A New or Improved Clip for Holding or Gripping Clothes on Lines.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 6th Jan., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 7th Aug., 1891-Accepted, 2nd Jan., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
A New or Improved Clip for Holding or Gripping Clothes on Lines.
I, WILLIAM JOHN BLAKEY of Auckland in the Colony of New Zealand, Block
Maker, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention relates to new or improved metal clips for holding or gripping
clothes when stretched upon a line.
These clips are made of wire of any suitable section but preferably of wire
circular in section, and a convenient way of forming them according to my inven-
tion is by bending a length of wire in half, then turning up bended end to form a
hook to go over and clip the line and according to the length of clip to be made
again bending the length in opposite directions and running back parallel for a short
distance and then bent outwards, and again inwards in angular form, the two ends
being twisted together centrally and so forming two triangular spaces back to back,
as it were, for the reception of a portion of the clothes to be suspended, and which
are held securely by being pulled down into what I may call the clips proper
formed, as aforesaid, by the loops at the base of the triangular spaces. The ends
of these loops may be bound together by rings or bands slipped over the ends of
same.
Clips constructed according to my invention may be either permanently fastened
on the line or adjustably so by means of the spring hook before described or other
convenient means so as to bite or grip the line. In practice I prefer them to be
permanently fastened on the line at spaces about a foot or so apart, and when so
fixed there is no necessity for carrying them out and in as is now done with ordinary
clothes pegs; these clips are light, yet strong and durable, are easily adjusted to
hold the clothes firmly and in any desired position.
l
'T
1001
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A New or Improved Clip for Holding or Gripping Clothes on Lines.
I, WILLIAM JOHN BLAKEY, Blockmaker, Auckland New Zealand, 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 improvement in clothes pins, and has for its object, to
provide a spring pin, adapted as in attachment to a line, either permanently, or
removable; and also to provide a means whereby the pin may be freely revolved
upon the line. Another object of the invention is to provide a pin with two
independent clamping members, whereby an article of clothing may be removed
from the line without disturbing an adjacent piece held by the pin.
The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of the several
parts as will be hereinafter fully set forth, and pointed out in the claims.
Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the
Specification, in which similar figures and letters of reference, indicate corresponding
parts in all the views.

page_text: Figure 1 is a front elevation of a number of pins located upon the line, illustrating
the manner of holding the clothes ;
Figure 2 is an enlarged perspective view of one of the pins ;
Figure 3 is an enlarged side elevation of the modified form of the pin; and
Figure 4 is an edge view of the said modification.
The pin is preferably constructed of one piece of spring wire bent upon itself to
form two essentially straight and parallel strands or shanks 10 & 11, and the two
shanks at their upper ends are curved over and downward, producing an eye or
hook 12. The wire at the lower ends of the shanks is bent in opposite directions in
the same horizontal plane as the shanks, and diagonally to a slight extent away
from the latter part to a point a which is at or near a central portion of the shanks.
From this point the wire is bent to produce essentially triangular arms 13, which
extend outward laterally at a right angle to the shanks, the ends of the wire
forming the inner extremities of the arms being tightly bent or coiled around the
shank above the arms and between them and the hook or eye; and above the tight
coil a loose coil D, is formed, in such a manner that the hook extends over the
centre of the said spring or practically so as illustrated in Figure 2. The shanks 10
and 11 are preferably bowed slightly apart.
By this formation of the wire, twin pins A and B are produced, the same being
independent in action, yet connected; and by bending the wire upward and
diagonally outward from each shank a tapering opening 14 is obtained at the lower
end of each pin into which the corners of the clothes to be hung are introduced and
drawn downward into the narrower portion of the opening whereby they are firmly
held in place by frictional contact.
The pin is preferably attached to the line by causing the line to pass between the
hook and the upper surface of the spring in close engagement with both.
In Figures 3 and 4 I have illustrated the shank as provided with a loop corre-
sponding to the eye or hook in the form of the device shown in Figure 2; and the
modified form of the pin is placed upon the line by passing the line through the
eye the said form of pin being adapted to remain as a fixture upon the line. In
order that the pins when constructed in this modified form, may be prevented from
slipping laterally upon the line, a split ring 16, is placed upon the eye portion of
the shank, the said ring being clamped upon and made to closely fit the exterior of
the line as shown in Figure 3. The eyes 12 however, in the modification are
sufficiently large to permit the pin to be revolved upon the line. It is evident that
the preferred form of pin illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 may be expeditiously and
conveniently attached to a line, or disconnected therefrom and that the pin may be
turned upon the line as conveniently as in the modified form.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is —
1. A clothes pin provided with two separate tapering openings adapted to receive
the corners of the clothes to be hung, substantially as shown and described.
2. A clothes pin constructed of spring wire, the said being bent upon itself to
form two adjacent independent openings for the reception of the corners of the
clothes to be hung, as and for the purpose specified.
3. A clothes pin constructed of wire and comprising two sections united at their
upper ends, their lower ends being contracted to form tapering openings, as and for
the purpose set forth.
4. A clothes pin constructed of spring wire, consisting of two sections united at
their upper ends and separated at their lower ends, the said lower ends being
contracted to form tapering openings and an eye or hook produced at the upper
ends of the sections and common to both as and for the purpose specified.
5. A clothes pin constructed of spring wire consisting of two sections united at
their upper ends by a common shank and separated at their lower ends, the said

page_text: lower ends being contracted to form tapering openings and the said shank being
provided with a book at its upper end and with a spring below the hook, as and for
the purpose set forth.
Dated this 24th day of April A D 1801
WILLIAM JOHN BLAKEY.