Hanger system for a container

A hanger system for a container is described as comprising the combination of a container having side and bottom walls and a top wall including a dispensing outlet, wherein the bottom wall has a concave portion. A hanger attachment lug is located and fully contained within the concave portion of the bottom wall of the container, and the attachment lug includes a shaft portion which is substantially circular in cross-section and a retention flange extending outwardly from the distal end of the shaft portion. A detachable hanger member includes an attachment clip formed adjacent its lower portion adapted to engage the shaft portion of the attachment lug to detachably and rotatably attach the hanger member to the container. The hanger member includes an upper hook portion which extends upwardly from the attachment clip and is adapted to suspend the container in inverted condition. The hanger member is attachable to the attachment lug from any direction about the periphery of such lug, and, following attachment, is rotatable a full 360.degree. thereabout. The hanger system provides a versatile means of suspending a container in inverted condition from a variety of support structures without impeding conventional manufacturing, shipping and handling characteristics for such container.

TECHNICAL FIELD 
This invention relates to a hanger system for a container, and, more 
particularly, to a hanger system to support a container in an inverted 
condition and including a hanger member which detachably engages a hanger 
attachment lug which is fully contained within a concave portion of the 
bottom wall of the container. 
BACKGROUND ART 
Hanging mechanisms and support hooks have been utilized in conjunction with 
containers and dispensers in various ways in the industry. U.S. Pat. No. 
2,760,687, for example, which issued to I. W. Spier et al. on Aug. 28, 
1956, discloses a squeeze container including a detachable spout member 
having a "goose neck" configuration. The shape of the spout is designed to 
direct the contained liquid downwardly during dispensing operations and to 
provide hook means for suspending the device for storage. The Spier et al. 
spout further includes a reservoir located at the end of the downwardly 
curved portion which is designed to contain a predetermined amount of 
liquid product to provide a dosed application of such liquid separate from 
the remainder of the product within the body of the container. Similarly, 
U.S. Pat. No. 3,495,797, which issued to D. M. Ganz on Feb. 17, 1970, 
describes a holder for a collapsible tube container, such holder 
comprising a hook member by which the container may be suspended from a 
suitable support. The Ganz holder includes a frusto-conical body having a 
depending sidewall designed to fit over a conventional closure cap and to 
engage therewith. After the holder is fit over the closure cap, the 
holder/closure cap combination can be removed from the collapsible tube 
for dispensing and replaced for storage after a dispensing operation. 
A dispensing container having a washer-shaped hanger member designed to be 
coupled to a track for mounting on a bathroom wall is shown in U.S. Pat. 
No. 4,085,867, which issued to P. Heller on Apr. 25, 1978. The Heller 
dispenser includes a main product chamber, an integrally formed pump 
chamber located beneath the main chamber, and a pair of check valves 
arranged above and below such pump chamber to provide a pump-type 
dispenser which can be manually squeezed to dispense liquid. On its upper 
end, the Heller dispenser includes threaded neck portion whereon a cap 
closure is placed. The cap closure is designed to hold in place the 
washer-shaped hanger member which includes an upturned bead portion 
designed to interact with a horizontal hanging track to suspend the 
dispenser along a vertical surface. 
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,304,547 and 2,362,523, which issued to F. A. Cutter on 
Dec. 8, 1942 and E. M. Armstrong, Jr. et al. on Nov. 14, 1944, 
respectively; disclose suspension members for containers, with such 
suspension members having peripheral channel elements which attach over 
beads formed along the bottom edge of the containers. Both of these 
references also contemplate hook means which can be placed in either an 
extended hanging position or a relatively non-obstructing storage position 
relative to the bottom surface of the container. 
A liquid dispensing bottle hanger is also disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 
3,945,060, which issued to F. Gargione on Mar. 23, 1976. The Gargione 
bottle has a large circular boss formed on its bottom wall onto which a 
hanger clip is to be mounted. The hanger clip has a pair of arcuate 
fingers which circumferentially and slidably engage the circular boss. The 
Gargione clip is rotatable 90.degree. about the circular boss between 
stored and hanging positions. When in the stored position, the downwardly 
extending portion of the clip coincides in face-to-face relationship with 
a protuberance formed in the lower portions of the dispensing bottle. 
