[0001] The present invention relates to folding type clothes horses and in particular to
the pieces fitted to a pair of supporting legs so as to secure the position of the
clothes horse during use.
[0002] The invention is especially applied to clothes horses, with or without extensions,
which have two pairs of crossed and hinged legs, where one pair of legs is hinged
and is therefore constrained on the upper part at an end of a hanging grid, whereas
the second pair or legs is designed to be engaged at the top and to support the other
end of said grid when the legs are spread and to disengage itself when closing the
clothes horse.
[0003] In accordance with a known embodiment, at the top of each leg which is designed to
engage with the hanging grid, there is a bush with a clevised head which forms a U-shaped
slot to hold a crosspiece of the hanging grid frame. The slot is opened in an oblique
direction with respect to the bush centre line and therefore to the leg to which it
is fitted. This does not prevent possibilities of an accidental release of the hanging
grid in case of knocks on the legs of the clothes horse or against the hanging grid
itself.
[0004] The present invention aims to get round this inconvenience by fitting a cap, with
a U-shaped slot aligned on the bush centre line and therefore on the legs, to each
leg designed to be separately engaged with the grid. This setup avoids accidental
releases of the grid from said legs once they have been engaged.
[0005] In accordance with the present invention the clothes horse substantially conforms
to claim 1, and it will be described in more detail with references being made to
the attached drawing in which:
Figure 1 is an open positioned clothes horses;
Figure 2 is a detailed view of a portion of a leg with respect to the hanging grid;
and
Figure 3 is a section view of leg and grid coupling through the use of a cap.
[0006] The clothes horse comprises: a frame (10) made up of two pairs of legs (11, 12);
a main hanging grid (13); and two extension grids (14). Each pair of legs (11, 12)
is connected by a cross piece (11′, 12′) which rests on the ground. The two pairs
of legs are crossed and hinged (15) to each other. The first pair (11) is hinged (16)
at the top sides of the main hanging grid (13), towards one of its end. One of the
extention grids is also hinged to the pivot (16) whilst the other is hinged (17) to
the main grid towards the opposite end.
[0007] The second pair of legs (12) is not fixed at the top, both legs having a cap (18)
with a clevised head (19) which forms a U-shaped slot (20) with an opening aligned
with the centre line of the bush itself. There are two projecting parts (21) on the
opposite sides of the slot (20) which reduce the size of the opening.
[0008] In practice, clevised heads (19) are engaged to the cross piece (13′) at the end
of the grid (13) opposite to the one which is hinged to the first pair of legs (11)
when the clothes horse is in an open position (fig. 1).
[0009] In fact, as shown in detail in fig. 3 of the drawing, the cross piece (13′) can be
snapped into the slots (20) of the clevised heads, but still remaining movable so
as to allow for the folding of the clothes horse after its use and also for its repositioning.
1. A folding clothes horse comprising two pairs of legs (11, 12) which are crossed and
hinged to each other, and wherein a first pair of legs (11) is hinged and therefore
constrained at the top to an end of a hanging grid (13) which may have extensions,
whereas the second pair of legs (12) is designed to be engaged at the top and to support
the other end of said grid (13) when the legs are spread and be released for the closing
of the clothes horse, characterized in that a cap (18) with a clevised head (19) is
fitted at the top of the second pair of legs (12) which forms a U-shaped slot (20)
designed to support and separately engage a cross piece (13′) of said grid on the
opposite end to the one hinged to the first pair of legs (11), the opening of said
U-shaped slot (20) being aligned on the centre line of the cap (18) on the legs to
which this is fitted.
2. A clothes horse according to claim 1, characterized in that there are projecting parts
(21) on the opposite sides of the U-shaped slot (20) designed to hold the cross piece
(13′) in the slot itself.
