US1388224A - Broom-clamp - Google Patents

Description

E. WARD.

BROOM CLAMP.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT, 24. 1920.

Patented Aug. 23, 1921.

IN VENTOR mow/w UNITED STATES EUGENE WARD, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK BROOMrCLAMP.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 23, 19211.

Application filed September 24, 1920. Serial No. 412,462.

To all whom z't may concern: 7

Be it known that I, EUGENE WARD, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Broom-Clamps, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to household appliances, and has particular reference to clamps or bridles used in connection with brooms.

Among the objects of the invention is to provide a means whereby an ordinary house-' hold broom is preserved in straight and usable condition for a much longer period of time than is generally true, taking into ac count that the usual practice is for a broom to be stood with its head directly upon the floor and in a position calculated to cause bending, breaking, and rapid deterioration of the straws constituting said head.

Another object of the invention is to provide a broom clamp of an exceedingly simple and relatively cheap construction, adapting it to be put on the market so that any house keeper or other person may readily apply the same to a broom with facility and at a low cost, the clamp being adapted for successive use on other brooms after it has served its purpose on the first broom.

Another object of the invention is to provide a broom clamp having means for hanging the broom, head upward, when it is not being used for sweeping.

With the foregoing and other objects in view the invention consists in the arrangement and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed, and while the invention is not restricted to the exact details of construction disclosed or suggested herein, still for the purpose of illustrating a practical embodiment thereof reference is had to the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same parts in the several views, and in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improvement applied to a broom, as in a hanging position.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the clamp.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the clamp.

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional detail on the line 44 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4 but with the keeper turned through an angle of 90 de ees.

ig. 6 is a vertical transverse section on the line 66 of Fig. 3.

and thickness. At about the middle this body member 10 is bent at 11 constituting a flexible loop, the metal being left straight or flat in cross section at the loop for the sake of free flexibility thereof at this portion.

The end portions of the strip of material are bent toward each other in rounded shoulders 12, while the extreme ends are bent outward from the shoulders as indicated at 13 and 14 and so are adapted to lie substantially flat against each other .in clamping position. Swiveled in the end portion or lip 13 is a keeper 15 having a finger piece for rotating it. This keeper is made of flat material and the neck portion 16 thereof is materially wider than it is the latter lip 14 is provided with an open ended slot 17 adapted to register with the keeper. The width of the slot 17 is barely greater than the thickness of the metal of the keeper so that the lip portion 14 may pass either directly over the keeper when turned in its open position or because of the flexibility of the loop portion it may be caused to slide beneath the finger portion thereof bringing the shank 16 in registry with an enlargement 18 formed between the ends of the slot in which the shank 16 is adapted to lock when the keeper is turned through 90 degrees, whereby the lip portions are locked squarely together. The clamp may be adjusted to any desired portion of the head of the broom as indicated at B, and when so adjusted to the broom it may be left in such position until the broom is worn out or nearly so, and when thus used on the broom the life of the broom will be prolonged materially over the usual practice.

The sides or straight ortions of the body 10 of the clamp are preferably bent in transverse dimension as indicated best in Fig. 6 whereby they are formed as channels and whereby they are rendered materially stifl'er than the flexible loop portion 11. The lip and shoulder portions of the clamp, being short, need not be channeled for stiffness. Hence even though the normal width between the side members of the body may be less than the thickness of the broom head, the lip portions of the clamp may be brought down against each other and locked as above described, while the side portions of the clamp will serve to compress slightly the sides of the head of the broom. At 19 I show a hanger made preferably from a piece of sheet metal the same being pivoted at 20 to one side member of the body and having at its upper or free end a hole 21 for engagement over anail, hook, or the like, to support the broom in proper position when not in use for sweeping.

I claim: V

1. The herein described broom clamp comprising a body of sheet metal of uniform width and thickness, the same being bent at its middle portion forming a flexible loop, the metal at the loop being flat in cross sec tion, the side portions of the body beyond the loop being channeled'ffor stiffness, and

the end portions of the body remote from the loop being provided with flat lips adapted to engage in flat position directly against each other and one of the lips being slidable 2 along the other due to the flexibility of the loop, and means to secure said lips together for holding the clamp in practice.f 2. A device as set forth in claim 1. in which the means [or looking the lips together com- 3 prises a keeper made of flat material and having a shank \viderthan it is thick, the

keeper being swiveled in one of the lips and the other lip being provided with. a slot of a Width correspondingto the thickness of 3 the keeper, the slot being enlarged to receive the shank when rotatingrtherein. V

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 16th day of September, A. D. 1920 EUGENE WARD.

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