US788509A - Wire clothes-pin. - Google Patents

Description

No. 788,509. PATENTED MAY 2, 1905.

E. w. & R. L. BALL.

WIRE CLOTHES PIN.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 31, 1904.

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I m kw x 3, 2 Tfiy H121? UNITED STATES Patented May 2, 1905.

PATENT ()EEICE.

EUGENE BALL AND RALPH L. HALL, OF SOUTH BERVVICK, MAINE.

WIRE CLOTHES-Pl N.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 788,509, dated May 2, 1905.

Application filed August 31, 1904. Serial No. 222,906.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, EUGENE W. BALL and RALPH L. BALL, of South Berwick, in the county of York and State of Maine, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Wire Clothes-Pins; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

This invention relates to laundry, and particularly to a class thereunder known as clothes-pins.

An object of this invention is to provide a clothes-pin comprising a single piece of metal so bent as to form clamping-jaws which are designed to coact with the clothes-line for the purpose of retaining clothes on said line.

Furthermore, an object of this invention is to produce a clothes-pin which will possess advantages in points of efliciency and durability, proving at the same time comparatively inexpensive to manufacture.

WVith the foregoing and other objects in View the invention consists in the details of construction and in the arrangement and combination of parts to be hereinafter more fully set forth and specifically claimed.

In describing the invention in detail reference will be had to the accompanying draw ings, forming part of this specification, wherein like .characters denote corresponding parts in both views, and in which Figure 1 is a view in elevation of a clothespin embodying the invention when in operative position-that is, when the clothes-pin holds the fabric on the clothes-line. Fig. 2 is a similar view illustrating the position of the parts when about to be applied to a clothes- The invention comprises a single piece of metal, preferably wire, having a curved body A, the end of thematerial being inwardly bent at the points a and caused to converge toward the axis from which the curve is struck, the said ends being then outwardly curved to form the jaws 7) and b, the said ends being then bent on themselves to form guides c c and d cl, which guides are slidable on the curved body. Owing to the position of these guides, which intersect the body at approximately its hori- Zontal diameter when the device is in its operative position, it will be observed that any pressure or tension on the jaws of the body will serve to bind the loops of the guides against the curved body, thereby effectually preventing any spreading of the jaws, and the said spreading may be accomplished only by sliding the loops up over the surface of the curved body to the position shown in Fig. 2. As a further means for preventing displacement of the loops or for preventing spreading of the body it is our purpose to provide notches or recesses E in the body in order that the looped portions of the guides may lie therein when the parts are in the operative position. (Shown in Fig. 1.) These notches are adapted to hold the loops positively in such a position as to hold the jaws Z1 6 closed. It is also our purpose to serrate the surfaces of the body, as shown at c c, in order that the looped portion of the guides may encounter resistance in the upward swing in order that the disengagement of the jaws may be further retarded. In applying the device the loop may not at once engage notches E, so the loops would therefore in View of their resiliency spring upward to such a point as to allow the device to fall from the line; but by arranging the serrations a above the notches such accidental displacement is prevented, as the loops will engage the serrations and be held thereby. It is to be observed that the notches or shoulders E are deeper than the serrations e.

The extremities of the material from which the pin is formed are bent into loops F, which are designed for the reception of the thumb and finger of an operator, or the jaws may be manipulated through pressure on the downturned portion f of the extremities in order to swing the said guides around the surface of the body.

The construction, operation, and advantages will, it is thought, he understood from the foregoing description, it being noted. that various changes may be resorted to in the proportions and details of construction for successfully carrying the invention into practice without departing from the scope thereof,

Having fully described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A clothes-pin comprising a strip of metal formed into a curved body with arms bent to converge and overlie approximately centrally of the body, the diverging extremities of the arms being looped around the body and terminating in handles, the said looped portion being adapted to ride on the body, serrations on the outer surface of the body on two sides and shoulders formed at the end of the serrations adapted to receive the looped portions of the extremities, the said shoulders being in such position as to permit the Withdrawal of the looped portions from engagement With the shoulders When pressure is applied to the handles, the said shoulders being deeper than the serrations, substantially as described.

EUGENE W. BALL.

RALPH L. BALL.

Witnesses:

C. D. VARNEY, W. H. DOWNS.

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