GB2304563A

GB2304563A - Garment hanger

Info

Publication number: GB2304563A
Application number: GB9616740A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Neil Simon Owen
Original assignee: Mainetti UK Ltd
Current assignee: Mainetti UK Ltd
Priority date: 1995-08-26
Filing date: 1996-08-09
Publication date: 1997-03-26
Anticipated expiration: 2016-08-09
Also published as: GB9616740D0; GB2304563B; GB9517547D0

Abstract

A garment hanger 1 is disclosed having a body and a hook extending from the body for suspending the hanger. A pair of moveable arms 26, 27 are provided, each of which is slidable relative to the body and has a garment carrier 28 at one end thereof, and a rack 32, 36 remote from the distal end thereof. A pinion 39 is arranged within the body and engages the racks 33, 36 for causing movement of one of the arms 26, 27 relative to the body to effect opposite movement of the other arm 27, 26 relative to the body. The pinion 39 is arranged to move relative to the body in a direction generally parallel to the direction of movement of the arms 26, 27. Locking means 43 locks the arms 26, 27 in a plurality of predetermined positions relative to the body to prevent substantial reduction in the separation of the garment carriers 28, and further reduction of the separation of the garment carriers 28 when in one of the predetermined positions causes movement of the pinion 39 relative to the body. A compression spring 42 opposes such movement of the pinion 39 relative to the body, and depression of a button 13 releases the locking member 43 to allow free adjustment of the separation of the garment carriers 28.

Description

GARMENT HANGER This invention relates to a garment hanger of the type used to hang articles of clothing such as skirts or trousers on a display stand or for hanging these articles during storage.

The hanger finds particular but not exclusive application in circumstances in which a single size of hanger is used for hanging garments or articles of different sizes or types.

Garment hangers are known in which two arms are urged outwardly by springs into engagement with a garment. Pressure applied by the springs can distort or damage a delicate or elasticated garment, creating an unsightly display and possibly stretching the articles to such an extent that permanent damage may be caused.

Garment hangers are also known in which garment carriers are mounted on slidable arms, and locking means are arranged to lock the arms in selected positions corresponding to different garment sizes, preventing decrease or increase of the distance between the garment carriers in use. Such a garment hanger, however, does not provide an outwardly acting force urging the garment carriers into engagement with a garment, making the garment hanger difficult to use.

In an attempt to overcome these problems, EP-A-462143 discloses a garment hanger in which two interconnectable arms carrying garment carriers are slidably mounted to a hanger body such that movement of one of the arms causes an equal and opposite movement of the other arm. One of the arms is provided with a ratchet for engagement with teeth on a tab which protrudes from an aperture in the hanger body and is arranged adjacent one end of the hanger body to lock the moveable arms in position relative to the body. A spring arranged between the tab and the body enables limited movement of the arms relative to the body to allow the arms of the hanger to be compressed sufficiently to enable a garment to be removed from the hanger.

This known hanger suffers from the disadvantage that the arrangement of the spring in the vicinity of an opening in the hanger body means that objects such as pieces of fluff from clothing, or dust, can penetrate into the hanger body and gather in the spring, thus impairing its performance. Also the tab protruding from the hanger body can entangle garments and thus cause damage.

EP-A-482509 discloses a garment hanger having two arms slidably mounted to a hanger body, the arms each having a rack, so that the racks are interconnected by a pinion mounted to the hanger body such that movement of one arm causes a corresponding movement of the other arm. The arms can be locked in position relative to the hanger body, and the pinion is provided with a torsion spring such that inward displacement of the arms from a locked position causes flexing of the spring, which then rotates the pinion to push the arms outwards when the arms are released.

This known hanger suffers from the disadvantage that torsion springs are relatively complicated in construction, and an arrangement in which a torsion spring is mounted to a pinion on an axis on the hanger body is difficult to assemble. As a result, the manufacturing cost of such hangers is relatively high.

The present invention seeks to overcome these disadvantages of the prior art.

