AU2021107430A4

AU2021107430A4 - Portable clothes line

Info

Publication number: AU2021107430A4
Application number: AU2021107430A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Jon Seddon
Original assignee: Toymonster International Ltd
Current assignee: Toymonster International Ltd
Priority date: 2021-08-25
Filing date: 2021-08-25
Publication date: 2021-12-23
Anticipated expiration: 2029-08-25

Abstract

The present invention relates generally to a clothes line for hanging clothes for the purposes of drying, and in particular, to a portable clothes line that can be assembled/disassembled in a simple and effective manner that minimises storage space when not in use. The invention includes a central spine member extending between a pair of end mounts, a pair of legs, each leg attached to one of the end mounts, a pair of arms attachable to opposing sides of each of the end mounts, the arms capable of supporting wires therebetween, wherein each of the legs and arms are collapsible to extend along the spine for storage. JL

Description

JL PORTABLE CLOTHES LINE FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to a clothes line for hanging clothes for the purposes of drying, and in particular, to a portable clothes line that can be assembled/disassembled in a simple and effective manner that minimises storage space when not in use.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Clothes-lines of various forms have existed as a means for hanging wet clothes in a space to enable the clothes to air dry. Traditionally, clothes lines have been erected in outdoor spaces, such as backyards, where the clothes are able to be dried with assistance of the sun and wind. Such a traditional means for drying and airing clothes are well established.

In more recent times, higher density living has resulted in many individuals living in apartments and high rise buildings where access to an outdoor space where a traditional clothes-line can be installed, is limited. In many instances, residents are limited to a small balcony, which may or may not provide sufficient space to accommodate a conventional clothes-line. As a result, many residents of such spaces become reliant in the use of an electric clothes dryer to dry their clothes, which may not be suitable for use with all clothes and which consumes power, which has both an economic and environmental.

For this reason portable clothes lines have been developed to enable users to quickly and efficiently erect a small clothes line in a defines space to hang clothes for drying and airing purposes. Such systems are typically light weight and collapsible to enable the clothes-line to be set up as required in a position that is most convenient, such as on a balcony or in a spare room or free space. Such portable clothes lines typically have a frame whereby wires are strung between ends of the frame to form lines from which the clothes can be suspended. In some instances, the frame and wires may be integrally formed. The frame and wires are typically supported on legs that may fold for storage.

Typically, most portable clothes lines may fold into a flat form when not required so that they can be stored. However, the storage size of the folded clothes-line is typically dictated by the frame and wires, which are typically not collabsible. As the frame and wires have a length and width sufficient to hang the clothes from, the folded form of the clothes-line may be substantially flat, but it has a width which is not always convenient to store in a confined space.

Thus, there is a need to provide for a portable clothes line that is able to be simply assembled/disassembled and which collapses into a more convenient form for storage.

The above references to and descriptions of prior proposals or products are not intended to be, and are not to be construed as, statements or admissions of common general knowledge in the art. In particular, the above prior art discussion does not relate to what is commonly or well known by the person skilled in the art, but assists in the understanding of the inventive step of the present invention of which the identification of pertinent prior art proposals is but one part.

STATEMENT OF INVENTION

The invention according to one or more aspects is as defined in the independent claims. Some optional and/or preferred features of the invention are defined in the dependent claims.

Accordingly, in one aspect of the invention there is provided a portable clothesline comprising a central spine member extending between a pair of end mounts; a pair of legs, each leg attached to one of the end mounts; a pair of arms attachable to opposing sides of each of the end mounts, the arms capable of supporting wires therebetween; wherein each of the legs and arms are collapsible to extend along the spine for storage.

