Rotating Clothes Drying Rack

Abstract

A rotating clothes drying rack that has a body with two opposed arms. The two opposed arms support a drying support. In the illustrated embodiment, the drying support is a plurality of rods that extend between the two opposed arms. A mounting frame is provided for securing body to desired surface. Body is pivotally mounted to the mounting frame for rotational movement around a horizontal axis between a storage position parallel to the mounting frame and a drying position at an angle relative to the mounting frame. Locking members are provided for locking the body in the stored position. Rotational stops are provided for maintaining the body in drying position. Height adjusting members are provided for selectively positioning between the at least one arm and the at least one rotational stop to adjust the angle of the body in the drying position.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of Canadian Pat. Appl. No. 2,684,706 filed on Nov. 13, 2009, the contents of which are incorporated herein fully by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to clothes drying racks and more particularly to those of the rotating or foldable type adapted to be mounted to a vertical wall or suspended from an overhead structure such as a ceiling. The term “clothes drying rack” is understood not to be limited to an arrangement only for use with clothes but is intended to cover its use with other articles such as towels, sheets or any articles, which can be hung or secured to it.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Clothes drying racks have long been known and widely used. Historically such drying racks have largely consisted of umbrella or rotary style racks (Steiner, CA 1331836), collapsible drying racks standing on a horizontal surface (Efrom, CA 1241302), retractable ceiling mounted drying racks utilizing a pulley system (Harris, CA 287614), indoor drying racks installed above bathtubs (Dubuc, CA 1268735), drying racks installed on vertical walls (Barker, CA 553224 and Leighton, CA 2625010) and drying racks installed on vertical walls specifically designed for balconies (Cote, CA 2194800).

The patents mentioned above generally attempt to provide an invention which is aesthetically pleasing, will efficiently dry clothes, and will retract or fold so as to be easily stored and out of the way when not in use. Although these drying racks have achieved considerable popularity and commercial success no patents were found relating to clothes drying racks mounted to a vertical wall or suspended from an overhead structure such as a ceiling or soffit which rotate or fold from a storage position to a lower drying position in use.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

There is provided a rotating clothes drying rack that includes a body having opposed arms. The opposed arms support a drying support. A mounting frame is provided for mounting the body to a surface such as a wall or a ceiling. The body is pivotally secured to the mounting frame for rotational movement around a horizontal axis between a vertical stored position and a drying position at an angle relative to the mounting frame. At least one rotational stop is provided for maintaining the body in the drying position.

The rotating clothes drying rack described above provides an aesthetic wall or ceiling mounted apparatus which rotates from a vertical storage position to a lower in use position. This enables the drying rack to be stored in a space saving manner when not in use and to be towered to a position more convenient for hanging articles when in use.

Another aspect involves providing locking members for locking the body in the stored position and rotational stops for maintaining the body in the drying position.

According to another aspect of the rotating clothes drying rack, height adjusting members are provided for selectively positioning between the arms and the rotational stops to change the angle of the body in the drying position. In the illustrated embodiment, the angle the drying rack lies at is determined by stopping pegs and may be modified using height adjusting shim blocks which increase the horizontal distance between hanging articles thereby causing them to more quickly dry.

According to another aspect of the rotating clothes drying rack, the drying support as illustrated and described uses drying rods, but could be configured using lines, cables, or a mesh screen, among other things.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features will become more apparent from the following description in which reference is made to the appended drawings, the drawings are for the purpose of illustration only and are not intended to be in any way limiting, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation view, in section of the drying rack in the vertical storage position.

FIG. 2 is a side elevation view the drying rack in the vertical storage position.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the drying rack in the drying position.

FIG. 4 is a side elevation view, in section, of the drying rack in the drying position.

FIG. 5 is a side elevation view, in section, of the drying rack in one of the drying positions.

FIG. 6 is a front elevation view of a height adjusting block.

FIG. 7 is a side elevation view of the height adjusting block illustrated in FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a front elevation view, in section, of a variation of the drying rack that is mounted on a vertical surface.

FIG. 9 is a side elevation view of the drying rack illustrated in FIG. 8 in the vertical storage position.

FIG. 10 is a front elevation view of the drying rack illustrated in FIG. 8 in the drying position.

FIG. 11 is a side elevation view, in section, of the drying rack illustrated in FIG. 8 in the drying position.

FIG. 12 is a side elevation view in section, of the drying rack illustrated in FIG. 8, in the drying position.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A rotating clothes drying rack generally identified by reference numeral 10, will now be described with reference to FIGS. 1 through 12. FIGS. 1 through 7 illustrate clothes drying rack 10 mounted to an overhead structure, such as a ceiling. FIGS. 8 through 12 illustrate clothes drying rack 10 mounted to a vertical structure, such as a wall.

