US585951A - Clothes-line holder - Google Patents

Description

A. CAMP-BELL.

CLOTHES LINE HOLDER.

No. 585,951.- Patented July 6, 1897.

UNITED STATES PATENT EErcE.

ALBERT CAMPBELL, OF SHADE GAP, PENNSYLVANIA.

CLOTHES-LINE HOLDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 585,951, dated July 6, 1897.

Application filed March 27, 1897. Serial No, 629,565. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT CAMPBELL, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Shade Gap,I-Iuntingdon county, State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Clothes-Line Holders; and my preferred manner of carrying out the invention is set forth in the following full,

clear, and exact description, terminating with claims particularly specifying the novelty.

This invention relates to devices for supporting an endless line, and more especially to such as are used for maintaining a clothesline at a suitable height above the ground in order to permit the wash to be hung thereon; and the object of the same is to effect certain improvements in the construction of such devices.

To this end the invention consists in the specific details of construction described and claimed below and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein- Figure l is a general perspective view of the device in use, showing a section of a brick wall as serving as one of the supports. Fig. 2 is a section through the inner wheel, showing its bracket in side elevation. Fig. 3 is a detail showing a modified manner of forming the feet at the outer ends of the arms. Fig. 4 is a similar view of another modification.

In the said drawings the letters S S designate supports, as posts rising from the ground, and S is a section of a wall, or it may be a shed or other suitable building or article which can serve for one or both supports. To this is attached by bolts, nails, or screws N N a bracket B, having projecting from its face two threaded rods R R, as seen.

F F designate, respectively, the upper and lower arms of a framework, made preferably of light strap-iron or other metal, and of which the upper extends from the upper rod obliquely downward, While the lower extends about straight outward, and has in its body an elbow E, formed bya downward bend and then an outward bend, so that the outer end of this arm shall pass just under the outer and lower end of the upper arm. Each .of the arms at its inner end is turned at right angles to the rod R and provided with an eye passing over it, and the lower arm is held against outward movement by a nut f, while the upper is held by nuts f and f on opposite sides of its angular inner end. It will be ob- Vious that by adjusting these nuts the entire framework can be set nearer to or farther from its support and fastened in its adjusted position for a purposeto appear below.

WV W are respectively the inner and outer wheels, which are constructed alike, and hence a description of one will suffice for both. Each is composed of a rather thick center, from which radiate thinner arms A, thus producing hubs H at the center" above and below the plane of the arms, and this hub is pierced with an upright axial hole, through which passes a vertical pivotal bolt V. The head of the latter stands upon the outer end or footof the upper arm F of the frame, and the shank of the bolt passes thence downward through holes in this foot and in that of the lower arm F, then through a washer w, then the hub, then another washer to, and finally receives its nut n and, if desired, a jam-nut v to prevent the undesirable loosening of the first nut. Thus the bolt Vserves at once to clamp the feet of the arms F F together and to form a bearing on which the wheel IV rotates freely, and the nut 12 is beneath, where it is within ready reach of the operator. The outer Wheel WV is mounted in the same manner with its hub between two washers on the shank and under the head of another bolt (or screw) V, which, as shown, enters the upper end of an outer post forming the support for the farther end of the endless clothes-line L. IVhen the inner support is a wall S", the bracket B may be attached thereto adjacent a window, and the further support might be another wall on the opposite or further side of a small court or yard, and in that case the operator could lean out her window, attach the wash to the line, move the latter one step, attach subsequent pieces, and so on until both sides of the line were full, for it will be observed that the pins pass easily around the curved feet 0 at the outer ends of the arms A.

Each wheel may be stamped from a single piece of sheet metal, with the hubs applied later, as by soldering or otherwise, or it could be cast, if desired. In Figs. 3 and at I have shown modifications whereby the feet might be formed at the outer end of the sheet-metal arms A without casting; but it is to be understood that these views illustrate only two of a number of ways in which this might be done. In Fig. 3 the arm A is out through on the line A in the act of stamping, so as to produce two tongues, each half the width of the arm at its outer end. Subsequently each tongue is bent first in one direction, as at a, and then sharply back on itself in the other direction, as at a, and the two tongues are bent in opposite directions, as seen. This produces a small fold at the neck of each tongue, and the two folds, by projecting in opposite directions, lap each other, so that the line L has a smooth surface on which to rest in passing around the foot. In Fig. 4 the sheet-metal arm A is stamped with the foot 0 at its outer end, as shown, and subsequently given a quarter-twist, as at Q, whereby the body of the arm stands in a horizontal plane, but the foot 0 in a vertical, and as its outer edge is curved or dished it also presents a curved surface, which will retain the rope or line.

In use the supports are found or provided, the bracket attached to one, the eyes of the frame slipped over the rods of the bracket, and the nuts applied. The holes in the feet of the frame-arms are then alined, the bolt passed downward through them, the hub of the inner wheel passed upward onto the bolt with washers at each side of it, and finally the nuts applied thereto. The outer wheel is then similarly mounted on another support, (which may have a bracket and frame like the first or may be simply a post, as shown in Fig. 1,) and finally the endless clothes-line L is applied, passing around the curved feet like a belt around its wheels. The nuts f, f and f are then adjusted so that the line shall be sufficiently tight, and the whole is ready for the washerwomans use in amanner which will be clear.

While I do not confine myself to the pre cise details of construction illustrated and described, I consider them the best to be used in carrying out the general idea; still many changes in and much elaboration of the invention is possible without losing sight of the principle. I consider the hubs advantageous, because in long use the washers are apt to get lost, and at any rate there will be considerable wear at the ends and through the bore of the hub, and if it be made quite thick this is resisted without the necessity for making it of harder metal, which is an expensive detail. I also consider the jamnut 1; essential, especially when its bolt serves to hold the arms of the framework together, for otherwise the tendency would be to set the nut L' so tight that the wheel W would not revolve freely. The elbow E in the frame is obviously to permit the passage under it of the heads of the clothes-pins, and yet the outer end of the frame be as low as necessary. Curved feet are also necessary, and my preferred manner of making them from sheet metal illustrates how the cost of the whole can be reduced to a minimum.

WVhat is claimed as new is- 1. In a clothes-line holder, the combination with a support, an upright bracket attached thereto, and two threaded rods projecting horizontally from the bracket one above the other; of a framework consisting of two arms each having a vertical inner end perforated and passed over one of said rods, nuts on the latter against such perforated ends, the upper arm leading obliquely downward and the lower arm leading outward, then downward in an elbow, and then outward again beneath the upper arm, and both having openings in their outer ends, and an upright bolt passing through said openings; a wheel journaled on the lower end of said bolt, a remote wheel, and a line passing around both wheels, as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In a clothes-line holder, the combination with two supports, bolts carried thereby, and an endless line; of two wheels, each journaled on its bolt and comprising fiat radial arms and each arm having two tongues at its outer extremity, one tongue being bent downward and then sharply upward on itself and curved outward, and the other tongue being oppositely and similarly bent so that the two tongues form a curved foot at the outer end of each arm, as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my signature on this the 26th day of March, A. D. 1897.

ALBERT CAMPBELL.

YVitnesses:

O. B. ZEIGLER, R. MONTGOMERY.

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