US3009676A

US3009676A - Electric blanket control unit holder

Info

Publication number: US3009676A
Application number: US753225A
Authority: US
Inventors: William G Buchwald
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1958-08-05
Filing date: 1958-08-05
Publication date: 1961-11-21
Anticipated expiration: 1978-11-21

Description

Nov. 21, 1961 w. G. BUCHWALD ELECTRIC BLANKET CONTROL UNIT HOLDER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 5, 1958 A William 6. Buchwald INVENTOR.

Nov. 21, 1961 w. G. BUCHWALD ELECTRIC BLANKET CONTROL UNIT HOLDER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 5, 1958 Fig.5

William 6. Buchwald.

1N VEN TOR.

United States Patent 3,009 676 ELECTRIC BLANKET C(ifNTROL UNIT HOLDER William G. Buchwald, Rte. 1, Faxon, Okla. Filed Aug. 5, 1958, Ser. No. 753,225 7 Claims. (Cl. 248-229) This invention relates to a bed attachment and more particularly to an electric blanket control unit and cable or line cord holder.

An object of the invention is to provide a special attachment for a bed to hold the control unit of an electric blanket accessible to the occupant or occupants of the bed, and to provide means for supporting the electric conductors that extend from the control unit alongside of the bedrails or some other convenient part of the bed whereby they will not become tangled, nor will they be accessible to small children.

These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a control unit attachment showing it applied to a part of a bed.

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view of the attachment in FIGURE 1 with the control unit being omitted.

FIGURE 3 is a bottom plan view of the attachment in FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view taken on a line 4--4 of FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 5 is a top horizontal sectional view of a bed fitted with two attachments for a dual control electric blanket.

FIGURE 6 is a perspective view of a part of the molding for holding the electric conductor of the electric blanket.

FIGURE 7 is another part of the molding used principally at the corner of the bed.

FIGURE 8 is a perspective view of a modified form of the invention.

FIGURE 9 is a perspective view of another modification.

In the accompanying drawings there is a conventional bed 10 which schematically represents any type of bed. As it is common to most beds, there are

bedrails

12 and 14, a headboard 16 and a footboard 18, although the headboard and footboard can be omitted as is the case in numerous Hollywood beds. Electric blanket 20 is shown on the bed in FIGURE 1, While FIGURE 5 shows two

control units

22 and 24 together with a cable or conventional conductor 26 adapted to extend from both units to the electric blanket. The electric blanket 20 (omitted in FIGURE 5) is a conventional dual control blanket, although the principles of the invention are equally applicable to single control electric blankets for single or double beds.

Attachment 30 is used to support control unit 24 along side of bedrail 14. The attachment is made of a clamp 32 and a base 34 adjustably secured to the clamp, Clamp 32 has a pair of

sides

36 and 38 and a connecting panel 40 at one pair of ends of the sides. This forms a channel which, when applied to bedrail 14, is opened downwardly so that it fits over the top of the bedrail with the bedrail nested or seated in the channel-shaped part of the clamp. Wall 38 is doubled, having a portion 42 fitting flush against the outside surface of the inner portion of the wall, and it has a laterally projecting panel 44 that is adapted to extend outwardly of bedrail 14 (FIGURE 4) when the attachment is applied to the bedrail.

Base 34 is constructed of a panel 46 spaced below panel 3,009,676 Patented Nov. 21, 1961- "ice 44 as seen in FIGURE 4 and having a central bracket 48 fixed thereto and disposed between a pair of bracket plates 50 and 52 (FIGURE 3) that are attached by mounting

flanges

54 and 56 to wall panel 40. Bolt 60 is passed through aligned openings in bracket 48 and

bracket plates

50 and 52. A nut is on the bolt and can be tightened to hold base 34 in selected positions of rotational adjustment with the longitudinal axis of bolt 60 establishing an axis of rotation for base 34. Panel 44 includes a downwardly turned curved end portion constituting a stop for the base 34 when the base 34 is rotated to the horizontal position and presenting a smooth safe projecting surface when exposed. When not in use, the base 34 of the attachment can be swung down to a position approximately parallelly to the bedrail 14 for which reason clearance or space is provided between the lower surface of the panel 44 and the panel 46 of base 34 as shown in FIGURE 4 to accommodate such pivotal movement. The base will then be concealed against the bedrail while the outer curved end of the panel 44 only, is exposed.

The means for embracing and holding control unit 24 are seen best in FIGURES 2-4. These means consists of two

jaws

62 and 64 that are movable toward and away from each other. Each jaw has a pair of upstanding arms 66 at the outer corners thereof, and each arm has an inturned upper end 68 adapted to engage over a part of the control unit (see FIGURE 1) to hold it firmly fastened in place regardless of the position of the base 34. Otherwise, the

jaws

64 and 62 are constructed of

flat plates

70 and 72 that slide toward and away from each other on the top surface of panel 46. There are four slots 74 in the two

plates

70 and 72, and a bolt 76 extends through each of the slots. The four bolts are attached to the panel 46 and being in slots 74, they constrain the motion of the jaws. The jaws are held yieldingly pulled together by a pair of

springs

78 and 80 attached to posts 82 that depend from the two

plates

70 and 72 and that pass through a pair of

slots

84 and 86 in panel '46. The slots constrain the movement of the posts while

springs

78 and 80, being attached to pairs of posts with one post of each pair being attached to each jaw, in order to yieldingly pull the jaws together in clamping contact with control unit 24.