According to the present invention there is provided a garment hanger having a body; suspension means extending from the body for suspending the hanger; a pair of moveable arms, each of which is slidable relative to the body and comprises a garment carrier adjacent a distal end thereof for engaging and supporting a garment, and a rack remote from said distal end, wherein the racks are arranged opposite each other; a pinion arranged within the body and engaging the racks for causing movement of one of the arms relative to the body to effect opposite movement of the other arm relative to the body, wherein the pinion is arranged to move relative to the body in a direction substantially parallel to the direction of movement of the arms;; locking means for locking the arms in a plurality of predetermined positions relative to the body to prevent substantial reduction in the separation of the garment carriers, wherein further reduction of the separation of the garment carriers when in a said position causes said movement of the pinion relative to the body; biasing means arranged within the body to oppose said movement of the pinion relative to the body; and release means for releasing the locking means to allow free adjustment of the separation of the garment carriers.

By providing a biasing means within the body which only needs to oppose lateral movement of the pinion, the construction of the biassing means can be simplified, which reduces the cost of the component parts of the hanger, and the biasing means can be arranged well away from any apertures in the housing to avoid ingress into the biasing means of foreign matter from articles. Also, by avoiding the use of a torsion spring, the assembly of the hanger is simplified, which in turn constitutes to a reduction in the cost of the hanger.

Preferably, the pinion is adapted to rotate about a substantially horizontal axis. This provides the advantage of enabling axial end faces of the pinion to abut against inner side walls of the body, to minimise the risk of the pinion becoming dislodged during bending of the hanger.

In a preferred embodiment, a stub or axle of the pinion is received in a slot in the body, the slot extending substantially parallel to the direction of movement of the arms, such that the pinion can slide in the slot.

Preferably, the biasing means comprises a compression spring acting between the pinion and the body wherein the compression spring permits rotation of the pinion relative thereto.

This provides the advantage that the end of the spring remote from the pinion does not need to be fixed to the body, thus further simplifying construction and facilitating assembly.

The compression spring may be integral with the hub or axle of the pinion.

In a preferred embodiment, the locking means comprises an inter-engageable ratchet and stop, one element of which is fixed relative to the body and the other element of which is fixed relative to one of the moveable arms.

By enabling one of the arms to be rigidly fixed by the locking means relative to the body, further movement of the garment carrier of that arm relative to the body is prevented.

This provides the advantage of enabling the garment to be mounted to a hanger by manipulating one of the garment carriers only.

In this case, the ratchet may be a separable part.

This provides the advantage of enabling replacement of the ratchet when the ratchet teeth become worn, without the necessity of replacing the whole hanger.

A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described in detail, by way of example only and not in any limitative sense, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is an exploded view of a hanger embodying the invention and of which part of the body is removed for clarity; Figure 2 shows the assembled hanger of Figure 1 having garment carriers at a minimum separation; and Figure 3 shows the hanger of Figure 2 but having the garment carriers at a greater separation.

Referring to Figure 1, there is shown a garment hanger 1 having a body 2 which is open at each of its ends 3, 4. The body 2 is formed from two moulded front and rear parts of plastics material, only the rear part 5 of which is shown in the Figures for the sake of clarity. The rear part 5 of the body 2 has a back wall 6, an upper wall 7 and a lower wall 8.

The upper wall 7 comprises a first, rigid part 9, having a downwardly projecting stop 10 at the inner end thereof, and a second part 11 having a resilient portion 12 adjacent to the estop 10, the resilient portion 12 comprising a button 13 having a downward projection 14 on the lever face thereof and connected to the rest of the second part 11 via a flexible neck 15. A label carrier 16 extends from the upper face of the first part 9 and carries a hook 17 for suspending the hanger from a garment rail or display (not shown), the label carrier 16 and hook 17 being arranged in the middle of the upper wall 7 of the body 2.

The lower wall 8 of the rear part 5 of the body 2 extends parallel to the upper wall 7, and two internal walls 18, 19 are integrally moulded with the rear part 5 to form two channels 20, 21 at the left side of the rear part 5 thereof, and two channels 22, 23 at the right side thereof. The rear portion 5 is also provided with a longitudinally extending slot 24 and a transverse stop 25 integrally moulded with internal wall 19 located longitudinally of the slot 24.

