US2336220A - Safety device for clotheslines - Google Patents

Description

, Dec. 7, 1943. R. K. BROWN 2,336,220

SAFETY DEVICE FOR CLOTHESLINES Filed March 10, 1943 IN VEN TOR.

Patented Dec. 7, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,336,220 SAFETY DEVICE FOR- CLOTHESLINES Rudolph K. Brown, Jersey City, N. J. Application March 10, 1943, Serial No. 478,614 1 Claim. (Cl. 211.11,9.07:)

The present invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in clothes-lines and it relates more particularly to a safety device for a pulley-type clothes-line.

An object of the present invention is to provide a simple, inexpensive and dependable safety device adapted for use on pulley-type clothesthe labor and strain ordinarily present in hanging clothes. Another object of the present invention is to provide a safety device for a pulley-type clothes-line which is adapted for connection to a window frame or the like and which can be adjusted to bring one end of the clothes-line into the room during hanging or removing of clothes and which can be locked outside the window at other times.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention are present in the following detailed description, appended claim and accompanying drawing.

For purposes of illustration there is described hereinbelow one form of the present invention which has been found pract se to give satisfactory results. However, it is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the instrumentalities and arrangements herein shown and described.

Referring to the accompanying drawing in which like reference characters indicate like parts throughout Figure 1 represents a perspective view of one embodiment of the present invention as it appears while clothes are being hung or removed.

Figure 2 represents a plan view and partial section of the embodiment of Figure 1; the position of the several parts after the device has been swung out but not yet locked being shown in dotted lines.

Figure 3 represents a view partly in elevation and partly in vertical cross-section of the embodiment of Figure 1 as it appears after it has been locked in its outside position.

Figure 4 represents a, perspective view of the parts of the hinge assembly in dis-assembled position.

In the embodiment shown in Figures 1 to 4 of the drawing, one leaf ll! of a hinge It is more or less permanently and immovably attached to the outer face of a window frame l2 by the screws I3 at a point slightly below the center of the window. The other leaf M of said hinge II is aflixed, by means of the screws I5, to the larger 55 end of a tapered arm I6 which is preferably of wood or other inexpensive and easily formed material; the leaf l4 and its associated arm |5 being free to swing around the hinge-pin l! which will be described in detail hereinbelow.

The smaller end of the arm It carries a hook l8 disposed generally on one side thereof. One pulley I9 of a clothes-line 26 is adapted removably to be mounted upon the hook l8; the other pulley 2| of said line 20 being mounted upon a pole 22 or the like in conventional manner.

The hinge-pin I! has a hook-like portion 23 formed at one end thereof; the straight portion 24 of said hinge-pin |1 being sufiiciently long to extend somewhat above the upper edge of the leaves It and I4 when inserted through the apertured meshing tongues thereof. A small sheavewheel 25 is rotatably mounted upon the upper protruding portion of said hinge-pin |'i. A curved guard 26 is mounted at one end upon the leaf H! in any conventional manner, as for example, by being passed through a small hole 21 formed in said leaf and being thereafter peened against the leaf to lock it in place. A loop 28 is formed at the other end of said guard 25. The loop 28 is in line with the hinge-pin I! so that the upper end of said hinge-pin, after passing through said sheave-wheel, passes through said loop. A transversely extending hole 29 is formed at the uppermost end of said hinge-pin I1 above said loop 28 and is adapted to receive a cotterpin 30 which locks the hinge-pin assembly in place.

A hook 3| is swivelably mounted on the arm l6 upon the side opposite the hook H3. The hook 3| is adapted to co-act with an eye 32 mounted on the inner face of the window frame I2 to lock the arm IS in its inwardly extending position.

The upper run of the clothes-line 2!! runs from the outside pulley 2| inside the guard 26 and over the sheave-Wheel 25 and from there to the pulley l9. The lower run of the clothes-line 2!] either extends directly from the pulley l9 to the pulley 2| as shown in Fig. 1 or can be positioned behind the hook-like portion 23 of the hinge-pin I! as shown in Fig. 3.

