US2423961A

US2423961A - Adjustable skirt hanger

Info

Publication number: US2423961A
Application number: US645281A
Authority: US
Inventors: Frederick L Buxton
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1946-02-04
Filing date: 1946-02-04
Publication date: 1947-07-15
Anticipated expiration: 1964-07-15

Description

July 15, 1947. F. L. BUXTON 2,423,961

ADJUSTABLE SKIRT HANGER Filed Feb. 4, 1946 Absage/cfm. Saffo/v,

:Nl/mma Afro/aven Patented July 15, 1947 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,423,961 ADJUSTABLE sxmtr HANGER Frederick L. auml, North nnuywoea, cam. Application February 4, 1946, Serial No. 645,281; (ci. 223-94) 3 Claims. 1 This invention relates generally to hangers, and more specifically to an adjustable skirt hanger adapted to support one or more skirts thereon. It is an object of this invention to provide an adjustable skirt hanger with a hook which may be readily folded on the central body portion of the hanger so as not to hook into or engage clothes or other materials in the event the hanger is stored in a grip, trunk, or other receptacle.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an adjustable skirt hanger with manually operable release means for readily and rapidly` releasing the hanger from the skirt or skirts engaged therewith.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an adjustable skirt hanger adapted to engage the interior of a waistband of a skirt or plurality of skirts and which may be readily adjusted to fit skirts of different sizes.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an adjustable skirt hanger wherein the skirt-engaging portions are resiliently urged outwardly engaging the interior of the waistband of a skirt or plurality of skirts in a positive manner.

It is also an object of this invention to provide an adjustable skirt hanger wherein the skirtengaging portions are furcated so as to support a plurality oi' skirts.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an adjustable skirt hanger wherein the furcated, skirt-engaging portions of the hanger are pivotally mounted so that a limited rotation of the furcated, skirt-engaging portions may take place so that-one skirt may be removed from the hanger without disturbing the oth'er skirt or skirts. l

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of my invention.

Fig. 2 is a front view of a hanger illustrating a diil'erent embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 3 is a top sectional view taken along lines III-III of Fig. 2 showing the internalconstruction of the hanger.

Fig. 4 is a front fragmentary view of the modification shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is an end view of Fig. 4.

Generally speaking, the first embodiment of my invention comprises a hollow, cylindrical, lon.. gitudinal body portion, said body portion having longitudinal slots in the sides near the ends thereof. A coil compression spring is mounted within said hollow longitudinal body portion. vA cylindrical. movable element is coaxially, partially inserted into each end of the hollow cylindical, longitudinal body portion and abuts said coil compression spring. A retaining pin or rivet is inserted through the inner end of each of said movable, cylindrical elements. Each of the retaining pins or rivets cooperates with the slots in the walls of the hollow body member so as to allow limited, coaxial, longitudinal movement of the movable, cylindrical elements with said hollow body portion. A manual release member is also -connected to each' retaining pin.w The purpose of this manual release member is to make it possible to move with one hand both movable, cylindrical elements coaxially inwardly within the hollow body portion against the force exerted by the coil compression spring. Each of the movable elements partially mounted within the hollow body portion has a furcated skirt supporting or holding member mounted on the outer end thereof. 'These furcated, skirt supporting or holding members preferably have notches in the outer edges thereof so as to firmly engage the inner side of the waistband of the skirt to be supported. Said furcated, skirt supporting or holding members are i'lxed to the outer ends of the movable elements by means of pinsor any other suitable means.

