Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
TELESCOPIC CLOTHES DRIER
The invention relates to a telescopic drier for
clothes with two telescopic extendable arms between which
clothes supporting rods extend.
Various designs of driers for clothes which arms can
be extended and pushed together telescopically are already
known and have been available on the market for years.
When such a drier is in a fully extended position and is
loaded with wet and thus relatively heavy clothes, a large
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strain on the telescopic arms is to be expected. However,
it is desirable that the operation of such a drier can be
performed without efforts and reliably. Several elements
of the telescopic arms should always be perfectly guided
despite the heavy ioad so that they can be easily pushed
or extended without the sagging or sticking of the several
parts.
In one clothes drier of this kind, which is described
in U.S. Patent No. 3,784,020, these problems have been
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solved quite satisEactorily, and such clothes drier has
proved to be quite good in practical operation for a long
time. A disadvantage of this clothes drier consists in
that the clothes supporting rods for freshly washed
clothes tend to get soiled even when the clothes drier is
in a rest, collapsed condition. Another disadvantage of
such a clothes drier consists in that the transition of
the same from the rest position to the condition ready for
use, takes place more or less without control.
Particularly, in a case of uneven actuation, for example,
extending only one telescopic arm, the danger exists that
the individual elements of the telescopic arm will be
tilted and damaged. This disadvantage is negated when it
is intended to use the whole capacity of the clothes
drier, that is, when it is fully extended and when the t~o
telescopic arms are evenly extended together. But very
often there exists a need for the clothes drier to be used
only`partially, that is, when only one clothes supporting
rod or a few of the available clothes supporting rods are
to be used. However, the objects of the least possible
space requirement and protecting the clothes supporting
rods which are not used against soiling cannot be attained
in the clothes drier according to U.S. Patent No.
3,~84,020, or can be attained only partially when
substantial efEorts are employed.
The object of the present invention, therefore, is to
mprove or further develop a clothes drier of the kind
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mentioned, so that, while retaining the time-tested
advantages, it can also be attained that, on one hand, the
unused clothes supporting rods are always protected
against soiling, and, on the other hand, in an exactly
definite way, only a portion of the whole clothes drier
can be used by extending of an exact number o~ individual
clothes supporting rods, and in which clothes drier the
danger of tilting of the elements of the telescopic arms
is substantially reduced.
- Herebelow is a detailed description of an embodiment
of a clothes drier according to the present invention with
reference to the attached drawings wherein:
Fig. 1 is a top schematic view of an embodiment of the
clothes drier according to the present invention with
telescopic arms in an extended condition;
Fig. 2 is a section along the lines II-II of Fig. l;
Fig. 3 is an exploded schematic view of the clothes
drier in the rest position with telescopic arms in
collapsed condition;
Fig. 4 is a section along the lines IV-IV of Fig. 3;
Fig. 5 is a section of the clothes drier according to
Fig. 3 in a first phase of use; and
Fig. 6 is a sectional side view on a large scale of
the same clothes drier which is partially extended.
In Fig. 1, a clothes drier is shown schematically in
an extended condition. It has two telescopic arms 1 and
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2, the telescopic arm 1 comprises a number of slides 3 to
9, and the other telescopic arm 2 comprises an equal
number of slides 10 to 16. The number of slides can be
selected in accordance wi~h the desired receiving capacity
of the clothes drier.
At the side of each slide are arranged bearing stubs
1~ to 30 for supporting the free ends of respective
clothes supporting rod 31. Each two corresponding slides,
that is, two opposite slides, for example, slides 3 and
10, or slides 4 and 11, or slides 5 and 12, etc., form
together with respective clothes supporting rod 31 a fixed
unit by which the stability of the telescopic arms 1 and 2
is increased.
The slides 3 to 9 and 10 to 16 are provided with
openings so that they can be pushed together. Those
slides which receive an adjacent slide have a rectangular
hollow profile. As can be seen, particularly in Fig. 2,
in a side wall of the slides 3-8, slots 33 to 38 are cut
out for receiving the bearing stubs 18 to 23 when the
telescopic arm 1 is collapsed. Correspondingly, the
slides 10 to 15 are also provided with slots (not shown in
the drawings) for receiving the bearing s~ubs 25-30 when
the telescopic arm 2 is collapsed.
