GB2295963A

GB2295963A - Garment hanger

Info

Publication number: GB2295963A
Application number: GB9525324A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Luigi Ciavarella
Original assignee: RELLA PLASTICS Pty Ltd
Current assignee: RELLA PLASTICS Pty Ltd
Priority date: 1994-12-13
Filing date: 1995-12-12
Publication date: 1996-06-19
Also published as: GB9525324D0; AUPN002694A0; CN1131526A

Abstract

A hanger 10 for displaying garments, particularly underwear, has an attachment hook 14 extending upwardly from a central part 12, a pair of arms 20, 30 extending in opposite directions from the central part, jaws 24, 26; 34, 36 on the ends of the arms for gripping the waistband of a garment and central retaining members 41, 42, 43 adapted to receive and retain an upwardly folded crotch portion of the garment. The hanger may also include intermediate garment-engaging prongs 44, 45, 46, 47 for engaging another part of the waistband so that the length of the hanger can be reduced. <IMAGE>

Description

IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO HANGERS FOR GARMENTS This invention relates to hangers for garments and is particularly concerned with providing a display hanger for articles of underwear, such as underpants, boxer shorts, knickers and like garments which have a waistband and a central crotch portion.

There have previously been provided display hangers for articles of underwear which have a central hook portion or other means for suspending the hanger from part of a display stand, a pair of arms extending in opposite directions from the central hook portion and jaws provided at the ends of the arms of the hanger for gripping and holding side portions of a waist band of the underwear, the central crotch part of the underwear being allowed to hang freely below the hanger.

In the display of garments for sale in clothing stores, it is important that the hanger and garment should occupy as little space as possible so that more garments can be displayed for sale in a particular area of the store. It is therefore desirable to provide a display hanger for garments, particularly underwear, which occupies as little space as possible.

It is also desirable to provide a display hanger for garments in which a greater proportion of the garment can be received and retained by the hanger.

According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a hanger for displaying a garment, such as an article of underwear, comprising a central part having attachment means for attaching the hanger to a rail or other part of a display stand, a pair of arms extending in opposite directions from the central part, jaw means provided at the end of each arm for gripping an upper part, such as a waistband, of a garment, and retaining means located between the jaw means and adapted to receive and retain a folded, lower portion, such as a crotch portion, of the garment.

Preferably the garment-retaining means comprises a plurality of retaining members disposed below the central hook portion or other attachment means of the hanger. The retaining members are preferably in the form of elongate limbs or prongs which extend downwardly from the central part of the hanger from which the arms extend, in use, in a substantially horizontal direction.

The elongate retaining members may be conveniently arranged to form ajawlike retaining means in which at least one of the retaining members forming one jaw may be flexed away from the retaining member or members forming the other jaw of the jaw-like retaining means to allow the folded lower or crotch portion of a garment to be inserted between the retaining members which then grip the lower or crotch portion of the garment.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, the retaining means comprises a central retaining member and a pair of outer retaining members, one on each side of the central retaining member. The central retaining member is preferably arranged to extend in a plane substantially parallel to and spaced from a plane containing the two outer retaining members. One or more of the retaining members may have a shoulder or notch thereon, conveniently on a surface facing another of the retaining members to assist in retaining the lower or crotch portion received between the retaining members of the retaining means.

The garment hanger of the invention is particularly intended for use in displaying articles of underwear, such as underpants, boxer shorts, knickers and the like, with the jaw means at the ends of the arms adapted to grip and hold the waistband of the garment, and the centrally located garment-retaining means being adapted to receive and retain an upwardly folded crotch part of the garment.

Therefore, in use, the garment retained by the hanger takes up less space in the vertical direction than garments held by conventional hangers. This enables a greater number of garments to be displayed for sale on a display stand.

