Patent Publication Number: US-10327575-B2

Title: Garment hanger and a spring for use therein

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS 
     The present application is a U.S. national stage entry under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of Patent Cooperation Treaty Patent Application No. PCT/IB2015/056324, filed Aug. 20, 2015, which claims priority to GB 1414991.8, filed Aug. 22, 2014, the entireties of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
     The present invention relates to a garment hanger and to a spring for the use therein, and relates particularly, but not exclusively, to hangers with clips having a sliding spring release mechanism. 
     In the field of garment hangers it is well known to provide a hanger with one or more, generally two, clips which are used to clamp a garment into engagement with the hanger. Typically these hangers are used to grip trousers and skirts by the waistband of the garment. 
     An example of such a hanger is shown in  FIG. 1 , from which it can be seen that the hanger  10  includes a suspension device, in the form of a hook  12  and a body portion  14  which is connected to the hook  12 . The body  14  is formed including a pair of arms which extend horizontally and terminate in a pair of clips  16 . The operation of the clips  16  is demonstrated in  FIGS. 2 to 4 , from which it can be seen, in particular in  FIG. 4 , that the clip  16  is formed from two clip portions  18  and  20  and a spring  22 . In a clamping position, as shown in  FIG. 2 , the spring  22  acts to clamp the clip portions  18  and  20  into engagement with each other to hold a garment (not shown) therebetween. To release the garment, the spring  22  is moved upwards (into the position shown in  FIG. 3 ) and the clip portions  18  and  20  are then free to move and release the garment. In the example shown in  FIGS. 1 to 4 , the clip portions  18  and  20  are formed as a single component with a live hinge connecting them. However, other examples of hangers of this type are known in which the clip portions are separately formed from each other or separately from the hanger body. 
     The metal components, and in particular the clips, account for a significant proportion of the total cost of producing a hanger. Furthermore, the metal components contribute significantly to the total weight of the hanger and therefore to associated costs such as transportation. As a result, any reduction in the amount of metal used to produce the spring has significant benefits to the manufacture and supply of the garment hanger. As a result, it is well known to introduce stiffening ribs into the clips as this allows a reduction in the amount of material used to obtain the same biasing strength of the spring. 
     An example of a spring  22  of the prior art is shown in  FIGS. 5 to 7 . In these figures it can be seen that five ribs, indicated at  24 ,  26 ,  28 ,  30  and  32  are used to stiffen the spring. However, it remains desirable to further reduce the material used in the manufacture of these springs for use in garment hangers. 
     Preferred embodiments of the present invention seek to overcome the above described disadvantages of the prior art. It is an object of the invention to provide improvements in or relating to generally U-shaped springs for clips, used in garment hangers or the like, in relation to the stiffness and resilient operating characteristics, having regard to the gauge of metal or the like used in the construction thereof. 
     According to an aspect of the present invention there is provided a garment hanger comprising:— 
     at least one suspension device for suspending the hanger from a support; 
     a body connected to said suspension device; and 
     at least one clip connected to said body for retaining a garment, the or each clip comprising a pair of clip portions, between which the garment is clamped, and at least one generally U-shaped spring for biasing said clamping portions, wherein at least one said spring comprises convex ribs both on the inner and outer services of the curvature of said U of said spring. 
     By providing a spring in the garment hanger which has convex ribs on both the inner and outer surfaces of the curvature of the spring, the advantage is provided that the gauge of metal from which the spring is produced can be reduced and at the same time the biasing force of the spring has surprisingly increased. In experimental results, the use of this design of spring has allowed the use of a gauge of steel that is 20% less thick and yet provides 20% more biasing force than the spring of the prior art example. As a result, the overall cost of the hanger can be reduced both in the quantity of material used and secondary costs, such as transportation, resulting from the weight. 
     In a preferred embodiment one of said ribs on said inner surface is adjacent one of said ribs on said outer surface. 
     By providing one of the ribs on one surface adjacent another rib on the other surface the advantage is provided that the ribs are connected with each other. This in turn enhances the effect of each of the ribs further increasing the biasing force provided by the spring. 
