ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 9 -- United States Patent no. 12,268,316, issued on April 8.
"Umbrella stand assembly" was invented by Tom Lavin (Minneapolis).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An umbrella stand assembly includes a base that is positionable on a support surface and the base has an opening for insertably receiving a pole of an umbrella. A gripping unit is movably integrated into the base and the gripping unit is biased to engage the pole of the umbrella for retaining the pole in the base. The gripping unit is urgeable to disengage the pole thereby facilitating the pole to be removed from the base. A foot pedal is movably attached to the gripping unit and the foot pedal is stepped upon to ur...