US783622A - Window-shelf for plants. - Google Patents

Description

No. 788,622. PATENTED FEB. 28, 1905. G. W. CURTIS.

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SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 783,622, dated February 28, 1905.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that .l, GEORGE W. CURTIS, a citizen of the United States, residing at New Britain, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Window-Shelves for Plants, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in wiiulow-shelves for plants; and the objects of my improvement are simplicity and economy in construction and convenience and ellicieney in use and in particular to adapt the shelves for use on wide or narrow windows, as oceasion may require.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation of my shelves as applied to a window. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same with small portions broken out to show other parts. Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail section of a portion of my shell? on the line a' m of Fig. 2. Fig. l is a transverse section of one oi the trays on a larger scale. Fig. 5 is a central vertical section, partly in elevation, of the lower rear corner of one of the brackets on the same scale as Fig. 3. Fig. 6 is a transverse section on the line 51 1 Fig. 3, of one of the oxtensile skeleton shelves, part oi the end piece oi the said sheli' being broken away.

My shelves are supported mainly on two bracket-frames, which frames are preferably formed 01 tubing 7, cross-rods 8, and cornerpioees S), the tubing 7 being bent into the desired l'orm until its ends nearlymeet and then connected together by cxtei'lding the said ends into the sockets oi the cori'ier-piece 9, to which the said ends may be secured in any proper manner as, for example, by pins 10, as shown in Figs. 2 and The c rnerieces are ot a right-angular iiorm at their back and bottom,

bottom oi? said corner-piece with rubber, as indicated at Fig. 5. Near the top and bottom of the frames Ill place the cross-rods for the end pieces of the skeleton shelves to rest on. I soshape the frame that when the crossrods 8 are horizontal the frame will extend obliquely upward and outward, and it should have obliquity enough to bring the rear end of the upper cross-rod in substantially the vertical plane oi the front end oi the lower cross-rod, so that no part oi the upper shell will be directly over any part oi the lower shell. l provide the rear edge oi the frame with an eye 15, from which a chain It) or equivalent fastening may beextended to a screw-eye or fastening- 13 on the windoweasing 12, as shown in Fig. 2.

Each shell is composed of four extensile bars and two end pieces 17, each end piece being' provided with a rollcd over upper edge 18 to hook upon the shell eross-rods 8 ol the frame. The extensile bars are formed each oi a hollow and flattened tube iii and a llat strip of metal 20, titted to and sliding within the said flattened tube. The said strips have one end bent at a right angle to their bodies and are secured by rivets to one of the end pieces 1'7, the right-hand end piece, as shown In Fig. 1. Short piecesil of like strips olimetal are bent into the right-angular form and have one member thereoi riveted to the other end piece, the upper lelt-haud cud pieceasshowu in Fig. 6, while the other member oi these angular pieces extrmds into the ends oi the ilaie toned hollow tubes 19, which are riveted thoreto, as shown in Fig. 3. The strips 20 and tubes ll) should be nearly oi equal length; but inas much as a short portion of the tubes at the ends nearest the end piece is lillcd up by thev fastening angle-piece 21 the metal strips may be that much shorter than the tubes. 'lhe strips and tubes are riveted to the end pieces so as to stand up edgewise thnt is, with their broad sides in the vertical position--aml they are secured to the said end pieces quite a distance from the rolled-over suspension upper edge 18 of the said end pieces 17, as best shown in Fig. 6. l akin,u' an end piece with the strips secured thereto and another end piece with the tubes secured thereto and inserting the ends of the strips into the tubes, an extension skeleton shelf is formed, which may be shortened until the strips strike bottom in the tubes and may be lengthened by drawing out the strips until only a suflicient portion is double 1 to support the shelf, whereby the shelf may be extended or contracted in length for ad- 1 usting it to windows of any width within its range. hen the two frames are properly placed on the window, as described, the shelf may be adjusted lengthwise to the proper distance between the said frames and then suspended therefrom by hooking the rolled upper edge over the cross-rods, the bars of the shelf and the lower part of the end pieces coming down below the cross-rods, with their ends i bearing on the tubing 7 at the inside of the l frame, as shown. The other shelf is adjusted and applied in the same way. It is only nec- 3 essary to lay something on the top of the skeleton shelves for a surface to render the shelves ready for use. 1 prefer to employ for this purpose the extensile trays, which are formed of two half-pans that is, pans that are open at one end the same as if out transversely to remove one end. These pans 22 and 23 have sides and one end with rolled upper edges 24, l the rolled edge of one pan beingalittle smaller than the other, so as to slide therein. The

part or pan 22 with the smaller roll is a little the larger as to its body part, so that while 1 the roll of the pan 22 slides within the roll of 1 the pan 23 the body of the pan 23 slides within 3 the body of the pan 22, as shown best by the 1 front view Fig. 1. These two pans may be of l substantially the same length and may be contracted to. nearly the length of only one part or extended to nearly twice that length, so that they may be adjusted to the length of the adjusted shelves and placed thereon to receive the plants. As soon as the shelves are loaded with plants they will be found lirm enough for all practical purposes, even though the lower ends of the frame merely rest on the top of the window-stool, as shown, and no fastening is employed except the chain and eyes at the upper end of the frames.

1 claim as my invention- 1. The combination of the two separate frames having shelf-supports and adapted to be secured in place on the opposite sides of a window, with a plurality of extensile shelves adapted to be adjusted to the space between the said frames, and the extensile trays for resting upon the said shelves, substantially as described.

2. An extensile skeleton shelf consisting of flattened tubes and strips arranged to slide one within the other and secured to the end pieces for hanging the said shelvesxsubstam f tially as described.

GEORGE W. CURTIS.

Vitnesses:

JAMES SHEPARD, SHEFFIELD H. CLARKE.

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