US2961134A - Garment hanger - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 22, 1960 s. o. RuzlcKA GARMENT HANGER Filed Sept. l5, 1958 United States Patent G j GARMENT HANGER Stanley 0. Ruzicka, Burbank, Calif., assignor to Fortner & Perrin, Inc., Glendale, Calif., a corporation of California Filed Sept. 15, 1958, Ser. No. 761,177 3 Claims. (Cl. 223-96) This invention relates to garment hangers and more particularly to a hanger especially useful for hanging skirts.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a hanger for articles of clothing which is adapted to grip the article at spaced points and in which the gripping means are separately operable to grip the article and are simultaneously released.

Another object of the invention is to provide a garment hanger of the above character in which the both said article gripping and releasing actions are achieved by compressingly grasping appropriate portions of the device.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a garment hanger in which the foregoing objectives are realized in practice, which is of simple construction, is economical to manufacture, is easy to use, and is reliable for its intended purpose.

With the foregoing objects in View, together with such additional objects and advantages as may subsequently appear, the invention resides in the parts, and in the construction, combination and arrangement of parts described, by way of example, in the following specification of certain presently preferred modes of construction of devices embodying the invention disclosed in the following specification, reference being had to the accompartying drawings which form a part of said specification and in which drawings:

Fig. 1 is ya side elevation of a garment hanger embodying the present invention and shown supporting a garment thereon,

Fig. 2 is an enlarged side elevational view of the hanger shown in Fig. l, a portion of one of the gripping elements being partially broken away to show interior construction,

Fig. 3 is an enlarged end elevational view of the hanger shown in Fig. l supporting Ia portion of a garment, the View being taken as from the right hand side of Fig. l and the scale being the same as the scale of Fig. 2,

Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the hanger on the same scale as Fig. 2, the gripping jaws being shown in closed position,

Fig. 5 is a top plan view similar to Fig. 4 but showing the jaws in open position,

Fig. 6 is a further enlarged, fragmentary, sectional View taken on the line 6 6 of Fig. 4 showing one form of sliding and locking ring,

Fig. 7 is a view similar of a plastic locking ring,

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary side elevation showing a first modified form of the gripping jaw,

Fig. 9 is an end elevational View of the jaw shown in Fig. 8,

Fig. l0 is a cross-sectional View taken on the line 10-10 of Fig. 9,

Fig. 1l is a side elevation of a hanger embodying a second modification of the gripping jaws, and

Fig. 12 is a top plan sectional View taken on the line 12--12 of Fig. 11.

to Fig. 6 but showing the use 2,961,134 Patented Nov. 22, 1960 Referring rst to the form of the invention shown in' Figs. l through 6, the invention comprises a hanging hook 1 formed of a length of resilient wire doubled on itself and the doubled end thereof thence bent to form a hoole portion 2 and thence forming a depending bifurcated shank having the ends thereof formed into looped por-l' tions 3, 3 disposed oppositely parallel to each other and spaced from each other as best shown in Figs. 3, 4 and 5.- The looped ends 3, 3 of the hook 1 support one each of a pair of clamping members comprising horizontal resilient bars 4, 4 secured one each to one each of the loops, 3, 3 at the mid length of the bars by any suitable means such as brazing or welding. Preferably, these bars are formed of resilient round wire `and include parallel mid length portions and parallel end portions with nonparallel slightly outwardly curved, diagonally extending runs 5 disposed between the parallel end and mid length portions which cross each other so that the end portions of each bar are at the opposite sides of the mid length portion whereby when the bars are moved laterally with the mid length portions thereof moving toward each other, the end portions will be moving away from each other and vice versa. At each of the points at which said non-p-arallel portions cross each other, both bars are surrounded by one each of a pair of closely fitting rings 6, 6; said rings, for example, being formed of a short length of wire bent into ring form as best shown in Fig. 6. As initially formed, the looped ends 3, 3 of the hanger hook are spread apart further than is perm-'tted by the mid length portions of the bars 4, 4 so that they impose Va bias tending to move the mid length portions of the bars away from each other.

Each of the bar-s 4, 4 carries a at each end thereof; said jaws being preferably formed of a plastic material and the jaws being arranged in 0pposing pairs at the ends of the bars with the opposing garment engaging faces of the jaws being serrated or otherwise roughened as best shown at S, 8 in Fig. 3, to securely grip a garment such as the waistband of a skirt or the waistband or cuff of a pair of trousers between the jaws constituting each pair. In the form shown in Fig. 2, the gripping jaws 7 are molded to the ends of the bars 4, 4. Other arrangements can be used, some of which will be later discussed.

To describe the mode of use of the first described form of the device, it will be assumed that initially the jaws are separated from each other as shown in Fig. 5. A portion of the garment is inserted between one pair of jaws `and those jaws are manually gripped and pressed together against the garment. The change in position of the crossing portions 5 of the bars adjacent the said one pair of jaws thus compressed against the garment causes the surrounding ring 6 thereof to move outwardly toward the jaws as the said crossing po'nt thus moves outwardly. The close t of the ring, the slight curvature of the runs of the bars 4, 4 forming the crossing portions 5 aided by the outward bfas supplied by the shank portions of the hook combine to cause the ring 6 to remain in the position to which is has been moved thus holding the jaws in the gripping position achieved by manually pressing that pair of jaws together. The other pair of jaws are then s'milarly attached to the garment and the garment can then be hung by the hanger hook upon the hanging rod or similar place. When it is desired to remove the garment from the hanger, it is necessary only to manually press the center or mid length portions of the bars 4, 4 together to overcome the bias of the shank portions of the hanging hook suiiiciently to change the angle of the portions 5 of the bars as they pass through the rings. The greater bias is now that of the jaws tend'ng to separate and the rings quickly slip toward the center of the members allowing both pairs of jaws to open simulgarment gripping jaw 7 taneously and release the garment. Thus, the garment hanger is attached to lthe garment iirst by one pair of jaws and then by the other but both pairs of jaws are simultaneously released from the garment.

