US3189188A - Drying rack - Google Patents

Description

June 15, 1965 I s, ZEPER 3,189,188

DRYING RACK Filed May ll, 1962 I Fig-.5

f- INVENTOR.

fxl//l/lll/l SHIRLEY ZEPER ATTORNEY United States Patent O 3,189,133 DRYING RACK Shirley Zeper, 8448 Forrest Ave., Philadelphia, Pa. Filed May 11, 1962, Ser. No. 193,981 2 Claims. .(Cl. 211-105.1)

This invention relatesto a drying rack and in particular to an improved rack for drying Wet garments such as bathing suits, etc.

Traveling conditions for car travelers in the United States have improved rapidly Within recent years. Many motels boast, in addition to the usual television sets, swimming pools lboth indoor and outdoor. These pools are finding great favor with travelers, especially in southern climates all year round and in northern zones during the summer months. Despite all of these improvements, however, most motel operators have not yet provided any special and effective apparatus which would enable the traveler to have his wet bathing suit dry out quickly `enough to enable it to dry by the next day for use again or to be packed for the next days travel. Consequently, the traveler must resort to whatever equipment -is at hand in order to attempt to dry out his suit. Very often the guest will place the bathing suitl over a radiator which may or may not be heated. If it is, when the guest wishes to pack the suit the next day, he will find that it has dried itno a corrugated mass whose contours follow the contours of the radiator. Besides, the water from thesuit drips onto the floor causing a messy and dangerous pool. The radiators are often rusty and leave spots on the garments. Sometimes lthe guests will drape the wet suit over the shower curtain rod and the water in the suit will drip onto the bathroom iloor. Also, in these makeshift arrangements, since the front and rear parts of the batliing suit are very close to one another, not much air can circulate in-between and the drying process is considerably retarded. Still other guests hang their bathing suits on a wire or Wooden hanger and somehow suspend the top part of the hanger from an appropriate point. The expedient oiiten has the disadvantage that the bathing suit is so heavy that it will deform the Wire hanger and possibly slip to the floor or, if it does not fall, does not permit much air to circulate between the front and rear portions of the suit and hence drying is a very slow process. Wooden hangers, though stronger and more rigid, easily become ruined by water, which may cause warping and discoloration. Even these hangers do not spread the 4front and rear portions suiciently far apart to permit drying-and it is diicult to hang more than one suit on each hanger. As is the case with wire hangers, wooden hangers do not separate the front and back portions of 4the suits suiciently to enable good circulation of air through them. Y

From the standpoint of the motel owner, this lack of convenient and adequate inside hanging equipment often .induces the guests to hang their suit-s outside on a railing which may be located'near the pool. Here, again,the front and rear parts of the suit are pressed against one another. Besides', this presentsa very unesthetic appearance to the other guests'and also to prospective guests.

While it would be very advantageous for-V the motel owner and his guests to provide equipment for use inside for drying bathing suits and other wet garments, this equipment should preferably be capable of being installed permanently into the mortel premises to -avoid loss of it through theft.

3,189,188 Patented June 15, 1965 ice celerate the drying process..

Another object of the present invention is to provide a drying rack for wet garments that may be installed so as to avoid dripping of water from the garments onto floors.

Another object of the invention is to provide a drying rack for wet garments, which promotes more rapid drying of the garments by enablingV better circulation of air through them.

Still another object of the inventtion'is to provide a novel drying rack for wet garments, which does not discolor or distort the shape ofthe garments.

Another object of the invention is to provide a drying rack onto which the wet garments may be easily placed and withdrawn and is constructed to prevent said garments from sliding oi.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a novel drying rack for wet garments, which may be permanently installed in motels and the like, Without taking up any substantial amount of useful spa'ce.

Other objects of the invention may be appreciated from a reading of a specication and claims herein taken in conjunction with the drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective View of one form of my invention;

FIGURE 2 is a front elevation view of another form of my invention; Y

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged and partly sectional detail of a corner of the apparatus shown in FIG. 2 taken along the section lines 3 3 in thedirection indicated;

FIGURE 4 is a side elevation view of my invention in another of its fonrns; andY FIGURE 5 is a perspective View of the apparatus shown in FIG. 4.

FIGURE 6 is a plan View, partly in phantom, of still another embodiment of my invention.

