US2653758A - Aerated oscillatory clothes hamper - Google Patents

Description

p 1953 J. F. HEIBERG AERATED OSCILLATORY CLOTHES HAMPER Filed June 25, 1951 lllllllll llf/l Patented Sept. 29, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 4 Claims.

This, invention relates to clothes hampers. More particularly, it relates to clothes hampers adapted for mounting beneath a clothes chute in position to receive therefrom and adapted to. provide adequate ventilation for its contents to permit moist garments to be deposited therein Without danger of mildew.

It is a general object of my invention to provide a novel and improved clothes hamper characterized by its cheap and simple construction and installation and by its increased convenience in use.

A more specific object is to provide an aerated clothes hamper adapted to be easily and readily moved to a position whereby gravity will cause it to discharge its contents and mounted in such a manner as to cause it to return to its normal receiving position by and of itself as soon as it is released.

Another object is to provide an aerated clothes hamper adapted for positioning beneath a clothes chute and mounted eccentrically so that it will discharge its contents of itself when rotated to discharging position without. any manual handling of the contents and will return to its normal receiving position without the use of springs or the like.

These and other objects and advantages of my invention will be more apparent from the following description made in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views and in which Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of one embodiment of my invention with portions broken away to show the interior thereof;

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the same.

One embodiment of my invention may include as shown in Figs. 1-2 a generally cylindrically shaped member, indicated generally as 5, and having circular disc-like end portions 6 and foraminated side walls 1. These end portions 6 may be made of any suitable material such as wood or metal and the side walls I may also be made of any suitably perforated material such as metal screen or a perforated metal such as aluminum. The perforations 8 which are formed in the side walls 1 are preferably of relatively large diameter and numerous in number. A relatively large receiving opening 9 is formed in the side walls i along one of the sides of the member 5. This opening 9 should be of sufficient size to readily receive the dirty clothes thereinto and is preferably larger than the diameter of the chute indicated as III.

The member 5 is supported from the cross beams I I; by a pair of supports l2 suitably secured thereto and each of which engage the opposite end portions 6, As show-11,. these supports 12- are. comprised of shafts or pipes which are right angular in shape. Each of the end portions 6 is provided. with an aperture is which extends therethrough horizontally and which is of surficient diameter to receive the horizontal portion- [4 of the support I2. A head l5 which is threadedly secured to the inner end of, the. support. provents the end portions 6 from slipping off the supports.

The apertures 13. which. receive the supports. l2 are formed in off-center positions through the end portions 5. It. will. be noted that the apertures are located between the; centers of the end portions 6 and the portions of the side walls 1 which define the. opening. 9- member 5' is eccentrically mounted so thatv the opening 9 will at all times face upwardly toward the chute l0 and will receive therefrom in its normal position. Should the member 5 be pivoted on the supports II, it will readily return to its normal receiving position shown in Fig. 1 as soon as it is released because of its eccentric mounting. Thus the entire member 5 is mounted to permit rotation of the same on a horizontal axis which extends longitudinally of the member.

A cord or cable I5 is secured to the normally upper portions of one of the end portions 6 and depends therefrom. This cord is provided to facilitate the rotation of the member 5 to discharging position. If desired, a stop spring I! may be provided and connected to the member 5 and the cross beams H in such a manner so as to be ordinarily in untensioned condition and to be placed under tension when the member 5 is rotated to extreme discharging position. Such a stop spring however, is not considered to be necessary for the hamper to function satisfactorily.

It can be readily seen in Fig. 1 that the memher 5 is normally in receiving position with respect to the chute i 0 so that any clothes deposited in the chute will readily descend therethrough and be deposited within the confines of the member 5. Because of the foraminous nature of the member 5 these clothes may be quite damp without danger of mildew thereto since the relatively warm air currents adjacent the ceiling of the basement will be permitted to pass through the member 5. It is understood, of course, that such a hamper as is disclosed herein will normally be Thus the entire- 3 mounted in the basement beneath the discharge of the clothes chute.

Whenever the housewife is ready to wash clothes or desires to empty the member 5 for any other reason, she may accomplish the same easily and readily by merely pulling on the cord or cable [5. Thereupon the member 5 will immediately pivot on the horizonta1 portions I4 of the supports I2 to a position where the opening 9 will face downwardly and the clothes therein will drop outwardly therethrough. As soon as the cable I6 is released, gravity will cause the member 5 to return to its original and receiving position. The stop spring I! may be utilized if desired to prevent the housewife from drawing the member 5 over dead-center position, thus creating a tendency for the member to swing way over instead of returning in the opposite direction to which it was originally rotated.

It should be noted that there is absolutely no requirement for manual handling of the clothes at any time. In other words the housewife is not required to reach into the confines of the member 5 to withdraw the clothes therefrom.

It should be noted that my clothes hamper is disposed in an out-of-way position at all times and that there is no danger of a portion thereof dropping and striking an individuals head while working therearound. The user is not hindered at any time because of the positioning of the device and is never required to reach into the same to be sure that it has been completely emptied.

It can be readily seen that my clothes hamper is relatively cheap and simple to manufacture and is characterized by its greater convenience to the housewife while in use.

It will, of course, be understood that various changes may be made in the form, details, arrangement and proportions of the parts without departing from the scope of my invention.

What I hereby claim is:

1. An automatically uprighting clothes hamper for use in conjunction with a clothes chute and comprising a foraminous container having an opening adjacent its upper medial portions adapted to be disposed when properly supported directly below such a chute and having a pair of end portions each adapted adjacent said opening to be pivotally mounted on spaced supports for pivotal movement about a horizontal axis extending longitudinally of the container and means for maintaining said opening normally directly below said chute to receive clothes therefrom into said container.

2. An automatically uprighting clothes hamper for use in conjunction with a clothes chute and comprising a hollow generally cylindrical receptacle having foraminated side Walls and having a relatively large opening in said side walls and between said end portions, said receptacle having end portions adapted at positions eccentric to the longitudinal axis of the cylinder and adjacent the portions of said side walls defining said opening to be pivotally mounted for rotary movement about an axis extending longitudinally of said receptacle upon spaced supports below the discharge of the chute whereby said opening will normally be caused by gravity to face upwardly below and toward the chute discharge to receive clothes therefrom into said receptacle, said receptacle when so supported being pivotable to a position where such clothes will drop out of said receptacle by gravity.

3. An automatically uprighting clothes hamper for use in conjunction with a vertical clothes chute and comprising a hollow generally cylindrical receptacle having foraminated side walls and having a relatively large opening in said side walls and having a pair of opposed end portions, and pivotal mounting means secured to each of said end portions along an axis extending longitudinally of said receptacle and at points offset from the center thereof toward said opening, said mounting means being adapted to be connected to spaced supports to position said receptacle below the chute so that said opening will be disposed normally in receiving position with respect to the discharge of the chute, said receptacle being pivotable when so supported to pivot about a horizontal axis extending longitudinally of said receptacle to discharging position and to return to its original position by force of gravity.

4. An automatically uprighting clothes hamper for use in conjunction with a vertical clothes chute and comprising hollow generally cylindrical receptacle having foraminated side walls with a relatively large opening formed in one portion thereof and having a pair of opposed end portions, pivotal mounting mechanism secured eccentrically to each of said end portions between its center and said opening along an axis extending longitudinally of said receptacle whereby when supported by said mounting mechanism the force of gravity will cause said receptacle to pivot so that said opening will face upwardly, said mechanism being adapted to be connected to supports to position said receptacle below the discharge of the chute in position so as to normally receive therefrom through said opening, said receptacle being pivotable when so supported to pivot about a horizontal axis extending longitudinally of said receptacle to discharging position and to return to its normal receiving position by force of gravity, and cable means connected to said receptacle for causing the same to pivot to discharging position when desired.

JOSEPH F. HEIBERG.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 576,727 Healy Feb. 9, 1897 1,116,473 Oberle Nov. 10, 1914 1,648,811 Hillyard Nov. 8, 1927 1,724,236 Tierney Aug. 13, 1929 2,182,689 Carlson Dec. 5, 1939 2,452,243 Johnson Oct. 26, 1948

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