US3319850A

US3319850A - Garment hangers

Info

Publication number: US3319850A
Application number: US488023A
Authority: US
Inventors: Jack R Rosen
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1965-09-17
Filing date: 1965-09-17
Publication date: 1967-05-16
Anticipated expiration: 1984-05-16

Description

y 1%? J. R. ROSEN 3,319,850

GARMENT HANGERS Filed Sept. 17, 1965 ATTORNEY.

United States Patent 3,319,850 GARMENT HANGERS Jack R. Rosen, Los Angeles, Calif. (2009 N. Parmalee, Compton, Calif. 90222) Filed Sept. 17, 1965, Ser. No. 488,023 1 Claim. (Cl. 223--92) This invention relates to new and improved garment hangers.

At the time of the present invention many changes are gradually taking place in the garment industry. The cost of plastic materials, the ease of fabricating these materials at a nominal cost and the fact that plastic materials can be formed in virtually any desired shape or configuration with facility has made it possible for garment manufacturers to place their Wares directly upon hangers, instead of packaging them as in the past. Garments located directly upon hangers are currently being supplied to various merchandising establishments where they are directly merchandised upon these same hangers without handling. It is considered that this method of manufacture has many advantages which are unrelated to this invention.

Cost plays a very significant role in the use of hangers in this type of merchandising. Various stores and other establishments would normally prefer that the garments received by them were mounted upon hangers having hooks capable of being rotated because of a variety of reasons which are unimportant to the present invention. Unfortunately, prior hangers having rotating hooks are in general considered to be too expensive to be used in the preceding manners in garment fields. Such hangers having rotating hooks are also considered to be too expensive for them to be used in other related fields such as in returning dry cleaned garments and the like. This can be illustrated by referring to the fact that common dry cleaning establishments normally return garments on twisted wire hangers instead of on more expensive wood, plastic or. other hangers having rotating hooks.

An object of the present invention is to provide new and improved garment hangers having rotating hooks. A related object of this invention is to provide hangers of this type employing parts which may be easily and conveniently manufactured at a comparatively nominal cost by present day injection molding techniques from plastic materials, and in employing parts which can be easily and conveniently assembled at a very nominal cost using unskilled labor. Other objects of the present invention are to provide garment hangers of the type herein indicated which are capable of being utilized for virtually any purpose, and which are capable of giving prolonged, satisfactory service in use.

These and various other objects of this invention together with many advantages of it will be more fully apparent from a detailed consideration of the remainder of this specification, the appended claim, and the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a garment hanger of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the hook employed in this garment hanger;

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view taken at line 3-3 of FIG. 1 of the drawing; and

FIG. 4 is a partial cross sectional view taken at line 4-4 of FIG. 3 of the drawing.

The accompanying drawing is primarily intended to clearly illustrate the nature of a presently preferred embodiment of form of a garment hanger of this invention. Those skilled in the garment hanger field will realize that in accordance with routine engineering practice a number of changes may be made in the precise garment hanger illustrated without departing from the inventive concepts embodied within this hanger as defined in the appended claim. They will further realize that various changes falling within the scope of routine industrial design may be made in the precise garment hanger shown without departing from the essential features of this invention as defined by the claim.

As an aid to understanding this invention it can be stated in essentially summary form that it concerns garment hangers, each of which includes a hanger member having a body which is provided with a centrally located vertically extending bearing opening of a conical shape and a hook member having a shank and a base, the base being formed so as to fit within the bearing so that the hook can be located with the shank extending from the bearing in such a manner that the hook is capable of being rotated. This summary does not include various features of the present invention which are considered to be significant or important.

These various features are best explained or indicated by referring to the accompanying drawing in which there is shown a hanger 10 having a hanger body member 12 shaped in any convenient conventional shape except in connection with a centrally located bearing portion 14 as hereinafter described. Thus, this body member 12 may be provided with specialized notches 16 for attaching certain types of garments, and may include various other utilitarian and/or aesthetic and/or advertising features (not shown). Preferably the entire body member 12 is formed essentially as a fiat sheet-like area 18 having a top structural flange 20 as shown since this type of configuration is considered to be most desirable for a combination of structural and aesthetic reasons.

