a canopy. Stretchers are provided for stretching the ribs from the upright support. A runner is provided for moving downwards along the upright support so that the stretchers stretch the ribs from the upright support to expand the shelter. Advantageously, a shelter assembly whereby the runner moves downward to stretch the ribs may provide a compact collapsed shelter with more expansive sheltering when compared with other shelters where the runner instead moves upwards for expansion.

Claims

1. An expandable shelter, the shelter including: an upright support; ribs for supporting a canopy; stretchers for stretching the ribs from the upright support; and a runner for moving downwards along the upright support so that the stretchers stretch the ribs from the upright support to expand the shelter, the runner being further configured to move upwards along the upright support so that the stretchers move above the ribs to collapse the shelter.

2. An expandable shelter as claimed in claim 1, wherein the shelter further includes extenders for extending from the ribs.

3. An expandable shelter as claimed in claim 2, wherein the extenders are pivotally mounted relative to the ribs.

4. An expandable shelter as claimed in claim 2, wherein the extenders open up and outwards.

5. An expandable shelter as claimed in claim 2, wherein the extenders collapse flat with the ribs.

6. An expandable shelter as claimed in claim 2, wherein the ribs are located between extenders and stretchers when the shelter is collapsed.

7. An expandable shelter as claimed in claim 2, wherein each corresponding rib, extender and stretcher moves in a common plane.

8. An expandable shelter as claimed in claim 1, wherein the stretchers are located adjacent or in register with the ribs when the shelter is contracted.

9. An expandable shelter as claimed in claim 1, further including a hub terminating the upright support.

10. An expandable shelter as claimed in claim 9, the ribs are pivotally mounted to the hub.

11. An expandable shelter as claimed in claim 1, wherein ends of the ribs terminate in respective connectors.

12. An expandable shelter as claimed in claim 11, wherein extenders are pivotally mounted to the connectors.

13. An expandable shelter as claimed in claim 11, wherein the stretchers are pivotally mounted to the connectors.

14. An expandable shelter as claimed in claim 1, further including a restraint for restraining extending of extenders from the ribs.

15. An expandable shelter as claimed in claim 1, wherein the stretchers are pivotally mounted relative to the runner and respective ribs.

16. An expandable shelter as claimed in claim 1, further including a lock for locking the runner relative to the upright support when the shelter is expanded.

17. An expandable shelter as claimed in claim 1, wherein the runner includes a hand grip with finger grooves terminating in an end shelf.

18. An expandable shelter as claimed in claim 1, further including one or more anchors for anchoring the shelter, the anchors including receptacles for temporarily receiving material.

19. An expandable shelter as claimed in claim 18, wherein the receptacles are in the form of open pockets that rest on the ground.

20. An expandable shelter as claimed in claim 18, wherein the anchors include four strips extending from a periphery of the shelter to define four viewing spaces between adjacent strips with no walls between the adjacent strips.

21. An expandable shelter as claimed in claim 18, wherein the anchors prevent contraction of the expanded shelter.

22. An expandable shelter as claimed in claim 1, wherein the support includes a spike for hammering into the ground with a hammer pole that slides relative to the spike.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0034] Preferred features, embodiments and variations of the invention may be discerned from the following Detailed Description which provides sufficient information for those skilled in the art to perform the invention. The Detailed Description is not to be regarded as limiting the scope of the preceding Summary of the Invention in any way. The Detailed Description will make reference to a number of drawings as follows:

[0035] FIG. 1 is a lower perspective view of an assembled portable beach shelter assembly in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

[0036] FIG. 2 is an exploded side view of the unassembled portable beach shelter assembly of FIG. 1;

[0037] FIG. 3 is a close-up perspective view of a rib of the beach shelter assembly of FIG. 1;

[0038] FIG. 4 is a close-up perspective view of an alternative rib of the beach shelter assembly of FIG. 1;

[0039] FIG. 5 is an upper perspective view of a beach shelter frame including the ribs of FIG. 4;

[0040] FIG. 6 is an upper perspective view of beach shelter frame including the ribs of FIG. 3;

[0041] FIG. 7 is a side view of a contracted beach shelter frame in accordance with another embodiment;

[0042] FIG. 8a is a plan view of the beach shelter frame of FIG. 7 with stretchers in a partially expanded position;

[0043] FIG. 8b is a side view of the beach shelter frame of FIG. 8a;

