U.S. patent number 3,620,377 [Application Number 04/857,505] was granted by the patent office on 1971-11-16 for closet accessory construction.
Invention is credited to Gilbert J. Holtz, 182 Tibbets Road.
United States Patent |
3,620,377 |
|
November 16, 1971 |
CLOSET ACCESSORY CONSTRUCTION
Abstract
A closet accessory in the form of a hat, coat and shoe rack of
the type transportable in a disassembled condition, including a
number of hollow tubing structural members and with T-joints,
between base members and upright members for example, of
particularly simple and rugged construction formed by flattening an
end portion of a hollow tube, curving it to conform to the curve of
a tube to which it is to be joined, bending off the partially
flattened and unflattened portions of the first tube at
approximately right-angles to the round flat portion, and providing
in the bend ridges with a curvature opposite to the bend. The
flattened and formed tubing section described above is fastened, by
spot welding for example, to the second piece of tubing which it is
shaped to conform with to form a strong T-shaped tubing
structure.
Inventors: |
Gilbert J. Holtz, 182 Tibbets
Road (Yonkers, NY 10705) |
Family
ID: |
25326142 |
Appl.
No.: |
04/857,505 |
Filed: |
September 12, 1969 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
211/206;
211/182 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A47G
25/0664 (20130101); A47F 7/24 (20130101); A47F
5/13 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
A47F
7/19 (20060101); A47F 7/24 (20060101); A47F
5/10 (20060101); A47F 5/13 (20060101); A47G
25/00 (20060101); A47G 25/06 (20060101); A47f
005/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;211/177,182,148
;287/54C |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Ramon S. Britts
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Darby & Darby
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A closet accessory comprising, a pair of inverted U-shaped metal
tubular elements of circular cross section, said U-shaped tubular
elements each having joined thereto an upwardly extending tubular
section, a pair of upright tubular elements engaging respectively
said upright tubular sections, a top tubular crosspiece joining
said upright tubular sections and a bottom crosspiece joining said
inverted U-shaped tubular elements, the joinder of each said
U-shaped tubular element and the corresponding upwardly extending
tubular section consisting of a T-shaped junction constructed at
the center of said U-shaped metal tubular elements between a first
and a second of such tubular elements, the first of said tubular
elements being substantially undeformed in the area of the junction
and the second of such tubular elements being flattened at its end,
the flattened portion thereof being bent in the shape of a sector
of a cylinder subtending at least 50.degree. and not more than
about 200.degree. to conform to the cross-sectional shape of said
first tubular element, there being a partially flattened portion of
said second tubular element adjacent said flattened portion and a
bend of approximately 90.degree. between said flattened portion and
said partially flattened portion portion, the bend line of said
bend being along a line approximately parallel to the axis of said
cylinder, there further being at least one ridge bent in said
second tubular element across said bend line, said ridge having a
curvature opposite to that of the bend at said bend line, and a
total length substantially less than the length of said flattened
portion, the flattened portion of said upwardly extending tubular
section being secured to the wall of said U-shaped tubular element
near the center thereof and said T-shaped junction substantially
supporting said closet accessory structure.
2. A closet accessory comprising a pair of inverted U-shaped metal
tubular elements of circular cross section, said U-shaped elements
each having joined thereto an upwardly extending tubular section, a
pair of upright tubular elements engaging respectively said upright
tubular sections, a top tubular crosspiece joining said upright
tubular sections and a bottom crosspiece joining said inverted
U-shaped tubular elements, the joinder of each of said U-shaped
tubular elements and the corresponding upwardly extending tubular
section consisting of a T-shaped junction constructed at the center
of said U-shaped metal tubular elements between a first and second
of such tubular elements, the first of said tubular elements being
substantially undeformed in the area of the junction and the second
of such tubular elements being flattened at its end, the flattened
portion thereof being bent in the shape of a sector of a cylinder
subtending at least 50.degree. and not more than about 200.degree.
to conform to the cross-sectional shape of said first tubular
element, there being a partially flattened portion of said second
tubular element adjacent said flattened portion, and a bend of
approximately 90.degree. between said flattened portion and said
partially flattened portion, the bend line of said bend being along
the line approximately parallel to the axis of said cylinder, said
second tubular element further having a portion opposite said
flattened end of circular cross section less than half its total
length but more than 1 inch in length, there further being at least
one ridge bent in said second tubular element across said bend
line, said ridge having a curvature opposite to that of the bend at
said bend line and a total length substantially less than the
length of said flattened portion, the flattened portion of said
upwardly extending tubular section being secured to the wall of
said U-shaped tubular element near the center thereof and said
T-shaped junction substantially supporting said closet accessory
structure.
