US1319796A - Towel-holder - Google Patents

Description

W. F. ROCKWELL.

TOWEL HOLDER. APPLICATION FILED'DEC.23, [9!8.

Patented Oct. 28, 1919.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WALTER F. ROCKWELL, OF RANDOLPH, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS, TO HARVEY G. WHEELER, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

TOWEL-HOLDER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 28, 1919.

Application filed December 23, 1918. Serial No. 267,928.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WALTER F. RooK- WELL, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Randolph, in the county of Norfolk and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Towel-Holders, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact specification.

The purpose of this invention is the effecting of improved means whereby a number of towels can be transported, stored and individually used, and yet be all the time attached one to the other so that they may not be disconnected except when they are to be laundried. In accomplishing this I string the towels upon a chain or other suitable flexible connecting device fastened together at its ends after the towels have been put thereon, the length of the chain being suflicient to permit any towel to be easily withdrawn from the others and conveniently used. For further convenience I provide a case or other device for supporting the unused towels and also for receiving the used ones without disconnecting them from the chain.

In the drawings forming part of this specification, Figure 1 is a face view of a case or cabinet embodying (my improvements. Fig. 2 is a sectional side elevation of the same. Fig. 8 is a sectional plan view close to the top of the case. Fig. 4 is a diagram in perspective showing a few towels strung upon a chain.

Referring to the drawings, the reference numeral 1 designates the back of a case designed to hold the bunch of towels; 2 the sides thereof, 3 the top, 4 an inclined shelf intermediate of the top 3 and the bottom 6'; 5 being narrow doors partially inclosing the space above the shelf, and 7 being a front partially inclosing the section below the shelf.

While I do not restrict myself to the doors 5 for partially inclosing the upper section of the case, it is desirable to have the doors suitably hinged and provided with looking devices, in order to retain the towels within when the doors are closed, and to permit the convenient introduction of the fresh supply of towels. The doors should be narrow in order to leave the central parts of the towels free to be grasped and the front one removed from the others. The spring catches 10 shown in Fig. 2 serve to lock the doors in their closed position, and yet are convenient of access for unfastening the doors.

The towels 11 are each formed with a suitable eye 12, preferably reinforced, through which the chain or other vinculum 13 is to be passed; after a suitable number of towels have thus been strung upon the chain, the ends of the chain being preferably fastened together in any suitable manner, as by an easily separable link 14, or by a spring catch 14*. This insures against the towels becoming separated either in transportation or in use, but especially the latter.

At the center of the under surface of the top 3 is secured a hook 15, as shown in Fig. 2, upon which the chain should be hung, the towels resting upon the inclined shelf and against the doors, while the excess of chain descends through a slot 16 in the front edge of the shelf into the space behind the front 7 A latch 17 swung down in front of the slot closes the latter against the too easy pulling of the chain forward out of the slot when a towel is withdrawn for use.

As shown in Fig. 2, the shelf 4 is hinged at its rear edge 19 to the back 1 so that it can be swung upward to permit an easier removal of the soiled towels from below it, suitable cleats 21 being provided for its support.

The object of the downward inclination of the shelf 4 is to aid in pressing the towels forward against the doors 5, both to better support them and to present them where they can be more readily reached, so that a person wishing to use one thereof can easily take hold of the front one and pull it away from the others and downward along the chain.

After being used, each towel is dropped into the receptacle 2O behind the front 7, sliding along the chain to the termination of the latters bend. By having the chain of a length to support the soiled towels out of contact with the bottom 6, the chain is held taut and by its pull on the unused towels aids in drawing them more snugly against the doors.

After the towels have been used and a fresh supply is desired, the doors 5 are um fastened, the chain 13 is released from the hook 15, the shelf 4L is swung upward, and the entire bunch of soiled towels and the chain binding them together are bodily removed from the receptacle 20, and carried to the laundry. Here the chain is withdrawn from the towels, the link 1 1 being cut or the snap catch 14: released in accordance with which it is employed, for permitting such Withdrawal, and the same are then laundried.

At the time the used towels are removed, a fresh bunch previously strung on its chain is stood upon the shelf 4, with the chain caught upon the hook 15 and also depending through the slot 16 into the receptacle 20, and the doors 5 are closed and fastened.

Thus disposed, it is evident that the towels will not get lost, none can drop to .1 the floor to become trodden on and unduly soiled, none can be used for wiping off desks or washing windows, and at the same time they are convenient in use and handily transported and replaced.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

to opposite sides thereof but spaced apart, a

a shelf for supporting a bunch of towels behind the doors, a hook spaced above the shelf, the shelf having a closable slot in its front edge, and a chain passing through said towels and slot, the chain having its ends I fastened together and supported by said hook and hanging from said slot beneath the shelf.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing invention, I have hereunto set my hand this 19th day of December, 1918.

WALTER F. ROCKWELL.

Washington, D. G.

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