The invention relates to a device for holding a substantially rod-like article in an upright position according to the preamble of claim 1. We come across many substantially rod-like articles in everyday life that we carry with us or that can be moved, and in the idle periods outside or during their use, as the case may be, they need to be let loose or put down. In such cases, we lay down the rod-like article, for example walking cane or umbrella, by our side, on the ground or some surface, or we simply put let it rest on the ground and lean it against something or, if the design of the rod-like article is such, hang it on something. Canes, umbrellas left leaning against something often fall down, something that is accompanied by noise, on the one hand and it may happen, on the other hand, that the user of the article cannot lift the rodlike article easily due to old age or reduced mobility.

This, of course, can be avoided by installing stands into which the rod-like articles, walking canes, umbrellas can be placed, and be taken out of when they are needed again. Such solution is provided e.g. by the well-known umbrella stands. However it is not possible to install a sufficient number of stands at the most various places.

In my description a walking cane as an example of a rod-like article is mentioned and presented, however, the details presented here can be adapted and applied equally effec- tively for other types of substantially rod-like articles. Such articles may be umbrellas, parasols, one-legged hunter chairs, music stands or other stands, to mention only a few examples.

The need for some stable support of a portable rod-like or substantially rod-like article in upright position is self-evident. With regard to the walking cane mentioned and pre- sented by way of example, I could name as an example the walking cane manufactured and distributed by Raising Canes LLC. under the name of "belica", that is essentially a combination of a came and a roly-poly: a profiled basket made of wire is fitted to the bottom end of the cane that returns to upright position due to its shape, and the cane fastened or fitted to it also always regains a upright or quasi-upright position . This is true even if the user tilts or pushes the cane: the cane returns to its upright position, and its user can get hold of it and take it with him again. One very serious drawback of this solution is that, although it manages to solve the issue of restoring/putting upright the cane, the value in use of the walking cane is significantly reduced since there is a structure at its bottom end that hinders the normal use of the walking cane by the user, it may get caught in obstacles and, not least, it increases the overall dimensions of the walking cane that may be a problem in case of storage for example. US 4,091,828 discloses a manually operable walking cane that can be restored to upright position, where a stand structure with branched feet is fitted to a traditional walking cane in the range of its bottom end, the stand structure comprising two rings that can be moved relative to each other and kickstands fastened to the rings, operated by an actuating rod guided along of the cane, its upper end extending into the grip range of the walking cane. If the user of the structure or the walking cane wants to put it down in upright position, he will hold the walking cane by one hand in preferably upright position, so that the bottom end of the cane rests on the road, roadway or sidewalk, i.e. some surface, and actuates the rod with his other hand, by turning a lever, close-fitting the grip in default position, from a top position to a lower position, making the rod along the cane move downwards as well, and the rod moves one of the rings mounted moveably, slide- ably, on the walking cane also downwards, making the kickstands mounted to the rings move from their topmost position occupied that far to an expanded bottom position, where they keep and support the walking cane with a stability depending on the number of kickstands. In this solution, the user has to synchronise the movement presented above in the sense that he must not lean on the walking cane any more while expanding the kickstands, because the kickstands could then never take up their bottom support position, but has to lift the walking cane slightly or let the walking cane be lifted by the kickstands being expanded. One could mention as a further drawback of this solution that the support structure is fitted on the walking cane so that it is totally exposed, and even in the folded position of the kickstands, it may get caught in other articles and damage or bend the stand structure.

US 2002/0017596 Al discloses another free standing cane, also with a stand structure designed at the lower end, but the feet of the stand structure are operated by a Bowden cable arranged inside of the hollow walking cane, and the other end of the Bowden ca- ble is fastened to an actuator lever that is similar to a bike brake lever, designed at the cane grip. It is a major structural drawback of this solution that, due to its operation by a Bowden mechanism and to ensure the proper movement of the inner ends of the feet, the walking cane cannot be of just any thinness, since the design and operation of the feet acting as bascule lever may be a problem even with the very big force exerted through the Bowden cable. Another drawback of this solution is that the actuating lever design similar to that of the bike brake lever makes the use of the walking cane more complicated, and it may happen, especially in old age, that instead of seizing the grip alone, the user gets hold of the actuator lever together with it, that makes it more difficult to use the walking cane, on the one hand, and threatens with damaging the accidentally extended feet, if the user of the walking cane relies on the cane too heavily.