In FIGURE 8 there is a modification of the invention. The bed attachment 3011 has a clamp 32a identical to clamp 32, and a base 34a identical to base 34. The distinction between FIGURE 8 and the embodiment of FIGURE 1 is in the shape of jaws 70a and 720. These jaws, instead of being made on a rectangular base, are made on semi-circular bases in order to grip circular control units (unshown) which are approximately as popular as rectangular control units 24. Otherwise, the embodiments of FIGURES 8 and 1 are identical.

Reference is now made to FIGURE 9 where a further embodiment of the invention is shown. In this embodiment the attachment 30b has a clamp 32b the same or essentially the same as clamps 30 and 32a. Base 34b is fixed to the wall panel 42b and protrudes laterally therefrom at right angles to the main plane of the panel 42b. The jaws have upstanding arms 66b with inturned upper ends 68b to grip over a portion of a control unit for an electric blanket. However, the adjustment of the jaws is accomplished by having

small plates

70b and 72b slidable in guides 90 that are attached to base panel 46b. The guides are open-ended and are each made of two substantially U-shaped channels that confront each other so that individual guideways for the

plates

72b and 70b are formed. The control unit is adapted to be placed between the pairs of jaws and held in place by sliding the jaw fingers toward the control unit with the control unit gripped thereby. The frictional resistance to movement 3 between the guides 90 and the

plates

70b and 72b retain the control unit in fixed position on base 34b.

The conductor 26 is generally a nuisance in electric blankets. Therefore the invention provides molding 92 that fits along the inside surface of

bedrails

12 and 14. The molding is approximately channel shaped and has a plurality of downwardly opening hooks 94 to engage over the top part of the bedrails so that the molding 92 can hang on the inside surface of the bedrails. The conductor 26 is strung through molding 92. At the corners of the bed molding 95 is used. The molding 95 is made of a short channel 96 with at least one hook 97 attached thereto. The hook opens downwardly so that the molding 95 hangs on the bedrail. However, one end of molding 95 is laterally outwardly flared and curved slightly longitudinally so that the conductor 26 can be guided around the corner of the bed in order to enter a similar piece of molding and then another of the long moldings 92.

From the foregoing, the construction and operation of the device will be readily understood and further explanation is believed to be unnecessary. However, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the ant, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction shown and described, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. An attachment to hold the control of an electric blanket on a bed that has a bedrail, said attachment comprising a clamp that is approximately U-shaped in crosssection and has a pair of spaced parallel walls and a connecting panel attached to one pair of ends of said walls and thereby forming a downwardly opening channel within which a part of the bedrail is adapted to nest, a horizontally disposed fiat base pivotally connected to said clamp and protruding laterally therefrom, jaws, means slidably mounting each of said jaws on said base parallel to each other, said jaws being biased toward each other to embrace the electric blanket control unit, each jaw including an anm that protrudes upwardly from said base having an inturned upper end for engagement with a part of the control unit and shielding stop means connected to the clamp and projecting laterally therefrom in spaced relation above the base to limit upward pivotal movement of the base to a horizontal position and protectively shield the base in a retracted position.

2. In combination with a bed having side rails, electric blanket means disposed above the bed and including a control unit operatively connected to the blanket means through electrical conduit, retractible holder means adjustably mounted on a bed rail and extending laterally outwardly therefrom for clamp-supporting the control unit thereon, and conduit guide means removably mounted on the bed rails and extending inwardly therefrom for retaining and guiding the electric conduit partially around the bed perimeter inwardly of the bed rails.

3. The combination of claim 2, wherein said holder means comprises slidable clamp means adjustably mounted on a bed rail, shielding stop means connected to the clamp means projecting outwardly from the bed rail, base means pivotally connected to the clamp means below the stop means and limited thereby to a horizontal position in spaced relation below the stop means, and jaw means slidably mounted at an outer end of the base means and spring-biased into engagement with a control unit seated therebetween.

4. The combination of claim 3, wherein said conduit guide means include separately mounted elongated straight portions and shorter outwardly flaring curved portions for accommodating bending of the conduit at corners of the bed and at connecting portions to the control unit.

5. The C nbination of claim 2, wherein said conduit guide means include separately mounted elongated straight portions and shorter outwardly flaring curved portions for accommodating bending of the conduit at corners of the bed and at connecting portions to the control unit.

6. In combination with a bed having side rails, electric blanket means disposed above the bed and including a control unit operatively connected to the blanket means through electrical conduit, retractible holder means adjustably mounted on a bedrail and extending laterally outwardly therefrom for clamp-supporting the control unit thereon, and conduit guide means removably mounted on the bedrails for retaining and guiding the electrical conduit partially around the bed perimeter adjacent to the bedrails.

7. An attachment to hold the control unit of an electric blanket on a bed that has a bedrail, said attachment comprising a clamp for mounting on the bedrail, a base pivotally connected to said clamp and protruding laterally therefrom, jaw means slidably mounted on said base and biased into embracing relation to the blanket control unit and shielding stop means connected to the clamp and projecting laterally therefrom in spaced relation above the base to limit upward movement of the base to a horizontal position and protectively shield the base therebelow in a retracted position against the bedrail.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS