BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION It is well known that the consumption of electricity by clothes dryers is quite large and often prohibitively expensive for people who are required to regularly carry out a significant amount of clothes washing.

An alternative is to dry clothes outdoors on a clothes line rather than to use an electric dryer and many people prefer clothes to be dried in this manner.

Some disadvantages with outdoors drying in this manner are that clothes can be wet by rain or, if the sun is very hot, become stiff and even bleached by the sunlight.

It is an object of this invention to provide a method of sheltering a clothesline from the weather and to provide an apparatus which does this.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The apparatus of the invention is a screening means for a clothes line which provides clothing on the line with a degree of shelter from the weather and rain in particular in the absence of strong wind.

The invention as herein described is particularly useful for sheltering conventional fold down wall or post style clothes lines.

The invention, in its broadest sense, Screening apparatus being a screen device for screening a clothes line including: a. a retractable substantially waterproof screen; b. mounting means for said screen above a clothesline mounting means; c. means whereby said screen can be caused to cover a clothes line; d. means for attaching the screen to the clothes line when in use; the arrangement being such that the screen diverts precipitation away from the clothes line and shelters the clothes line from sunlight.

The screen device of the invention could be adapted to be used in association with most clothes line units however in order that the invention may be more readily understood we shall describe two embodiments thereof, by way of non-limiting example, which relate to wall mounted and post mounted clothes lines in relation to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES In these drawings: Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of a screen device when open over a conventional wall mounted clothes line; Fig. 2 shows a side view of the screen device when open; Fig. 3 shows a side view of the screen device when used in association with a post mounted clothes line; Fig. 4 shows a mounting bracket for use when the screen device is post mounted; Fig. 5 shows a perspective view of the screen device and a clothes line incorporated as a single unit; Fig. 6 shows a mounting bracket for the screen device when used with a wall mounted clothes line; Fig. 7 shows one end of the screen device mounted in the bracket of Fig. 5; Fig. 8 shows the attachment of the leading edge of the screen device to the front of a clothes line; Fig. 9 shows a cleat on the leading edge of the screen device about which a draw string may be wound; DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Figure 1 shows a conventional wall mounted clothes line 50 of the type which folds down to closely abut a wall when not in use. In this embodiment of the invention a mounting bracket 43 into which each end of the screen device fits is affixed to the wall at either end of screen device 10 at a height of approximately 30 cm above the mounting brackets 52 for the clothes line 50. The leading edge of the screen material 20 is wrapped about a firm length of material 21 which may be of wood or synthetic material as desired and is provided also with a draw string 22 and a cleat 25 around which the draw string may be wound when not required.

The underside of this leading edge is provided with Velcro strips 24 which, when the screen is drawn out can be fastened to female Velcro strips 27 at corresponding positions on the clothes line frame thereby holding the screen in place over the clothes line.

When the screen is no longer required the screen is retracted by a conventional roller blind mechanism. The draw string 22 can however be undone and allowed to hang over the front edge of the clothes line for future use if desired.

In a further embodiment of the invention (Figures 3 and 4) a mounting device 40 is provided to mount the screen device over a post mounted, or free standing, clothes line of the type previously described. A portion of the mounting device 42 fits into the post supporting the clothes line at each side, above this a portion 41 raises the screen device above the clothes line as in the previous embodiment and supports the screen device 10 supports 43.

The screen device then functions in the manner previously described.

A further embodiment of the invention is shown in Figure 5 and it can be seen that the screen and clothes line are an integral unit and that the clothes line mounting bracket 52 shown in Figure 1 is continuous to and incorporates screen mounting bracket 43 in effect into wall mounted bracket 60. In all other respects this embodiment of the invention operates in the same manner as the first embodiment. It is also envisaged that a unitary post mounted screen and clothes line could be provided.

The screen device described is simple to operate and is fabricated from a waterproof fabric which is protected from deterioration due to ultra violet light. The precise material used for the screen is not germane to the invention nor is the precise means used to attach it to a clothes line. In the two embodiments described it can be seen that the screen device is installed a sufficient distance above a clothes line such that rain will run off the screen and onto the ground without wetting the clothes.

The invention lies principally in the provision of a retractable water resistant screen which can cover over a clothes line and it is envisaged that modifications, such as the provision of a housing for the screen, and adaption of the concept to other designs of clothes lines than those described may be included in the invention.

Thus, whilst we have described herein two specific embodiments of the invention it is to be understood that variations and modifications in keeping with the concept described can be made without departing from the scope thereof.