WO2015118511A1 - Garment hanger - Google Patents

Abstract

Garment hangers are disclosed which enable more clothes to be dried on a specific length of clothes line than can be dried if the clothes are pegged to the line. The hangers have toothed parts (44, 46) which can be splayed apart to provide a gap into which the clothes line can be slipped. A resiliently flexible bridge (42) joining the parts exerts a restoring force which urges the parts together. The toothed parts (32, 34) can be incorporated into a neck of a hanger between its hook and shoulder bars. Alternatively a loop can be provided for receiving the hook of a conventional garment hanger.

Description

GARMENT HANGER

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to garment hangers.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

There are a number of problems involved in the drying of washing on a clothes line using pegs to secure each individual garment to the line. One problem is that there may not be enough space on the line for all the washing.

To overcome this problem the wet garments can be hung on conventional garment hangers, and these can then be hooked onto the line. However, if the line sags or is not horizontal, the hangers can slide along the line until they are bunched up. Once the hangers are close together the required drying time is increased.

Applicants are aware of prior art hangers which are intended to overcome this problem. The hanger disclosed in WO 2006/034579 includes a subsidiary hook for attaching the hanger to a clothes line. The hook is described as, in some forms, having spikes for penetrating the clothes line. The hook presses the line against a smooth surface.

United States Specification 2, 210, 490 discloses a wire hanger which is configured to enable a clothes line to be forced into a closed passage which has roughened surfaces. The roughened surfaces inhibit movement between the hanger and the line.

In WO 2007/036725 there is disclosed a hanger with a bar which is moulded integrally with the remainder of the hanger and joined to it by a resilient bridge. The bar and the surface which faces it are formed with rounded ridges which together define passages of different cross sectional dimensions for receiving clothes lines of different diameters. The surfaces of the ridges, and also the surfaces of the valleys between the ridges, are smooth. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a garment hanger which comprises a body consisting of a first part having a serrated surface, a second part having a serrated surface, a gap between said parts being bounded by the serrated surfaces which face one another across the gap, a resiliently flexible bridge integral with said parts and joining said parts to one another, the bridge being distorted when said parts are splayed apart and exerting a restoring force to grip a clothes line between the parts, and at least one loop extending from said body at a location remote from the bridge.

The garment hanger can include a loop extending from each of said parts of the body. In this form the loops preferably diverge from one another in the direction away from said body. In a specific form each of said body parts is in the form of a disc. In a further form one of said body parts is in the form of a disc and the other body part is in the form of a bar one end of which is joined to the disc at the top dead centre position of the disc.

According to a further aspect of the present invention there is provided a garment hanger which comprises a hook, a pair of shoulder bars and a neck joining the hook to the shoulder bars, one surface of the neck being formed with teeth having apices for penetrating a clothes line and there being a bar which is formed with teeth having apices for penetrating a clothes line, the teeth of the neck and of the bar facing one another across a gap and the bar, at one end, being joined to the neck by a resilient bridge moulded integrally with both the neck and the bar, the bridge exerting a restoring force on the bar when the free end of the bar is displaced in the direction away from the neck.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the present invention, and to show how the same may be carried into effect, reference will now be made, by way of example, to the accompanying drawings in which:-

Figure 1 is an elevation of a known garment hanger;

Figure 2 is an elevation of part of a garment hanger in accordance with the present invention;

Figure 3 is a pictorial view illustrating the garment hanger of Figure 2 in use; Figure 4 is a pictorial view of a further form of garment hanger;

Figures 5 and 6 are pictorial views illustrating the garment hanger of Figure 4 in use; and

Figure 7 is a pictorial view of a modified form of the garment hanger of Figure 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The known garment hanger 10 shown in Figure 1 comprises a hook 12 by means of which the hanger can be suspended, a neck 14 below the hook 12, two sloping shoulder bars 16 and a horizontal cross bar 18.

Turning now to Figure 2, the garment hanger 20 shown in this Figure has the same hook 12 and bars 16 which are joined by a neck designated 22.

Moulded integrally with the neck 22 over its full height there is a gripper bar 24 which is vertically elongate. A second vertically elongate gripper bar 26 is joined to the upper end of the bar 24 by a resiliently flexible bridge 28. The bar 26 is otherwise free. The bridge 28 permits the bar 26 to pivot outwardly away from the bar 24 as shown by the arrow A to increase the width of the gap between them. To facilitate outward pivoting of the bar 26 in the direction of arrow A, it is extended at its lower end by a curved operating element 30.

