AU641802B2

AU641802B2 - Improvements to clothes lines

Info

Publication number: AU641802B2
Application number: AU83525/91A
Authority: AU
Inventors: James Edward Redpath
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1990-08-30
Filing date: 1991-08-30
Publication date: 1993-09-30
Anticipated expiration: 2011-08-30
Also published as: AU8352591A

Description

AUSTRALIA 41 0 Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION For a Standard Patent

ORIGINAL

TO BE COMPLETED BY APPLICANT *s 0Or s S* S 0S *5 i, *0 S

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50 Name of Applicant: JAMES EDWARD REDPATH Actual Inventor: JAMES EDWARD REDPATH Address for Service: WRAY ASSOCIATES,. Primary Industry House, 239 Terrace, Perth, Western Australia, 6000.

Adelaide Attorney code: WR Invention Title: "Improvements to Clothes Lines"

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5 Details of Associated Provisional Application No: PK2061 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me:- 2 This invention relates to improvements to apparatus for hanging clothes for drying thereon, such apparatus commonly known as clothes lines.

Hitherto, clothes lines have consisted of a plurality of single lines from which clothes are pegged in order to allow them to dry. The disadvantage of such clothes lines is that one must either stoop to pick up pegs in order to peg clothes to the clothes line, or hold them in ones mouth, removing them therefrom to peg clothes to the clothes line, or have the pegs clipped onto the clothes line, removing them from the clothes line before pegging clothes onto the clothes line.

e It is an object of the present invention to provide an 9 9 improved clothes line which overcomes some of the above 15 difficulties associated with such known clothes lines.

9 In one form the invention resides in a clothes line comprising at least one hanging line for supporting 0"':articles for drying thereon and comprising in association 99 with each hanging line a tethering line adapted to support 20 a plurality of pegs to retain said pegs in a convenient o location with respect to said hanging line when the pegs are not clipped to said hanging line.

9 me Preferably, said tethering line is spaced from and is substantially coextensive with said hanging line.

Preferably, said tethering line is adapted to support said pegs for sliding movement therealong.

Preferably, said tethering line resiliently supports said pegs for movement towards and away from said hanging line.

Preferably, said tethering line assumes a state of tension 3 when the pegs are engaged with said hanging line thereby urging said pegs in a direction away from said hanging line when released therefrom.

Preferably said tethering line includes tensioning nLeans for imparting resilient extensibility to said tethering line.

Preferably, said clothes line iL a rotary hoist, wherein said hanging and tethering lines are separated by a plurality of spacing means.

i:1: 10 Preferably, said spacing means are located at the .o intersections of said lines and the arms of said rotary e hoist.

0 S• Alternatively, said clothes line is a retractable clothes 0* Sline comprising reel means adapted to retractably accommodate said hanging line and said tethering line; said *0 lines being secured in spaced relationship to a lateral bar "9 which is adapted to be fixed to an attaching point.

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Preferably, said hanging and tethering lines are spaced S 20 apart near said reel means by spacing means.

Preferably, said reel means includes a first reel adapted to retractably accommodate said hanging line and a second reel adapted to retractably accommodate said tethering line, said first reel being located above said second reel in spaced relationship thereto.

Preferably, there is provided a tensioning means in association with said tethering line to give extensibility thereto.

3/1 Preferably, said clothes line is provided with a mechanism to tension said hanging line.

The invention will be better understood by reference to the following description of three specific embodiments thereof, as shown in the accompanying drawings in which:- *o S0* 4 I Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a clothes line according to the first embodiment; Fig. 2 is a part perspective view of a clothes line according to the first embodiment; Fig. 2a is a part perspective view of a clothes line according to the first embodiment; Fig. 3 is a side view of a clothes line according to the second embodiment; Fig. 4 is a side view of a clothes line according to the third embodiment; and Fig. 5 is a side view of a clothes line in use, according to the second embodiment.

The embodiment shown in Fig. 1 is directed to a clothes line in the form of a rotary hoist 11. The rotary hoist has four arms 13 spaced evenly and radially about a central jub 14. The arms 13 support a hanging line 15 and a tethering line 17. The hanging line 15 and tethering line 17 are separated by a spacer means 19 on each arm 13.

The spacer means 19 has an aperture 21 through which the tethering line 17 is free to slide.

The hanging line 15 is of conventional type and construction as used in existing single line rotary O*"s clothes hoists such as multistrand galvanised mild steel o* wire or nylon line. The tethering line 17 may be nylon or some other similar flexible cord, an elastic material such as rubber or a flexible cord incorporating a length of elastic material.

Three of the spacer means 19 for each pair of hanging and tethering lines 15 and 17 are as shown in Fig. 2. The fourth spacer means 23 is shown in Fig. 2a. The fourth 5 spacer means 23 has two apertures 24 and 25. The tethering line 17 begins passing through aperture 24, restrained by a crimp 27, and extends around the rotary hoist passing through apertures 21 in the other three spacer means 19 before returning to the fourth spacer means 23, where it passes through aperture 25 and is secured by a crimp 29. The tethering line 17 is made of nylon cord, but has an elastic portion 31 which is made of extensible rubber cord which is secured to the rest of the tethering line 17 by a crimp 33. If an elastic line is used as the tethE:ing line, this would obviate the need for utilising a separate elastic portion 31 and associated crimps. Similarly, the crimps 27 and 33 may be replaced with suitable attaching means.