Structure and Relationship of Parts:

Referring to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a rotating clothes drying rack 10 which includes a body 12 with two opposed arms 14. A drying support 16 is supported by two opposed arms 14. In the illustrated embodiment, drying support 16 is a plurality of clothing supports, in the form of drying rods 18, that extend between two opposed arms 14. Referring to FIG. 1, a mounting frame 22 is provided for securing body 12 to a desired surface 24 as shown in FIG. 2. Referring to FIG. 3, body 12 is pivotally mounted to mounting frame 22 for rotational movement around a horizontal axis 26 between a storage position parallel to mounting frame 22 as shown in FIG. 1, and a drying position at an angle relative to mounting frame 22 as shown in FIG. 4. Referring to FIG. 3, horizontal axis 26 is defined by one of drying rods 18, which has been identified by additional reference numeral 20. Referring to FIG. 1, locking members, in the form of locking pegs 28 are provided for locking body 12 in the storage position.

Referring to FIG. 3, rotational stops, in the form of stopping pegs 30, are provided on mounting frame 22 for maintaining body 12 in the drying position. Referring to FIG. 5, height adjusting members, in the form of shim blocks 32, are provided for selectively positioning between opposed arms 14 and stopping pegs 30 to adjust the angle of body 12 in the drying position from an angle such as that shown in FIG. 4 to an angle such as that shown in FIG. 5. A mounting engagement 34 is provided for securing mounting frame 22 to an overlying horizontal surface 24.

Referring to FIG. 1, while the illustrated embodiment shows body 12 as having two opposed arms 14 and drying support 16 in the form of drying rods 18 that extend between two opposed arms 14, it will be appreciated that there could only be one arm 14 or more than two arms 14. Furthermore, drying support 16 can be of other configurations such as a mesh screen, or cable or lines extending between opposed arms 14.

Operation:

Referring to FIG. 2, clothes drying rack 10 can be permanently mounted on surface 24 such as a ceiling 36 as illustrated in FIG. 4, or on a surface 24 such as a vertical wall 38 as illustrated in FIG. 9 with the use of fastening devices 40 such as bolts or screws. When not in use, body 12 is pivoted around horizontal axis 26 to the storage position parallel to mounting frame 22. Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, locking pegs 28 are inserted through aligned receiving apertures 44 in frame 22 and aperture 42 in body 12 to lock body 12 in the storage position allowing clothes drying rack 10 to be stored in a space saving manner.

Referring to FIG. 4, when it becomes desirable to dry articles, removable locking pegs 28 are removed from apertures 42 and 44 releasing body 12 from the storage position and allowing body 12 to be manually pivoted around horizontal axis 26 to the drying position as illustrated. Stopping pegs 30 positioned in apertures 31 on mounting frame 22, illustrated in FIG. 3, maintain body 12 in the drying position. In the drying position, body 12 is ready to receive wet garments that can be placed on drying rods 18 of drying support 16.

Referring to FIG. 5, if desired, height adjusting shim blocks 32 can be inserted between arms 14 and stopping pegs 30 to reduce the angle body 12 rests at. Using the height adjusting shim blocks 32, increases the horizontal distance between articles, allowing air to circulate and causing them to dry faster. Referring to FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, in the illustrated embodiment, height adjusting shim blocks 32 are rectangular in shape with a concave inner surface 46 adapted to fit securely on rounded stopping pegs 30, however they could be of other configurations as well and still function. Stopping pegs 30 could be of other configurations as well with the configuration of height adjusting shim blocks 32 adapted accordingly.

It will be appreciated that clothes drying rack 10 is not only for use with clothes but is intended to cover use with other articles such as towels, sheets or any articles which can be placed on drying support 16.

FIG. 1 through FIG. 5 show rotating clothes drying rack body 12 including mounting brackets 34 which generally include rectangular base plates 48, adapted to be mounted to or suspended from a ceiling 36 using suitable fasteners such as screws or bolts 40, and inner 50 and outer 52 vertical mounting structures attached to the base plates 48 using appropriate means of attachment such as screws and adhesive. The inner 50 and outer 52 vertical mounting structures are in turn fastened to vertically oriented support members 54 which form part of mounting frame 22, by using, for example, dowels 56 as illustrated in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 and FIG. 5.

The drying rack body 12 comprises of a plurality of drying rods 18 with FIG. 1 and FIG. 3 showing two drying rods 18 attached to opposing side members 14 adapted for attachment, while the third drying rod 20 runs through each of the side members 14 and pivotally mounts to opposing vertically oriented support arms 14 adapted to receive it, thereby becoming a pivot point or pivot drying rod 20 on which the drying rack body 12 manually rotates.

