ITMI961169A1 - IMPROVEMENTS IN THE RECYCLING AND REUSE OF CRUTCHES FOR CLOTHES - Google Patents

Description

DESCRIPTION

This patent application is a partial continuation of the US patent application with serial number 08 / 472.912 which was registered on June 7, 1995. This invention refers to clothes hangers and in particular to a method and a system for recycling and the reuse of clothes hangers. The method and the system can be applied to clothes hangers, hereinafter referred to as "crutches", made of different materials, but since most of the crutches made today in the world are made of plastic material, the invention will be illustrated and described in connection with the processing of plastic crutches.

FOUNDATIONS OF THE INVENTION

All or almost all garments - pants, shirts, skirts, blouses, men's suits, women's suits, underwear, etc. - manufactured in many countries around the world that have clothing manufacturing capabilities, they are placed on crutches for presentation to the final consumer in a retail warehouse. In the most common commercial practice, garments are placed on crutches in the locality where the garment is manufactured, although in a few cases a garment may be assembled on a crutch at the point of sale just before the garment is presented to the final consumer for sale. However, if crutch use occurs initially at the garment manufacturer's facility or retail location, the commercial and environmental situations referring to the handling of the hangers arise.

A major concept regarding the treatment of the hangers is the cost that affects them. In the typical situation a crutch, usually made of plastic material, is manufactured by the manufacturer of the crutch and shipped to the garment manufacturer. The garment manufacturer places the newly manufactured garments on the skins and then sends the garments over the skins to a distribution location or, more frequently, directly to a retail warehouse where the garment is displayed for sale to the final buyer. Some clothing, such as men's and women's clothing, can be transported home by the consumer after purchase in the retail warehouse on the shelf on which it was displayed for sale, however the vast majority of crutches are removed from the I live with a retail warehouse employee at the cash register or at a control station, the crutch therefore being placed in a container.At the end of the day, or at least periodically, the container is emptied into a garbage container in the warehouse at the detail. Discarded crutches, which can be of many different shapes and sizes and produced by different crutches manufacturers, are then dumped as rubbish for combustion, deposition in pits in a trash depot, etc. As the cost to the manufacturer of garments of a typical plastic crutch can be, for example, about 15 C at present, it can be seen that a substantial economic cost is involved in the presentation of garments on crutches in the retail warehouse. In addition, the retail warehouse has to dispose of discarded crutches which entails an additional cost for the retailer.

It is important to note that the vast majority of crutches that are discarded in this way are perfectly usable and quite suitable for one or more reuses. The material from which the crutch is made, usually plastic, and the construction of the crutch are such that the crutches are designed to withstand high stresses during use.The vast majority of crutches are therefore destroyed although they are perfectly suitable for a further use as clothes hangers.

From the above description it is also seen that the usual crutches treatment system wastes natural resources and manpower. Plastics, mostly petroleum-based and, due to the current destruction system of clothes hangers, new plastics obtained from the basic crude oil reserve must be used after a lifetime use of the crutch. As it can be seen, the manufacture of 10 crutches by the crutches manufacturer requires more labor and therefore costly labor, compared to using a single crutch ten times, assuming that an economically feasible system is available. for the collection, selection, renewal when necessary, and shipping of previously used crutches. There are also less obvious, but real, societal and environmental costs in the usual crutches handling system involving the deposition of literally several tons of crutches, which take up a lot of space, in garbage dumps, and the relative fuel cost of reducing crutches. in a state of raw material for example with combustion or compression.

Of course it is possible that the retail trader periodically selects crutches that have been collected in boxes and ships them to the crutches manufacturer or garment manufacturer, however retail warehousing labor is not usually available to carry out the work of the crutches. additional selection, the clothing manufacturer and the crutches manufacturer are not equipped to receive and further work the crutches returned. The selection difficulties at the retail warehouse level are particularly high and include the separation of similar-looking crutches into groups intended for the original manufacturer, and the problem of disposing of tedium crutches, usually composed of a relatively inexpensive material. low, which are not suitable for recycling. The crutches mentioned last are of course suitable for re-grinding, but since neither the clothing manufacturer nor the crutches manufacturer is currently equipped to handle such crutches economically, the retail warehouse trader has a disposal problem. as described above.

