US1946856A

US1946856A - Protable indoor clothes-drying rack

Info

Publication number: US1946856A
Application number: US664641A
Authority: US
Inventors: Cecil L Houston
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1933-04-05
Filing date: 1933-04-05
Publication date: 1934-02-13
Anticipated expiration: 1951-02-13

Description

Feb. 13, 1934. Q HOUSTON 1,946,856

PORTABLE INDOOR CLOTHES DRYING RACK Filed April 5, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Q: /k M III/1.71111 Elwin/M4 0;

C. L- Hon/(550w I QMW Feb. 13, 1934. c STQ 1,946,856

PORTABLE INDOOR CLOTHES DRYING RACK Patented Feb. 13, 1934 PGR'IABLE iNDOOR CLOTHES-DRYING RACK Cecil L. Houston, Dallas, Tex.

Application April 5, 1933. Serial No. 664,641

4 Claims.

This invention relates to an improved portable indoor clothes-drying rack and seeks, among other objects, to provide a simple and eilicient device of this character adapted for the drying of a number of articles in a relatively small space.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device wherein the articles may be readily attached to the device and as easily removed therefrom and wherein means will be provided for securely attaching the articles to the device.

And the invention seeks, as a still further object, to provide a device which may be positioned near a stove or the like for drying clothes thereover and wherein the device may be adjusted to coact with the ceiling of a room, for instance, for securing the device in upright position while the clothes will be supported in a manner to permit fast drying thereof.

29 With the foregoing and other objects in view,

the invention consists in certain novel details of construction and combinations of parts hereinafter fully described and claimed, it being understood that various modifications may be resorted to within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved rack, parts being broken away 39 and shown in section,

Fig. 2 is a detail sectional View on the line 22 of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1, Fig. 4 is a plan view of the hanger frame of the rack,

Fig. 5 is an edge elevation looking at one side of the hanger frame and showing the spring actuated clothes-supporting clamps carried thereby,

Fig. 6 is an edge elevation looking at another side of the hanger frame, showing the clothessupporting hooks carried thereby,

Fig. 7 is a detail elevation showing the connection between the arm of the rack head and the hanger frame, and

Fig. 8 is a detail elevation showing a slightly modifi d form of head.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, I employ an annular base 10 comprising an upstanding socket l1, and secured to the bottom flange of the base, at one side thereof, is a pair of short diverging legs 12 while to the opposite side of the base is secured a pair of somewhat longer diverging legs 13. As particularly seen in Fig. 1, these legs are pivotally connected to the base by wing screws 14 so that the legs may be positioned relative to each other to best accommodate the load of the rack. Furthermore, by thus pivctally connecting the legs to the base, the legs may be positioned. to avoid adjacent objects on a floor, thus making for greater convenience than if the legs were fixed.

Rising from the base is a vertical standard comprising a lower tubular section 15 into which telescopically fits an upper section 16. At its lower end, the section 15 fits snugly in the socket ll of the base and is detachably secured therein by a Wing screw 17. As will be perceived, the section 16 may be shifted Within the section 15 for varying the height of the standard and a pair of wing screws 18 secure the section 16 in set position, two of these screws being pref rably employed, so that the standard may support its load without collapsing.

Fitting over the upper end of the section 16 of the rack standard is a cylindrical head 19 secured against rotation on said section by a wing screw 20, and extending laterally from said head is an arm 21 offset near its outer end and provided with a flattened terminal 22. At its upper end, the head 19 is, as shown in Fig. 2, provided with a socket and frictionally secured in said socket is a plug 23. Fixed to said plug is a pad 24 of rubber or the like overhanging the upper end of the head.

Detachably connected to the arm 21 is a rectangular hanger frame, best seen in Fig. 4 of the drawings. As shown, this frame includes a pair of side bars 25 as well as a parallel intermediate at bar 25' and extending between the ends of the bars 25 is a pair of end bars 26. Connecting said bars with each other are bolts 27. Extending between the end bars, parallel to the side bars, is a medially disposed cross bar 28 connected at its ends to the end bars by pairs of bolts 29. Midway between its ends the cross bar is, as seen in Fig. '7, provided with an upstanding thickened portion or boss 30 adapted to seat the flat terminal 22 of the arm 21 thereagainst, and extending through the bar and boss, as well as through said terminal, is a wing bolt 31 rotatably connecting the frame with the arm, said bolt being preferably equipped with a wing nut 32 so that the parts may be easily disconnected.

