GB2280364A

GB2280364A - A garment hanger

Info

Publication number: GB2280364A
Application number: GB9315867A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Michael Anthony Hawkins
Original assignee: FERGUSON HANGERS Ltd
Current assignee: FERGUSON HANGERS Ltd
Priority date: 1993-07-30
Filing date: 1993-07-30
Publication date: 1995-02-01
Also published as: GB9315867D0

Abstract

A garment hanger 1 comprising a body portion 3 for receiving a hook 5 to suspend the hanger 1 from a garment rail or the like, an arm 7 extending from and being slidably mounted in the body portion 3, a biasing means 15 for urging the arm 7 outwardly from the body portion 3 and an adjustable stop 21 for setting the maximum extension of the arm 7 from the body portion 3. Such a garment hanger allows a variety of different sized garments e.g. skirts, to be mounted on the hanger with essentially the same biasing force urging the arms 7 of the hanger 1 outwardly irrespective of the size of the garment mounted thereon. <IMAGE>

Description

A GARMENT HANGER This invention relates to garment hangers, and in particular to an expandable hanger for receiving the waistband of a garment, such as a skirt.

Two well known forms of expanding skirt hanger exist.

Firstly, there exists a skirt hanger, such as manufactured by the present applicant, wherein a body portion has two arms slidably mounted therein, the two arms being continuously biased outwardly from the body portion. The maximum extension of the arms is simply dictated by the length of the arms and cannot be adjusted. Hence, if a skirt having a large waist is mounted on such a hanger, a relatively weak biasing force is provided for holding the skirt on the hanger. Alternatively, if a skirt having a small waist is mounted on the hanger, a large biasing force is applied to the garment, which can cause overstretching of the waistband. This can be a particular problem when a garment having an elasticated waistband is mounted on the hanger.

A second known embodiment of expanding skirt hanger incorporates a rack and pinion in a body portion of the hanger. The two arms of the hanger are centered by means of the rack and pinion about the body portion. A locking mechanism is incorporated in the body portion for locking the arms in a desired extended position. Once this position has been locked, the arms cannot be moved inwardly without unlocking the locking device, but can only be pulled outwardly. Although such a hanger will not overstretch elasticated waistbands, there is no biasing force acting against the waistband and, as a result thereof, a garment mounted thereon can slip off the hanger. Furthermore, such a hanger is found by customers to be difficult to use, thereby resulting in garments not being re-hung on such hangers, once they have been removed therefrom.

In view of the foregoing, the present invention aims to improve upon the known expanding skirt hangers by providing a garment hanger wherein the maximum extension of the arms from a body portion of the hanger can be adjusted while still allowing the arms to be biased outwardly, so that the advantages of the first prior art device mentioned above are incorporated.

In accordance with the foregoing, the present invention provides a garment hanger comprising a body portion for receiving a hook to suspend the hanger from a garment rail or the like, an arm extending from and being slidably mounted in the body portion, a biasing means for urging the arm outwardly from the body portion and an adjustable stop for setting the maximum extension of the arm from the body portion.

As a result of the present invention, a garment hanger can be produced which can accommodate garments of many sizes whilst applying a similar load to the waistband of the garment irrespective of the size of the garment.

Preferably the biasing means is mounted in the body portion.

The biasing means may be an helical spring. Any other suitable resilient means could, alternatively, be used.

The adjustable stop preferably bears against the biasing means and engages the arm at predetermined positions which set the maximum extension of the arm. Thus, by changing the engagement of the adjustable stop with the arm, the maximum extension of the arm can be readily adjusted.

The body portion preferably includes a fixed stop against which the adjustable stop bears when the arm is at its maximum extension.

The arm may include a series of notches which, when engaged by the adjustable stop, define the maximum extension of the arm from the body portion. Alternatively, the arm could include a series of studs which engage a notch in the adjustable stop to define the maximum extension of the arm.

The adjustable stop preferably includes a trigger which, when activated, releases the adjustable stop from the arm and allows the maximum extension of the arm to be adjusted.

The adjustable stop is preferably mounted via a resilient web such that the adjustable stop can easily be disengaged from the arm by means of the trigger.