Although the economic inefficiency related to the present clothing crutches treatment system has been recognized, there is today no known system for the recycling and reuse of clothing crutches that (a) does not require selection at the point of termination of commercial use of the crutch (i.e. at the cash register in the retail warehouse), (b) accept usable crutches and crutches that have no further commercial potential use and therefore must be disposed of or ground again, and reusable crutches to garment manufacturers, including shipping from the original shipping points that are located in more strategic locations, and therefore have a lower handling cost than shipments originating from the new material manufacturing locations.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention is a method and system for the recycling and reuse of clothes hangers that are usable for localized or global geographic areas, which eliminates the selection at crutches collection points (i.e. generally retail stores), handle the reusable crutches and grind only the crutches without limitation of the mixed members thereof, efficiently renew and return the reusable crutches to the relevant points of further use or processing, and perform all this on a basis which is economically reliable for the manufacturer of the bars, the clothing manufacturer and retail stores.

In the currently preferred embodiment, a reuse center of the foils is established in a location which is convenient, mainly, for the shipment of the previously used foils to that location, and, secondarily, for the shipment of the renewed foils from that location to the locations of re-use of the crutches, the said re-use center concentrating in one place the functions of selecting, renewing, grinding and shipping all crutches from all the original manufacturers of the crutches used previously.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

The invention is illustrated more or less schematically in the attached drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the clothing crutches recycling system of this invention;

Figure 2 is a flow chart illustrating the processing of clothes hangers in the reuse center of Figure 1; And

Figure 3 is a flow chart illustrating an alternative embodiment of the processing of the clothes hangers in the reuse center of Figure 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A currently preferred embodiment of the method and system for recycling and reusing the clothes hangers of this invention is indicated as a whole with 10 in Figure 1. The method and the system, subsequently, the "system" for the sake of brevity, is illustrated in form it would take in a crutches manufacturing and distribution system typical for many countries. The system includes (a) a US home crutches manufacturer, (b) one or more, here a plurality of new crutches manufacturers working under license from the US crutches manufacturer to sell to US clothing manufacturers , but located in other countries, (c) clothing manufacturers located in the US and elsewhere, (d) a similar configuration of crutches and clothing manufacturers unrelated to the US crutches manufacturer, (e) a plurality of warehouses at detail of the USA generating used crutches, and (f) a crutches reuse and redistribution center. For purposes of clarity of understanding of the general concept, the flow path of the reusable crutches only, the final stages of the ground crutches and the ground material, and also the waste material which are illustrated in Figure 2 have been illustrated.

A US-based crutches manufacturer is indicated at 11 in Figure 1. The concept of handling associated with the manufacture, use and subsequent reuse of crutches manufactured by said US crutches manufacturer will be initially described to illustrate the concept. Basic. The crutches manufactured by the US manufacturer 11 move to two destinations.

A first batch of hangers, denoted by 12, is shipped to a garment manufacturer in the USA, denoted by 13. Garments manufactured by the manufacturer 13 are placed on hangers 12 in the US garment manufacturing plant 13. , now reference number 14, are shipped to US retailers labeled 15.

A number of US retailers and major retailers in general order crutches directly from a crutches manufacturer, usually in the same country where the retail stores are located.

To accomplish this commercial method, a second batch of crutches, manufactured by the US crutches manufacturer 11 can be shipped directly to the larger retailers, designated 16, thereby bypassing the US clothing manufacturer. The retailer 15 then takes responsibility for placing the clothing on the crutch, after which the clothing on the crutches are presented to consumers in retail stores.

Similarly, the reused crutches that have been processed in the reuse center 18 can be shipped, as indicated at 21, directly to the retailer 15 when the retailer, as stated above, takes responsibility for placing the garments on the crutches.

After the sale of the garment in a retail warehouse, the crutches are then separated from the garments at the retailers at the time when retail buyers, i.e. normal consumers, buy the garment in the retail warehouse. Crutches now empty, but used only once, are collected in the retail warehouse in a container that can hold different sizes and designs of crutches, and, most likely, crutches from other crutches manufacturers in addition to the crutches manufacturer 11. USA. Some of the crutches from the original lot 12 together with crutches of different sizes and designs most likely coming from both the crutches manufacturer 11 and other crutches manufacturers are then shipped in an unselected group, denoted by 17, to a center recycling of crutches 18. After selection, inspection (to eliminate broken or otherwise non-reusable or unrecognizable crutches), renewal (when necessary) and packing in similar crutches containers, said containers are shipped as indicated with 20 to the US garment manufacturer 13 in which crutches are reused for the garment shipping process, collection and reuse as indicated at 13 and 14.

