US2805011A

US2805011A - Adjustable garment hangers

Info

Publication number: US2805011A
Application number: US455867A
Authority: US
Inventors: Ambrosino John
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1954-09-14
Filing date: 1954-09-14
Publication date: 1957-09-03
Anticipated expiration: 1974-09-03

Description

Sept 3, 1957 y J. AMBRoslNo l 2,805,011

' ADJUSTABLE GARMENT HANGERS Filed Sept. 14,-1954 INVENTOR I /fzwaJz/za United States Patent() ADJUSTABLE GARMENT HANGERS `lohn Ambrosino, Flushing, N. Y. Application September 14, 1954, Serial No. 455,867

s claims. (cl. 223-88) Thisinvention relates to garment hangers, and more particularly to a garment hanger having adjustable skirt or trouser supporting members. Y Y l The invention provides a simple and inexpensive hanger which holds a garment from within the waistband in its natural form without any spring pressure as in so-called scissor type garment hangers which sometimes unduly stretch and deform a garment.

The garment hanger of this invention is positively slip-proof, a feature which is particularly important when thegarment is to be stored-in an overcrowded closet or store rack.

The invention consists in the combination of any standard coat hanger with a pair of suitably shaped members which depend from the hanger, are longitudinally slid-'` ably mounted thereon, and are provided with outwardly facing projections to engage a garment, such as a skirt or a pairjof trousers below the waistline and tirmly support the same against any but intentional pressure thereagainst to remove the garment.

The invention will be further described hereinafter, several preferred embodiments thereof shown in the accompanying drawing wherein like characters of reference indicate similar elements, and the invention will beiinally pointed out 4in the appended claims. Y

IIn the drawing, Y g K- '-1 Fig. 1 Y' a view of the preferred form of my garment hanger showing two skirt supporting members frictionally engaging the'coat supporting members, and in dotgdash lines the hanger upon folding thereof for convenient stor age;

IFig. .2 is an enlarged perspectiveview, partly in section, of one skirt supporting member;

Fig. 3 is a section taken on line 3-3 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 shows one portion of a slightly diiferent garment hanger wherein the skirt supporting members are movable along a horizontal carrier connecting the outer ends of the coat supporting members;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged, partly sectional perspective view of the skirt supporting member shown in Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 shows a modification of the garment hanger illustrated in Fig. 4;

Fig. 7 shows still another embodiment of my invention wherein a hanger for skirts only is shown;

Fig. 8 is an enlarged vertical section taken on line 8-8 in Fig. 7; and

Fig. 9 is an enlarged view of one portion of the hanger shown in Fig. l, wherein the locking action between the skirt supporting and the coat supporting member is shown in more detail.

Referring now to the illustrated embodiments, and more particularly to Fig. 1, -there 'is shown a hanger 10 having two suitably rounded and somewhat downwardly inclined coat supports 11 and 12, and a hook 13. As shown in dot-dash lines, supports 11 and 12 may be pivotally joined and the entire hanger, when not in use, collapsed upwardly whereby supports 11, 12 assume the dot-dash positions 11', 12. This mode of collapsing 2,805,011 Patented Sept. 3, 1957 the hanger offers various advantages over the folding methods used, for example, in scissor-type hangers wherein the hanger is collapsed downwardly, i. e. to leave the hook 13 exposed upon folding. The upwardly folded hanger (a) requires less space for storage, and (b) does not require a special lock to retain the

supports

11, 12` in desired position to suspend a coat thereon.

Longitudinal grooves

14, 15 are cut into vertical walls on both sides of

members

11, 12, and terminate toward the center of the hanger. The lower ends of grooves 14,` 15 are free to receive'skirt supporting members 16, 17, one of which is shown enlarged in Fig. 2. A skirt 20 is shown in section, having a waistband 21 and a lower enlarged portion 22 held by preferably rounded outwardly projecting

portions

18, 19 of members 16, 17, respectively.

yThe upper, retaining, portion 23 of member 16, shown in Fig. 2, consists of a bottom wall 24 and two

vertical walls

25, 26 having inwardly bent flanges 27, 28 slidable in slots or

grooves

14, 15 of

members

11, 12. This retaining portion 23 of membe'r'16 receives a suitably shaped flat spring 29 which frictionally engages the lower side of member 11, as shown in connection with members 12 and 17 in Fig. 3, and preventssliding of memberl save when suliicient pressure is exerted thereagainst by the user of the garment hanger. When a skirt is supported by the members 16, 17, the weight of the skirt. acts inwardly against the

lowermost portions

18, 19. of said members, in the direction of arrow A as shown in. Fig. 9, and instead of sliding in the `grooves.14,` 1S, mem-r bers 16, 17 tendA tofpivot around the contacting surface'.v of spring 29, whereby corner a abuts against the lower4 wall or channel or'groove 14, and cornerjb arbutsagainstV thebottom wall of member 11thereby'preventing any" movement of member 16.- This'positionofmember 16 is shown somewhat vexaggerated Vfor better illustration inf dotted lines in Fig. 9, under 16'. As shown in Fig.-3,; grooves 15 areof a Width just suflicientto permitinse'rtion of flanges 27, 28 of member V17 therein,and no' actual fpivoting takes place. However, when it is desired to displace Ythe member 16 to either remove the skirt, therefrom or to suspend a Vgarment thereon, the force'B'closely below member 11 is applied thereagainst and the member-V16A will readily move in either direction, e; gfin ,the position shown in dot-dash lines in Fig. 9, under '16. i L

As seen in Figs. 2"and'3, the verticalV walls v2S,v 26' of the upper portions of members '16, 17 garevpreferablyebente, outwardly; `to providek two vertical tiia'n'ges i315: .312V :which serve as abutments for the lingers of the user, to facilitate the movement of members 16, 17 in either direction.

