US2989191A - Attachments for clothes hangers - Google Patents

Description

June 20, 1961 R. F. EASON 2,939,191

ATTACHMENTS FOR CLOTHES HANGERS Filed March 14, 1960 I N VE NTOR BY F04 w/osz, Mrrnvaz r 5 4/4172 ATTORNEYS United States Patent 2,989,191 ATTACHMENTS FOR CLOTHES HANGERS Robert F. Eason, 4500 Graywood Ave., Long Beach, Calif. Filed Mar. 14, 1960, Ser. No. 14,830 4 Claims. (Cl. 211-113) This invention relates to flexible attachments for clothes hangers and particularly to devices for spacing and keeping hangers in proper garment supporting position on a horizontal member.

One of the main objects of the invention is to provide a strip of flexible spacing material bored for quick attachment on a clothes hanger handle in such manner that an inwardly projecting manually flexible keeper will prevent accidental displacement from a horizontal supporting member. I

Conventional clothes hangers do not properly support garments on their standard horizontal member. The hangers tend to jam together and the supported garments become wrinkled'and disarranged. The loose handles may turn in diverse directions resulting in an annoying entanglement between unoccupied hangers. In removing a garment from a hanger the further annoyance of accidental d-isplacement of the hanger or of adjacent unoccupied hangers frequently occurs.

The present invention contemplates an attachment that spaces the hangers properly and supports the hangers by a flexible device in a neat parallel manner to obviate possibility of displacement from a horizontal support. At the same time it permits easy manual removal or horizontal slidability. An inwardly projecting sidewardly flexible keeper opens the hanger attachment for quick placement on a horizontal support in desired position while return of the flexible keeper to initial position insures a slight clamping action that holds the hanger and supporting garment against accidental lateral displacement without impeding its horizontal movability on the support. A pin embedded in the flexible keeper and pivoted on the hanger handle provides rigidity of construction and insures continuous keeper operation without fatigue of the manually flexed portion. The pivoted pin also holds the flexible keeper in properly directed angular clamping position at all times.

Another object of the invention is to provide a strip of flexible spacing material bored for quick attachment on a conventional clothes hanger handle whereby an inwardly projecting manually flexible keeper will permit quick hanger placement on and slidable clamping connection with a standard horizontal member.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a strip of flexible spacing material bored for attachment on a conventional clothes hanger handle, said strip having a manually flexible keeper portion that has a support member embedded therein.

A further object of the invention is to provide a strip of flexible material bored throughout for quick attachability on a conventional clothes hanger handle, said strip having a manually flexible integrally formed clamping keeper portion connected to said handle by means of a pivoted supporting pin within the keeper.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a strip of flexible spacing material bored throughout and with an access hole through the wall of said bore for quick attachment on a clothes hanger handle and providing a manually flexible keeper having an embedded pin pivotally attachable on said handle.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a device that will prevent scraping of the finish of the horizontal support.

With the foregoing objects in view, and such other objects and advantages as will become apparent to those 7 ice skilled in the art to which this invention relates as the specification proceeds, the invention consists essentially in the arrangement and construction of parts all as hereinafter more particularly described, reference being had to the accompanying drawing in whichi FIGURE 1 is a perspective view showing the manner of using applicants spacing and keeper device;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3--3 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a perspective view showing the manual sid'ewise flexing action of the keeper;

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of a preferred form of flexible spacing and keeper strip;

FIGURE'6 is a perspective view of a modified form of flexible spacing and keeper strip; and

FIGURE 7 is a side elevation showing a modified form of the device.

A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described. A strip S is a one-piece extrusion made from suitable flexible plastic material, such as polyethylene or polypropylene. The strip S has a flat bottom 10 and a convex top 12. The flexible strip S is bored throughout at 14. An access hole 16 to the bore 14 is made at the apex of the convex side of the strip S near one end of the strip. The access hole 16 defines a clothes hanger attachment and spacer member 18 and a keeper and clamping member 20. The keeper 20 has a pin 22 disposed in the bored portion 14 thereof. The pin 22 has an eye 24 that extends into the access hole 16. The inserted pin 22 is not only a supporting structure insuring rigidity and absolute angular positioning of the keeper 20, but also acts to prevent fatigue of the flexible strip S adjacent to the access hole 16.

