US656632A - Carpet-stretcher. - Google Patents

Description

10.555632. Patented Aug. 23, I900.

E. W. DUULITTLE.

CARPET STRETCHER.

(Application filed Oct. 30, 1899.)

(N0 lo del.)

IIIIIIIPA M l I ,9

co. Movoqm'wnv WASNINGTON, n. c.

NITED STATES PATENT ,FFICEG EDMUND W. DOOLI-TTLE, OF DES MOINES, IOWVA.

CARPET-STRETCHER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 656,632, dated August 28, 1900.

A li ti fil d October 30, 1899. Serial No. 735,228. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDMUND W. DOOLITTLE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Des Moines, in the county of Polk and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Carpet-Stretchers, of which the following is a specification.

One object of this invention is to provide a device of this class which shall be of simple, strong, durable, and inexpensive construction and which may be easily and quickly operated by unskilled persons to stretch a carpet against the side wall of the room with as great or as little tension as may be desired, and, further, to ,provide a device of this class that may be readily and easily fasten ed to the floor, a firm hold of the carpet quickly and easilyobtained, and then the carpet stretched, so that, it engages the side wall and there be firmly held until tacked or otherwise secured thereto.

A further object is to provide a machine of this class in which the rod for securing the device to the floor is prevented from moving to a position any great distance beyond a line parallel with the frame of the machine, so that when the frame is raised to be carried the said rod will be raised with it.

My invention consists in the construction, arrangement, and combination of the various parts of the device, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claim, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 shows the complete device in perspective, with the rod and the main frame separated to their limit of movement. Fig. 2 shows a longitudinal sectional view of the device lying fiat upon the floor.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, the frame of the device is composed of a straight fiat wooden strip 10, having on its under surface a central longitudinal groove 11. At one end of this strip 10 I have connected two parallel wooden strips 12 and 13 by means of hinges 14, so arranged that the said strips 12 and 13 may bend downwardly with relation to the strip 10. These strips 12 and 13 are separated a slight distance, so that a rod (hereinafter described) may pass between them. At the juncture of these strips 10, 12, and 13 I have provided a flexible protector 15, preferably made of leather and secured on top of the strips to cover the opening between the strips. This protector is provided for the purpose of preventing the operators hand from being pinched between the edges of said strip when he flattens out the strips by pressing downwardly thereupon.

At the free ends of the strips 12 and 13 I have fixed a toothed carpet-engaging frame 16, which is preferably cast or stamped complete in one piece and which has an arch 16 to pass over the tops of the strips 12 and 13 and a straight front edge provided with a series of downwardly and forwardly projecting teeth 17. An opening is provided at the central portion of this frame, so that the opening between the strips 12 and 13 is unobstructed at this point. provided forsecuring this frame to the forward ends of the strips 12 and 13, and rivets or bolts 19 are provided for securing the arch 16 to the tops of said strips. A rod 20 is provided of a length somewhat greater than the combined lengths of the strips 10 and 12, and on one end thereof is an eye through which the pin 21 passes transversely through the free end of the strip 10 to thereby hinge the rod to said strip. A-shoulder 22 projects upwardly from this end and is so arranged as to engage with a part of the strip 10 when the said strip and rod are separated at an angle of about thirty degrees, thereby preventing a further movement of these parts. On the other end of this rod 20 I have provided a downwardly-projecting sharpened point 23, designed to be driven into the floor, and immediately above the said point a shoulder 24 to limit the movement of the said point into the floor, so that the body of the rod is always held a slight distance above the floor to thereby per-' mit the carpet to slide under the rod freely. On top of the said end is a projection 25, designed to receive the blows of a hammer for driving the point into the floor.

In practical operation the carpet is first secured at one side of the room, and then the operator goes to the opposite sideand drives the point 23 into the floor as near the wall as may be possible. Then the rod is placed in position at right angles to the wall and the hinged joints of the wooden strip elevated and the toothed frame placed in engagement Rivets or bolts 18 are with the carpet to be stretched. Then the operator forces the strips out fiat by pressing downwardly thereupon, which will obviously bring the toothed frame, together with the carpet engaged thereby, toward the wall of the room, thereby stretching the carpet. The edge of the carpet may obviously be forced forwardly until it engages the shoulder 24, and, further, the carpet will be there held until the operator secures it to the floor.

One of the peculiar advantages of my machine is the perfect freedom with which the toothed carpet-en gagin g frame may be moved up and down into engagement with the carpet, so that a hold may be quickly obtained on the carpet at any point, and in use should the operator find that upon pressing the strips downwardly the carpet will be moved either too far or too little he may readily obtain a new hold before stretching. Another important advantage in the operation of my machine is found in the ease with which an operator may move the machine and attach it to the floor at a different point. rod 20 may be easily and quickly disengaged from the floor by moving its pivoted end laterally, which may be obviously done Without actually grasping the rod, but simply by moving the strips. Then the entire device may be elevated by the operator grasping First the these strips and raising them, the projection 22 providing means whereby the rod will be raised together with the strips. The machine is thus carried to a new position and the point driven into the floor by a blow from the hammer. I

Having thus described the carpet-stretcher, what I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States therefor, is

An improved carpet-stretcher, comprising in combination, a strip 10, having a groove 11 therein, two parallel strips 12 and 13 hinged to the end of the strip 10, opposite from said groove, with a slight space between them, a carpet-en gaging frame fixed to the remaining ends of said strips 12 and 13, said frame comprising the arch 16 and the teeth 17, and a rod in the groove 11 at the free end of the strip 10 and projecting through the carpetengaging frame between the arch and teeth thereof, of a length greater in the combined lengths of the strips 10 and the parallel strips 12 and 13, and a point 23 on the free end of said rod, substantially as and for the purposes stated.

EDMUND W. DOOLITTLE.

Witnesses:

R. G. ORVVIG, THOMAS G. ()RWIG.

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