Flexible Garment Hanger

Garments such as "T" shirts, pull-over sweaters, and the like are commonly retained on garment hangers. Although the garment hanger retains to garment acceptable, it is frequently difficult to remove the garment from the hanger by pulling the hanger through the neck. On the contrary, a more tedious removal requires the extraction of the hanger arms from the garment arms and a removal of the hanger through the bottom of the garment. Infants' and children's clothing are similarly difficult to remove from conventional hangers. Moreover, discount markets and clothing stores frequently desire to retain the hanger upon which a garment is sold, requiring the hanger to be removed from the garment or garments at the cashier's booth. Unnecessary expenditure of time and frustration often occurs in having to remove several garments from several hangers.

Because of the large inventory of hangers retained by many stores, it is both desirable and necessary to utilize a hanger which is inexpensive and yet capable of quick and simple removal from a garment without stretching or damaging it.

Applicant is aware of, cites to the Examiner and includes copies of with this application the following prior art:

The patents noted below relate to structures of plastic hinges:

and a hanger manufactured by Kingly Products Corporation entitled Foldaway Hanger No. 204.

The Foldaway Hanger has deflectable arms, but the arms classically deflect upward instead of downward thereby not entirely resolving the challenge of removing the hanger through the neck of a "T" shirt or a turtleneck shirt. The Anderson device discloses two rigid arm members which pivot about a hook member and which are held rigid by extending the trouser bar into a straight line. The Clausen device shows an adjustable and collapsable hanger having two wire hanger arms extendable by forcing down the element 12 and which are contained by the trouser rod at either end thereof.

The Hawkins device discloses a collapsable hanger having a plate and disposable ears. The terminable plates rotate underneath other plates which in turn pivot around a point. The Daigle device discloses a collapsable hanger whose arms pivot and collapse about a point.

The Batts device discloses a non-deflectable hanger having flexible hinge clamps for gripping a garment.

The Garrison patent and the three foreign patents disclose a deformable thermoplastic hinge and various other embodiments of similar hinges.

None of these devices include all the elements of the present invention. Nothing in the prior art discloses and claims a hanger whose arms deflect downwardly for upward extraction from within the garment, utilizing solely integral flexible plastic-like hinges which are a part of the hanger apparatus, an overcenter locking device and a hanger which further collapses in a vertical plane.

The present invention is directed to an economically manufactured collapsable garment hanger which can be removed upwardly through the neck or similar orifice of garments hanging thereon. The present invention is further directed to a garment hanger which can be locked into a deployed position suitable for hanging garments thereon and easily unlocked to permit downward and inward deflection of the hanger arms and subsequent upward extraction of the hanger from the garment. An additional embodiment substitutes a two-segment trouser bar integrally and hingedly connected at each end to an arm of the hanger, and each segment removably securable to each other by means of a locking device.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a garment hanger having a pair of hanger arms which are easily deflectable downwardly and inwardly in a vertical plane.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a garment hanger which is deployed and collapsed with a minimum of effort and manual operation.

Still a further object of the present invention is to provide a garment hanger which is easily locked into a deployed position.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a garment hanger having downwardly deflectable hanger arms which can be maintained in a deployed position by means of a segmented trouser bar connected to each hanger arm by an integral flexible hanger portion thereof and the segments thereof removably secured to each other by a simple conventional means.

An even further object of the present invention is to provide a flexible garment hanger which is easily deployed and locked as well as unlocked and collapsed and which is economically manufactured by either one piece molding or by one piece molding with a separate hook member inserted therethrough.

Further objects and other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent in the following description of the preferred embodiments of the invention, given for the purpose of disclosure and taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and claims.

FIG. 1 is a side view of the invention showing the hanger in the deployed position.

FIG. 2 is the side view of the invention showing the hanger in the unlocked and collapsed position.

FIG. 3 is another embodiment of the hanger having one flexible hinge separating the hanger arms through which a metal hook member is secured.

FIG. 4 is a view of the device in FIG. 3 as shown in the collapsed position.

FIG. 5 shows a side view of another embodiment of the flexible hanger in the deployed position, the locking device being a trouser bar flexibly connected at each end to the respective hanger arms by means of a flexible hinge portion, and having a means thereon to rigidly lock the trouser bar in an extended position.

FIG. 6 shows a device of FIG. 5 in the unlocked and collapsed position.

FIG. 7 shows a hanger having a locking device activated by movement of a hook member.

FIG. 8 shows the device in FIG. 7 in a collapsed position.

One embodiment of the new hanger device as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 has a hook member 8 molded with a body 2 having two sides 4 thereof. Two hanger arms 6 extend from the respective sides 4 of the body 2 and are each connected to the respective sides by means of an integral deformable hinge portion 10. The integral deformable hinge portions of the hanger are made of a low-density, plastic-like material such as, by way of example and not by limitation, polypropylene. The deformable integral hinge portions are sufficiently thin to permit the arms 6 to be deformed inwardly and downwardly into a collapsed position such that the hanger can be removed through the neck or other similar aperture of a garment hanging thereupon.