The trigger is preferably only exposed when the arm is in its position of maximum extension. As a result of this, it is far less likely for the trigger to be activated accidently, because the trigger will be hidden within the body portion when a garment is mounted on the hanger.

Garment sizes are preferably marked on the arm, a particular garment size being highlighted when the maximum extension of the arm is set to accommodate garments of that size.

An aperture in the body portion of the hanger may expose the highlighted garment size. Alternatively, a garment size to be highlighted may be defined by the end of the body portion.

A second arm may extend from the opposite end of the body portion to the first arm, the two arms being centered about the body portion by means of a rack and pinion mechanism within the body portion. Although, in theory, it would be possible to incorporate a second biasing means and adjustable stop for controlling the maximum extension of the second arm, the problem with such an arrangement would be the centering of the two arms about the body portion.

Hence, the use of a rack and pinion mechanism is clearly preferable.

A specific embodiment of the present invention is now described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a front view of a garment hanger according to the present invention, wherein a central region of a front wall of the body portion of the garment hanger has been cut away; Figure 2 is a front view of one end of the garment hanger of Figure 1, wherein part of the front wall of the body portion has been cut away to expose the biasing means and adjustable stop of the garment hanger; Figure 3 is a view similar to that of Figure 2, wherein the arm of the garment hanger has been urged inwardly against the biasing means; Figure 4 is a view similar to that of Figures 2 and 3, but wherein the adjustable stop has been released from the arm; and Figure 5 is a view similar to that of Figure 4, but wherein the arm has been extended outwardly with the adjustable stop disengaged, so that a new maximum extension of the arm from the body portion can be set.

With reference to the drawings, a garment hanger 1 according to the present invention comprises a body portion 3 and a hook 5 attached to the body portion 3 to allow the garment hanger 1 to be suspended from a garment rail (not shown) or the like. The body portion 3 has slits at either end for receiving arms 7 of the garment hanger 1. The two arms 7 are each slidably mounted in the body portion 3 and are centered about the body portion 3 by means of a rack and pinion mechanism 9 situated within the body portion 3 below the hook 5 (cf. Figure 1). Each arm 7 includes a gripping portion 11 at its free end for receiving a waistband of a skirt or other appropriate garment so that the garment can be suspended from the garment hanger.

A body portion 3 includes a guide 13 which accommodates an helical compression spring 15. The guide 13 is closed at its end nearest the centre of the body portion 3 and is partially open at its opposite end 19. The spring 15 bears against the closed end 17 and urges an adjustable stop 21 towards the partially open end 19. The adjustable stop 21 comprises a block portion 23, incorporating a trigger 25 and a detent 27, fixed via a resilient web 29 to a support bar 31. The guide 13 includes a fixed stop 33 at its partially open end 19 against which the block portion 23 of the adjustable stop 21 abuts when the arm 7 is in its fully extended position (cf. Figure 2).

The arm 7 shown in Figures 2-5 includes a series of notches 35 for engagement by the detent 27 of the adjustable stop 21. The maximum extension of the arm 7 from the body portion 3 of the garment hanger 1 is dictated by the notch 35 which is engaged by the detent 27 of the adjustable stop 21. Hence, in Figure 2, the detent 27 is engaging the first notch 35, thereby restricting the extension of the arm 7 to the minimum possible amount. In contrast, in Figure 5, the detent 27 is aligned with the third notch 35 and the arm 7 is extended further from the body portion 3.

With reference to Figures 2 and 3, when the detent 27 is engaged in a notch 35, the maximum extension of the arm 7 from the body portion 3 occurs when the block 23 of the adjustable stop 21 abuts the fixed stop 33 of the body portion 3. The arm 7 can, however, be urged inwardly towards the body portion 3 against the biasing force of the helical spring 15 (cf. Figure 3). In this position, a waistband of a skirt or other garment can be mounted on the garment hanger and the spring 15 biases the arms 7 outwardly to help retain the garment on the hanger 1.