When it is desired to hang clothes, the lower window is raised, the arm I5 is swung inside the room, the hook 3| is connected to the eye 32 to lock the arm in its inwardly extending position and the lower run of the clothes-line 2|] is disconnected from the hook-lik portion 23. As can be seen from Fig. 1, it is then possible thereof especially when to hang (or to remove) clothes on the line without having to lean out of the window as is necessary with conventional clothes-lines. In this way, not only is the danger of falling out of the window virtually eliminated, but also the time and effort involved in hanging (or removing) clothes is greatly reduced since it is no longer necessary to bend over and to hold the clothes in an awkward extended position during the operation.

After the hanging operation has been completed and the clothes run out on the line to dry, the lower run of the line 20 is again placed behind the hook-like portion 23, and the arm l6 unhooked and swung outward to the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2; the clothes-line 20 being maintained taut during the swinging op eration by the sheave-wheel 25 and the hook-like portion 23. Since the arm I6 has a tendency to swing in a wind, I prefer to lock tion shown in Fig. 3, by inserting the pulley 19 (which has a diameter somewhat greater than the distance between the hook-like portion 23 and the sheave-wheel 25) between the upper and lower runs of the line 20 and also by hooking the hook 3| behind the upper run of the line.

The window can then be closed and the clothes allowed to dry whereupon the window is opened, the arm i6 is disconnected and swung in and locked to the eye 32, the line 20 is unhooked from the portion 23 and the clothes pulled in and removed from the line without danger and with a minimum of time and efiort.

The sheave-wheel 25 permits the line to run freely and easily and prevents fraying and wear the pole 22 is not directly inline with the window so that the clothesline 2t makes a relatively sharp angle in passing over the sheave. The construction of my device also permits quick and easy dis-assembly thereof so that it is possible to replace parts readily and inexpensively.

The safety device of my present invention can be constructed at a low cost with a minimum of specia or difficult to make parts. Thus the hinge-leaves it and hi may be the leaves of an ordinary conventional door-hinge. The hingepin may be readily formed from an ordinary metal rod by bending up one end and drilling or otherwise forming a hole therethrough at the other end. The hooks I8 and 3|, the eye 32 and the sheaveheel 25 are all standard parts which are readily and inexpensively obtainable it in the posisaid hinge-pin passing on the market. The arm Hi can be formed and assembled with a minimum of time and expense.

The present invention may be embodied in forms other than that shown and described herein and it is therefore to be understood that the embodiment shown and described herein is by way of illustration and not restriction, reference being made to the appended claim rather than the foregoing description to indicate the scope of the present invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

A safety-device, adapted to support one end of a clothes-line or the like and to be swung into position inside a room for hanging and removing clothes and adapted also to be reversely swung into position outside the room without slackening the clothes-line, comprising a hinge-leaf adapted to be immovably afiixed to a window frame or the like, a second hinge-leaf swingably attached to the fixed leaf by a hinge-pin having a bent hook-like portion formed at its lower end, the lower run of the clothes-line being adapted to be hooked over said hook-like portion when the device is to be swung outwardly and being adapted to be unhooked from said hook-like portion when the device is to be swung inwardly, through and extending upwardly beyond meshing apertured tongues on said leaves, a sheave rotatably mounted on the u wardly extending portion of said hinge-pin and over which the upper run of said clothesline is adapted to pass, a guard fitting over said hinge-pin above said sheave, a retaining pin extending through a transverse opening formed in the uppermost end of said hinge-pin above said guard, a relatively thin elongated rigid arm attached at one end to said movable hinge-leaf and adapted to swing therewith about said hinge-pin, a hook connected to the free end of said arm adjacent one side thereof and adapted detachably to receive a pulley carrying said clothes-line, and an elongated hook swivelably attached to the other side of said arm intermediate the ends thereof, said elongated hook being adapted to engage with an eye mounted on the inside of the window to lock said arm in its inwardly extending position and also being adapted to engage with the clothes-line to lock said arm in its outwardly extending position.

"RUDOLPH K. BROWN.

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