Fig. 4 shows a slightly different hanger comprising a horizontal bar 130 having notches or teeth 131 preferably along its entire length. A somewhat different skirt supporting member 116 is shown in Fig. 5, with one vertical wall 126 partly broken away to show the mode of insertion of a spring 129 which is suitably shaped so as to act as a pawl in cooperation with the teeth 131 on bar 130. To adjust member 116, the lower end 129a of spring 129 is pressed downwardly to disengage the spring from teeth 131 and the member 116 is then moved to right, whereas the movement to left does not require the withdrawal of spring 129 since the spring will merely ride on the teeth when the member 116 is pushed outwardly.

A modification of this hanger is shown in Fig. 6. Here, a horizontal bar 130 is shown without notches and the member 116 has a spring 129 equal in shape to that shown in Fig. 2.

Finally, Fig. 7 shows a further simplification, wherein the hanger is intended for skirts or trousers only and the member 216 completely surrounds the bar 230 providing a pusher 231 to adjust the member 216 in desired posi- 3 tion.` Because ofthe provision of pusher 231, outwardly facing

flanges

31, 32 shown in Figs. 2 and 3 maybe omitted in this member 216.-

Aside of its stability, reliability/,and adjustability, the

novel' haruger,` due toA the'simpiicityof itsl construction, has obvlous advantages for mass production over'scisfsor--V type yhangers .whose production costs are incomparably higher. As the forces acting at Vthe lower ends of'the skirt supporting members shown in'Figs. 1, 6V and 7 tend to automatically lock'fthe structure, `the hangerrwill not release a garment even'in an overcrowded closet and will lock more securely in direct proportion to the increase of the applied force. it will unlock and permit the sliding of theskirt supporting members only when the user applies a force in a direction parallel tothe hanger portion supporting the skirt supporting members, i. e. either the jacket supporting members or one of the horizontal carriers, whereby only the relatively weak frictional force between the spring and the jacket supporting member or bar is to be overcome, or the spring 129 must be disengaged as shown in Fig. 4.

Obviously, the grooves 14, may be omitted in Fig. 1 and the upper portions 23 of members 16, 17 made to completely surround the

members

11, 12, ory the upper portions 23 may be held in a single groove in

members

11, 12. Also, provided the material of member 16 has suilicient inherent resiliency, spring 29 may be omitted and the bottom wall of member 16 slotted and stamped to frictionally engage member 11,

When in use, the two skirt supporting members are slidl inwardly toward the hook and then inserted into the skirt so that their lower portions engage the garment below the waistband. The two members are then moved outwardly until they rmly engage the garment. Members 16, `17 should be arranged substantially symmetrically with respect to hook 13 to maintain the garment carrying hanger in equilibrium. To remove the skirt and to then again suspend the garment, only one skirt supporting member must be moved, iirst inwardly and then Voutwardly, the other member need not change its position any more.

While it is believed that the above detailed description will guide persons skilled in the art to practice my invention, I do not desire to be limited to the exact details illustrated in the drawings, but only by the scope of the appended claims. t

I claim:

1. The combination of a garment hanger having a hook and an elongated lcarrier element with a pair of skirt supporting members attached in mirror reverse to said carrier element, said hook .extending above the median portion of said carrier element, said carrier element 4 having two longitudinal ends and at least a part thereof being of uniform cross-sectional area from said ends toward the median portion thereof, each of said skirt supporting members having a retaining portion of a configuration complementary to the configuration of said part of said carrier element and including spaced, substantially parallel, generally flat surfaces slidably guided along cooperating surfaces on the carrier element for re stricting same to longitudinal movement along said part of said carrier element from said ends toward said median portion thereof, a resilient element attached to each of said retaining portions and in permanent frictional engagement with said carrier element for maintaining said skirt supporting members in a state of immobility when no external force in the longitudinal direction and applied in the close proximity of said part of said carrier element is exerted on said retaining portions, each of said skirt supporting members further including a downwardly extending leg, the upper extremities of said legs being integral with said retaining portions and the lower extremities of sid legs having means for engaging and retaining a garment below the waistline thereof.

2. The structure of claim 1, wherein said garment hanger further includes a coat supporting member and said hook is attached to theY median portion thereof, said carrier element being a bar with said Yends thereof attached to the free extremities of vsaid coat supporting member.

3. The combination of claim l, wherein said carrier element is an elongated horizontal bar with said hook attached to` the median portion and extending above said bar, said retaining portion of each of said skirt supporting members being a tubular body for receiving said bar and slidable therealong between said hook and the respective ends of said bar, each of said retaining portions having a projecting handgrip member for moving said skirt supporting members along said bar.

References Cited in the le of this patent Ambrosino July 6, 1954