US3543941A - Garment hanger - Google Patents

Description

United States Patent 72] Inventor Arnold Gorman 191 l Beacon St., Brookline, Massachusetts 02147 [211 App]. No. 816,492

[22] Filed April 16, 1969 [45] Patented Dec. 1,1970

[54] GARMENT HANGER 8 Claims, 5 Drawing Figs.

[52] U.S.Cl. 211/4 [51] lnt. Cl E05b 73/00 [50] Field ofSearch 211/4, 7; 297/410 1561 References Cited UNlTED STATES PATENTS 2,578,148 12/1951 Peters 211/4 3,014,593 12/1961 Risely 211/4 3,341,025 9/1967 Gorman 21 H4 3,472,385 10/1969 Shapiro 211/7 Primary Examiner-Nile C. Byers, Jr. Attorney-Rich and Ericson ABSTRACT: A garment hanger includes garment-gripping means to protect against theft. A hanger is suspended from an operating lever which is pivoted in an inverted garment enclosure. The lever carries means for gripping a garment against one shoulder of the hanger in a raised position, and for preventing tilting of the hanger.

A fixed element grips the other shoulder of the hanger. The hanger has a horizontal framework below the shoulders, fitting snugly inside the enclosure.

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GARMENT HANGER BACKGROUND AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION My US. Pat. No. 3,341,025. issued Sept. I2, 1967 for LOCKING CLOTHES HANGER. CLOTHES HANGER. describes an inverted channel-shaped enclosure in which a hanger is mounted on a lever pivoted to a top wall. The hanger can be raised or lowered by a second lever. which is pivoted to the first lever and to a swinging door that forms one end wall of the enclosure. Opening the door lowers the hanger from the enclosure to an accessible position. Closing and locking the door withdraws the hanger into the enclosure. which is narrow enough to fit closely to the front and back of a suspended garment. This hanger affords a good degree of security against theft in public places, because it is rather awkward to work a garment off the hanger when the device locked, and the attempt is apt to attract attention. The hanger is pivotally mounted on the levers; a garment can therefore be removed by tilting first one shoulder, and then the other, down toward the bottom opening of the enclosure. Given privacy for a short period, a deft thief can remove clothing without being noticed, although many potential thieves are discouraged by the public location of such hangers.

It is the primary object of the present invention to provide a garment hanger having improved means for preventing theft of clothing. Further objects and advantages of the invention will appear as the following description proceeds.

According to a preferred embodiment of this invention, I suspend a hanger from one end of an operating lever which has an operating handle projecting through a slot in one end wall of an inverted channel-shaped enclosure. The lever is pivoted in the enclosure so that the hanger can be drawn upwardly into the enclosure, or lowered to an accessible position. by manipulating the handle.

The pivoted portion of the lever extends generally horizontally in its raised position, and a bend in the lever extends obliquely upwardly toward the hanger-attached end portion. The bend is arranged to approach one shoulder of the hanger very closely when the lever is raised. Preferably a transverse rod element is attached to the bend to grip the garment, and extends into close proximity to the sidewalls of the enclosure. This makes it very difficult to slide the shoulder of the garment off the hanger, and also prevent tilting of the opposite shoulder of the hanger down toward the bottom opening of the enclosure.

To prevent tilting of the aforementioned shoulder of the hanger down toward the bottom of the enclosure, I also prefer to mount a fixed rod element between the sidewalls in a position to grip the opposite shoulder of a garment in the raised position of the hanger.

As an additional security measure, I may provide the hanger with a horizontal framework extending below the shoulders and fitting closely within the walls of the enclosure, to resist efforts to reach into the enclosure to work a garment off the hanger.

While the specification concludes with claims particularly pointing out the subject matter which I regard as my invention. it is believed that a clearer understanding may be gained from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment. referring to the accompanying drawings. in which:

FIG. I is a sectional view in front elevation of the improved garment hanger in a raised position;

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. I. but showing the parts in a lowered position;

FIG. 3 is a sectional plan view taken along line 3-3 in FIG. I. looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 4 is a bottom plan view; and

FIG. 5 is a view in side elevation. showing the parts in a lowered position.

In a preferred form shown in the drawings. the improved garment hanger includes an inverted channel-shaped enclosure having narrow end walls 10, parallel sidewalls I3. and a top wall 15. At its lower end, the enclosure has an opening 12. A number of such enclosures may be formed by extending the top wall and end walls and providing additional sidewalls, each of which partitions two adjacent enclosures. This is the preferred arrangement for use in public coat rooms.

An operating lever 20 is pivotally mounted near one of the end walls 10 by means of a bracket 24 rotatably receiving a pivot pin 26, which extends between the sidewalls l3 and is welded or otherwise attached thereto. The pivoted portion of the lever extends in a generally horizontal direction when in the raised position shown in FIG. 1, to a bend that extends obliquely upwardly toward the center of the enclosure. A clothes hanger I4 is pivotally attached at I8 to the inner end of the lever by means of a bracket 16. The free end of the lever extends through a vertical slot 30 formed in one of the end walls 10, and carries an operating handle 28.

