US2983980A

US2983980A - Detachable hanger

Info

Publication number: US2983980A
Application number: US722435A
Authority: US
Inventors: Lewis E Hamel
Original assignee: LEWIS E HAMEL CO Inc
Current assignee: LEWIS E HAMEL CO Inc
Priority date: 1958-03-19
Filing date: 1958-03-19
Publication date: 1961-05-16
Anticipated expiration: 1978-05-16

Description

May 16, 196] L. E. HAMEL 2,983,980

DETACHABLE HANGER Filed March 19, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 LEW/6 E. HAMEL INVENTOR.

I ATTORNEY May 16, 1961 L. E. HAMEL DETACHABLE HANGER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 19, 1958 LEW/S E. HAMEL INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY Patented May 16, 1961 United States Patent ffice DETACHABLE HANGER Lewis E. Hamel, Rochester, N.Y., assignor to Lewis E. Hamel Co., Inc., Rochester, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Mar. 19, 1958, Ser- No. 722,435

3 Claims. (Cl. 24-239) This invention relates to a detachable hanger for supporting sides of beef and other relatively heavy loads to which the hanger can be readily attached and which can be suspended from any conventional metal support.

In handling sides of beef and other butchered pieces of meat, it is customary in packing houses and in transporting them in freight cars to employ metal hangers which are attached to the load and suspended from a support. Such metal hangers are heavy and costly to transport, they not infrequently permit a side of beef to fall to the floor of a freight car when jolted during transportation, and present the possibility of contamination when touching the meat, and it is a particular objective of the invention to overcome these disadvantages by providing a strong and extremely light weight hanger that is positively locked to the side of beef or other load and presents no metal or other contaminating surface in contact with the meat.

More specifically the invention is designed to afiord a nylon hanger that can be quickly engaged with a side of beef in such manner that the latter cannot become accidentally separated from the hanger, affording an inexpensive structure that will support loads from 250 lbs. to 1000 lbs. or more, which will wear indefinitely and not be affected by frictional contact with the metal from which it is suspended.

The invention has the advantages of greatly reducing Fig. 8 is a detail sectional view on line 88 of Fig. 7;

Fig. 9 is a detail sectional view on line 9--9 of Fig. 7, and

Fig. 10 is a detail side elevation looking toward the latch.

Referring more particularly to the drawings in which like reference numerals refer to the same parts throughout the several views, the invention is illustrated as embodied in one practical form consisting of a generally loop-shaped body comprising two separable ends which can be interlocked and held in locked relation by a retaining collar.

The hanger is preferably molded or otherwise formed of nylon or other suitable material that is of light weight, slightly flexible and elastic, and sulficiently strong to bear weights of approximately 1000 lbs. or more, and having no contaminating effect upon meat. To accomplish this, the hanger consists of a generally loop-shaped body portion including a side 1, a bottom 2, a top 3, and separable connecting and locking

portions

4 and 5 respectively. The body of the hanger including side 1, bottom 2, and locking portion 5 are of cylindrical cross section with a diameter of approximately 75 while the top portion 3 of the body is preferably approximately $6 in diameter to afiord a greater strength and durability at the point where the hanger is suspended from a metal support such as 6, see Fig. 1.

The connecting portion 4 is =of rectangular crosssection and provided with a locking recess 7, see Fig. 7, which has a dished bottom endwise and crosswise terminating in a shoulder 8 extending entirely around the bottomof the recess from one side to the other. The

' recess 7 terminates in a cylindrical opening 9, while the the shipping cost of beef by the reduction in the weight of the hangers, and presenting substantial gains by eliminating compensation claims for meat that is lost or damaged by falling from conventional metal or other hangers, and also reducing the possibility of contamination by removing all metal from contact with the meat.

To these and other ends, the invention consists in the construction and arrangement of parts that will appear clearly from the following description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, the novel features being pointed out in the claims following the specification.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation showing one embodiment of the invention operatively attached to a side being transported in a freight car or suspended from a support in a packing house;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation in actual size of the hanger with the ends separated;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation in actual size of the hanger with the ends locked together-as in Fig. 1 and showing the concealed parts in dotted lines;

Fig. 4 is a partial side elevation of the hanger with the ends locked together, looking at the side opposite to that of Fig. 1, with the retaining collar removed;

Fig. 5 is an end elevation of the hanger;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view on line 66 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 7 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 6 with the retaining collar omitted and the locking portion of the hanger removed from the locking recess;

locking portion 5 of the hanger terminates in a tapered and curved locking member 10 shaped to conform to the recess 7 and extending laterally beyond the body 5 to provide a shoulder 11 that seats on the shoulder 8 in the recess when the locking portion 5 is engaged in the opening 9, see Fig. 6. When in this position, the outer surface of the locking member 10 and cylindrical body 5 which are flattened at this point are flush with and form a corrtinuous surface with the flattened outer surface 12 of the connecting portion 4 of the body.

