Patent ID: 6896163

Claim:
A pinch-grip hanger including: an elongated body; and a first and second pinch-grips positioned along the body, each of the pinch-grips being comprised of: a first leg having an upper and a lower end; a second leg having an upper and a lower end, the first and second legs being in opposed front-to-back relationship; gripping portions at the lower ends of the first and second legs; a biasing mechanism that applies a force which is directed substantially solely toward the gripping portions to bias the gripping portions toward each other; the upper ends of the legs being relatively movable toward each other about a pivot axis to separate the gripping portions, and thereby to open the pinch-grip, the upper ends of the legs being separated in a rest position by a front-to-back distance depending on the thickness of an item held by the hangar, and having a maximum front to back separation when an item is not being held by the hanger; first and second spacers at opposite sides of the first and second legs extending in the front-to-back direction, the spacers having a maximum front-to-back dimension relative to the maximum front-to-back separation distance of the upper ends of the legs such that contact with another hanger on a rack will not move the upper ends of the legs toward each other a sufficient distance to release an item being held by the gripping portions and opposed barriers extending toward each other from the first and second legs, the barriers being located below the pivot axis, in vertically spaced, and front to back overlapping relationship when the pinch grip is used, and remaining in overlapping relationship when the pinch grip is open or closed, the barriers forming the upper end of a griping area between the gripping portions and shielding an item held by the hanger from the area near the pivot axis.