GB2298135A

GB2298135A - Expanding garment hanger

Info

Publication number: GB2298135A
Application number: GB9603824A
Authority: GB
Inventors: William Joseph Hunt
Original assignee: Braitrim UK Ltd
Current assignee: Braitrim UK Ltd
Priority date: 1995-02-23
Filing date: 1996-02-23
Publication date: 1996-08-28
Anticipated expiration: 2016-02-23
Also published as: GB9603824D0; HK1009924A1; GB9503566D0; GB2298135B

Abstract

The hanger has at least one arm 2 biassed outwardly from the hanger body 1 by a spring 3. An elongate plate 4 between the spring and the arm allows the effective length of the arm to be altered to provide for a greater range of clothes sizes. The plate has a stop 28 which can be engaged or disengaged from a wall 32 on the arm by the user pulling on curved portion 26 of the plate when the arm is extended from the body, whereby the arm can be slid between locked positions of greater or lesser effective length. The spring pressure thus remains constant whether a larger or smaller size range is selected. The hanger may have two arms which are independently adjustable.

Description

GARMENT HANGER This invention relates to a garment hanger.

In recent years it has been known to produce garment hangers having one design and to reproduce it in a number of different sizes so as to accommodate a range of sizes of garment to be hung on the hanger of that design.

The disadvantage of such arrangement from the retailers' viewpoint is that they have a vast number of hangers which after sale of the garment have to be sorted in sizes. From a manufacturing viewpoint the costs of producing hangers in the various sizes is expensive because of the number of different high moulds which have to be made individually in order to produce the hangers in their various sizes.

While attempts have been made by manufactures to reduce costs by producing various sizes of hangers using a common mould for common parts and changing the moulds for the remaining parts, to meet the size specification there is still a considerable cost involved including that of plastic material from which the hangers are made. However, in most cases this is undesirable because with one particular design of hanger the whole of the hanger must increase or decrease in size to maintain the same design in all essential proportions.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a garment hanger in which the above mentioned disadvantages have been substantially eliminated.

According to the present invention there is provided a garment hanger having a body and an arm movable into the body against bias means acting to force the movable arm in an outward direction from the body, and adjustment means on the arm for adjusting the maximum distance the arm will travel outwardly relative to the body to operate the hanger over a range of sizes of garment, wherein the arm of the hanger is a one piece construction with portions thereon interengageable by adjustable locking means coupled with the bias means to provide a number of adjustment positions to increase or decrease the length of the arm thereby to accommodate on the hanger at each position of the arm a respective one of a number of sizes of garment, the length of the arm being adjustable when the bias means biases the arm outwardly to a maximum extent at which the adjustable locking means projects outwardly of the body.

In one preferred embodiment of the present invention the adjustment means comprises an interconnecting member coupled with the bias means and lockable into a slot on the movable arm.

Conveniently, the interconnecting member is a resilient arm which is movable laterally to a longitudinal direction of the arm and body to disengage the interconnecting member from the arm and to allow adjustment of the movable arm relative to the body of the garment hanger.

Preferably, there are two, one innermost, one outermost, selectable positions between which the movable arm can be fixed relative to the body thereby providing in a single garment hanger a range of difference sizes for which the hanger can be used without changing the basic design of the hanger. Each innermost/outermost selectable position is preferably defined by walls defining a recess in the arm of the hanger.

In the preferred embodiment the adjustable locking means is engageable conveniently with end stops to set the maximum and minimum length of the movable arm and control over the length in between can be controlled by an interference fit between the adjustable locking means, and top and bottom webs of the movable arm having an I-shaped cross-section.

Advantageously, such an arrangement allows all garments to be supported within a specified range of sizes. Therefore if a garment is not made to the correct size this does not matter because the hanger will be adjusted to the actual size of the garment.

Conveniently, the body of the hanger is of a generally inverted U-shaped cross-sectional configuration and has a number of internal ribs for guiding the bias means and the movable arm within the body. Preferably, the bias means is a coil spring and is maintained in the closed end of the inverted U-shaped body by an innermost pair of opposing ribs, one on each side, respectively, of the body.

Conveniently, the movable arm which is supported in the body by a second outermost pair of opposed internal ribs. The movable arm also has a stop in the region of its innermost end within the body for engaging with a stop on the outermost end of the body to prevent the movable arm from being completely pushed from the body by the bias spring. The locking device at the end of the movable arm is preferably a resilient tongue which is movable inwardly to miss the stop at the end of the body when it is necessary to remove the movable arm from the body.

Therefore, there has been described an embodiment according to the present invention in which the garment hanger is capable of being set at a number of different sizes as the need determines. Moreover, the sizes can be arranged so that on a dual arm garment hanger one arm is set at a different length from the body than the other arm to concentrate for the weight distribution of the garment on the hanger to achieve proper hanging of a garment hanger on a rail.

