TOWEL RACK

A towel rack has two mounting base each having multiple sockets, multiple extension rods, multiple extension tubes and multiple optional connectors. The multiple extension rods are engaged the sockets to secure between the two bases. Each base has an upper and lower arms radially extending from the base and the upper arm especially has a raised distal end engaged one extension rod to keep objects stacked on the towel rack from falling. Moreover, the multiple extension tubes are attached between the two bases by the connectors mounted on the upper arms of the bases. Therefore, the towel rack has an excellent facility in use and is easy to be assembled.

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Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a towel rack, and more particularly to a towel rack that has a low manufacturing cost and a stable structure to facilitate the towel rack in use.

2. Description of Related Art

A common problem in bathrooms is difficult to find adequate space for hanging towels or resting clothes. To overcome this problem, a conventional towel rack as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 is provided to suspend the towels and support clothes. The conventional towel rack substantially comprises multiple transversal rods 70, two straight tubes 80 with two shafts 90, two mounting elements 110 and two positioning elements 100. The two mounting elements 110 are mounted on a wall and the two straight tubes 80 are respectively and erectly attached to the mounting elements 110 in parallel. Each transversal rod 70 has two ends and two through holes 71 respectively defined at the two ends thereon. Each straight tube 80 has multiple inserting holes 81 defined in an inner edge to correspondingly align to ones on the other straight tube 80. When the conventional towel rack is assembled, the transversal rods 70 is attached between the two straight tubes 80 by engaging the two ends respectively with the inserting holes 81 of the straight tubes 80, wherein the through hole 71 of the transversal rod 70 is located inside the straight tubes 80. After combining all transversal rods 70 between the two straight tubes 80, each shaft 90 penetrates the corresponding mounting elements 110, the corresponding straight tube 80 and the corresponding through holes 71 on the transversal rods 70 so that all transversal rods 70 are secured on the straight tube 80. Moreover, the two positioning elements 100 are respectively attached to two distal ends of the two straight tubes 80 and engaged two threaded ends 91 on the shafts 90, wherein each positioning element 100 has a through hole 101 for engaging one end of a corresponding transversal rod 70.

However, the conventional towel rack has the following drawbacks:

1. Combination of the conventional towel rack is inconvenient because each shaft 90 has to penetrate all through holes 71 on the transversal rods 70 for combination. However, the through holes 71 are located within the straight tube 80 and can not been seen when trying to make the shaft penetrate all transversal rods 70 so that combination difficulty is thus increased.

2. The conventional towel rack has inconvenience in use because the straight tubes 80 and the transversal rods 70 have no barriers at distal ends thereof to stop the slides and goods stacked thereon might slide and fall from the conventional towel rack.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A main objective of the present invention is to provide a towel rack that is easy to be assembled and has a stable structure.

Another main objective of the present invention is to provide a towel rack that has a barrier device to avoid stacked objects falling from the towel rack.

To achieve the foregoing objective, the towel rack comprises:

two mounting bases with two upper arms, each mounting base having

one of the two upper arms erecting from the mounting base and having a top face and a raised distal end;

multiple sockets formed on the upper arm, wherein one of the multiple sockets is formed at the raised distal end of the upper arm; and

multiple recesses defined on a top face of the upper arm;

multiple extension rods attached between the upper arms on the two mounting bases and having two ends respectively engaged paired two of the multiple sockets on the two mounting bases; and

multiple extension tubes each having two ends respectively and correspondingly secured in paired two of the multiple recesses on the two upper arms of the two mounting bases.

By having the raised distal ends on the upper arms, the towel rack can keep the objects on the towel rack from falling. Moreover, all elements can be combined easily by wedging or attaching screws so that combination of the towel is quick and conveniently.

Further benefits and advantages of the present invention will become apparent after a careful reading of the detailed description with appropriate reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a towel rack in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 1A is an enlarged perspective view of a middle portion of on upper arm of the towel rack;

FIG. 1B is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a connector;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the towel rack in FIG. 1, wherein the towel rack is assembled;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional side view of one side of the towel rack in FIG. 3;

FIG. 3A is an enlarged cross-sectional side view of a joint between the upper arm and an extension tube;

FIG. 4 is an operational perspective view of the towel rack;

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional towel rack in accordance with the prior art; and

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional top view of the conventional towel rack in FIG. 5.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

A towel rack in accordance with the present invention comprises two mounting base each having multiple sockets, multiple extension rods, multiple extension tubes and multiple optional connectors. The multiple extension rods are engaged the sockets to secure between the two bases. Each base has an upper and lower arms radially extending from the base especially the upper arm has a raised distal end to keep objects on the towel rack from falling. Moreover, the multiple extension tubes are attached between the two bases by the connectors mounted on the upper arms of the bases. Therefore, the towel rack has an excellent facility in use and is easy to be assembled.

With reference to FIGS. 1, 1A and 2, a preferred embodiment of the towel rack in accordance with the present invention comprises a two mounting base 10, multiple extension rods 20, multiple extension tubes 30 and multiple connectors 40.

