Abstract:
An improved garment hanger is provided with a coating of resilient friction material on the upper surfaces of the garment support members to provide non-slip surfaces for garments such as coats, shirts, blouses and dresses and help prevent the garments from falling off the garment hanger and onto the floor. The application of resilient friction material applies equally to pant bars. The improved resilient friction material comprising a block copolymer having discreet block segments of styrene monomer units and rubber monomer units.

Description:
This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 07/805,235, filed Dec. 11, 1991. 
    
    
     This invention relates generally to garment hangers and specifically to such hangers which include a resilient friction material attached to the upwardly facing surfaces of the garment hanger to provide a non-slip surface for receiving the garment and to prevent by friction, the garment from falling off the garment hanger. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     A common problem associated with today&#39;s garment hangers is that the garments slip off the hanger and fall to the floor. This problem is particularly annoying to a consumer who places a relatively expensive and fragile garment, such as a business suit, on a garment hanger with a fairly slippery upper surface. The slacks, skirt and/or coat often falls to the floor and becomes wrinkled, thereby requiring ironing or dry cleaning. It is also annoying to the manufacturers of garments who ship the completed garments on garment hangers to retail establishments only to have the garments fall off of the hangers during transit. By the same token, retailers are very particular about product presentation and will not tolerate garment hangers that permit the garments to fall to the floor. 
     There have been several attempts to remedy this situation. Specifically, garment hangers with upwardly protruding nipples, ridges, cleats or button-like projections are well known. However, none of these designs acceptably grips the garments because the various gripping means, such as cleats, are made from the same hard, slippery material used to fabricate the rest of the body of the garment hanger. The weight of the garment alone against the upward protrusions does not provide enough friction to keep the garment from falling on the floor. This is especially true with lightweight women&#39;s apparel; the downward force of lightweight garments on the garment hanger and/or gripping means does not provide enough friction to keep the lightweight garment from falling on the floor. 
     Yet another strategy to solve this problem has been to fabricate the gripping means or upward protrusions out of a resilient material, such as rubber, as opposed to the hard material used to fabricate the body of the garment hanger. This strategy suffers from the above-mentioned shortcomings too because conventional rubber is a fairly hard substance and does not grip lightweight garments well. The force of gravity on a lightweight garment does not generate enough friction between the garment and the conventional rubber gripping means to keep the garment from falling on the floor. 
     Hence, there is a need for a new garment hanger that will positively grip a garment under the garments&#39; own weight. The hanger must be able to grip the garment without either marking or adhering to the garment fabric. Further, because the hanger must be capable of use as shipping hangers by clothing manufacturers, the hanger must be able to maintain its gripping ability under a wide range of temperatures and rough handling resulting from the shocks and bumps of which such hangers are exposed to during shipment. Finally, the dissimilar components of the hanger must be easily bonded to one another. 
     This invention provides a solution to all of the above-mentioned problems and satisfies all of the above criteria. The family of resilient materials identified provides positive gripping action for lightweight and heavyweight garments alike. The family of materials also provides excellent gripping ability in both cold and hot environments. The materials are smooth to the touch and do not mark the garments. Finally, they adhere easily to conventional plastic garment hangers. 
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The improved garment hanger of the present invention includes a garment support member and optional pant bar arranged to receive and suspend a garment in contact with the upper surface of the garment support member. The garment support member includes a hang means, such as a hook, located at about the center of the garment support member. Resilient friction material is carried by the upper surfaces of the garment support member on either side of the hook and on the upper surface of the pant bar to provide up to three non-slip surfaces to receive the garment and pants and help prevent them from falling off the garment hanger and onto the floor. The ideal resilient friction material for this purpose has been found to be a block copolymer having discreet block segments of styrene monomer units and rubber monomer units. 
