Patent Application
20050145590
The invention relates to an umbrella-type clothes drier, in which a spreading frame, which can be unfolded and folded together again and carries the clothes line, is arranged preferably adjustably on a central upright tube. A protective cover is provided, which can be pulled out of the upright tube over the folded-together spreading frame and the clothes line and can be pulled back into the upright tube again at its inner end portion, which remains in the upright tube.
Such a clothes drier is known, by way of example, from my earlier European patent EP 214 123 B and my U.S. Pat. No. 4,732,285. When the spreading frame is in its unfolded state with the clothes line extended, the protective cover is pulled back into the upright tube. If the clothes drier is not to be used for a relatively long time, its spreading frame is folded together and the protective cover is pulled over the folded-together spreading frame and clothes line from above and fastened with its outer end portion to the upright tube below the lower sliding sleeve of the spreading frame, which has been moved downward along the tube. When the clothes drier is open, dirt or rainwater can find its way into the interior of the protective cover pulled back into the upright tube at the upper side thereof. The rainwater can run downward in the upright tube along the protective cover and come out of the tube at its lower end. The clothes drier is in most cases erected in the open air and anchored in the ground with its upright tube, so that the rainwater can seep away in the ground. When the protective cover has been pulled over the folded-together spreading frame and fastened to the upright tube below the spreading frame, the weight connected to the inner end portion of the protective cover, which pulls the freed protective cover downward back into the upright tube, is located in its uppermost position close to the upper end of the upright tube and prevents large quantities of rainwater entering the upright tube.
In the case of the prior clothes drier, it has to be ensured at the erection site, as far as the ground sleeve necessary for anchoring its upright tube in the ground is concerned, that rainwater entering the upright tube can seep away in the ground in the region of the ground sleeve.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide an umbrella-type laundry drying apparatus or clothes dryer, which overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages of the heretofore-known devices and methods of this general type.
With the foregoing and other objects in view there is provided, in accordance with the invention, an umbrella-type laundry-drying apparatus, comprising:
a central upright tube formed with an inner space and an upper end;
a spreading frame movably mounted on said upright tube for spreading outwardly from said upright tube into a spread-out position and folding back toward said upright tube into a folded position;
a protective cover disposed to be pulled out of said inner space in said upright tube and over said spreading frame in said folded position and to be pulled back into said inner space of said upright tube; and
a covering mounted to said protective cover on an outer end portion thereof, said covering overlapping said upper end of said upright tube when said protective cover has been pulled back into said inner space of said upright tube.
According to the invention, this is achieved by virtue of the fact that the protective cover bears on its outer end portion a covering which overlaps the upper side of the upright tube when the protective cover has been pulled back into the upright tube.
By means of the covering, which is movable together with the protective cover and positions itself over the upper end of the upright tube when the protective cover has been pulled back into the upright tube, dirt and rainwater are prevented, when the clothes drier is open, from finding their way into the interior of the upright tube or the protective cover pulled back into it and subsequently, when the protective cover is pulled over the folded-together spreading frame, from being able to run down on the outside of the protective cover surrounding the folded-together clothes drier. A further advantage of this design consists in that, at the erection site of the clothes drier, no constructional precautions for the seeping away of the rainwater in the ground have to be taken as far as the ground sleeve necessary for anchoring its upright tube is concerned in terms of manufacture or introduction into the ground.
According to the invention, a covering flap connected to the outer end portion of the protective cover can be provided as a covering.
The covering flap is attached laterally to the outer end portion of the protective cover on the outside of the protective cover. It projects upwardly there and, at the upper end of the upright tube, where the protective cover is deflected through 180° into the interior of the upright tube, is pushed over the upper end of the upright tube by the protective cover which has been pulled into the upright tube below it. When the protective cover has been pulled back into the upright tube completely, the covering flap overlaps the upper end of the upright tube and covers its opening upwardly.
