AU670999B2 - Clothes basket support - Google Patents

Description

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION a U. a a.

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APPLICANT:

ADDRESS:

ACTUAL INVENTOR:

ASSOCIATED

PROVISIONAL:

ADDRESS FOR SERVICE Gerard Hubert Joseph Mestrom 6 McDonald Street, Chifley, ACT Gerard Hubert Joseph Mestrom I. I I. I

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I I PL8348 Filed 16 April 1993 i: Paul A Grant and PO Box Fisher, ACT 2611 Associates INVENTION TITLE: CLOTHES-BASKET SUPPORT The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me:- 2 TECHNICAL FIELD This invention relates to means for supporting a clothes basket at a rotary clothes hoist.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION Many proposals have been made for supporting clothes baskets off the ground when they are being used in hanging out clothes on a rotary (or other) clothes line, or when taking in clothes from a line. In general, the prior proposals employ trolleys or stands to transport and support a clothes basket. The disadvantage of such solutions is that an additional item of garden 'furniture' or equipment must be accommodated in the yard. Moreover, mobile trolleys make attractive toys for small children and are therefore seldom at hand when needed, so they are often not used S 15 for the purpose intended. While the design of some houses allows a basket trolley to be wheeled from the laundry to the clothes line with little difficulty, this is not the case in most houses where back-stairs must be negotiated. Thus, except for the aged or injured user, the problem is not the transport of the wet clothes to the line but, rather, the support of the basket at a convenient height off the ground at the 20 line.

a OBJECTIVES OF THE INVENTION The objective of the present invention is therefore to provide means for supporting clothes-baskets at the clothes-line which will not involve yet another item of mobile garden furniture or equipment.

r OUTLINE OF INVENTION Accordingly, the present invention basically comprises a basket-support rack or platform pivotally attached to a horizontal frame member ihat can be clamped to the post of a clothes hoist, the arrangement being such that the rack or platform can be set in a horizontal working-position when in use and lowered or raised to a substan- RA4r o« L. 3 tially vertical stowed-position when not in use. The arrangement is such that the rack is supported in its working position by abutment between its rear extremity and the bottom of the frame member. It is also envisaged that the rack may be pulled forward (when in the working-position) to disengage its rear extremity from the frame member and to thereby allow the rack to be stowed in a vertical position below the frame member.

More particularly, the invention is a clothes-basket support for attachment to the post of a rotary clothes hoist, said support comprising: an elongate frame member having a front, back, bottom and two opposed ends, S a first clamp attached to the centre of the back of said frame member, said ;clamp being adapted to encircle the post of a clothes hoist while holding the .99, frame member horizontal, an end-plate secured to each end of the frame member so as to extend forward of and below the level of the frame member (when said member is attached to a clothes hoist by said first clamp), and a planar basket support rack or platform having opposed sides and a rear So 20 extremity, said rack being pivotally attached to said end-plates for pivotal to 20 movement about a pivot axis which is located forward of the front of the frame member (ii) below the bottom of said frame member, (iii) orthogonal to said sides of the rack and (iv) forward of the rear extremity of the rack, the arrangement being such that the rack can be swung upwards about said pivot axis to a substantially vertical stowed-position and downwards about said axis to a substantially horizontal working-position, the rack being supported in said working position by abutment between its rear extremity and the bottom of the frame member.

DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLES Having broadly portrayed the nature of the present invention, particular embodiments will now be described by way of example and illustration only. In the following RA. description, reference will be made to the accompanying drawings in which: -o c- 0: i 4 Figure 1 is a side elevation of a clothes basket support formed in accordance with this invention; Figure 2 is a front elevation of the support of Figure 1; Figure 3 is an enlarged sectional elevation of one of the pivots of the up-folding embodiment of the support frame member and rack; and Figure 4 is an enlarged sectional elevation of one of the pivots of the up-folding embodiment of the support frame member and rack.

i' I" The first example of the invention employs an up-folding basket support rack 10 and :is illustrated in Figures 1 to 3, the rack being shown in dotted lines in the raised o, =stowed-position and in full lines in the lowered, horizontal or working-position. Rack p a 15 10 is simply formed by bending and welding light steel strip into the form best shown in dotted lines in Figure 2. The rear ends of the side-strips 12 of rack 10 are pivotally attached to end-plates 14 welded to the ends of a square-section steel bar that comprises frame member 16, this member being welded at its centre to one half 18a of a two-piece circular clamp 18 that, in this example, is attached to the post

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20 of a rotary clothes hoist just above the gearbox 22. A second two-piece circular clamp 24 is secured to post 20 just below gearbox 22. Two angular braces 26 are welded between one half 24a of lower clamp 24 and points near the extremities of frame-member 16. This greatly strengthens the frame member against off-centre loads.

The detail of the pivot joint employed between the end-plates 14 of the framemember 16, in the example of Figures 1 and 2 where rack 10 folds up, is shown in Figure 3. The axis of pivot pins or bolts '40 that attach the rear of sides 12 of rack to the respective end-plate 14 is arranged forward of and below the level of the square section steel tube 16 that comprises the frame member, so that the rear extremity 12a of each side 12 of rack 10 can extend rearwards and underneath the member 16 to effect the support of the rack 10. When not in use, rack 10 may be simply folded up out of the way, as shown in broken lines at 32.

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Alternatively, and as shown in Figure 4, the rear extremities 21a of rack 10 may be slotted at 34 to take pivot-pin 30. This allows the rack 10 to be supported in the horizontal working position (as shown in full lines in Figure 4) in essentially the same way as in the example of Figure 3; indeed, it also allows the rack to be folded upwards to a stowed-position in the same manner as in Figure 3 (though this is not illustrated). In addition, however, by pulling rack 10 forwards to bring pin 30 to the other end of slot 34, the ends 12a of rack sides 12 are drawn clear of the frame member 16 so that rack 10 can be dropped down to a lower vertical stowed position.

It will be appreciated that the examples of the invention described above meet the objects and advantages set out at the beginning of this specification. However,

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S those skilled in the art will also understand that many variations and modifications can be made to the invention as disclosed without departing from its spirit or scope.

15 For example, the pivot holes in the sides of the rack may be slotted (rather than or S"in addition to those in the end-plates of the frame member) in order to permit the rack to be folded down rather than up. Also, for example, only one circular bracket may be employed for supporting the frame member, thus allowing greater scope for positioning the basket support means on the post of a clothes line. In that event, however, it may be desirable to make the single bracket longer in the axial direction ji so that a larger section frame member can be used or a shallow brace can be employed.

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