If a larger size of garment is to be mounted on the hanger 1, the trigger 25 of the adjustable stop 21 can be activated, thereby bending the resilient web 29 and withdrawing the detent 27 out of the notch 35 (cf. Figures 4 and 5). The trigger 25 can only be accessed when it protrudes from the partially open end 19 of the guide 13, which occurs when the arm 7 is in its fully extended position. Once the detent 27 has been withdrawn from its notch 35, the arm 7 can be moved manually inwardly or outwardly relative to the body portion 3. In Figure 5, the arm 7 has been moved outwardly two notches, thereby enabling a garment two sizes larger (for example) to be accommodated on the garment hanger 1.When the arms 7 have been extended by the required amount, the trigger 25 simply needs to be released so that the spring 15 urges the detent 27 back into contact with the arm 7 and into a notch 3 thereof. A new maximum extension of the arms from the body portion 3 is then defined. When the arms 7 are urged inwardly relative to the body portion 3 in this new position, the biasing force exerted by the spring 15 is exactly the same as that exerted by the spring 15 when the arms 7 where positioned to accommodate garments of a smaller size. Hence, the garment hanger 1 according to the present invention is able to support garments with essentially the same spring force whatever the size of garment. This is a marked improvement over the known prior art garment hangers.

Since the trigger 25 is only exposed when the arms 7 are in their fully extended positions, it is less likely that the trigger 25 will be accidently activated by a customer in a shop. A garment can, however be readily re-mounted on the garment hanger by urging the arms 7 inwardly against the biasing force of the spring 15. Further, the staff in the shop, who will appreciate exactly how the hanger can be adjusted, will find it a simple matter to adjust the garment hanger 1 for different sizes of garment. With this in mind, one or both of the arms 7 of the garment hanger 1 can have a series of garment sizes stamped thereon which are visible one at a time through an aperture in the body portion of the garment hanger 1. Thus, when the arms 7 are set to a particular maximum extension, a corresponding garment size will be visible through the aperture (not shown) in the body portion 3.

It may also be desirable to have two different garment size scales marked on an arm 7 of the garment hanger, one scale corresponding to one particular biasing pressure applied to a garment of a first size mounted on the garment hanger 1, and the second scale corresponding to a different biasing pressure being applied to a garment of a different size mounted on the hanger 1.

Although only a single mechanism incorporating a spring 15 and an adjustable catch 21 is shown in the embodiment described herein (in combination with a rack and pinion centering mechanism 9), in theory it would be possible to include two separate spring and adjustable catch mechanisms, one for each arm 7. This would, however, make it somewhat more difficult to center the two arms 7 about the body portion 3.

It will of course be understood that the present invention has been described above purely by way of example, and that modifications of detail can be made within the scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A garment hanger comprising a body portion for receiving a hook to suspend the hanger from a garment rail or the like, an arm extending from and being slidably mounted in the body portion, a biasing means for urging the arm outwardly from the body portion and an adjustable stop for setting the maximum extension of the arm from the body portion.

2. A garment hanger as claimed in claim 1, wherein the biasing means is mounted in the body portion.

3. A garment hanger as claimed in claim 2, wherein the biasing means is an helical spring.

4. A garment hanger as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the adjustable stop bears against the biasing means and can engage the arm at a plurality of positions to set the maximum extension of the arm.

5. A garment hanger as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the body portion includes a fixed stop against which the adjustable stop bears when the arm is at its maximum extension.

6. A garment hanger as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the arm includes a series of notches which, when engaged by the adjustable stop, define the maximum extension of the arm from the body portion.

7. A garment hanger as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the adjustable stop includes a trigger which, when activated, releases the adjustable stop from the arm and allows the maximum extension of the arm to be adjusted.

8. A garment hanger as claimed in claim 7, wherein the trigger is only exposed when the arm is in its position of maximum extension.

9. A garment hanger as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein garment sizes are marked on the arm, a particular garment size being highlighted when the maximum extension of the arm is set to accommodate garments of that size.

10. A garment hanger as claimed in claim 9, wherein an aperture in the body portion of the hanger exposes the garment size being highlighted.

11. A garment hanger as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein a second arm extends from the opposite end of the body portion to the first arm, the two arms being centered about the body portion by means of a rack and pinion mechanism within the body portion.

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