An object of the present invention is to create a structural solution for putting down and keeping in upright position a substantially rod-like article, primarily a walking cane, that is not being used, so that the activity needed for that be as independent of age as well as state of (mental) health as possible.

It is furthermore objected that the device should not alter the use of the walking cane relative to its known, normal, utilisation, and its putting down/taking up should not re- quire any movements that are substantially different from normal utilisation.

Another important requirement to be met by the device, when applied to a walking cane, is to ensure a single-handed actuation. Yet another requirement is that it should be sufficiently stable, that is, capable of standing even on a slope of at least 10° and holding the rod-shaped article there. My object is, moreover, that the device should be easy to manufacture, at low cost, in such way that the structural parts of the device be protected against any external, mechanical or weather, impacts.

The recognition contributing to the creation of the subject matter of the invention was that, when using a substantially rod-like article, e.g. a walking cane, we hold its grip in our hand, and rely through its bottom end on the soil or some other surface both while walking or when stopping. The operation of laying down the walking cane needs to be realised accordingly, i.e. by resting the walking cane held in our hand on the soil, and triggering the complete and unhindered activation of the structure holding the cane with the same movement or returning the support structure with the same movement to a po- sition where it will preferably not extend from the walking cane and not affect its use in the least. The objective being set has been solved by a device for keeping a substantially rod-like article in upright position according to the features of claim 1. Several advantageous embodiments of the device are listed in the claims.

In what follows, the article of the invention will be presented with the help of an exem- plary embodiment, with reference to the attached drawing where

Figure 1 shows a view of the exemplary embodiment of the device according to the invention holding in a walking cane applied as rod-like article in upright position,

Figure 2 is a schematic representation showing the structure of the device shown in Figure 1 in more detail, with the support structure partly in section and partly in transparent view,

Figure 3 depict the parts of the support structure,

Figure 4 shows the operation of opening the support structure,

Figure 5 shows the opened support structure, Figures 6A-6C show a walking cane with a support structure in closed, retracted position, with a support structure in open position, and in the position preceding the closing of the support structure, with the movement needed for closing it,

Figure 7 shows the support structure in open position, before being closed, i.e.

restored to walking position,

Figure 8 shows enlarged a ratchet arrester structure suitable for being used in the proposed device,

Figures 9A-9C allow to trace the three phases of the operation of the ratchet arrester structure, Figure 10 illustrates a possible realisation of the operation of the proposed device, and

Figure 11 outlines the secured default position of the presented device.

Figure 1 shows a possible and preferred embodiment of the device that is the article of the utility model. In the example presented, a rod-like article 1, a walking cane, comprises two rod parts la, lb that are telescopically assembled in the usual way. A series of holes 2 is made in the known way in the rod parts la, lb, and a fixing pin 3 is placed in one of the holes 2. The fixing pin 3 is usually flexibly secured to the external rod part la, and the length of the rod-like article 1, i.e. of the walking cane, can be set by that measure. A grip 4 is fitted to the upper end of the walking cane, and a support structure 5 is fitted to its bottom end. In the position shown in the figure, the support structure 5 is active, that is, it will hold rod-like article 1 in upright position even after the user lets it loose, provided that the rod-like article 1 is placed on a horizontal or quasi-horizontal base surface 6, e.g. soil, road, walkway, floor etc. The operation of the support structure 5 is ensured by an activator structure 7 designed below the grip 4, through a moving structure to be presented below. In the embodiment shown in Figure 1, the support structure 5 has three feet 9.

Figure 2 essentially shows the rod-like article 1 shown in Figure 1, represented so as to make some parts of support structure 5 easier to observe, and the same parts of the support structure 5 can be inspected also separately in larger scale in Figure 3.

