US592099A - Clothes-line support - Google Patents

Description

(NoModeL) v 1 l G. L. SUHWALM. CLOTHES LINE SUPPORT.

No. 592,099. Patented Oot. 19, 1897 [22 were tor. (Zaz/wl. AYC/EMa/m.

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ATENT 7 CLOTHES-LINE SUPPORT.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 592,099, dated October 19, 1897.

Application filed July 6, 1897. Serial No. 648,590. (No model.)

T at whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, CHARLES LEONARD SOHWALM, a citizen of the United States, re-

siding in New Britain, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invent-ed certain new and useful Improvements in Clothes-Line Supports, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a-clothes-hnesuping part ,of this specification, Figure 1 is a side elevation of an endless clothes line equipped with my support, illustrating the latter in its working position. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the support with its locker.

in the ineffective position thereof, a portion of the line being also represented in said figure; and Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken in the line w 00, Fig. 1, and as seen from theright, the left-hand support for the line not being illustrated in said figure.

Similar characters designate like parts in all the figures of the drawings.

My improved clothes-line support (designated in a general way by S) embodies alongitudinal body portion bifurcated at its opposite ends, the upper bifurcation being intended to receive a wheel or pulley adapted to travel along the upper run of the line, and the space within the lower bifurcation serving as a pocket to receive a shoe or pad of yielding or elastic material, such as rubber, and a locker consisting of a lever provided with a cam-head preferably recessed or notched and pivoted between the branches of the lower bifurcation, so as to cooperate with the said shoe or pad and to act as a clamp for biting or gripping the lower run of the line to hold the support in a fixed or predetermined position, which is generally at its middle, al-

though it is obvious that in a very long line a plurality of the supports may be employed.

The line is designated by L, it being of the endless class and passed around the supporting-pulleys 2 and 3, whose brackets 4 and .5, respectively, can be suitablysecured to convenient supports, the house end of the line being designated by H.

The support S comprehends a body portion, such as B, consisting of a longitudinal bar bifurcated at its opposite ends, as at 6 and 7, respectively, said body portion being conveniently made in one piece.

The upper and lower runs 8 and 9, respectively, of the clothes-line pass between the branches of the bifurcations 6 and 7, as shown in Fig. 3, so that the support, in connection with a suitable pulley or wheel mounted between the upper bifurcation and a locker supported between the lower bifurcation, is maintained positively in place on the line. A grooved roller or pulley is shown at 10, it being supported between the members or branches of the upper bifurcation. The pulley has the projecting-pivots 12 and 13, respectively, on its opposite faces, working in bearings or apertures in the two branches of the bifurcation, and is located over the upper run of the line. The lower bifurcation 7 is widened out at its upper end, as at 15, to form a pocket 16 for the reception and the retention of a shoe or pad of yielding material, such as rubber, said rubber shoe or pad being designated by 17 and being of a shape corresponding with the shape of its pocket 16 to fit tightly therein.

The locker for the support is designated by 18, and it consists of a lever pivoted between the branches of the lower bifurcation 7. The locking-lever 18 has a cam-head or enlargement 19, provided with oppositely-disposed pivots 20 and 21, respectively workingin hearings in the two branches of the lower bifurcation 7, as represented in Fig. 3.

The lower run 9 of the clothes-line L is passed between the branches of the lower bifurcation 7, the yielding pad or shoe 17 lying over and substantially contiguous to or against said lower run. The working face or portion of the cam-head 19 has a recess or notch 22, adapted to partially receive the lower run of the line, so that the rope, on the release of the cam-lever 18, can be forced tightly against the shoe or pad 17.

The handle portion h of the lever is gravitative or self-active, it being weighted, as at 7b, to a suflicient degree, so that when released it will drop from a substantially horizontal to a vertical position to force the cam-head 19 against the lower run 9 of the line, thereby, in conjunction with the rubber shoe 17,tightly gripping said line.

In Fig. 2 the cam-lever is shown in its ineffective position, where it is held by a suitable detent, such as the spring-catch 25, secured, as at 26, to the widened portion of the body portion 13, the hook 27 of said catch being adapted to engage the projection or lug 28 on the handle 72 near the cam-head 10. The spring-catch terminates in a fingerpiece 29. To release the weighted handle 7t so that it can drop, the finger-piece 20 is pressed outward and the hook 27 of the catch swung from under the projection 28.

In use the lower run 9 of the line will be filled with clothing to about its middle, and the support S will then be locked or clamped to the line by the release of the lever 18, in the manner aforesaid. The remaining half of the lower run 9 will then be utilized as a support for clothing, the support itself being, when the line is completely filled with clothing, situated at the middle of said line, as represented in Fig. 1, so as substantially to tie two runs of the line at their middle, whereby the strain exerted by the clothing is approximately equally applied to each run, so as to prevent material sagging of the line. \Vhen not in use, the support will be stationed at the house end II of the line and the looking or cam lever 18 unelamped from the lower run 9, as shown in Fig. 2, and held by the springcatch 25.

\Vhen the clothing is placed on the lower run of the line, the upper run thereof will be grasped and fed in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 1.

Having described my invention, I claim- 1. A support for endless clothes-lines, consisting of a longitudinal body portion bifurcated at its opposite ends; a wheel pivotally supported between the branches of the upperbifurcation; an elastic shoe fitted in a pocket formed by the lower bifurcation; and a locking-lever pivoted between the branches of the lower bifurcation and having a cam -head adapted to cooperate with said shoe.

2. A support for endless clothes-lines, consisting of a longitudinal bodyportion; a wheel supported at the upper end of the body portion; an elastic shoe fitted in a pocket formed in the lower part of the bodyportion; a locking-lever pivoted to said body portion and having a weighted handle and also having a camhead adapted to cooperate with said shoe; and a sprin g-eatch secured to the body portion and furnished with a hook adapted to engage a projection on said handle portion.

3. A support for endless clothes-lines, eonsisling of a longitudinal body portion bifurcated at its opposite ends and widened near its lower end; a wheel pivotally supported between the branches of the upper bifurcation; I

an elastic shoe fitted in a pocket formed by the lower bifurcation; a locking-lever provided with a cam-head pivoted between the branches of the lower bifurcation and having a line-receiving notch, the handle of the locking-lever being weighted and f urnishcd with aprojection near the cam-head and a springcatch secured to said widened portion and having a hook adapted to engage said projection.

CHARLES LEONA Ill) SCllWALlI.

lVitnesses:

FRED APEL, LUKE BOWEN.

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