Patent Publication Number: US-3874572-A

Title: Collapsible hanger

Description:
United States Patent 11 1 1111 3,874,572 McClenning Apr. 1, 1975 COLLAPSIBLE HANGER 3,082,921 3/1963 Sadowsky 223/94 Inventor: y Mcclenning, 900 N Rus 3,219,241 11/1965 Newton 223/94 St., Chicago, 111. 6061 1 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 289,614 5/1928 United Kingdom 223/94 [22] 1972 697,236 9/1953 United Kingdom 223/94 [21] Appl. No.: 297,233 126,615 11/1949 Sweden 223/94 280,983 12/1914 Germany 223/95 759,905 10/1956 United Kingdom 223/94 [52] 0.8. CI. 223/94 1,030,611 10 1954 France 223/94 [51] Int. Cl. A47j 51/10 [58] Field of Search 233/89, 90, 94, 95, 96; primary Examiner ceorge H K i i 223/94 Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Hill, Gross, Simpson, Van  
  Santen, Steadman, Chiara &amp; Simpson [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 57 ABSTRACT 478,062 6/1892 Laubin 223/89 917,314 4/1909 Knuth 223/94 X a havmg y i Si i g outwatrld 990 515 4/1911 Benent.... 223/94 m a game Ompac y 1 278O54 M918 Strand I 223/89 folded together when 1n a storage-posmon. Each arm 1:350:219 8/1920 Gibbs I U 223/95 includes a movable section whlch 1s slidably associated 1,503,336 7/1924 2235/96 with a body sectlon. The movable sect1on 15 fully ex- 1,545,765 7/1925 Harold 223/94 X tended when maximum size for the hanger is desired 1,979,687 1 H1934 Hall 1 223/94 and fully retracted when storing the hanger. The arms 2.423.961 7/1947 Buxton.... 223/95 are rotatable from the support-position to the storagei ft -l position. The arms include means for maintaining the 1 esp1ee a, 2,731,157 2/1957 Schoch 223/94 hanger m the Support posmon 2,828,897 4/1958 Gordon 223/95 6 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures COLLAPSIBLE HANGER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to garment hangers and more particularly to foldable garment hangers.  
  In the past, many foldable and bendable garment hangers have been devised to provide greater convenience for storage, particularly when travelling. However, these prior foldable hangers generally had many parts and required numerous steps when coverting from a storage-position to a garment support position. In a previous hanger configuration, the hanger included arms connected together by a rod. One arm pivoted at one end of the rod and the other arm pivoted at the opposite end of the rod. A connecting brace was attached to the arms to maintain the arms in an outward extended position. Other prior type hangers required even more pivotjoints and bracing bars to convert from the storage to the support positions.  
  The subject invention minimizes parts by utilizing a single pivot pin around which the arms rotate from a storage or folded position to an extended position or vice versa. The inner end of the arms include means for maintaining the arms in the extended position and preventing them from pulling downward and inward from the weight of the garment supported thereon.  
  It is therefore a primary object to provide a garment hanger that is foldable into a compact size for storage or carrying in a travelling case.  
  It is another object to provide a foldable hanger that is easily converted from a storage position to a garment support-position.  
  It is another object to provide a foldable garment hanger having a minimum number of parts.  
  Another object is to provide a hanger whose length may be varied to accommodate various sized garments without requiring such garments to be stretched or pulled out of shape.  
  Another object is to provide a hanger having a pair of arms and a hook which are rotatable around a common pin.  
  Another object is to provide a foldable hanger having clips on opposite ends thereof for clamping onto garments. A related object is to provide a hanger having such clips, but also including means for incrementally varying their position along the length of the hanger.  
 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Referring to the drawings in which the same characters of reference are employed to indicate corresponding or similar parts throughout the several figures of the drawings:  
  FIG. I is a front view of a garment hanger embodying the principals of the invention, and showing the hanger in a garment support-position;  
 FIG. 2 is a top view of the hanger in FIG. 1;  
  FIG. 3 is a front view showing the hanger in a storage position;  
 FIG. 4 is a side view of the hanger in FIG. 3;  
  FIG. Sis an exploded front view of the hanger in FIG. 1 disassembled and having the movable arms fully retracted;  
  FIG. 6 shows a clip on the outer end of the movable section; and  
 FIG. 7 is a fragmentary perspective view of the arms.  
 DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the several Figures of the drawings, the reference numeral 10 indicates generally a foldable hanger for supporting garments. Hanger 10 includes a pair of substantially identical rotatable arms 12 and 14, and a rotatable hook 16. Arms 12 and 14 and the hook 16 have a garment support-position (FIG. 1) and a storage-position (FIGS. 4 and 5).  
  Arms 12 and 14 include movable sections 18 and 20 which slide respectively within channels 21, 22 of body sections 24, 25. The movable sections 18, 20 may be fully extended (FIG. 1) or fully retracted within the channels 21, 22 (FIGS. 3 and 5). Movable sections 18, 20 may, however, be set anywhere between these extreme positions.  
