US3315854A - Garment hanger - Google Patents

Description

April 25, 1967 c. E. GLISSON ETAL 3,315,854

GARMENT HANGER Filed Oct. 14, 1965 INVENTORS CL v05 E. 6!. I350 HUGH K/UG ZOIWJM ATTORNEY Clyde E. Glisson, Starkville,

United States Patent C) 3,315,854 GARMENT HANGER and Hugh King, Corinth, Miss., assiguors to Garan Incorporated, New York, N.Y., a corporation of Virginia Filed Oct. 14, 1965, Ser. No. 495,829 6 Claims. (Cl. 223-94) The present invention relates to a clothes hanger, and in particular to one which greatly facilitates the placing of a garment thereon and the removal of a garment therefrom, while at the same time providing effective support of the garment hung thereon.

While the present invention is of general applicability in the hanger field, it is particularly advantageous when used in connection with manufacturing or retailing operations, where large numbers of garments must be handled rapidly and effectively, and particularly where such garments must be placed on and removed from the hangers in as rapid a manner as possible. For example, one step in the manufacture of certain types of sport shirts is to convey the shirts through an oven where a baking or curing operation is carried out. The garments must be properly supported as they pass through the oven, and to this end are mounted on individual hangers, but they must be removed from the hangers at the end of the oven'heating step. Labor costs involved in placing the garments on the hangers and then removing them from the hangers constitute a major item of expense, and to maximize the ease and speed with which the garments may be placed on the hangers and removed therefrom constitutes an important factor in lowering expense.

It is the prime object of the present invention to devise a hanger construction which will not only support garments such as sport shirts in proper position, even as to the collar thereof, but which will also greatly facilitate the placing of garments on the hanger and the removal of garments therefrom. It is a further object of the present invention to devise a hanger construction which, while accomplishing the above objectives, will also be capable of withstanding being passed through a curing oven a multiplicity of times without deterioration.

The above objectives are accomplished by forming the hanger with a support having a pair of fixed members extending therefrom in opposite directions and preferably in a slightly downwardly inclined orientation. Articulately mounted on the support below these fixed members are a pair of arms which are movable essentially in a vertical direction between an upper or first position in which each of the arms extends out in the same direction as the fixed members, the arms then being in engagement with the fixed members, and a lower or second position in which the arms are oriented downwardly and therefore are not spread out as far as when they are in their first position. A spring or other resilient means is active on the arms to urge them to their first position, the fixed members constituting positive stops active in opposition to the resilient means so as to fix or determine said first position of said arms. A suspending hook is attached to the support, thereby to permit the hanger to be removably mounted on any appropriate element, such as a portion of a conveyor chain which passes through a curing oven. The hook has a portion extending above the support substantially vertically relative thereto and close to one side edge thereof, which hook portion serves as a guide or prop for the collar of the garment mounted on the hanger, ensuring that said collar of the garment mounted on the hanger, ensuring that said collar will be held in proper upright position. It is preferred that the arms be pivotally mounted on the support, and that portion of the supporting hook which serves to connect the hook to the support also serves as ice the common pivotal axis for the arms. The spring may be mounted on this part of the suspending hook, thus making for a compact and simple construction in which the operative parts are well housed, so that the possibility of damage to the garment is virtually eliminated.

To the accomplishment of the above, and to such other objects as may hereinafter appear, the present invention relates to the construction of a clothes hanger as defined in the appended claims and as described in this specification, taken together with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a three-quarter perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view on an enlarged scale taken along the line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view taken along the line 33 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. 2.

The hanger comprises a support generally designated 2 comprising members 4 and 6 extending out in diametrically opposite directions from a central portion 8 and preferably also being slightly downwardly inclined, these members 4 and 6 comprising top wall portions 4:: and 6a, side wall portions 4b and 6b and end wall portions 40 and 60 respectively, thereby defining a hollow upstanding housing structure. Depending from the central portion 8 are a pair of laterally spaced ears 10 provided with registering apertures 12.

A pair of garment-supporting arms 14 and 16 are employed, both channel-shaped in cross section and comprising top walls 14a and 16a and laterally spaced side walls 14b and 1612 respectively. The side walls 14b and 16b of the arms 14 and 16 are distorted at their inner ends 14b and 16b (see particularly FIG. 3), so that those inner end portions can telescope, and the side walls 14b and 1612' are provided with apertures 20 and 22 respectively which register with the apertures 12 in the support cars It).

