Patent Publication Number: US-2011049321-A1

Title: Hanger Device

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a hanger device, more particularly to a hanger device that can be hooked onto a support having two opposite edges and that can retain an article thereat. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     To drivers, there is an annoying issue concerning how to retain some automotive electronic devices or portable electronic devices, such as global positioning system (GPS) devices, cell phones, electronic toll collection (ETC) devices, and so on, in a vehicle. A current way for retaining an article is to use a double-sided adhesive tape to stick a mounting bracket on a dashboard in front of a driver seat or to utilize a suction cup to attach the mounting bracket on a windscreen. However, adhesive traces will be left behind after the double-sided adhesive tape is taken down in the future. On the other hand, the suction cup often falls very easily due to suction forces that grow weak over time such that electronic devices fall and hit a vehicle floor to result in damage or malfunction. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide a hanger device that can facilitate retaining an article on a support having two opposite edges. 
     Accordingly, a hanger device of the present invention is adapted for retaining an article on a support having two opposite edges. The hanger device comprises a first fixing member, a second fixing member, a connecting mechanism, and an article retaining mechanism. The first fixing member and the second fixing member are spaced apart from each other and are adapted to hook onto the opposite edges of the support, respectively. The connecting mechanism extends between the first and second fixing members, and includes a first connecting component and a second connecting component. The first connecting component is provided on the first fixing member and has a strip part, the strip part having a surface formed with a plurality of inclined teeth. The second connecting component is provided on the second fixing member and has a hollow connector part through which the strip part of the first connecting component extends. The hollow connector part has an inner surface formed with a detent unit that engages and that cooperates with the inclined teeth of the strip part to permit displacement of the hollow connector part toward the first fixing member while preventing displacement of the hollow connector part away from the first fixing member, thereby enabling the connecting mechanism to pull the first and second fixing members toward each other for hooking tightly and respectively on the opposite edges of the support. The article retaining mechanism is disposed on the connecting mechanism and is adapted for retaining the article thereat. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which: 
         FIG. 1  is a front perspective view of a first preferred embodiment of a hanger device according to the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is an exploded front perspective view of the first preferred embodiment; 
         FIG. 3  is a front view of the first preferred embodiment to illustrate that an article retainer is mounted rotatably to a coupling base;  FIG. 4  is a fragmentary sectional view of the first preferred embodiment to illustrate engagement between a strip part and a hollow connector part;  FIG. 5  is a schematic sectional view of the first preferred embodiment to illustrate that the article retainer is mounted on the coupling base;  FIG. 6  is a top view of the first preferred embodiment when mounted on a support; and  FIG. 7  is a front perspective view of a second preferred embodiment of a hanger device according to the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Before the present invention is described in greater detail, it should be noted that like components are assigned the same reference numerals throughout the following disclosure. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1 to 6 , a first preferred embodiment of a hanger device  3  of the present invention is adapted for retaining an article (not shown) on a support  100  having two opposite edges  101  (see  FIGS. 3 and 6 ). The support  100  may be an A pillar, B pillar, C pillar or D pillar of a vehicle. The article may be a portable electronic device or the like. The hanger device  3  comprises a first fixing member  4 , a second fixing member  5 , two connecting mechanisms  6 , and an article retaining mechanism  7 . 
     The first fixing member  4  and the second fixing member  5  are spaced apart from each other and are adapted to hook onto the opposite edges  101  of the support  100 , respectively. Each connecting mechanism  6  extends between the first and second fixing members  4 ,  5 . The article retaining mechanism  7  is disposed on the connecting mechanisms  6  and is adapted for retaining the article thereat. 
     The first fixing member  4  has a first hooking part  41  for hooking on a respective one of the opposite edges  101  of the support  100 , a first abutting part  42  that extends rightwardly from the first hooking part  41  and that abuts against a front side of the support  100 , and a first pull part  43  that extends forwardly from the first abutting part  42  and that faces toward the second fixing member  5 . The first pull part  43  is provided with two holes  430 , which are vertically spaced apart from each other. In this embodiment, the structure of the second fixing member  5  is similar to that of the first fixing member  4 . That is, the second fixing member  5  also has a second hooking part  51  for hooking on a respective one of the opposite edges  101  of the support  100 , a second abutting part  52  that extends leftwardly from the second hooking part  51  and that abuts against the front side of the support  100 , and a second pull part  53  that extends forwardly from the second abutting part  52 , that faces toward the first fixing member  4 , and that is provided with two holes  530 . 
     The connecting mechanisms  6  extend between the first and second fixing members  4 ,  5  and are vertically spaced apart from each other. Each connecting mechanism  6  includes a first connecting component  61  and a second connecting component  62  provided on the first and second fixing members  4 ,  5 , respectively. The first connecting component  61  extends toward the second fixing member  5 . The second connecting component  62  is connected non-removably to and extends through the second fixing member  5 . 
     The first connecting component  61  has a first stop part  611  disposed to abut against a left side of the first pull part  43  that faces away from the second fixing member  5 , and a strip part  612  fixed at one end to the first stop part  611  and extending through one of the holes  430  in the first pull part  43  to reach the second fixing member  5 . The strip part  612  has a surface formed with a plurality of inclined teeth  613 . 
