US3536286A

US3536286A - Clothes-hanger supporting means

Info

Publication number: US3536286A
Application number: US717184A
Authority: US
Inventors: Hyman Kramer
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1968-03-29
Filing date: 1968-03-29
Publication date: 1970-10-27
Anticipated expiration: 1987-10-27

Description

Oct. 27, 1970 H. KRAMER 3,536,286 7 CLOTHES-HANGER SUPPORTING MEANS Filed March 29, 1968 63 INVENTOR ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,536,286 CLOTHES-HANGER SUPPORTING MEANS Hyman Kramer, 2764 E. 16th St, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11235 Filed Mar. 29, 1968, Ser. No. 717,184 Int. Cl. A47g 29/00 US. Cl. 248-301 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A one-piece all sheet-metal hanger plate adapted to be mounted substantially flush against a vertical surface such as that of a clothes-closet door comprising a generally square (or rectangular) piece of sheet-metal having coplanar top and bottom horizontally extending edge portions enabling such mounting and further having a plurality of upwardly opening hooks struck out form the material thereof, said hooks being disposed at different levels of the plate, and the plate being so formed as to dispose each lower-level hook in a vertical plane different from that of the next higher-level hook.

This invention relates to clothes-hanger supporting means and more particularly to a clothes-hanger plate adapted to be secured substantially flat or fiush against a vertical surface such as the inner face of a clothes-closet door or the wall of a room or closet, for example. The hanger plate of the invention derives its name from the fact that it has plate form rather than bar or rod form characterising the usual means for supporting clothes hangers in ready-for-use or in use position.

Among the several objects of the invention may be noted the provision of a novel yet practical and effective means for supporting a plurality of articles requiring suspension-type support such as clothes hangers; the provision of a novel hanger plate for supporting clothes hangers in particular, which is so constructed and arranged that it may be secured substantially flush against a vertical surface such as that of a clothes closet door or the wall of a room or clothes closet, for example; the provision of a hanger plate which is capable of being inexpensively manufactured as being stamped complete or substantially complete from a plane sheet of suitable material such as sheet metal, or from a metal strip of Width equaling that of one of the major dimensions of the hanger plate; and the provision of a hanger plate incorporating means enabling it to be permanently secured flush against a vertical surface as aforesaid, or alternatively of being nonpermanently hung from a hook which itself is hookably attached to said door, or from a higher-level hanger plate according to the invention which may be either pennanently or non-permanently attached to said door.

The above and other objects and features of advantage of a hanger plate as herein contemplated will be apparent from the following more detailed description thereof, taken with the accompanying illustrative drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view and FIG. 2 an end view of a hanger plate according to the invention shown to be permanently secured to a vertical surface such as that provided by the inside face of a closet door; and

FIG. 3 is a broken-away front-elevation, and FIG. 4 a broken-away side elevation illustrating various modes of installing and/ or making use of a hanger plate according to the invention.

Referring to the drawing in detail, the several views thereof illustrate that a hanger plate according to the invention (therein designated has general plate or sheet form as adapts it to be mounted flush or substantially flush against a plane vertical surface such as the inner vertical face of a clothes-closet door, for example, and that when so mounted it provides an effective means for hanging one or a limited number of articles requiring suspended support, such as clothes hangers which are usually hung from horizontal bars or rods located within a clothes closet proper, from a vertical face of the closet door. More particularly, said hanger plate 10 comprises a piece of sheet metal illustratively having square configuration but which may of course have other appropriate configuration such as rectangular, and whose dimensions are such as to provide for the accommodation within its confines or border a plurality of spaced-apart hooks from which one or a number of clothes hangers may be hung, and which hooks are preferably formed by struck-out areas of said plate.

As best seen in FIG. 1, the aforesaid hooks provided in the hanger plate are preferably arranged in horizontal pairs which are disposed at different levels, with corresponding books of the pairs thereof having vertical row arrangement. Thus, the hanger plate 10 is provided with an upper-level pair of hooks 14a, 14b, an intermediatelevel pair of hooks 16a, 16b, and a lower-level pair of hooks 18a, 18b (a total of six hooks), of which the

corresponding hooks

14a, 16a, 18a and 14b, 16b and 18b of the pairs thereof are arranged in vertical rows disposed adjacent the side edges of the hanger plate.

Although a hanger plate 10 according to the invention is designed to be and preferably is fashioned from an initially fiat or plane piece of sheet metal, the aforesaid desirable vertical-row disposition of the corresponding hooks of the horizontal pairs thereof in a hanger plate which in its final form is also flat or planar throughout may result in the clothes hangers hung from two or all three of the hooks of a vertical row so closely overlapping one another as to make objectionable the use of said hanger plate as intended. To avoid any such objection and at the same time to retain in the hanger plate 10 in its final form the structure which enables it to be mounted flush against a plane (vertical) surface as intended, the hanger plate 10 in its final form incorporates means for disposing the hooks 16a, 16b of the intermediate-level pair thereof in a plane which is forwardly offset from the common plane in which the hooks 14a, 14b of the upperlevel pair thereof and the hooks 18a, 18b of the lowerlevel pair thereof are disposed. Accordingly, as illustrated in FIG. 1, a clothes hanger hung from either of the hooks 16a, 16b of the intermediate-level pair thereof will be disposed forwardly and well spaced from a clothes hanger hung from a higher or lower level row of the same vertical row thereof.