As seen in FIG. 1, stopping pegs 30 are positioned in apertures 31 adapted to receive them on the support members 54 at a point below the pivot axis 26 of drying rod 18. The stopping pegs 30 horizontally extend in the same plane as the drying rods 18 so as to halt the downward movement of the opposed arms 14 and in turn the drying rack body 12 when rotated, and as such determine the angle the drying rack body 12 rests at in the lower in use drying position.

When the drying rack body 12 is in the vertical storage position as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, insertion of the removable locking pegs 28 through aligned apertures 42 in the support arms 14 and apertures 44 in the support member 54 locks the drying rack body 12 in a vertical position parallel with the support members 54. Generally the removable locking pegs 28 will consist of a rod intersected at one end by a smaller rod 58 thereby forming a “T” shaped object.

FIG. 5 shows the drying rack body 12 in the lower in use drying position and the height adjusting blocks 32 inserted between the pivot drying rod 18 and the stopping pegs 30, thereby reducing the downward angle the drying rack body 12 lies when in the lower in use drying position and increasing the horizontal distance between drying rods 18.

As shown in FIG. 5, FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, the height adjusting blocks 32 are typically rectangular in shape and have a concave portion removed in the middle to provide a concave inner surface 46 that coincides with the shape and size of the stopping pegs 30 so as to allow the height adjusting blocks 32 to sit flush on the stopping pegs 30.

Variations:

Referring to FIG. 8 through FIG. 12, there is illustrated a variation of the rotating clothes drying rack that can be mounted onto surface 24 such as a vertical wall 38. Clothes drying rack 10 is almost identical to that shown in FIG. 1 through FIG. 7 except that mounting frame 22 is adapted to be secured to surface 24 that is vertical. FIG. 8 to FIG. 12 are directed to a variation of the rotating clothes drying rack apparatus 10 of FIG. 1 to FIG. 5, illustrating modified wall mount support members 54 adapted to be mounted to a wall 38 other appropriate vertical structure, in this case using recessed mounting locations 60 and suitable fasteners such as screws or bolts 40. The wall mount configuration does not require mounting brackets 34 and apart from the preceding is in all respects materially the same as the ceiling mounted configuration shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 5.

In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be one and only one of the elements.

The following claims are to be understood to include what is specifically illustrated and described above, what is conceptually equivalent, and what can be obviously substituted. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various adaptations and modifications of the described embodiments can be configured without departing from the scope of the claims. The illustrated embodiments have been set forth only as examples and should not be taken as limiting the invention. It is to be understood that, within the scope of the following claims, the invention may be practiced other than as specifically illustrated and described.

Claims

1. A rotating clothes drying rack comprising:

a body having at least one arm;

a drying support supported by the at least one arm;

a mounting frame for mounting the body to a surface, the body being pivotally secured to the mounting frame for rotational movement around a horizontal axis between a stored position and a drying position at an angle relative to the mounting frame; and

at least one rotational stop for maintaining the body in the drying position.

2. The rotating clothes drying rack of claim 1, wherein the body is parallel to the mounting frame in the stored position and at least one locking member is provided for locking the body in the stored position.

3. The rotating clothes drying rack of claim 1, wherein at least one height adjusting member is provided for selectively positioning between the at least one arm and the at least one rotational stop to change the angle of the body in the drying position.

4. The rotating clothes drying rack of claim 1, wherein the drying support is a plurality of clothing supports supported by the at least one arm.

5. The rotating clothes drying rack of claim 1, wherein the body has arms and the drying support is a plurality of clothing supports extending between the arms.

6. The rotating clothes drying rack of claim 4, wherein the clothing supports are rods.

7. The rotating clothes drying rack of claim 6, wherein one of the rods pivotally secures the body to the mounting frame.

8. The rotating clothes drying rack of claim 1, wherein the body has arms, and the drying support is a plurality of rods extending between the arms.

9. The rotating clothes drying rack of claim 1 wherein a mounting engagement is provided for securing the mounting frame to one of a vertical surface or an overlying horizontal surface.

10. The rotating clothes drying rack of claim 1, wherein the at least one rotational stop is a stopping peg that is inserted into at least one aperture in the mounting frame, the stopping peg supporting the body in a selected rotational position.

11. The rotating clothes drying rack of claim 2, wherein the at least one locking member is a locking peg that is inserted into aligned apertures in the body and the mounting frame.

12. The rotating clothes drying rack of claim 3, wherein the at least one height adjusting member is a shim block.

13. The rotating clothes drying rack of claim 12, wherein at least one rotational stop is a stopping peg and the shim block has a concave portion that receives the stopping peg.