GB2273041A - Clothes hanger. - Google Patents

Abstract

A hanger (10) comprises a rail part (11) from which one or more articles (12) can be suspended, at least one carrying part (14, 15) connected to the rail part (11) and comprising a manually graspable portion or handle (16) whereby the hanger (10) may in use be carried, and a support engaging portion eg. a hook (17), the carrying part being movable relative to the rail part between an in use position (14) and a stowed position (15). <IMAGE>

Description

Title: Hanger Description of Invention This invention relates to a hanger to facilitate the transfer of articles in an orderly fashion from one location to another.

Hangers are known which comprise a rail part from which a plurality of articles such as garments which may be themselves carried on hangers, can be suspended, and a pair of carrying parts rigidly secured to the rail part and each having a manually graspable portion whereby the hanger may be carried, and a support engaging portion whereby the hanger itself can be supported by a suitable support, such as a rail in a load space of a vehicle.

Such hangers are cumbersome and in particular, when not in use, for example when being returned to a depot for re-use, the hangers occupy valuable space and because of their complex configuration, where many such hangers are being returned together to a depot these can easily become entangled with one another unless extremely carefully handled.

According to one aspect of the invention we provide a hanger comprising a rail part from which one or more articles can be suspended, at least one carrying part connected to the rail part and comprising a manually graspable portion whereby the hanger may be in use be carried, and a support engaging portion, whereby the carrying part is movable relative to the rail part between an "in use" position and a stowed position.

Thus the invention provides a new or improved hanger which is less cumbersome than hithertofore known such hangers.

Conventional rigid hangers are made of metal which although being strong are heavy. Further the scrap value of such metal hangers is high which leads to theft.

Preferably a hanger in accordance with the first aspect of the invention is made entirely in a plastics material, which is light, of low scrap value, but is recyclable.

According to a second aspect of the invention we provide a method of making a hanger according to the first aspect of the invention which includes the steps of making by moulding, a rail part, and a carrying part separately, assembling the rail part and carrying part before the plastic has fully cured, and permitting the plastic fully to cure whereby after the plastic has fully cured, the rail part and carrying parts are inseparable without destruction.

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing in which: FIGURE 1 is an illustrative perspective view of a hanger in accordance with the invention.

FIGURE la is an end elevation of part of the hanger of Figure 1.

Referring to the drawings, a hanger in accordance with the invention is indicated at 10, and comprises a rail part 11 from which a plurality of articles such as garments 12 which may each be carried on their own hanger 13, may be suspended, and a pair of carrying parts 14 and 15 connected to the rail part 11.

Each carrying part 14,15, comprises a manually graspable portion 16 provided by a loop of material, and a support engaging portion 17 which in the example shown comprises a hook adapted to be hooked over a support such as a rail, whereby the hanger 10 itself may be suspended.

The carrying parts 14,15, are each adapted to be movable relative to the rail part 11 between an in-use position in which carrying part 14 is shown, and a stowed position in which carrying part 15 is shown.

The rail part 11 comprises a pair of elongate spaced apart generally parallel elements 19 and 20 which are connected together at each of their ends to form a closed loop. The elements 19 and 20 are given relative rigidity by means of a plurality of rung-like formations 21, there being three in the illustrated example, which are integrally formed with the rail elements 19 and 20.

In use, the rail elements 19 and 20 extend in a common, generally vertical, plane.

The carrying parts 14 and 15 are received by respective mountings 25ss,25b which are connected to the upper rail element 19 adjacent each end thereof, and each provide a cylindrical opening therein which receives an axle 26 of the respective carrying part 14,15.

The axle 26 has adjacent one, lower, end thereof, a pair of outwardly extending lugs 27 and the mountings 25a and 25b each have a pair of corresponding oppositely positioned lug receiving formations 28.

When the carrying part 14 is in the position shown, the carrying part 14 has been moved relative to the rail part 11 axially upwards in the direction of arrow A to cause the lugs 27 to be received in their corresponding lug receiving formations 28. Thus rotation of the carrying part 14 relative to the mounting 25a is prevented.

