Hose reel

Application filed November 28, 1930. Serial No. 498.826.

My present invention relates to improvements in hose reels.of the type adapted to be trundled over the ground, for the purpose of winding and unwinding the hose on and off a » winding drum that is revolved by tractive power developed in the hose reel or appliance.

_ The appliance or implement of my invention is adapted especially for use with rubber hose of the type used to sprinkle gardens, lawns, and other similar plots. As is well known, the structure of this type of hose possesses elasticity or resiliency sufficiently to maintain its tubular form and thereby prevent flattening of the hose as it is wound on 15 the drum. In carrying out my invention this type of hose can be wound or coiled on the drum of the reel in such manner as not to obstruct the free flow of water through the coiled or wound hose, and on the other hand, ._Ίι the water may freely flow through that portion of the hose that may remain on the drum while the hose is being used to sprinkle a lawn or garden.

The carriage of the reel, which is supplied .7.5 with supporting or traction wheels, and a swivel steering wheel, together with, a drum revolving in a vertical axis, is located approximately midway between the nozzle end and the attaching end of the hose, and the ap;;.j proximately central portion of the hose is attached firmly to the top portion of: the revolvable drum. The hose-drum is thus adapted to alternately wind and unwind both ends of the attached hose, depending upon the di:!j rection of travel of the carriage toward or away from the stationary faucet or other fitting to which one end of the hose is attached. ’ The hose is wound upon the drum in spiral formation, preferably in a double coil, by pushing- or pulling, the carriage toward the attached, or stationary end of the hose, and the hose may be unwound from the drum by pulling on the nozzle end of the hose, thus propelling the carriage, away from the faucet 4j or other water supply fixture to which the hose may be attached.

One of the special features and advantages of the present invention resides in the simple . arrangement by means of which the central 50 portion of the hose is attached to the drum to insure drainage of all water from the hose, through both ends of the hose. Thus, by attaching the central portion of the hose at the top⁷ portion of the vertically arranged drum, and after the hose has been wound from the 55 top portion of the drum toward its bottom portion, it will be apparent that water will-be drained by gravity, .through -the spirally wound hose to both of the free ends of the hose. 60

While I have referred to and illustrated the hose reel as a convenient wheeled implement for facile manipulation in winding and unwinding rubber garden hose for sprinkling purposes, it will be understood that the hose 65 and implement may be used for various other purposes when desired.

The invention consists in certain novel combinations and arrangements of parts whereby the hose may be wound,⁷ preferably 76 in spiral formation, on the drum, and unwound therefrom, for the purposes above indicated, as will be hereinafter more fully set forth and claimed. In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated one complete ex- 75 ample of the physical embodiment of my invention wherein the parts are combined and arranged according to the best mode I have thus far devised for the practical application of the principles of my invention. . 80

Figure 1 is a view: in side elevation of the hose reel of my invention, showing a hose partially wound thereon, with the nozzle and attaching ends of the hose, broken away for convenience of illustration. 85

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the reeldrum,-showing the hose wound thereon together with the guide ring for use in winding and unwinding the hose. Figure 3 shows a modification of the hose drum. 90

In carrying, out my invention I preferably employ a carriage or wheeled frame 1, of circular shape, or of oval shape, and this carriage 01· frame is supported by two spaced traction wheels 2, and a front or, swiveled 05 ' steering wheel 3, the wheels of course being located below the frame and journaled with relation thereto.

The two spaced traction wheels 2, are mounted, rigidly, at the opposite ends of a too

1,850,677 drive shaft 4 journaled in bearings beneath the frame, and this shaft has mounted thereon a drive pinion 5 which meshes with a horizontally disposed driven gear 6, the lat₅ ter being fixed to revolve with a vertical stub shaft 7 journaled in suitable bearings at the center of the carriage or frame 1.

At diametrically opposite points the carriage is provided with a pair of outwardly projecting lugs 8, 8, and from these lugs rise a pair of rigid posts 9, 9, preferably square in cross section. . The upper ends of the posts may be reduced in diameter to support a cross bar or tie bar 10 that is fashioned with 15 perforated ends to slip over the reduced upper ends of the posts and rest upon the shoulders formed by the reduced ends at the upper ends of the posts.

Cotter pins 11, or other suitable means may 2« be employed in connection with the reduced ends of the posts for securing the cross bar 10 on the posts, and it will be apparent that the cross bar ties the two posts together to form, with the posts, a rigid upright frame supported on the carriage.

A cylindrical drum 12 is mounted, within the upright frame, on its vertical axis in the carriage, and at the lower end of the drum a hub 13 is provided that slips down over Sa the stub shaft 7 which is journaled in a boss 14 at the upper side of the carriage 1, and upon which boss the drum is supported to revolve.