Accordingly, in another aspect of the invention there is provided a portable clothesline comprising a central spine member extending between a pair of end mounts; a pair of legs, each leg attached to one of the end mounts to support the central spine member in an elevated position for use; a pair of arms mountable to opposing sides of each end mount, one of the pair of arms of one end mount having wires extending to the one of the pair of arms of the other end mount and the other of the pair of arms of one end mount having wires extending to the other one of the pair of arms of the other end mount; wherein the arms are configured to engage with the end mount such that they are pivotable between an extended position wherein they extend substantially orthogonally with respect to the central spine member and a folded position where they extend substantially parallel with the central spine member, and when the arms are in the extended position the wires become taut position to support items suspended therefrom and when the arms are in the folded position the wires become slack to facilitate storage of the clothesline. In one embodiment, the legs are pivotally mounted to the end mounts to be folded inwardly for storage.

The legs may comprise a pair of elongate supports extending from the end mount in a divergent manner to be joined at their distal ends to a cross member. The distal ends of the elongate supports may be attached to the cross member by a bracket. Each bracket may have a wheel mounted therein for moving the clothesline when in an erected state.

The cross member may comprise two rod members, each rod member being pivotally attached at one end to the bracket and pivotally attached at the other end to a central articulation member.

The central articulation member may receive the ends of both the rod members therein and may be shaped to grip both ends of the rod members and lock them in position when the rod members and the articulation member are in linear alignment. When the articulation member is in the locked position the legs are stabilized and the wheels support the clothesline on the ground surface to facilitate wheeled movement of the assembled clothesline.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention may be better understood from the following non-limiting description of preferred embodiments, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a clothesline in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a top view of the clothesline of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a side view of the clothesline of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is perspective view of the clothesline of Fig. 1 in a collapsed state for storage;

Fig. 5 is a top view of the collapsed clothesline of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a an enlarged view showing the manner in which the arms of the clothesline engage with the end mounts in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and

Fig. 7 is an enlarged view showing the legs of the clothesline in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Preferred features of the present invention will now be described with particular reference to the accompanying drawings. However, it is to be understood that the features illustrated in and described with reference to the drawings are not to be construed as limiting on the scope of the invention.

The portable clothesline of the present invention will be described below in relation to its application in supporting wet clothes for the purposes of air drying the clothes in an indoor space. However, it will be appreciated that the portable clothesline of the present invention could be used for drying airing or hanging a variety of items in an indoor or outdoor space as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art.

Referring to Fig. 1, a portable clothesline 10 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention is depicted in an erected state. The clothesline 10 comprises a frame 20 for suspending clothes items therefrom, which is supported by a pair of legs 12 at opposing ends of the frame 20. The legs 12 have a height sufficient to elevate the frame 20 above a ground surface to accommodate clothes of various lengths being suspended from the frame 20 during use.

The frame 20 comprises a central spine 22 comprising a pair of spaced apart rail members 23 extending between end mounts 24. The rail members 23 are in the form of hollow tubular rods formed from aluminium of similar material, that is strong and lightweight. The end mounts 24 fixedly receive the ends of the rail members 23 through recessed formed therein. The end mounts 24 may be formed from a plastic material and may fixedly receive the rail members 23 by way of grub screws or an adhesive such that the end mounts 24 and rail members 23 form the central spine 22 of the frame 20, which defines the length of the clothesline 10.

As can be seen more clearly in the top view of the clothesline in Fig. 2, the end mounts 24 have a tubular retaining member 25 located at a rear end thereof that extends in a substantially orthogonal direction with respect to the rail members 23. The retaining member 23 is substantially hollow and the opposing ends

A thereof are shaped to receive arms 26 therein, such that the arms 26 can extend from opposing ends of the retaining member 25, as shown.

The arms 26 each have wires 27 attached to an inner surface thereof that extend to an opposing arm 26 extending from the opposing end mount 24 at the other end of the spine 22. As is shown, the wires 27 may extend in a loop between the opposing arms 26 such that one wire 27 provides two strands for hanging clothes therefrom. Alternatively, multiple wires 27 may be provided to extend between the opposing arms 26 to form each hanging strand. Further, to avoid discoloration of the clothes due to the wires 27, the wires 27 may be coated with a plastic material or the wires may be in the form of a plastic extrusion, as is well known in the art. In other embodiments the wires 27 may comprise a rope or nylon or synthetic line and for ease of clarity the term "wire" will be used in this document to cover all types of materials that may be used to form a line from which a clothing item may be suspended during use of the clothesline.