To move the carrying part 14 to its stowed position, the carrying part 14 has to be moved axially oppositely to the direction indicated by arrow A, to disengage the lugs 27 and lug receiving formations 28.

The carrying part 14 can then be rotated about axis B of the axle 26.

The carrying part 14 may be rotatable either clockwise, anti-clockwise or both as desired.

It can be seen that carrying part 15 has been rotated to a stowed position in which the manually graspable portion 16 and support engaging portion 17 lie generally in the same generally vertical plane as the rail part 11.

However, when a carrying part 14 or 15 is moved to its "in use" position (as is carrying part 14), the manually graspable portion 16 and support engaging portion 17 will extend generally perpendicularly to the plane occupied by the rail part 11.

Of course, the weight of articles suspended from the rail part 11 will tend to maintain the carrying parts 14 and 15 in their "in use" positions in which the lugs 27 are received by the lug receiving formations 28, when the carrying parts 14,15, are in their "in use" positions.

The hanger described may be used as follows.

When it is desired to transport articles from one location to another, the articles 12 may be loaded onto the hanger 10 by being suspended from the rail part 11 in any desired fashion. The carrying parts 14,15, are moved to their "in use" positions and then the hanger 10 and articles 12 suspended therefrom may be manually carried by means of grasping the manually graspable portions 16, or the hanger 10 may be carried on a support engaged by each of the support engaging portions 17.

Thus the articles 12 may conveniently be carried into a vehicle say, when the support engaging portions 17 may be engaged with a rail within a load space of the vehicle to enable the articles to be transported in the vehicle in an orderly fashion.

When the vehicle is at its destination and it is desired to remove the hangers 10 from the vehicle, the hangers 10 may be carried manually again by grasping portions 16, or by being loaded onto another support such as a wheeled rail.

The hanger 10 may be supported on a further support whilst the articles 12 are removed therefrom and for example, placed on a display stand from where the articles 12 may be sold.

When the hanger 10 has been emptied of its articles, the respective carrying parts 14 and 15 may both be moved to their stowed position in the manner described above, so that the generally flat hanger 10 can conveniently be returned to a factory, depot or other location for re-use.

The method of using the hanger 10 may be of course be varied to suit particular circumstances.

Conveniently, the rail part 11 and each of the carrying parts 14,15, are made separately by injection moulding in a suitable strong plastics material such as nylon, polypropylene or the like.

Referring to figure la it can be seen that the mountings 25ss, 25b each has in addition to the lug receiving recesses 28, openings 30 which extend throughout the length of the mounting 25a,25b.

When the rail part 11 and carrying parts 14,15, have been injection moulded, but prior to the plastic fully curing, the carrying parts 14 and 15 may be connected to the rail part 11 by pushing the lugs 27 on their axles 26 through the openings 30 of the mounting part 25a,25k until the lugs 27 are beyond the mounting part 25.

By virtue of the natural properties of the plastic material, the openings 30 will shrink as the plastic cures so that when the plastic has fully cured, the openings 30 will be too small for the lugs 27 to be able to pass back through the openings 30 of the mounting parts 25L25b thus to disassemble the carrying parts 14,15, from the rail part 11.

Thus the carrying parts 14,15, and rail part 11 will be secured together irreversibly, unless the hanger 10 is destroyed.

It will be appreciated that each of the carrying parts 14,15, has integrally provided along its respective axle 26, a flange 35 which is spaced from the respective mounting 25alb when the carrying part 14,15, is in its "in use" position as indicated by carrying part 14 in the drawing, and the flange 35 engages with the mounting part 25 when the carrying part 14,15, is moved axially to disengage the lugs 27 from the recess 28. The length of the axle 26 between the respective flange 35 and lugs 27 is such that there is no significant free play between the respective carrying parts 14,15, and the rail part 11 when the carrying part is in its stowed condition.

