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United States Patent Application	20020117196
Kind Code	A1
Han, Jan-Long	August 29, 2002

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Claims

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What is claimed is:

1. A retractable upright pole for a tent, the upright pole comprising: multiple tubes of different sizes and sequentially receivable in one another and each tube having a neck in one end, an open end in the other end, multiple bores defined in a periphery of the tube and a ball-spring combination securely provided inside the tube, the ball-spring combination being able to extend to a corresponding one of the bores of another tube to secure the connection between the neck and the open end of two adjacent tubes of different sizes.

2. The upright tube as claimed in claim 1 further having a chain-spring combination provided in at least one of the tubes to secure the connection between two adjacent tubes.

3. A retractable upright pole for a tent, the upright pole comprising: multiple tubes of different sizes and each tube having a neck in one end, an open end in the other end, multiple bores defined in a periphery of the tube and a chain-spring combination securely provided inside the tube, the chain-spring combination being able to secure the connection between the neck and the open end of two adjacent tubes of different sizes.

4. The upright tube as claimed in claim 3 further comprising a ball-spring combination provided in at least one of the tubes to secure the connection between two adjacent tubes.

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Description

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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to a retractable upright pole, and more particularly to a retractable upright pole for a camping tent. The foldable upright pole can be retracted into a compact size for storage to minimize the space occupied.

[0003] 2. Description of Related Art

[0004] A conventional upright pole generally can be separated into pieces so that campers are able to carry all the camping equipment easily. Usually, the conventional upright pole consists of several different sections. When the camper is setting up a tent, the camper normally assembles the different sections into one pole to support two opposite ends of the tent or the center of a large tent. When the camper moves to another location, the tent is disassembled by separating the upright pole into pieces, and then the disassembled pieces of the upright pole are received in a bag for easy storage and transportation. However, because there are different sizes of tents and different sizes of upright poles, campers often mix the pieces of different upright poles and have a hard time trying to sort out the correct sizes for each group of upright poles.

[0005] To solve the problem, the present invention aims to provide an improved upright pole structure to mitigate and obviate the aforementioned problem.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0006] The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a retractable upright pole for a tent. The retractable upright pole has multiple sectioned tubes receivable in one another and multiple ball-spring combinations each securely provided in one of the sectioned tubes, such that the upright pole is able-to be stretched and retracted easily.

[0007] Another objective of the invention is that the upright pole further has a chain-spring combination incorporated with the ball-spring combination, so that even after the upright pole is separated, portions of the upright pole are still connected to one another to keep the pieces of the same group of upright poles together.

[0008] Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009] FIG. 1 is a side plan view of a tent with the upright pole in accordance with the present invention;

[0010] FIG. 2 is a side plan view of the upright pole in FIG. 1;

[0011] FIG. 3 is a cross sectional side plan view of the inner structure of the upright pole in FIG. 1;

[0012] FIG. 4 is a cross sectional side plan view of an alternate embodiment of the inner structure of the upright pole in accordance with the present invention;

[0013] FIG. 5 is a side plan view of the upright pole in FIG. 2 in a retracted mode; and

[0014] FIG. 6 is a side plan view of the upright pole in FIG. 1 in a retracted mode, wherein the upright pole has a chain-spring combination.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0015] With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, the retractable upright pole (10) in accordance with the present invention generally is provided in the center of a tent (not numbered). The upright pole (10) in accordance with the present invention consists of different tubes (11) of different sizes. With reference to FIG. 3, each tube (11) has a neck (110) formed in one end and an open end (111) in the other end. The tube (11) further has multiple peripherally defined aligned bores (112) and has a ball-spring combination (113) securely provided inside the tube (11). The ball-spring combination (113) is able to extend out from the bore (112) of another tube (11) to secure the engagement between two tubes (11). With such an arrangement, the tubes (11) are sequentially receivable in one another and extendable to the full length of the upright pole (10).

[0016] With reference to FIGS. 5, when the tubes (11) of the upright tube (10) are to be retracted for storage, the user is able to press the ball-spring combination (113) into the bore (112) to partially receive one tube (11) into another tube (11), such that all the other tubes (11) are received in the tube (11) of the largest diameter, and the user only has to carry one tube (11) instead of all the individual tubes (11).

[0017] With reference to FIG. 4 and 6, an alternative embodiment of the upright pole (10) in accordance with the present invention further has a chain-spring combination (114) securely provided between adjacent tubes (11). That is, the chain-spring combination (114) is provided between the neck (110) of one tube (11) and the open end (111) of another tube (11), such that even after the adjacent tubes (11) are separated and folded, the two tubes (11) are still connected with one another.

[0018] Moreover, when the upright tube (11) has the chain-spring (114), the user is able to fold the adjacent tubes (11) without separating the two adjacent tubes (11). With such an arrangement, the user is still able to locate the right sizes of the sectioned tubes (11) even after the upright pole (10) is disassembled.

[0019] It is thus concluded that the upright pole in accordance with the present invention enables the user to easily find the right size of the tubes to match with one another even after the user accidentally mixes tubes of different sizes together.

[0020] It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.

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