In accordance with my invention, I have devised an inexpensive and practical drying rack, which is characterized by having dimensions such that when the wet garment is placed, by means of an appropriate opening in the garment, over the rack, the opopsite parts of the garment will be spaced from one another sutiiciently for air to circulate freely therein, so as to speed up the drying process. In one form of the invention, an elongated, transversely corrugated horizontal member, having turnedup ends, is employed. The corrugationsabet the circulation of air under the part of the garment which is suspended on the rack, and the turned-up ends prevent the wet garments from slipping oi, should the rack flex somewhat under the weight of it. In another form ofthe invention, the rack may lbe madeV from a single piece of plastic, which is yfolded back on itself at each end and then folded inwardly and twisted to form two horizontal projections; whose free ends are spaced from one another ample, while the top of the C-member is disposed around the shower curtain rod. Since the rack is suspended between the shower wall and the shower curtain, the dripping clothes will drip only on the inside Aof the bathtub and hence will not produce troublesome puddles of water on the floor.

Referring to FIGURE 1, one form of my invention is shown, which comprises a dat vertical section 10, which is aixed by screws 1,1 or other appropriate fasteners to a vertical wall or other member. A horizontal elongated portion 12 has a number of transverse corrugations 1S formed therein and is connected to the vertical section 10, or isformed integraltherewith. When wet garments 14 are placed with their shoulder straps 14a over the section 12, the `cor-rugations 13 tend to keep the shoulder straps 14a spaced from fone another, even if the left part of the elongated member 12 should bend down somewhat under the weight of the garments. The corrugations also promote -air circulation, if the wet suit is put on the rack by passing the horizontal portion 12 through the trunk opening of a pair of bathing shorts, for example, and out one of the leg openings. Also, since the portion 12 has a substantial front-to-back depth, the front and back sides of the garments are spaced well away from one another, so that air can circulate through the suit thereby speeding up the drying process. The material, of which thepart-s and 12 are made, should not be corrodible, lest the corrosion stain the garments. iFor this reason, a rigid plastic material is to be preferred.

Referring now to FIGURES 2 and 3, another form of my invention is shown, which may be easily formed out of a single elongated piece of plastic material, for example. It comprises a vertical Wall-mounting section 16, which includes respect-ive left and right folded-over portions or projecting sections Y17 and 18, and dat, horizontally-disposed portions I19 and 20, extending toward one another and terminating in .upturned portions 21 `and 22. As in the first embodiment of my invention, the port- ions 19 and 20 have a front-to-back depth, suflicient to separate the front and back portions of the wet garments, for instance, by at least several inches to permit the passage of air. The Space -between the turned-up portions 21 and 22 permits the shoulder strap or other opening in the wet garments to be passed over the portions 19 and 20. The turned- up ends 21 and 22 prevent the garments `from slipping off, should the weight of the Wet garments tend to pull down the horizontal portions 19 and 20. If desired, the portions 19 and 2o may be corrugated to help in circulating the air and yin keeping the shoulder straps of the wet garments separate from one another. As in the rst embodiment, the entire rack should be made of a noncorrosive material to prevent staining of the garments.

FIGURE 4 shows still another embodiment of my invention and includes a horizontal flat portion 26, an end portion 27, which is substantially perpendicular to the top 26, an opposite end portion 28, which is curved somewhat t-o t around Ia shower curtain rod 29, and two horizontal flat portions 30 and 31 extending inward toward one another. The portions 30 and 3.1 have respective turned-up ends 32 and `33 spaced from one another to permit the Wet garments 14 to be inserted onto the portions 30 and 31. One or more holes (not shown) are vided in the end portion 27 to permit one or more screws 36 to pass through it and to .be screwed into a wall or other supporting member 37. These screws 36 will make 4the installation permanent and discourage attempts to remove it from public places like hotels and motels, for example. One or more bolts 3S (see also FIG. 5) are passed through apertures (not shown) in the portions 26 and 31 and fastened by nuts 39 to assist in preventing removal of the rack and also to prevent movement of the end portion 28 away from the rod 29 when the heavy wet garments are placed on the portion 31. The same effect can be achieved by forming in either or both of the portions 26 and 31 an upwardly or downwardly-extending ridge or boss not shown) right next to the rod 29. These ridges exert a compressive force on the rod 29.

