US2919818A

US2919818A - Folding clothes airer

Info

Publication number: US2919818A
Application number: US667895A
Authority: US
Inventors: Clegg John Dennis; Day John Henry
Original assignee: HOME EASE Ltd
Current assignee: HOME EASE Ltd; HOME-EASE Ltd
Priority date: 1956-07-03
Filing date: 1957-06-25
Publication date: 1960-01-05
Anticipated expiration: 1977-01-05

Description

Jan. 5, 1960 D, CLEGG ETAL FOLDING CLOTHES AIRER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 File@ Jdne 25, 1957 Jn Mw @y Jan. 5, 1960 J. D. cLEGG ETAL FOLDING CLOTHES AIRER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 25, 1957 er md@ M1 fum NToevE/s:

United States Patent O FOLDING CLOTHES AIRER John Dennis Clegg, Solihull, and John Henry Day, Moseley, Birmingham, England, assignors to Home-Ease Limited, Birmingham, England, a British company Application June 25, 1957, Serial No. 667,895

Claims priority, application Great Britain July 3, 1956 1 claim. (cl. al1-17s) This invention'relates to clothes airers of the kind whichr are adapted to be stood upon a Hoor or like surface, the airer including a plurality of upright members,

there being disposed between adjacent upright members aplurality of horizontally disposed rails, each rail serving to support the clothes which are to be aired and the arrangement being such that the airer can be folded into a substantially flat condition for storage.

The object of the present invention is to provide an improved construction.

According to the present invention, we provide va clothes airer, wherein each upright member is constituted by a frame, each said frame varying in width from top to bottom thereof, adjacent rails being secured to their respective frames at points of differing widths, whereby the rails are kdisposed in diterent vertical as well as horizontal planes, so that when the airer is in its erected position, the clothes hanging on an upper rail do not rest on those which are on a lower rail.

Preferably three upright frames are provided and each frame may consist of a number of superposed elements each of dilerent width.

For example, each frame may consist of a lower element which is of rectangular form, an intermediate element of inverted U-shape, the free ends of the limbs of the U being secured to the upper member of the rectangular element and an upper pillar which is secured centrally to the base of the intermediate U-shape member. v

A pair of rails may extend between adjacent lower elements and between adjacent intermediate elements of the frame, whilst a single rail may extend between adjacent pillar elements of the frames.

The ends of the rails may be pivotally secured to the elements of the frame whereby when the airer is moved into its folded state, each outer frame and the intermediate frame, together with their associated rails, fold with a parallelogram linkage motion.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view illustrating the airer in a partially open position.

Figure 2 is a perspective view illustrating the airer in a fully open position.

Figure 3 is a partial plan view illustrating the airer in a partially open position.

Figure 4 is a detail illustrating the connection between the two sections of the airer.

Figure 5 is a detail illustrating the connection of the horizontal rails to a frame member of the airer, and

Figure 6 is a detail illustrating the method of attachment of the horizontal rails to the attachment member.

In the form of our invention illustrated in the accompanying drawings, the airer includes three upright frame members, 10, 11 and 12 which are adapted to occupy a vertical plane when the airer is in its open-out or operative position. Each of these

frames

10, 11 and 12 is made up of three elements consisting of a lower eley 2,919,818 Patented Jan. 5, 1960 I'Ce ment 13 which isof rectangular form, an intermediate element 14 of an inverted U-shape and an upper element 15 in the form of a single pillar. Each intermediate element 14 has the free ends of the two limbs 16 thereof secured to the upper end 17 of its associated rectangular lower element 13, the intermediate elements 14 being of approximately half the Width of the lower elements 13 and being secured centrally thereto. pillar-like element 15 is secured centrally to the base of the corresponding intermediate element 14 by means of a screw or like fastening which will permit of relative pivotal movement between the two elements.

Thus, each frame has three portions of differing widths',

The upper transverse member 17 of each lower element 13 andthe base 18 of each intermediate element` may conveniently be made of metal bar of rectangular section, whereas each upper element 15 and the remaining portions of the intermediate and lower elements are made of tube. Thus each lower element consists of a U-shaped portion of tube 19 with the fourth side of the rectangle completed by the metal bar 17.

With the clothes airer in its operative or open position, as seen in Figure 2, the one frame is disposed intermediate the other two frames so that the airer canV be regarded as being composed of two pairs of frames with the intermediate frame common to both pairs.

Associated with each pair of frames are ve horizontal rails which are adapted to support the clothes. Two of these rails 20 are secured between the lower elements 13 of a pair of frames, while a further two rails 21 are secured between the intermediate elements 14 and the remaining rail 22 is secured between the upper elements 15.

Each of the rails 2l) and 21 which are secured to the intermediate 14 and lower 13 elements of the frames is of tubular form with the ends thereof adapted to receive an attachment member 23 whereby the rails can be engaged with the

tubular side members

16 and 19 respectively .of the intermediate 14 and lower 13 elements of the frame. Each attachment member 23 is in the form of a knuckle and comprises a hollow spigot 24 which is adapted to engage in the end of a

rail

20 or 21 and a laterally oset head portionV 25 which cornprises a pair of spaced plate-like members 26 each of which is provided with a through aperture 27. The head 25 of each attachment member 23 is adapted to engage a

tubular side member

16 or 19 of an intermediate or lower element of the frame so as to provide a pivotal connection between the rails. andthe frame to enable the airer to be folded and unfolded. The attachment members 23 may be secured to the frame through the medium of a peg 28 adapted to seat in the tubular side members of the frame or the tubular side members themselves may be swaged or otherwise worked to provide a stop to locate the ends of the rails against axial movement.

Each attachment member 23 may' conveniently be formed as a sheet metal pressing and in order to enable the attachment members 23 to be secured to the horizontal rails of the airer each spigot portion 24 is formed with a pair of apertures 29 into which the metal of the end portion of the horizontal rail can be deformed by a suitable pressing operation, this deformation being indicated by the reference numeral 3d in Figure 6. Instead of forming each attachment member 213 as a metal pressing, they may be formed as a plastic moulding in which case, the spigot 24 and the head 25 would be solid, but would be provided with recesses similar to the apertures 29 and with a through aperture 27 in the head for attachment to the frame members.

ln order to facilitate the folding of the airer into a tlat condition, the attachment members 23 at the outer ends of a set of rails are disposed so that their heads pro- Each upper d ject in the opposite direction to those at the other end, as wiil be seen from Figure 3.

The two raiis 20 which are secured between the lower elements il3 of each pair of frames and the two rails 2 which are secured between the intermediate elements i4 of each pair are each displaced vertically with respect to one another, so that they do not abut one another when 'the airer is in its folded position.

The upper rail 22 associated with each pair of frames is preferably of elongated L-shape and is formed of tube, the free end ofthe shorter limb which constit upper element E5 of the outer frame of each pair being secured to the base i8 of the intermediate element ifi of the outer frame of each pair, whilst the other end of each upper rail 23 is provided with an attachment member 23 as described above and secured to the upper e the intermediate frame.

Each rail is covered with polythene or like tubing so as to enhance the appearance and so as to enable the sur- `face of the rail to be kept clean so that the clothes hanging thereon will not inadvertently become marked. The polythene tubing is preferably provided with longitudinal ribs, so as to prevent wet clothes from slipping off the rails, and is applied to the rails in any suitable manner so that it is an interference iit therewith.

The airer rests on the iioor or other supporting surface with the lower ends of the three frames in contact therewith so that the airer is extremely stable and it can be folded from an out-of-use or hat condition into the normal wide angle or narrow angle V as may be desired, or it can be folded so that the two pairs of frames are in alignment to provide a straight airer. in order to increase its stability, the lower end of each frame may be provided with rubber feet 3i.

In order to ensure that the two sections of the airer pivot in unison with respect to the intermediate frame, a coupling member 32 is provided. As will clearly be seen from Figure 4 this coupling member 32 comprises a slide 33 which is mounted in a guide 34 secured to the underside of the upper transverse member 17 of the intermediate frame, this slide 33 having pivotally secured thereto two

swing arms

35 and 36 whose other ends are secured to one of the lower rails of each section of the airer.

Instead of providing an airer which consists of two sections, each folding as a parallelogram and the two parallelograms folding with respect to one another, the airer may be in the form of a single section consisting of two end frames and ve horizontal rails, such an airer folding upon itself with a parallelograrn action. single unit is particularly suitable for use in ats and such like confined dwelling-places. Alternatively, an airer may consist of three or more sections.

Such a Such a clothes airer as is described above is extremely stable, has an attractive appearance, and is of particular value with the present day tendency towards drip-dry articles of clothing7 for the airer can be stood in a bath without danger of damage to the bath and without danger of the airer falling over.

What we claim then is:

A clothes rack having a central frame member, a pair of end trame members disposed one on either side C l the central frame member, each frame member being pled '.n on a floor or like supporting surface and decretiu ig in width from the bottom to the top thereof, one set of clothes supporting rails extending between the one end frame member and the central trame, a second set of clothes supporting rails extending 'between other end frame member and the central frame, each of rails including a pair of lower rails extending between the widest parts of the respective frames, a pair of intermediate rails extending between narrower parts of the respective frames and a single upper rail extending between the tops of said respective frames, the ends of each of said pairs of rails being pivotally connected to their associated frames and one end of each upper rail being pivotally connected to the central frame whereas the opposite end of each said upper rail is formed with an upper part or each end frame, the said upper parts of the end frames being pivotally secured to said end frames, whereby each set of pairs of rails and its associated frame members forms a parallelogram linkage so that in the operative position of the rack all of the rails may extend at right angles to their respective frames, whereas in the inoperative position of the rack all of the rails and frames may be folded so that they are substantially co-planar, and a coupling member carried by the central frame member, said coupling member including a slide mounted for sliding movement in a guide secured to the central frame member and a pair of swing arms each having one end thereof pivotally connected to the slide and the other end thereof pivotally connected to the corresponding rail of the lower pair of each set of rails. so that each set of rails and their associated end frame member fold in unison about the central frame member.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 454,328 Buchholz June 16, i89l 1,693,839 Faudi Dec. 4, 1928 1,779,788 Weston Oct. 28, 1930 1,837,388 Wood Dec. 22, 193i 2,605,030 Fischer July 9, 1957. 2,706,563 Larson Apr. 19, 1955