     The application of block copolymers having discreet block segments of styrene monomer units and rubber monomer units is ideal for garment hangers of all conventional designs. The use of a block copolymer having discreet block segments of styrene monomer units and rubber monomer units is not limited to the specific garment hanger embodiments described in the drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     This invention is illustrated more or less diagrammatically in the accompanying drawings wherein: 
     FIG. 1 is a front elevation of one embodiment of a garment hanger made in accordance with this invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the garment hanger depicted in FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view of the garment hanger depicted in FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 4 is a section taken substantially along line 4--4 of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 5 is a section taken substantially along line 5--5 of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 6 is a section taken substantially along line 6--6 of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 7 is a section taken substantially along line 7--7 of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 8 is a section taken substantially along line 8--8 of FIG. 2; 
     FIG. 9 is a section taken substantially along line 9--9 of FIG. 2; 
     FIG. 10 is a front elevation of another embodiment of a garment hanger made in accordance with this invention; 
     FIG. 11 is a top plan view of the garment hanger of FIG. 10; 
     FIG. 12 is a bottom plan view of the garment hanger of FIG. 10; 
     FIG. 13 is a section taken substantially along line 13--13 of FIG. 10; 
     FIG. 14 is yet another embodiment of garment hanger made in accordance with this invention, in this instance, with a pant attachment; 
     FIG. 15 is a top plan view of the garment hanger shown in FIG. 14; 
     FIG. 16 is a bottom plan view of the garment hanger shown in FIG. 14; 
     FIG. 17 is a section taken substantially along line 17--17 of FIG. 15; 
     FIG. 18 is a section taken substantially along line 18--18 of FIG. 17; 
     FIG. 19 is a section taken substantially along line 19--19 of FIG. 17; 
     FIG. 20 is a section taken substantially along line 20--20 of FIG. 14; 
     FIG. 21 is an alternative configuration to the sectional view shown in FIG. 20; 
     FIG. 22 is a yet another embodiment of a garment hanger made in accordance with this invention, in this instance, providing a pant hanger; 
     FIG. 23 is a right side view of the hanger depicted in FIG. 22; 
     FIG. 24 is an expanded view of the resilient pad shown in FIG. 22; 
     FIG. 25 is a section to an enlarged scale taken substantially along line 25--25 of FIG. 24; and 
     FIG. 26 is a section to an enlarged scale taken substantially along line 26--26 of FIG. 22. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Like reference numerals will be used to refer to like or similar parts from figure to figure in the following description of the drawings. 
     One garment hanger embodiment of this invention is illustrated at 10 in FIG. 1. The hanger consists of a main garment support section, indicated generally at 11. A suspending device, here a hook, is indicated generally at 12. 
     The main garment support section 11 is a one piece structure of arcuate form with a row of upwardly protruding cleats 13 running along either side of the hook 12. Each upwardly protruding cleat 13 includes an upwardly protruding nipple-like projection 14 located at about the center of the upwardly protruding cleat 13. 
     The improvement taught by the present invention lies in the addition of the special gripping sections 16, 17 which extend over, in this instance, the mid-portions of the series of cleats 13 on both sides of the hook 12. The gripping sections 16, 17 include an upper surface formed of a new resilient material, or family of resilient materials, on the modified upwardly protruding cleats 13a and nipples 14a, thereby drastically improving the garment gripping ability of the garment support member 11. 
     As will be seen from FIG. 2, the resilient material, indicated generally at 15, is not applied to all of the cleats 14 located along the entire garment support member 11. Rather the resilient material 15 is applied to discreet sections 16 and 17 of the rows of protruding cleats located on either side of the hook 12. The upwardly protruding cleats and nipples that are coated with the resilient material are indicated generally at 13a and 14a respectively while the uncoated cleats and nipples are indicated at 13 and 14 respectively. The sections of coated cleats 16 and 17 may extend to cover all cleats 13 and nipples 14 embodied in the garment support member 11 or may be shortened to cover only a few cleats 13a and nipples 14a on either side of the hook 12. 
     FIGS. 4 through 9 illustrate, in detail, the cleat and nipple configuration of the FIG. 1 hanger. FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 show different sectional views of the uncoated cleats 13 and nipples 14. FIG. 7 is a sectional view of a coated cleat 13a and coated nipple 14a. Grooves 21 and 22 accommodate the outer edges 19, 20 of the strip of resilient material 15 and facilitate the adherence of the resilient material 15 to the garment support member 11 during the life of the garment hanger 10. 
     FIG. 8 is a side view of an uncoated end portion of the garment hanger 10 of FIG. 1. FIG. 8 further illustrates uncoated nipples 14 and uncoated cleats 13. FIG. 9 is a side view of a mid-portion of the garment support member 11 of FIG. 1 and contrasts an uncoated section 18 of the garment support member 11 with the coated section 17. 
