Improved Olothes-jack or Apparatus for Facilitating the Putting- on or Taking-off of Coats, Overcoats, Cloaks, Waterproofs, and the like.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 20th July, 1894-Accepted, 8th Sept., 1894
COBIT LEIE DT FUIFICATION.
Improved Olothes-jack or Apparatus for Facilitating the Putting-
on or Taking-off of Coats, Overcoats, Cloaks, Waterproofs, and
the like.
I, MAXIMILIAN PLESSNER, of Pallas Strasse 1, Berlin, in the Empire of
Germany, late Captain Prussian Army, 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 :-
My invention relates to an improved clothes-jack or apparatus for facilitating
the putting on or taking off of coats, overcoats, cloaks, waterproofs and the like.
It is well known that there is very much inconvenience and frequently no slight
difficulty for an otherwise fully dressed person to put on his ulster, or overcoat,
cloak or waterproof without the assistance of a second person, and there is,
moreover, generally an annoying feeling that the clothing does not afterwards sit
properly.
It is the same with both light or covert coats and heavy overcoats or ulsters,
the operation being almost an impossibility for old and weakly persons or invalids,
and, even in the case of persons who do not come under this category, said operation
often causes too great a strain to be an agreeable one.
Without speaking, then, of cases where extra help is absolutely indispensable, it
will be evident that the assistance of a second person is always of great advantage.
There is, in the first place, no necessity for any jerking or pulling, and thus no
strain is exerted on the seams of the clothing, which, consequently, lasts longer;
and, secondly, the clothing not only sits properly when put on, but it does not get
trailed on the floor and soiled during the operation of putting it on or taking it off.
But extra assistance is a luxury which is not always at disposal and my idea,
therefore, has been to invent some mechanical contrivance which would satisfactorily
answer the same purpose, and which, at the same time, on account of its cheap
and simple construction, would be within the reach of everybody.
As is known, in the operation of putting on an overcoat with the assistance
of a second person, the said coat is first spread out and held so as to hang
perpendicularly, whereupon the arms can be slipped into the sleeves and the coat
drawn on without the least difficulty. The collar can either be held fast by the
two hands of the assistant, or, if desired, only by one hand of said assistant on
one side of the collar, the other side of said collar being held in a stretched
position by the person putting the coat on, the same convenient effect being
obtained in both cases. In the latter case, all that the wearer has to do is to
hold out the coat with the left hand while he inserts his right arm in the right
sleeve and then turn half round and insert his left arm in the left sleeve whereupon
the assistant lets go. The operation can, of course, be performed just as easily in
the reverse way and the coat is put on without the least trouble, strain or friction.
The assistant will, of course, hold the coat higher or lower in accordance with the
height of the person wearing same.
The want, then, would clearly be fully met by a contrivance performing the
function of holding the coat on one side of the collar only, whilst the wearer
himself stretched out the other side with one hand while he inserted the left or
right arm in the corresponding sleeve, in that the weight of the coat being supported
by the apparatus, the operation would correspond precisely to the assistance of a
second person using one hand, the height of the apparatus being so adjusted as to
be suitable and convenient for use by a person of any height.
As will be seen from the description which hereafter follows, my invention meets

page_text: the foregoing requirements, and I will now describe same in detail with reference
to the accompanying drawings in which:
Fig. 1 is a side elevation in natural size.
Fig. 2 an end elevation.
Fig. 3 a modification on a smaller scale.
T is the holder or frame of the apparatus, preferably curved horse-shoe-like as
shown, and made of cast iron or soft malleable metal or any other suitable material,
and, to the under end of which holder or frame is rivetted or otherwise attached a
resting disc or pad K preferably in a horizontal position and on which is hung or
placed the collar or shoulder part of the coat or other article of clothing to he
put on.
In order that the coat may be firmly held while suspended in this way, a clamp
or jaw-disc or pad K¹ of equal size to the under resting disc or pad K is arranged
in such way that the two discs or pads have a tendency to press together auto-
matically, the lap of the coat being placed between them.
As it is necessary to reduce to a minimum the friction on that part of the
clothing which is inserted between the two discs or pads, I adopt an arrangement
whereby said clothing is gripped in a vertical or lateral direction in accordance
with the position of the apparatus and in which the connecting bar S can only
move parallel to the position it occupies when the two discs or pads are closed
during the parallel movement of the levers H and P on the pivots D, D', E and E'
as shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 1. The lever H has a vertical arm H¹
working on the pivot D and which arm is connected at its upper end to a spring F
which latter is fastened in its turn on the holder or frame T at F. The two
arms H and H¹ thus form together a bell crank lever having its fulcrum at D and
it will thus follow that an increased tension will be exerted on the already stretched
spring F on raising the lever H, so that, when the latter is raised and the lap of
the collar or shoulder part of the coat is placed on the resting disc or pad K, it is
merely necessary to gently lower said lever for the upper disc or pad to adopt its
original position and prevent the coat getting jerked from the resting disc or
pad K while being put on or taken off the body.