U.S. Pat. No. 3,484,013, which issued to W. L. Speicher on Dec. 16, 1969, 
shows a container having a retractable suspension hook attached to its 
bottom surfaces. The Speicher container is formed with a concave recess in 
its bottom wherein a lug is formed. The lug has a central aperture which 
receives one end of an elongated suspension hook which can be rotated from 
a stored position within the concave recess of the container bottom to an 
extended position. A lip is formed on the lug to serve as a retainer for 
the elongated hook device to retain the hook in its retracted position 
when desired. 
Despite all the prior work done in this area, there remain problems in 
providing a hanger system which does not interfere with standard 
manufacturing, shipping and handling procedures associated with the 
container while allowing convenient suspension of such container in 
inverted condition from a variety of support structures. With prior art 
hangers, rotatable adjustability of the hanger member was often limited 
between stored or hanging positions, thereby limiting the adaptability of 
the hanger system to various environments. Prior hangers also lacked the 
ability to easily adjust to various bottle shapes and bottle hanging 
characteristics. 
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION 
It is an object of this invention to obviate the above-described problems. 
It is another object of the present invention to provide a hanger system 
for a container, wherein such hanger system comprises an attachment lug 
located and fully contained within a concave portion of the bottom wall of 
the container and wherein a detachable hanger member is attachable to such 
attachment lug from any direction about the periphery of the lug. 
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a hanger 
system for a container wherein a detachable hanger member is conveniently 
attachable to such container and rotatable a full 360.degree. while in 
such attached position to provide adaptability of such hanger system to 
various bottle shapes, support structures, and environments. 
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a 
hanger system for a container which comprises in combination a container 
having side and bottom walls and a top wall including a dispensing outlet, 
with such bottom wall having a concave portion formed therein. A hanger 
attachment lug is located and fully contained within the concave portion 
of the bottom wall of the container, and such attachment lug includes a 
shaft portion which is substantially circular in cross-section and a 
retention flange extending outwardly from the distal end of the shaft 
portion. A detachable hanger member has an attachment clip formed adjacent 
its lower portion adapted to engage the shaft portion of the attachment 
lug to detachably and rotatably attach the hanger member to the container. 
The hanger member further includes an upper hook portion which extends 
upwardly from the attachment clip and is adapted to suspend the container 
in inverted condition. The hanger member can be attached to the attachment 
lug from any direction about the periphery of the lug, and, after 
attachment, is rotatable a full 360.degree. thereabout.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
Referring now to the drawings in detail, wherein like numerals indicate the 
same element throughout the views, a hanger system for a container is 
shown in FIGS. 1 through 7 as comprising a detachable hanger member 10 and 
a hanger attachment lug 30 formed on the bottom of a container or bottle 
40. In FIG. 7, bottle 40 is shown as having side and bottom walls and a 
top wall which includes a dispensing outlet. The bottom wall of bottle 40 
includes a concave or recessed portion 42 surrounded about its periphery 
by a non-concave portion 35. While bottle 40 can be made of any material 
commonly used to form containers for various products, it is preferred 
that bottle 40 be made from a thermoplastic resin for ease in manufacture. 
FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrate the bottom portions of a bottle 40 which has been 
modified in accordance with the present invention. Located within the 
concave portion 42 is a hanger attachment lug 30, which further comprises 
a shaft portion 31 preferably having a substantially circular 
cross-section, and a disk-like retention flange 32 which extends outwardly 
about the periphery of the distal end of the shaft portion 31. It is 
contemplated that shaft portion 31 could have a cross-section which 
includes one or more flat or otherwise non-circular portions (e.g. shaft 
portion 31 might have an octagonal cross-section with adjacent flat areas 
about its periphery); however, it is preferred to make shaft portion 31 
more circular to facilitate rotation of hanger member 10, as will be 
discussed further below. Such cross-section is referred to as 
substantially circular to indicate that, even if some portions of the 
outer surface of shaft 31 are flat or otherwise non-circular, hanger 
member 10 can still be relatively conveniently rotated a full 360.degree. 
thereabout. As used herein, the term "substantially circular in 
cross-section" shall include shaft portions having one or more flat or 
otherwise non-circular portions about which hanger member 10 can be 
rotated. 
