U.S. patent application number 10/613554 was filed with the patent office on 2004-07-15 for umbrella-type laundry drying rack.
This patent application is currently assigned to Leifheit AG. Invention is credited to Daubach, Harald, Ohm, Heinz Josef, Patzold, Dieter, Tiwi, Peter.
Application Number | 20040134870 10/613554 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 29719500 |
Filed Date | 2004-07-15 |
United States Patent
Application |
20040134870 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Daubach, Harald ; et
al. |
July 15, 2004 |
Umbrella-type laundry drying rack
Abstract
An umbrella-type laundry drying rack is provided which has a
vertical support and load-bearing arms for clothes lines. The
load-bearing arms are disposed pivotably on the support about
respective pivot pins, and are pivotable between a first position
close to the support and a second position remote from the support.
The load-bearing arms are coupled to one another such that upon
pivoting of one of the load-bearing arms, the remaining
load-bearing arms are jointly pivoted in the same way. At least one
of the load-bearing arms has a deflection mechanism for deflecting
the at least one load-bearing arm outward from the first position
upon exertion of a force oriented away from the support to another
one of the load-bearing arms.
Inventors: |
Daubach, Harald; (Weinahr,
DE) ; Ohm, Heinz Josef; (Limburg, DE) ;
Patzold, Dieter; (Nassau, DE) ; Tiwi, Peter;
(Winden, DE) |
Correspondence
Address: |
FRISHAUF, HOLTZ, GOODMAN & CHICK, PC
767 THIRD AVENUE
25TH FLOOR
NEW YORK
NY
10017-2023
US
|
Assignee: |
Leifheit AG
Nassau/Lahn
DE
|
Family ID: |
29719500 |
Appl. No.: |
10/613554 |
Filed: |
July 2, 2003 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
211/196 ;
211/197 |
Current CPC
Class: |
D06F 57/04 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
211/196 ;
211/197 |
International
Class: |
A47F 005/00 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Jul 5, 2002 |
DE |
102 30 571.4 |
Claims
1. An umbrella-type laundry drying rack having a vertical support
(1) and having load-bearing arms (2) for clothes lines, the
load-bearing arms being disposed pivotably on the support (1) each
about a respective pivot pin (6), and the load-bearing arms (2) are
pivotable between a first position close to the support and a
second position remote from the support and are coupled to one
another such that upon pivoting of one of the load-bearing arms
(2), the further load-bearing arms (2) are jointly pivoted in the
same way, characterized in that at least one load-bearing arm has a
means for its forced deflection out of the first position outward,
upon exertion of a force oriented away from the support (1) to one
of the other load-bearing arms (2).
2. The laundry drying rack of claim 1, characterized in that the
load-bearing arm (2) having the means for its forced deflection is
disposed, relative to the support (1), opposite a load-bearing arm
(2) provided for exerting the force oriented away from the support
(1).
3. The laundry drying rack of one of the foregoing claims,
characterized in that the load-bearing arms (2) are each braced on
the support (1) with a respective spreader arm (10) that is
pivotable on the one hand about a retaining shaft (12) disposed on
the support (1) and on the other about an articulation shaft (14)
disposed on the load-bearing arm (2).
4. The laundry drying rack of claim 3, characterized in that the
retaining shafts (12) of the spreader arms (10) are disposed
fixedly on the support (1).
5. The laundry drying rack of one of the foregoing claims,
characterized in that the pivot pins (6) of the load-bearing arms
(2) are disposed on a sleeve (8) that is displaceable relative to
the support (1).
6. The laundry drying rack of one of the foregoing claims,
characterized in that four load-bearing arms (2) are provided.
7. The laundry drying rack of one of the foregoing claims,
characterized in that one load-bearing arm (2) has a handle (38),
and this load-bearing arm (2) is intended for exerting the force
oriented away from the support (1).
8. The laundry drying rack of one of the foregoing claims,
characterized in that the means for forced deflection of the
load-bearing arm (2) has a tilt lever (16) that on the one hand can
be pivoted about a tilt pin (18) on the load-bearing arm (2) and on
the other can be braced on the support (1).