Each of the arms 26 are mounted within the ends of the retaining member 25 in an articulated manner to enable the arms 26 to fold into a position that is substantially parallel with the spine 22 when the clothesline 10 is folded for storage, as is shown in Figs 4 and 5. This is achieved by the provision of a pin member 28 that extends vertically through retaining member 25 at opposing ends thereof. As can be seen more clearly in Figs. 5 and 6, the end of the arms 26, which are received in the retaining member 25, have an elongate slot 29 formed therein. The pin member 28 extends through the slot 29 to retain the arm 26 in engagement with the retaining member 25 so that the arm 26 can pivot between the extended position and the folded position about the pin member 28.

As is more clearly seen in Fig. 6, the inside surface of the retaining member 25 has a cut away portion 30 at each end thereof to facilitate pivotal motion of the arm 26 from the extended position of Fig. 2 to the folded position of Fig. 5. This pivotal motion is only possible when the arm 26 is pulled out of the retaining member 25 so that the pin is located at the end of the slot 29, as is shown in Fig. 6. Conversely, to secure the arm 26 within the retaining member 25 so that it is securely retained in the extended position, the arm 26 is firmly pushed into the end of the retaining member 25 so that the arm slides into the retaining member 25 and the pin member 28 contacts the other end of the slot 29. In this position the arm 26 is firmly secured in the extended position.

The clothesline 10 is configured such that when each of the arms 26 are securely inserted into the retaining member 25 the wires 27 become taught and suitable for use in the manner as depicted in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2. Similarly, when the arms are withdrawn a suitable degree from the retaining member 25, they can be folded inwardly and the wires will become slack and suitable for storage. There is no need to continually adjust the wires 27 each time, as the simple act of pushing the arms into the retaining member 25 will cause the wires 27 to become taught and ready for use.

As is shown in Fig. 6, each of the legs 12 are mounted to an underside of the end mounts 24 so as to pivot inwardly with respect to the central spine 22 of the clothesline 10 when folded into the collapsed position.

Referring to Fig. 1, the legs 12 have a substantially triangular configuration with a pair of elongate supports 13 extending from the end mount 24 in a divergent manner to be joined at their distal ends to a cross member 14 that extends therebetween. Brackets 15 provide attachment between the distal ends of the supports 13 and the cross member 14, with each of the brackets 15 having a 1s wheel 16 mounted therein.

The cross member 14 is shown in detail in Fig. 7 and comprises two rod members 27, each rod member 17 being pivotally attached at one end to a respective bracket 15 and pivotally attached at their other end to a central articulation member 18. The central articulation member 18 receives the ends of both the rod members 17 therein and is shaped such that when the articulation member 18 is forced into a horizontal position, whereby the rod members 17 extend from either end thereof in a substantially linear manner, the articulation member 18 grips both ends of the rod members and locks them in position. When the articulation member 18 is in the locked position the legs 12 are stable and the wheels 16 are in contact with the ground surface to facilitate wheeled movement of the assembled clothesline 10 upon aground surface.

In order to fold the legs 12 of the erected clothesline 10, the articulation member 18 is raised from the horizontal position such that the ends of the rod members 17 are free to pivot about each end of the articulation member 18, as shown in Fig. 6. This enables the supports 13 to pivot towards each other so that the width of the folded clothesline 10 is minimised, as shown in Fig. 5. By enabling the width of the base of the legs 12 to be reduced through the articulation member 18, the legs 12 are able to pass through each other as they are folded into position, further ensuring a compact collapsed structure for storage.