Attachment lug 30 extends longitudinally outwardly from the recessed wall 
portion 43 of the bottom wall of bottle 40, and is fully contained within 
the concave portion 42 such that no part of attachment lug 30 extends 
longitudinally outwardly beyond the peripheral non-recessed portion 35. By 
insuring that the attachment lug is fully contained within concave portion 
42, bottle 40 can be placed in a stable upright position for standard 
manufacturing, shipping, and storage procedures, being supported on its 
lower edge by the non-concave portions 35 of its bottom wall. In this way, 
bottle 40 retains the shipping, handling and storage characteristics of 
common containers. 
FIGS. 1 through 4 illustrate a preferred detachable hanger member 10 of the 
subject invention which includes an attachment clip 11 formed adjacent its 
lower portion and a generally U-shaped upper hook portion 19 which extends 
upwardly from the attachment clip 11. Attachment clip 11 is adapted to 
engage hanger attachment lug 30 below retention flange 32 to detachably 
and rotatably attach hanger member 10 to bottle 40. In particular, 
attachment clip 11 includes a substantially flat bottom surface 15 further 
comprising a pair of oppositely disposed claw sections 16 defining a 
substantially U-shaped open portion 12 therebetween. Claws 16 are designed 
to resiliently deform outwardly a sufficient amount to permit attachment 
clip 11 to be snapped around the shaft portion 31 of hanger attachment lug 
30 below retention flange 32. In this regard, open section 12 of 
attachment clip 11 preferably conforms in size and shape to the outer 
surface of shaft portion 31 to provide a relatively snug fit when snapped 
thereover. In fact, it is also preferred to make the area of open section 
12 of a slightly smaller diameter than the outer dimension of shaft 31 to 
provide a snug frictional interactive fit therebetween. Where the 
substantially circular cross-section of shaft 31 includes one or more flat 
or otherwise non-circular portions, the inner surfaces of open section 12 
might be formed with complementary portions to provide one or more preset 
hanger positions about shaft 31. 
While the material from which hanger member 10 is made is not critical, 
such material must provide sufficient hanger strength to safely support 
bottle 40 and its contained product, and must be sufficiently resilient to 
enable the claws 16 to spring apart far enough to snap around shaft 
portion 31 without breaking or permanently deforming. In this regard, a 
designed weakening slot or stress area 13 can be provided in attachment 
clip 11 to facilitate such resilience and spring action. Polystyrene (such 
as high impact polystyrene #760, available from American Hoechst of 
Leominster, MA) is a good example of material which can provide a hanger 
member 10 featuring the required strength and resilience discussed herein. 
Utilization of a weakened area or slot 13 allows relatively stiff claws 16 
to move outwardly around the shaft portion 31 as hook member 10 is snapped 
onto attachment lug 30. Support walls 14 add strength and rigidity to 
attachment clip 11 by connecting the outer edges of claw sections 16 with 
the upwardly extending stem 18 of hanger member 10. Stem 18 extends 
between attachment clip 11 and a generally U-shaped upper hook portion 19 
which is adapted to suspend bottle 40 from a variety of support structures 
(not shown) such as shower curtain rods and the like. 
In FIGS. 1 through 4, hanger member 10 is shown as including upstanding 
edges 20 providing a substantially channel-like structure thereto. In this 
regard, it is preferred to reinforce hanger member 10 by utilizing 
reinforcing ribs such as edges 20, thereby conserving material yet 
providing sufficient strength and rigidity to the structure. Any 
combination of materials and specific hanger structure, however, can be 
utilized to ensure sufficient strength and rigidity of hanger member 10. 