Description
The storage of clothing items in a closet or other storage area is
facilitated by various known forms of closet accessories such as
hatracks, shoe racks, etc. which are conveniently formed of strong
but light tubing elements which may be chrome plated or otherwise
decoratively finished.
Particularly in the case of larger accessories such as coat racks
it is desirable to design the coatrack of a number of tubing
elements which can be transported in a disassembled condition and
which by virtue of enlarged and/or diminished end portions are
assembled together readily to form a relatively large structure
approximately 5 feet tall by several feet in length without the use
of special tools or similar hardware such as nuts and bolts.
The tubing elements of which such a structure is to be formed can
be readily bent to L-shapes, U-shapes or the like while preserving
rigidity and strength of the element to the necessary degree. In
forming T-shaped elements as is required in such structures (for
example to join an upright portion to a horizontal base portion) it
becomes necessary to secure one piece of tubing to another piece of
tubing at substantially a right-angle with strength and rigidity
yet without an unacceptable increase in the fabrication cost of the
otherwise simple structure.
Previous closet accessory structures of the type here involved have
included T-shaped junctions between hollow tubing formed simply by
spot welding the sidewall of one section of tubing to the sidewall
of another section of tubing, with the tubing sections arranged at
right-angles. While quite simple, this construction does not
provide adequate strength or rigidity, particularly in view of the
fact that the T-junction of such structures is frequently a
location subjected to relatively large forces and stresses
developed in normal handling of the assembled construction.
The present invention provides a closet accessory structure
including a T-junction for pieces of tubing which is simple and
inexpensive but nonetheless rigid and rugged to a sufficient degree
to withstand the forces and stresses encountered by the structure
in normal use with virtually no incidence of failure.
The T-shaped tubing junction includes a flattened tubing portion
bent to the curvature of the joining section of tubing, a
substantially right-angle bend between the curved flattened portion
and the partially flattened and unflattened portion of the
bent-tubing section, and a pair of ridges spaced along the
substantially right-angle bend having a curvature opposite to that
of the bend providing rigidity at the area of the bend. A pair of
spot welds is also preferably utilized to secure the two-tubing
sections together forming the T-junction.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a closet
accessory structure including a particularly simple, inexpensive,
yet rugged T-joint between tubing sections of which the structure
is to be assembled.
It is another object of the present invention to provide tubing
elements including a portion formed of a "T" wherein by partially
flattening and forming bends of reverse curvature in portions of
the tubing structure a particularly strong and rugged joint is
achieved in a relatively inexpensively fabricated structure.
Other objects and advantages in addition to those described and
suggested above will be apparent from a consideration of the
following description in conjunction with the appended drawings in
which:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a representative closet accessory
in the form of a combined hat, coat, and shoe rack incorporating
the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a fragmentary elevational view of a tubing element
T-junction structure representing an important feature of the
present invention; and
FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken along the line 3--3 in
FIG. 2.
Referring to FIG. 1, a closet accessory 11 is shown in the form of
a combined hat, coat, and shoe rack.
The accessory 11 is formed of a number of structural elements most
of which are in the form of tubing sections appropriately shaped
and dimensioned to be assembled into the completed structure.
It is highly advantageous for articles such as the illustrated
closet accessory to be transported to the location where it is to
be used in a disassembled condition thereby permitting a rather
large structure to be transported in a container of a volume of
about 1 cubic foot or less. Shipping in disassembled form carries
with it the disadvantage of requiring the user or purchaser to
assemble the structure and it is therefore highly desirable that
the assembly be simplified the maximum extent possible as by
eliminating all small hardware such as nuts or bolts, which tend to
become lost, require special tools or lead to improper assembly.
The closet accessory 11 has both the advantage of being capable of
being transported in disassembled condition and of requiring no
hardware or special tools in assembly.