9. The laundry drying rack of claim 8, characterized in that the
tilt lever (16) carries the articulation shaft (14) of the
corresponding spreader arm (10), and the articulation shaft (14) of
the spreader arm (10) is disposed between the tilt pin (18) of the
tilt lever (16) and an end of the tilt lever (16) that can be
braced on the support (1).
10. The laundry drying rack of one of claims 1-7, characterized in
that the means for forced deflection of the load-bearing arm (2)
has a toothed sleeve (36), which is displaceable relative to the
support (1), and a gear wheel or gear wheel segment that engages
the toothed sleeve (36) and is disposed on the load-bearing arm
(2).
11. The laundry drying rack of claim 10, characterized in that the
toothed sleeve (36) is disposed displaceably in the sleeve (30), on
which the pivot pins (32) of the load-bearing arms are disposed and
which is displaceable relative to the support (1).
12. The laundry drying rack of claim 10 or 11, characterized in
that the toothed sleeve (36) is drivable by a gear wheel or gear
wheel segment (34) disposed on a load-bearing arm (2) intended for
exerting the force oriented away from the support (1).
13. The laundry drying rack of one of claims 1-7, characterized in
that the means for forced deflection of the load-bearing arm (2)
has a connecting rod disposed on the one hand pivotably on a
connecting rod sleeve (22) that is displaceable relative to the
support (1) and on the other pivotably on the load-bearing arm
(2).
14. The laundry drying rack of claim 13, characterized in that the
connecting rod sleeve (22) is drivable by a connecting rod (24)
that is connected to a load-bearing arm (2) intended for exerting
the force oriented away from the support (1).
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The invention relates to an umbrella-type laundry drying
rack having a vertical support and having load-bearing arms for
clothes lines, the load-bearing arms being disposed pivotably on
the support each about a respective pivot pin, and the load-bearing
arms are pivotable between a first position close to the support
and a second position remote from the support and are coupled to
one another such that upon pivoting of one of the load-bearing
arms, the further load-bearing arms are jointly pivoted in the same
way.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] In general, to enable them to hold large amounts of laundry,
laundry drying racks in their operational state are not
inconsiderable in size. It has therefore already been provided that
they can be stored in a space-saving way by being collapsed. This
means that before each use of the laundry drying rack, its
load-bearing arms have to be folded out. Deploying the laundry
drying rack requires the exertion of comparatively great force in
the initial phase, until the load-bearing arms have moved past a
certain angular position relative to the vertical support. To
improve this unsatisfactory situation, the attempt has already been
made to use a pull cord guided like a corkscrew for a wine bottle.
But even such a device cannot make it easier to deploy the laundry
drying rack until the load-bearing arms have been pivoted out of
their vertical position of repose by a significant angular amount;
that has to be done by hand.
[0003] To make it easier to pivot the load-bearing arms outward, it
has already been proposed that a spreader body be mounted
longitudinally displaceably on the vertical support of an
umbrella-type laundry drying rack; the spreader body cooperates
with support elements mounted on spreader arms, and upon
longitudinal displacement, it pivots the spreader arms and with
them the load-bearing arms for the clothes lines out of their
folded-up position of repose. Such an apparatus can indeed
facilitate deploying the laundry drying rack but entails major
structural effort and expense.
OBJECT AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0004] It is therefore the object of the invention to create a
laundry drying rack of the type defined at the outset that assures
simple deployment with high functional safety and reliability and
that is simple to produce.
[0005] According to the invention, this object is attained in that,
in an umbrella-type laundry drying rack of the type defined at the
outset, at least one load-bearing arm has a means for its forced
deflection out of the first position outward, upon exertion of a
force oriented away from the support to one of the other
load-bearing arms. Because it is easy to exert the force for
deploying the laundry drying rack immediately onto a load-bearing
arm, complicated transfer elements for this force are unnecessary.
