US2804214A - Clothes drying bars - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 27, 1957 W. L. HAMMER CLOTHES DRYING BARS Filed Oct. 4, 1954 IN VEN TOR.

771m 4mm ATTORNE'VS.

United States Patent tOfiice 2,804,214 CLOTHES DRYING B RS. William L. Hammer, wauwatosg wis Application October 4, 1954, Serial No. 459,972 l Claim. (Cl. 211.-,106)

This invention relates to improvements in clothes drying bars, and. more particularly. to a. clothes drying bar adapted to be associated with. the shower curtain rod over a bathtub or the like. v

Many bathtubs have shower installations, and mounted over the outer rim of the bathtub is airfod from which a shower curtain is suspended to drape. into the tub, to confine the water from the shower. When the shower is not in use it is customary to slide the shower curtain along the overhead curtain rod to an out of the way position. Such shower curtain rods are frequently employed as hangers for the drying of wearing apparel which has been laundered, and as the shower curtain rod is usually vertically alined with the outer rim of the bathtub, water from the laundered garments hung from the shower curtain rod may drip exteriorly of the tub or onto the shower curtain.

The present invention has as its primary object the provision of an auxiliary clothes drying bar which may be associated with a shower curtain rod over a conventional bathtub but positioned in a manner to be out of the way and to confine drippage from the suspended laundered garments into the tub.

A further object of the invention is to provide a clothes drying bar for association with a shower curtain rod which will prevent direct contact between wet garments and the metal shower curtain rod, thereby eliminating the possibility of rust formations on the shower curtain rod and the staining of the laundered garments.

A further object of the invention is to provide an auxiliary clothes drying bar which may be supported in an elevated position transversely over a bathtub between the shower curtain rod and the wall, and which is readily adjustable to clampingly fit between the wall adjacent the inner edge of the bathtub and the shower curtain.

A further object of the invention is to provide a clothes drying .bar of the character described in which the clothes supporting extent is slightly spiralled in formation to prevent the sliding therealong of garments mounted on said portion of the bar even though it be at a slight inclination.

A further object of the invention is to provide a clothes drying bar of the character described arranged for association with a shower curtain rod and which, when not in use, may be depended from an end portion of the shower curtain rod in an out of the Way position without being disassembled.

' or rim of the bathtub or which formsthe inner wall of Cit A further object of the invention is to provide a clothes drying bar which is inexpensive to manufacture, which is neat and attractive in appearance, which is easy to mount and adjust without the use of tools, and which is well adapted for the purposes described.

With the above and other objects in view, the invention consists of the improved clothes drying bar, and its parts and combinations as set forth in the claim, and all equivalents thereof.

In the accompanying drawing in which the same reference characters indicate the same parts in the several views:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of a shower curtain rod spaced from a wall with the improved clothes drying bar mounted between the shower curtain rod'andthe wall; and V Fig. 2 is a side view of thespiral bar disengaged from thewall and detached from its mounting noose.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing, it

will-appear that the numeral 5 designates an eleyated horizontally extending rod for a shower bath curtain; which rod is of circular cross-section and is'prefe'rably' formed of metal. The shower curtain rod S-isfigidl'y mounted over the outer edge or mud a bathtubor at the entrance to a showerstallandis opposite averticalinner wall 6 which extends upwardly from the inner edge a, shower stall. V

The present invention relates primarily to a,clothes drying bar 7 which. is adapted to be suspended from the, shower curtain rod 5-, at right angles thereto, and to con tact, at its inner end, the vertical wall 6. The clothes drying. bar 7. is shown inrdetail in Fig. 2 andit is preferabl y formed of chrome plated spring steel which has been bent into spiral formation.

As shown at 7' in the drawing, the outer end portion of the clothes drying bar 7 has relatively large, closely adjacent convolutions decreasing in size toward the intermediate portion of the rod with a hook 8 formed at the outer end portion of the bar section 7'. From the intermediate portion of the bar inwardly, represented by the numeral 7", the spiralled extent of the bar is such that the convolutions are very gradual and on a substantially lesser pitch than the convolutions in the portions 7 merely forming undulations in said bar portion 7". In practice, the portion 7" of the bar is customarily utilized for the support of laundered and damp garments. The extreme inner end portion of the bar section 7" has fast thereon a cylindrical bumper 9 whose nose portion 9 is pointed, the bumper being preferably formed of rubber or a similar resilient material.

For the purpose of depending the clothes drying bar 7 from the shower curtain rod 5, a noose 10 is provided which is formed of a doubled length of rope, leather or other flexible plastic material closed at both ends with one doubled end carrying a metallic crimping band 11 to provide an attaching eye 12. The major extent of the noose, beyond the eye 12 and crimping band 11, is adapted to be wrapped about the shower curtain rod 5 in the manner shown in Fig. 1 with the eyed end of the noose being adjustably pulled through the rod engaging loop thus formed, and the eye 12 is then engaged with the hooked portion 8 of the section 7 of the drying bar 7 and threaded inwardly on the convolutions to a proper position of support, thereby providing adjustable and detachable means for depending the enlarged outer end of the clothes drying bar 7 from the shower curtain rod.

The bumper equipped end 9 of the clothes drying bar 7 is wedgingly engageable with the surface portion of the wall 6 in the manner shown in Fig. 1 and is preferably initially engaged with the wall at an elevation slightly above that of the shower curtain rod 5. The wedging engagement can be increased by turning the outer end portion 7 of the bar 7 in the manner of a screw, during which adjustment the eyed end of the noose will also shift along the portion 7' to a proper convolution. After the rough adjustment is made by thus turning the bar 7, the bumper equipped end of the bar may be forced downwardly to a desired elevation on the wall 6 which will place the spirally convolved portion 7' of the bar under compression.

With the auxiliary clothes drying bar suspended from Patented Aug. 27, 1957 a shower curtain rod and engaged with an inner vertical wall in the manner described, the portion 7 of the bar is readily available for the support of laundered garments which may dri'p into the bathtubyor'onto the drain floor of a shower stall.

The gradual spiralled undulations in the bar portion 7" provide a notching or shouldered efiect which prevent the garments or hangers on which they are disposed from sliding toward the spiral screw portion 7 of the bar.

While the clothes drying bar 7 has been illustrated and described as being depended below the shower curtain rod 5 by means of the noose 10 which is preferable because there will then be no metal to metal contact as being the shower curtain rod 5 and the drying bar 7, it can, if desired, be mounted over the shower curtain rod 5 by means of the noose attachment.

When the improved clothes drying bar is not in use, a few reverse turns on the portion 7' of the bar 7 will ease the compression and permit disengagement of the bumper equipped end of the bar from the wall 6. Then,

the entire assemblage may be slid along the shower curtain rod 5 to an out of the way position, or the bar 7 may be disengaged from the noose, or the entire assemblage may be quickly disengaged from the shower curtain rod and stored.

,end of the bumper and having its other end adapted to extend away from the wall, and suspending means for said other end having a loop, said last-mentioned end of the rod being twisted in the form of a screw and within the loop whereby the loop may be progressively moved, away from the wall from one convolution of the twist to another to place the rod under compression between said The improved clothes drying bar for shower curtain suspending means and wall whereby said bumper is maintained in position against downward slippage on the wall.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,293,953 Shoemaker Feb. 11, 1919 1,575,963 Bispham Mar. 9, 1926 1,924,096 Adams Aug. 29, 1933 1,966,283 Brody July 10, 1934 2,513,619 Bennett July 4, 1950 2,522,174 Hermsmeyer Sept. 12, 1950 2,639,816 Fogg May 26, 1953

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