The closest accessory 11 includes a pair of U-shaped base elements
13 formed of steel tubing. Elements 13 support, and are constrained
by, a wire grid shoe rack 15.
Shoe rack 15 may be secured relative to U-shaped elements 13 by the
simple expedient of having bent ends of the wire grid arranged to
slide into vertical holes in the top of U-shaped elements 13 as
shown in FIG. 1.
Closet accessory 11 is preferably provided with conventional
casters 17 press-fit into the ends of the arms of U-shaped members
13. Closet accessory 11 accordingly can be rolled from place to
place if desired. Alternatively, casters 17 could be omitted or
replaced by plastic glides.
The upright portions of closet accessory 11 are formed of straight
tubular elements 19 and 21. The lower ends of tubular elements 19
are reduced in diameter to fit into the open end of the upwardly
extending sections of U-shaped base elements 13. The upper ends of
tubing elements 19 are enlarged to accept in a similar fashion the
reduced end of tubing elements 21. It is convenient for each tubing
element 21 to be reduced in diameter at both ends and for a top
tubing element 22 to have enlarged downward opening ends engaging
the tops of tubing elements 21.
A hatrack 23 formed of a wire grid is provided and may be
conveniently located on top of top element 22 by providing top
element 22 with vertical holes to accept downwardly bent wire
portions of hat rack 23.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, hangers 27 together with garments 25 are
conveniently stored on the closet accessory 11.
The upwardly extending portion 31 of U-shaped base members 13
should be secured in position relative to U-shaped base members 13
ruggedly and rigidly since this junction of the structure
encounters much of the force and stress in normal use of the
structure.
It is an important feature of the present invention to provide a
T-shaped junction between upright portion 31 and the center of
U-shaped base element 13 which is simple and inexpensive to
fabricate and yet provides a high degree of rigidity and
ruggedness. The construction of the T-shaped junction between the
upright portion 31 and the horizontal portion 33 of the U-shaped
elements 13 is shown in greater detail in FIGS. 2 and 3. It will be
noted that a forming operation is carried out on tubing element 31
while (except for forming into U-shape) tubing element 33 is not
deformed to provide the desired junction.
The forming operation on tubing element 31 is preferably carried
out in a conventional manner in a single stroke in a power press
with dies suitably formed in accordance with known die-making
techniques. For convenience, however, the various portions of the
deformed tubing element 31 will be described separately.
The end of tubing element 31 is substantially completely flattened
and bent in the form of a portion of a cylinder conforming to the
outside diameter of tubing element 33.
The partially flattened and the unflattened portion of tubing
element 31 is bent relative to the flattened and cylindrically
curved portion at approximately a 90.degree. angle. The flattened
and cylindrically bent portion preferably forms approximately a
half cylinder.
It is important that the T-junction not be weak with respect to
bending along the bend line 39, and accordingly ridges 41 are
formed near the ends of bend line 39 with a curvature which is
opposite to that of the bend at bend line 39. In other words, in
FIG. 2 the bend at bend line 39 is concave whereas the bend-forming
ridges 41 is convex.
Tubing section 31 may be secured to the horizontal tubing portion
33 by spot welding as indicated at 43. Improved rigidity is
provided by spot welding and two-spaced locations but this is not
in all cases essential. It will be noted that the conformity
between the shape of the flattened cylindrically bent portion of
tubing elements 31 and the outside diameter of tubing portion 33
lends considerable rigidity to the T-junction and it is primarily
the function of the spaced welds 43 to hold the walls of the
respective tubing sections together rather than to resist any
twisting or sheer stress at the point of the spot welds. Obviously,
the spot weld connections 43 could be replaced by other
conventional means such as rivets or the like, but spot welding is
the preferred construction.
From the foregoing description it will be seen that a closet
accessory is provided having a construction including a T-shaped
junction which is located at a point of substantial force and
stress in normal use of the closet accessory and is particularly
rigid and rugged while at the same time simple and easy to
fabricate.
It will be apparent that modifications and variations to the forms
of the invention described or suggested may be devised by those
skilled in the art and it is accordingly desired that the scope of
the invention not be considered to be limited to the particular
structure shown or suggested.
* * * * *