Referring next to Fig. 7 there is shown a ring 9 which is smilar to the rings 6 which 'is formed of a material such as for example, nylon, for hangers to support lighter weight garments. Such a ring improves the appearance of the hanger and has sufficient strength to hold the clamping jaws together without the ring itself being materially distorted.

Figs. 8, 9 and 10 show a first modied form of gripping jaw in whfch the ends of the bars 4, 4 'are bent downwardly into a vertical portion and thence laterally and upwardly to form a hook-like portion 1@ over which a short length of resilient rubber tubing 11 is stretched to form the garment gripping jaw.

Referring finally to Figs. 11 and 12, a second modified form of garment gripping arrangement is shown wherein the ends of the bars 4, 4 are bent downwardly and extend into rigid jaw elements 1.2 which extend from end to end of the bars 4, 4 and in which al1 except lthe end portions are cut away so as to be spaced from each other leaving meeting faces at each end thereof and which are covered with garment gripping surfaces 13 which may be either rubber or felt or be suitably ribbed to provide adequate gripping engagement. The action in this second modiiied form of the device is substantially the same as in the first described form in that the jaw elements 12., 12 would be caused to grip the garment rst at one end and jthen at the other by manually pressing the jaws toward Leach other at each end and cause to release the garment by pressing the bars 4, 4 toward each other at their mid- `-l'ength, whereupon both ends of the jaw elements 12, 12 `vwould be caused to move apart simultaneously. In this Vform of the invention, the outer side faces of the jaw elements are preferably disposed outwardly of the bars 4, 4 thus protecting them against unintentional releasing forces.

While in the foregoing speciiication, by way of example, there has been disclosed certain presently preferred embodiments of the invention it will be understood that the invention is not limited to such disclosure and that .the invention embraces all such modifications and changes in the parts, and in the construction, combination and 'arrangement of parts as shail come within the purview =of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a garment hanger, a pair of generally horizontal, reversely identical, resilient bars having parallel end portions and mid length portions and oppositely diagonally extending portions which cross each other between each end portion and the mid length portion and each of said bars having a garment gripping jaw at each end thereof; said jaws forming two pairs of jaws, one pair each at each end of sad hanger, between which a garment may be gripped and engaged, resilient means including a hanging hook attached to both of said bars Vat the mid length thereof and operative to constantly tend to move said mid length portions away from each other, -a rst locking means comprising a ring surrounding the said crossing portions of both of said bars adjacent to one of said pairs of jaws and positively moveable longitudinally of said bars toward the adjacent one of said pairs of jaws by movement of said one of said pairs of jaws toward each other incident to gripping engagement with a garment and positively moveable toward said mid length portion of said bars incident to garment releasing movement of said one pair of jaws, and a second locking means corresponding to sa'd iirst locking means engaging both of said bars at the said crossing portions thereof between the other pair of said jaws in said mid length portions, the said bias applied by said resilient means to said mid length portions of said bars being effective to maintain each of said locking means in any position incident to garment engaging movement of the pair of jaws with which the complementary locking means are associated.

2. A garment hanger as claimed in claim 1 in which said bars are formed of resilient wire and at each end thereof extend downwardly and thence upwardly in a loop and in which each of said loops carries a jaw having a garment engaging surface.

3. In .a clamping type garment hanger, a pair of resilient bars each having end .and intermediate portions extending generally horizontally parallel to corresponding portions of the other bar and having opposed garment gripping surfaces at each end thereof, said bars adjacent to said garment gripping surfaces crossing each other and thence extending in Vspaced parallel relation to each other between the points at which they cross each other, said crossing portions of said bars comprising runs extending dagonally to the portions thereof between said crossing portions, a hanging hook having a resilient -bi'furcated shank portion disposed with one each of the portions thereof attached ,to one each of said bars at the midlength thereof and imposing a bias on said bars tending to spread them apart at said points of attachment, and a pair of rings disposed one each surrounding said bars at each of said points of crossing, the angles of said diagonal portions being such that pressing the ends of said bars together will move said rings toward the ends of said bars and such that the bias on said bars deriving from yieldingly gripping a garment and tending to separate the ends of said bars will be ineffective to move said rings in the opposite direction on said bars in opposition to the bias imposed by said resilient shank portion of said hook and so that a change in the angie between said intersecting diagon-al portions effected by overcoming the bias imposed by said resilient shank portions will effect release of said rings from their locking engagement and allow both ends of the bars to spread apart and release a garment held by the garment gripping Vsurfaces thereof.

References Cited in the ile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 877,945 rNeumann Feb, 4, '1908 2,209,864 Warren July 30, 194C* 2,212,524 Hu Aug. 27, 1940 2,337,723 Levin Dec. 28, 1943 2,727,662 Maloof Dec. 20, 1955 2,822,115 Cavanagh Feb. 4, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 667,124 Great Britain Feb. 27., '1952

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