US439019A - Towel-rack - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

S. LIGHTBURNE, Jr.

TOWEL RACK Pateniwd Oct. 21, 1890;

III,

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

S. LIGHTBURNE, Jr.

TOWEL RACK.

Patented Oct. 2-1, 1890.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

STAFFORD LIGHTBURNE, JR, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

TOWEL-RACK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 439,019, dated October 21, 1890.

Application filed February 1, 1890- Serial No. 338,855. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be itknown that I, STAFFORD LIGHTBURNE, Jr., of the city of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Towel-Racks, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

This rack is intended especially for handtowels. The novelties are set forth in the claims.

Fig. I is a perspective view. Fig. II is a top view, part in horizontal section. Fig. III is a top view,part in horizontal section, showing a modification. Fig. IV is a perspective view of a modification. Fig. V is a top view, part in section,of the form shown in Fig. IV.

The device will be shown and described in the preferred form, but may be modified, as will be hereinafter set forth.

1 is a board or metal plate or strip, which may be made so thin as to be elastic, and which is so represented in Figs. I and II.

2 are screws by which the board or strip is attached to a fixed object. These screws may be at or near the middle, as seen in Fig. I, or at the ends, as seen in Fig. II.

3 and t are brackets attached to the board or strip 1 and givingbearing to the gudgeons 5 of the rollers 6. These bars or rollers may have bulges 7 at the middle.

8 are pins fixed in the end brackets 3 and extending parallel with the rollers 6 in such a position that the towel is held between the bulged parts 7 of the rollers 6 and the pins 8.

It will be seen that in the absence of the towel the pins 8 are in contact with the bulges 7. Consequently to admit the towel they must be forced asunder. The elasticity of the parts admits of this. In Figs. I and II the board or strip I is flexible and allows the pins 8 to move outward as the towel is forced beneath them, which may be done by a simple side movement of the towel or by a combined side and end movement of the towel.

In Fig. III the rollers 6 turn on a spring arbor-rod 9, whose outer ends have bearing in slots 10, so that these ends of p the rollers may move inward to admit a towel between the rollers and the pins 8, the latter being capable of springing outward. The elasticity of the rod forces the rollers 6 against the towel.

In Figs. IV and V the central bracket 4 is dispensed with, and the rollers 6 turn on a spring-rod 9, whose ends have bearing in slots 10 of the brackets 3, so that the rod may move inward, and thus allow the easy insertion of the towel. In order to hold the towel, spiral springs 11 are inserted in the brackets 3, said springs pushing blocks 12'against the ends of the arbor-rod 9 and forcing them outward.

In Figs. IV and V the roller-sections 13 are mere distance-tubes to hold the rollers 6 in place on the arbor-rod.

I have described the parts 6 as rollers; but they may be made in the form of a fixedbar, and if smooth would answer the purpose well and would be a substantial equivalent.

I claim as my invention- 1. In a towel-rack, the combination of a bar or roller 6 and a pin 8, forced toward each other by a spring, said pin being disconnected atone end, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination, in a towel-rack, of a bar or roller 6 and pin 8, having bearing in or connected to brackets, said pin being disconnected at one end, and a spring device, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. The combination, inatowel-rack, of the board or strip 1, the brackets 3 and 4, bar or rollers 6, and pins 8,having free ends projecting toward each other, substantially as .set forth.

4. The combination, in a towel-rack, of the

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