Several companies in the crutches manufacturing industry today have branches of crutches manufacturers that may have offices in countries outside the US, the said branches being any company with one or more manufacturing licenses, wholly owned or affiliated (Joint Venture ) with the aforementioned US companies. For example, it is common practice for a crutches manufacturing plant to be located in a country where actual clothing manufacturing takes place; indeed crutches are frequently installed in the vicinity of garment manufacturing plants. In the example shown in Figure 1, two licensees of the US crutches manufacturer, a Hong Kong crutches manufacturer 23 and a Korean crutches manufacturer 24, manufacture crutches 25 and 26, and ship them to Hong Kong garment manufacturers. / China 27 and Korea garment manufacturer 28 respectively. The clothes on the crutches are then shipped, as indicated with 29, 30, respectively, to the retailers in the USA 15 in which they are used as described above in connection with the original crutches which were produced by the manufacturer of the crutches in the USA 11.

The method and system are not limited to crutches manufactured by, or under the control of, a primary crutches manufacturer, such as a US crutches manufacturer 11. Instead, the method and system are flexible enough to receive crutches manufactured by manufacturers of crutches. unrelated crutches in the US and other countries.

Referring again to Figure 1, other manufacturers of crutches, located in the USA and / or other countries, are indicated with 32. These non-affiliated crutches manufacturers ship their crutches 33 to garment manufacturing plants in any country of the world, including the USA denoted by 34. Said garment manufacturers worldwide may have no relationship with garment manufacturers 27 and 28, or they may be identical to garments manufacturers 27 and / or 28, or they may be a combination of one or more garment manufacturers 27 and 28 and other garment manufacturers not affiliated with them. For ease of understanding the invention Figure 1 appears visually to indicate that garment manufacturers 34 are separate and distinct from manufacturers of garments 27 and 28, but it is to be understood that manufacturers of garments 34 are understood to be of generic meaning. The garments that have now been assembled on crutches in factories 34 are then shipped, as indicated by 35, to the US retailer 15, where, like clothes on crutches from the US garment manufacturer 13, they are then processed in the same way as described above.

It should be understood that if large US retailers wish to purchase crutches only from crutches manufacturing plants other than those associated with the US crutches manufacturer 11, such crutches could only be shipped by non-associated crutches manufacturers 32 directly to the US crutches. retailer 15.

From the above description it can be seen that once (a) an original crutch leaves a US crutches manufacturer who is related to a US garment manufacturer or US retailer, or (b) the crutches leave a factory in the manufacture of clothes, said crutches, in fact, enter the program for reuse of crutches indicated by the dotted line 37.

From a careful study of the aforementioned method and system it will be noted that variations within the scope of the invention can be used if the conditions, and in particular the cost and availability of delivery, allow.

The crutches recycling center 17 of Figure 1 is illustrated in greater detail in Figure 2, in which it is characterized as a crutches recycling facility. In the following description of the method and system details as disclosed in Figure 2 it is assumed that the crutches entering the crutches recycling facility are of different sizes and shapes, and also of different quality due to the fact that some are suitable for recycling after selection, inspection and renewal and others, of the disposable variety, they are not suitable for recycling and therefore must be regrind or discarded or disposed of as an unusable material.

The crutches 17 of the retailers 15 enter the shoe recycling plant 18 at an entry point 40 and move to a collection area 41 which contains the supply of incoming material from many retail stores. It will be noted that the crutches 17, in their input condition, are more likely unselected in the sense that crutches from different crutches manufacturers and, furthermore, crutches of different sizes, compositions and qualities can be mixed together in a container of This naturally stems from the fact that retail warehouse employees only store pieces of all sizes, shapes and brands of crutches in a common container after the retail customer purchases a garment. The most common crutches materials today are polystyrene, polypropylene and crystalline styrene.

The crutches 17 are first subjected to a selection and control operation in a selection and control station 4. In station 42 the workers 43 select the bars 17 into those that must be discarded and those that can be reused. to be discarded are placed on a waste conveyor 44, and those crutches which are suitable for recycling are deposited on a recycling conveyor 45.