Those surfaces of the bars 24, 26 which face one another across the gap between them are formed with teeth 32, 34 respectively so that these surfaces are serrated. The teeth have apices for penetrating a clothes line. The teeth 32, 34 mesh as shown and extend across the bars from side-to-side. It is, however, possible for the teeth to extend vertically from the upper end of each bar to its lower end. One surface of the neck 22 is thus formed with teeth.

In Figure 3 the bars 24, 26 of the hanger 20 are shown splayed apart with a clothes line CL passing between them. The teeth 32, 34 penetrate the line to inhibit slippage of the hanger 20 along the line CL.

The hanger 20 lies at right angles to the clothes line. This makes it possible to hang more garments on any given length of clothes line than can be hung in the conventional manner using pegs. Because the hangers 20 are inhibited from sliding along the line by the teeth 32, 34 there is no tendency for the hangers to bunch up on a sloping or sagging line.

In the form in which each set of teeth extends in the direction of the length of the respective bar, each tooth provided penetrates the line giving even greater security against slippage.

The garment hanger illustrated in Figure 4 is designated 36. The bars 24, 26 of Figures 2 and 3 are replaced by two discs 38, 40 which are joined at their top dead centre positions by a resiliently flexible bridge 42.

The surfaces of the discs 38, 40 which face one another across the gap between them are formed with teeth 44, 46 which mesh with one another in the same way as the teeth 32, 34. Below the discs 38, 40, and moulded integrally therewith, are two loops 48, 50. The lower parts of the loops 48, 50 splay apart so that there is a wider gap between these parts than there is between the upper parts of the loops.

In Figures 5 and 6 the garment hanger of Figure 4 is shown with the hook 12 of the hanger 10 of Figure 1 passed through the loops 48, 50. The clothes line CL is also shown.

As shown by arrows B and C in Figure 6, the weight of the garments on the hanger 10, pulling down on the loops 48, 50 as shown by the arrow D, draws the lower parts of loops 48, 50 towards one another to cause the teeth 44, 46 to grip the clothes line CL more firmly.

It is possible for the teeth of the hanger 36 to extend at right angles to those illustrated that is, vertically across the faces of the discs. In Figure 7 the garment 52 shown differs from that of Figure 4 in that it has a single disc 54 and a vertically elongate bar 56. The upper end of the bar 56 is joined by a flexible bridge 58 to the top dead centre position of the disc 54.

The disc 54 is extended downwards by a loop 60 and the bar 56 has an operating element 62 at the lower end thereof. The element 62 has the same function as the element 30 in Figure 2. The disc 54 and bar 56 have teeth 64, 66 respectively which extend across them. The teeth can extend at right angles to the teeth illustrated that is, lengthways of the bar 56 from top to bottom and also from top to bottom of the disc 54.

The surfaces of the discs 38, 40 and 54 provide spaces to which advertisements can be applied.

The hangers described can be injection moulded using synthetic plastics material. Alternatively they can be manufactured using a metal such as aluminium or brass.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A garment hanger which comprises a body consisting of a first part having a serrated surface, a second part having a serrated surface, a gap between said parts being bounded by the serrated surfaces which face one another across the gap, a resiliently flexible bridge integral with said parts and joining said parts to one another, the bridge being distorted when said parts are splayed apart and exerting a restoring force to grip a clothes line between them, and at least one loop extending from said body at a location remote from the bridge.

2. A garment hanger as claimed in claim 1 and including a loop extending from each of said parts of the body.

3. A garment hanger as claimed in claim 2, wherein said loops diverge from one another in the direction away from said body.

4. A garment hanger as claimed in claim 1 , 2 or 3, wherein each of said body parts is in the form of a disc.

5. A garment hanger as claimed in claim 1 , 2 or 3, wherein one of said body parts is in the form of a disc and the other body part is in the form of a bar one end of which is joined to the disc at the top dead centre position of the disc.

6. A garment hanger which comprises a hook, a pair of shoulder bars and a neck joining the hook to the shoulder bars, one surface of the neck being formed with teeth having apices for penetrating a clothes line and there being a bar which is formed with teeth having apices for penetrating a clothes line, the teeth of the neck and of the bar facing one another across a gap and the bar, at one end, being joined to the neck by a resilient bridge moulded integrally with both the neck and the bar, the bridge exerting a restoring force on the bar when the free end of the bar is displaced in the direction away from the neck.