It is preferably to have a locking means to maintain the arms 6 in a deployed position as shown in FIG. 1. The locking means can take many forms; however, a preferred locking means utilizes a locking bar 14 having a stop member 18 projecting from the locking bar 14 in the direction of the body 2. The locking bar is connected at either end thereof to the corresponding hanger arms 6. An integral deformable hinge portion is disposed between each end of the locking bar and its corresponding hanger arm thereby securing the locking bar at each end thereof to the corresponding hanger arm 6. Another pair of integral deformable hinge portions 20 are located on the locking bar 14 such that one hinge portion is disposed on either side of the stop member 18. The integral deformable hinge portions 10, 16 and 20 can be substantially similar for ease of manufacture. Accordingly, downward pressure on the locking bar 14 or on the stop member 18 causes the hinges 16 and 20 to be deflected so that the stop member 18 and the locking bar 14 move downwardly thereby permitting the hanger to assume a collapsed position as shown in FIG. 2. When the hanger is in the deployed position as shown in FIG. 1, the locking bar is disposed in an overcentered locking position; that is, downward forces on the hanger arms 6 are translated along the locking bar 14 whereby the stop member 18 is forced upward into abutting contact with the body 2. The contact of the stop member 18 against the body 2 prevents the arms 6 from further movement in a downward or inward direction and substantially locks the hanger arms into the developed position. To force the hanger into the collapsed position as shown in FIG. 2, it is necessary to displace the stop member 18 or locking bar 14 downwardly past a centered position. A centered position occurs when the locking bar is substantially in a straight line. Once the locking bar is deformed downwardly past the centered position, forces exerted on the hanger arms 6 continue to deform the locking bar 14 in a downward direction into the collapsed position as shown in FIG. 2. Preferably, a molding 19 is incorporated onto the hanger to increase the hanging surface on the arms as well as to increase generally the stability and rigidity of the hanger as a whole. The molding 19 further permits an increased area of flexion at the point where the integral deformable hinge portions 10 are located. Accordingly, increased flexure life of the hinge portions 10 will occur.

Another embodiment of the new flexible garment hanger as shown in FIG. 7 has a hook member 61 which is not integrally molded to the body 2 of the hanger. The hook member 61 is received by at least one aperture 63 in the body 2 of the hanger such that the hook member can slide within the aperture. The lower end of the hook member 61 is further secured to the stop member 18 so that an upward force on the hook member 61 brings the stop member 18 into abutting engagement with the body 2 while a downward force on the hook member forces the stop member 18 downwardly, bringing the locking bar 14 past the overcenter position thereby permitting the hanger to assume a collapsed position. By way of example and not limitation, an upper retainer 65 and a lower retainer 67 can be the means for securing the hook member 61 to the stop member 18.

Another embodiment of the new flexible garment hanger replaces the two hinge portions 10 of FIG. 1 with one integral deformable hinge portion 11 as shown in FIG. 3. Located within the hinge portion 11 is an aperture 30 through which a hook member 32 is received. A retainer 33 is secured to the hook member 32 such that the hook member cannot be removed upwardly through the aperture 30 in the hinge portion 11. As shown in FIG. 3, each hanger arm 6 is composed of a low-density plasticlike material and is connected to each other by means of an integral deformable hinge portion 11. The hanger arms 6 therefore are deflectable about the hinge portion 11. A locking device similar to that as shown in FIG. 1 locks the hanger arms 6 into a deployed position as shown in FIG. 3 or unlocks permitting the hanger to assume a collapsed position as shown in FIG. 4. Those skilled in the art will realize that the hook member 32 can be secured to the stop member 36 to permit locking and unlocking of the locking device by movement of the hook.

An additional embodiment of the present invention is found in FIG. 5. A hook member 8 is integrally molded to a body 2. A pair of hanger arms 6 are connected to the body member 2 by means of a pair of integral flexible hinge portions 13 substantially similar to the hinge portions 10 in FIG. 1. Downward and inward forces on the hanger arms 6 therefore cause the hanger arms to deflect about the hinge portions 13. A two-segment trouser bar 50 comprising segments 50a and 50b not only supports a pair of trousers or other similar garment but also serves as a locking device with a hanger. Each segment 50a and 50b is connected at an outer end thereof to the respective hanger arms 6 by means of an integral deformable hinge portion 54. When the segments 50a and 50b are ridigly alligned such as, for example and not by way of limitation a rigid member 52, the hanger is locked into a deployed position as shown in FIG. 5. If one of the segments of the trouser bar 50 is removed from the rigid member 52, the trouser bar 50 is then separated into two segments 50a and 50b thereby unlocking a locking function of the trouser bar. When the trouser bar 50 is unlocked, the hanger arms may be deflected downwardly and inwardly as shown in FIG. 6 such that the hanger assumes a collapsed position.

Those skilled in the art and familiar with the manufacture of garment hangers will realize that the embodiments as shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 5 and 6 are preferably formed of a one-piece molding in a one-step operation. The deformation hinge portions are integrally formed in the one-step molding process. When the grain of the plastic-like material is properly alligned by the flow of the material into the mold, the various integral deformable hinge portions give increased flexion life. Those skilled in the art will further realize that the embodiments of the new device as shown in FIGS. 3, 4, 7, and 8 require a separate and non-integral hook member capable of sliding within the aperture 30. The various embodiments of the new invention, therefore, provide a new and useful garment hanger which can be economically manufactured and which meets the objectives of the invention as heretofore set forth. It is understood that numerous other embodiments, combinations and rearrangements of combinations fall both within the spirit and the scope of the present invention as claimed, described in the specification and illustrated in the figures appended hereto.