Moreover, when the arm is forced into the hanger body, in use, against the bias coil, a part of the adjustment means contacts the inside surface of the arm to force the hanger arm and adjustment means together and to prevent disengagement one from the other during use.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a partial sectional view of a body of a hanger in which a movable arm has been mounted in accordance with the present invention; Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 but with the movable arm in an alternative position relative to the body; Fig. 3 is an end view of the body; Fig. 4 is a sectional view along the line B-B of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a partial sectional view along the section D in Fig. 2; Fig. 6 is a partial perspective view of the arrangement shown in Fig. 5, and Fig. 7 is a sectional view along the line C-C in Fig. 2.

A garment hanger is disclosed in the drawings in which only one arm of the hanger is shown. A second substantially identical arm can be provided in the opposite direction as a mirror image of the construction shown in the drawings presented herewith. For simplicity only one arm will be described.

More particularly, there is shown in Fig. 1 an elongate substantially rigid body 1 of plastics material in which a movable arm 2 is slidably mounted and a biasing device 3 supported in the body conveniently in the form of an elongate coil spring for biasing the movable arm outwardly of the body to a maximum extent.

A relatively short interconnecting member 4 of resilient plastics material is located between the biasing spring 3 and movable arm 2. The member 4 is effective to allow adjustment of the length of the movable arm relative to the body 1 in the maximum outward position of the arm achieved by the biasing spring 3.

The arm 1 is generally of an inverted U-shaped cross-sectional configuration, as is seen in Fig. 3 (a) along the line A-A in Fig. 1. Longitudinally extending internal ribs 5, 6 extend along the inside of the arms to support both the spring 3 and also the inward movement of the movable arm 2. In Fig. 3(a) the ribs 5 are shown to support the spring 3 to prevent the spring from falling downwardly and interfering with the movement of the arm 2.

At the outermost end of the hollow arm 1 the arm has a box like cross-section as is seen from the end view of the body which is shown in Fig. 3(b). Lower side wall 8 of this box section is short in length relative to the length of the hollow arm 1 and is provided both as a stabilising element to support the inner end of movable arm 2 and also to act as a stop as will be hereinafter described in more detail.

The sectional view along the line B-B of Fig.

1, illustrated in Fig. 4, shows the movable arm 2 to be of an I-shaped cross-section having a top horizontally extending member 10, a bottom horizontally extending cross-member 11, and a vertically extending interconnection web 12 which together are of a sufficient height to slide within the aperture defined in the end view of the body 1 in Fig. 3(b) with the top member 10 guided by the top of the body 1 and bottom member 11 guided by the wall 8. The movable arm 2 is supported within the body on ribs 6 by the other edges of bottom member 11 of the movable arm.

Figs. 2, 5, 6 and 7 illustrate in detail the interconnecting member 4. Outermost end 21 of coil spring 3 is arranged to push against end face 22 of the interconnecting member 4 which at its outermost end 23 interlocks with the movable arm 2. Outermost end 23 of the member 4 is outwardly curved, as will be described in more detail later, to enable the member 4 to be manually disengaged from the movable arm 2.

Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view along the line D-D in Fig. 2 and illustrates a portion of the overall construction of the member 4 and movable arm 2 in the area of the interconnection therebetween.

The interconnecting member 4, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6, comprises an elongate plate 25 which has an outwardly curved portion 26 towards the outermost end of the plate 25 and a transversely extending flange 27 at the opposite end of the plate 25 remote from the curved portion 26. A stop member 28, located towards the outermost end of plate 25, extends outwardly in the same direction from the same side of the plate 25 as the flange 27. The stop member 28 has a stop face 29.

The flange 27 and stop member 28 are arranged to overlie an elongate cut-away portion 30 towards the top of the rib 12 of the movable arm 2 at the innermost end of the arm 2 for sliding movement there along relative to the movable arm.

The movable arm 2 is also provided with a recess 31 which extends from a wall 32 defining one end of the cut away portion 30, outwardly of the arm 2 to an end face 33 along the arm and in Fig. 2 intermediate the end of the body 1 and outer end 34 of the movable arm 2.

The recess 31 is defined by displacement of the web 12 of the I-shaped section arm 2 as illustrated in the sectional view of Fig. 7 taken along the lines C-C in Fig. 2. The web member 10 of the arm 2 extends substantially towards the inner end of the arm 2 but is stopped short of the inner end to assist in defining the cut-away portion 30. However, the web 10 extends inwardly beyond the wall 32 sufficiently to provide a small cavity 30a at the outermost end of portion 30 in which the stop 28 is arranged to locate with the stop face 29 against the wall 32.

Accordingly, in the position shown in Fig. 5 the movable arm 2 of the hanger is extended outwardly by its maximum amount thereby setting the maximum size in a range of sizes in which the hanger is usable with coil spring 3. To adjust the hanger to a smaller range of sizes the curved portion 26 of interconnecting member 4 is gripped by the user and pulled laterally outwardly so that the stop 28 is disengaged from the wall 32.

The movable arm 2 is then pushed inwardly along the ribs 5, 6 until the wall 32 moves passed the stop 28 towards the flange 27. Once passed the stop 28 the portion 26 is released and the resilience of the elongate arm 25 causes the stop 28 to engage in the recess 31. The arm 2 is moved inwardly further until the stop face 29 of stop 28 engages the end face 33 of the recess 31. The arm 2 cannot then move any further inwardly relative to the interconnecting member 4 although it is possible for the arm 2 to be moved inwardly against the spring 3 which in this inwardly position of reduced width of the hanger allows the hanger to operate with the same length of spring with any selected length of the hanger arm.

