US3689059A

US3689059A - Laundry folding accessory

Info

Publication number: US3689059A
Application number: US61274A
Authority: US
Inventors: Henry W Gross
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1970-08-05
Filing date: 1970-08-05
Publication date: 1972-09-05
Anticipated expiration: 1989-09-05

Abstract

A laundry folding accessory having normally closed laundry clamping jaw means mountable in an upright position and including foot manipulatable means for operating the clamping jaw while the hands are engaged in folding manipulations. The accessory comprises a unitary assembly readily securable to a table top or a wall-mounted bracket.

Description

United States Patent Gross [451 Sept. 5, 1972 [54] LAUNDRY FOLDING ACCESSORY [72] Inventor: Henry W. Gross, 314 W. Chartres,

Anaheim, Calif. 92805 [22] Filed: Aug. 5, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 61,274

[52] US. Cl ..269/100, 223/37, 223/DIG. 2, 269/158, 269/254 CS [51] Int. Cl. ..B25b l/02, B23q 3/02, B25b 1/04 [58] Field of Search ..269/158, 254, 100, 101; 223/37, DIG. 2

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 8/ 1921 Rubinstein ..269/254 Pomeroy ..269/254 805,809 1 1/1905 Nunnally ..269/254 109,747 11/1870 Mahlon ..269/101 488,315 12/1892 2,905,367 9/ 1959 Coutu...;'. ..269/254 X 3,538,555 1l/1970 Langston ..223/37 X Primary Examiner-Wayne A. Morse, Jr. Attorney-Sellers and Brace [57] ABSTRACT A laundry folding accessory having normally closed laundry clamping jaw means mountable in an upright position and including foot manipulatable means for operating the clamping jaw while the hands are engaged in folding manipulations. The accessory comprises a unitary assembly readily securable to a table top or a wall-mounted bracket.

1 Claim, 4 Drawing Figures Patehtod I Sept. 5, 1972 INVENTOR A/EA/P) If! 6390.55 w

LAUNDRY FOLDING ACCESSORY This invention relates to laundry equipment, and more particularly to a simple, manually operated clamping assembly mountable in an upright position and adapted to clamp one pair of corners of flatwork while the operator is folding the same compactly for storage on a shelf or in a drawer.

The processing of laundered flatwork into a compact unit presents irksome problems unless two or more persons are available and cooperate in holding remote pairs of corners of such items as bed and table linens. The problem is common to the home, institutions and public laundries. Various proposals have been made heretofore to provide holding accessories; however these are subject to numerous deficiencies and disadvantages avoided by the present invention. The present accessory comprises a unitary assembly designed to be easily installed in an upright position with its clamping jaw conveniently positioned for use by a standing operator and having a jaw operating member terminating near the floor for convenient engagement by the operators foot. Typically and by way of example, the clamping jaws may be at shoulder height with the operating foot control close to floor level. The brackets for the jaw and foot operator are securable either to a table top or an equivalent wall mounted bracket and the accessory is found equally efficient in folding a wide range of flatwork such as large bed sheets, long table linens, floor rugs of a wide variety of shapes and sizes and the like items.

Accordingly, it is a principal object of this invention to provide an improved, rugged, unitary folding accessory readily installed by the novice in the home or in a commercial establishment and enabling a single operator to fold both large and smaller flatwork speedily, efficiently and with a minimum of effort.

Another object of the invention is the provision of an improved laundry folding accessory occupying a minimum of space and readily secured to a table top or a wall bracket for use by a single operator while standmg.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a unitary laundry folding accessory comprising a pair of main bracket sub-units securable to the opposite sides of a table top or a wall bracket and having a laundry gripping facility at its upper end and a foot operated release therefor close to but preferably independent of the floor.

These and other more specific objects will appear upon reading the following specification and claims and upon considering in connection therewith the attached drawing to which they relate.

Referring now to the drawing in which a preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the invention folding accessory shown secured to a forward corner of a table and indicating a typical mode of use to fold flatwork;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the clamping accessory on an enlarged scale;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary view, partly in section, taken along line 3-3 on FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary view partly in section, on an enlarged scale taken along line 4-4 on FIG. 1.

Referring more particularly to FIGS. 1 and 2, there is shown one illustrative embodiment of the clamping accessory, designated generally 10, having a rigid main body formed in two halves comprising an upper bracket unit 11 and a lower bracket unit 12. The respective bracket units have a

flat base plate

13,14 formed with aligned holes for use in securing the same,

as by mounting bolts 16, to the upper and lower sides of a table top 15, or to an equivalent bracket means secured to a wall.

Upper bracket 11, as here shown, comprises three generally

upright legs

17 ,18,19 having their lower ends welded or otherwise secured to base plate 13 and their upper ends welded to a tubular fixed clamping jaw 20.

