Patent ID: 7775382

Claim:
An umbrella-like laundry dryer, comprising: a central upright tube having an upper end section; a multi-armed, clothes-line carrying framework to be unfolded and fixed in an unfolded state, said carrying framework including: upper supporting arms disposed substantially in a star-shape around said upright tube, said upper supporting arms being pivotably linked at their upper ends with said upper end section of said upright tube and pivotably interconnected at their lower ends with intermediate portions of lower clothes-line carrying arms disposed substantially in a star-shape around said upright tube, said carrying arms being pivotably linked at lower ends thereof with a lower sleeve slidable along said upright tube, said carrying arms being spread out from said upright tube by sliding said lower sleeve along said upright tube; an actuating device for unfolding said carrying framework by sliding said lower sleeve of said carrying framework along said upright tube, said actuating device including: a hoisting line having a stationary upper end anchored to said upper end section of said upright tube, a hoisting line portion running downward adjacent to said upright tube and deflected away from said upright tube at or near said lower sleeve of said carrying framework, and a movable lower end, and an opening lever arranged on one of said lower clothes-line carrying arms, said opening lever being pivotable about a lever pivot axis arranged on said lower clothes-line carrying arm at a distance from a lower end of said clothes-line carrying arm, said opening lever having a hoisting line engagement element coupled with said movable lower end of said hoisting line, said hoisting line engagement element being disposed on said opening lever in an outer end section at or near the free actuating end of said opening lever, said opening lever being pivotable about said lever pivot axis by a pivoting movement from a downwardly pointing, lower position adjacent to the lower part of said clothes-line carrying arm into an upwardly pointing, upper position adjacent to the upper part of said clothes-line carrying arm, said movable lower end of said hoisting line being moved by said pivoting movement of said opening lever from a lower position adjacent to said lower sleeve of said carrying framework into an upper position adjacent to said upper part of said clothes-line carrying arm; and means for fixing the unfolded carrying framework in an unfolded state.