According to the invention, such means comprises a forwardly offset and preferably convexly-curved formation in the nature of a bulge 20 (note FIGS. 2 and 4 in particular) which extends transversely across the intermediate level portion of the plate 10, from a material of which the intermediate level pair of hooks 16a, 16b are struck. Thus, said pair of hooks 16a, 16b are disposed in a plane which is different, i.e. forwardly, of the plane of the upper level pair of hooks 14a, 14b (which latter are struck from the material of, the top-edge zone portion of the plate 10), and similarly in a plane which is differ ent, i.e. forwardly, of the plane of the lowermost pair of hooks 18a, 18b, consequent to the latter being struck from the material of the bottom-edge zone or portion of said plate 10. Thus, a hanger hung from either hook 16a, 16b of the middle pair thereof will be disposed forwardly of a hanger hung from either of the hooks 14a, 14b of the upper pair, and similarly from a hanger hung from either of the hooks 18a, 18b of the lower pair.

A hanger plate for clothes hangers according to the invention is also preferably so constructed as to provide at least partial sheathing of the free ends of the hooks of the clothes hangers hung from the hooks of the upper and

middle pairs

14a, 14b and 16a, 16b thereof. More particularly and as best seen in FIG. 1, the outwardly bulged middle zone portion 20 of plate is cut away in its middle-length portion, thus to provide a generally rectangular window or cut-out designated 22, into which the free ends of the hooks of hangers hung from the hooks of the upper and middle pairs will extend, when such hangers are positioned and turned as generally indicated in FIG. 1.

To provide for permanent attachment of a hanger plate 10 as described to a closet door or other vertical surface, each hanger plate is preferably provided during the course of its manufacture with two spaced-apart round holes 24, 26 (FIG. 3) adapted for the reception of small wood screws 24a, 26a serving to secure a plate flush against the door surface. Provision is also made for temporary attachment of said plates by a so-called hang-on method, such illustratively being in the form of a slotlike opening 28 disposed midway between the ends and adjacent the upper edge of each plate, and with a pair of similarly shaped

openings

30, 32 disposed in the upper corner portions of the plate and in vertical alignment with the two vertical rows of

hooks

14a, 16a, 18a and 14b, 16b, 18b, as aforesaid.

By reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, the centrally disposed opening 28 enables a hanger plate 10 according to the invention to be hung from a generally designated hook 40 provided therefor on the door surface. Preferably, such a hook 40 is of the type disclosed and claimed in my copending application entitled Sheet-Metal Hooks, Ser. No. 717,183 filed under even date, and which by reference to FIG. 4 is adapted to be secured in place on the door by being hung over its top edge. For this purpose,

said hook 40 is provided with an upwardly facing hook 1 42a formed on its forward leg 42, and with a rearwardly offset, downwardly opening hook 48a provided by its body portion 44 which extends over the door top edge, acting in concert with said forward leg 42 and a companion downwardly extending leg 46, which together define a downwardly opening channel-form hook of width substantially equal to the thickness of the door.

FIGS. 3 and 4 further illustrate the feasibility of hanging a plurality of hanger plates according to the invention in a vertical series, by hooking each lower hanger plate to each next higher hanger plate. Such arrangement is made possible by the fact that each lower plate of a vertical series of hanger plates can be hooked to a next higher hanger plate by passing the lower pair of hooks 18a, 18b of said next higher hanger plate through the

corner openings

30, 32 of each lower hanger plate. For such vertical series arrangement of plates, the top hanger plate can either be permanently attached to the door as shown in FIG. 1, or it can be hung from the hook 40 which is hooked over the top edge of said door, as in FIG. 3.

Without further analysis, it will be appreciated that a hanger plate for clothes hangers and like articles as herein disclosed satisfies the need for an elfective means for hanging clothes hangers which are usually hung from hanger bars or rods extending across or along a closet space from any available vertical surface such as that provided by a door or a wall surface, thus supplementing if not doing away entirely with such hanger bars or rods and also with hanger posts which are permanently fastened to a closet or wall door to extend horizontally forwardly therefrom. It will further be appreciated that the hanger plate of the invention may be inexpensively produced by stamping same complete or substantially complete from readily available sheet material such as sheet metal. As pointed out'above, a hanger plate of the invention may moreover be permanently or temporarily installed for use as needed, and may also be carried about as a portable unit by the traveler, together with the hook 40 by which it may be hung from the top edge of a closet door, for quick installation in rooms or closets where the conventional hanger rods or bars are missing or inadequate.

As many changes could be made in carrying out the above constructions without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

I claim:

1. A one-piece, all sheet-metal hanger plate adapted to be mounted substantially flush against a vertical surface such as that of a clothes-closet door comprising a generally square piece of sheet-metal having coplanar top and bottom horizontally extending edge portions enabling such mounting and further having a plurality of upwardly opening hooks struck out from the material thereof, said hooks being disposed at upper, intermediate and lower levels of the plate and in vertical row formation and the plate incorporating means elfective to dispose each lowerlevel hook in a vertical plane different from that of the next higher-level hook, said means comprising a forwardly extending offset provided in said intermediate portion of the plate and from the material of which the intermediatelevel hook is struck, as aforesaid.

2. A hanger plate according to claim 1, wherein said forwardly extending offset is provided with a cutout in its middle-length portion for receiving and partially sheathing the free end of a clothes-hanger hook hung from one of the upperand intermediate-level hanger plate hooks.

3. A hanger plate according to claim 1 wherein at least one of said top and bottom coplanar edge portions of said plate is provided with preformed openings for the reception of various means for mounting same flush against a vertical mounting surface.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 843,633 2/ 1907 Schoonmaker. 1,294,916 2/1919 Knight 248215 X 1,760,290 5/ 1930 Tammarazzo 21l-87 2,288,706 7/ 1942 Herr 21187 X 2,634,865 4/1953 Geheb 211-87 X 2,941,672 6/1960 Lathrop 211-87 FOREIGN PATENTS 286,455 3/ 1928 Great Britain.

ROY D. FRAZIER, Primary Examiner J. F. FOSS, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 2l1-87; 248339