US2157822A

US2157822A - Clothes drying frame

Info

Publication number: US2157822A
Application number: US225258A
Authority: US
Inventors: French Harriet Holder
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1938-08-17
Filing date: 1938-08-17
Publication date: 1939-05-09
Anticipated expiration: 1956-05-09

Description

y 9, 1939. H. H. FRENCH 2,157,822-

I CLOTHES DRYING FRAME Filed Aug. 17, 1938 INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented May 9, 1939 'UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CLOTHES DRYING FRAME Harriet Holder French, Newport, It. I. Application August 17, 1938. Serial No. 225,258

6 Claims.

In the manufacture of frames on which garments are hung or stretched, it is desirable to have the frame made so that it can be folded up when not in use. The problem of providing a folding frame is particularly troublesome when the frame consists of wire strands bent to the shape of the garment. The principal difllculty is that the hinges about which the members of the frame turn generally do not readily permit all parts of the frame to lie compactly in the same plane when folded up.

If we are to have parts of a wire frame arranged so that one part will fold up and lie in the same plane as the other part, one of the parts must be smaller than the other so that it, can fit into the larger part when folded up.

I have discovered that by using a hinge conslsting of a metal sheet pressed and bent around the wire strands of the frame members to hold them together and by having the smaller part of the frame structure held stationary in the hinge and the larger part of the frame structure held movable in the hinge I can provide a clothes drying frame which will readily fold up so that all parts lie substantially in the same plane.

One has merely to fold the smaller part of the frame into the larger part. Because the smaller part of the framt is held stationary in the hinge, it revolves about the axis of the larger part and always forms a single angle in conjunction with the larger part except that no angle is formed when the smaller part is folded up and lies in the plane of the larger part.

I prefer to have the ends of the wire strands of the frame members come together within the hinge. By concealing the strand ends within the hinge the appearance of the frame is improved and rough edges on which the threads of garments may catch are eliminated.

Principally, however, I have the ends meet within the hinge so that the hinge can act to keep the wire strandslocked in proper position to form the frame members. The smaller member is generally soldered to the hinge and the wire strands are therefore locked in position. The larger member is held movable radially in the hinge but substantial frictional resistance against axial movement enables the hinge to hold the wire strands in proper position.

In the drawing I show a clothes drying frame in which the members of the frame are arranged to illustrate my invention.

Fig. 1 is a front view showing one arm of the a frame in both folded and unfolded position;

Fig. 2 is a top view taken on the line 2-2 of Fig.

Fig. 3 is a cross section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1 to show the arrangement of the parts prior to folding;

Fig. 4 is a cross section showing the arrangement of the parts after the smaller member has been folded up to lie within the larger member and in the same plane with the larger member;

Figs. 5 and 6 correspond to Figs. 3 and 4 but show an arrangement in which one part of the smaller frame is squared off so that the hinge acts to hold the smaller member of the frame stationary in the hinge, and

Fig. 7 is a front view showing a clothes drying frame adapted to be folded into a plurality of parts.

In the drawing the smaller member of the frame structure is indicated by the numeral Ill; and

the larger member by the numeral l2. The hinge A proper is formed by having a fiat strip of metal l4 bent and pressed around the larger and smaller members so that it holds them together. The smaller memebr II] is held stationary in the strip l4, generally by solder; but Figs. 5 and 6 a show the smaller member I0 held stationary in the strip [4 by having the strip pressed against a flattened portion l6 of the smaller element It.

In Fig. 7 a portion of the hinge is broken away to show the ends 20 of the wire strands l0 and I2 coming together within the hinge. Strand I0 is soldered to the hinge; and strand I2 is held in the hinge against axial movement by frictional resistance between its surface and the inner surface of the hinge.

A hinge of this type is particularly useful in connection with the clothes drying frame shown in my copending application Ser. No. 204,805, filed April 28, 1938. In that structure the frame proper is covered with a layer of absorbent material. When the arms of that frame are folded inwardly, the use of the hinge arrangement disclosed in this application permits the frame to be folded up substantially flat despite the covering of absorbent material on the frame.

I claim:

1. In a clothes drying frame having a plurality of frame members consisting essentially of wire strands, a strand of wire bent to form a frame member, another strand of wire bent to form a smaller frame member adapted to fit into the larger member, a hinge comprising a metal sheet bent around portions of the wire strands of the aforesaid frame members to hold them together, the smaller frame member being held stationary in the hinge and the larger frame member being held movable in the hinge.

2. A structure as specified in claim 1 in which that portion of the smaller frame member within the hinge is soldered to the inner side of the metal sheet comprising the hinge.

3. A structure as claimed in claim 1 in which a portion of the wire strand of the smaller frame member is flattened so that the wire frame is held in the hinge against radial and axial movement.

4. In a clothes drying frame having a plurality of frame members consisting essentially of wire strands, a strand of wire bent to form a frame member, another strand of wire bent to form a smaller frame member adapted to fit into the larger member, a hinge comprising a metal sheet bent around portions of the wire strands of the aforesaid frame members to hold them together, the smaller member being held stationary in the hinge and the larger member being held movable angularly in the hinge but not subject to axial movement in the hinge.

5. A structure as claimed in claim 4 in which the two ends of the wire strand of one of the frame members approximately come together within the hinge.

6. A structure as claimed in claim 4 in which the two ends of the wire strands of the larger frame member approximately come together within the hinge at a point substantially in the center of the hinge so that frictional resistance against axial movement of the strands in the hinge is set up substantially equally toward both ends of the hinge.

HARRIET HOLDER FRENCH.