The nylon body is sufficiently flexible and elastic to permit the locking portion 5 to be removed from the connecting portion 4 as in Fig. 2, or to be inserted therein as in Fig. 3, and in order to maintain the separable end portions interlocked, there is provided a slidable rectangular retaining collar 13 having a rectangular opening therein which engages and slides over the rectangular connecting portion 4 until it engages and is limited by the shoulder 14, as shown in Fig. 3. When in this position, the retaining collar 13 overlies the locking member 10 and holds it engaged in the recess of the connecting portion 4, so that they cannot be separated until ,the retaining collar 13 is removed to a position such as shown in Fig. 2;

In order to hold the retaining collar 13 against accidental or unintentional displacement, the connecting portion 4 is provided with a yieldable integral latch or finger 15 that is movable slightly when pressed toward the body of the hanger to permit the retaining collar 13 to slide thereover. When the collar is in locking position as in Fig. 3, the finger 15 overlies the outer portion of the collar 13, see Figs. 1 and 3, and effectually prevents its removal. In order to remove the collar to permit separating the ends of the hanger, the finger 15 is pressed inwardly toward the body of the hanger while at the same time the collar 13 is engaged and moved over the finger 15 and away fromthe end of the connecting portion 4 to the position shown in Fig. 3 or beyond, permitting the locking member to be removed. To

'3 attachthe hangerto aside of beeflthe locking-member is inserted through a suitable opening in the meat and then positioned in the recess of the connecting portion 14, after which the retaining collar 13 is moved into locking position.

.The shoulder .11 extends entirely around the base of the locking member "10 'and rests on shoulder 8 which extends entirely around the base of the recess 7 in the connecting portion. When the parts are in locked position as in Figs. 3 and 6-, the hanger when suspended from a metal hook as'in Fig. 1 will hold a weight of 1000 lbs. or more without fracturing, and the hanger can be readily applied to a side of beef by inserting the tapered locking member 10 between tendons or other parts of the shank, then inserting the tapered locking-member 10 into the recess 7, and sliding the retaining collar 13 down into locking position where it is retained by the latch or finger 15.

With this construction, it is impossible for a side of beef to come loose from the hanger and fall to the floor, as is the case with conventional S-shaped metal hangers, or other types of hangers that have been tried. The structure is of extremely light weight and is in no wise affected by wear due to contact with the metal support on which the hanger is suspended, since the nylon body will wear indefinitely. Also there is no chance of contamination from contact between the meat and hanger,-

and the nylon hanger can be readily and quickly sterilized.

The shoulder 8 which supports the locking member 10 and the weight suspended from the hanger is preferably 01 wide and approximately 1%" in length. The rectangular connecting portion 4 is approximately x /2", and the wall of the connecting portion surrounding the recess is approximately at its narrowest point.

The conventional metal hangers in use have considerable weight of about two pounds each, and as it is necessary for the consignees to ship these metal hangers back to the point of origin for use in further shipments, the expense of handling the metal hangers is a substantial item. This expense is almost entirely eliminated by the use of the nylon hanger, the weight of which is less than 1% ounces, or one fortieth the weight of the metal hanger, and the initial cost is substantially less than a metal hanger. These features, in addition to the sanitary character of the nylon hanger and its durability and long life, make it highly advantageous over the hangers now in use.

While the invention has been described with reference to the structure herein shown, the invention is not restricted to the details set forth, and this application is intended to cover such modifications, departures, or

other embodiments as may come within the purposes of the improvement or the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A detachable hanger comprising when closed a loop-shaped nylon body including integral symmetrical- :ly curved top and bottom portions and separable ends along one side, one of said ends having a locking recess and-tho other end having an itegral fixed locking portion engaging said recess to maintain the ends in locked relation, a slidable retaining collar mounted on the end having the locking recess and slidable over the locking portion when said ends are in locked relation, and a yieldable spring latch lying in'the path of said retaining collar when in locking position, said latch being integral with and having 'a portion spaced from the body, the latch being yieldably operable toward the body to move the latch out of the path of the retaining collar to permit movement of the latter away from the ends and permitting separation of the ends from each other.

2. A detachable hanger comprising when closed a loopshaped nylon body including integral symmetrically curved top and bottom portions, end portions along one side of the body including separable connecting and locking portions which are positioned in locked relation, the connecting portion having a semi-circular transversely curved locking recess around its base and the locking portion having a shape conforming to and symmetrical with said recess and lockingly positioned therein, a retaining collar slidable over said connecting and locking portions when in lockedrelation and acting to hold said parts in locked relation, and a yieldable spring latch integral with said side of the body and spaced from the body, said spring latch lying in the path of said collar when the parts are in locked relation and being spaced from and yieldably movable toward the body to release the slidable collar and permit separation of the ends.

3. A detachable hanger comprising when closed a loopshaped nylon body including integral symmetrical curved top and bottom portions, end portions along one side of the body including separable connecting and locking portions which are positioned in locked relation, the connecting portion having a semi-circular transversely curved locking recess terminating at its bottom in a semi-circular shoulder, a locking member on said locking portion conforming in shape and symmetrical with said locking recess and having a semi-circular shoulder lockingly positioned on .said shoulder in the connecting portion, the connecting and locking portions having exterior rectangular cross sections, and a slidable collar on the body having a rectangular interior cross section conforming to the exterior cross section of the connecting and locking portions when in locked relation, and a yieldable spring latch integral with said body and spaced from and movable toward the body, said latch lying in the path of the collar when the latter is in locking position engaged with the connecting and locking portions and movable out of the path of the collar when pressed toward the body to permit releasing movement of the collar and disengagement of the locking and connecting portions.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 102,640 Wing- May 3, 1870 1,473,983 White Nov. 13, 1923 2,610,879 Pope Sept. 16, 1952 2,801,038 Hamel July 30, 1957