Carrier for flexible closure

A wheeled track-mounted carrier in one use mode supports a shower curtain through a color-coordinated button having a shank received through a grommet on the shower curtain. The button is removably connected with the body of the carrier which is suspended removably from the axle of a dual wheel track follower. In a second use mode, the color-coordinated button is separated from the body of the carrier and a pair of spring arms previously held in inactive positions on the body are released and are inserted upwardly through tubular pockets of a tape which is stitched at intervals to a drapery whereby the drapery is conveniently suspended from the track-mounted carrier. Multiple carriers are employed along a length of shower curtain, drapery or other hanging flexible closure.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Technical Field: 
The present invention relates to a wheeled carrier for hanging flexible 
closures, and more particularly relates to a carrier which, in one use 
mode, supports a color-coordinated shower curtain or the like and, in 
another use mode, supports draperies or the like. 
2. The Prior Art: 
The most common type of support for a shower curtain consists of an 
overhead horizontal support bar on which shower curtain suspension hooks 
or rings are slidably mounted with the hooks or rings engaging through 
apertures formed in the shower curtain near its top edge. There is a 
tendency for the shower curtain to separate from the suspension hooks 
during usage which necessitates frequent re-attaching of the curtain to 
the hooks, which is inconvenient. 
Pleated draperies are generally held by pins which must be inserted through 
the pleated portions of the drapery and the pins engage through eyelets 
forming a part of the customary traverse rod. The installation of drapery 
pins is difficult and timeconsuming. Furthermore, the pins are rarely 
installed in precise locations and consequently most expensive draperies 
do not show as well as they could if better installation procedures were 
available. 
Accordingly, it is the objective of the present invention to overcome the 
above-stated deficiencies of the prior art relating to both shower curtain 
and drapery support means. The invention is also applicable to hospital 
privacy curtains including single use disposable paper curtains. 
A further object is to provide a wheeled carrier which can be used 
selectively for the support of a shower curtain or for the support of 
draperies. 
Another object of the invention is to provide a tape having tubular pockets 
which can be permanently installed on draperies by stitching, the tubular 
pockets of the tape receiving drapery suspension arms on the wheeled 
carrier in one use mode thereof. The arrangement permits the draperies to 
be easily and quickly removed for washing or dry cleaning with the 
pocketed tape permanently attached thereto. After cleaning, the draperies 
can be rehung conveniently in the same precise location previously 
occupied by them, due to the construction of the carrier forming the 
subject matter of this invention. 
Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent to 
those skilled in the art during the course of the following description. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention is best summarized as a carrier having a body portion 
provided at its opposite ends with hooklike terminals having restricted 
entranceways through which axle portions of a dual wheel unit and a shower 
curtain suspension element may be removably snap-locked into engagement 
with the hook-like terminals. A pair of spring arms on the body portion 
are biased toward separated divergent positions but can be held releasably 
in retracted substantially parallel positions by keepers on the body 
portion. The entire carrier and its components are readily moldable from 
available plastics.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
Referring to the drawings in detail, wherein like numerals designate like 
parts throughout, a dual purpose wheeled carrier 10 for flexible closures, 
such as shower curtains and draperies, includes a body portion 11 having a 
central bar 12. At its lower end, the body portion 11 carries a short 
extension 13 as an extension of the bar 12, and a lower hook terminal 14 
is carried by the extension 13 in a vertical plane. The lower hook 
terminal has a center cylindrically formed opening 15 having a restricted 
entrance 16 defined by a tapered entranceway 17, for a purpose to be 
described. 
A pair of short horizontal extensions 18 on opposite sides of the central 
bar 12, near and above the hook terminal 14, carry upwardly extending 
outwardly biased divergent spring arms 19 used to support draperies in a 
manner to be fully described. The upper end portions of the spring arms 19 
have enlarged heads 20, as shown. 
The carrier body portion 11 at its upper end includes a hook terminal 21 
similar to the hook terminal 14 and being disposed in a common vertical 
plane therewith and being connected to the central bar 12. A pair of 
laterally opposing keepers 22 for the spring arms 19 are provided on the 
body portion 11 on opposite sides of the central bar 12 and somewhat below 
the hook terminal 21. These keepers 22 allow the two spring arms 19 to be 
drawn together into parallelism as shown in broken lines in FIG. 1 where 
the arms are held releasably by the keepers 22 until it is desired to 
release the spring arms for use in the support of draperies, as will be 
further described. The entire body portion 11 can be molded from plastics 
material as a unit. 
