An Improved Clothes-pin.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 21st Mar., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 21st Dec., 1891-Accepted, 5th Mar., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Clothes-pin.
I, HARVEY TIRRILL, and SYLVESTER LYFORD, both of Pittsburg, New
Hampshire, U.S.A. Inventors, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to
be as follows:-
This invention has reference to an improved clothes-pin commonly used for
securing clothes and the like to the line to dry, and the object of the invention is
to provide a pin of this kind which will more securely hold the clothes in place,
and without injury thereto.
The invention comprises a metal wire which is doubled to form diverging arms.
These arms are formed with offsets near their free ends, and with outwardly
bulging clamping-jaws on the ends, and having their upper doubled end bent to
form an eye at a right angle to said arms. Another wire has its upper end formed
into an eye or ring, and slides in the eye of the doubled wire aforesaid, and is
formed with a ring or slide at its lower end, which ring slides upon the arms of
the said wire, and engages the offsets upon the same. When the last-named piece
of wire is drawn upwards the clamping jaws extend or open outwards, and may
then be placed over the line. The sliding pieces of wire is then pushed downwards
over the offsets, which closes the clamping-jaws, and retains the materials upon
the line.
Dated this 21st day of March 1891
W. H. MUNNS,.
Agent for Applicants.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Clothes-pin.
We, HARVEY TIRRILL, and SYLVESTER LYFORD, both of Pittsburg, New
Hampshire, U.S.A. Inventors, 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 :-
Our invention relates to metallic clothes-pins; and it consists in the improved
construction and arrangement or combination of parts hereinafter fully disclosed in
the description, drawings, and claims.
The objects of our invention are to provide an improved metallic clothes-pin
having means for securely clamping it upon the line and the clothes to be held
upon the same, having means for locking its jaws in clamping position, having
means for conveniently manipulating it and for securely keeping it when not in use,
having means for limiting the play of its locking-slide, and having means for
confining its jaws in their spread position and for guiding them. These objects are
attained in the clothes-pin illustrated in the accompanying drawings, forming part
of this Specification, in which the same reference numerals indicate the same or
corresponding parts, and in which--
Figure 1 represents a perspective view of our improved clothes-pin ;
Fig. 2, a view of the pin locked ;
Fig. 3, a view of the pin unlocked ;
Fig. 4, an edge view of the pin ;
Fig. 5, an edge view of a modified form of the pin locked, and
Fig. 6, an edge view of said pin unlocked.
In the drawings, the numeral 1 indicates a double piece of wire, preferably brass,
galvanized iron, or other non-corrosive material, or material which corrodes with
difficulty by simple contact with air or water. Said wire is doubled at its middle

page_text: to form two arms 2, and is bent at a right angle to plane of the arms to form
an eye 3. The lower ends of the arms are slight inclined outward, so as to
cause them to stand in a slightly-diverging position. They are thereupon bent
inward to form offsets 4. They are then bulged outward to form curved jaws 5,
which may straddle over and around the clothes-line and the article to be clamped
upon the same, and the extreme end of one jaw is bent to form an eye 6, while the
end of the other jaw is doubled upward upon the side of the jaw having the
doubled end, forming a similar eye 6 to the eye 6 and having its free end forming
a loop 6", which incloses the opposite jaw and forms a guide for the same by its
parallel sides. The eyes 6 and 6' of the clamping-jaws will prevent puncturing or
tearing of the articles to be clamped on account of their rounded points or heads.
A piece of wire 7, having its upper end formed into an eye or ring 8, sufficiently
large for the insertion of a finger, slides in the eye 3 of the double wire and has
an eye or slide 9 at its lower end, which is bent at a right angle to the wire and
slides upon the arms of the other wire.
In the form of pin illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6 the arms are bent outward to
form a shoulder 10 some distance below the eye 3, so as to form a stop for the eye
or slide 9 when the latter is slid upward. It will be een that these pins are of
the same construction as the pin shown in the other views, with the exception of
the change in the upper part of the pin.
In practice the jaws of the pin are straddled over the article to be clamped and
the clothes-line and the eyed wire is slid down upon the arms, the eye forcing
them together. The eye or ring at the upper end of the sliding wire will serve
for the convenient pushing down of the wire and the bulges or offsets 4 upon the
arms will serve to catch and hold the eye or slide at the lower end of the pin,
which will thus lock the jaws in place upon the line.
When the pins are used, a quantity of them may be held suspended upon a
finger or stick, or may be strung upon a ring, wire, or string by the eye or ring 8,
so as to be conveniently accessible for the person hanging up clothes, and when the
pins are to be stored away they may be conveniently hung up by said rings upon a
peg or nail or supported strung upon a wire or cord.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this our said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is :
1. In a metallic clothes-pin, the combination of a wire doubled to form
diverging arms formed with offsets near their free ends and with outwardly bulged
clamping-jaws at said ends, and having the upper doubled end bent to form
an eye at a right angle to said arins, with a wire having its upper end formed into
an eye or ring sliding in the eye of said doubled wire and formed with a ring or
slide at its lower end, which slides upon the arms of said wire and engages the
offsets upon the same, substantially as described.
2. In a metallic clothes-pin, the combination of the wire 1, doubled to form the
arms 2, having the offsets 4 and jaws 5 bent to form the eye 3, and having the
loop 6 formed upon one of said jaws, with the wire 7, having the eye or ring 8 at
its upper end and the ring or slide 9 at its lower end, which slides upon said
arms 2, substantially as described.
3. In a metallic clothes-pin, the combination of the wire 1, doubled to form the
arins 2, bent to form the eye 3 and the shoulder 10 and having the bulges 4, and
the jaws 5, one of which is doubled at its end and returned to form the guide-
loop 6", with the wire 7, sliding in the eye 3, having the ring 8 at its upper end
and the ring or slide 9 at its lower end, which slides upon and clamps said arms 2,
substantially as described.
Dated this 21st dove of December 1901