Various modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

The construction of the rail part 11 may of course differ from that shown. The rail part 11 may be longer or shorter than shown, and may have more or less than three rung-like formations 21.

Although it is preferred that the carrying parts 14,15, are locked in their "in use" positions by virtue of the interengagement of the lugs 27 and lug receiving recesses 28, such feature is not essential to the invention.

The configuration of each of the carrying parts 14,15, may be different from that shown. For example, the manually graspable portion 16 need not be of the loop configuration shown.

In another embodiment, the hanger 10 may be made in a material other than plastic and other than by injection moulding technique.

Although the hanger 10 has been described for carrying a plurality of garments 12, it will be appreciated that the hanger 10 may carry other articles as desired.

The hanger 10 may have more than, or less than, two carrying parts 14,15, as desired.

The features disclosed in the foregoing description, the accompanying drawings or the following claims, expressed in their specific forms or in terms of a means for performing the disclosed function, or a method or process for attaining the disclosed result, or a class or group of substances or compositions, as appropriate, may, separately or in any combination of such features, be utilised for realising the invention in diverse forms thereof.

Claims (16)

1. A hanger comprising a rail part from which one or more articles can be suspended, at least one carrying part connected to the rail part and comprising a manually graspable portion whereby the hanger may in use be carried, and a support engaging portion, whereby the carrying part is movable relative to the rail part between an in use position and a stowed position.

2. A hanger according to claim 1 wherein the carrying part is rotatable relative to the rail part about an axis which is transverse to the direction of extent of the rail part.

3. A hanger according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the rail part is generally elongate and extends in a plane and when the carrying part is in its in use position, the manually graspable portion of the carrying part extends from one side of the plane, and the support engaging portion extends to the other side of the plane.

4. A hanger according to claim 3 wherein when the carrying part is in its stowed position the manually graspable portion and the support engaging portion both lie generally in the plane of the rail part.

5. A hanger according to any one of claims 1 to 4 wherein the rail part comprises a pair of spaced generally parallel elongate elements connected together at each of their ends.

6. A hanger according to claim 5 wherein the or each carrying part is mounted on an, in use, upper one of the elongate elements.

7. A hanger according to claim 5 or claim 6 wherein the pair of elongate elements are connected along their lengths by rung-like formations.

8. A hanger according to any one of claims 1 to 7 wherein a pair of carrying parts are provided, one at or adjacent each end of the rail part.

9. A hanger according to any one of claims 1 to 8 wherein the or each carrying part comprises a loop which forms the manually graspable portion and an integral hook which forms the support engageable portion, and an axle which is journalled for rotation in a mounting of the rail part.

10. A hanger according to claim 9 where dependent upon claim 2 wherein the carrying part is additionally movable relative to the rail part, at least when the carrying part is in a position intermediate its in use and stowed positions, axially, to bring formations of the mounting and an axle of the carrying part into cooperation to prevent the carrying part being rotated back from its in use position until the carrying part is moved axially in an opposite direction to disengage the formations.

11. A hanger according to any one of claims 1 to 10 which is made entirely of a plastics material.

12. A hanger substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.

13. A method of manufacturing a hanger according to any one of claims 1 to 12 which includes the steps of making by moulding, a rail part, and a carrying part separately, assembling the rail part and carrying part before the plastic has fully cured, permitting the plastic to cure whereby after the plastic has fully cured, the rail part and the carrier part are inseparable without destruction.

14. A method according to claim 13 wherein the rail part is moulded with a mounting comprising a generally cylindrical opening and the carrying part is moulded with an axle, the axle having at least one laterally extending lug at or adjacent its free end, and the cylindrical opening of the mounting including an axially extending recess which permits the lug of the axle to pass therethrough prior to the plastic of the rail part and carrying part being fully cured, but prevents the lug passing back through the recess once the plastic has fully cured.

15. A method of making a hanger substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawing.

16. Any novel feature or novel combination of features as defined herein and/or shown in the accompanying drawings.