US2170292A - Line tightener - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 22, 1939. w. J. BOUDREAU LINE TIGHTENER Filed May 5, 1938 Patented Aug. 22, 1939 UNITED STATES LINE TIGHTENER Willis J. Boudreau, Minneapolis, Minn., assignor of one-third to Harry G. Whitmore and onethird to Robert G. Peterson, both of Minneapolis, Minn.

Application May 5, 1938, Serial No. 206,178

1 Claim.

My invention relates to a tightener for a line anchored at both ends, and said invention is especially well adapted as a tightener for a clothesline, to take out the sag therein produced by wet clothes hung thereon, prevent the same from touching the ground, and eliminate the use of a pole or prop now commonly used.

The object of the invention. is to provide a clothesline tightener that is highly eflicient, extremely simple and of small cost to manufacture.

To the above end, the invention consists of the novel construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and defined in the claim.

, In the accompanying drawing, which illustrates the invention, like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the improved clothesline tightener applied to a short section of a clothesline;

Fig. 2 is a view partly in plan and partly in section taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1; and

Figs. 3 and 4 are views partly in. elevation and partly in section taken on the lines 3--3 and 4--4 of Fig. 1, respectively.

The improved line tightener, as shown,is formed from a single piece of heavy, stifi wire bent to form areel comprising a drum-acting section 5, on which a section of clothes-line x is wound, and side sections 6 and l for holding said line on the section 5. Said side section. 6 is formed by bending the intermediate portion of the wire to the form of a long narrow loop, the longitudinal cen ter of which is at the axis of the reel. The drumacting section 5 of the reel is formed by bending the end portions of the wire laterally at the longitudinal center of the side section 6, and again bending said end portions of the wire laterally, in opposite directions and parallel to the side section 5, to form the side section 1.

The members of the drum-acting section 5 of the reel are laterally spaced to give said section the desired diameter. In side elevation, relative to the device, the members of the drum,- 5 acting section 5 are substantially parallel, and

transversely of said device, said members diverge slightly toward the side section 6 for a purpose that will presently appear.

One end portion of the wire at the respective outer extremity of the side member 1 is bent laterally outward therefrom and parallel to the axis of the reel to afford a crank-acting member 8 on which a handle 9 is turnably mounted. The other end portion of the wire, at the other extremity of the side section 1, is bent laterally outward on one side of the device and then folded upon itself to form a line-engaging stop member [0, and is thereafter bent to form an S- shaped member II. This S-shaped member ll extends outward from the side section 1 in the same direction as the crank-acting member 8 and parallel thereto. Said S-shaped member H also extends transversely of the side section 1 and substantially equidistant on each side thereof, and which member affords an inner line- 10 receiving notch I2 and an outer line-receiving notch i3. It will be noted that the entrances to the notches t2 and I 3 are slightly contracted to assist in holding the line :13 therein.

In applying the tightener to the line :13, the 5 side section I is positioned substantially parallel to said line and then moved toward the same to force said line between the members of the drum-acting section 5 and toward the converging ends of said members, and is securely pinched thereby and held at substantially the center of the reel. By turning the reel by means of the handle 9 in either direction, the line as may be wound thereon to take up the slack therein.

To hold the reel from backward rotation, when turned clock-wise, by means of the handle 9, to wind a sufiicient length of the line :0 thereon to take up the slack therein, said line is placed under the stop member l0 and in the inner notch l2. On the other hand, if the reel is turned anti-clockwise to wind the line a: thereon, said line is placed in the outer notch l3. Obviously, with the line :0 either under the stop member ID and in the notch l2, or in the notch IS, the reel will be securely held from unwinding, under the pulling strain placed on said line.

From the above description, the improved line tightener may be very quickly and easily applied to a line and operated to take up the slack therein.

From what has been said, it will be understood that the invention described is capable of modifications as to details of construction and arrangement within the scope of the invention herein disclosed and claimed.

What I claim is: 5

A line tightener formed of a single piece of wire bent to provide an elongated loop, the end portions of the wire forming one of the sides of the loop being overlapped and outwardly bent to provide a second elongated loop, said two loops 5 being arranged in the form of a T, the end portions of the wire at the outer end of the second noted loop being overlapped in opposite directions substantially parallel to the first noted loop and materially beyond the sides of the second noted loop, one end portion of the wire being bent substantially parallel to the second noted loop and outwardly of one side thereof to afford a handle member, said two loops and the handle member being substantially in the same plane, the other end portion of the wire being bent to provide a substantially U-shaped member that is perpendicular to the plane of the second noted loop and again bent to provide a substantially S-shaped member that is perpendicular to the plane of the U -shaped member, the outer arm of the U shaped member, on the outer end of which the S-shaped member is attached, being materially longer than 5 the inner arm of the U-shaped member.

WILLIS J. BOU'DREAU.

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