ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 26 -- United States Patent no. 12,256,817, issued on March 25.
"Portable shelter" was invented by Mark Andrew Fraser (Hamilton, Australia).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An embodiment of the present invention relates to a portable shelter, whether being of the type having a floating canopy or an umbrella. The shelter includes a support including an upright. A canopy is supported by the support. The canopy includes an expandable frame, and a sheet of material supported by the frame. The frame includes retractable ribs supporting the sheet. The frame also includes a stretcher arrangement for stretching out each rib from the support. The stretcher arrangement includes a fir...