     The second connecting component  62  has a second stop part  63  disposed to abut against a right side of the second pull part  53  of the second fixing member  5  that faces away from the first fixing member  4 . The second connecting component  62  further has a hollow connector part  623  through which the strip part  612  of the first connecting component  61  extends rightwardly, and an extension part  622  fixed at one end to the second stop part  63  and at the other end to the hollow connector part  623 . The hollow connector part  623  has an inner surface formed with a detent unit  624  (see  FIG. 4 ) that engages and that cooperates with the inclined teeth  613  of the strip part  612  to permit displacement of the hollow connector part  623  toward the first fixing member  4  while preventing displacement of the hollow connector part  623  away from the first fixing member  4 . The extension part  622  extends through a corresponding hole  530  in the second pull part  53  to enable the strip part  612  to reach the hollow connector part  623 . 
     The article retaining mechanism  7  includes a coupling base  71  provided on the strip parts  612  of the first connecting components  61  of the connecting mechanisms  6 , and an article retainer  72  mounted removably on the coupling base  71  for retaining the article thereat. The coupling base  71  has a base body  711  that is provided on the strip parts  612 , a pivot shaft part  713  that protrudes from a front side of the base body  711 , a pair of radial limit parts  714  that project in radial opposite directions from a distal end of the pivot shaft part  713 , and two positioning protrusions  715  that are disposed on a rear side of the radial limit parts  714 , respectively. The base body  711  is formed with two strip passages  712  for extension of the strip parts  612  therethrough, respectively. 
     In this embodiment, the article retainer  72  is U-shaped and has a first arm portion  721  and a second arm portion  722 . The second arm portion  722  of the article retainer  72  is formed with an oral coupling hole  723  and two positioning recesses  724  on two sides of the coupling hole  723 . 
     When installing the hanger device  3 , the first hooking part  41  of the first fixing member  4  and the second hooking part  51  of the second fixing member  5  are first hooked on the opposite edges  101  of the support  100 , respectively. Then, the strip parts  612  of the first connecting components  61  are extended through the hollow connector parts  623  of the second connecting components  62 . The detent unit  624  of each hollow connector part  623  engages and cooperates with the inclined teeth  613  of the respective strip part  612  to permit displacement of the hollow connector part  623  toward the respective first fixing member  4 , which enables the connecting mechanisms  6  to pull the first and second fixing members  4 ,  5  toward each other for hooking tightly and respectively on the opposite edges  101  of the support  100 . Therefore, stability for mounting the hanger device  3  can be achieved. 
     To mount the article retainer  72 , the article retainer  72  formed with the coupling hole  723  is rotated relative to the coupling base  71  from a first position, where the coupling hole  723  permits extension of the radial limit parts  714  and the pivot shaft part  713  therethrough, to a second position, where the radial limit parts  714  are prevented from extending through the coupling hole  723  to arrest removal of the article retainer  72  from the coupling base  71 . At this time, the positioning recesses  724  on the second arm portion  722  can engage the positioning protrusions  715  on the rear side of the radial limit parts  714 , in order to finish mounting the article retainer  72 . It is noted that the locations of the positioning protrusions  715  and the positioning recesses  724  may be interchanged. That is, one of the coupling base  71  and the article retainer  72  is formed with the positioning protrusions  715 , and the other one of the coupling base  71  and the article retainer  72  is formed with the positioning recesses  724  to engage removably the positioning protrusions  715  when the article retainer  72  is at the second position. Users may hang an article on the first arm portion  721  or retain the article between the first arm portion  721  and the second arm portion  722  of the article retainer  72 . 
     In this embodiment, the article retainer  72  of the article retaining mechanism  7  is U-shaped. However, it is not limited thereto in other embodiments of the invention. Besides, the way of mounting the coupling base  71  on the strip parts  612  of the first connecting components  61  is also not limited to the disclosed embodiment. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the number of the connecting mechanisms  6  is not limited to two, and may vary depending on actual requirements. 
       FIG. 7  illustrates the second preferred embodiment of the hanger device  3  according to the present invention. The second preferred embodiment differs from the first preferred embodiment in the following aspects. 
     In this embodiment, the second connecting component  62  of each connecting mechanism  6  is not provided with the second stop part and the extension part, and is only provided with the hollow connector part  623 . The hollow connector part  623  is disposed to abut against a right side of the second pull part  53 . The strip part  612  of the first connecting component  61  of each connecting mechanism  6  extends rightwardly through the corresponding hole  530  in the second pull part  53  and through the hollow connector part  623  of the respective second connecting component  62 . 
     The hanger device  3  of the second preferred embodiment is installed in the same way as the first preferred embodiment, i.e., the first and second fixing members  4 , 5  are pulled toward each other for hooking tightly and respectively on the opposite edges  101  of the support  100 . 
     In sum, by extending the strip parts  612  of the first connecting components  61  through the hollow connector parts  623  of the second connecting components  62 , the first and second fixing members  4 , 5  can hook tightly and respectively on the opposite edges  101  of the support  100 . The invention is applicable to different distances between the opposite edges  101 , and is designed for unidirectional displacement of the hollow connector parts  623  toward the first fixing member  4 . Furthermore, the structure of the article retaining mechanism  7  disposed on the connecting mechanisms  6  makes it convenient for users to retain an article. Therefore, the objective of the invention can be realized. 
     While the present invention has been described in connection with what are considered the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is understood that this invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments but is intended to cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent arrangements.