The covering which is movable together with the protective cover can also consist of two flaps which are attached laterally in opposite locations of the outer end portion of the protective cover and are, at the upper end of the upright tube, pushed over the upper end of the upright tube from opposite sides by the protective cover which has been pulled into the upright tube below them. In this connection, the two flaps can abut against one another with their end edges and in this way terminate the pulling of the protective cover into the upright tube. The two flaps can have stops assigned to one another, with which they meet one another while they are pushed over the upper end of the upright tube from opposite sides by the protective cover which has been pulled into the upright tube below them. The meeting of the stops of the two flaps terminates the pulling of the protective cover into the upright tube, while the end-side end portions of the two flaps overlap.
According to a further feature of the invention, an at least two-part covering can be connected to the outer end portion of the protective cover, the covering parts of which are arranged distributed around the outer end portion of the protective cover and, when the protective cover has been pulled back into the upright tube, together cover the upper opening of the upright tube.
Material pockets, in which rigid, leaf-shaped covering parts projecting from the material pockets are received, which are pushed forward laterally over the upper opening of the upright tube by the protective cover which has been pulled back into the upright tube and cover it completely when the protective cover has been pulled back into the upright tube completely, can be attached to the outer end portion of the protective cover.
According to the invention, the covering parts which together cover the upper side of the upright tube when the protective cover has been pulled back into the upright tube can overlap one another at least partly. This design allows greater tolerances during both the manufacture of these covering parts and their fastening to the protective cover.
Other features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in the appended claims.
Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in an umbrella-type clothes drier comprising a protective cover, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.
The construction and method of operation of the invention, however, together with additional objects and advantages thereof will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.
Referring now to the figures of the drawing in detail and first, particularly, to
Accommodated in the upright tube 1 is a tubular protective cover 7 which extends upward in the upright tube 1 from a weight 8 to the upper end of the upright tube 1, where it passes a trumpet-shaped deflection sleeve 9, which projects outward over the folded-together spreading frame 4 and turns the protective cover 7 with its inner side out, while it is pulled downward on the outside of the folded-together spreading frame 4 over the clothes line hanging down in short loops from the support arms 5 and is finally fastened to the upright tube 1 below the lower sleeve 6 of the spreading frame 4. The protective cover 7 bears on its outer end portion 7a, which overlaps the lower sleeve 6 of the spreading frame 4 downwardly from above, a lateral covering flap 10, which projects upwardly from the end portion and overlaps the upper side of the upright tube 1 (
If the protective cover 7 pulled over the folded-together spreading frame 4 is unfastened from the upright tube 1 below the spreading frame 4 and thus freed, the weight 8 falling downward in the upright tube 1 pulls the protective cover 7 upwardly off the folded-together spreading frame 4, and the protective cover 7 is at the upper end of the upright tube 1 deflected by 180° into the interior of the upright tube 1 by the trumpet-shaped deflection sleeve 9. The covering flap 10 attached to the outer end portion 7a of the protective cover 7 is pushed over the upper end of the upright tube 1 above the trumpet-shaped deflection sleeve 9 by the protective cover 7 which has been pulled into the upright tube 1 below it and covers the trumpet-shaped deflection sleeve 9 and the upright tube 1 upwardly when the protective cover 7 has been pulled back into the upright tube 1 completely.
Additional information concerning the background and concepts of the umbrella-type clothes dryer are found in my copending application Ser. No. 10/920,888 filed Aug. 18, 2004, which is herewith incorporated in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| A 1264/2002 | Aug 2002 | AT | national |
This is a continuing application, under 35 U.S.C. § 120, of copending international application No. PCT/EP2003/008991, filed Aug. 13, 2003, which designated the United States; this application also claims the priority, under 35 U.S.C. § 119, of Austrian patent application No. A 1264/2002, filed Aug. 23, 2002; the prior applications are herewith incorporated by reference in their entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | PCT/EP03/08991 | Aug 2003 | US |
| Child | 11061594 | Feb 2005 | US |