A hook is connected to a hole in the center of the hollow, cylindrical body portion. In the illustration shown, the hook includes two laterally spaced sections and is pivotally mounted in the hole in the center of said body portion so that it may be pivoted so as to embrace the body portion between the lateral sections. The portions of -the hook entering the hole in the center of the body portion serve also to nx the center portion of the coil compression spring. However, said hook may be of conventional construction, if so desired. n

More specifically, a hollow, longitudinal', cylindrical body portion I has mounted in the center thereof a coil compression spring 2. A cylindrical, movable element 3 is coaxially, partially inserted within the outer end 4 ofthe hollow. cylindrical body portion l and abuts the right-hand end, as viewed in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, of coil compression spring 2. A cylindrical, movable element 5 is inserted in the end 6 of the hollow, cylindrical -body portion I and abuts theleft-hand end of coil compression spring 2, as viewed in Figs. 1, 2, and 3. 'I'he hollow body portion l has longitudinal slots 1 and 8 in the sides near the ends land 6 thereof. Slots l and 8 extend laterally through bothlwalls oi' the hollow, cylindrical -body portion 'I'he inner end of the movable element 3 has mounted thereon a manual release member by means of a retaining pin or rivet Il which cooperates with the slot I for allowing limited longitudinal coaxial movement of the movable element 3. The inner end of the movable element l has mounted thereon a manual release member II and a retaining pin or rivet I2 which cooperates with slot 1 for allowing a limited longitudinal movement of the movable element I.

A hook I3 Ipivotally engages a hole I4 through the center of the body portion I. Said hook Il is formed from one long, continuous piece of wire or wire shaped material which is bent back upon itself forming two laterally spaced sections. The two ends of said wire or wire-like material, which lit into the hole Il in the body portion I, engage the central portion of the coil compression spring 2, thus immobilizing said central portion of the coil 2. This allows hook I3 to be folded down so as to encompass the body portion I and be out oi the way when so desired.

A downwardly extending, bifurcated, skirt supporting or holding element I is mounted on the outer end of the movable element 3. The bifurcated skirt supporting or holding element I5 maybe spot welded, riveted, retained by a suitable pin or mounted in any other suitable manner on the outer end of said movable element 3. A similar, downwardly extending, blfurcated skirt supporting or holding element I8 is mounted on the outer end of movable element 5 in a manner similar to the mounting .of the bifurcated, skirt holding element I5. Both of said bifurcated, skirt holding elements I5 and I6 may be provided and are shown in the illustrations with notches I1 for more ilrmly engaging the inner surface of a skirt waistband.

In the operation of the device, the manual release members 9 and II are manually grasped and moved toward each other, thus compressing the coil compression spring 2 and inwardly, coaxially moving the movable elements 3 and 5 and the bifurcated skirt holding elements I5 and I6. This reduces the overall length of thehanger and allows the hanger to be inserted within a waistband of a skirt. The manual release elements 9 and Il are then released, allowing the coil compression spri'ng 2 to force the movable elements l and 5 and corresponding bifurcated skirt holding elements I5 and I8 in an outward direction, thus ilrmly engaging the interior of the skirt waistband. 'I'he notches I'I will firmly grip the interior of the skirt waistband.

Referring to Figs. 2, 4 and 5, a modified form of the skirt holding element is shown. A downwardly extending, bifurcated, notched skirt supporting or holding element I8 is rotatably mounted Within a lateral slot I9 within the outer end of the movable element 20 by means of a pin 0r stud 2 I. This allows the skirt holding element I5 to rotate about a vertical axis to a limited degree. Both of the skirt holding elements may be mounted in this manner in the modified version of my invention. This modication makes it possible to mount two skirts on the hanger at the same time, one side of a ilrst skirt being mounted on the portion 22 of the bifurcated skirt holding element and one side of a` second skirt being mounted on the portion 23 of the bifurcated skirt holding element. Either skirt may be removed from the hanger without disturbing the other by merely rotating the portion 22 or the portion 23 of the bifurcated skirt holding element I8, thus releasing the tension on one skirt while retaining it on the other. It can readily be understood that -4 this principle may be extended so as to include rurcated sldrt holding elements with more than two portions therein andcapable of supporting more than two skirts.-