The garment hanger may be provided with intermediate garment-engaging means disposed inwardly of the outer jaw means on the ends of the arms for receiving and retaining another part or parts of the garment such as parts of the waistband. The intermediate garment-engaging means may comprise further pairs of jaws disposed inwardly of the outer jaw means, but preferably the intermediate garment-engaging means may take the fonn of limbs or prongs extending down from the arms A preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:: Figure 1 is a side view of a garment hanger in accordance with the invention; Figure 2 is a cross section on the line A-A of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a section on the line B-B of Figure 1; Figure 4 is an enlarged cross-section on the line C-C of Figure 1; Figure 5 is a perspective view showing the garment in use.

The display hanger 10 shown in Figure 1 of the drawings comprises a central body part 12, attachment means in the form of a central hook portion 14 extending upwardly from the central body part 12, horizontally extending arms 20 and 30 extending in opposite directions from the central body portion 12, and jaw means 22, 32 respectively provided on the ends of the arms 20, 30 of the hanger. The hook portion 14 includes a generally circular display portion 16 on which information about the garment, e.g. its size, may be provided. For some applications, the circular display portion 16 may be omitted.

The hanger may be conveniently formed as a unitary moulding in a resilient plastics material, such as styrene. As shown in Figures 2 to 4 of the drawings, the central body portion 12 and arms 20, 30 are generally I-shaped in cross section, having wider upper and lower parts 15 and 17, and a narrower intermediate part 18 joining the upper and lower parts 15 and 17.

Each of the jaw means 22, 32 on the ends of the respective arms 20, 30 of the hanger comprises an outer jaw 24, 34 and an inner jaw 26, 36. The pairs of outer and inner jaws form a downwardly directed mouth which is adapted to receive a respective portion of a waistband of an article of underwear 80, such as a pair of underpants, knickers, boxer shorts or the like as shown in Figure 5. The outer jaws 24 34 are connected to their respective arms 20, 30 of the hanger by upper connecting portions 23, 33 respectively, and the inner jaws 26, 36 are connected to their respective arms 20, 30 of the hanger by lower connecting portions 27, 37. As shown in Figure 1. the inner surfaces 25, 35 of the outer jaws 24, 34 and the outer surfaces 29 39 of the inner jaws 26, 36 are of wavy form having complementary recesses and projections which assist in gripping and retaining the portions of a waistband inserted between the jaws.

The display hanger of Figure 1 has central garmtnt-receiving means comprising retaining members or prongs 41, 42 and 43 extending downwardly from the central body portion 12 below the hook portion 14. The hanger also has intermediate garment-engaging means comprising a first pair of intermediate prongs 44, 45 extending downwardly from arm 20, and a second pair of intermediate prongs 46, 47 extending downwardly from arm 30. Each of the prongs 41-47 has an elongate stem portion 51-57 respectively and an enlarged head portion 61-67 respectively.

The three retaining members, 41, 42 and 43 forming the central garment retaining means are, in use, adapted to receive a central upwardly folded crotch portion 85 of an article of underwear 80 which can be tucked and received between the members, 41, 42 and 43 as shown in Figure 5. As shown in Figures 2 and 3 of the drawings, the stem 51 of the central receiving member 41 extends from one side of the wider lower part 17 of the body and is disposed in a different vertical plane from the sterns 52 and 53 of the two outer members 42 and 43. Thus, the retaining members 41, 42 and 43 together form a jaw-like receiving means with the central member 41 forming one jaw and the outer members 42, 43 forming the outer jaw.

Each of the retaining members 41, 42, 43 may be resiliently flexed away from an opposite member to assist in tucking the folded crotch portion 85 of the garment between the retaining members 41, 42 and 43. Also, as shown in Figure 1, the head portions 61, 62 and 63 are generally in the shape of an arrow head extending to a point, with upwardly facing shoulders or notches 71, 72 and 73 being formed substantially at the junction between the stem portions 51, 52 and 53 and their respective head portions 61, 62 and 63 in order to provide better retention of the crotch portion of the underwear when it is tucked and received between the members, 41, 42 and 43.