Rubber cups

21,22 may be telescoped over the opposite ends of jaw 20. The cooperating movable clamping jaw 23 is slidably supported in a pair of vertically aligned

tubes

24,25 with their adjacent ends welded or otherwise secured about aligned openings in

base plate

13,14, respectively. A resilient cup 26 is installed over the upper end of the movable clamping jaw 23 and is normally held seated against the adjacent lower end of cup 22 by means to be described presently.

The lower bracket unit 12 is constructed generally similarly to unit 11 and comprises a pair of

strut members

28,29 disposed to either side of tube 25 with their upper ends welded to lower base plate 14 and their lower ends welded to the opposite sides of tube 25. Movable jaw member 23 is loosely and freely supported within

guide tubes

24,25 with its lower looped end 31 terminating close to but slightly above floor level and constituting a step or foot engaging member for use by the operator in opening jaw 23 away from fixed jaw 22.

Normally the two

jaw members

20,23 are held firmly engaged by one or more springs 30 having their upper ends anchored to base plate 14 by eyelets 32 and their lower ends anchored to the movable jaw member 23 at a point below the lower end of guide tube 25. In this connection and as is best shown in FIG. 3, it will be understood that

bolts

33, 34 serve to anchor a pair of clamping plates 35 to jaw 23. The upper edges of plates 35 are normally held against the lower end of tube 25 by tension springs 30 the lower ends of which are anchored to the upper pair of clamping bolts 33.

The operation and mode of use of the described laundry folding accessory will be readily apparent from the foregoing description of a typical embodiment thereof. It will be understood that, preferably, the

clamping jaws

20,23 are located at a convenient operating height, as for example shoulder height, adjacent the vertical plane through the forward edge of a laundry counter or folding table. This facilitates the folding of very large flat material such as the double bed sheet 40 indicated in dot-and-dash lines. As shown in FIG. 1, one pair of remote lateral corners of the bed sheet are superimposed and inserted between the

clamping jaws

20, 23 as the operator inserts her foot within strip 31 and depresses it until the corners are inserted and then relaxes the pressure allowing springs 30 to move jaw 23 upwardly and hold the inserted corners captive. Thereafter the operator grasps the upper right hand corners 42 of the sheet and pulls the upper edges taut in a generally horizontal plane while allowing the remainder of the bed sheet to drape vertically as illustrated. The operator may then retain a grasp of corners 42 with one hand while running the other hand along the upper taut edge of the sheet and folding the sheet clockwise about an upper medial folding point in a manner well known to those experienced in folding flatwork. After the material has been folded to a convenient handling size the operator retains grasp of the upper edges of the folded material while stepping into stirrup 31 to open the clamping jaws and permit removal of the left hand upper corners.

While the particular laundry folding accessory herein shown and disclosed in detail is fully capable of attaining the objects and providing the advantages hereinbefore stated, it is to be understood that it is merely illustrative of the presently preferred embodiment of the invention, and that no limitations are intended to the details of construction or design herein shown other than as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An accessory for holding a corner of large sheets of laundry items captive generally at shoulder height of a standing operator while being hand folded, said accessory having a long main body comprising first and second brackets, each of said brackets having a wide area sheet metal base member, a plurality of upright rigid members having one end of each secured to a respective base member near spaced apart points along the perimeter portions thereof, a fixed jaw member secured to and supported by the outer ends of the upright rigid members of said first bracket, tubular means secured to and supported by the outer ends of the upright rigid members of said second bracket, common means for securing said first and second brackets in vertically aligned position against the upper and lower surfaces respectively of a table top, elongated rigid jaw means reciprocably supported through said base members, table and through said tubular means at the lower end of said second bracket, spring means connected between said rigid jaw means and one of said brackets normally holding the upper end of said rigid jaw means closed against the juxtaposed surface of said fixed jaw member, and said rigid jaw member including means attached to the lower end thereof positioned near floor level and conveniently engageable by the operators foot to open said rigid jaw means away from said fixed jaw member while inserting or removing a comer of sheet material undergoing folding.

Claims

1. An accessory for holding a corner of large sheets of laundry items captive generally at shoulder height of a standing operator while being hand folded, said accessory having a long main body comprising first and second brackets, each of said brackets having a wide area sheet metal base member, a plurality of upright rigid members having one end of each secured to a respective base member near spaced apart points along the perimeter portions thereof, a fixed jaw member secured to and supported by the outer ends of the upright rigid members of said first bracket, tubular means secured to and supported by the outer ends of the upright rigid members of said second bracket, common means for securing said first and second brackets in vertically aligned position against the upper and lower surfaces respectively of a table top, elongated rigid jaw means reciprocably supported through said base members, table and through said tubular means at the lower end of said second bracket, spring means connected between said rigid jaw means and one of said brackets normally holding the upper end of said rigid jaw means closed against the juxtaposed surface of said fixed jaw member, and said rigid jaw member including means attached to the lower end thereof positioned near floor level and conveniently engageable by the operator''s foot to open said rigid jaw means away from said fixed jaw member while inserting or removing a corner of sheet material undergoing folding.