[0044] FIG. 9a is a plan view of the beach shelter frame of FIG. 7 with stretchers in a fully expanded position, a runner locked and extenders partially extended;

[0045] FIG. 9b is a side view of the beach shelter frame of FIG. 9a;

[0046] FIG. 10a is a plan view of the expanded beach shelter frame of FIG. 7 with extenders fully extended; and

[0047] FIG. 10b is a side view of the expanded beach shelter frame of FIG. 10a.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0048] According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a portable beach shelter assembly 100 as shown in FIG. 1. The shelter assembly 100 includes a vertical and central support 102. An expandable shelter 104 is supported by the support 102 and expands to shelter a person from the sun. Four corner anchors 106 are provided for anchoring the shelter 104 to the ground. Advantageously, shelter assembly 100 is wind resistant whereby the anchors anchor the shelter 104 to impede the assembly 100 from being blown away. The assembly 100 is erected by a single person and provides excellent ventilation,

[0049] The anchors 106 include base pocket receptacles 108 for receiving sand, water bottles, rocks or other like anchoring materials. The receptacles 108 are formed from stitched sheet or other material. The anchors 106 also include respective corner strips 110 extending from a corner periphery of the shelter 104 to the ground. One or more of the strips 110 may include interior storage pockets 112:

[0050] Turning to FIG. 2, the support 102 includes a spike 200 for spiking into the sand (e.g. ground). The support 102 also includes a tubular hammer pole 202 for releasably receiving the spike 200. In turn, the pole 202 couples to a tubular vertical pole 204 of the shelter 104.

[0051] The expandable shelter 104 includes attached canopy 206 formed from a sheet of material. The shelter 104 includes four ribs 208 supporting the canopy 206 and pivotally anchored at a crown 209. The shelter 104 also includes stretchers 212 for expanding the ribs 208 from the support 102. A runner 210 is provided for running upwards along the support 102 to actuate the stretchers 212. The shelter 104 may include a lock for locking the runner 210 in place at an upper position when the shelter 104 is expanded.

[0052] The shelter assembly 100 can be collapsed to be conveniently stowed in a carry-bag carried by one person. The shelter 100 is generally square (FIG. 1) and expanded to be at least 1.8 metres long1.8 metres wide, or other larger or smaller dimension as required. The assembled shelter 100 may be of sufficient height to accommodate a standing person. The ribs 208 and support 102 include lightweight, resilient tubes (e.g. aluminium) to facilitate easy handling by the single user that can conveniently erect and collapse the assembly 100.

[0053] The shelter 104 is initially expanded using the runner 210, and then further expanded to tighten the canopy 206 using the ribs 208. FIG. 3 shows a telescopic rib 208 which can be axially expanded to tighten the canopy 208. Each rib 208 includes a lock 300 or a ratchet type lock for locking the rib 208 in an expanded configuration. The lock 300 includes a spring-biased pushbutton 302 that protrudes through adjustment holes 303 in both sliding stems 304, 306 to lock the sterns 304, 306 together, FIG. 6 shows the beach shelter frame including the ribs 208 of FIG. 3.

[0054] Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 4, the ribs 208 can be pivotally expandable to tighten the canopy 206, In this manner a top stem 400 of the rib 208 pivots downwardly to align with the level stem 402 during tightening of the canopy 206. Each rib 208 may include a mechanical restraint for restraining pivoting downwardly beyond 180 so that the erected rib 208 is substantially straight. FIG. 5 shows the beach shelter frame including the ribs 208 of FIG. 4.

[0055] A method for assembling the portable shelter assembly 100 is now briefly described.

[0056] Initially, a storage bag axially slips of off the compacted shelter assembly 100.

[0057] Next, the method involves erecting the support 102. The spike 200 slides into the pole 202. The spike 200 is then hammered into the sand by forcing the pole 202 up and down.

[0058] Next, the expandable shelter 104 is supported by the support 102. The vertical pole 204 of the shelter 104 slides onto the lower pole 202.

[0059] Next, the anchor receptacles 108 are filled with sand to anchor the shelter 104.

[0060] Next, the shelter 104 is expanded in two easy steps to shelter up to two people comfortably, namely: a first step for opening the shelter 104 and a second step for tightening the shelter 104. Firstly, the runner 210 is run up the vertical pole 204 to expand the ribs 208 supporting the canopy 206, Secondly, the ribs 208 are expanded to tighten the canopy 206. Both the runner 210 and the ribs 208 may be locked in place.