Two slidably moveable arms 26, 27 are provided, each of which carries a garment carrier 28 at one end thereof. Each garment carrier 28 consists of a widened part 29 of the arm 26, 27 and having a resilient projection 30 for engaging a garment, for example by engaging the waistband of a skirt and which is resiliently displaceable longitudinally of the arm.

The resilient projections 30 of the garment carriers 28 are resiliently displaceable longitudinally of the associated arm 26, 27 and extend further outward of the arms 26, 27 at the lower part thereof, so that the separation of the outer extremities of the garment carriers 28 is greatest at the bottom parts thereof. This helps to prevent a garment from being accidentally dislodged from the hanger 1. The garment carriers 28 may also be provided with teeth or other suitable engagement means to assist in gripping the garment.

The arm 26 has a parallel sided central portion 31 of thickness such that it can slide in channel 21 in the rear port 5, and an end portion 32 narrower than the central portion 31.

The end portion 32 is bevelled at is distal end to aid in insertion into the body 2, and has a toothed rack 33 along the upper surface thereof. Similarly, arm 27 has a parallel sided central portion 34 and an end portion 35 remote from the garment carrier 28. The end portion 35 has a toothed rack 36 on the lower surface thereof and an upward projection 37, so that a longitudinal recess 38 is defined in the upper surface of the end portion 35.

A pinion 39 is provided with teeth corresponding to those in the toothed racks 33, 36 and has an axle 40 whose ends have an outer diameter corresponding to the inner width of the slot 24 in the rear part 5 of the body. A corresponding slot may be provided in the cover part (not shown) of the body 2 which mates with the rear part 5. The axle 40 of the pinion 39 is mounted to a bracket 41 which is integrally moulded with a compression spring 42 formed from any suitable plastics material, such as acetal, and is of undulating form of length corresponding to the distance between the slot 24 and the stop 25 protruding from wall 19.The dimensions of the spring are such that it can be accommodated in a gap between the lower wall of the arm 27 and the wall 19 of the body 2 when the arm 27 is located within the body, and such that the axle 40 of the pinion 39 rests at the left-hand end of slot 24 when the distal end of the spring 42 abuts against the stop 25.

A locking member 43 of length generally equal to that of the recess in the upper surface of the end portion 35 of arm 27 has a ratchet 44 formed in its upper surface such that the teeth of the ratchet 44 can engage with the stop 10 on the upper wall 7 of the body 2 to oppose further insertion of the arm 27 into the body. The locking member is also provided with a plurality of upwardly deflectable resilient projections 45 on its lower surface.

Referring to Figure 2, the hanger is assembled by locating the central portions 31, 34 of arms 36, 27 in the channels 21, 22 respectively of the rear part 5 so that the central portions 31, 34 are slidably moveable within the respective channels 21, 22. The spring 42 is arranged in the lower part of channel 22 between the lower wall of the arm 27 and the wall 19 of the body 2 such that the end of the axle 40 is located in the slot 24 in the rear part of the body. The locking member 43 is located in the recess 38 in the arm 27 such that the resilient projections 45 abut against the upper surface of the recess 38. The cover part (not shown) of the body is then assembled to the rear part.

Operation of the hanger will be readily understood.

When the garment carrier 28 of the moveable arm 26 is pulled outwardly of the body 2, the arm slides 26 within the body, and engagement of the toothed rack 33 of the arm 26 with the pinion 39 causes clockwise rotation thereof. Engagement of the pinion 39 with the toothed rack 36 of the other arm 27 causes the arm 27 to be displaced within the body 2 such that the garment carrier 28 thereof is displaced outwardly of the body 2 by an amount equal to that of the other garment carrier 28. Any tendency for the pinion 39 to be displaced laterally to the right as a result of the movement of either of the arms 26, 27 is resisted by the compressive force of the spring 42 abutting against the stop 25 on the body, such that no substantial movement of the pinion axle 40 relative to the body takes place.Movement of the arm 27 outwardly of the body is not opposed to any substantial extent by the stop 10 on the upper wall 7 of the body, which slides over the teeth on the ratchet 44 of the locking member 43, so that the arms 26, 27 can be withdrawn outwardly over the body to the position shown in Figure 3.

