Patent Abstract:
A hanger that is formed to accept the holding of a pair of wetsuit booties inverted position and angled to optimize storage space and liquid drainage from the inverted footwear.

Full Description:
CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     This is a non-provisional application claiming priority to provisional application No. 60/546,430 entitled Bootyhook Sporting Goods Hanger filed on Feb. 21, 2004, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     The present invention relates to hangers for drying wetsuit booties such as surfing and scuba diving booties.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0003]     1. Description of the Prior Art  
         [0004]     For the purposes of comfort and protection surfers and scuba divers often wear latex booties which may be relatively tight fitting over the wears foot and ankle to insulate against the cold. In the case of enthusiasts a surfer or diver might participate in his or her water sport or work several times per week or even multiple occasions during a twenty-four hour period.  
         [0005]     When the bootie is removed after a sporting event, it is often stored upright with moisture in the interior thereof resulting in a rather moist environment which may be to slow drying leading to the development of a musty odor or even mold or mildew. In recognition of this long-standing problem, numerous different hanger and suspension devices have been proposed in effort to having the wet booties in an inverted position.  
         [0006]     It has been proposed to provide hangers including upstanding posts of wire or the like over which the ankle of a shoe or boot may be inserted to hang the boot in an inverted position. Devices of this type are shown in U.S. Pat. No. Des. 229, 001 to Wahl and U.S. Pat. No. 231,965 to Gutestam. These hangers suffer the shortcoming that the toe part of the boot then often sag downwardly and, in the case of the flexible lycra booty will typically allow residual salt or fresh water to pool in the toe of the boot thus delaying the drying process and contributing to the tendency to create a musty or moldy climate.  
         [0007]     In recognition of this shortcoming, it has been proposed to provide a hanger with upstanding posts which are formed at their upper extremities with horizontally projecting arms to be received in the shoe part of the boot. Again, such devices fail to solve the problem in that the boot may still sag over the relatively thin post and arm and orient itself in a position with the toe part of the boot inclined downwardly resulting in the collection of water therein.  
         [0008]     Other hangers have been proposed which are of generally planar construction are formed with a stem, hook and oppositely disposed upstanding posts. Devices of this type are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. Des. 246,083 to Auersperg and U.S. Pat. No. Des. 251,891 to Solomon. These devices, while offering benefit over narrow wire posts, still suffer the shortcoming that the toe part of the booty will tend to sag downwardly and act as a water collector.  
         [0009]     Other proposals have been made to provide footwear hangers having flanged construction with upstanding posts. A device of this type is shown in U.S. Pat. No. Des. 296,046 to Marshall.  
         [0010]     Still further efforts have led to the proposal of a wetsuit hanger which includes a stem, carrying a cross bar having a pair of proximal upstanding posts for receiving gloves and a pair of distal fingers spaced laterally outwardly therefrom and projecting upwardly and then turning inwardly an angle of about 30° to the vertical for receipt of the ankle and foot portion of a booty. A device of this type is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,978,043 to Uke. Such devices suffer the shortcoming that the obtuse angle in the upstanding fingers, without restriction on downwardly and inwardly travel of the ankle portion of the booty, allows the booty itself to freely slide downwardly over the finger such that the top extremity of the finger may be received in the toe of the boot with the ankle portion of the booty disposed more or less horizontally thereby ending up with a poor drainage situation and often times collecting drain moisture in the ankle portion of the boot.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0011]     The present invention is characterized by a boot hanger having a stem with boot posts angling upwardly and outwardly in substantially  45 ° to the horizontal and then turning it inwardly upwardly projecting foot sections which may have upwardly and outwardly facing support surfaces angling upwardly and inwardly at a angle of about 45° to the horizontal and against which the inner sole of the boot might nest.  
         [0012]     Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which illustrate, by way of example, the features of the invention. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0013]      FIG. 1  is a front view of a wetsuit booty hanger embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0014]      FIG. 2  is a back view of the hanger shown in  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0015]      FIG. 3  is a front view of the hanger shown in  FIG. 1  with booties in position to be installed; and  
         [0016]      FIG. 4  is a front view similar to  FIG. 3  but with the booties installed. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0017]     Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the hanger of the present invention includes, generally, an upstanding stem formed centrally with a circular ring  11  which has a central portion into which may be placed a label, indicia and the like. The stem is formed at the upper extremity with a suspension hook  13 .  
         [0018]     Formed on the opposite side of the stem at the bottom are a pair of upwardly and outwardly angled legs defining posts which include a respective ankle support sections, generally designated  15 , which angle upwardly and outwardly at substantially 45° to the vertical and respective foot support sections  17  having respective rails  19  along the upper edges defining upwardly and outwardly angled support surfaces disposed at substantially 45° to the vertical. In the preferred embodiment, the hanger is of one-piece construction and the lower portion of the stem and the posts are of grid work construction. In this regard, the ankle support sections  15  are formed with parallel co-extensive rails  21  and  23  and the ankle support sections  17  formed with the rail  19  for supporting the inner sole of a booty and respective rails  31  which converge upwardly toward the respective rails  19  and merge therewith at the upper extremities to define a turn back.  
         [0019]     The rails are connected together along their lengths by means of cross ribs defining struts  33 ,  39  and  41 , the space between the struts and rails forming openings which facilitate circulation of air within a booty.  
         [0020]     In the preferred embodiment, the posts are formed at the base of the hanger with a horizontal rail  45  having a downwardly facing support surface which might stand on the top of the post or the like such that the hanger device might be supported on the post rather than being hung from the hook  13 .  
         [0021]     In operation, when it is desirable to dry a pair of, for instance, surfer&#39;s booties, generally designated  51  and  53  ( FIG. 3 ). The booties may be installed on the respective posts as shown by the respective directional arrows  55  and  57 . The booties  51  and  53  are nested down over the respective posts as shown in  FIG. 4  with the ankle portions of the booties are slid over the foot post section  17  and down over the ankle post sections  15 , the foot portions of the booties being guided onto the post foot sections  17  such that the rail  19  engages the insole of the foot sections and serves to support such foot sections angled upwardly and inwardly at about 45° to the vertical, with the toes fully elevated and in such an orientation that any water in the boots tends to drain downwardly to the open top of the respective boots. It will be appreciated that the construction and orientation of the hanger is such that the posts serve to maintain the boots generally in the orientation shown in  FIG. 4  to thus induce drainage without any upwardly facing horizontal interior surface thereof which might act as a water collector.  
         [0022]     As will be apparent to those skilled in the art the scale of the hanger may be changed without detracting from the invention. That is for larger boots, the scale may be increased to maintain the desired orientation of the boot as dictated by the approximate 90° orientation between the ankle and foot support sections.  
         [0023]     Additionally, it would be appreciated that the configuration of the posts assists in holding the boots in the orientation shown and further, that the crotch  24  formed at the junction between the opposite sides of the stem and the respective posts will serve to, in the event of an oversized booty or long ankle booty, to engage the top edge of the respective and restrict downwardly sliding to prevent the ankle portion of the booty from assuming a horizontal orientation such that water might collect in a horizontal extent thereof.  
         [0024]     From the foregoing, that the hanger device of the present invention provides an economical and convenient means for positively orienting the booty in a self-draining orientation and which has a grid work that provides lightweight relatively compact structure which affords high integrity rigidity for supporting the weight of the wet booties.

Technology Classification (CPC): 0