“Ferris Wheel” Clothesline

“Ferris Wheel” Clothesline FARM HOME Clothes One day Neil Shippy’s wife told him their clothes dryer was taking way too long to dry So the New Plymouth Idaho man decided to take matters into his own hands     “I decided it was time to build a clothesline I started looking around to see what I had that would save me a trip to town Then I sat down to design the best clothesline that $10 – okay maybe $40 – would buy ”     He found some old 1-in rigid pipe and some 2 7/8-in oilfield pipe and turned it into a giant 16-ft tall “ferris wheel” clothesline The clothes attach to 5 wires strung between a pair of hexagon-shaped wheels spaced about 12 ft apart and attached to a horizontal axle The axle rides inside a pair of saddles at the top of 2 vertical pipes The operator turns a crank to belt-drive the axle and rotate the wheels      “The axle just sets in the saddles and spins ” says Shippy     “My wife rotates the wires down one by one and hangs the clothes on them Once the clothes are dry she reverses the process There’s a wire for each point on the wheels except for one I left that wire off to provide the 7 ft of clearance under it for mowing or operating a sprinkler ”     The wires ride inside eyelets welded to the wheels with wire tighteners attached to the eyelets     “If I could do it over I’d make the wheels much smaller so the whole unit wouldn’t be so big But I thought I had to make the wheels big so the clothes wouldn’t hook on the wires or the axle ” notes Shippy     Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Neil Shippy 3782 Elgin Rd New Plymouth Idaho 83655 ph 208 283-6034; neil@ameelectric com

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