It is to be clearly and distinctly understood that the hollow, cylindrical body portion I and the movable elements 3 and 5 which telescopically engage therewith might be rearranged so that the central body portion would be a Cylindrical, longitudinal body portion and the movable elements would be hollow, longitudinal, cylindrical members which would be slipped over the outer ends of the body portion. A coil spring would be placed inside each of the hollow, cylindrical,

movable elements so as to abut the outer ends of the body portion. The hollow, cylindricah movable elements would also be provided with longitudinal slots in the sides thereof --and the outer ends of said body portion would be iitted within said hollow, cylindrical, movable elements abutting the ends of said coil. Retaining pin means or rivets would be inserted through the outer ends of said body portion so as to cooperate with the slots in the movable elements and allow limited longitudinal, coaxial movement of said movable elements. Manual release means might be operably connected tothe inner ends of said hollow, cylindrical, movable elements to facilitate moving saidielements inwardly. A hook might be provided engaging the center portion of said body portion in a manner similar to that shown in the first embodiment of my invention. The bifurcated skirt supporting or holding elements might be mounted on the outer ends of said hollow, cylindrical, movable elements in a manner similar to that shown in the first embodiment of my invention. Thus it can be seen that this modiiied version is essentially the same as the first version of my invention, the engagement between the movable elements and the body portion being telescopic as in the rst emboditwo versions are in every sense equivalent.

Thus it can be seen that I have provided a small, cheap, light-weight, fool-proof skirt hanger adapted to accomplish all of .the objects set forth. Such hanger may be made of aluminum, plastic or any other suitable material. The examples given are for illustrative purposes and it can readily be understood that many modifications and variations of my invention will be readily suggested to those skilled in the art and I do notvlimit myself to the specidc examples given. My invention is limited only by the scope of the claims appended hereto.

I claim:

l. An adjustable skirt hanger comprising: a tubular, hollow body portion; aligned, longitudinally extending slots adjacent ends of the'body portion; a cylindrical, movable element mounted in each end of the body portion and extending therefrom; retaining means carried by each of said elements and cooperatively engaging a slot in the body portion;v spring means positioned within the body portion and normally urging the elements. outwardly; a downwardly extending holding member carried by the outer end of each movable element, one atleast of said holding body portion, said hook being pivotally connected to the body portion and including two laterally spaced sections whereby the hook may be pivoted to embrace the body portion between said sections, a portion of the hook extending into the body portion to anchor the spring means therein; and upwardly extending, manually movable release means operably connected to inner ends o! the movable elements through said body slots.

2. An adjustable skirt hanger comprising: a longitudinal, cylindrical body portion; a hollow, movable element mounted on each end of the body portion and extending therefrom; a longitudinally extending slot in each of said movable elements; retaining means carried by the body portion and cooperatively engaging the slots in the movable elements; spring means positioned within the hollow movable elements and normally urging said elements outwardly; a downwardly extending holding member carried by the outer end of each movable element, one at least of said holding members being furcated and mounted for limited pivotal movement on the end of the movable element about a vertical axis: a hook carried by the body portion, said hook being pivotally connected to the body portion and including two laterally spaced sections whereby the hook may be pivoted to embrace the body portion between said sections; and upwardly extendbody portion and normally urging the said eleing, manually movable release means operably 30 connected toinner ends of the movable elements.

3. adjustable skirt` hanger including a tubular@ hollow body portion, aligned, longitudinalments outwardly, a downwardly extending holding member carried by the outer `end of each of said elements, one of said holding members being furcated and mounted for limited pivotal movement on the end of one of said elements and arranged to turn about a vertical axis and manually movable release means operably connected adjacent the ends of said elements and through said slots for sliding the said elements relative to said body portion.

FREDERICK L. BUXTON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the ille of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,247,551 Lendle Nov. 20, 1917 2,336,849 McCaffrey Apr. 13, 1920 1,670,938 Printz et al May 22, 1928 1,922,161 Hille Aug. 15, 1933 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 280,983 Germany Dec. 3, 1914