US2245729A - Elastic clothesline - Google Patents

Description

June17,1941. H SNYDER 2,245,729

ELASTIC CLOTHESLINE Filed May 20, 1940 Patented June 17, 1941 UNITE. D sinria;` s PATENT: "or Flaca ELA'sTicf oLo'n'HE'sLINEj I Y Harry YL.`Snyder, West Los Angeles, Calif., assignor to `Lower *Rubber Manufacturing Y Co., Ravenna, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application May 2o, 1940', seiiairgo. 335.139

2 Claims.

Various attempts have been made in the construction of clothes lines or holders for various articles which do not require fasteners such as the various makes and types of clothes pins. Also there are various types of indoor clothes lines which may be readily removed from forming an obstruction in a room when not in use. None of these to my knowledge are fully satisfactory for the purpose I have in mind.

'Iherefore an object and feature of my invention is making a clothes line out of elastic material such as rubber strands which may be stretched to have the desired supporting factor and when released forms a compact device readily stored away in -a house or of a convenient size for use when travelling.

An object and feature of my invention is making a clothes line or an article holder of a pair of contiguous strands of elastic material such as two substantial rubber bands secured together at spaced intervals such as by a vulcanized connection and therefore form loops between these vulcanized spots or areas. A further detail feature as it is somewhat inconvenient spreading apart or opening the loops with one hand, is that I provide one o-r more tabs for at least one of the strands of a loop to allow this to be stretched away from the other strand. These loops therefore form a convenient construction for inserting fabrics, ends of garments or the like for purposes of drying. For instance, if a corner of a garment is inserted in an open loop and pressed or pulled into a position adjacent the vulcanized area, then when the loop is allowed to naturally retract and the strands are under a tensile stress and thus extended, the fabric is quite tightly held in place. Manifestly a number of `articles of apparel 4may be held by this stretched line. My invention also has other advantages made in short lengths, for instance as tooth brush holders or the like in which the handle of the brush may be gripped by the elastic strands and the brush proper maintained out of contact there' with.

My invention is illustrated in connection with the laccompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is an elevation of my invention set up in a conventional manner to show various ways of attaching articles of apparel.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged side elevation of a section of `a line taken in the direction of the arrow 2 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 3 is a plan of the portion of Fig, 2 taken in the direction of arrow 3 of Fig, 2, the separation of the strands being exaggerated.

In my invention I employ two strands or bands II and I2, preferably of rubber. These I find preferable to use of a rectangular section in which the vertical measurement I3 is considerably greater than the horizontal thickness measurements I4. These strands are connected together at opposite ends I5 either by being vulcanized or by some other attachment or by the double strands being formed by loo-ping the contiguous band together.

In my invention I attach the two strands at spaced intervals or areas indicated at 2I| by vulcanizing or the like. In this it is usual to have a vulcanizing type of rubber between the strands which merges therewith and need not have the space indicated in Fig. 3. However if it is desired to avoid vulcanizing the strands may be held together by adherent sections of rubber. Between these adherent spots or areas 20 there are thus formed loops 2I of the two strands II and I2. In order to facilitate opening of the loop for inserting -articles of apparel, at each strand I employ a pulling tab 22. These tabs are illustrated as rectangular and the upper portion 23 either vulcanized or adherent to one of the strands, in the present illustration this being illustrated as the str-and I2, leaving the lower portion 24 to be gripped by the fingers. Also these tabs may be large enough to be used for advertising purposes.

In the employment of my invention the ends I5 of the clothes line with the portion of the loop adjacent thereto are caught in the hooks or the equivalent 30 indicated as attached to the walls 3| or the like. It is obvious that these end loops may be attached to articles of furniture and the strands stretched to a satisfactory degree. This Stretching action tends to hold the two strand close together and thus when a loop is pulled open by the use of the tab 22, a portion of a garment or fabric article may be slipped into the loop and preferably have a portion thereof pressed close to one of the attachment areas 20. Then when the tab 22 is released and the two strands pulled close together, the garment is quite rmly held in place, this being usually sufficient for light weight articles but manifestly the device may be made to hold comparatively heavy articles of apparel depending upon the strength of the rubber strands. It will be seen therefore that by my invention as when released, the rubber strands form quite a compact bundle and that my clothes line may be readily used for either purposes in a house for drying articlesor for travellers. It is manifest that the loops formed by the two strands may be utilized to hold and suspend various articles such as tooth brushes or the like and especially in connection with these types of articles the friction of the rubber With the article aids materially in their support.

Various changes may be made in the details of the construction Without departing .from the spirit or scope of the invention as dened by the appended claims.

1. A clothes line having a pair of strands formed of rubber, a series of spaced vulcanized pull such strand from the other strand Vvaiording position.

space for inserting and removing articles gripped by the resilient strands holding tight together.

2. A clothes line having a pair of similar flat strands of rubber ywith contiguous flat faces, means attaching the contiguous faces in contact one with another at spaced intervals thereby forming loops adapted to spread therebetween, a pulling tab secured -tov one of the strands at each of the loops, means on the opposite ends of the pairs of strands for attachment to fixed objects to stretch the strands, a pulling tab being adapted to open a loop by spreading the strand to which it is attached from the opposite strand to facilitates fitting fabrics therebetween, the friction of the two strands on opposite sides of the fabric being adapted to retain the fabric in HARRY L. SNYDER.

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