It is now further necessary to find a suitable way of suspending the apparatus
and to make same adjustable to any height.
For the first of these requirements, I prefer to use a. rack similar to the one
shown by St. in Fig. 3 and which is firmly fastened in the position shown or in any
other suitable one to the wall, said rack being provided with a series of hooks for
adjusting the apparatus to the height required. I further prefer to protect the
wall paper from injury by using a cushion J. Fig. 3 or other suitable rest for the
apparatus.
For adjusting the apparatus, I can use either a chain or a knotted cord or any
other suitable means affording the necessary flexibility and which is passed through
the opening or loop O or hooked or otherwise fastened on to the part W of the
frame, and, by means of which chain or cord the apparatus is hung to the rack or
other fastening in the wall.
The height of the rack must be such that it can be reached without difficulty,
whilst the chain must be so adjusted that the spring of the apparatus is about on a
level with the shoulders of the person using the apparatus.
To facilitate this adjusting operation and to enable same to be effected in a
minimum of time, I can also provide the chain or cord on which I hang my
apparatus with slip or any other kind of hooks or rings.
The mode of operation of my apparatus is as follows:
The person using the apparatus first holds the upper portion of the coat between
the left arm and the body while he lifts with his right thumb the arm H towards
the upper part of the frame T, whereupon the disc or pad K' is also raised. The
lap of the collar is then placed more or less near its edge in accordance with the
weight of the coat, by means of the left hand, on the resting disc or pad K, and
the upper disc or pad K' then gently lowered to engage with the said under disc

page_text: or pad K, whereupon, owing to the pressure of the spring F, the coat is held fast.
The right side of the coat may then be drawn out from the wall with the left hand
for the wearer to insert his right arm in the right sleeve up to the shoulder,-which
can be done without difficulty as the coat is now supported by the apparatus as
previously explained, and, after this has been done, a partial turn is made towards
the left and the left arm inserted in the left sleeve. When the wearer has got so
far, only another partial turn is necessary to the left towards the wall in order to
raise the disc or pad K' and release the apparatus when the operation is finished.
In the case of left-handed persons, it is merely necessary to carry out these
instructions in the reverse way after having first reversed the apparatus so that the
spring is against the wall.
The under laps of cloaks or long ulsters are prevented from trailing on the floor
by pulling the coat and apparatus sufficiently well out from the wall.
Fig. 3 shows a modification of my invention in which the upper disc or pad K¹
is attached to the lower or vertical arm of a T formed lever, one of whose upper
or horizontal arms serves as handle H whilst the end of the other arm is attached
to the lower end of a spiral spring F, the parallel movement being given to the
disc or pad K under tension of said spring F by a small diagonal rod V.
My invention allows of various modifications without affecting its principle of
gripping without injury to the stuff and automatically holding the coat, and I do
not limit myself to any particular position of the pads.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and the manner in which same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. A clothes-jack or apparatus for facilitating the putting on or taking off of
overcoats, cloaks and the like, in which the lap of the collar or other portion of the
coat is supported on a lower stationary or resting disc or pad K and there held by
an upper or moveable disc or pad K' which can be raised or lowered by hand
pressure and which is so arranged that in its action it constantly remains parallel
to its position when the two discs or pads are pressed together substantially as
described and shown in the drawings.
2. In a clothes-jack or apparatus for facilitating the putting on or taking off of
overcoats or the like, a frame T of any suitable form having a resting disc or pad K
or other suitable piece rivetted on or otherwise attached to its under end as and for
the purpose described and shown in the drawings.
3. In a clothes-jack or apparatus for facilitating the putting on or taking off of
overcoats or the like, levers (P), (H) and (H¹) the two former of which have a
parallel motion in combination with pivots (D), (E), (D') and (E¹), spring (F)
connecting bar (S) and disc or pad (K¹) as and for the purpose described and
shown in the drawings.
4. In a modification of the clothes-jack or apparatus as characterized in Claim 1,
the combination of a T formed lever with the frame (T) pivot (D) spiral spring (F)
disc or pad (K') and diagonal rod (V) substantially as and for the purpose
described.
5. In a clothes-jack or apparatus as set forth in Claim 1, the combination with
the apparatus of a chain or cord or other suitable means and suitable hooks or
hook-racks whereby the said apparatus can be adjusted to any height desired
substantially as described and shown in the drawings.
6. In a clothes-jack or apparatus as set forth in Claim 1, the use of a cushion or
other suitable rest for protecting the wall against which the apparatus is suspended
substantially as described and shown in the drawings.
Dated this 16th day of July 1894
J. E. EVANS-JACKSON & Co.,
Agents for the Applicant.