The parts are shown in a lowered position in FIGS. 2 and 5, the lever resting against the upper end of the slot 30. The hanger I4 is lowered to an accessible location below the enclosure, so that a coat or other garment 32 can easily be placed on it. By pressing downwardly on the handle 28, the user pivots the lever 20 and raises the hanger to the position of FIG. 1. By so doing, the lever is carried to the bottom of the slot 30, from which the operator may press it into a transverse slot 34, thereby latching the hanger in the raised position.

A lock 38 of a conventional type is shown in FIG. 5; it is so mounted relative to the slot 30 that the turning of a removable key 36 extends a locking element against the lever 20 in its latched position, so that the lever cannot be moved into the slot 30 to lower the hanger without the use of the key. The locking means forms no part of the present invention, however, and various types of conventional locks may be applied to the improved hanger.

The bend in the central portion of the lever 20 closely approaches one shoulder of the hanger in the raised position of FIG. 1, to form a garment-gripping means making it difficult to slide a garment off the hanger. It is desirable that the hanger-attached inner end of the lever be very close to the upper wall 15 of the enclosure, so that the hanger can be withdrawn fully into an enclosure of minimum height. A garment-gripping means can be formed by a downward bend in the lever as shown, or by adding a downwardly-extending gripping element to a straight lever. The bend may be arranged to grip the garment directly; however, I prefer to weld a transverse rod element 22 to the bend to serve as a garmentgripping means. The rod 22 extends transversely to the lever across the enclosure, so that the hanger cannot be tilted in a counterclockwise direction in order to slide the other shoulder off the hanger.

Tilting of the hanger in a clockwise direction from the raised position is prevented by a fixed rod element 11, extending across the enclosure and attached to the sidewalls 13. This rod is positioned to closely approach a second shoulder portion of the hanger in the raised position, so that it also grips the garment against the hanger and resists any effort to slide it off.

The sidewalls I3 of the enclosure are fairly close to one another, so that the width of the enclosure is not very much greater than the thickness of a heavy garment such as an overcoat. But this in itself adds little difficulty to a theft, because there must be ample width to receive a heavy garment freely within the enclosure. Preferably, I add a welded horizontal framework to the bottom of the hanger, made up of transverse bars 40, a longitudinal bar 42, and a peripheral rim 44. This framework fits inside a coat 32, but its dimensions are large enough that it fits rather snugly into the enclosure, leaving only enough room for the garment material.

There are three elements in the preferred embodiment that act in concert to improve the security of the hanger. The rod elements 22 and II grip both shoulders of the garment, not only making it difficult to slide either shoulder off the hanger, but also preventing the hanger from being tilted in either angular direction to expose either shoulder of the garment below the enclosure. The framework at the bottom of the hanger substantially encloses the opening 12 to prevent manual access into the enclosure for the purpose of working the garment off the shoulders of the hanger. It should be understood, however, that the hanger 14 need not be shaped as shown in the drawing; it may be replaced by a skirt or trouser hanger of well-known design, having opposed arms which correspond to the shoulders of the illustrated hanger and cooperate in similar fashion with the other elements which have been described.

lclaim:

l. A garment hanger comprising an inverted channelshaped enclosure means having a narrow top wall, narrow downwardly-extending end walls, and downwardly-extending sidewalls, a lever extending within said enclosure between said sidewalls, pivot means mounting said lever in said enclosure for angular motion about a horizontal axis. a clothes hanger having two shoulder portions, means attaching said hanger to said lever, said hanger being movable by said lever between a raised position in which said hanger is disposed within said enclosure and a lowered position in which said hanger is exposed below said enclosure, releasable latch means for holding said lever and hanger in the raised position, said lever being provided with garment-gripping means arranged to closely approach one shoulder of said hanger in the raised position thereof to protect a garment hanging thereon against removal.

2. A garment hanger as recited in claim I, in which said garment-gripping means includes a bend formed in said lever between a pivotally-mounted portion and a hanger-attached portion thereof.

3 A garment hanger as recited in claim I. in which said lever includes a bend extending obliquely upwardly from a pivotally-mounted portion to a hanger-attached portion thereof and comprising said garment-gripping means.

4. A garment hanger as recited in claim 1. in which said garment-gripping means includes an element secured to said lever and extending transversely to said lever across said enclosure means into close proximity to said sidewalls.

5. A garment hanger as recited in claim 1, in which said one of said end walls is formed with a slot, said lever extending through said slot to form an operating handle external to said enclosure.

6, A garment hanger as recited in claim 5, in which said slot has a vertically-extending portion of a length to permit motion of said lever between the raised and lowered positions, said slot extending into a transverse latching portion at the lower end thereof.

7. A garment hanger as recited in claim 1, together with further garment-gripping means comprising a fixed element extending between said sidewalls and positioned to closely approach a second shoulder of said hanger in the raised position thereof.

8. A garment hanger as recited in claim 1, in which said hanger is provided with a generally horizontal framework extending below said shoulders thereof and closely fitting within said enclosure in the raised position thereof to protect a garment hanging thereon against removal.

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