If an attempt is then made to push the arm 27 back into the body, the teeth on the ratchet 44 of the locking member 43 engage with the stop 10 on the body such that movement of the arm 27 inwardly of the body 2 cannot take place. As a result, if the garment carriers 28 are pressed towards each other, engagement of the toothed racks 33, 36 with the pinion 39 causes rotation of the pinion 39 relative to the toothed racks, which results in the pinion being forced to move along the slot 24 in the direction of arrow A shown in Figure 3 to compress the spring 42. This allows the garment carriers 28 to be moved towards each other to a limited extent, and the force of the spring 42 pushes the garment carriers 28 apart when the compressive force thereon is released.

To mount a garment to the hanger 1, the garment carriers 28 are pulled apart until the separation of the garment carriers is slightly greater than the internal width of the waist band of the garment when mounted to the hanger. One of the garment carriers 28 is mounted to the waistband of the garment, and the garment carriers 28 are then pressed towards each other to enable the garment carrier not yet attached to the garment to be mounted to the waistband of the garment. The compressive force on the garment carriers 28 is then released, and the resilient force of the spring pushes the garment carriers 28 apart to more securely engage the waistband of the garment. In order to remove the garment from the hanger, the carriers 28 are pushed together until the separation of the garment carriers is slightly greater than the internal width of the waistband of the garment to be removed.The garment can then be removed from the carriers.

In order to re-adjust the settings of the arms for different sizes of garment, the button 13 on the upper wall 7 of the body 2 is pressed by means of the thumb, and resilient flexing of the button 13 about the neck 15 causes the downward projection 14 thereof to press the ratchet 44 of the locking member 43 towards the upper surface of the recess 38 in the arm 27 against the resilient force of the resilient projections 45 of the locking member 43. This disengages the ratchet teeth from the stop 10 on the body, allowing free movement of the arms 26, 27 inwardly of the body as long as the button 13 is depressed. When the button 13 is released, the resilient force of the resilient projections 45 pushes the ratchet teeth back into engagement with the stop 10 on the body.

It will be readily appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the above embodiment is described by way of example only, and that various modifications and alterations are possible without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A garment hanger having a body; suspension means extending from the body for suspending the hanger; a pair of moveable arms, each of which is slidable relative to the body and comprises a garment carrier adjacent a distal end thereof for engaging and supporting a garment, and a rack remote from said distal end, wherein the racks are arranged opposite each other; a pinion arranged within the body and engaging the racks for causing movement of one of the arms relative to the body to effect opposite movement of the other arm relative to the body, wherein the pinion is arranged to move relative to the body in a direction substantially parallel to the direction of movement of the arms;; locking means for locking the arms in a plurality of predetermined positions relative to the body to prevent substantial reduction in the separation of the garment carriers, wherein further reduction of the separation of the garment carriers when in a said position causes said movement of the pinion relative to the body; biasing means arranged within the body to oppose said movement of the pinion relative to the body; and release means for releasing the locking means to allow free adjustment of the separation of the garment carriers.

2. A hanger according to claim 1, wherein the pinion is adapted to rotate about a substantially horizontal axis.

3. A hanger according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a stub or axle of the pinion is received in a slot in the body, the slot extending substantially parallel to the direction of movement of the arms, such that the pinion can slide in the slot.

4. A hanger according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the biasing means comprises a compression spring acting betwen the pinion and the body wherein the compression spring permits rotation of the pinion relative thereto.

5. A hanger according to claim 4, wherein the compression spring is integral with the hub or axle of the pinion.

6. A hanger according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the locking means comprises an inter-engageable ratchet and stop, one element of which is fixed relative to the body and the other element of which is fixed relative to one of the moveable arms.

7. A hanger according to Claim 6, wherein the ratchet is a separable part.

8. A garment hanger substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.