     In another preferred embodiment the ribs together form a substantially sine-wave-like cross-section. 
     By creating a substantially sine-wave-like cross-section this provides the advantage of connecting all of the ribs together and this results in the maximum enhancement of the effect of each of the ribs, in turn producing the maximum biasing force. 
     In a further preferred embodiment the formation of said ribs causes the sides of said spring adjacent said ribs to be drawn inwards. 
     By forming the ribs in such a way that the edges of the spring adjacent the ribs are drawn inwards the material forming the ribs is not stretched but is simply deformed. In the prior art the opposing edges of the spring are equidistant along the length of the spring irrespective of the presence or absence of the ribs. As a result, the creation of the ribs, in the prior art spring, requires the partial stretching of the material from which the spring is formed. In contrast in the present invention, by allowing the edges of the spring to be drawn inward the thickness of the material forming the spring remains consistent (as measured tangentially to the curve of any rib) across the whole width of the spring across each rib. This in turn ensures the maximum biasing strength is created within the spring. 
     In a preferred embodiment the spring comprises a plurality of ribs on one of said inner and outer surfaces and a plurality of ribs on the other of said inner and outer surfaces. 
     In another preferred embodiment the spring comprises at least three ribs on one of said inner and outer surfaces and at least two ribs on the other of said inner and outer surfaces. 
     By providing a plurality of ribs on each surface of the spring, and in particular three ribs on one surface and two on the other, allows for the most effective number of ribs to be provided in the limited space available to produce a spring for a clip of a garment hanger. 
     According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a garment hanger comprising:— 
     at least one suspension device for suspending the hanger from a support; 
     a body connected to said suspension device; 
     at least one clip connected to said body for retaining a garment, the or each clip comprising a pair of clip portions, between which the garment is clamped, and at least one generally U-shaped spring for biasing said clamping portions, wherein at least one said spring comprises a plurality of ribs extending at least partially around the curvature of the U of said spring, wherein the ribs form a sine-wave-like cross-section at said curvature. 
     According to a further aspect of the present invention there is provided a garment hanger comprising:— 
     at least one suspension device for suspending the hanger from a support; 
     a body connected to said suspension device; 
     at least one clip connected to said body for retaining a garment, the or each clip comprising a pair of clip portions, between which the garment is clamped, and at least one generally U-shaped spring for biasing said clamping portions, wherein at least one said spring comprises a plurality of ribs extending at least partially around the curvature of the U of said spring, wherein formation of said ribs causes sides of said spring adjacent said ribs to be drawn inwards. 
     According to an aspect of the present invention there is provided a spring for use in a garment hanger which includes at least one suspension device for suspending the hanger from a support, a body connected to said suspension device and at least one clip connected to said body for retaining a garment, the or each clip comprising a pair of clip portions, between which the garment is clamped by the spring which comprises:— 
     metal formed into a U-shape; and 
     convex ribs formed into said metal both on the inner and outer services of the curvature of said U of said spring. 
     According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a spring for use in a garment hanger which includes at least one suspension device for suspending the hanger from a support, a body connected to said suspension device and at least one clip connected to said body for retaining a garment, the or each clip comprising a pair of clip portions, between which the garment is clamped by the spring which comprises:— 
     metal formed into a U-shape; and 
     a plurality of ribs extending at least partially around the curvature of the U of said spring, wherein the ribs form a sine-wave-like cross-section at said curvature. 
     According to a further aspect of the present invention there is provided a spring for use in a garment hanger which includes at least one suspension device for suspending the hanger from a support, a body connected to said suspension device and at least one clip connected to said body for retaining a garment, the or each clip comprising a pair of clip portions, between which the garment is clamped by the spring which comprises:— 
     metal formed into a U-shape; and 
     a plurality of ribs extending at least partially around the curvature of the U of said spring, wherein formation of said ribs causes sides of said spring adjacent said ribs to be drawn inwards. 
    
