US1180698A - Towel-holder. - Google Patents

Description

G. E. COUPLAND.

TOWEL HOLDER.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 20, I914.

Patfinted Apr. 25, 1916.

I a'nvawlio r, EK'WM EW hm I enonen n. conrnann, or rannnnrcn, OKLAHOMA.

rowan-HOLDER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. ea, rare.

Application filed October 20, 191%. Serial No. 869,633.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE E. CoUrLANn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Frederick, in the county of Tillman and State of Oklahoma, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in- Towel- Holders, of which the following-is a specification.

This invention relates to towel holders and has as its primary object to provide a device of this character disposed to detachably support a towel and so constructed that downward pull upon the towel, which, under normal circumstances, would have a tendency to efiect its disengagement with the holder will, on the contrary, act to cause the holder to more securely engage the towel.

The invention has as a further object to provide a device of this character wherein a towel may be readily attached to or detached therefrom, and which will be so constructed as to support the towel without injury thereto at its point of engagement with the towel. And the invention has as a still further object to provide a device of this character which will be simple in construction and which will be adapted for use as an advertising novelty.

With these and other objects'inview, my

invention will be more fully described illustrated in the accompanying drawings and then specifically pointed out in the claims which are attached-to and form a part of this application.

In the accompanying drawings :--Figure l-is a detail perspective view of my improved towel holder showing the towel in engagement the with, the towel being conventionally illustrated. Fig. 2 is avertical sectional view illustrating the arrangement of the movable element employed for engaging the towel. Fig. 3 is a detail perspective view showing .a modified form. of bracket armfor supporting the movable element disclosed in Fig. 2, the said element being shown'detached, Fig. A is a plan view of the blank from which the arm shown in Fig. 3 is formed,and Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional view illustrating the manner in which the arm disclosed in Fig. 3 of the drawings is attached to the base of the holder shown in Fig. 1. Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the following description and indicated in all the views of the drawing by the same reference characters.

It the purpose of the present invention to provide a towel holder which may be readily attached in any suitable position to support a towel at a convenient location and to this end, I employ a base illustrated at 10 in the drawing which may be formed of any suitable material and which may be of any desired size. As shown, the base 10 may be caused to display indicia of any desired character such as advertising subject-mat ter.

Arranged upon the base 10, is a bracket indicated as. a Whole at 11, the said bracket including a head 12 having a flat inner face disposed to abut the adjacent face of the base and being preferably detachably se cured to the base by a suitable screw or other similar fastening device 12. Projecting from the head 12 and extending longitudinally of'the base 10 laterally upon one side thereof is an arm 13 which is disposed substantially parallel with the base and which terminates, at its free extremity, preferably in substantial alinement with the lower edge ofthe base as best shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings. Upon one side thereof and contiguous to the head 12, the arm 13 is cut away or grooved to provide a longitudinally extending channel or runway 14 having side walls 15, the outer free edges of which terminate in spaced relation'to the ad acent face of the base, this also being best shown in 'Fig. 2 of. the drawing. At its upper extremity,the channel 14 is closed by the head 12 and at its lower extremity, adjacent the free end of the arm 1?, the-bottom wall 16 of the -said channel which is preferably straight throughout the major portion of its length to extend in substantial parallel re-. lation to the adjacent flat face of'the base .10, is curved laterally at the adjacent entremity thereof to provide a terminal inclined wall or shoulder 17 converging toward the adjacent face of the base.

Disposed within the channel 14: and arranged for free movement therein is a weighted element 18 preferably in the form of asphere, the said element being retained within the channel 14 by'the side walls 15 thereof and being limited in its movement longitudinally within said channel by the head 12 and by the shoulder 17.

As illustrated in Figs. 1 and '2 of the cent face of thebase. To connect the towel with the holder, a portion thereof is passed beneath the arm 13 and between the weighted element 18 and the base, as illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawings, the weighted element 18 being first moved upwardly with in the channel 14 to disengage the shoulder 17 and permit the entrance of the towel. After the towel is thus connected with the holder, the weighted element 18 will, by gravity, return to its normal position to be engaged by the shoulder 17, which, owing to its inclination, will direct the weighted element 18 inwardly toward the base to engage the towel to thus firmly maintain it in position. In this connection, it is to be observed that downward pull upon the towel, which, under normal circumstances, wbuld tend to disengage the towel from the holder, will on the contrary, in the construction which I provide, cause the weighted element 18 to move upon the shoulder 17 to be consequently forced into more secure engagement with the towel,.such downward pull upon the towel causing it, through its .element to effect this result, or in the event this is not convenient, the weighted element 18 may be manually moved: upwardly within' the channel 14 out of engagement with the shoulder 17 to disengage thetowel when the towel may be readily displaced. It will therefore be seen that I provide a very simple and efficient construction of towel holder wherein the towel may be readily attachedto or detached from the holder and wherein the weight of the towel itself as, well as any downward pull upon the 7 19, it will be observed upon reference to Fig.

4 of the drawings, that said blank includes a body portion 20 adjacent one extremity ofwhich are provided oppositely disposed and laterally projecting flanges 21, the said body portion at the adjacent extremity thereof also having a longitudinally extending flange- 22 medially formed thereon. At

its extremity opposite the flange 22, the body portion adjacent the side edges thereof is provided with longitudinally extending notches 23 to define terminal oppositely disposed ears 2% having confronting inclined edges 25 the said edges being curved outwardly away from each other toward the adjacent extremity of the body portion, it being observed that the said ears terminate short of the adjacent end of the body portion.

