US1184288A

US1184288A - Automatic folding hanger.

Info

Publication number: US1184288A
Application number: US1760615A
Authority: US
Inventors: Frank W Wesner
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1915-03-29
Filing date: 1915-03-29
Publication date: 1916-05-23
Anticipated expiration: 1933-05-23

Description

F. W. WESNER.

AUTOMATIC FOLDING HANGER. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 29. 1915.

1,184,288. I Patented May23, 1916.

- Ewen-far w Frank 20. Mesa? ea AUTOMATIC FOLDING HANGER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 23, 1916.

Application filed March 29, 1915. Serial No. 17,606.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK WV. WVEsNnn, of Brookline, in the county of Norfolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Folding Hangers, of which the fol lowing is a specification.

This invention relates to garment hangers, and more particularly to devices of this character which are employed to display shirt waists and gowns.

In general, my present invention is of the same character as that described and. claimed in Letters Patent No. 1,066,170, granted to me July 1, 1913, in which it is explained that it is highly desirable to provide a hanger which can be inserted in or withdrawn from a garment without necessitating manipulation of the closures of the garment when the neck or waist opening of the garment is narrower than the usual width or length of a garment hanger. The structure illustrated in said patent is such that the arms can only automatically assume inserting position by so holding the device that the arms will move toward each other by gravity when the spring is collapsed by hand. Hence, it is necessary to hold the device substantially vertically in order that the arms may drop when unlocked or released.

The object of my present invention is to provide an improved structure which, when the spring is manually collapsed, the arms may be positively closed or folded to position to insert them in a garment, regardless of the position in which the device is held during manipulation. Therefore, the arms can be inserted through the neck opening of the waist or the waist opening of a skirt, when the garment is lying flat upon a table or even if the garment is inverted, the arms being positively and automatically closed for insertion or for release.

With these and other objects in view my invention consists in the improved folding garment hanger, substantially as hereinafter described and claimed.

Of the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved hanger in one of itsembodiments, the arms being spread to their supporting position; Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the arms in their closed position either for inserting into a garment, or when folded for carrying in a traveling bag. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the supporting and operating member, omitber comprises a piece of wire bent interme-.

diate its ends, as shown by comparing Figs. 1 and 4t, to form a hook 12, the wire being twisted at 13, and a portion being coiled to form a spring 14. The end portions of the wire are coiled to provide two

pivot eyes

15, 16, and

loops

17, 18, as best shown in Fig. 3.

Each arm comprises a piece of wire preferably bent to form a supporting loop 19, one end of the wire being twisted around, as at 20, the other end being bent at substantially a right angle to provide a pivot 21 (see Fig. When the three parts are as- I sembled, one arm is passed through the loop 17 and its bent end is then fitted into the eye 16 and the extreme end of the portion 21 may be then headed down, a washer being employed, of course, if desired. tion of each arm which slides in or relatively to a

loop

17, or 18, when the device is shifted from the position shown in Fig. 1 to the position shown in Fig. 2, or vice versa, is ogee curved to provide a lower cam surface 22 and an upper cam surface 23.

Assuming that the user wishes to collapse or fold the arms, grasping the supporting or operating member and exerting pressure of the arms which have the loops 17 18, toward each other so that they shift to the position shown in Fig. 2, will permit the arms to fold or collapse if held vertically, or will force them positively to assume folded or collapsed position, regardless of how the device is held. This is because, after the lower ends of the

loops

17, 18, pass by the cam portions 22 moving toward the pivots 21, the upper ends of said

loops

17, 18 will contact with the upper cams 23 and so compel. the two arms to fold toward each other. This result is accomplished, as has been stated, regardless of the position in which the device is held in the hand. When the device is in, or substantially in the collapsed or folded condition illustrated in Fig. 2, the looped ends 19 of the arms can be pushed into even a very small opening in a garment,

The por without unbuttoning it or undoing its closures, or without any strain thereupon. Release of the collapsing pressure upon the

loops

17, 18, permits the spring 14 to spread those loops, and the lower ends of said loops riding over the cam curves 22, results in spreading the arms to supporting position, inside the garment. If this inserting has been done while the garment has been lying out smooth upon a table or ironing board, the assembling can be done with very little handling of the garment, and it can then be lifted from such table or ironing board and hung up.

It will now be seen that I have provided a device of this character which will enable its supporting arms to be positively closed and inserted while the garment is in any position, and which will enable the arms to be collapsed to release the garment, when it is hung up, without removing the hanger from its place of support. That is, if a garment that has been hung up on the hanger is to be removed, a simple collapsing of the supporting and operating member, so as to cause the

loops

17, 18, to approach each other, will cause the garment which has been supported to drop off. In other words, I have provided a hanger having arms which are automatically and positively shifted from supporting position to inserting position, without being obliged to hold the device so that the arms will collapse or close by gravity.

As clearly shown in Fig. 1, the device, when in use, has the

loops

17, 18 spread far enough apart so that the arms are locked in supporting position. This is because the inner ends of the two arms cross each other and the pivot of each arm is at a considerable distance from the portion of the arm which is through the operating loop at the other side of the device.

Having now described my invention, what I claim is:

1.-A garment hanger having a pair of garment supporting arms shiftable from supporting position to relatively collapsed position, a spring for shifting the arms to supporting position, and means whereby manual operation of the spring will positively swing th arms toward each other.

2. A garment hanger having a pair of swinging arms and an intermediate spring member provided with slotted portions embracing inner portions of said arms, said slotted portions having a normal tendency to move apart, the portions of the arms which pass through the slotted portions 01": the intermediate spring member being irregularly formed to present cam surfaces to be acted upon by the ends of the slots, whereby the arms will be positively swung toward each other under the manual operation of the spring.

' 3. A garment hanger comprising a centralmember having a pair of spring-separated loops, and a pair of garment supporting arms, each of said arms having a portion passing through one of said loops and pivotally connected to the central member adjacent the other of said loops.

4. A garment hanger comprising a pair of supporting arms and a central operating member therefor, said arms being pivotally connected to said central member and having cam portions, the central member including a spring having slotted portions embracing and acting on the cam portions of the arms to positively swing them toward or apart from each other.

5. A garment hanger comprising a central member and a pair of garment supporting arms, each of said members being of wire, the central member having a pairof springseparated loops, the arms passing through said loops and crossing each other and pivotally connected to the central member'adjacent the loops thereof.

6. A garment hanger comprising a central member and a pair of garment supporting arms, each of said members being of wire, the central member having a pair of springseparated loops, the arms passing through said loops and crossing each other and piv otally connected to the central member adjacent the loops thereof, the said arms being reversely curved adjacent their pivots to form cam surfaces adapted to be acted upon by the loops of the central member.

member of wire having a hook and coiled to form a spring, the wire having loops at its ends and pivot eyes adjacent said loops, and a pair of garment supporting arms,the inner ends being pivotally-mounted in said eyes, and having cam-shaped portions shiftable relatively to said loops, the portions of the arms between the other.

signature.

FRANK w. WESNER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. V

.100 7. A garment hanger comprising a central loops crossing each In testimony whereof I have aflixed my