Only on at least one of the further load-bearing arms is a means
for its forced deflection provided. When the laundry drying rack is
deployed, immediately after the forced deflection of the first
load-bearing arm the further load-bearing arms are pivoted out of
their position of repose as well, because of the coupling of the
load-bearing arms to one another. A laundry drying rack of the
invention has an especially small number of components and is not
only simple and economical to produce but also extraordinarily safe
and reliable in operation and invulnerable to wear. It is true that
a plurality of load-bearing arms or even each load-bearing arm may
be provided with a means for forced deflection out of the first
position, that is, the position of repose, but experiments have
shown that it is entirely adequate for such a means to be provided
on only one of the load-bearing arms.
[0006] In an advantageous refinement of the invention, the
load-bearing arm having the means for its forced deflection is
disposed, relative to the support, opposite a load-bearing arm
provided for exerting the force oriented away from the support; as
a result, only a very slight exertion of force suffices to deploy
the laundry drying rack.
[0007] Adequately high stability of the laundry drying rack is
advantageously attained if the load-bearing arms are each braced on
the support with a respective spreader arm that is pivotable on the
one hand about a retaining shaft disposed on the support and on the
other about an articulation shaft disposed on the load-bearing arm.
In an advantageous refinement of the invention, the laundry drying
rack becomes simple to use and at the same time has high stability
because the retaining shafts of the spreader arms are disposed
fixedly on the support.
[0008] To assure simple, operationally safe and reliable deployment
of the laundry drying rack, the pivot pins of the load-bearing arms
are advantageously disposed on a sleeve that is displaceable
relative to the support. Such an embodiment furthermore allows
adjusting the height of the laundry drying rack. This means that
the load-bearing arms for the clothes lines, in the deployed state
of the laundry drying rack, can be fixed at different heights,
making it easy to hang articles of laundry on the clothes lines,
regardless of how tall the person performing this activity is.
[0009] The laundry drying rack can have a large number of
load-bearing arms. However, a great usable length of clothes line
with simultaneously high stability and low weight of the laundry
drying rack are advantageously obtained if--as experiments have
shown--four load-bearing arms are provided.
[0010] In an advantageous refinement of the invention, one
load-bearing arm has a handle, and this load-bearing arm is
intended for exerting the force oriented away from the support. As
a result, the introduction of force into the load-bearing arm is
improved, without requiring complicated additional devices for
operating it. It is conceivable for the handle on the load-bearing
arm to be made adjustable, so that a user-specific setting can be
made.
[0011] For the mean for forced deflection of the load-bearing arm,
various embodiments are conceivable. It is advantageously possible
to achieve virtually no operating wear of the laundry drying rack
if, in a further refinement of the invention, the means for forced
deflection of the load-bearing arm has a tilt lever that on the one
hand can be pivoted about a tilt pin on the load-bearing arm and on
the other can be braced on the support. Such an embodiment moreover
means especially easy production of the laundry drying rack. The
laundry drying rack can be opened especially easily and with only
little exertion of force if the tilt lever carries the articulation
shaft of the corresponding spreader arm, and the articulation shaft
of the spreader arm is disposed between the tilt pin of the tilt
lever and an end of the tilt lever that can be braced on the
support.
[0012] Another advantageous, very precise means for forced
deflection of the load-bearing arm has a toothed sleeve, which is
displaceable relative to the support, and a gear wheel or gear
wheel segment that engages the toothed sleeve and is disposed on
the load-bearing arm. Advantageously, a very compact, space-saving
structure can be achieved if the toothed sleeve is disposed
displaceably in the sleeve, on which the pivot pins of the
load-bearing arms are disposed and which is displaceable relative
to the support. The number of components can be reduced further if
advantageously the toothed sleeve is drivable by a gear wheel or
gear wheel segment disposed on a load-bearing arm intended for
exerting the force oriented away from the support.
[0013] In another advantageous refinement of the invention, the
means for forced deflection of the load-bearing arm has a
connecting rod disposed on the one hand pivotably on a connecting
rod sleeve that is displaceable relative to the support and on the
other pivotably on the load-bearing arm. In this way, an especially
low-wear design that is secure against jamming is achieved. The
laundry drying rack is advantageously constructed especially simply
and is operationally safe if, in an advantageous refinement of the
invention, the connecting rod sleeve is drivable by a connecting
rod that is connected to a load-bearing arm intended for exerting
the force oriented away from the support.
