William Stephen Dimes

  General Notes:

' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM STEPHEN DIMES, OF XVOODGREEN, COUNTY OF lVIIDDLESEX, I ENGLAND.

RACK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 371,044, dated October 4,1887.

Application filed April 28, 1885. Serial No. 163,748. (No model.) Patented in England October 2, 1884, No.13,082, and in France February 21, 1885, No.167,202.

T aZZ whom it may concern;-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM STEPHEN DIMEs, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, and residing at 9 Buckingham Road, Woodgreen, in the county of Middlesex, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Plate-Racks, (for which I have applied for patents in GreatBritain on the 2d day of October, 1884, No. 13,082, and in France on the 21st day of February, 1885, No. 167,202,) of which the following is a specification.

My invention ofi improvements in plate-racks consists, essentially, in the employment of curved lateral supports arranged as hereinafter deseribed,whereby the plates standing on edge are enabled to be arranged as closely togeth er as is consistent with provision for draining and drying. By these means I effect a very considerable economy of space, a rack constructed according to my invention being capable of holding more than double the num her of plates and dishes that could be placed in an ordinary rack or plate and dish drainer of the same dimensions. By means of the pe culiar arrangement and adjustment of the curvature of the metallic lateral supports,hereinafter described, the improved racks are enabled to accommodate plates of varying diameters and of all degrees of depth in ordinary use with equal facility, and any plate can be readily removed from any part of the rack without disturbing the others. The number of parts being reduced to a minimum, combined with the simplicity of form,enables these racks to be manufactured at considerably less cost than the articles heretofore employed. In order to obtain these results, the plates or dishes are supported at theirlower edge,preferably at two points, upon a pair of horizontal bars, and are supported laterally by metallic supports, preferably of galvanized wire, extendingdiametrically across the plates,and which follow a curve coinciding approximately with the profile of a plate or dish, and thus enable the convex side of each article to enter the concave side of the one behind it. These supports extend, preferably, in an oblique direction across the plates, and may be either curved or straight in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the plates.

Figure l of the annexed drawings is a front elevation, and Fig. 2 a transverse section,of a specimen of a plate-rack constructed according to my invention. 5

This rack is arranged to hold three dozen plates in two tiers and three dishes; but all these numbers may evidently be varied as required without departing from the principle of the invention. Small racks ofone tier only are very convenient for use in cottages or artisans dwellings.

, The frame (marked A in the drawings, and which may be either wood or metal) is provided with holes or slots (1 for enabling the rack to be suspended from the wall by common nails or hooks in such a manner as to admit of its being readily removed and replaced in position. This frame carries lateral arms A, supporting horizontal barsB B, upon 0 which the plates (indicated at 0, Fig. 2) rest at their lower edges, being supported laterally by curved supports D, preferably of galvanized wires, which are curved, as indicated in Fig. 1, so as to allow the plates to be nested 7 5 or telescoped, as it were, one into the other, as indicated more clearly at a, Fig. 1, where three plates are represented in section, with the supports D passing between them. The curve of the wires or lateral supports D is so regulatedas to admit of the insertion of deep soup-plates, as indicated at b, Fig. 1, and

large shallow dinner-plates, as indicated at c,

Fig. 1, with equal facility. The supports D of the upper tier are attached at the upper extremity to a horizontal bar, A of the frame A, and at the lower extremity to the bar B. The curved supports D of the lower tier are preferably connected at their upper extremities to the bar B of the upper tier, Fig. 2, and c at their lower extremities to the bar B of the lower tier. In order to prevent the plates from slipping or standing irregularly on the bars B, guide-wires D, which may advantageously form prolongations of the wire D, 5 are placed across the space between the bars B and B in the form of a grating; or the same result may be obtained by means of pins, pug

jections, or notches on or in the bars B.

The racks may be constructed to hold any [00 desired number of dishes, d, Fig. 1, of various sizes, by means of wire supports D" at one or both sides of the rack, the said supports being caused to extend obliquely across the dishes, and being curved so as to correspond approximately with the profile of the dishes, which are thus enabled to stand close together, but not in contact, in the same way as the plates.

A gutter, G, Fig. 2, may be arranged underneath to catch the drip from the plates or dishes when the rack is used as a drainer and is not arranged over a sink or trough.

In the detailed description above given I have set forth clearly all of the parts of a rack containing the invention; but it will be readily understood that in some respects the construction shown and above described may be more or less modified without departing from the spirit of the invention. It will be seen that I provide a series of stalls wherein the dishes can be arranged in vertical or inclined positions, each stall having a stop adapted to enter the concavity of the dish and to prevent it from falling in the direction of the concave side. The wires D also act as stops to prevent the-lower edge of the dish from sliding in the direction of eitherface, and the bars B B act as stops to prevent the articles from moving edgewise.

I claim- 1. The combination of the frame having the rear bars, A, constructed substantially as set forth, whereby they are adapted to be suspended from a wall, the outwardly-extending bars A, rigidly secured at their inner ends to bars A, and the bottom dish supporting bars,

B B, with the inclined wires D, rigidly secured at their upper and lower ends to said frame, substantially as and for the purposes 'set forth.

2. In a dish-rack, a series of supportingwires situated, substantially as set forth, in an oblique direction across the space occupied by the plates or dishes, and curved in a plane transverse to those of the dishes when. in place, whereby the convex side of one article is permitted, to enter the concave side of the adjacent one, as set forth.

3. The combination of the frame, the horizontaldish-supporting bars B B, the horizon tal wires D, and the inclined upward-extending wires D, all the aforesaid parts being secured rigidly together, substantially as t described.

4. The combination of the frame, the horizontal dish-supporting bars B B, the wires D, secured to the said bars 13, and the upward extending wires D, respectively integral with the wires D, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

\\VILLIAM STEPHEN DIMES.

\\Vitnesses:

WM. J NO. TENNANT,

13 Gulmore Road, Pcckham S. L. CHAS. J AS. JoNEs,

19 Spital Square, London, E.

William married Lucy Mary Narracott in 1876 in Holborn, London, England. (Lucy Mary Narracott was born in 1850 in Lambeth, Surrey, England and died in 1890 in Holborn, London, England.)

William next married Emily Kate Narracott in 1891. (Emily Kate Narracott was born in 1854 in Lambeth, Surrey, England and died in 1899 in Kingsbridge.)

William next married Katherine Martin Pearce on 2 Jun 1900 in Perranuthnoe, Cornwall, England. (Katherine Martin Pearce was born in 1861 in Plymouth, Devon, England and died in Dec 1938 in Portsmouth, , Hampshire, England.)