The bearing portion 14 employed consists of a somewhat conical like part or enlargement 22 located so as to extend vertically along one side of the sheet-like area 18 in the central region of the hanger member 12. The bearing portion 14 includes a vertically extending conical bearing hole or opening 24 located within the enlargement 22. 'This opening 24 has a small end 26 and a large end 28. The bearing portion 14- is preferably formed as shown utilizing the method of molding shown in the Treiman US. Patent No. 2,460,438 so as to facilitate manufacture and so as to save material. Because of this method of manufacture the opening 24 is not a continuous opening per se, but in effect is defined by a series of

ribs

46 and 48 which are faced by openings 50 and 52. Fingers on one of the mold halves enter through the openings, 50 and 52 to define the inside conical surfaces of

ribs

46 and 48. Further fingers enter through openings 54 and 56 to define the half conical surfaces 58 and 60 which form the other half of conical bearing opening 24. This comprises the bearing portion 14. Preferably, a cutout portion 30 of the enlargement 22 extends from the large end 28 nearly half way along the length of this enlargement 22 for a purpose as hereinafter described. Preferably a small lip 32 is provided at the large end 28 of the bearing opening 24 so as to extend a small distance into the interior of the bearing opening 24.

The hanger member 12 is utilized together with a hook member 34 having a shank 36, one end of which is formed as a hook 38 of a conventional garment hanger type and the other end of which is attached to a base 40 of a generally conical shape. In order to save weight so as to make the cost of the complete hanger 10 as low as possible this base in the hanger shown consists of two

conical flanges

42 and 44 joined by an extension of the shank 36.

Flanges

42 and 44 are of such diameter and spaced from each other such a distance that when flange 44 is just above lip 32, flange 42 engages on both rib 48 and surface 60 to provide both upward and radial constraint for hook member 34.

The complete hanger is constructed as indicated so that the hook member 34 may be assembled in an operative position with respeect to the hanger body member 12 by first being manipulated so as to pass the hook 38 from the cut out portion 30 up through the opening 24 and out through the end 26. The particular conical shape of the bearing hole or opening 24 facilitates this insertion of the hook 38. This insertion is carried out until such time as the shank 36 is generally within the end 26 and the base 40 is substantially opposite or adjacent to the cut-out portion 30.

At this point the hanger 10 can be completely assembled by supplying a moderate amount of force to the base 40 so as to temporarily distend the lip 32 so that when the base 40 is in place it fits under the base 40. This is essentially a snap in type of operation. The parts may be formed out of any of many conveniently available materials such as polystyrene in order to achieve this action. In the assembled portion flange 44 is located directly above the lip 32 in such a manner that this lip 32 prevents the hook from being accidentally removed from the hanger body 12.

It is to be noted the shank 36 is preferably dimensioned so as to be slightly smaller than but still so as to fit closely within the small end 26 in order to provide stability against the hook member 34 wobbling with respect to the hanger body 12. It is also noted that the

flanges

42 and 44 are preferably shaped so as to conform closely to the shape of the interior of the portions of the opening 24 where they are located after final assembly in order to provide for stability as well as the necessary turning or rotation action for the entire hook member 34.

Those skilled in the art and manufacture of garment hangers will realize the garment hangers falling within the scope of this invention may be easily and conveniently manufactured and assembled at a comparatively nominal cost, and that such hangers are very suitable for their intended function. Because of the fact that variations may be made in the garment hanger illustrated and described this invention is to be considered as being limited solely by the appended claim forming a part of this disclosure.

I claim:

A garment hanger which comprises:

a hanger member, said hanger member including a hanger body and centrally located vertically extended conical bearing opening means formed therein, said bearing opening means comprising wall surfaces on said hanger body and upper and lower arcuate hearing ribs, the upper end of said bearing opening means being smaller than the lower end of said bearing opening means, said bearing opening means extending substantially from the bottom to substantially the top of said hanger body, openings formed on said wall surfaces on said hanger body opposite each of said arcuate bearing ribs, said upper and lower arcuate bearing ribs being positioned closer together than the height of said conical bearing opening means so as to leave exposed a portion of at least one of said wall surfaces;

a hook member having a hook on one end thereof and a base attached to the other end of said hook member, said base fitting within said bearing opening means and embraced by one of said bearing ribs and one of said wall surfaces with said hook member extending out of the small end of said bearing opening means above said hanger body, said shank fitting closely within the upper most end of said bearing opening means, said hook member having such curvature with respect to the positioning of said upper and lower arcuate bearing ribs so that said hook can be inserted through said exposed portion of said wall surfaces and passed through said bearing opening means to position said base within said bearing opening means, said base being of circular section and comprising upper and lower spaced flanges, said lower flange being in retentive engagement with said lip on said hanger member and said upper flange being in engagement with one of said wall surfaces and with one of said arcuate bearing ribs so as to permit rotation of said hook member with respect to said hanger member;

said hanger member further including a lip on said hanger body, said lip being positioned adjacent the lower end of one of said wall surfaces and being engaged by said base on said hook member so as to prevent downward motion of said hook member with respect to said hanger member.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,460,438 2/1949 Treiman 223-92 2,895,657 7/1959 Laughton 223-92 FOREIGN PATENTS 739,206 10/1955 Great Britain.

JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner. G. KRIZMANICH, Assistant Examiner.