[0061] Once the day is done, the portable assembly 100 may be conveniently unassembled and returned to its storage bag.

[0062] A person skilled in the art will appreciate that many embodiments and variations can be made without departing from the ambit of the present invention.

[0063] In one embodiment, the anchors 106 may include pegs for pegging to hard ground (e.g., grass).

[0064] The expandable shelter 102 can be replaced by the alternative shelter 700 shown in FIG. 7, The shelter 700 includes an upright support 702 and intermediate ribs 704 for supporting the canopy 206. Inner stretchers 706 stretch the ribs 704 from the upright support 702. A can best be seen when viewing FIGS. 8 and 9, a central runner 708 is provided for moving downwards along the upright support 702, away from the ribs 704, so that the stretchers 706 stretch out the ribs 704 from the upright support 702 to expand the shelter 700.

[0065] Advantageously, the overall shelter assembly whereby the runner 708 moves downward to stretch the ribs 704 provides a compact collapsed shelter 700 with more expansive sheltering when compared with the shelter 104 where the runner 210 instead moves upwards to expand the canopy 206,

[0066] As can best be seen in FIGS. 9 and 10, the shelter 700 further includes outer extenders 710 for extending from the ribs 704. The extenders 710 are pivotally mounted relative to the ribs 704, and open up and outwards to create a much larger shelter 700 than shelter 104 whilst remaining readily portable and compact when collapsed.

[0067] Returning to FIG. 7, the inner stretchers 706 lie adjacent and in register with the intermediate ribs 704 when the shelter 700 is contracted. The outer extenders 710 collapse flat with the intermediate ribs 704. Each corresponding rib 704, stretcher 706 and extender 710 moves in a common plane.

[0068] The shelter 700 further includes a hub 712 terminating the upright support 702. The ribs 704 are pivotally mounted to the hub 712. The lower free ends of the ribs 704 terminate in connectors 714 which form a restraint for restraining pivoting of the fully open extenders 710 shown in FIG. 10. The extenders 710 are pivotally mounted to the connectors 714. The stretchers 706 are pivotally mounted relative to the runner 708 and respective ribs 704 via the connectors 714.

[0069] The shelter 700 includes a spring-loaded pushbutton lock 716 for locking the runner 708 relative to the upright support 702 when the shelter 700 is expanded as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10. The runner 708 includes a lower hand grip with finger grooves terminating in an end shelf.

[0070] In use, the shelter 700 is in a collapsed state as shown in FIG. 7. The collapsed shelter 700 is positioned on the support 102, before the runner 708 is slid down the upright support 702 to expand the stretchers 706 and ribs 704. The lock 716 automatically engages when the shelter 700 is expanded to the position shown in FIGS. 9 and 10. The extenders 710 are then extended up and outwardly to tighten the attached canopy 206. The shelter 700 is then secured in the same way as the assembly 100 described above.

[0071] Once finished for the day, the extenders 710 can be retracted once more. The lock 716 can be the disengaged by pushing a button, thereby disengaging a spring-loaded pin in the support 702, and the runner 708 can be slid upwards along the support 702 to collapse the ribs 704 and stretchers 706. The collapsed shelter 700 can be removed from the support 102 and readily carried away by a single person and stored in the trunk of a car, as before.

[0072] The present invention also has application to umbrellas including hand-held umbrellas and caf umbrellas. Known umbrellas use an upward motion for the runner on the middle pole when opening the umbrella. The length of stroke required to open the umbrella is basically dictated by the size of the umbrella (i.e. that's why golf umbrellas are longer than normal personal rain umbrellas when folded.) By reversing this and pulling the runner 708 down instead of pushing it up, the length of stroke is reduced significantly (by about 80%) so it then provides for a much more compact fold and less parts (or steps) in the opening /closing process than a traditional handbag Compact umbrella with it's multiple scissor actions in each arm.

[0073] In compliance with the statute, the invention has been described in language more or less specific to structural or methodical features. It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to specific features shown or described since the means herein described comprises preferred forms of putting the invention into effect. The invention is, therefore, claimed in any of its forms or modifications within the proper scope of the appended claims appropriately interpreted by those skilled in the art

[0074] Reference throughout this specification to one embodiment or an embodiment means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, the appearance of the phrases in one embodiment or in an embodiment in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more combinations.