As seen in Fig. 2, the slots have unequal lengths; the
slot 38 receives only one clothes supporting rod 31, while
the slot 37 must have a length sufficient to receive two
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clothes supporting rods 31. The slot 36 must have a
length sufficient to receive three clothes supporting rods
31, etc. In this way it is achieved that the two
telescopic arms 1 and 2 can collapse to a minimal length
corressponding onl~t to the length of the rearmost
wall-side slides 3 and 10, respectively. The rearmost
wall-side clothes supporting rod 31' held by the bearing
stubs 17 and 24 on the slides 3 and 10 remains stationary
and is, therefore, displaced downward to permit a slight
depth expansion of the clothes drier in the rest position~
The two stays 32 on the rearmost wall-side slides 3
and 10 serve for mounting the two telescopic arms 1 and 2
in holding elements (not shown) which are fastened, for
example, to a wall which is not shown in detail. By
locating the bearing stubs 17 and 24 o the slides 3 and
10 below the slots 33, sufficient distance from the wall
for hanging the clothes is provided.
The structure of a clothes drier, time-tested per se,
is now improved according to the invention by providing a
hood extending between the two telescopic arms 1 and 2,
and which is essentially L-shaped in cross section. In
Figs. 3 to 6, this hood is indicated in general by a
reference numeral 39.
The hood 39 preferably is made of an L-shaped profile
of aluminum sheet and includes an upper leg 40 and a front
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leg 41, the two leys 40 and 41 orming therebetween an
angle of about 90. The hood 39, in the zone of the two
free rear corners of the upper leg 40 is pivotally
fastened to the two rearmost wall-side slides 3 and 10,
the respective pivoting axes being marked by a reference
numeral 42 in Figs. 4 to 6. This pivoting support may be
effected in any suitable way, known per se, so that it
need not be discussed in detail here.
The two slides 3 and 10 are also equipped with stops
43 (see Fig. 6) which are located on inside surfaces
opposite each other of the box profile of the slides and
against which the front edge of the upper leg 40 of the
hood 39 rests. This arrangement assures that all clothes
rods 31 are located in the zone of the rearmost slides 3
and 10, respectively, that is, they are introduced into
the slots 33 and are covered by the hood 39, and thus,
effectively protected against soiling.
This can be clearly seen in Fig. ~, which shows a
section along the line IV-IV in Fig. 3. Fig. 3 also makes
clear that the clothes drier of the invention in the
collapsed condition, that is, with the telescopic arms 1
and 2 completely pushed in, forms a compact, attractive
unit, protected against dust and other soiling.
Contributiny to this are the cover plates 44 located at
the end on the foremost slides 9 and 16 and which width
and height correspond approximately to the width and
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height of the rearmost wall-side slides 3 and lO. Thus,
the mainly open front side of the rearmost slides 3 and 10
with the telescopic arms 1 and 2 collapsed is also covered
so that the inside is protected against soiling.
It has proved advantageous to make the hood 39 of
aluminum sheet or plastic, not only because this is an
easy-to-work and corrosion-resistant material but also
because an attractive exterior can easily be obtained,
possibly by coloring or, in the case of aluminum, by anodic
oxidation. It is obvious, however, that other suitable
materials may be used, for example, steel sheet, etc.
The hood 39 is provided, along the ree lower edge of
the front leg 41, with a padding 45 o~ triangular cross
section directed inward, which may consist, for example,
of a flange inwardly directed, end portion of the leg 41.
This padding 45, on one hand, secures the hood 39 in the
rest position, as shown in Figs. 3, 4 and 6; and on the
other hand, the padding 45 prevents a flapping up, by
mistake, o the hood 39, since, as we know, a gripping of
the padding 45 over the foremost clothes rod 31, must be
caused by elastic deformation of the hood 39, as indicated
in Fig. 5, with hood 39 partially turned up.
The hood 39 not only serves the purpose of protecting
unused clothes supporting rods against soiling; it is also
designed to support a partial extension of the clothes
drier into a desired use position. In the view shown in
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Fig. 6, there is a position in which only the foremost
clothes supporting rods 31 have been extended for use.
The next clothes supporting rod 31 lies against the inner
surface of the front leg 41 of the hood 39, so that no
further extension of the telescopic arms 1 and 2 is
possible. In this way, it is assured that the clothes
drier that occupies minimal space the exact desired
capacity, while at the same time, the unused clothes
supporting rods 31 are protected against soiling.
It is further attained in this way that the clothes
drier, that is, the two telescopic arms, can only be
extended a relatively small amount, since the hood,
falling back into the rest position, prevents a further
extension. During the slight extension distance of the
teIescopic arms, as released by the hood, no functioning-
damaging tilting of the elements of the telescopic arms
can occur, in practice, even when only one arm is extended.
The directed downward tip of the triangular padding at the
end of the hood still favors the separation of the clothes
supporting rod lying in front to be pulled out next from
the adjacent rod, when the hood i5 raised and re].eased
again, since this pointed tip will fall into the space
between the foremost and the next clothes supporting rod.
