US716961A - Clothes-pin. - Google Patents

Description

No. 716,961. Patented Dec. 30, i902. J. w. TlLLMAN. V i

GLDTHES PIN.

(Application filed May 23, 1902.)

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN lV. TILLMAN, OF GIBSON, TENNESSEE, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO O. M. FLY, OF GIBSON, TENNESSEE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 716,961, dated December 30, 1902.

Application tiled May 23,1902., Serial No. 108,687. (No model.)

To /LZ whom it may concern,.-

Be it known that I, JOHN W. TILLMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Gibson, in the county of Gibson and State of Tennessee, have invented a new and useful Clothes-Pin, of which the following is a speciication.

This invention relates to clothes-pins, and has for its object to provide an improved wire clothes-pin which is arranged for convenient application to any ordinary clothesline and adapted to remain permanently upon the line and capable of adjustment. thereon to any desired position.

It is furthermore designed to form the pin from asingle length of wire, so as to produce a strong, durable, and inexpensive article which is complete in itself and has all of its parts connected and spaced so as to be maintained in their proper relations forconvenient manipulation to fasten and-release the articles from the line.

Vith these and other objects in view the present invention consists in the combination and arrangement of parts, as will be hereinafter more fully described, shown in the accompanying drawings, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims, it being understood that changes in the form, proportion,

size, and minor details may be made within.

the scope of the claims withou t departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention. l

In the drawings, Figure l is a perspective view ofa clothes-pin constructed and arranged in accordance with the present invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof. Fig. 3 is a side elevation. Fig. 4 is an end elevation, and Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing the pin in operative position upon a clothes-line.

Like characters of reference designate corresponding parts in all of the figures of the drawings.

The present form of clothes-pin is made from a single length of heavy galvanized springwire,which is twisted at its middle into springcoils l, preferably three in number, the opposite end portions of the wire being` projected in opposite directions from the opposite upstanding edges of the coil, so as to form substantially parallel arms 2, which are provided at their outer ends with clamps for engagement with the clothes-line to fasten the articles thereto. is bent transversely inward and across the spring-coils, as at 3, thence bent upwardly and downwardly across the inner side of the arm to form an upstanding loop 4, after which the wire is bent alternately upwardly and downwardly to form two pendent loops 5 and 6, with an intermediate upstanding loop 7, the terminal of the wire being bent into a small loop or eye S, so as to avoid a sharp projection. It will be understood that the transverse loops 5, 6, and 7 are disposed substantially in the same plane which extends transversely of the longitudinal axis of the pin, and the pendent loops 5 and 6 form the spring-jaws or members of a springclamp, while the part 3 forms a brace to lprevent undue separation or spreading of the springclamp members, and thereby maintains the desired resiliencyin these members. This brace is a very importantfeature of the present invention, as otherwise the spring members 5 and G would become very much weakened by the successive engagements and disengagements of the clamp with a line, and after a comparatively short time the pin would become absolutely useless.

When the pin is on a clothes-line, which has been indicated at 9 in Fig. 5 of the drawings, it will be seen that the line passes between the spring members 5 and 6 of the opposite clamps and also through the coil l at the center of the pin, the latter having been fitted to the line over one end thereof prior to the fastening of said end of the line.

In operating the device an article l0 is folded over the line, and then the adjacent clamp is applied, so that the spring members 5 and 6 straddle the article and the line, after which the clamp is forced downwardly until stopped by the combined brace and stop 3 engaging the top of the line, whereby the article will be firmly clamped upon the line. It will of course be understood that the adjacent article is fastened in the same manner by the other clamp, and when two articles are thus fastened by a single pin the latter is fastened rigidly upon the line and is held against endwise movement thereon, whereby it is impos- The outer end portion of each arm`y ICO sible for the articles suspended upon the line to slip down to the loWermost sagged portion thereof7 and neither can the wind slide the articles upon lthe clothes-line.

Although the pin has been shown with the members 5 and 6 straddling the clothes-line, it Will of course be understood that the pin may be inverted with either of the members 7 and 4 or 7 and 8 straddling the line in precisely the same manner as hereinloefore described for the members 5 and 6, Wherefore it is not necessary to have the pin assume only one position for engagement With the line. In either application of the pin the wire portion 3 forms a brace to prevent undue separation of the clamp members and to return the same to their normal positions when the pin is removed from the line and, furthermore, forms stops for engagement with the line to limit the lateral movement of the clamps when fitting the same to a line and also to stop the clamps at the most effective binding-points thereof.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that the present device comprises a central loop made up of spring-coils, preferably three in number, so as to prevent accidental displacement of the pin from the line, and. opposite terminal clamps, Whichare disposed transversely with respect to the longitudinal axis of the pin and made up of spring members or jaWs which are adapted to straddle a line and arms connecting the clamps to the central loop, whereby all of the parts of the pin are connected and maintained in their proper relations, so as to facilitate the application and removal of the pin and to insure the proper gripping of the line.

What I claim is- 1. A clothes-pin, comprising a central loop having arms projected in opposite directions therefrom, the outer end of each arm being directed transversely across the adjacent end of the loop and then bent into spring-loops which lie in substantially the same V plane across the arm and form the members of a spring-clamp, the arm extending across an intermediate portion of the clamp and forming a combined brace and stop.

2. Aclothes-pin,formed fromasinglelength of wire which is bentintermediate of its ends into a loop made up of a plurality of coils, the end portions of the wire being projected in opposite directions from the loop and at substantially right angles to the plane thereof to form arms, the outer end of each arm being bent transversely across the adjacent end ofthe loop and then bent into elongated spring loops lying in substantially the same plane across the inner side of the arm, with the freel end of the Wire bent into a comparatively small loop or eye.

3. A clothesepimformed from a single length of wire which is bent intermediate of its ends into a loop made up of a plurality of coils, the end portions of the wire being projected in opposite directions from the loop to form horizontal arms, the outer end of each arm being bent transversely across the adjacent end of the loop, and then bent into elongated spring-loops lying in substantially the same plane across the inner side of the arm, said loops forming the spring jaws or members of a spring-cla mp, which may be engaged with the line at either the top or bottom.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

JOHN W. TILLMAN.

Witnesses:

JOHN H. SIGGnRs, FLORENCE E. WALTER.

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