The hanger further comprises a suspending hook generally designated 24, that hook being preferably formed in one piece and comprising a horizontal shaft portion 26, a reversely bent portion 23, a short upper horizontal section 3%, and then an upwardly extending and downwardly curved hook portion 32. The portion 26 is adapted to pass through the registering apertures 12, 2t) and 22 and thus define the axis about which the arms 14 and 16 can pivot, the portion 26 being provided with an enlargement or brazed portion 3 (see FIGS. 3 and 4) to limit the degree-to which the portion 26 can enter the space between the cars 10. The outer end of the hook portion 26 is headed over or brazed, at 36, in order to fix it in position. When thus fixed in position, and 'as may clearly be seen from FIG. 4, the hook portion 32 extends above the support 2 in a substantially vertical direction and close to one side edge (the right-hand side edge as viewed in FIG. 4) of the support 2, this by virtue of the fact that the hook portion 26 is longer than the hook portion 30 by a distance substantially equal to the depth of the support 2.

A resilient means 38 is active on the arms 14 and 16 so as to cause them to pivot upwardly about the axis defined by the hook portion 26. As here disclosed the resilient means 38 comprises a coil spring loosely received over the hook portion 26 between the arm wall portions 14b and 16b, said spring being provided with fingers 40 and 42 which engage the undersurfaces of the arm top Walls weight metal.

14a and 16a respectively, thereby to urge the arms upwardly into engagement with the fixed members 4 and 6 on the support 2.

All of the parts of the hanger may be formed of light The support 2 and the arms 14 and 16 may readily be cut and shaped from sheet stock on readily available machinery, and the suspending hook 24 may readily be formed in comparable fashion from wire stock. The channel construction of the arms 14 and 16 provides maximum strength while at the same time making for minimum weight. The same is true with regard to the support 2 which, because of its height, helps support the collars of shirts when such garments are mounted on the hanger. Additional support for shirt collars or the like is provided by the location and orientation of the hook portion 32. Use of metal such as steel for the hanger construction is preferred when the hanger is to be used to convey garments through ovens, because that metal has 'a high degree of heat resistance and will also cool rapidly after it has emerged from the oven. Plating of the exposed metal surfaces is desirable in order to prevent the formation of rust, which would stain or discolor garments mounted on the hanger.

When a garment is to be placed on the hanger the 'arms 14 and 16 may be manually pivoted downwardly against the action of the spring 38, and the hanger may then be inserted vertically upwardly through the open bottom of the garment, the laterally collapsed nature of the hanger facilitating this operation. Thus the hanger is very well adapted to be used with garments such as sport shirts which cannot be unbuttoned down the front, and even with garments such as ordinary shirts or coats under circumstances where the unbuttoning and/ or buttoning of the garment in order to place it on a hanger would be overly time-consuming. After the hanger has been inserted into the garment and the hook portion 32 is exposed through the top of the garment, the arms 14 and 16 are released, and the spring 38 moves them to their upper positions in engagement with the fixed members 4 and 6 respectively. The orientation of the fixed members 4 and 6 corresponds to the desired shape of the supported garment, 'and'the force of the spring 33 is sufficient to withstand the weight of the garment. It is significant that no special manipulation on the part of the operator is required in order to cause the arms 14 and 16 to move to their upper positions; once one removes from the arms 14 and 16 that external force which caused them to move downwardly, they automatically spring back to their upper garment-supporting position.

When a garment is to be removed from a hanger all that has to be done is to pull the garment downwardly. The arms 14 and 16 will pivot downwardly against the action of the spring 38 until the garment has completely passed thereover, after which they will spring back to their normal upper position.

Thus, it will be noted, with the hanger construction of the present invention garments may be virtually instantaneously removed from the hanger while the hanger remains suspended. Thus when a line of garments is conveyed through an oven, the garments may be removed from the hangers while the hangers are permitted to re main on the conveyor, and new garments may likewise be placed on those hangers readily and expeditiously without having to remove the hangers from the conveyor. The significant saving in manufacturing expense will be obvious.

While the invention has been here specifically disclosed in connection with its use in manufacturing operations, where the saving in time and money involved is economically quite significant, it will be appreciated that the hanger construction of the present invention could also be used under other circumstances, as in the home, where the added convenience involved would be a major factor. It will further be appreciated that while but a single preferred construction has been here specifically illustrated, many variations can be made therein, all within the scope of the instant invention as defined in the following claims.

We claim:

1. A clothes hanger comprising a support having a pair of fixed members extending in opposite directions, a pair of arms pivotally mounted on said support beneath and movable upwardly into engagement with said fixed members respectively, resilient means on said support and active on said arms to urge them into engagement with said fixed members respectively, said fixed members thereby defining stops limiting the movement of said arms in upward directions, said arms being movable away from said fixed members in opposition to the force exerted on said arms by said resilient means, and a suspending hook operatively connected to and extending from said support.