It should be appreciated that the portion 26 can be made in two sections (not shown), which partially overlap and have a number of holes therein. By aligning the holes with one another and passing bolts through them, the two sections may be connected for any desired length. If the length is longer than the span from the bathtub Wall to the rod, no permanent fastening devices like screws 36 are necessary to hold the left portion 27 up. Of course, left portion 27 will be somewhat longer to compensate for the fact that the section 26 is tilted up at the wall end, so that the portion 3) can be substantially co-planar with portion 31. With this arrangement the traveler can carry his own rack from motel to motel.

FIGURE 6 shows still another form of my invention which includes a Vwall-mounting portion 40 having two upper anged portions 40a and 4Gb. The left flange 4(911 has formed therein a curved slot 44 and an aperture (not shown) in which downwardly depending pegs or pins 43 and 42 are respectively disposed. These pins are connected at the left end of clothes supporting member 41. Member 41 ordinarily is supported by the flanges 40a and db when `supporting clothes to be dried or when not in such use. When clothes are to be hung the member 41 is pivoted toward the .user (clockwise as seen in FIG. 6) and the shoulder str-ap or crotch portions are slipped over it whereupon it is then pivoted away from the user (counter-clockwise FIG. 6) and its right end is brought t-o rest upon ange 4%. The reverse procedure is employed in taking the dry clothes off.

If desired, the pins 42 and 43 may be provided with transverse holes near the lower ends to enable clothes pins or similar devices to be inserted after the pins are placed in their respective hole and slot in flange 40a. This prevents member 41 from being dislodged from ange 49a during the loading and unloading operation.

Still other variations which do not depart from the essence of my invention will occur to those skilled in the art. Consequently, I desire my invention to be limited only by the following claims.

I claim:

1. A 4unitary rack -for drying 4apertured wet garments comprising: a substantially at elongated section of sheet material `for connection to a supporting surface, rst and second projecting sections of sheet material respectively connected to said elongated section at each end thereof and extending generally transverse thereto, and two garment-engaging sections of sheet material connected respectively to said first and second sections and extending inwardly therefrom toward one another with their respective free ends spaced from each other, said garment-engaging sections being substantially flat and relatively wide for preventing substantially all of the opposing inner surfaces of garments slipped thereover from touching one another, and said garment-engaging sections being disposed substantially perpendicular to said elongated section and to said -rst and second projecting sections.

2. The unitary rack according t-o claim 1 wherein said elongated section, said projecting portions and said two garment-engaging sect-ions are all formed out a single piece of plastic material, wherein said projecting portions are bent outwardly from said single piece at two points References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 926,945 7/09 Howland 211--87 1,028,520 6/12 Zimmerman 244-95 1,227,421 5/17 Gilliland 211-87 (Other references on following page) UNITED STATES PATENTS Olson 211--123 Bowers 220-3.9 Starner 211-123 Desmarais 211-87 Poole 211-89 Waite 211-96 Case 211123 Watral 211-123 CLAUDE A. LE ROY, Primary Examiner.

Claims (1)

1. A UNITARY RACK FOR DRYING APERTURED WET GARMENTS COMPRISING: A SUBSTANTIALLY FLAT ELONGATED SECTION OF SHEET MATERIAL FOR CONNECTION TO A SUPPORTING SURFACE, FIRST AND SECOND PROJECTING SECTIONS OF SHEET MATERIAL RESPECTIVELY CONNECTED TO SAID ELONGATED SECTION AT EACH END THEREOF AND EXTENDING GENERALLY TRANSVERSE THERETO, AND TWO GARMENT-ENGAGING SECTIONS OF SHEET MATERIAL CONNECTED RESPECTIVELY TO SAID FIRST AND SECOND SECTIONS AND EXTENDING INWARDLY THEREFROM TOWARD ONE ANOTHET WITH THEIR RESPECTIVE FREE ENDS SPACED FROM EACH OTHER, SAID GARMENT-ENGAGING SECTIONS BEING SUBSTANTIALLY FLAT AND RELATIVELY WIDE FOR PREVENTING SUBSTANTIALLY ALL OF THE OPPOSING INNER SURFACES OF GARMENTS SLIPPED THEREOVER FROM TOUCHING ONE ANOTHER, AND SAID GARMENT-ENGAGING SECTIONS BEING DISPOSED SUBSTANTIALLY PERPENDICULAR TO SAID ELONGATED SECTION AND TO SAID FIRST AND SECOND PROJECTING SECTIONS.

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