    
     
       Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, and not and in any limitative sense with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:— 
         FIG. 1  is a front view of a garment hanger of the prior art; 
         FIGS. 2 to 4  are front views showing a portion of the prior art garment hanger of  FIG. 1  and thereby demonstrating the operation of the clips; 
         FIGS. 5 to 7  are front, side and top views of a prior art spring used in the clips of  FIGS. 2 to 4 ; 
         FIG. 8  is a perspective view of a spring for use in a garment hanger of the present invention; 
         FIGS. 9, 10 and 11  are front, side and underneath views of the spring of  FIG. 8 ; and 
         FIG. 12  is a sectional view along the line A-A. 
     
    
    
     Referring to  FIGS. 8 to 12 , a spring  40  is provided for use in a hanger of the type previously described in connection with the prior art. The spring  40  replaces the spring  22  as shown in  FIGS. 1 to 7  and provides the same function as the spring  22  of the prior art. However, its different construction provides additional biasing force and it can be formed using less material. Images of the use of the spring  40  in conjunction with a garment hanger are not provided and as a result, the reference numerals  10  to  20  are used to describe the parts of the garment hanger  10  that are common to the present invention and the prior art. The hanger  10  includes a suspension device, in the form of hook  12 , which is connected to a body  14  of the hanger. Arms extending horizontally from a central portion of body  14 , and forming part of the body, terminate in clips  16  which are themselves formed from clip portions  18  and  20 . In the embodiment shown in  FIGS. 1 to 7  the clip portions  18  and  20  are formed together with the body  14 . The clip portions  18  are fixed relative to the body and the clip portions  20  are flexibly connected to the clip portions  18  by live hinges. The present invention can be used with other forms of clips including moveable clips where neither clip portion is formed as part of the body  14  and the clips are able to slide along the body as required. The spring  40  is used to bias the clip portions  18  and  20  into engagement with each other. 
     The spring  40  is formed by the cutting, stamping and bending of a piece of a sheet of metal, preferably steel, material. In the embodiment shown the sheet steel has a thickness of 0.4 mm (compared to the example of the prior art shown in  FIGS. 5 to 7  which has a thickness of 0.45 mm). The spring  40  has a generally U-shaped form which can be seen in  FIG. 10  where the spring is arranged in its working condition (when the hanger is hung from a support such as a rail) and has an inverted U-shape. The spring  40  has a first end  42  which is substantially planar except for a notch  44  which is cut into the planar portion  42  and acts as a stop by abutting a bar formed in clip portion  18 . This notch and bar are common to both the present invention and the prior art. 
     The other or second end  46  of spring  40  is formed by folding the sheet steel back on itself to form a thickened end, this feature also being common to both the present invention and the prior art (see  FIGS. 6 and 10 ). Between the first end  42  and the second end  46  is a ribbed portion  48  which can be subdivided into three further portions including: a first linear portion  50  (which is adjacent the first end  42 ); a second linear portion  52  (which is adjacent the second end  46 ); and a curved portion  54  which extends between the two linear portions  50  and  52  and forms the curvature of the U-shape of spring  40 . The ribs of ribbed portion  48  are formed along the length of the ribbed portion and extend along the first linear portion  50 , continue into the curved portion  54  and continue again into the second linear portion  52 . The ribbed portion  48  includes a plurality of ribs formed both on the inside  56  and outside  58  surfaces of the spring  40 . For the purposes of illustration, the ribs are defined by their convex outer surface and are labelled  60  and  62  on the inner surface  56  and are labelled  64 ,  66  and  68  on the outer surface  58 . However, the ribs could equally be defined by their inner concave surface. The inner surface  56  also includes two partial ribs  70  and  72  which define the outer long edges of the spring  40  in the ribbed portion  48 . 
     As can be seen most clearly from the cross-sectional view in  FIG. 12 , the ribs  60  to  68  are arranged such that an external rib ( 64 ,  66  or  68 ) is immediately adjacent an internal rib ( 60 ,  62  and partial ribs  70  and  72 ). As a result, the ribs combine together to provide additional strength. When all of the ribs and partial ribs are arranged sufficiently closely that they flow into each other (that is so that partial ribs  70  on internal surface  56  is adjacent external rib  64 , which is adjacent internal rib  60 , which is adjacent external rib  66 , which is adjacent internal rib  62 , which is adjacent external rib  68 , which is adjacent partial internal rib  72 ) a continuous wave like cross-sectional structure, which has a sign-wave-like form, is created. 
     Because the ribbed portion  48  contains six ribs (five full ribs  60 ,  62 ,  64 ,  66  and  68  plus two part ribs  70  and  72 ) there is significant movement of the material which forms the spring  40 . In order to prevent stretching, and therefore thinning of the thickness of the metal forming the spring, the long edges (indicated by part ribs  70  and  72 ) are drawn inwards towards each other and there is therefore a narrowing of the width of the spring along the ribbed portion  48 . In other words the width of the spring as measured at either the first end  42  or second end  46 , and indicated as W 1 , is greater than the width of the spring as measured at the ribbed portion  48 , and indicated at W 2 . 
     The spring  40  is formed by the partial cutting of the spring from a sheet of steel. The ribs are formed into the spring by a stamping process. Further cutting of the sheet forms the shape of second end  46  which is then bent into its triangular shape and the curvature of curved portion  54  is then formed. The spring is cut from the remaining material and an annealing process is applied to harden the steel. The spring is then preferably coated and is ready for use in a garment hanger. 
     It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the above embodiments have been described by way of example only and not in any limitative sense, and that various alterations and modifications are possible without departure from the scope of the protection which is defined by the appended claims. For example, the style of ribbing described above for spring  40  could equally be used for other springs used in garment hangers. For example, these ribs could be used to strengthen the springs in other clip hangers including those that perform a clipping function more like that of a clothes peg where a garment is loaded onto and released from a clip by applying pressure to the ends of the clip that oppose the gripping ends.