Stem 18 extends upwardly from attachment clip 11 and is attached at its 
upper end to the generally U-shaped upper hook portion 19, which is 
adapted to suspend a container or bottle 40 in inverted condition. The 
U-shaped hook portion 19 can feature a variety of shapes and diameters of 
its curvatures according to specific characteristics of various support 
structures onto which the hanger member will be hooked. For manufacturing 
ease it is preferred that the distal end 22 of hook portion 19 feature a 
structure which is substantially parallel to stem 18. It is also 
contemplated that hanger member 10 might include extra material in 
predetermined specific portions in order to balance the hanger system as 
desired. For example, it is preferred that hanger member 10 be designed 
such that its geometry and material distribution allows it to 
independently hang in a stable condition on a support structure when not 
attached to a container. This is preferred to further enable disposal of 
exhausted containers and hanging storage of a reusable detachable hanger 
member 10 between its use in conjunction with another container made in 
accordance herewith. 
It is also preferred that the placement of hanger attachment lug 30 within 
the concave portion 42 of a bottle 40 be chosen to align the center line 
of a hanger member 10 with the center of gravity of the container, thereby 
providing a hanger system which will allow the container to hang in a 
substantially vertical manner. To insure that a particular container will 
hang in a substantially vertical manner, it is imperative that the point, 
or center of a line, of contact (labeled as point 24 in FIG. 1) of hanger 
member 10 be aligned with the center of open section 12 along a line 
parallel to the longitudinal axis of bottle 40 and passing through the 
center of gravity thereof. For example, for a symmetrical bottle the point 
of contact 24 and the center of section 12 should be aligned along the 
central axis of the bottle. The angle A at which stem 18 is oriented 
relative to the longitudinal axis of the hanger member 10 can be varied as 
desired, however, hook contact point 24 and the center of open section 12 
must be aligned as described above if vertical orientation of the 
suspended container is desired. 
As an example of a hanger system made in accordance herewith, a 
substantially standard blow-molded thermoplastic container (as shown in 
the perspective view of FIG. 7) was made having a concave portion 42 
formed in its bottom wall, and having a hanger attachment lug 30 located 
and fully contained within concave portion 42. The depth D of concave 
portion 42 was approximately 3.2 mm (0.126 inches). Attachment lug 30 was 
located centrally within concave portion 42, having a shaft portion 31 
with an outside diameter of approximately 6.35 mm (0.250 inches) and 
having a retention flange 32 approximately 1.14 mm (0.045 inches) in 
thickness and approximately 7.62 mm (0.300 inches) in outside diameter (R) 
formed on the distal end of such shaft portion. Shaft portion 31 and 
retention flange 32 extended longitudinally outwardly from the 
substantially flat portion 43 of concave portion 42 approximately 2.59 mm 
(0.102 inches; i.e. the vertical height C of shaft portion 31 was 
approximately 1.45 mm), thereby being fully contained within the recess 
thereof. It is contemplated that bottle 40 can be made of any moldable 
material such as polyethylene, polypropylene and other appropriate 
thermoplastics. Although glass could be used, it is not preferred due to 
the obvious safety concerns and potential manufacturing difficulties. 
A detachable hanger member 10 was formed of polystyrene material (as 
mentioned above), as illustrated and described above in FIGS. 1 through 4. 
