US791485A - Device for holding cords, &c. - Google Patents

Description

PATENTEIID JUNE 6, 1905.

J. G. MORE-ELL.

DEVICE FORIHOLDING GORDS, 8w.

AIILIOATION FILED DEC). 6, 1902.

1 UNITED STATES- iatezited tune c, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES G. MORRELL, OF HUDSON, MASSACHUSETTS.

DEVICE FOR HOLDING coRD's, ac.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 791,485, dated June 6, 1905.

Application filed December 6, 1902. Serial No. 134,095-

To all whom it may concern: h

Be it known that I, J AMns G. MORRELL, a'

, citizen of the United States, and a resident of character referred to which will automatically clamp and hold the cord or rope whenever the latter is wholly released and left free to move, thereby preventing the possibility of the loss of control of such cord or rope by the operator.

My invention is illustrated by the accompanying drawings as embodied in a curtaincord holder.

Figure 1 is a top plan view of the preferred form of the device, and Fig. 2 is a front elevation thereof.

In the drawings, 2 indicates a frame, which may be made of cast metal and is provided with any suitable means, such as a threaded shank 3, for securing it in the desired position. This frame has a substantially flat bottom and upright sides, in which sides is journaled a tapering roller ft, having its axis parallel with said bottom. Said roller is provided on its periphery with one or more spiral grooves 5, preferably of sufficient length to make two or three turns around the roller, and is located at such a distance from the bottom of the frame that the space between it and said bottom at the larger end of the roller will be less than the diameter of the cord with which the device is to be used, while the space beneath the roller at its smaller end will be greater than said diameter. At the rear of the frame as viewed in Fig. 2 I usually provide a guide, which in the device illustrated consists of a hole or eye 6, formed in the rear Wall of the frame near the bottom thereof and opposite the larger end of the roller 4, and at the front of the frame is located another guide consisting of a transversely-extending web 7, having its top edge slanting downward from that side of the frame which is adjacent to the smaller end of the roller and terminating at the bottom I of the frame, preferably at a little distance from the opposite side wall thereof.

As thus constructed, if a cord 8 (shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1) be passed through the eye 6 and between the roller 4 and the bottom of the frame 2 and drawn forward or out of the front'side of the frame it will tend to rotate the roller 4 by frictional engagement therewith and also to run in the spiral groove 5, which is so cut as to carry the cord to the right or in the direction in which the distance between said roller and the bottom of the frame 2 increases. Hence the cord when drawn in the direction referred to will instantly'move into a space wide enough to permit it to run freely. The cord will also run freely in the opposite direction, provided its lower or front end 9 be purposely made to run over the highest part of the web 7 in the position shown in Fig. 1, since when kept in this position it will be prevented from moving far enough toward the larger end of the roller 4 to be caught between it and the bottom of the frame. If, however, while the cord is moving in this direction it be not purposely kept in the position shown in Fig. 1, then it will instantly slide down the inclined edge of the web 7 into a position in which it will be caught by the groove 5 and carried toward the wider end of the roller as the latter rotates until said cord binds between said roller and the bottom of the frame and is clamped and firmly held thereby. This operation is also facilitated by the location of the eye 6, which tends to draw the cord toward the larger end of the roller. Thus it will be seen that in case the cord while under ten.- sion slips out of the hand of the operator it will immediately be caught and held automatically before more than a very short portion of its length has passed through the devlce.

The guide 6 may sometimes be unnecessary, as in case the device is to be located in an elevated positionsuch as the top of a windowcasing, for example-in which case the cord will be passed around the roller and the latter will act as a pulley. HenceI do not consider said guide 6 to form an essential element of my invention, although I usually prefer to employ it. When employed, this guide is so located as to cause the cord to leave the roller in the desired direction and need not necessarily be formed in the frame itself, but may be a separate part, as will be evident.

I am aware that curtain-cord holders have been made prior to my invention in which tapering rolls provided with spiral grooves have been employed; but so far as I am aware none of these holders have been provided with any means operating in the manner in which my guide? operates, but have always been so constructed that it was possible for a cord if released and started in a certain position to run through the device Without being caught and held thereby, and as such release often occurred accidentally these prior devices have been objectionable on account of their liability to lose the control of the cord.

My invention resides in the combination, with a grooved tapering roller or its equivalent, of certain guiding means rather than in the roller itself and is not limited to curtaincord holders, but is adapted for use wherever an appliance adapted to automatically engage and clamp a cord or rope is desired.

I claim as my inventionl. A device for holding cords and the like, comprising a frame provided with end portions and with an intermediate clamping-surface, a roller journaled in said end portions and tapering from one end to the other, said roller being provided with a spiral groove, and a guide distinct from said clamping-surface and extending at right angles thereto at a distance therefrom and from the roller, said guide having its guiding-surface inclined from one side of the frame toward said clampingsurface near the larger end of the roller, substantially as described.

2. Adevice for holding cords and the like, comprising a frame provided with end portions and with an intermediate clamping-surface, a roller journaled in said end portions and tapering from one end to the other, said roller being provided with a spiral groove, a guide distinctfrom said clamping-surface and extending at right angles thereto at a distance therefrom, said guide having its guiding-surface inclined from one side of the frame toward said clamping-surface near the larger end of the roller, and a guiding-eye located on the opposite side of the roller from said inclined guide and opposite the lower portion of the latter, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name this 28th day of N ovenlbcr, 1902.

J. G. MORRELL.

Witnesses:

JOSEPH T. BRENNAN, E. D. CHADWIGK.

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