THE STAND FOR GARMENT HANGERS WITH A BUILT-IN COUNTER DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Area of application This Invention is a stand for garment hangers with a built-in garment counter. Technical problem (for the solution of which a patent protection is sought) Handling garments, which starts in factory warehouses and ends in retail shops, involves a never-ending counting of garments received and handed over. Time required for counting bigger quantities of such merchandise ought to be reduced and counting mistakes minimised. State-of-the-art Garment handling normally consists of keeping ready-mades on stands of varying size and height, laden with a varying number of hangers. The number of hangers on a stand depends on the type of garment (coats, suits, trousers, skirts, T- shirts,...). A look at any such stand with garments on hangers will not tell us for certain with how many pieces it is laden, until we have counted each hanger. In fact, the problem of counting appears at the very start, at the production line from which finished products are conveyed to the storehouse where the storekeeper has to count each hanger to be sure how many pieces he or she has exactly received. The next counting comes when the storekeeper issues merchandise to the carrier. On that occasion it is the truck driver who must count every hanger being put on the racks of the cargo space. Counting of each hanger must again take place at the wholesaler's or retailer's where the merchandise is unloaded. The articles unloaded upon dispatch are received again by the storekeeper who must count hangers one by one if he or she wants to be sure about their exact number. The problem, of course, is that the quantities received range in the order from several dozens to several thousand. The essence of the Invention The primary goal of the Invention is to provide a way of clearly showing the number of garment hangers on a stand.
The secondary goal is to facilitate the transfer of garment hangers from one stand to another without touching them with hands, in order to prevent soiling of garments. Furthermore, the Invention is designed to prevent loss of articles on hangers, which is achieved by using a nylon bag wrapping a whole hanger stand for protection in transport. Empty stands can be stacked one above the other to save room. The hanger stand basically consists of a crossbar, standard length 50 cm, which on both ends has a suspension hook. Above the crossbar between the two hooks on its ends is a square axle with an exchangeable rotating disc which in its lower part has notches above which are printed numerals from 1 - 5 minimum and from 1 - 50 maximum. Each hanger stand may have a set of 6 exchangeable discs with notches min. 5 notches, to 10, 20, 30, 40 and max. 50 notches-places), but in practice these numbers may well be increased to suit the number of pieces needed to a user. Each notch on the disc determines one place for a hanger carrying an article. The position of the rotating disc with notches and numerals above the notches can be fixed where desired (from vertical to horizontal) by means of side slides. In the vertical position the rotating disc prevents the garment hangers from slipping from the crossbar in transportation. In the horizontal position the rotating disc allows gentle placing of the garment hangers on the crossbar as well as gentle removal from the crossbar. Brief description of drawings The attached drawings, which are a part of the description of the Invention, should illustrate optimum application and help explain the basic principles of the Invention. Fig. 1 shows the garment hanger stand, including the magnified detail A Fig. 2 shows all parts of which the garment hanger stand is made up Detailed description of at least one wav in which the Invention can be applied
Below is a detailed description of the Invention's assumed application, illustrated by attached drawings. As shown in Figure 1 and detail A, the garment hanger stand consists of a crossbar ( 1 ) with two hooks on its ends ( 2 ). Both hooks have a movable ring ( 3 ), a dual-use spring ( 4 ), a slide ( 5 ) with vertical notches on both sides and a pin ( 6 ). On its ends the crossbar has plugs ( 7 ), with a bolt ( 8 ) on the alien key. In the upper vertical part the hooks are connected with the square rotating axle ( 9 ) hooking up the exchangeable rotating disc ( 10 ) with notches and printed numerals above each notch. By lifting the slide (5) above the pin level, whereby the resistance of the spring (4) is overcome, the tooth on the side of the rotating disc is released and the disc can be turned by upward rotation. At the same time, the square axle (9), which holds the toothed disc (10), pushes with its rim the movable ring (3) downwards overpowering the spring (4) and thus enabling the toothed disc to be kept in the horizontal position. By turning the slide (5) in one or the other direction, when above the pin level, it is kept in the upper position. By turning the toothed disc (10) into the lower vertical position and by repeated turning of the slide (5) so that with its slit on the outside it is seated on the side pin, the opposite slit will automatically click into the disc tooth and thus fix it in the lower vertical position. The toothed disc is exchangeable with another one, but with a number of notches as required. Method of application This garment hanger stand is basically a new device introduced as a method of handling ready-mades. Today garments are shifted from stand to stand by means of garment hangers, in that the worker takes with both hands a bundle of garment hangers and moves them to another stand, fumbling with putting the bundle of hangers on the crossbar of the other stand, because some hangers always change their position and thus make it hard to put the bundle on the other stand. Any shift of garments requires counting of their hangers. By using
this hanger stand it is easy to transfer articles from one stand to the other and, in addition to it, at any moment it is clear if a garment-carrying hanger is missing, because the empty place on the toothed disc is immediately noticeable. The numerals above the notches on the disc are one side printed from left to right, on the other side from right to left. The reason for it is that if on a stand not all provided places are occupied, then on either side of the stand it is visible up to the number to which the stand is filled.