Therefore, an identical spring force is usable for the smaller range of garments to be supported by the hanger as with the larger range of garments.

The curved portion 26 has a height in Fig. 2 which allows it to fit tightly between the webs 10 and 11 of the I-shaped cross-sectional arm 2 and to provide a friction interference fit to enable the interconnecting member 4 to remain in position relative to the arm 2 when the arm is moved either inwardly or outwardly in normal use. Thereby the arm 2 can be fixed relative to the body 1 at any one of an infinite number of positions because of the interference fit between the arm and interconnecting member 4.

Moreover, when the arm 3 is forced into the hanger body 1, in use, against the bias coil 3, a part 26 of the plates contacts the inside surface of the arm to force the hanger arm and plate together and to prevent disengagement one from the other during use.

A downwardly extending resilient tongue 36 is provided at the innermost end 35 of the movable arm 2, at the bottom of the arm in the region of cross-member 11. The tongue 36 in its natural state projects downwardly at an acute angle to the horizontal in Fig.

2 and is arranged to engage inner end 37 of end plate 8 of the body of the hanger when the movable arm 2 is extended to its outermost position, thereby preventing unwanted removal of the movable arm from the body.

However, should it be necessary to remove the arm 2 from the body the tongue 36 is pressed inwardly into recess 38 so that on further pulling out the arm 2 the tongue 36 misses the inner end 37 of the plate 8 and is removable from the body 1.

Accordingly, there has been disclosed an expandable garment hanger which is adjustable to suit a range of sizes of garments by adjustment of the length of the arm relative to the body of the hanger so as to maintain a constant spring pressure over a number of different selectable lengths of the movable arm.

The hanger is preferably made of a plastics material with a metal coil spring of a pre-selected tension which will be sufficiently endurable to maintain a constant pressure on a garment on the hanger whether that be a small garment or the largest possible garment which can be supported by the hanger.

The elongate interconnecting member 4 is also of a resilient plastics material to enable it to be moved in and out of contact with either the wall 32 or the end 33 of the recess 31.

While a plastics material is preferred any other suitable material can be used such as wood, cardboard, metal, rubber and any synthetic resin or plastics material.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A garment hanger having a body and an arm movable into the body against bias means acting to force the movable arm in an outward direction from the body, and adjustment means on the arm for adjusting the maximum distance the arm will travel outwardly relative to the body to operate the hanger over a range of sizes of garment, wherein the arm of the hanger is a one piece construction with portions thereon interengageable by adjustable locking means coupled with the bias means to provide a number of adjustment positions to increase or decrease the length of the arm thereby to accommodate on the hanger at each position of the arm a respective one of a number of sizes of garment, the length of the arm being adjustable when the adjustment means projects from the body, wherein the bias means biases the arm outwardly to a maximum extent at which the adjustable locking means projects outwardly of the body.

2. A garment hanger as claimed in claim 1, wherein the adjustment means comprises an interconnectable member coupled with the bias means and is lockable into a slot on the movable arm.

3. A garment hanger as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the interconnecting member is a resilient arm which is movable laterally to a longitudinal direction of the arm and body to disengage the interconnecting member from the arm and to allow the adjustment of the movable arm relative to the body of the garment hanger.

4. A garment hanger as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the adjustable -locking means is engageable with end stops to set the maximum and minimum length of the movable arm.

5. A garment hanger as claimed in claim 4, comprising an interference fit between the adjustable locking means and top and bottom webs of the movable arm having an Ishaped cross-section to control movement of the arm intermediate the maximum and minimum lengths thereof.

6. A garment hanger as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the maximum and minimum range of sizes for a particular hanger is determined by the innermost/outermost end walls defining a recess of the arm of the hanger.

7. A garment hanger as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the body of the hanger is of a generally inverted U-shaped cross-sectional configuration.

8. A garment hanger as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the body, includes a number of internal ribs for guiding the bias means and the movable arm within the body.

9. A garment hanger as claimed in claim 8, wherein the bias means is a coil spring and is maintained in a closed end of the inverted U-shaped body by an innermost pair of opposing ribs, one on each side, respectively, of the body.

10. A garment hanger as claimed in claim 9, wherein the movable arm is supported in the body by a second outermost pair of opposed internal ribs.

11. A garment hanger as claimed any one of the preceding claims, wherein the movable arm has a stop in the region of its innermost end within the body for engaging with a stop on the outermost end of the body to prevent the movable arm from being pushed outwardly of the body by the bias means.

12. A garment hanger as claimed in the claim 11, wherein the locking device at the end of the movable arm is a resilient tongue which is movable inwardly to allow removal of the movable arm from the body.

13. A garment hanger substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as illustrated in, Figs. 1 to 6, or Figs. 1 to 6 as modified by Fig. 7 of the accompanying drawings.