US762076A - Broom-bridle. - Google Patents

Description

PATENTBD JUNE 7, 1904.

N. N. S. MATGOVITGH.

BROOM BRIDLE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 2z, 1903.

N0 MODEL.

' UN'TTED STATES Patented June '7, 1904.

PATENT OEEICE;

BROONl-BRIDLE.

SPECIFICATION forming palt of Letters Patent No. 762,076, dated June 7, 1904.

Application led July-22, 1903.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, NICHOLAS N. S. MATCO- vrreH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Sacramento, in the county of Sacramento and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Broom-Bridles, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improved attachment for brooms which is designed to increase the life of a broom by strengthening it adjacent to its point of attachment with the handle and to preserve its shape by gripping and clamping the straw in such manner as to control its spreading, whereby compensation is made for the wear which usuallytakes place by reason of the operator sweeping always with one side of the broom or exerting more pressure on one side than on the other.

It consists of the parts and the construction and combination ofparts, as hereinafter more fully described, having reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 illustrates the application of my invention to a broom. Fig. 2 is a perspective of the clamping attachment. Fig. 3 is a detail of one of the plates f1.

A represents two. spring members formed by bending a piece of suitable spring-wire centrally in a loop Q to inclose the broom-handle 3 and adapted to extend downward parallel with the edges and in the general plane of the broom. l y

Hinged to loop 2 on each side of the broom is a metal plate 4, which has the lateral extensions 5 at its lower end. Bails 6, which are each adapted to embrace approximately half of the upper portion of the broom, are pivoted to these extensions 5 of plates 4 and are designed to engage the corrugations 7'of the spring' members A to draw the latter in more or less tight against the broom, as desired. The loop is made fast to the handle by means of the plates 8, the purpose being te increase the stiffness of the bridle.

The spring members. A have each an extendible portion a, adjustable up and down by means of the clamp device 9, and the .lower ends of these portions c support the spreader and gripper portion of the bridle, by which the shape of the brush portion of the broom Serial No. 166,573. (No model.)

12 13, the members 10 and 12 being curved at their outer ends and detachably hinged together, as at 14, similarly with 11 and 18 at their outer ends. All the members may be provided with the cross-pins 15, standing in the plane of the clamp, and in order to permit of the extension and contraction of the clamp the inner members, as 11 and 12, are each slotted, as shown at 16, to accommodate the pins of its fellow member. For the same reason the clamp-collars 17 are slotted on their inner sides. In case the broom should be so thick as to spread the clamp sides apart abnormally the cross-pieces 18 may be provided, having a lixed point of attachment with one side of the clamp and provided with hooks 19 to engage on the opposite side.

In operation the bridle is engaged over the broom, as shown in Fig. 1, the compressionof the members A being regulated by the bails, as described, so as suitably to embrace and support the broom at that point, and the spreading and gripping portion engaged with the looser body of the straw to spread the latter symmetrically, adjusting the height of the spreader from the end of the broom by means of the clamps 9 and locking the spreader by its clamps 17l and screws 20. By contracting the clamp the broom may be made narrower at the bottom, and by extending it the broom will be proportionately widened. As the broom is worn the spreader or gripper portion may be readjusted higher up from time to time, the extendible character of the end members A c and also of the clamp members 10 11 12 13 allowing of this and at the same time accommodating the device to the consequent narrowing of the broom-body. The hold of the gripper portion is such on the IOO straw that when the broom becomes worn to a point where it generall y results in the broom being thrown away the stitching of the broom may be cut, the gripper acting' in its stead, thus leaving a greater length of llexible straw and considerably prolonging the life of the broom.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, isy l. A broom attachment comprising a bridle having extendible contractible sides each having one end lixed to the handle and said members thence extending downwardly in diverging lines and normally tending to spread outwardly, and a clamp and gripper portion attached to the lower ends or' the side members, said members corrugated at points intermediate of the ends, and means supported on the handle and engaging said corrugated portions to compress the side members and draw them more closely toward each other, said clamp and gripper portionincluding members capable of independent movement toward and from each other.

2. A broom attachment comprising a bridle formed from a piece of spring-wire bent centrally upon itsel'tl to form a loop to receive the broom-handle, the side members of the wire di verging downwardly and being corru gated, plates pivotally secured to the looped portion ol the wire and extending` down over the flat sides of the broom, bails pivotally secured to the lower portions of the plates and extending outwardly and engaging the corrugated portions of the wire, and a liber clamping and gripping portion supported by the side members of the wire at points below the lower ends of said plates.

3. The combination in a brush or broom bridle, of a clamp and gripper portion Jfor the fiber and-comprising extendible members one slidablc on the other and both provided with transverse pins or teeth, one or' said members being longitudinally slotted to receive and permit the movement of the pins of the other member, and each of the said members being -formed of two members detachably connected.

4. An adjustable vspreader and gripper for brooms comprising hinged extendible side members, intermediate pins or teeth carried by said members, certain of said members being slotted to accommodate said pins to the contraction and extension of said gripper, and means extending across the space between the sides of the gripper to prevent lateral spread.

In testimony whereot` I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

NICIIOLS N. S. MATCOVITCH.

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