The flexible spacer and keeper strip S is fashioned for quick attachment to the curved handle H of a conventional clothes hanger CH. The strip S is manually bent at the access hole 16 so that the eye 24 of the pin 22 may be slipped over the open end of the handle H and the attachment and spacer member 18 threaded or slipped about the curved portion of the handle H, as shown in FIGURES 3 and 4. This is a quick manual operation that leaves the pin embedded keeper 20 projecting inwardly in a loosely contacting clamping relationship with the standard horizontal clothes hanger support HS. The eye 24 of the keeper supporting pin 22 actually assumes a fixed angular position on the handle H but is pivotal thereabout.

In FIGURE 4 of the drawings, it will be apparent that the keeper or clamping member 20 may be manually moved sidewardly in either direction to open up the jaw of the handle H so that the clothes hanger and supported garment may be easily placed on or removed from the horizontal support HS. The attachment portion 18 of the strip S insures proper spaced disposal of the hangers, as is clearly shown in FIGURE 1. The hangers with the novel attachment devices may be moved horizontally as desired without scraping. The spacer and keeper strips S absolutely insure proper disposal of garments. There is no possibility of garment disarrangement that is universally found in connection with the use of conventional clothes hangers. The annoyance of hangers being accidentally knocked to the floor is eliminated.

The flexible strip S may have modifications of form and in FIGURE 6 a flat base 26 has a rib or tube 28 integrally formed therewith and rising therefrom.

In FIGURE 7, this modification is shown in position on a clothes hanger handle. All parts heretofore described are present excepting the keeper supporting pin 22 and the access hole 16. In this instance the inwardly bent keeper 30 is defined by the partial severance split 32. A notch 34 rides on the hanger handle H. The flexible keeper 30 may be manually moved sidewardly in exactly the same manner shown in FIGURE 4. The disclosure in FIGURE 7 coincides with that shown in my co-pending application Serial No. 789,577, filed January 28, 1959, for Spacer-Keeper for Clothes Hangers, now abandoned. The present application is therefore a continuation-in-part thereof.

Since various modifications can be made in my invention as hereinabove described, and many apparently widely different embodiments of same made within the spirit and scope of the claims without departing from such spirit and scope, it is intended that all matter contained in the accompanying specification shall be interpreted as illustrative only and not in a limited sense.

I claim:

1. An attachment for a horizontally supported hanger, comprising: a strip of flexible material bored throughout and having a pin access aperture near one end; and a pin insertable in said access aperture and bored end, said pin having an eye threadable with said bored strip about said hanger handle whereby an inwardly projecting sidewardly movable keeper is disposed in slidable clamping engagement with said support.

2. An attachment for a horizontally supported clothes hanger, comprising: a strip of flexible material bored throughout and having a pin access hole near one end defining attachment and keeper portions; and a pin insertable through said access hole into said keeper end, said pin having an eye threadable with said attachment portion about said hanger handle and being pivotally disposed thereon to support said keeper in angular position against said horizontal support.

3. An attachment for a horizontally supported clothes hanger, comprising: a strip of extruded plastic material bored throughout and having a pin access hole near one end defining attachment and keeper portions; and a rigid pin insertable in said keeper portion and having an eye pivotal on and threadable with said attachment portion on said hanger handle, said pin sustaining said keeper in slight clamping engagement with said horizontal member, but movable manually in sidewise direction for engagement or release therewith.

4. An attachment for a clothes hanger, comprising: a strip of flexible material having a portion bored to threadably receive the handle of a hanger, said strip having a support engaging surface and a transverse partial severance split formed on the opposite surface and adjacent an end thereof, the remaining end portion serving as a pivoted keeper movable inwardly toward said surface, whereby a hanger handle threaded in the bore will urge the keeper inwardly.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,355,705 Cohn Aug. 15, 1944 FOREIGN PATENTS 138,228 Sweden Nov. 25, 1952 216,997 Australia Jan. 23, 1958

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