Improvements in Apparatus applicable for Use as a Clothes Dryer, Tent, Roundabout, or Support for Swings.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd May, 1894-Accepted, 30th June, 1894
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus applicable for Use as a Clothes Dryer,
Tent, Roundabout, or Support for Swings.
A communication by ROBERT DOUGLAS, of 986 Fourteenth Street, Detroit, in
the County of Wayne and State of Michigan, United States of America,
Gentleman.
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON F.C.S., M.I.M.E., of the Agency for
Foreign Patent Solicitors, 6 Lord Street, Liverpool and 6, Bank Street Manchester
both in the County of Lancaster and 323 High Holborn in the County of
Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to clothes reels, and has for its object an improvement in
clothes reels intended to be used outside the house, a special object being to enable
the user to protect the clothes at all times from sudden showers of rain or snow.
The structure embodying the invention also affords a firm and strong support
adapted to sustain a swing or a number of swings; it also furnishes a canopy or
awning which may be used as a pleasure tent, thus converting the ordinary
unsightly clothes reel into an ornament.
In the drawings,
Figure 1 shows the complete reel with a tent cloth drawn over it and a swing
Suspended from it.
Figure 2 shows in section the supporting pin and socket at the apex of the
central post, and the central ring or hub of the reel wheel.
Figure 3 is an enlarged detail, showing the several parts by which the spokes
and tie rods are secured to the rim.
A indicates a central post, on the upper end of which is a cap provided with a
deep central cavity C; this cavity forms a socket, within which rests the end of a
pin D, the head of which, B, is broadened out into a flange d, and the flange is
provided with a number of holes to receive the ends of tie-rods E; it is also
provided with a number of lugs e, which are received in the hollow of the strut
rods F.
The reel proper is made in the form of a large wheel, G, of which the
rim is preferably in the form of a polygon, rather than in the form of a circle, the
portion of the rim that lies between the ends of the consecutive spokes being
preferably straight, and two contiguous portions meeting at an angle (as is shown
in Figure 1); the felloe part G is made of tubing, and is in sections, preferably four
sections; the ends of each section are screw threaded, and the sections are united
by coupling nipples n. At each angle there is secured the outer end of a spoke H,
the inner end of which is secured to a ring or hub I. As a means of securing the
spokes and tie rods to the felloe of the wheel, it is preferable to employ a coupling,
hown in detail in Figure 3; this consists of a ring having on one of its sides a
louble eye g, and through the double eye g is passed a bolt k; on the end of each
poke and tie rod is an eye, mm; the ring part is slipped over the tube of the
elloe G before the parts are assembled, and preferably before the felloe part is
ent and it is secured in place in any suitable way.
The hub I has a bearing part i and a flange J, and the flange J is provided
vith a number of holes to receive the ends of the spoke rods H, and also with a
umber of lugs a, similar to the lugs e, and similarly used to engage with the strut
ods F. The inner ends of the spokes H terminate with hooks or open eyes that

page_text: hook through the holes in the flange J. The lower ends of the strut rods F engage
over the lugs a on the flange J.
The
Between the bearing ring i and the post A is a friction ring p, which serves to
prevent the bearing ring i from cutting into the post. The bearing ring i rests
loosely around the friction ring p. The spokes H are made of small wire, coated
with some material that will not rust; they are preferably made of galvanised wire,
and form the clothes line proper, upon which the clothes are spread to be dried.
The strut rods E serve to prevent the frame from collapsing upward.
direction given to the several rods causes them to brace one another strongly, and
a swing S can be supported at any part of the felloe; or several such swings may,
if desired, be supported; and, as the entire head is adapted to turn around the
supporting post, the reel can be converted at any time into a pleasure swing or a
rotating "merry-go-round." The spokes and tie rods are all formed to templets,
and, when assembled, the structure is adjusted by means of the coupling nipples n.
The spokes H are made slightly longer than the shortest distance between the
felloe G and the flange J of the central bearing ring, if that bearing ring were
located at a position in the plane of the felloe; and, consequently, when the parts
are assembled, the bearing ring drops slightly below the plane of the felloe and
the spokes dish upward slightly. In consequence of this arrangement, when
tension is put upon the spokes and the tie rods by means of the adjustment which
has been described, a central ring is lifted strongly upward against the struts F.
Over the apex of the structure is an awning of tent cloth, t, which can be placed
on or removed at will, and which serves to protect the clothes from rain, when
stretched on the drier; and this awning is especially useful in cities, where the
rain (especially light showers) is apt to be very dirty; it is also useful to protect
the clothes from soot and dirt flying in the air, even where there is no rain; and
it furnishes a pleasant shade when the clothes are removed and the reel is used as
an awning.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. In a clothes reel, the combination of a central supporting post, a ring
supported below the summit, radial arms reaching from said ring to an outer ring,
a supporting pin at the summit of the post, tie rods reaching from the supporting
pin to the outer ring, and means for adjusting the tension of the same, substantially
as described.
2. In a clothes reel, the combination of a central supporting post, a reel head
composed of an inner and an outer ring and radial arms uniting the two, a tie
plate at the top of the post revolubly secured thereto, and tie rods uniting the tie
plate to both of said rings, substantially as and for the purpose specified.
3. In a clothes reel, the combination of a central supporting post, a reel head
revolubly supported thereon and having substantially horizontal arms, and a tent
covering adapted to be drawn over the reel head, substantially as described.
Dated this 21st day of May 1894.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Agents.