Hanger member 10 was formed with an overall width W of approximately 10.2 
mm (0.400 inches) and having a thickness in hook portion 19 and stem 18 of 
approximately 1.02 mm (0.04 inches). Upstanding reinforcing edges 20 
extended outwardly from opposite edges of the outer surfaces of upper hook 
member 19 and stem 18 approximately 3.18 mm (0.125 inches) and had a width 
of approximately 1.2 mm (0.047 inches). The overall height of hanger 
member 10 from lower surface 15 to the hanging contact point 24 was 
approximately 45.5 mm (1.792 inches), and the upper hook portion 19 
included an inside radius of its curved portion of approximately 14.3 mm 
(0.562 inches). Attachment chip 11 included a bottom surface 15 comprising 
oppositely disposed attachment claws 16 having a thickness (T) of 
approximately 1.3 mm (0.050 inches) and having a length (F) and width of 
approximately 10.2 mm (0.400 inches), thereby creating a substantially 
square and flat bottom surface 15. A centrally located open section 12 was 
formed in bottom section 15 with a diameter of approximately 6.32 mm 
(0.249 inches). The oppositely disposed claws 16 were separated by an 
opening between their distal edges of approximately 3.3 mm (0.130 inches), 
and such distal edges were rounded to facilitate the attachment of 
attachment clip 11 around attachment lug 30, as described above. A 
semicircular weakening slot 13 was located in the lower portion of stem 18 
extending from the open section 12 to provide additional resilience to 
attachment clip 11, with such slot having an approximate radius of 1.65 mm 
(0.065 inches). Reinforcement walls 14 were formed as extensions of 
upstanding reinforcement edges 20, having a thickness of approximately 1.2 
mm (0.047 inches) and extending substantially vertically to connect such 
edges 20 with the upper surfaces of claws 16, thereby reinforcing the 
connection between attachment clip 11 and stem 18. The exact dimensions of 
such reinforcing walls 14 are not critical, and are illustrated in the 
figures as approximately aligning along their vertical distal edge with 
the distal edge of the attachment claws 16. As mentioned above, for 
manufacturing ease it is preferred that the distal end of the upper hook 
portion 19 extend substantially parallel to stem 18. In this example, the 
distal 8.56 mm (0.337 inches) of hook portion 19 was formed relatively 
straight and substantially parallel to the straight portion of stem 18. 
Stem 18 was oriented at an angle A of approximately 39.degree. relative 
to the center line of hanger member 10. The resulting hanger system 
provided a detachable hanger member attachable to the attachment lug of 
the dispensing container from any direction about the periphery thereof, 
and, once attached to the lug, rotatable 360.degree. thereabout to suspend 
the container in any such rotated position. 
In order to determine required dimensions for various portions of a hanger 
system made in accordance herewith, it is preferred to first determine the 
approximate size of the hanger member, attachment clip and attachment lug 
relative to the materials from which such parts are to be made to 
determine minimum dimensional requirements necessary to provide sufficient 
strength for a safe hanger system. Once a diameter R of the attachment lug 
has been chosen, a corresponding attachment clip length F can next be 
similarly chosen, as well as the depth D of concave portion 42. While 
these dimensions can be varied as desired, they each have a minimum which 
is based on strength and molding requirements. The minimums can be 
utilized to determine the minimum required diameter B of concave portion 
42 of a bottle necessary to achieve the characteristics described in the 
subject disclosure. 
In particular, the following formula can be utilized to roughly determine 
the minimum diameter of the concave portion 42 of a bottle 40 required to 
achieve the desired attachment and rotatability features of the subject 
hanger system for a given depth D of recessed portion 42, and a given 
length F of attachment clip 11.: 
##EQU1## 
wherein: F is the length of attachment clip 11; 
D is the depth of concave portion 42 of bottle 40; 
C is the vertical height of shaft portion 31; 
T is the thickness of claw portions 16; 
B is the minimum diameter of recessed portion 42; 
R is the diameter of retention flange 32; and 
P is the width between the two points where the upper surface of attachment 
claws (e.g. 16) of a hanger member first contact the lower surface of the 
attachment lug retention flange (e.g. 32) during an attachment procedure. 