Each mounting base 10 has a foundation board 111 with two positioning holes, an upper arm 12 and a lower arm 13. The upper arm 12 and the lower arm 13 extend from the foundation board 111 and preferably perform a V-shape. The lower arm 13 has a distal end and a socket 131 formed at the distal end and having an opening facing inward. The upper arm 12 has an inner end, a distal end and two sockets 121 respectively formed at the inner end and the distal end of the upper arm 12 and having openings facing inward. Particularly, the distal end of the upper arm 12 is slightly higher than other portions of the upper arm 12. Moreover, the upper arm 12 has three semicircular recesses 122 defined at an inner top edge of the upper arm 12. Each semicircular recess 122 has a bottom face and a threaded hole 1221 defined in the bottom face.

Each extension rod 20 is elongated cylindrical and has two wedging ends respectively engaged with aligned two of the sockets 121, 131 on the upper arm 12 or the lower arm 13. Preferably, the extension rods 20 are tubes to reduce total weight of the towel rack.

Each extension tube 30 is polygonal in radial cross-section and preferably rectangular as shown in the drawings. When one extension tube 30 (named as a barrier extension tube) is attached to distal ends on the two upper arms 12, the extension tube 30 is higher than another one at the inner ends of the two upper arms 12 so that the barrier extension tube provides a retaining efficiency to objects stacked on the towel rack.

With particular reference to FIG. 1B, each connector 40 has an inverted L-shaped locking piece 41 and a head 42 preferably being rectangular and integral to one side of the inverted L-shaped locking piece 41. Moreover, a sunken hole 411 is defined in the inverted L-shaped locking piece 41.

With further reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, the mounting bases 10 are attached to the wall by nailing via the positioning holes 111 on the foundation board 11. The three extension rods 20 are respectively engaged the sockets 121, 131 in pair on the upper and lower arms 12, 13 to serve as main support. The connectors 40 are individually attached to the extension tubes 30 by respectively wedging the heads 42 into the extension tubes 30. After combining each extension tube 30 with two corresponding connectors 40, the L-shaped locking pieces 41 on the connectors 40 are respectively rested in two corresponding semicircular recesses 122 on the two upper arms 12 so that the extension tube 30 is even with the upper arm 12. Then, the L-shaped locking pieces 41 are secured on the upper arm 12 by respectively penetrating the sunken holes 411 with counter sunk screws 50 that are engaged to the threaded holes 1221 on the upper arms 12. Thereby, the towel rack is constructed and ready to use, wherein a towel 60 adapts to hang on the lower extension rod 20 and clothes or other objects (not shown) adapts to rest on the extension tubes 30.

According to above description, the towel rack in the present invention has the following advantages:

1. The extension tubes 30 can be easily attached to mounting bases 10 by using the connectors 40 because the penetration of the counter sunk screws are visible so that combination of the towel rack is easy and convenient to reduce setup time for users.

2. All elements on the towel rack are combined by means of wedging or screwing so that structure of the towel rack is firm and stable.

3. The distal ends of the upper arms 12 on the towel rack are raised to make the extension rod 20 thereon serve as a barrier so that objects stacked on the towel rack are kept from falling.

Although this invention has been described in its preferred form with a certain degree of particularity, it is understood that the present invention of the preferred form has been made only by way of example and that numerous changes in the details of construction and the combination and arrangement of parts any be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A towel rack comprising:

two mounting bases with two upper arms, each mounting base having one of the two upper arms erecting from the mounting base and having a top face and a raised distal end;
multiple sockets formed on the upper arm, wherein one of the multiple sockets is formed at the raised distal end of the upper arm; and
multiple recesses defined on a top face of the upper arm;
multiple extension rods attached between the upper arms on the two mounting bases and having two ends respectively engaged paired two of the multiple sockets on the two mounting bases; and
multiple extension tubes each having two ends respectively and correspondingly secured in paired two of the multiple recesses on the two upper arms of the two mounting bases.

2. The towel rack as claimed in claim 1, wherein each mounting base further comprises a lower arm extending from the mounting base and having a distal end and a socket formed at the distal end of the lower arm;

the towel rack further comprises an extension rod connected between paired two sockets at the distal ends of the lower arms on the two mounting bases.

3. The towel rack as claimed in claim 1, wherein each recess has a bottom face and a threaded hole defined on the bottom face.

4. The towel rack as claimed in claim 1, wherein each recess is semicircular.

5. The towel rack as claimed in claim 1, wherein each extension tube has two ends and two connectors respectively attached to the two ends of the extension tube;

each connector has an inverted L-shaped locking portion with a sunken hole, a head wedging to the extension tube, and a counter sunk screw corresponding to the sunken hole on the connector to engage to the upper arm.

6. The towel rack as claimed in claim 1, wherein each extension tube has a rectangular radial cross-section.

Patent History
Publication number: 20070175842
Type: Application
Filed: Jan 30, 2006
Publication Date: Aug 2, 2007
Inventor: Ming-Dang Shieh (Changhua)
Application Number: 11/307,267
Classifications
Current U.S. Class: 211/88.040
International Classification: A47F 5/08 (20060101);