At its upper end the cylindrical drum is M fashioned with a depressed or inset head 14, and this head is fashioned with a stub shaft 15 that projects through a bearing hole in the -center of the tie bar 10. The drum is thus journaled at its upper and lower ends, 40 within the upright frame of the carriage, to revolve on its vertical axis, when the hose reel is trundled, or the drum may manually be turned by the use of a crank handle with its socket slipped over the squared end 16 '·'> of the stub shaft 15.

At the opposite ends of the drum are formed annular, exterior flanges 17 and 18, the flange 17 being located above the depressed head 14, and between these flanges is 5 arranged a spiral flange 19, which forms a spiral groove in which the hose H is laid, in a double coil, from the top toward the bottom of the drum, and from which the coils of the hose are unwound from the bottom of *5 the drum toward the top or upper end.

As best seen in Figure 2, the nozzle end 20 of the hose and the coupling or attaching end 21 of the hose, project diametrically, in opposite directions from the drum, but they are laid in a double coil and unwound or wound in the same direction with relation to the drum.

The central part 22 of the hose passes through holes 23 in the drum, Avhich holes ^<}' are located in diametrical points of the Avail of the drum, just below the upper flange 17 but above the depressed head 14 of the drum. The portion 22 of the hose extends transA⁷ersely across the depressed head, in a somewhat S-shape, and it is firmly secured on 70 the face of the head by means of a pair of spaced clips or metal straps 24 that are clamped on the hose by means of screws 25 which secure the clip to the head.

The two ends of the hose, as they are 75 Avound and unwound on and off the spirally flanged drum, are guided in their movement by the use of a vertically reciprocable guide ring 26 that is of larger interior diameter than the flanges of the arum, and at diametri- 80 cally opposite points the ring is fashioned with outwardly projecting, flat lugs or plates 27 over which the ends of the hose glide while winding or unwinding. These guide plates or lugs support the ends of the hose and guide 85 these parts of the hose as they are laid in the grooves of the drum, and they also guide the hose-ends to insure proper unAvinding action of the hose.

In order that the tAvo ends of the hose may ⁹⁹be laid on or taken off the drum at the proper diametrically opposite points of the drum I use a pair of rollers 28 journaled on upright stud shafts 29 Avhich stud staffs are rigid Avith and rise from the supporting plates or 85 lugs 27 of the guide ring, and a pair of retaining lugs 30 on the top of the ring 26 assist in maintaining the coils of the hose on the drum.

The guide ring rises and falls, or recipro- too cates along the vertical axis of the drum as the hose is unwound therefrom or wound thereon, and for this purpose the ring is supported from coils of the hose by means -of inturned hooks 31, here shoAvn as four in ’5 number and spaced at regular intervals around the inner periphery of the guide ring. The hooks or lugs 31 project inwardly from the ring a sufficient distance to insure that they will ride on the top of the outer one of no the double coil as the hose is laid on and taken off the drum, and the ring is thus lifted by the spirally unwinding hose, and falls by gravity as the-ends of the hose are spirally Avound on the drum. -^5

The guide ring is guided in its reciprocation by the posts 9, 9, of the carriage, and for this purpose the plates 27 of the ring are fashioned with squared holes 32 complementary to the posts so that the ring may ¹²⁰slide freely up and doAvn on the posts.

In Figures 1 and 2 a latch 33 is shown pivoted at 34 in the interior of the drum, and a link 35 pivoted on the free end of the latch is indicated as extending through the ¹²⁸drum to its top where it is accessible for use. The free end of this latch is adapted to seat in complementary kerfs in the hub 13 and the top of the shaft 7 to lock or fasten the hub of the drum so that the hub and drum will I³®

1,850,677 3 revolve with the shaft 7. When so locked or fastened the drum and shaft revolve together to wind or unwind the hose. In some instances it is desirable that the drum shall 5 _; revolve on the shaft 7, as when a crank handle is placed on the squared end 16 of the shaft 15. When the crank handle is thus to be used, the latch is lifted by pulling up on the link 35 to uncouple the drum from the 10 shaft thereby permitting the drum to revolve on the shaft.

In Figure 3 the drum 36 is fashioned from a rectangular metal sheet, and in lieu of the spiral flanges 19 of Figure 1, the spiral for15 mation of the hose is accomplished by the use of a multiplicity of flanges 37, struck or punched from the metal sheet, leaving holes 38. The flanges 37 are staggered on the metal sheet and so arranged that when the sheet 20 is formed into the cylindrical drum 36 a spiral path is provided for the hose as it is wound or unwound on or off the drum.