2. A clothes hanger comprising a support having a pair of fixed members extending in opposite directions, a pair of arms pivotally mounted on said support beneath and movable upwardly into engagement with said fixed members respectively, resilient means on said support and active on said arms to urge them into engagement with said fixed members respectively, said fixed members thereby defining stops limiting the movement of said arms in upward directions, said arms being movable away from said fixed members in opposition to the force exerted on said arms by said resilient means, and a suspending hook operatively connected to and extending from said support, a portion of said hook passing through said support and said arms and defining the pivot axis for said arms respectively.

3. A clothes hanger comprising a support having a pair of fixed members extending in opposite directions, a pair of arms coaxially pivotally mounted on said support beneath and movable upwardly into engagement with said fixed members respectively, resilient means on said support and active on said arms to urge them with said fixed members respectively, said fixed members thereby defining stops limiting the movement of said arms in upward directions, said arms being movable away from said fixed members in opposition to the force exerted on said arms by said resilient means, and a suspending hook operatively connected to and extending from said support, a portion of said hook passing through said support and said arms and defining the axis about which said arms pivot, said resilient means being mounted on said hook portion.

4. A clothes hanger comprising a support having a pair of fixed members extending in opposite directions, a pair of arms movably mounted on said support beneath and movable upwardly into engagement with said fixed members respectively, resilient means on said support and active on said arms to urge them into engagement with said fixed members respectively, said fixed members respectively, said fixed members thereby defining stops limiting the movement of said arms in upward directions, said arms being movable away from said fixed members in opposition to the force exerted on said arms by said resilient means, and a suspending hook operatively connected to and extending from said support, said hook having a portion extending above said support which extends substantially vertically from said support close to one side edge thereof, thereby to define a guide for the collar of a garment hung on said hanger.

5. A clothes hanger comprising a support having a pair of fixed members extending in opposite directions, a pair of arms pivotally mounted on said support beneath and movable upwardly into engagement with said fixed members respectively, resilient means on said support and active on said arms to urge them into engagement with said fixed members respectively, said fixed members thereby defining stops limiting the upward movement of said arms, said arms being movable away from said fixed members in opposition to the force exerted on said arms by said resilient means, and a suspending hook operatively connected to and extending from said support, a portion of said hook passing through said support and said arms and defining the pivot axis for said arms respectively,

said hook having a portion extending above said support which extends substantially vertically from said support close to one side edge thereof, thereby to define a guide for the collar of a garment hung on said hanger.

6. A clothes hanger comprising a support having a pair of fixed members extending in opposite directions, a pair of arms coaxially pivotally mounted on said support beneath and movable into upward engagement with said fixed members respectively, resilient means on said support and active on said arms to urge them into engagement with said fixed members respectively, said fixed members thereby defining stops limiting the movement of said arms in upward directions, said arms being movable away from said fixed members in opposition to the force exerted on said arms by said resilient means, and a suspending hook operatively connected to and extending from said support, a portion of said hook passing through said support and said arms and defining the axis about which said arms pivot, said resilient means being mounted on said hook portion, said hook having a portion extending above said support which extends substantially vertically from said support close to one side edge thereof, thereby to define a guide for the collar of a garment hung on said hanger.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 924,763 6/1909 Grant 223-88 2,569,726 10/1951 McPherson 22394 2,605,942 8/1952 Warren et a1. 223-89 2,872,090 2/1959 Goodman 223-94 FOREIGN PATENTS 250,620 6/1948 Switzerland.

JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner.

GEORGE KRIZMANICH, Assistant Examiner.

Claims (1)

1. A CLOTHES HANGER COMPRISING A SUPPORT HAVING A PAIR OF FIXED MEMBERS EXTENDING IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS, A PAIR OF ARMS PIVOTALLY MOUNTED ON SAID SUPPORT BENEATH AND MOVABLE UPWARDLY INTO ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID FIXED MEMBERS RESPECTIVELY, RESILIENT MEANS ON SAID SUPPORT AND ACTIVE ON SAID ARMS TO URGE THEM INTO ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID FIXED MEMBERS RESPECTIVELY, SAID FIXED MEMBERS THEREBY DEFINING STOPS LIMITING THE MOVEMENT OF SAID ARMS IN UPWARD DIRECTIONS, SAID ARMS BEING MOVABLE AWAY FROM SAID FIXED MEMBERS IN OPPOSITION TO THE FORCE EXERTED ON SAID ARMS BY SAID RESILIENT MEANS, AND A SUSPENDING HOOK OPERATIVELY CONNECTED TO AND EXTENDING FROM SAID SUPPORT.

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