The support structure 5 comprises a fixed bushing 11 connected to an end piece 10 resting on the ground while the walking cane is in use, a bushing 13 adjustably arranged along an axle 12 extending in the inner part of the rod part lb, a compression spring 14 installed between the latter two, a ratchet arrester 15 formed above upper moving bushing 13 and feet 9. Said feet 9 are rotatably embedded in the moving bushing 13 by their respective ends, and they are also rotatably embedded in the end piece 10 through respective connecting arms 16.

In an extended position of the support structure 5 the embodiment shown provides for the secure and stable support of the rod-like article 1 of normal height, e.g. a walking cane (or umbrella for that matter) under everyday circumstances. It is an essential feature that in the closed position of the support structure 5 the rod-like article 1 does not differ perceptibly from the normal, traditional, walking canes.

In the presented case, the rod-like article 1 is supported by three feet 9, preferably posi- tioned, evenly arranged by 120° relative to each other, and forming, in fully expanded position, an angle of approximately 40° with a longitudinal axis of the rod-like article 1. This angle may be of different value, but according to my investigations, this is the value at which the feet 9 can, in the expanded position of support structure 5, support the rod-like article 1 completely securely, and the length of the feet 9 can also be chosen taking into account this angular position, so that in the closed position of the support structure 5 it does not constitute significant extra length relative to the normal length of rod-like article 1, e.g. a walking cane.

Figures 4 and 5 show how axle 12 is guided in a central channel of the end piece 10 and bushing 11 connected to the end piece 10. When the user pushes the rod-like article 1 resting on a base surface 6 downwards - if that is a walking cane, preferably through its grip 4 -, the axle 12 in the inside of the end piece 10 moves downwards and the bushing 13 fastened to it simultaneously moves downwards with it. The decrease of the distance between bushings 11 and 13 makes the feet 9 connected to them through the respective connecting arms 16 move in the known way from their resting position extending longitudinally in the rod-like article 1, to expand as shown in the figures. This movement lasts until the moving bushing 13 bumps against the fixed bushing 11 through a compression spring 14. The movement of the bushes 1 1, 13 makes end piece 10 rise relative to the plane of support feet 9, to ensure that rod-like article 1 is held exclusively by the feet 9, without the end piece 10 making the support insecure.

With the device presented here, the rod-like article 1 can take up three positions: - The first one shown in Figure 6A, a so-called walking position, that is, when feet 9 of the support structure 5 are closed, the axle 12 is arrested that is, it cannot move along the length of the rod-like article 1. In this position the user of e.g. a walking cane can rely freely on the walking cane, as he would on its traditional peers.

- The second position is a so-called expanding position, where the axle 12 is no longer arrested, that is, in case of actuation it can move longitudinally within the rod-like article 1.

- The third position, shown in Figure 6B, is a so-called support position where the feet 9 of the support structure 5 have already been expanded and the bottom end of the rodlike article 1 has also been lifted from the soil or the support surface 6. It was an important objective to actuate the expanding and retracting of the support feet 9 by the same type of movement, that is, by pushing downwards the rod-like article 1 itself; cf. Figure 6C. This is ensured by a ratchet arrester 15 shown in Figures 7-10, being a mechanism built and operated in a way that is essentially well known to persons skilled in the art, similar to the ones found e.g. in actuator mechanisms of ball-point pens. The ratchet arrester 15 comprises two additional toothed bushings 17, 18, provided with a helical toothing and grooves 19 and ribs 20 in a known way, and pressed against each other by a compression spring 23 resting on a retainer 22 of a central actuator rod 21. One of the toothed bushings 17 is connected to the moving bushing 13 and comprises helical guiding teeth 24 and alternating between said guiding teeth 24 longer and shorter grooves 19 looking at them alongside of the toothed bushings 17. Upon exerting an axial pushing force on rod-like article 1, teeth 25 of the moving toothed bushing 18 move along the slope of teeth 24, 25 guided by teeth 24 of the fixed toothed bushing 17, and they are forced to sink into a shorter or a longer groove under the effect of the upper compression spring 23. In these grooves 19 the upper moving toothed bushing 18 gets fixed relative to the lower toothed bushing 17. For the two toothed bushings 17, 18 to rotate relative to each other, the rod-like article 1 needs to be pushed in axial direction.