Extending vertically through each of the

bars

25 and 25 of the rack frame, as seen in Fig. 6, is a plurality of depending hooks 33 uniformly spaced with respect to each other as well as with respect to the end bars 26, said hooks being conill nected to the side bars in any approved manner. All of the hooks of the several bars face in a common direction away from the standard and, as will be observed, these hooks are provided with moderately long straight shanks and pointed ends. Slidable upon the shanks of each group of hooks is a retaining bar 34 apertured to freely receive said shanks therethrough, the retaining bar normally resting on the extremities of the upturned ends or the bills of said hooks.

Mounted upon the outer edges of the end bars 26 of the hanger frame, as particularly seen in Fig. 5, are groups of vertically disposed clamps 35, the jaws of which are presented downwardly. These clamps may be of any well-known type but each preferably comprises a pair of clamping members mounted to rock about a coil spring the ends of which normally hold the jaws of the clamp together, and extending through said springs into the edges of the end bars 26 are screws or other appropriate fastening devices 36 connecting the clamps with said bars.

As will now be seen, by raising the retaining bars 34, clothes may be readily engaged with the hooks 33 and, upon the release of said bars, the bars will gravitate downwardly into engagement with the ends of the hooks for retaining the clothes on the hooks. In any instance where the hooks are unsuitable for suspending particular garments, said garments may be engaged with the clamps 35, it simply being necessary to grasp the upper ends of the coacting members of the clamps and press said ends together for spreading the clamp jaws when the garments may be inserted between the jaws to be engaged thereby upon release of the members. I accordingly provide an arrangement wherein clothes of difierent kinds may be conveniently attached to the rack to depend therefrom and due to the number of hooks provided, as well as the number of clamps, a relatively large numberof clothes may be hung on the rack. It is to be noted that the bars 25 in conjunction with the bar 25' provide three different spreads for various sized clothes. In other words, clothes may be attached at one side to one of the hooks on one of the bars 25 and at the opposite side to one of the hooks on the other of the bars 25. Similarly, clothes may be attached to the hooks of the bar 25 seen at the left of Fig. 4 and to the hooks of the bar 25. Likewise, clothes may be attached to the hooks of the bar 25 and to the hooks of the bar 25 seen at the right of Fig. 4. This arrangement will be found highly convenient in the practical use of the rack and since all of the hooks face forwardly, the clothes may be readily positioned on or removed from the hooks.

As will be observed, the longer pair of legs 13 is arranged to extend beneath the rack frame so as to counteract any tendency of the rack to tilt under the weight of clothes thereon. Tilting of the rack, however, may be positively avoided by adjusting the section 16 of the rack standard upwardly until the pad 24 engages the ceiling or a fixed overhead object when, by tightening the set screws 18, the rack will be rigidly secured in vertical position. Accordingly, the rack may be safely positioned adjacent a stove or the like for drying the clothes thereover without likelihood of the rack tilting to cause contact of the clothes with the stove.

In Fig. 8 of the drawings, I have illustrated a slight variation of the invention wherein the head 37 of the standard, instead of being provided with a single lateral arm, is provided with a pair of diametric lateral arms 38 corresponding to the arm 21. Otherwise, this modification conforms to the embodiment of the invention first described and further explanation is accordingly believed unnecessary.

Having thus described the invention, I claim:

1. A clothes-drying rack including a base, a standard rising therefrom and provided with a head having a lateral arm, a frame having side and end bars connected at their ends, a cross bar extending between certain of the former bars, means rotatably connecting the cross bar with said arm, and suspending devices carried by the frame for connecting clothes thereto.

2'. A clothes-drying rack including a base, a linearly adjustable standard arising therefrom, a head carried by the standard, a friction pad carried by the head, the standard being adjustable to engage said pad with an object overhead and secure the rack against tilting movement, the head being provided with a lateral arm, and frame carried by said arm and provided with suspending means for attaching clothes thereto.

3. A clothes-drying rack including a base, a standard rising therefrom, a frame carried by the standard and including side and end bars connected at their ends and an intermediate bar extending parallel to the side bars, a group of clothes-supporting hooks depending from the side bars and from said intermediate bar, a retaining bar sliclable upon each group of hooks and normally resting on the free ends thereof, and a group of clothes-supporting clamps mounted upon the end bars.

4. A clothes rack including a base, a standard rising therefrom, a frame carried by the standard, a group of article supporting hooks carried by the frame and provided with shanks, and a retaining bar slidably mounted on the shanks of the hooks and normally retained by gravity in engagement with the bills of the hooks for holding articles on said hooks.

CECIL L. HOUSTON. [L.S.]