It is preferred that where bottom edge 15 of attachment clip 11 is formed 
as a substantially flat surface, there be a corresponding substantially 
flat surface 43 formed on the bottom wall of bottle 40 to contact and lend 
stability and support to edge 15. In order to provide such support and to 
permit full 360.degree. rotation of hanger member 10 about attachment lug 
30, flat surface 43 must have a minimum cross-width dimension sufficient 
to allow the most distal portion of bottom edge 15 unimpeded rotation 
about lug 30. Such minimum cross-width dimension is generally equal to two 
times the distance from the center of open section 12 to the most distal 
point on flat surface 15. For example, in the above illustration, the 
minimum diameter of flat portion 43 would be about 14.37 mm (0.566 
inches). As with all of the dimensions discussed, however, the resilience 
and deflectability of the materials used in the components of the subject 
hanger system can provide some leeway or tolerance in the exact dimensions 
of such structures. 
A portion of an alternative embodiment of the hanger system of the subject 
invention is shown in FIG. 8. Specifically, detachable hanger member 110 
is shown as comprising a relatively flat stem 118 connected on its upper 
end to a generally U-shaped hook portion 119 and at its lower end to 
attachment clip 111. As described above with regard to attachment clip 11, 
attachment clip 111 includes an open portion 112 defined by two oppositely 
disposed attachment claws 116 separated at their distal ends by open space 
125, and having a weakening slot 113 formed adjacent its inner edge to 
provide additional resilience to the attachment clip. Hanger stem 118 is 
shown as extending substantially in a vertical direction from the back 
edge of attachment clip 111, and the distal end of hook portion 119 
extends downwardly substantially vertically and parallel to stem 118. 
FIG. 8 illustrates that hanger member 110 is to be snapped around an 
attachment lug 130 in a manner substantially identical to that described 
above to suspend a container in inverted condition. Container 140 is shown 
as including a concave portion 142 in its bottom wall having a 
substantially flat portion 143 featuring sufficient area to permit 
360.degree. rotation of hanger member 110 about attachment lug 130 after 
its attachment thereto. Again, the minimum dimensions of concave portion 
142 can be generally determined by the equation above, and the minimum 
area of the substantially flat area such as 143 corresponds proportionally 
to the dimensions of the bottom surface of the attachment clip 111. 
FIG. 9 illustrates another embodiment of the subject hanger system wherein 
the attachment clip 211 of hanger member 210 is shown in its attached 
position around attachment lug 230 within the concave portion 242 of the 
bottom wall of container 240. Specifically, container 240 includes a 
concave portion 242 in its bottom wall wherein hanger attachment lug 230 
is fully contained. The area 243 of the concave portion of bottle 240 
immediately surrounding attachment lug 230, however, is not substantially 
flat in conformation, as described above relative to the other embodiments 
discussed herein. Area 243 is shown as being similarly concaved in 
relation to the balance of concave portion 242 of container 240. 
Correspondingly, the lower surface 215 of attachment clip 211 includes an 
outer conformation substantially corresponding to the non-flat 
conformation of area 243. These corresponding non-flat areas are designed 
to contact one another to provide stability to hanger member 210 when 
attachment clip 211 is snapped around attachment lug 230, while at the 
same time allowing full 360.degree. rotation of hanger member 210 about 
attachment lug 230. In this regard, it is contemplated that area 243 
immediately surrounding attachment lug 230 could be formed as virtually 
any non-planar surface (e.g. concave, convex, etc.), wherein the lower 
surface 215 of an attachment clip 211 features an outer conformation 
substantially corresponding to such non-planar area to provide stability 
to the attached hanger member while allowing full rotation thereof about 
the attachment lug. 
Other modifications of the hanger system of the current invention could 
also be made to adapt the system to any specific environment. For example, 
the stem portion of the detachable hanger member described herein can be 
lengthened or shortened as desired, and the angle at which it is attached 
to its attachment clip can be modified to accommodate suspension of a 
container from particular support devices. Accordingly, having shown and 
described the preferred embodiment of the present invention, further 
adaptions of the hanger system can be accomplished by appropriate 
modifications by one of ordinary skill in the art without departing from 
the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the present 
invention should be considered in terms of the following claims and is 
understood not to be limited to the details of structure and operation 
shown and described in the specification and drawings.