Improved Apparatus for Supporting, Displaying, and Rewinding Carpet and other Fabrics in the Roll.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 13th Aug., 1889
Complete Specification Left, 26th Apr., 1890-Accepted, 5th July, 1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improved Apparatus for Supporting, Displaying, and Rewinding
Carpet and other Fabrics in the Roll.
I, NEWTON HENRY TRAVER, of No. 948, Fourth Avenue, Detroit, in the County of
Wayne, and State of Michigan, United States of America, Physician, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to racks or apparatus for displaying carpets, oil cloth, blind
cloth, etc., in sale rooms in such manner that the material in the roll may be drawn off
in lengths as required for display or sale and automatically rewound. By means of
this improved apparatus less floor room will be required for the display of the goods,
the rolls will require handling but once, and a maximum amount of vertical space may
be utilized.
The apparatus is supported on vertical standards, preferably of I section, having
ratchet notches in the edges of their flanges and stepped in short sockets bolted to the
floor and received in long sockets bolted to the ceiling whereby they may be adjusted
to the height of the room. Upon each standard is fitted to slide a bracket having
lugs which embrace opposite flanges of the standards one of said lugs being detachable
to allow the brackets to be readily applied to, or removed from, the standards. The
brackets are retained at the desired height by weighted pawls engaging with the
notches in the standards. In these brackets is mounted a reel shaft, the shaft being
longitudinally adjustable in its bearings and locked in position by a lever engaging
with a groove around the shaft, said locking lever being pressed upon the shaft by a
spring so as to act as a brake to check the revolution of the reel shaft. Upon said
shaft are adjustably mounted a pair of discs having pins upon their inner faces between
which the roll of carpet or other fabric is held. In order that the shaft may be quickly
passed through the roll, the discs are removable and a conical cap is temporarily
applied to one end of the shaft. A spring barrel is mounted on one of the brackets
and gears with the reel shaft, and upon the outer face of the barrel a pawl is pivoted
adapted to be held by a spring in either of two positions, in the one of which the pawl
engages, during a portion of the revolution of the drum, with the teeth of a concave
ratchet segment fixed to the adjacent bracket.
When the carpot is drawn off the roll, the spring barrel is revolved so as to wind
up the spring and the pawl being in the normal position falls into the teeth of the
segment whereby, if the reel shaft then ceases to revolve the spring barrel will be
locked in position. If the barrel continues to revolve until the pawl passes the toothed
arc, the pawl is restored to its normal position whereby if the hold upon the carpet is
released at this point the barrel spring turns the drum backward, the pawl offering no
resistance; this latter movement of the barrel rewinding the carpet upon the roll.
It is necessary to guide the carpet in rewinding and to that end a guide shaft is
journaled in the brackets and provided with a movable collar which is brought in line
with one of the reel-holding discs. Two or more sets of such apparatus may be placed
upon each pair of standards one above the other and the apparatus is so proportioned
that when the brackets rest on the floor a roll of carpet having the reel shaft inserted
may be placed in position without being lifted. After one roll has been placed in
position, the apparatus is elevated as high as desired and another apparatus attached
to the standards, etc. If an upper roll is sold before the lower one, the upper set
of brackets are removed, the lower rolls elevated, and the brackets again attached
to the standards at the bottom.
In a modified construction especially adapted for oil cloth and similar goods which
do not require to be drawn off the roll in such lengths and which do require
considerabło power applied to rewind, the spring barrel is mounted upon a stationary.

page_text: sleeve through which the reel shaft passes and forming a portion of the adjacent
bracket and the barrel engages by a clutch with the reel shaft. In other respects,
the construction and operation is substantially similar to that above described and both
arrangements may be combined in one so that the apparatus may be used inter-
changeably for carpets and oil cloth or similar material by removing the spring barrel
from the one to the other position, as the case may be.
When it is desired to unroll quite a length of material, a sale having been made for
instance, the spring barrel may in either case be thrown out of gear with the reel
shaft by disengaging the locking lover and sliding the reel shaft longitudinally in its
bearings, such motion being limited by stop.
Dated this 13th day of August 1889.
N. H. TRA VER.
By A. M. & Wm. Clark,
53, Chancery Lane, London, Patent Agents.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Apparatus for Supporting, Displaying, and Rewinding
Carpet and other Fabrics in the Roll.
I, NEWTON HENRY TRAVER of No. 948 Fourth Avenue, Detroit, in the County of
Wayne, and State of Michigan, United States of America, Physician, 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 racks or apparatus for supporting carpets, oil-cloth, blind
cloth, etc., in the roll in sale rooms in such manner that the material may be drawn
off from the roll to any extent required for display or sale and will be automatically
rewound after being so partially unwound. By means of this improved apparatus
less floor room will be required for the display of the goods, the amount of vertical
space being utilized instead and the rolls will require handling but once.
Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this
specification, in which
Figure 1 is a front elevation of the apparatus.
Figure 2 is a horizontal section through the supporting beams, the rewinding
mechanism being shewn in plan view.
Figure 3 is a side elevation.