The crutches to be discarded are transported to a waste sorting station 46 in which one or more sorting workers 47 introduce the regrind polystyrene crutches into a polystyrene container 48, the regrind polypropylene pellets and the regrind crystalline styrene pellets into the container. polypropylene and crystalline styrene 49, and discard the crutches into the waste container 50. The polystyrene, polypropylene and crystalline styrene crutches are placed on a newly ground conveyor 51 which transports the crutches to the grinding station 52.

The waste crutches are discharged from the dog recycling system a deposit in the waste container 53.

After reaching the grinding station 52 the polystyrene, polypropylene and crystalline styrene crutches are directed to separate grinders 54, 55, 56 in which, after grinding to a desired particle size, the three types of material are directed to a crutches manufacturing plant 11 for the new manufacture of crutches. As mentioned these crutches in the sorting and control station 42 which pass the inspection and are deemed suitable for recycling are placed in a recycling conveyor 45. After deposition on the recycling conveyor 45, the workers of the sorting and control station 61 inspect crutches to determine if a single crutch is (a) in clean and marketable condition or (b) requires renewal.

If a worker 61, after inspection, determines that a crutch requires renewal in order to bring it back to the condition suitable for sale, that renewal, including cleaning, is performed by the worker 61. Obviously the further processing is included within the concept of the renewal, including the tightening of the loose components, the removal of the parts indicating the size and, probably, also the replacement of the broken or lost parts. If a worker 61 determines that a specific crutch is too deteriorated to be quickly renewed, the worker will simply deposit the deteriorated crutch onto the waste conveyor 44 in which it will be processed as described above.

Although only one transporter is indicated in Figure 2, optionally a plurality of transporters can be provided, one for each crutches manufacturer. Obviously one transporter will be dedicated to crutches manufactured by the US crutches manufacturer 11, and the other (s) will be intended for other manufacturers of crutches 32, see Figure 1.

In the continuation of the description of the invention it is assumed that crutches of all shapes, brands and sizes are mixed on the conveyor 45.

The now renewed crutches coming out of the conveyor 45 in its discharge end 62 are arranged on the loading end 63 of a sorting and packing conveyor indicated as a whole with 64. After deposition on the conveyor 64, the sorting workers separate the renewed crutches. For example, the sorting worker 65 can take out all the crutches of the US crutches manufacturer 11 by moving them along the outer half 66 of the conveyor 64 and can arrange these crutches on the inner half 66 of the conveyor 4. The sorting worker 68 can pick up all the crutches. crutches manufactured by the manufacturers of non-associated crutches 32 and place them on the inner half 67 of the conveyor 64. For the same purpose, the sorting worker 69 can pick up the crutches manufactured by the manufacturers of non-associated crutches 32, etc ..

Packer workers 70 and 71 pack similar crutches into boxes 72 at packing station 73-78. For this the packer 70 can pack all the clothes hangers 10 "and 12" in boxes 3 and 4 in the packing station 73, one size for each box, while the empty boxes 1 and 2 await the movement in one position When the boxes 3 and 4 are full the platform in the packing station 73 on which the boxes 1, 2, 3 and 4 are arranged is rotated by 180 ° so that the filled boxes 3 and 4 are moved from the loading position shown in Figure 2 to the extraction position occupied by boxes 1 and 2 of Figure 2 The rotation of the platform will naturally bring the empty boxes 1 and 2 into a loading position, and the packer 70 then begins to fill the boxes 1 and 2.

It will be understood that if the clothes hangers 10 "and 12" reaching station 73 are greater in number than can be handled by the workers 70 due to the speed of the conveyor, the capacity of the boxes and the downtime of the station As the full boxes are rotated to clear an unloading position and the empty boxes are brought to a filling position, a branch line packer in a branch line packing station will also pack the 10 "menswear blanks and 12 ". If, however, packer 71 can pack all men's clothes hangers 10 "and 12" from crutches manufacturer 11 in station 73, then a packer from branch line 71 will pack only women's suits and women's clothes crutches in station 74, and thus on / through station 78.

After packing in boxes 1-24 of packing stations 73-78, the foils are then moved to the finished goods area for resale 80. When orders are received for shipment, the refurbished recycled foils move to a manufacturer of US clothes 13 as illustrated with 18 or, alternatively, directly to retailer 15 as illustrated with 21 (see Figure 1).