DRAWING
[0014] The invention will be described in further detail below in
terms of exemplary embodiments shown in the drawing. Shown are
[0015] FIG. 1A, a side view of an approximately halfway open
laundry drying rack with a tilt lever;
[0016] FIG. 1B, the laundry drying rack of FIG. 1A in the fully
open state;
[0017] FIG. 2, a detail of a laundry drying rack of FIGS. 1A, 1B,
with one load-bearing arm in a folded-up position near the
support;
[0018] FIG. 3, an enlarged detail of a laundry drying rack of FIGS.
1A, 1B, with one load-bearing arm in an outward-deflected
position;
[0019] FIG. 4, a detail of a laundry drying rack of FIGS. 1A, 1B,
with one load-bearing arm in a fully outward-pivoted position;
[0020] FIG. 5, a detail of a laundry drying rack with a gear wheel
segment and a toothed sleeve; and
[0021] FIG. 6, a detail of a laundry drying rack with a connecting
rod and a connecting rod sleeve.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0022] FIG. 1A--which like all the other figures is
schematic--shows an umbrella-type laundry drying rack with a
vertical support 1, on which load-bearing arms 2 for clothes lines,
not otherwise shown, are disposed. The laundry drying rack has four
load-bearing arms 2 disposed symmetrically to the center axis 4 of
the vertical support 1; for the sake of simplicity, only the right
and left load-bearing arms 2 have been shown here, while in this
view the front and rear load-bearing arms have conversely been
omitted. The load-bearing arms 2 are located in a deflected-outward
position in which they have been unfolded from the vertical support
1. The load-bearing arms 2 are disposed pivotably, about pivot pins
6, on a sleeve 8 that is displaceable relative to the support 1.
For reasons of stability, the load-bearing arms 2 are also each
braced on the support 1 by a respective spreader arm 10. Each
spreader arm 10 is pivotable on the one hand about a retaining
shaft 12 disposed on the support 1 and on the other about an
articulation shaft 14 disposed on the load-bearing arm 2. The
articulation shaft 14 on the left load-bearing arm 2 is not
disposed directly on the load-bearing arm 2 but rather on a tilt
lever 16, which is pivotable on the load-bearing arm 2 about a tilt
pin 18.
[0023] The laundry drying rack of FIG. 1A is shown in FIG. 1B in
the fully open state. The load-bearing arms 2 are now in the fully
outward-pivoted position relative to the vertical support 1, and
the clothes lines--not shown here--extend taut, and with vertical
spacing from one another, in the horizontal direction between the
load-bearing arms 2. In FIGS. 1A, 1B and all the other figures,
identical or equivalent components are identified by the same
reference numerals. It can be seen that in the open state of the
laundry drying rack, the tilt lever 16 rests on the corresponding
spreader arm 10.
[0024] FIG. 2 shows the left load-bearing arm 2 of the laundry
drying rack of FIGS. 1A, 1B in a first position, close to the
support, where it is folded up against the vertical support 1. It
can be seen that the load-bearing arm 2 has a tilt lever holder 20
with a tilt pin 18 of the tilt lever 16. In the folded-up position
shown here, the tilt lever 16 rests on the one hand with a lug 22
on the vertical support 1 and on the other, it rests lengthwise on
a spreader arm 10; the spreader arm 10 is joined to the tilt lever
16 via an articulation shaft 14.