Figures 4 and 5 are detail views of the rewinding mechanism; and
Figures 6 and 7 are detail perspective views of portions of the brackets.
Figure 8 is a partial side elevation of the roll spindle and its cap.
Figure 9 is a plan view of a slightly modified form of the mechanism.
Figure 10 is
vertical section through the rewinding mechanism.
Figure 11 is a side elevation of the rewinding mechanism, and
Figure 12 is a side elevation of one bracket detached.
Similar figures and letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the
views.
The standards 10 are preferably made of I-section and stand in short sockets 12
bolted to the floor, their upper ends being received in long sockets 13 bolied to the
ceiling, whereby the standards may be readily adjusted to the height of the room.
The standards are arranged at suitable distances apart and upon their flanges
brackets 14 and 15 are fitted to slide. Each bracket comprises a body portion a
having a forwardly-extending arm a' the upper portion a being considerably wider
than the surface immediately above the arm. At top and bottom of the rear part
of the body is an L-shaped lug 16 adapted to embrace the rear flange of the standard
and a vertical rib 17 is formed upon the arm a' and in the upper portion of the body
is an opening 18 surrounded at the bottom and sides by a U-shaped flange 19, the
inner side member whereof is in a vertical plane with the rib 17, see figures 3 and 6
The inner surface of the bracket bodies, between the lugs 16 the rib 17 and the

page_text: flange 19, is adapted to slide upon the outer face of the standard flanges and when
in this position they are held to place by the lugs 16 embracing the standard flanges
and a removable lug 20. The removable lug is illustrated in detail in figure 7 and
comprises a dovetailed body of suitable shape to slide over the opening 18 and
between the correspondingly-bevelled side members of the flange 19 and when in this
position it is wedged in place, an offset b¹ at the lower end fitting over the flange and
a finger bearing against the standard flange as aforesaid.
It is obvious, from the foregoing description, that the brackets may be expeditiously
and conveniently detached from the standards, whenever desirable, by removing the
lug 20.
The brackets are locked to the standards at various points in the height of the
latter by counterweighted pawls 21 pivoted upon the part as of each bracket, as shewn
in figure 3, and engaging with notches 11 in the flanges of the standards. The
weighted ends of the pawls serve to retain them in normal engagement with the
standards and also afford a handle for disengaging the pawls. The reel shaft is
mounted in bearings in the brackets, that of the left hand bracket 15 being a notch 22
closed by a lock lover 24 pivoted to the bracket and spanning the notch 22, as shewn
in figure 12, and engaging in one or other of circumferential grooves 27 in the recl
shaft 23. The lock lever rests in a stirrup 25 and is drawn down by a spring 26, as
shewn in figure 1, which spring also acts as a brake for the reel shaft. The reel
shaft 23 is longitudinally adjustable in the brackets so that it may be shifted from right
to loft and vice versa and is held in the shifted position by the lock lever 24.
Upon the shaft 23 a pair of discs 29 are adjustably mounted, said discs being
provided with pins 30 upon the inner faces between which discs the roll of carpet,
oil cloth, or other material, is held, the pins entering between the folds; and in order
that the shaft 23 may be easily passed through the roll a conical cap 31 is temporarily
fitted upon the grooved end, as shewn in figure 8. Upon the shaft is keyed a spur
wheel 28 and upon a stud secured to the part a³ of the right hand bracket is loosely
mounted a barrel 32 containing a coil spring 33, as shewn in figure 5, one end of
which spring is attached to the stud and the other end to the drum. The spring
barrel gears, by teeth 34, with the spur wheel 28 of the reel shaft and upon the outer
face of the barrel is pivoted a pawl 35 having horns 36, as shewn in figures 4 and 5,
adapted to be engaged by a strap spring 37, whereby the pawl may be retained in
either of two positions. Upon the part a of the bracket 14 is an are-shaped rack 38
concentric with stud 37 and with the ratchet teeth 39 of which the pawl 35 engages
during a portion of the revolution of the barrel.
The operation is as follows ;-When the carpet is drawn off the roll, the pawl being
in the normal position illustrated in figure 3, the spring barrel is revolved so as to
wind up the spring and the pawl 35 engages with the ratchet teeth 39, as illustrated
in figure 4, whereby if the reel shaft then ceases to revolve the spring barrel will be
prevented from rewinding the roll. If the barrel continues to be revolved until the
pawl passes the toothed segment 38 the spring 37 turns the pawl into such position,
shewn in figure 5, that if the hold upon the carpet be released at this point it will
not prevent the spring barrel turning backward and rewinding the carpet upon the
roll. It is necessary to guide the carpet in rewinding and to that end a guide shaft 40
is journaled in the arms a¹ of the brackets and provided with a movable collar 41
which is adjusted in line with one of the discs 29, preferably the right hand one.
Two, or more, sets of such apparatus may be placed upon each pair of standards, one
above the other, and the apparatus is so proportioned that when the brackets rest on
the floor a roll of carpet having the reel shaft inserted may be placed in position
without being lifted. After one roll has been placed in position in the apparatus, the
whole is raised as high as desired in the standards and another apparatus attached
to the standards to receive another roll and so on. If an upper roll is exhausted
before a lower one the upper set of brackets are removed the lower ones raised higher
and the brackets which were removed again attached to the standards at the bottom to
receive another roll.

