US733632A - Shipping-case. - Google Patents

Description

No. 733,632, PATENTED JULY 14, 1903 M. S. DOWNEY.

SHIPPING CASE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 29, 1903.

30 MODEL.

rammed July 14, 190? PATENT OFFICE.

MAURICE S. DOWNEY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

SHIPPING-CASE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 733,632, dated Jul 14, 1903. Application filed January 29, 1903. Serial No. 141,044, (No model.)

To (tZZ whom it 17mg concern:

Be it known that I, MAURICE S. DowNnY, 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 Shipping-Cases, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in shipping-cases, and refers more specifically to an improved garment hanger or distender adapted for use in conjunction with ordinary shipping-cases such as are commonly employed in shipping suits and the like.

The salient object of the invention is to provide a skeleton hanger or form which is made of resilient material and serves to hold the garment within which it is placed distended and against shifting around in the case.

Subordinate objects are to provide a cheap article which will adapt itself to garments of varying form and size, to provide a construction which may be laid out fiat for packing or shipment in quantities, to provide an article which is equally well adapted for different kinds of body-garments-such as coats, shirt-waists, &c.and in general to provide a simple and improved device of the character referred to.

To the above ends the invention consists in the matters hereinafter described,and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims, and the same will be more readily understood from the following description by reference to the accompanying drawings, in Which- Figure 1 is a plan view of a preferred embodiment of my invention laid out in flat form. Fig. 2 shows the device attached within a coat and arranged within an ordinary cardboard shipping-box. Fig. 3 is a crosssectional view taken on line 3 3 of Fig. 2 and looking in the direction of the arrows, the garment being omitted; and Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view taken on line 4 4 of Fig. 2 and looking in the direction of the arrows, the garment being in this instance also omitted.

In the preferred embodiment of my invention illustrated the skeleton form consists of two strips of cardboard 1 and 2, secured together in crossed relation, the shorter strip 2 being arranged at right angles to the main strip 1 and secured to the latter midway of its length and the end portions 2 and 2 arranged to extend at either side of the main strip. The cardboard of which the main strip 1 is constructed should be of a relatively stiif and resilient character, so as to be capable of being bent into the form shown in Fig. 3, wherein the ends are bent back or returned to form open loops 3 without breaking. The transverse member 2 may well be of the same material, but is not necessarily made resilient. One of the end portions thereof, 2", is provided with a plurality of scorelines, as indicated at 4, 5, 6, and 7, defining the points at which it is to be bent to form a support or strut. (Best shown in Fig. 4 and designated as a whole by 8.) Preferably the supportB has a flat base portion 9, and most conveniently the free end of the portion 2 forming the support is secured bysimply tucking the extreme end 10 thereof between the main strip 1 and that portion 11 of the transverse strip which is secured to said main strip, as indicated clearly in Fig.4. It is to be understood, however, that the support 8 is not necessarily of the particular construction shown herein, but may be variously modified within the scope of the invention. The height of the support 8 is made slightly less than the depth of the shipping-case within which itis arranged, so that when the base thereof rests upon the back portion of the garment the upper side of the main strip will be held close enough to the top of the box to hold the front side of the garment firmly against the cover, and thus aid materially in preventing the garment from shifting. The main strip 1 and transverse strip 2 may conveniently be secured together by means of wire s'tap1es, as indicated at 12.

Describing the use of the device,13 desigonly enough to permit the form or hanger to be placed in position and in such manner that the loops formed by the returned portions press outwardly against both sides of the case and downwardly against the bottom thereof, the garment being of course interposed between the ends and lower sides of the form. The portion 2 of the device is next bent into shape to form the support 8 and its end secured in position as described and as shown in Fig. 4, the base thereof resting upon the back of the garment and the central portion of the main strip being thus held in a plane near the plane of the top edge of the box. The front portions of the garment are now brought together into the position shown in Fig. 2 and the extension .2 passed out over the edge ofthe end of the box and bent at right angles downwardly,as indicated at 15 in Fig.4 -,after which the cover 16 of the box is placed in position and secured in any usual manner. The extension 2 thus serves to connect the skeleton form to the interior ofthe box in such manner as to hold it positively against movementlongitudinally of the box in either direction, and inasmuch as the loop portions of the main transverse strip are not resilient, bearing with the sides of the box, movement laterally in either direction is also impossible. In practice the main strip 1 is preferably made of such width as to approximately fit the armholes of the garment, and accordingly when arranged in the manner described the garment cannot shift upwardly because of the engagement of the lower sides of the armholes with the edges of the loops and cannot shift downwardly because the shoulders thereofengage the opposite edges of the skeleton form. The use of the form in connection with other garments is obvious.

It will of course be understood that, if preferred, the skeleton form may be elaborately shaped to more accurately conform to the interior of the garment within which it is to be placed; butin practice the form herein shown perfectly subserves the purpose for which it is intended, and it is obvious that it can be more economically manufactured and more compactly shipped and stored than -if made to more nearly conform to the shape and interior of the garment. I do not, therefore,

limit myself to the form shown, except to the extent that such form is made the subject of specific claims.

I claim as my invention- 1. As a new article of manufacture, a garment-holding form comprising a cardboard or analogous blank formed into a hollow resilient hanger adapted to fit within and hold distended the upper part of the body of the garment and provided with means for attaching it to the interior of a shipping-case.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a garment-holding form comprising a skeleton hanger formed of a strip of resilient cardboard or analogous sheet material having the ends returned upon themselves to form open resilient .loops, and a transversely-disposed attaching member secured to said main strip and whereby the hanger may be secured in position within a shipping-case.

3. As a new article of manufacture, a garment-holding form comprising a main straplike strip of resilient cardboard, and atransversely-disposed strip of cardboard secured rigidly to the main strip midway of the length of the latter.

4. As a new article of manufacture, a garment-holding form comprising a main straplike strip of resilient cardboard, and a transversely-disposed strip of cardboard secured rigidly to the main strip midway of the length of the latter and with both its ends projecting beyond the main strip, one of said ends being adapted to be formed into a support and the opposite end adapted to be secured to a shipping-case, as and for the purpose set forth.

5. As a new article of manufacture, a garment-holding form comprising the main strip 1, the transverse strip 2 provided with the scores a, 5 and 6, and means securing said strips rigidly together, substantially as described.

6. In combination with a shipping-case, a garment-holding form comprising a skeleton hanger formed of cardboard and comprising a main member adapted to be bent upon itself to form an open flattened loop, a second member secured rigidly to the main member at right angles to the latter, one of the ends thereof forming an attaching extension adapted to be inserted between the meeting portions of the box and box-cover, and the other end thereof adapted to be bent into a support to underlie the central portion of the main strip, substantially as described.

MAURICE S. DOWNEY.

Witnesses:

ALBERT I-I. GRAVES, L. F. McCREA.

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