US689094A - Clothes-holding device for suit-cases. - Google Patents

Description

No. 689,094. Patented-Dec. I7, I90l. S. KIEFER.

CLOTHES HOLDING DEVICE FOR SUIT BASES.

(Application filed Sept. 9, 1901.)

' (No Model.)

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SOLOMON KIEFER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

CLOTHES-HOLDING DEVICE FOR SUiT -CASES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 689,094, dated December 1901' Application filed September 9, 1901. Serial No. 74,804. (No model.)

T0 00% whom it may concern.-

Be itknown' that I, SoLoMoN KIEFER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Clothes-Holding Devices for Suit-Cases and the Like, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to devices capable of application to and use in connection with the rectangular pasteboard or cardboard boxes or cases commonly used by tailors for delivering suits of clothes and the like to their customers; and my improvements are in the natureof devices designed to hold or retain the clothes in a neatly-folded and smoothlypressed condition within the box and insure the delivery of the same in wearable order and condition and free from wrinkles, creases, folds, and the like, such as are apt to result from a free sliding about of the goods therein When the box is inverted or turned on either end or edge. I

To this end my invention consists of a clothes holder or retainer for application to and in combination with a suit-box or the like, the same in its preferred form comprising a pair of cooperating holding and formretaining devices which may be secured to the opposite end walls of the box, one of these devices engaging the neck and shoulder portions of a coat and the other engaging and holding down the folded tail portions of the coat, substantially as hereinafter described, it being understood that either device is within the purview of my invention capable of use advantageously without the other, but that both are preferably used cooperatively to effect a perfectretention of the garment in a fixed position relatively to its containing-case irrespective of the movements to which the latter may be subjected in the handlin g thereof.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of the body member of a suit box or case having my improvements applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a vertical section through the lower end of the closed box and fully illustrating the appli cation and operation of the device which holds the lower end of the garment; and Fig.

tailors and clothing-dealers for the delivery of suits of clothes.

O designates the curved bar of an ordinary clotheshanger, which in common use engages under the neck and shoulder portions of a coat. This bar 0 is provided centrally thereof with a wire or other stem, (designated as an entirety by D,) this stem in the form shown being bent intermediate its length at right angles, its upwardly-bent portion being of less height than the end wall of the case and terminating in an overhanging hook (I, by which it is adapted to slip down over the upper edge of one of the end walls of the box, clamping the same, whereby the curved bar of the hanger is supported or hung from the upper edge of the wall of the box, substantially as shown in Fig. 3, being entirely or at least partly suspended above the bottom of the floor of the box. when the garment, as

a coat, is in place within the box and prop-v erly engaged by the hanger, it will be evident that the neck and shoulder portions of the coat will be supported slightly above the bottom of the box in such a manner as to prevent aline or crease being formed at the upper end of the garment between the front and rear portions thereof. The rounded and smoothly-pressed effect of the neck, shoulder, and breastportions of the garment is thus preserved, and the presence of folds, wrinkles, or creases along the lines indicated is obviated.

The device for holding in place the lower or tail portion of the garment comprises, essentially, a rod E,disposedtransversely of the box and in point of length substantially coextensive with the full width thereof and being so mounted as to be elastically pressed toward the bottom thereof. My preferred means for supporting the rod E consists of a pair of elastic wire arms, (designated as an entirety by F,) each arm being formed, preferably, of a single length of steel wire, one end of which is bent and hooked through an aperture near the upper edge of the lower end wall of the box, as shown at f, the wire extending down outside the wall, as shownat f, thence passing through an aperture in the bottom of the wall at f then being given one or more turns to form a spring-coil f and thence passing in the form of a straight arm f and entering the end of the rod or bar E. It will be seen that this manner ofmounting the rod E permits the same to be easily raised to a height sufficient to pass thelower end of the garment (indicated by G) thereunder, whereupon the elasticity of the rod-holding arms F causes the rod to lie upon and across the lower end of the garment and retain the same snugly in engagement with the bottom of the box in exactly the. form in which it has previously been folded.

From the foregoing it wilhbe seen that my invention provides a clothes-holding device capable of securing the garment in fixed position therein at both ends thereof and characterized by extreme simplicity of construction and manipulation, and consequently inexpensive to manufacture. In view of the fact that these devices are intended to be given away as an element of the case itself it is of course a prime requisite that they be produced at a minimum of expense, and in my present invention I believe that this desideratum has been secured.

By reason of the fact that one of the holders (the hanger) is readily and instantly applicable to and removable from the box it will be seen that the garment may be disposed in place in the box and the holding devices engaged therewith very easily and quickly, while in removing the garment the same can conveniently be taken from the box with the hanger still in engagement with the garment, the latter being simply drawn forward out of engagement with the rod E and subsequently hung up on its hanger G if notdesired forimmediate use.

As above stated, while in carrying out my invention I prefer to use the two devices in combination with each other and the box,since r they produce a desirable cooperative effect and secure the best results in the way of retaining the garment perfectly in place and avoiding the possibility of its being mussed and disordered within the case in transit, nevertheless it is evident that either may be advantageously used separately in combination with the box to secure in a less perfect degree the result stated.

My invention is not limited to the precise formof the elements shown,the essential characteristic of the hanger being that it shall be suspended over the upper margin of the end wall of the box in such a manner as to be readily slipped on and off the same, while the essential characteristic of the lower or rear holding device resides in a transverse rod or bar which lies over the garment and is normally spring pressed thereupon. Within these essential distinguishing characteristics it is evident that the structural details of the invention may be varied to suit the tastes of individual makers or users.

I claim- 1. In combination with a suit box or case, a garment-holding device for application thereto, the same comprising a coat-hanger having a single centrally-disposed bent stem, the upwardlyturned portion of which is of less height than the end wall of the case and is provided with an overhanging hook whereby the hanger may be suspended within the case from the end wall of the latter, substantially as described.

2. In combination with a suit box or case, a garment-holdin g device for application thereto, the same comprising a rod or bar longitudinally substantially coextensive with the width of the case and adapted to overlie the lower end portion of agarment Within the box, said rod or bar being secured within the box by elastic means which normally tend to press it down upon the bottom thereof,substantially as described.

3. In combination with a suit box or case, a garment-holding device therefor, the same comprising a rod or bar longitudinally substantially coextensive with the width of the case, and adapted to overlie the lower end portion of a garment within the latter, and a pair of elastic arms to which-said rod or bar is secured at its ends, said elastic arms being secured at their other ends in the adjacent end wall of the case, and normally acting to press the rod or bar down upon the bottom of the case, substantially as described.

4. The combination with a box or case adapted to contain garments and the like, of a device for retaining the form and shape of the garment therein, said device comprising a coat -hanger for engaging the neck and shoulder portions of a coat, the same having a bent hook adapted to engage over the upper margin of one end wall of the case and thereby suspend the hanger therefrom, and

a device for holding in place the lower or tail in the opposite end wall of the case, substantially as described.

SOLOMON KIEFER. Witnesses:

SAMUEL N. POND,

SAMUEL B. I-IOLZHEIMER.

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