It will be noted that the recycling center 17 of the cells can be arranged in the most convenient and economical position; that is to say, it need not be positioned in a specific position indicated by a single factor, such as the position of a standard manufacturer. If, for example, a large amount of used crutches are generated in a well-defined geographical area, such as the Northeast coast from, for example, Washington D.C. in Boston, Mass., it may be cheaper, considering all factors, including transportation and labor costs, to locate the stanpelle recycling plant near Philadelphia, even if the US 13 garment manufacturer and the manufacturer of stanpelle 11 can be located near Chicago. If, on the other hand, a sufficient quantity of used leather is only generated over a large geographic area, such as the Midwest, it may be more convenient to locate the recycling plant 18 near a US garment manufacturer 13 so that the The clothes requested by the garment manufacturer 13 can be moved from a dock 81, see Figure 2, to the recycling plant 18 via a continuous lifted conveyor directly into the garment / fabric assembly station in the garment manufacturing plant of the garment manufacturer. clothes 13.

With reference now to the alternative embodiment of the recycling center of Figure 1 as illustrated in Figure 3, it will be noted that the mechanical and, more precisely, automatic sorting means 84 have been incorporated into the system in partial or complete replacement of the sorting workers 47 shown in Figure 2. Particularly in this case, an infrared sorting device has been placed in the discharge end of the waste conveyor, the device functioning to distinguish between polystyrene for one side and polypropylene and / or crystalline styrene for another side, and after the detection of the presence of one or the other, operating automatically to direct each material detected into the appropriate container 48 or 49 or even additional containers if the device is calibrated to distinguish between polypropylene and crystalline styrene. Once a used crutch reaches container 48 or 49 it is processed as described above.

It is to be understood that, at the present time, while the sorting device 83 can distinguish between the types of material presented to it, such devices cannot apply judicious decisions to decide which crutches are suitable for reuse, i.e. mainly new grinding. , and such as crutches which, due to a certain economically non-reusable condition, cannot be reused and must be isolated and removed from the system. System operators must therefore have the option of (a) separating all crutches that are not clearly selectable in containers 48 and 49 into an "all others" category that are automatically diverted to waste container 50, and (b) use human personnel to implement the appropriate decision. If a certain amount of human personnel is used, which is preferable as even a polystyrene crutch, for example may not be suitable for re-sanding for one reason or another, only a single operator is generally required as opposed to one. plurality of sorting workers as indicated in Figure 2.

From the foregoing it will be noted that a method and system has been disclosed to recycle and reuse clothes hangers that are of local or global application, to eliminate the sorting and disposal of crutches in retail warehouses, and to reuse those hangers that they are reusable in their original factory or regrind form and achieve those objectives in a way that is economically feasible for the crutches manufacturer, garment manufacturer and retail warehouse traders.

While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described, it will be clear to those skilled in the art that modifications can be made within the spirit and scope of the invention. In accordance with the foregoing, it is understood that the scope of the invention is not limited only by the scope of the preceding exemplary description, but only by the scope of the claims attached hereafter, when interpreted in the light of the related prior art.

Claims (24)

