US814801A - Display-rack for rugs, curtains, and similar articles. - Google Patents

Description

No. 814,801. PATENTBD MAR. 13, 1906.

' P. W. PIERCE.

I DISPLAY RACK FOR BUGS, CURTAINS, AND SIMILAR ARTICLES.

APPLICATION FILED NOV.3,1904.

IIYVENTUE/ FREDERICK W. PIERCE, OF SYRACUSE, NEW YORK.

DISPLAY-RACK FOR HUGS, CURTAINS, AND SIMILAR ARTICLES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 13, 1906.

Application filed November 3, 1904 Serial No. 231.231.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK W. PIERCE, residing at Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga, in the State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Display-Racks for Rugs, Curtains, and Similar Articles, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to improvements in display-racks for rugs, curtains, and similar articles, and is particularly useful in the rug and curtain department of retail stores for conveniently displaying large numbers of different styles or patterns of rugs o'r curtains.

In the large retail stores it is necessary to exhibit large quantities of these rugs and ourtains several times a day, involving considerable labor and incidental wear, due to the frequent rolling and unrolling of the rugs, which are usually spread upon the floor of the wareroom during business hours and are therefore more or less trampled upon and after a time become soiled or slightly worn to such an extent as to reduce their value, there by forcing the proprietor to frequently dispose of large quantities of the soiled or worn rugs at a considerable sacrifice. My object is to equip the salesroom with a plurality of vertical racks or frames which are mounted side by side upon suitable supports and are each provided with a horizontallyprojecting arm having one or more rows of grips or spurs from which one or more rugs may be suspended in an upright position free from the floor. These frames are our naled in suitable bearings to swing horizontally, and in order to economize in space they are arranged close together and may befolded laterally with the articles thereon one upon the other.

Another object is to provide means whereby one or all of the parts of the swinging frame may be detached from their bearings or hinge connections and raised or lowered for permitting the rugs or curtains to be adjusted or attached to the horizontal arm of the swinging frame or rack and also to per- Init the parts of the frame to be taken apart and placed out of the way when not in use.

Other objects and uses will appear in the following description.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a lace view of a series of racks, showing the rugs mounted thereon and also showing the means for raising and lowering the horizontal supportingarm, one of the racks being shown as swung laterally at an angle with the others. Fig. 2 1s a sectional view taken on line 2 2, Fig. 1,

showing the rack in side elevation and a rug as operatively mounted thereon. F 3 is a sectional view taken on line 3 3, Fig. 2.

In carrying out the objects stated a series of horizontally-swinging frames 1 are disposed side by side in vertical planes and in close proximity to each other and are pivotally attached at their upright edges to lower and upper supports or templets 2 and 3, which in this instance are secured, respectively, to the floor, as a, and one of the upright walls, as b, of a salesroom in which the rugs, curtains, or other articles are to be exhibited or displayed.

Each of the frames or racks 1 is adapted to support two or more rugs or curtains in such manner as to display their full length and breadth in an upright position free from the floor, and comprises, essentially, a horizontal bar 4 and a diagonally-disposed brace-bar 5, the horizontal bar 4 being provided with opposite rows or spurs 6, projecting in diverging angles from the upper edge of said bar or entering and supporting a pair of rugs or curtains, as 0, while the brace-bar 5 is engaged with and supports the outer free end of the horizontal bar.

The lower and upper supports or templets 2 and 3 are provided with a series of pairs of vertically-lined bearings, as apertures 7 and 8, in which are journaled suitable trunnions or studs 9 and 10 at the inner upright sides of the swinging frames or racks 1.

As shown in the drawings, the trunnion 9 is secured to the lower end of the diagonal brace-bar 5, and the trunnion or stud 10 is secured to the rear end of the horizontal bar 4, so that the trunnions of each swinging rack 1 are in vertical alinement with each other and close to the upright side wall I).

The horizontal bar 4 of each frame is provided with a mortise or recess 11 in its lower side near its front end for receiving a tenon 12 on the upper end of the brace-bar 5,whereby the horizontal bar 4 and its brace 5 are interlocked with each other; but this interlocking connection is preferably detachable to permit the horizontal bar 4 to be raised and lowered out of engagement with the bar 5,whereupon both bars may be removed from their bearings 7 and 8 to afford a knockdown construction for the purpose of facilitating packing for transportation and storage. A fur ther object of this detachability of the upper IIO horizontal arm from the brace-bar 5 is to enable the salesman to remove and lower the upper bar to facilitate attachment of the rugs or curtains thereto without the use of a step-ladder or similar device. accomplish this raising and lowering of the bar 4, I provide an overhead track cl and a carriage 13, which is movablealong the track and. is provided with depending tackle-blocks 14 and a cable 15, the lower block 14 having a depending hook 16, which is adapted to engage an eye 17 centrally in the upper edge of the bar 4, as best seenin Figs. 1 and 2, so that by engaging the hook 16 in eye 17 and drawing down upon the free end ofthe cord or cable 15 the bar 4 may be drawn upwardly to (flisengage the trunnion 10 from its bearing 8 and at the same time to disengage the free end. of the arm 4 from the tenon 12 of the bar 5.

In some instances I may desire to dispense with. the bracebar 5 and bearing 8 and support the bar 4 directly upon the hook 16 of the carriage 13, which would permit the bar 4, with the rugs or curtains thereon, to be turned at any angle free from the floor and at the same time move longitudinally along the track (Z in order to permit the rugs to be examined under different light effects, although substantially the same degree of movement may be obtained by pivoting the frames 1., as previously described, independently of the carriage 13 and its supportinghook 16. v

In the operation of my invention the rugs or curtains are suspended from their upper ends upon the spurs or fastenings 6, one rug or curtain at each side of the bar 4. Therefore each. frame is adapted to support'at least two rugs or curtains, thereby displaying the full length and breadth of each and maintaining them in a smooth extended condition free from the floor, where they may be readily inspected or examined by merely swinging the frames laterally upon their respective bearings, and inasmuch as these frames are mounted close together in an upright position they occupy a minimum space and may be folded backwardly one upon the other when not in use. These frames may normally be folded all the same way, one upon the other, to occupy-as little floor space as possible, and when a prospective buyer wishes to examine In order to the rugs the one exposed side, and the rugs of each successive rac may in this way be examined without handling or trampling upon the same, thereby avoiding the usual soil and wear incidental to unrolling and spreading the rugs upon the floor.

Having thus described my invention,what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A display-rack for rugs, curtains and similar articles, comprising a horizontallyswinging arm having means for engaging and supporting the article to be displayed, supports upon which both ends of the arms are loosely seated and means connected to the central portion of the arm to raise and lower said arm from said supports.

2. A display-rack for rugs, curtains and similar articles, comprising a support, an.

arm loosely pivoted at one end to the support to swing horizontally, and means connected to the center of the arm for raising and lowering the arm away from the sup port.

3. A display-rack for rugs, curtains and similar articles, comprising lower and upper bearings,- a frame journaled in said bearings and including a horizontal bar and a diagonal braceb ar, the horizontal bar being loosely seated on the brace-bar to be removed and means on the horizontal bar to engage and hold the article to be displayed.

4. In a display-rack, the combination of lowerand upper bearings, a horizontallyswinging frame loosely seated in the bearings and having an independent vertical movement to disengage it from said bearings, said frame comprising a horizontal bar and a diagonally disposed brace bar, upon which one end of the horizontal brace-bar is loosely seated and means on the horizontal bar to engage and hold the article to be displayed.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 31st day of October, 1904.

FREDERICK W. PIERCE.

Witnesses:

H. E. CHASE, HOWARD P. DENISON.

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