If the rib 20 of the upper movable toothed bushing 18 is located in the longer groove 19 of the toothed bushing 17, the upper toothed bushing 18 can move downwards, towards the end piece 10 of the rod-like article 1, opening thereby the support feet 9. If the rib 20 of moving toothed bushing 18 enters the shorter groove 19 of the toothed bushing 17, the toothed bushing 18 will accordingly come to a halt in a higher position, locking thereby the support feet 9. That is, each turn of the upper toothed bushing 18 implies the corresponding operation of the ratchet arrester 15, resulting now in arresting and now in the release of the arresting.

Where the rod-like object 1 is a walking cane, both aforementioned functions, that is, the achievement of the open feet 9 support position and the closed feet 9 walking position require the free movement up and down of the axle 12 of the walking cane. In closed position, the walking cane is meant to be used mostly for walking, hence a solu- tion preventing the expansion of the feet 9 of the walking cane during its use, i.e. while walking, is needed. This objective can be achieved by a latch element 26 installed in the actuator rod 21 and guided in the inside of the walking cane, and moving along with the actuator rod 21 in the embodiment presented above. To prevent its turning around axle

12 while the bushing 13 is in motion (that could cause the turning/bending of feet 9 and connecting arms 16), at least one of said latch element 26 is arranged, and in the example presented here three ribs 27 on the axle 12, with grooves complementary with the ribs 27 made on the inside mantle of bushing 13, not shown in the figure, so bushing 13 is thus guided along the axle 12 without being able to rotate. The already mentioned latch component 26 is designed and arranged so that it can be rotated by actuator rod 21 into the appropriate cutting of rib 27, complementing that, and in this case the bushing

13 can slide unhindered along the axle 12. However, if the latch element 26 is rotated by the actuator rod 21 so as to turn out of the rib 27, in the absence of an adequate groove, bushing 13 cannot traverse the latch element 26 but will bump into it. Thus the moving bushing 13 cannot slide upwards even if the feet 9 cannot be expanded, not even if strong pressure is exerted on the walking cane from above. In the presented embodiment, latch element 26 can be operated by the latch 28 through the actuator rod 27 being part of the actuator mechanism 7 designed below the grip 4, without letting grip 4 loose, so that latch 28 can be turned by the thumb until the latch element 26 turns out of the rib 27. Rotation by even 22-40° is enough for that, but for security's sake, preferably a turn of almost 90° is provided for. The solution presented above has the advantage that the user of the walking cane does not have to let the walking cane loose or use his other hand for the actuation of the latch 28, but the change-over from open to arrested position can be ensured by one hand, by the movement of a single finger.

Where the length of the rod-like article 1 can be set and it is made up, for example, of two rod parts la, lb, the actuator rod 21 can also be made, similar to actuator rod 21, out of two parts that are telescopically attached to each other, not shown in the drawing. The grooves of the end piece 10 receiving feet 9 and also the feet 9 themselves can be designed so that pollution entering them while the device is in use does not hinder the proper operation of the support structure 5. Such blockage can be caused by snow or slush that could prevent the complete closure of the feet 9 back to their place if getting between end piece 10 and feet 9, and would make uncertain the restoration of the sup- port structure 5 to its basic position and the achievement of the walking position presented. List of reference signs

1 rod-like article la, lb rod part

2 holes

3 fixing pin

4 grip

5 support structure

6 base surface

7 actuator structure 9 foot

10 end piece

11 fixed bushing

12 axle

13 moving bushing

14 compression spring

15 ratchet arrester

16 connecting arm

17 toothed bush

18 toothed bush

19 groove

20 rib

21 actuator rod

22 fixing element

23 compression spring

24 tooth

25 tooth

26 latch element

27 rib

28 latch