[0025] With reference to FIGS. 1A, 1B and 2, the unfolding or
deployment of the laundry drying rack proceeds as follows: One
load-bearing arm, which in terms of a vertical support 1 is
opposite or in other words faces a load-bearing arm 2 having a tilt
lever 16, is pulled away from the support 1, for instance by means
of a handle, and the laundry drying rack is thus pulled open. As a
result, the sleeve 8, to which all the load-bearing arms are
secured, is pulled upward along the support 1; as a result, the
tilt lever 16, by means of the load-bearing arm 2 connected to it
and by means of a lug 22 of the tilt lever 16 that rests on the
support 1, forces the load-bearing arm 2 outward. In a first
intermediate position, which is emphasized in FIG. 1A by means of a
detail III (shown enlarged in FIG. 3), the tilt lever 16 is located
approximately horizontally between the load-bearing arm 2 and the
vertical support 1. The spreader arm 10 is in a half-open
intermediate position.
[0026] As the laundry drying rack is pulled farther open, the
load-bearing arms 2 reach the operating position shown in FIG. 1B.
In it, the tilt lever 16 (as in its outset position shown in FIG.
2) is again placed against the spreader arm 10 (see detail IV in
FIG. 1B, shown enlarged in FIG. 4).
[0027] An important factor in the laundry drying racks shown in
FIGS. 1A, 1B through 4 and in the other laundry drying racks shown
in FIGS. 5 and 6 and described hereinafter, is that the laundry
drying rack in each case can be opened by simply pulling one
load-bearing arm 2 away from a vertical support 1.
[0028] A detail of another embodiment of an umbrella-type laundry
drying rack is shown in FIG. 5. In this laundry drying rack as
well, a vertical support 1 is provided with four load-bearing arms
2, of which only two are shown here for the sake of simplicity. The
load-bearing arms 2 are supported pivotably, by means of pivot pins
32, on a sleeve 30 that is displaceable relative to the support 1.
On their lower end, the load-bearing arms 2 each have one gear
wheel segment 34, which is disposed centrally to the pivot pin 32
of the respective load-bearing arm 2 and which engages a toothed
sleeve 36 that is displaceable relative to the support 1. As in a
laundry drying rack of FIGS. 1A and 1B through 4, the laundry
drying rack of FIG. 5 also has spreader arms on its load-bearing
arms 2; the spreader arms are joined to the support 1 in the
corresponding way and are not shown here. Pulling on a handle 38,
which is disposed on one of the load-bearing arms 2, not only
causes an outward deflection of this load-bearing arm away from the
vertical support 1 but also (with transmission by the gear wheel
segment 34 and the toothed sleeve 36) a forced deflection of the
load-bearing arm 2 that is located opposite, in terms of the
vertical support 1, the load-bearing arm 2 that has the handle
38.
[0029] In FIG. 6, a detail of a further laundry drying rack is
shown, with a vertical support 1 that has load-bearing arms 2 that
are each joined pivotably to the support 1 about a respective pivot
pin 6. The pivot pins 6 are disposed on a sleeve 8 that is
displaceable relative to the support 1. A connecting rod sleeve 22
is also provided, which is likewise displaceable relative to the
support 1 and is connected to each of the load-bearing arms 2 by a
respective connecting rod 24. Each connecting rod 24 is mounted
movably on the connecting rod sleeve 22, where it is pivotable
about a pivot pin 26, and on the load-bearing arms 2 where it is
pivotable about a pivot pin 28. The load-bearing arms 2 of the
laundry drying rack of FIG. 6 are likewise--analogously to the
laundry drying racks of FIGS. 1A and 1B through 5--moreover
provided with spreader arms, not shown here, which are also secured
in a corresponding way to the support 1.
LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS
[0030] 1 (Vertical) support
[0031] 2 Load-bearing arm
[0032] 4 Center axis
[0033] 6 Pivot pin
[0034] 8 Sleeve
[0035] 10 Spreader arm
[0036] 12 Retaining shaft
[0037] 14 Articulation shaft
[0038] 16 Tilt lever
[0039] 18 Tilt pin
[0040] 20 Tilt lever holder
[0041] 22 Connecting rod sleeve
[0042] 24 Connecting rod
[0043] 26 Pivot pin
[0044] 28 Pivot pin
[0045] 30 Sleeve
[0046] 32 Pivot pin
[0047] 34 Gear wheel segment
[0048] 36 Toothed sleeve
[0049] 38 Handle
* * * * *