Emhart Inc.

Virco Mgmt. Corporation

Other

Teknion Limited

Embart Inc.

Darren M Mark

Frederic C Doughty

Alvin Tolosa

Richard Holbrook

Jerome F Czerwinski, Jr

Richard M Holbrook

Hollis K Yost

Jeffrey Bentzler

Curtis S Woolley

Lawrence G Rodriguez

Donald J Segien

Anthony J Carsello

Filiberto Betancourt

Zhiqian LaPlume

Fred Y Ching

A novel umbrella is disclosed with a simplified structure that creates a clean, elegant profile with reduced component count and increased wind resistance. The umbrella includes a support post, a housing supported thereby, spokes pivotally disposed about the housing, a canopy, and an actuator. The housing has a top hub and a bottom hub. The actuator slides the hubs together to pivot the spokes away from the housing, whereby the umbrella moves from a closed position to an open position. Rollers are preferably retained within the top hub, and each spoke preferably has a spoke cam attached to one end. The spokes pivot away from the housing by having a roller surface of each spoke cam slide along each respective roller. The actuator may have a crank operated worm drive mechanism to raise and lower the canopy.

Umbrella

Mask

A novel umbrella includes a support post, a housing supported thereby, spokes pivotally disposed about the housing, a canopy, and an actuator. The housing has a top hub and a bottom hub. The actuator slides the hubs together to pivot the spokes away from the housing, whereby the umbrella moves from a closed position to an open position. Rollers are retained within the top hub, and each spoke has a spoke cam attached to one end. The spokes pivot away from the housing by having a roller surface of each spoke cam slide along each respective roller. The actuator may include a beam pivotally disposed about the support post, a strut pivotally disposed about the support post and coupled to the beam, a car slide slideably disposed within the beam, and a cable coupled to the strut and the housing.

Umbrella hub system

A novel umbrella is disclosed with a simplified structure that creates a clean, elegant profile. The umbrella includes a support post, a top housing supported by the post, and a bottom housing supported by the post. Spokes are pivotally disposed about the top housing. Struts are pivotally disposed about the bottom housing, wherein each strut is pivotally connected to a respective spoke. A canopy is disposed about the plurality of spokes. A first and second set of rollers may be retained with the top housing. A third set of rollers may be retained within the bottom housing. A rope raises and lowers the canopy. A lever lock is disposed about the bottom housing to retain the rope when the umbrella is in an open position. The umbrella also has a rope storage slot within the support post for retaining any excess rope.

A novel sling assembly and corresponding method of stretching sling fabric are disclosed. The assembly preferably comprises a chassis with opposing rails connected by a cross bar. A sling frame having opposing stretch bars connected by a stretchable fabric is disposed over the chassis in a pre-assembled position. A cam lock is inserted into a key hole cut into at least one of the rails; the cam lock is then rotated away from the central axis of the key hole. An engagement member extending from at least one of the stretch bars is then inserted into the key hole. The sling fabric may now be stretched by rotating the cam lock toward the central axis of the key hole to move the engagement member along the key hole until the fabric is taut. The taut fabric is held in place by the engaged cam lock, whereby the assembly is kept in its stretched, fully assembled position. The invention's unique structure thus advantageously makes sling fabric replacement convenient, quick, and without the need for special tools.

Sling assembly

A chair having a contoured seat cushion mounted on top of an exercise ball with four tension-adjustable elastic cords such as bungee cords is provided. The shock absorbing cords may attach to the underside of the seat cushion by looping through spring-eye carabiner type hooks, and may pass through grooved locking tubes with v-channels for adjusting the cord tension. The ball may sit on top of a swivel plate, so that dynamic motion and counterbalancing are attainable for a variety of ergonomically beneficial seating styles.

Ergonomic chair

A modular furniture system having at least one rail that has a grooved surface, at least one clip adapted to cooperatively engage the grooved surface of the rail(s), a fastener for securing the clip(s) to the rail(s), and at least one fixture mounted over the clip(s) and onto the rail(s). The clip(s) have a first end and a second end opposite the first end, the first end having two arms facing each other separated by a channel. The arms are capable of being biased toward each other as the clip is inserted into the grooved surface and maintains the clip in the grooved surface after the clip is inserted. The fastener is dimensioned to pass into the channel to secure the clip(s) to the rail(s). Several fixtures can be used with the furniture system to provide a number of different configurations, including surface mounted furniture systems, mobile furniture systems, and furniture systems that are either integral parts of other pieces of furniture or stand alone systems.

Furniture system

An improved tilt rate control mechanism for a tilt back chair has an adjustable torsion spring, a tilt rate adjustment actuator and an actuator movement mechanism. The torsion spring has an adjustment lever for adjusting the tension on the torsion spring. The tilt rate adjustment actuator is disposed in contact with the adjustment lever such that the movement of the adjustment actuator causes movement of the adjustment lever. The adjustment actuator is moveable between (i) a first actuator position wherein the actuator is proximal to the torsion spring and the adjustment lever is in a minimum tension position, and (ii) a second actuator position wherein the actuator is distal from the torsion spring and the adjustment lever is in a maximum tension position.

Tilt control mechanism for a tilt back chair

Desk

Growing community of inventors

Castaic, CA, United States of America

Darren M Mark