     FIG. 10 is an alternative embodiment to the garment hanger depicted in FIG. 1. Specifically, the cleats 13 and nipples 14 are not coated with the resilient material of this invention. Rather, sections 21 and 22 are composed of preformed cleats 23 and pre-formed nipples 24 made from the resilient material. Sections 21 and 22 are then affixed to the garment support member 25 by conventional adhering means. 
     FIG. 13 is a cross-section of garment support member 25 with molded cleat and nipple section 21 adhered thereto. Cylindrical extension 26 extends down to abut the base of the groove 27 thereby providing an extra engagement point for securement. If desired, conventional adhesives may be applied to the groove 27 to provide lasting attachment securement at points 31, 32 and 33. 
     Referring now to FIG. 14, the resilient material may also be coated on curved garment hangers 34 at the shoulder areas 35 and 36 as well as the pant or skirt bar 37. A relatively thin coating 38 or 39 applied to the shoulder areas 35 or 36 will insure that a jacket, blouse or dress will stay on the hanger 34 and not fall on the floor. Further, a thin coating 40 applied to pant bar 37 will keep the trousers on the pant bar 37 and off the floor. 
     FIG. 17 is a side view of shoulder area 36 illustrating the relative thickness of resilient material 39 to be applied to the shoulder area 36 and the structural securement between the resilient material 39 and the shoulder area 36 provided by recessed shoulders 39a and 39b. FIGS. 18 and 19 show the relative thicknesses of the resilient material 39 in the middle and at the end of the shoulder area 36 respectively and the additional structural securement derived from the abutment shoulders 39c, 39d and 39e. 
     FIG. 20 illustrates a cross-section of the pant bar 37 with resilient material 40 applied thereto and provides an indication of the area of abutment of the resilient material 40 against the pant bar 37. FIG. 21 shows an alternative method of attaching the resilient material 40a to the pant bar 37 that is analogous to the method shown in FIGS. 18 and 19. The pant bar 37 may include a groove including abutment shoulders 41 and 42 to provide structural securement of the resilient material 40a. 
     FIG. 22 illustrates a different arrangement for applying the resilient material to a contoured garment coat/pant hanger 45. Shoulder section 47 includes a groove or recess 48 (see FIG. 26) and a coating of resilient material 49 is laid therein. Similarly, shoulder section 46 includes a groove 51 filled with resilient material 50. The pant bar 52 includes three pairs of slots 56 and 57 (see FIG. 24) so that resilient pads 53, 54 and 55 may be plug molded onto pant bar 52. One set of such slots is illustrated in FIG. 24 at 56 and 57. A sectional view of the plug molded pad is illustrated in FIG. 25. In this construction, the need for separate securement means, and the added time during the manufacturing process to add the securement means is eliminated, the structural interlock ensuring adherence of the resilient material to the pant bar. 
     The resilient friction materials best suited for frictionally engaging a garment onto a garment hanger are block copolymers having discreet block segments of styrene monomer units and rubber monomer units. These materials have the common quality of providing a high coefficient of friction with slippery clothing materials such as silk, rayon and polyester. This family of block copolymers generally breaks down into two types: polymers which include unsaturated rubber monomer units and polymers which include saturated rubber monomer units. 
     Specific examples of polymers employing unsaturated rubber monomer units include the most common structure which is linear (A-B-A type). These polymers include styrene-butadiene-styrene (S-B-S) and styrene-isoprene-styrene (S-I-S). 
     The other subcategory of acceptable resilient frictional materials incorporate saturated rubber monomer units. Those compounds include linear styrene-ethylene/butylene-styrene (S-EB-S). In addition to the linear (A-B-A) polymers, there are specialized polymers of the radial (A-B) n  type. Those polymers include (styrene-butadiene) n , (S-B) n , or (styrene-isoprene) n , (S-I) n . Further, polymers of the diblock (A-B) type have been found acceptable. Those polymers include styrene-butadiene (S-B), styrene-ethylene/propylene (S-EP), and styrene-ethylene/butylene (S-EB). Each block segment of the above-mentioned polymers may be 100 monomer units or more. 
     The preferred resilient friction materials discussed are commercially available from the Shell Chemical Company of Woodstock, Illinois. Specific grades of the preferred resilient material that are usable are G-2706, G-7705, D-3226 and D-2109. 
     Although preferred embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described, it will at once be apparent to those skilled in the art that variations may be made within the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, it is intended that the scope of the invention be limited solely by the scope of the hereafter appended claims and not by the specific words in the foregoing description.