  The movable sections 18, 20 include elongated slots 26, 27. A stop pin 28 mounted to the body sections 18, 20, extends within the slots 26, 27. The outermost edge 29 of the slots 26, 27 abutt the corresponding pin 28 when sections 18, 20 are fully extended, to prevent the sections 18, 20 from being pulled out from the channels 21, 22.  
  The movable sections 18, 20 may be press fitted inside the channels 21, 22, and only move inward or out ward in response to external manually applied force. Alternatively, a tightened means, such as a conventional wing nut 30, only shown in FIG. 3 and attached to the outside end of pin 28, may be used to apply bearing pressure and thereby secure the movable sections at any point along the slots 26, 27.  
  The arms 12, 14 and hood 16 are rotatable around a pin 32 (FIG. 5). Thus, the arms and hook are rotated around the same axis when moving from the storageposition to the support-position or vice versa.  
  The hook 16 includes a circular base portion 34, an outer substantially C-shaped portion 35 and an intermediate portion 36. The intermediate portion 36 is bent so that C-portion 35 is positioned in the center of hanger 10, as may be seen in FIG. 2. The base position 34 includes an aperture 37 to receive the pin 32.  
  A knob 38 may be formed to the outer end of the movable section 18, 20, for applying external pressure when pulling or pressing the movable sections 18, 20 inward or outward. Alternatively, a clip means 40 (FIG. 6) may be used in place of knob 38 which would also function to attach to the garment. The clip 40 includes a spring 42 for resiliently forcing the clip 40 toward a closed condition as shown.  
  The body sections 24, 25 each includes an inner downward sloping portion 44 (FIG. 1) and a rectangular portion 46. The rectangular portion 46 is recessed inward from the sloping portion 44, as may be seen from FIG. 2. The sloping portion 44 includes a circular inner and 48 having an aperture 50 to receive the pin 32. In the support-position the C-portion 36 of the hook 16 is positioned adjacent the rectangular portion 46 of the arms 12, 14, as may be seen in FIG. 4.  
  The circular edge 52 of the inner end 48 of the arm 12 is received in a concave recess 54 of arm 14 (FIG. 7) when the hanger is in the garment support-position. Similarly, the circular edge 52 of arm 14 is received in a concave recess 54 of arm 12.  
  The bottom side inner edge 56 of arms 12 and 14 are each angled with respect to a horizontal plane. The edges 56 abutt each other in a substantially vertical plane when the hanger is in the garment supportposition, with the arms 12, 14 as shown in FIG. 1, sloping in the downward direction.  
  Therefore, when the arms 12, 14 are extended outward in the garment support-position, the circular inner end 48 of one arm is received in the concave recess 54 of the other arm, and the bottom lower inclined edges 56 (with respect to the horizontal) abutt and are aligned on a substantially vertical plane. This prevents any further downward movements when hanger 10 is supporting garments.  
  The movable sections 18, may be pulled outward to provide the desired length for supporting a particular garment. Similarly, if the clips are secured to the outer ends of the movable sections 18, 20 for clamping onto pants or a skirt, the position of the clips may be precisely positioned.  
  To store the hanger 10, the movable sections 18, 20 are pressed fully inward inside the channels 21, 22. The arms 12, 14 may be rotated upward toward each other, until the sides thereof abutt. As seen in FIG. 4, the C- portion of hood l6 lies in the indented space of the rectangular portion 46. Now hanger 10 may be conveniently stored particularly when traveling.  
  The foregoing specification and description is intended as illustrative of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the following claims.  
 I claim:  
 1. A garment hanger comprising in combination:  
 a. a pair of arms rotatable from a garment supportposition to a storage-position, said arms each having at the inner end an outer convex edge, a recessed concave edge, an aperture between said convex and concave edges. and a bottom edge below said concave recess edge which abuts the same edge on the other arm in the support position, said convex edge of one arm being received in said concave recess of the other arm, an outer edge of each arm abutting the other when in said storage position;  
 b. said arms each including a body section having a channel therein and a movable section for sliding within said channel from an extended position to a retracted position, said movable sections having an elongated slot and a stopping means passing through said slot, said stopping means being mounted in said body section;  
 c. a pulling and pressing means at an end of said movable section being an enlarged portion for gripping;  
 d. a hook having a circular base portion, an outer portion of substantially a C-shape, and an intermediate portion, said intermediate portion being angled to enable said outer portion to lie substantially in the center of the hanger, said base portion having an aperture in the center thereof, and when said arms are in a folded position, said outer portion of the hook being positioned over an inward recess located at outer ends of said body section; and  
  e. a pivot pin passing through said apertures of the inner ends of said arms and the base portion of said hook.  
  2. A garment hanger as claimed in claim 1 wherein said pulling and pressing means is a knob.  
  3. A garment hanger as claimed in claim 1 wherein said pulling and pressing means is a clip means.  
  4. A garment hanger as claimed in claim 1 wherein said outer abutting edges of said arms in the storage position are in lengthwise contact along a reduced portion of said arms.  
  5. A garment hanger as claimed in claim 1 wherein said stopping means is a stop pin.  
  6. A garment hanger as claimed in claim 1 wherein said stopping means is comprised of a wing nut and a pin for applying bearing pressure to secure said movable sections at any point-along said slot.