Awning apparatus
OwnerZhun-An Mainventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An awning assembly with a mount portion, an extendable bar assembly, an upper canopy being retractable to a compact configuration adjacent to the mount portion and extendable to an extended position upon extension of the extendable bar assembly to provide shade from above, a lower canopy coupled with the extendable bar assembly and extendable therefrom to provide shade from a side position. The extendable bar assembly comprises a first roller coupled with the upper canopy, a second roller coupled with the lower canopy and a motion generator coupled with the second roller, the motion generator configured to store energy as the second roller is moved to retract the lower canopy and configured to use the stored energy to move the second roller to extend the lower canopy from the extendable bar assembly.
Claims16
A method of extending an awning assembly, comprising:
- extending a support arm to extend away from a ground surface to move a housing away from the ground surface and to extend an upper canopy away from the ground surface;
- further extending a terminal length of the upper canopy away from the ground surface after the support arm is fully extended;
- and
- engaging a transmission disposed in the housing to move a first roller disposed in the housing to wind up a portion of the upper canopy to tension the upper canopy and to move a second roller disposed in the housing to unfurl a length of a lower canopy from within the housing.
A method of storing an awning assembly, comprising:
- retracting an upper canopy to unwind a portion of the upper canopy from a first roller disposed in a moveable housing of the awning assembly;
- simultaneously with retracting the portion of the upper canopy, winding a vertical length of a lower canopy about a second roller disposed in the moveable housing of the awning assembly;
- and
- storing potential energy in a resilient member disposed on or in the moveable housing of the awning assembly while winding the lower canopy.
A method of extending an awning assembly, comprising:
- extending a support arm to extend away from a surface to move a housing away from the surface and to extend an upper canopy away from the surface;
- further extending a terminal length of the upper canopy away from the surface after the support arm is fully extended;
- and
- engaging a transmission disposed in the housing to move a first roller disposed in the housing to wind up a portion of the upper canopy to tension the upper canopy and to move a second roller disposed in the housing to unfurl a length of a lower canopy from within the housing, wherein advancement of the transmission in a first direction is configured to tension the upper canopy and deploy the lower canopy.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.