CLAIMS 1. In a method of reuse and recycling of clothes hangers the stages of: - collection of a batch of clothes hangers at a collection location, - the transfer of that collected batch of clothes hangers to a reuse and recycling facility, - the selection of said collected batch of clothes hangers in a first portion potentially suitable for re-use and a second portion, - renewal of the first portion, - transfer of said first renewed portion to a re-use location, - treatment of at least a first part of said second portion for recycling, and transfer of said first treated part of said second portion to a recycling location. 2. The method of claim 1 further characterized in that said reuse location is a clothing manufacturing location. 3. The method of claim 1 further characterized in that said reuse location is a clothing sales location. 4. The method of claim 1, further characterized in that: - a first quantity of said first renewed portion of said collected batch is transferred to a garment manufacturing location, and - a second quantity of said first renewed portion of said collected batch is transferred to a clothing sales location. 5. The method of claim 1, further characterized in that: - the treatment of the said first part of the said second portion involves the modification of its physical state to a shape suitable for the new manufacture in a finished product, and furthermore comprising the stages of: - isolation of a second part of said second portion, and - rejection of said second part of said second portion. 6. The method of claim 5, further characterized in that: - the stage of treatment of the first part of said second portion comprises the new grinding. 7. The method of claim 4, further characterized in that: - the treatment of the said first part of the said second portion comprises the modification of its physical state to a shape suitable for the new manufacture in a finished product, further comprising the stages of: - isolation of a second part of said second portion, and - rejection of said second part of said second portion. 8. The method of claim 7, further characterized in that the step of treating the first part of said second portion comprises the new grinding. 9. The method of claim 1, further characterized in that: - firstly the batch of clothes hangers collected at the collection site includes crutches manufactured from a commonly manufactured source, and - secondly, due to the fact that the selection of said first portion is of any one or more than one of the characteristics chosen in the group of size, shape, color and quality. 10. The method of claim 9, further characterized in that: - a first quantity of said first renewed portion of said collected batch is transferred to a garment manufacturing location, and - a second quantity of said first renewed portion of said collected batch is transferred to a clothing sales location. 11. The method of claim 9, further characterized in that: - the treatment of said first part of said second portion comprises changing its physical state to a shape suitable for remanufacturing into a finished product, and also including the stages of: - isolation of a second part of said second portion, and - rejection of said second part of said second portion. 12. The method of claim 11, further characterized in that the step of treating the first part of said second portion comprises the new grinding. 13.A garment hanger reuse and recycling system, said system comprising means for collecting a batch of used clothes hangers at a collection location, - means for transferring said collected batch to a reuse and recycling plant, - means, in the plant, for selecting the said batch collected in a first portion potentially suitable for re-use and a second portion, - means for renewing said first portion in the reuse and recycling plant, - means for transferring said first renewed portion to a re-employment location, - means for treating at least a first part of said second portion for recycling, e - means for transferring said first treated part of said second portion to a recycling plant. 14. The system for reusing and recycling clothes crutches of claim 13, further characterized in that: - said means for treating the first part of said second portion for recycling comprise: - means for changing the physical state of said first part of said second portion to a shape suitable for re-manufacturing into a finished product, and further comprising: - means for isolating a second part of said second portion, e - means for discarding the said second part of the said second portion. 15. The system for reusing and recycling clothes crutches of claim 14, further characterized in that: - the means for treating said first part of said second portion are grinding machines. 16. The method of claim 5, further characterized in that said second portion is manually selected in a first part suitable for recycling and a second part provided for rejection. 17. The method of claim 5, further characterized in that said second portion is not manually selected in a first part suitable for recycling and a second part intended for rejection. 18. The method of claim 5, further characterized in that said second portion is selected in a first part suitable for recycling and a second part provided for rejection by manual and non-manual means. 19. The clothing crutches reuse and recycling system of claim 14 further comprising manual means for selecting said second portion in a first part and a second part. 20. The system for reusing and recycling clothes crutches of claim 19, further characterized in that the means for treating said first part of said second portion are grinding means. 21. The clothing crutches reuse and recycling system of claim 14 further comprising non-manual means for selecting said second portion in a first part and a second part. 22. The system for reusing and recycling clothes crutches of claim 21, further characterized in that the means for treating said first part of said second portion are grinding means. 23. The clothing crutches reuse and recycling system of claim 14 further comprising manual and non-manual means for selecting said second potion in a first part and a second part. 24. The system for reuse and recycling of clothes hangers of claim 23, further characterized in that the means for treating said first part of said second portion are grinding means. CAPTIONS AND FIGURES FIGURE 1 23) US MANUFACTURER'S CRUTCH LICENSEE IN HONG KONG 11) MANUFACTURER OF CRUTCHES IN USA 24) AFFILIATE JV OF THE USA STAMP MANUFACTURER IN KOREA 25) STAMPELLE 27) MANUFACTURE OF CLOTHES IN H.K./CHINA 13) MANUFACTURE OF CLOTHES IN THE USA 28) MANUFACTURE OF CLOTHES IN KOREA 29) DRESSES WITH CRUTCHES 35) DRESSES WITH CRUTCHES 34) MANUFACTURE OF CLOTHES WORLDWIDE 33) CRUTCHES 32) OTHER MANUFACTURERS OF CRUTCHES 15) USA RETAILERS FOR ES. SEARS WAIMART MERVYNS 18) CENTER FOR REUSE OF CRUTCHES 20) REUSED CRUTCHES