In use, the intermediate pairs of prongs 44, 45 and 46, 47 are adapted to receive parts of the waistband of an article of under'vicar As shown in Figure 5, the sides of the waistband are engaged by the prongs 44 and 46 with intermediate parts of the waistband being gripped by the jaws 24, 26 and 34 and 36 on the ends of the arms of the hanger. It will, however, be appreciated that the jaws 24, 26; 34, 36 and prongs 44, 46 may engage different parts of the waistband from those shown in Figure 5. In each case, the intermediate engaging means or prongs 44, 46 enable a greater portion of the waistband to be gripped and engaged thereby enabling the total length of the hanger from the end of one arm 20 to the end of the other arm 30 to be reduced.Hitherto, display hangers for adults underwear have conventionally been about 260mm in length, whereas the provision of the intermediate garment-engaging prongs 44, 45, 46 and 47 enables the total length of the hanger of Figure 1 to be reduced to approximately 160mm. Furthermore, the central retaining means formed by the members 41, 42 and 43 can also enable space to be saved by up to about 50% in the vertical direction, since if a folded lower or crotch portion of the garment is tucked between and retained by the central members 41, 42 and 43, the garment does not hang below the hanger for as great a distance.

It will be appreciated that the present invention provides a space-saving display hanger for garments which achieves a saving of space in both the horizontal and vertical directions. It will also be appreciated that various modifications and alterations may be made to the embodiments described above without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A garment hanger for displaying a garment, such as an article of underwear1 comprising a central part having attachment means for attaching the hanger to a rail or other part of a display stand, a pair of arms extending in opposite directions from the central part of the hanger, jaw means provided at the end of each arm of the hanger for gripping an upper part, such as a waistband, of the garment, and retaining means located between the jaw means and adapted to receive and retain a folded lower portion, such as a crotch portion, of the garment.

2. A hanger according to claim 1 wherein the retaining means comprises a plurality of retaining members disposed below the central part and attachment means of the hanger.

3. A hanger according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the retaining means comprises a plurality of resilient retaining members arranged to form a jaw-like retaining means in which at least one of the retaining members forming one jaw may be flexed away from the other retaining member or members forming the other jaw of the jaw-like retaining means.

4. A hanger according to claim 2 or claim 3 wherein the retaining means comprises a central retaining member and a pair of outer retaining members, one on each side of the central retaining member.

5. A hanger according to claim 4 wherein the central retaining member extends in a plane substantially parallel to and spaced from a plane containing the pair of outer retaining members.

6. A hanger according to claim 4 or claim 5 wherein the central retaining member is longer than each of the outer retaining members.

7 A hanger according to any one of claims 2 to 6 wherein at least one of the retaining members has a shoulder or notch provided thereon.

8. A hanger according to any one of claims 4 to 6 wherein shoulders or notches are provided on opposed surfaces of the central and outer retaining members to assist in retaining the folded central lower part of the garment between the central retaining member and the outer retaining members.

9. A hanger according to any one of claims 2 to 8 wherein each retaining member has an elongate stem portion and an enlarged head portion.

10. A hanger according to any one of the preceding claims slither including intermediate garment engaging means provided on the arms of the hanger between the outer jaw means and the central retaining means.

11. A hanger according to claim 10 wherein the intermediate garment engaging means comprises at least one engaging member for engaging the upper part or waistband of the garment.

12. A hanger according to claim 11 wherein the or each engaging member comprises a prong having an elongate stem portion and an enlarged head portion.

13. A hanger according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the jaw means at the end of each arm of the hanger comprises an outer jaw and an inner jaw.

14. A hanger according to claim 13 wherein opposed surfaces of the outer and inner jaws have complementary recesses or projections to assist in gripping an upper part or waistband of the garment inserted between the jaws.

15. A hanger according to any one. of the preceding claims wherein the hanger is formed from resilient plastics material.

16. A hanger according to claim 15 wherein the hanger is formed as a unitary moulding of plastics material.

17. A hanger according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the attachment means comprises a central hook extending from the arrns of the hanger for suspending the hanger from a display stand.

18. A hanger according to claim 17 wherein the hook includes a generally circular display portion for displaying information.

19. A garment hanger substantially as hereinbefore described with.

reference to the accompanying drawings.