To construct the bracket shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings from the blank thus formed, the body portion thereof is folded upon the parallel lines A A to define a back indicated at 26 in Fig. 3 of the drawings having angularly disposed sides 27, it being observed that the lines of fold A A extend from the inner extremity of the flange 22 at the sides thereof to the inner extremity of the notches 23. The flanges 21 are then folded longitudinally, medially thereof upon the lines B B to define a head 28 having terminal laterally projecting flanges 29. The flange 22 is then folded transversely in substantial alinement with the adjacent end edges of the flanges 21 to close the head 28 at its upper extremity, while the opposite terminal of the body portion is bent longi tudinally to conform to the curvature of the inclined edges of the ears 2-1 and provide a terminal inclined wall or shoulder 30.

It will be observed that thebracket thus formed is provided'with a head 28 a counterpart substantially of the head 12 of the bracket shown in Figs. 1 and 2 and the said head is disposed to be secured to the base 10 in any suitable manner by the flanges 29 as illustrated in Fig. 5 of the drawings. Extending from tlie head 28 is an arm 31 substantially the counterpart of the arm 13 shown in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, the said arm defining interiorly thereof by the sides 27, a channel extending longitudinally of the bracket and disposed to receive the weighted element 18. The bottom wall of the channel in form shown in Figs. 3. 4 and 5 is also substantially straight through out the major portion of itslength and terminates at its lower extremity in the inclined shoulder 30 similar to the shoulder 17 shown in Figs. 1 and 2, said shoulder being dlsposed to engage the weighted element 1 8 for dlrecting the said element into frictional contact with. the towel. Since the flanges 21 of the blank 19 are folded medially longitudinally thereof to provide the flanges 29 of the finished bracket. the said flanges 29 will support the arm 31 in spaced relation to the adjacent faceof the base 10 and substantially parallel thereto in order that a'towel may be readily inserted beneath the arm to engage the weighted element 18.

Particular attention'isnow directed to the fact that owing to the presence of the notches 25 in the form of bracket shown in 1,1eo,eee e Figs. 3, at and 5, the adjacent terminal of the body portion thereof will in effect, provide a terminal resilient tongue having an inner inclined face converging toward the base 10 and disposed for engagement with the weighted element 18, the said tongue being mounted for movement between the sides 27 of the bracket toward or away from the base. Consequently, when a towel is engaged with the weighted element 18 in this form of the invention in the manner similar to that illustrated in Fig. 2 of the draw ings, and the towel is pulled downwardly tocause the weighted element to engage the inclined face of the tongue, the tongue will be sprung outwardly away from the base so that when such pull upon the towel is relieved, the weighted element 18 will wedge between the said tongue and the base owing to the resilient action of the tongue, and will be resiliently held thereby in firm engagement with the towel. The possibility of the towel becoming disengaged from the holderwill thus be further minimized by this construction, in that the weighted element 18 will be resiliently held stationary or wedged into engagement with the towel.

From the above description, it will further be seen that the form of the invention shown in Figs. 3, 4 and 5 provides a very desirable construction where it is desired to possibly reduce the cost of manufacture and further provides a very desirable construction especially adapted to be employed where the towel holder is to be used as .an advertising novelty. It will further be seen that this last-mentioned form of bracket will possess all of the advantageous features found in the form of the invention shown in Figs. 1 and 2 while an additional advantageous feature of construction is found in the provision of the resilient tongue (lisposed to engage the weighted element arranged within tl ebracket.

Having thus (1 scribed my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. A device of the character described including a bracket formed from a single sheet of material and including a he'ad having laterally projecting flanges formed thereon, an arm extending laterally from said head and provided with lateral flanges defining a channel. the said bracket having a tongue formed thereon adapted to have free movement between ,said last mentioned flanges, and a weighted element adapted for movement in said channel, the bracket being adapted for attachment to a base by said first mentioned flanges with the said weighted element normally gravitating to engage between the tongue and said base with the said extremity of the connecting wall normally adapted to urge the weighted element toward the base.

2. A device of the character described including a bracket provided with a channel having side walls, and a connecting wall integral with the side walls for the major portion of its length, one extremity of said connecting wall being free and being mounted for movement between the side Walls, and a weighted element adapted for movement in said channel, the bracket being adapted for attachment to a base with the weighted element normally gravitating to engage between the free extremity of said connecting wall and the base.

3. A device of the character described including a bracket provided with a channel, a yieldable tongue free at one end and providing one end wall of said channel, and a weighted element adapted for movement in said channel, the bracket being adapted for attachment to a base with the weighted 'element normally gravitating to engage between the free extremity of said tongue and the base with the tongue normally adapted to urge the weighted element toward the base.

4. In a device of the class described, a base, a bracket including a head and a depending arm, said head attached to the base and said arm spaced from the base and having a longitudinally directed channel in its inner face, the channel extending for the major portion of its length in parallel relation to the base and to the arm and curving toward the base at its lower end, and a weighted element movable in said runway and normally bearing against the base and limited in its downward movement by the inwardly directed terminal of the runway.

In testimony whereof ll affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

.T. B. BEARD, .l'r., J. A. Marnie.

Images