page_text: The arrangement illustrated in figure 9 is especially adapted for oil cloths and
similar goods which do not require to be drawn off the roll in such lengths and
which do require considerable power to rewind them. In this construction the spring
barrel is mounted upon a stationary sleeve 41 through which the reel shaft passes and
forming a portion of the adjacent bracket, as shewn in figure 10, and a clutch 42 is
formed upon
the inner end of the barrel for engagement with a similar clutch 431
upon the hub of the spur wheel 28 and the ratchet segment 38 is formed upon the
part a² of the bracket, as shewn in figure 11. In other respects, the construction and
operation of the apparatus is similar to that above described.
The bracket 14 may in all cases have the sleeve 41° and the ratchet segment upon
both the front and rear parts a² and a³ in order that the apparatus may be used
interchangeably for carpets and oil cloth or similar goods by merely removing the
spring barrel from the one to the other position, as required.
When, a sale having been made, it is desired to unroll a long length of material,
the spring barrel may be thrown out of gear with the reel shaft by disengaging the
locking lever 24, sliding the reel shaft longitudinally to the left and dropping the
locking lever into the groove 27. A stop on tho left hand lug 20 limits the shifting
movement of tho shaft.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be. performed, I declare that what I
claim is ;
1. In a display rack for carpets and similar goods, the combination, with standards
and brackets mounted to slide upon said standards, of a reel shaft journaled in the
brackets, and a spring barrel connected with said shaft, substantially as described.
2. In a display rack for carpets and similar goods, the combination, with standards
and brackets mounted to slide upon said standards, of a reel shaft journaled in the
brackets, discs adjustably attached to the shaft, and a spring barrel connected with
the shaft, substantially as and for the purpose specified.
3. In a display rack for carpets and similar goods, the combination, with standards
and brackets detachable from, and adjustable upon, the standards, of a shaft journaled
in said brackets, discs adjustably attached to the shaft and provided with pins upon
their opposed faces, a spring barrel connected with the shaft, and means, substantially
as described, for laterally shifting the shaft, as and for the purpose specified.
4. In a display rack for carpets and similar goods, the combination, with standards
having notched flanges, brackets capable of sliding upon the standards, and pawls
pivoted upon the brackets to engage the notches of the standards, of a shaft journaled
in said brackets, toothed discs adjustably attached to the shaft, a spring-barrel
connected with the said shaft, and a guide shaft also journaled in the brackets below
and in front of the disc or reel shaft, substantially as shown and described.
5. In a display rack for carpets and similar goods, the combination, with standards,
brackets capable of sliding upon the same, one bracket being provided upon its inner
face with a ratchet toothed segment, and a reel-carrying shaft journaled in said
brackets, of a spring barrel connected with the shaft, a pawl, pivoted upon one side
of the barrel, having horns at its head and a spring adapted to bear alternately upon
the horns, whereby the movement of the pawl over the toothed segment is controlled
as the barrel is revolved, substantially as specified.
6. The combination, with a shaft and its bearings one of said bearings being
provided with a toothed segment, of a spring barrel connected with the shaft, a pawl
pivoted upon the barrel and adapted to engage with the toothed segment, horns
radiating from opposite sides of the pawl head, and a strap spring attached to the
barrel and adapted to act on either of the opposed horns of the pawl, substantially
as specified.
7. In a device for exhibiting carpets and similar goods, the combination, with
standards having notched flanges, of brackets mounted. to slide upon said standards,
comprising a body portion provided with arms and L-shaped lugs adapted to embrace

page_text: the one side flange of said standards, a detachable key or lug fitted in the body
having a projecting finger capable of clamping the other flange of the standards, and
a locking pawl pivoted upon the body substantially as shewn and described.
S. In a device for exhibiting carpets and similar goods, the combination, with
standards having notched flanges, of a bracket, mounted to slide upon the standards,
comprising a body provided with a recess in its upper edge and capable of contact
with one side edge of the standards, an arm projected from the bottom forward edge
of said body, essentially L-shaped lugs integral with the top and bottom of the body
at its rear edge, a locking lever crossing the body recess, a key detachably secured to
the body and provided with a clamping arm and a crank arm extending upward in
front of the body recess and a gravity pawl capable of entering the notches of the
standard, substantially as shewn and described.
9. In a device for exhibiting carpets and similar goods, the combination, with
standards, of sleeves adapted to receive the extremities of the standards, whereby
the latter may be adjusted to different heights of ceiling, substantially as shown and
described.
10. In a device for exhibiting carpets and similar goods, the combination, with the
reel or roll-carrying shaft, of a conical thimble adapted to cover one end of the shaft,
ns and for the purpose specified.
Dated this 26th day of April 1900
N. H. TRAVER.
By A. M. & Wm. Clark,
53, Chancery Lane, London, Patent Agents.