The carrier 10 further comprises a dual wheel assembly 23 including a pair 
of spaced wheels 24, one on each side of the body portion 11. The wheels 
24 are united with a short cylindrical axle 25 which is sized to fit the 
cylindrically formed opening 15a of the hook terminal 21 after passing 
through the tapered entranceway 17a and restricted entrance 16a. The axle 
is snaplocked in the opening 15a but is removable therefrom due to the 
resiliency of the plastics material from which the carrier is made. 
The carrier further comprises at its lower end a circular button 26 which 
can be color-coordinated with any shower curtain. It includes a 
cylindrical shank 27 adapted to be received through any grommet 28 of a 
conventional shower curtain 29 and a reduced diameter short axle 30 
carrying an enlarged head 31. The axle 30 can be snap-locked removably in 
the opening 15 of the lower hook terminal 14, shown in FIG. 1. 
The dual wheel assembly 23 is adapted to run on the horizontal rails 32 of 
a round cross-section hollow support bar 33 which can be installed at a 
desired elevation in any desired manner. Alternatively, the support bar 
may be formed other than round in cross-section, FIG. 6, where the bar 33a 
is a modified rectangle having internal tracks 32a for the dual wheel unit 
23. The tracks 32 and 32a are spaced apart so that the carrier body 
portion 11 may travel between them. 
A drapery support tape 34 of required length is provided, and this tape at 
regularly spaced intervals has double woven areas 35 which enable the tape 
to be stitched permanently to a drapery 36 at the proper elevation 
thereon. The tape 34 is provided along its length with a series of 
half-round tubular tape segments 37, adjacent pairs of which can receive 
the spring arms 19 of the carrier 10, when the latter are released from 
their keepers 22. 
When the carrier 10 is to be used for supporting a shower curtain 29 or the 
like, the spring arms 19 are engaged with their keepers 22 and are held in 
parallelism, as shown in broken lines in FIG. 1. At this time, the arms 19 
serve no function. The dual wheel assembly 23 is properly connected to the 
body portion 11 and engaged within the support bar 33, FIG. 7. The shank 
27 of color-coordinated button 26 is inserted through a shower curtain 
grommet 28, and the axle 30 is engaged with the lower hook terminal 14. lt 
will be understood that as many of the wheeled carriers 10 are employed as 
there are grommets 28 or openings in a particular shower curtain. 
When the device is used to support a drapery 36 having the tape 34 attached 
thereto, FIG. 5, the button 26 is separated from the hook terminal 14 and 
is not used. The spring arms 19 are released from the keepers 22 and are 
inserted manually upwardly through adjacent tape segments 37 and then the 
spring arms are re-engaged with the keepers 22. The dual wheel assembly 23 
functions in the same manner relative to the drapery 36 as it does 
relative to the shower curtain 29. In both cases, the carrier body portion 
11 hangs vertically from the dual wheel assembly 23 while the latter is 
stationary or while traversing the rails 32. It will be understood that as 
many of the wheeled carrier assemblies 10 as needed are employed to 
support a drapery 36 of any length, and the tape 34 extends continuously 
along the upper portion of the drapery, forming a permanent attachment 
thereto. 
This invention provides a more convenient, precise and consistent support 
means for draperies without the awkward and imprecise task of installing 
drapery pins. The arrangement allows the drapery to be removed easily from 
the carriers 10 for laundering or dry cleaning, following which the 
drapery can be rehung with convenience in exactly the same location and 
elevation which it previously occupied. 
FIGS. 8 and 9 show an end mounting bracket 38 for the round support bar 33. 
A pair of these brackets 38 can be installed with screws on any two spaced 
walls with the screws engaging through apertures 39 of the bracket 38. The 
inner faces of the bracket side walls 40 are fluted as at 41 to engage and 
grip the circular cross-section support bar 33 when the latter is pushed 
downwardly between the somewhat resilient walls 40. A center web 42 of the 
bracket 38 enters the space between the two rails 32 of the circular 
support bar 33. The web 42 prevents the installed circular bar 33 from 
turning and assures a vertical disposition of the carriers 10. The 
mounting bracket arrangement is convenient and secure. 
It can be seen that the dual purpose wheeled carrier for shower curtains 
and draperies possesses many advantages over the prior art, is more 
convenient and has a better appearance than the prior art and is 
competitive in cost with the prior art. The wheeled carrier is durable and 
long lasting. The stitching of the tape 34 onto the drapery 36 provides a 
new approach to the installation of draperies which is more precise and 
requires much less labor and time of installation. 
It is to be understood that the form of the invention herewith shown and 
described is to be taken as a preferred example of the same, and that 
various changes in the shape, size and arrangement of parts may be 
resorted to, without departing from the spirit of the invention or scope 
of the subjoined claims.