The auto-tilt umbrella has become popular in recent years. There is no button in the middle of the hinge in the pole to push to make it tilt. In fact, it is not obvious at all to someone seeing this umbrella for the first time what to do to engage the tilt. All you do to make these umbrellas tilt is to crank the umbrella some more once they are all the way open.
The heart of the auto-tilt umbrella is a spring-loaded rod. This rod has one end attached to the hinge in the middle of the pole. It is a little over a foot long. In some models it extends into the pole above the hinge, and in others it lies inside the pole below the hinge. The Galtech International hinge, and I believe the Basta Sole hinge have a sequence of angled plates fastened inside so that the rod can push the umbrella top over when the spring is compressed enough to take the tension off of it. This design reminds me of the scissor arm design found in some cabinet hardware that allows a door with a hinge mounted from behind instead of on the side as would be customary to close flush in its frame.
I have repaired umbrellas with three different designs for the mechanism to make them tilt. There must be others as well. Two designs compress the spring from the top of the pole above the hinge, and the third pulls the rod toward the hinge from below. The lift cord is the “engine” that provides the energy for tilting. Galtech International and Basta Sole both use a stainless steel lift cord in their umbrellas to insure that it is strong enough to provide the pull needed to compress the strong tilt spring. Fiberbuilt uses a braided synthetic cord in its design. The Fiberbuilt design pulls the rod down from the top. It uses a simple hinge with an angled slot in it for a pin in the tilt rod to ride in to force the umbrella to tilt.
All of the designs share the idea that the lift cord must pull the runner hub as far as it will go before the umbrella can tilt. The additional pull more cranking provides once the runner hub has stopped serves to compress the tilt spring so the tilt rod pushes the top go over to one side. I have never seen a tilt mechanism in a market style umbrella that is capable of making the unit tilt in more than one direction.
Albert Richardson