Referring to Fig. 2, each of the leg members 12 are connected to a carriage 40 that is able to slide along the rail members 23 of the central spine 22 as the legs

A are folded into the stored position. A pair of link arms 42 extend from the carriage 40 to an upper end of each support 13 of the legs 12 such that as the legs 12 fold inwardly the carriage 40 travels to a central position along the central spine 22. The carriage 40 may have a locking mechanism that locks against the rail members 23 to prevent movement of the carriage 40 when the legs 12 are in the fully extended or fully collapsed position.

As can be clearly seen through a direct comparison of the clothesline 10 in the assembled state of Fig. 1 and the collapsed state of Fig. 4, the clothesline 10 collapses into a convenient and compact size for storage. In the collapsed state the wires or lines 27 are slack and extend along the length of the central spine 22 and the frame 20 does not define the size of the collapsed configuration as is typical with prior art devices. In the collapsed form a wrap can be simply placed around the ends of the clothesline 10 for storage, to prevent the wires or lines 27 from tangling. In order to assemble the clothesline for use, the user can simply 1s unfold the legs 12 and push the arms 26 into the retaining member 25 at which stage the wires or lines 27 will become taught and ready for use.

It will be appreciated that the present invention provides a simple yet effective clothesline that takes up minimum space when collapsed and not in use and which can be simply wheeled into position when erected to move between rooms or areas for enhanced drying conditions.

Throughout the specification and claims the word "comprise" and its derivatives are intended to have an inclusive rather than exclusive meaning unless the contrary is expressly stated or the context requires otherwise. That is, the word "comprise" and its derivatives will be taken to indicate the inclusion of not only the listed components, steps or features that it directly references, but also other components, steps or features not specifically listed, unless the contrary is expressly stated or the context requires otherwise.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that many modifications and variations may be made to the methods of the invention described herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

The claims defining the invention are as follows:

1. A portable clothesline comprising a central spine member extending between a pair of end mounts; a pair of legs, each leg attached to one of the end mounts; a pair of arms attachable to opposing sides of each of the end mounts, the arms capable of supporting wires therebetween; wherein each of the legs and arms are collapsible to extend along the spine for storage.

2. A portable clothesline comprising a central spine member extending between a pair of end mounts; a pair of legs, each leg attached to one of the end mounts to support the central spine member in an elevated position for use; a pair of arms mountable to opposing sides of each end mount, one of the pair of arms of one end mount having wires extending to the one of the pair of arms of the other end mount and the other of the pair of arms of one end mount having wires extending to the other one of the pair of arms of the other end mount; wherein the arms are configured to engage with the end mount such that they are pivotable between an extended position wherein they extend substantially orthogonally with respect to the central spine member and a folded position where they extend substantially parallel with the central spine member, and when the arms are in the extended position the wires become taut position to support items suspended therefrom and when the arms are in the folded position the wires become slack to facilitate storage of the clothesline.

3. A clothesline according to claim 1, wherein legs are pivotally mounted to the end mounts to be folded inwardly for storage.

4. A clothesline according to claim 2, wherein the legs comprise a pair of elongate supports extending from the end mount in a divergent manner to be joined at their distal ends to a cross member.

5. A clothesline according to claim 3, wherein the distal ends of the elongate supports are attached to the cross member by a bracket

6. A clothesline according to claim 4, wherein with each bracket has a wheel mounted therein for moving the clothesline when in an erected state.

7. A clothesline according to claim 3, wherein the cross member comprises two rod members, each rod member being pivotally attached at one end to the bracket and pivotally attached at the other end to a central articulation member.

8. A clothesline according to claim 6, wherein the central articulation member receives the ends of both the rod members therein and is shaped to grip both ends of the rod members and lock them in position when the rod members and the articulation member are in linear alignment.

9. A clothesline according to claim 7, wherein when the articulation member is in the locked position the legs are stabilized and the wheels support the clothesline on the ground surface to facilitate wheeled movement of the assembled clothesline.