Referring to Fig. 2, the tethering line 17 may support a number of clothes pegs The clothes pegs 35 are suspended from the tethering line 17 in such a manner that they are poised above the hanging line 15. In this manner, an article of clothing may be placed in position on hanging line 15 and clothes pegs pulled downwardly to clamp the clothes onto the hanging line 15. The elastic portion 31 of tethering lines 17 ensures that the tethering line 17 is elastic enough to withstand a large number of pegs being displaced downwardly onto hanging line Ideally the tethering line 17 is spaced a nominal above the hanging line 15. It is preferred that the tethering line 17 is offset horizontally a distance of approximately 20mm in addition to he vertical spacing.

The horizontal offset ensures that the pegs which are suspended from tethering line 17 do not get tangled with the hanging line 15 as clothes are pegged thereto, the pegging action causing the hanging line 15 to vibrate, which would cause any pegs loosely contacting to be shaken around.

6 Fig. 3 shows one form of retractable clothes line. This clothes line has a hanging line 15 and tethering 17, the hanging line 15 being attached to a first retractable reel 41 and the tethering line 17 being fixed to a second retractable reel 43. Typically there are four pairs of hanging and tethering lines spaced horizontally and connected to a lateral bar 45 which is supported on a post The hanging and tethering lines of each line pair are co-extensive, each tethering line 17 being located vertically above a hanging line A tensioning means (not shown) is provided in association with the first retractable reel 41 in order to stretch taut the hanging line 15 when the clothes line is in the erected position. The second retractable reel 43 is spring loaded, to ensure that the correct tension is kept e. on the tethering line 17. This is to enable the tethering line 17 to be stretched downwardly when clothes are pegged S on hanging line 15. In order to stow the retractable S*.0 clothes line, the tensioning means associated with the hanging retractable reel 41 is disengaged, and the lateral bar 45 is dcisengaged from the post 47. After the pegs have been removed from the tethering line 17, the lateral bar may be moved towards the housing 51, the retractable *0:1o reels 41 and 43 taking up hanging and tethering lines and 17. When the lines have been fully wound onto their respective reels, the lateral bar 45 may be positioned on hook 49.

4.00 Alternatively, the housing 51 may be constructed in such a manner as to enable the pegs 35 to be left on tethering line 17 when the retractable clothes line is stowed, by locating the hook 49 at a distance spaced from the front 52 of the housing 51 so that the pegs may be accommodated on the tethering line 17 between the front 52 of the housing 51 and the location of the hook 49.

Fig. 4 shrws a tethering form of retractable clothes line 7 having a single retractable reel 53. The hanging and tethering lines 15 and 17 are kept at the correct separation distance at the housing 51 by a spacer means which consists of two spatially located pulleys for each pair of lines 15 and 17. In this embodiment, tethering line 17 is made of a material more elastic than hanging line 15, or includes an elastic portion such as that shown in tethering line 17 in Fig. 2a. A tensioning means (not shown) is associated with the single retractable reel 53, and is provided in order to tension hanging line 15 when the clothes line is in the erected position.

Fig. 5 shows the retractable clothes line as shown in Fig.

3 supporting a number of articles of clothing 57.

e< a oi The clothes line of this invention offers a considerable f J:5 advantage to, in particular, the elderly or disabled. As .0 the clothes pegs are conveniently located in relation to the hanging line, the clothes line may be used with 0, comparative ease, especially by people who suffer from arthritis. The extensibility of the tethering line is useful to sufferers of arthritis as the effect of urging the pegs ways from hanging line assists in removing the pegs therefrom.

It should be appreciated that the scope of the present *0 *ao° invention should not be limited to the embodiments described herein.

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Claims

1. A clothes line comprising at least one hanging line for supporting articles for drying thereon and comprising in association with each hanging line a tethering line adapted to support a plurality of pegs to retain said pegs in a convenient location with respect to said hanging line when the pegs are not clipped to said hanging line.

2. A clothes line as claimed in claim 1 wherein said tethering line is spaced from and is substantially coextensive with said hanging line.

3. A clothes line as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein said o tethering line is adapted to support said pegs for sliding movement therealong. 9*4. A clothes line as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein said tethering line resiliently supports 0* :said pegs for movement towards and away from said hanging line. A clothes line as claimed in any one of the preceding ra claims wherein said tethering line assumes a state of tension when the pegs are engaged with said hanging line thereby urging said pegs in a direction away from said hanging line when released therefrom.

6. A clothes line as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein said tethering line includes tensioning means for imparting resilient extensibility to said tethering line.

7. A clothes line as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in the form of a rotary hoist, wherein said hanging and tethering lines are separated by a plurality oi spacing means. 9

8. A clothes line as claimed in claim 7 wherein said spacing means are located at the intersections of said lines and the arms of said rotary hoist.

9. A clothes line as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6 in the form of a retractable clothes line comprising reel means adapted to retractably accommodate said hanging line and said tethering line; said lines being secured in spaced relationship to a lateral bar which is adapted to be fixed to an attaching point. A clothes line as claimed in claim 9 wherein said hanging and tethering lines are spaced apart near said real means by spacing means. .4

11. A clothes line as claimed in claim 9 or 10 wherein said reel means includes a first reel adapted to *4 retractably accommodate said hanging line and a second reel adapted to retractably accommodate said tethering line, 5 said first reel being located above said second reel in spaced relationship thereto.

12. A clothes line as claimed in anyone of claim 9 to 11 wherein there is provided a tensioning means in association with said tethering line to give extensibility thereto. 4 4e

13. A clothes line as claimed in any one of claims 9 to 12 wherein said clothesline is provided with a mechanism to tension said hanging line.

14. A clothes line substantially as herein described with reference to the description of the embodiment. Dated this TWENTY FOURTH day of JUNE 1993. JAMES EDWARD REDPATH Applicant WRAY ASSOCIATES, Perth, Western Australia, Attorneys.