GB2258612A - Garment hanger - Google Patents

Description

2) 3o 12 1 GARMENT HANGER is The present invention relates to hangers for

garments, such as skirts, slacks and trousers, which have a waistband. the hanger having at its opposite ends grippers with outwardly facing teeth for engaging opposite portions of the inside of a waistband, the grippers being urged resiliently apart to stretch the waistband and hence hold the garment on the hanger. Some such hangers have horizontal bars with telescopic end portions, on which the grippers are carried, the end portions being urged resiliently outwardly by a spring. This is a complex and expensive construction and the telescopic parts tend to be forced out of alignment and become jammed.

Another type of such hanger, hereinafter referred to as of the kind described, has a body, which is integrally moulded from a resilient plastics material, and comprises an array of parts substantially located in a common vertical plane and substantially symmetrically arranged about a vertical axis through a central suspension part; the parts of the body including an upper, upwardly bowed bar; a lower upwardly bowed bar connected at its ends to respective ends of the upper bar; two grippers, each at the respective outer ends of the bars and presenting outwardly facing teeth, whereby the grippers may be displaced towards one another by upward bending of the bars and will then tend to move apart again under the resilience of the plastics material, in use to stretch apart, and hence retain, opposite portions of a waistband of a garment. The weight of the garment will also pull down on the grippers and tend to bend the ends of the bars downwards and hence increase the security of the support even more by increasing the spacing of the grippers. The suspension part may incorporate a hook or other connector to hang the hanger on a support such as a rail, or may incorporate some means for the fixing to the body of such a connector.

2 In one known hanger of this construction, the suspension part is connected to the upper bar only by a downwardly bowed bridge which is connected to the upper bar adjacent to the ends of the bar; and the two upwardly bowed bars are interconnected by a central vertical strut. The bridge is a source of weakness at its ends where the connection with the upper bar is subjected to bending and shear stress when the hanger is under load,, and upon repeated flexure, when the grippers are moved towards and away from one another upon fitting or removal of a garment. These stresses and flexure can lead to premature failure of the plastics material.

In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, in a garment hanger of the kind described, the suspension part is connected to the narrower end of a downwardly flared tension part which is connected to both the bars. The flared part may be sector-shaped, but is most simply a pair of divergent straight legs, forming in effect an W frame. This is structurally a very efficient arrangement, and, as the flared part essentially only acts in tension, the danger of fatigue facture is minimized.

In the above mentioned previous hanger of the kind described, the two upwardly bowed bars have had substantially the same curvature and are therefore substantially parallel to one another. As a result the bars tended to bend and twist independently of one another, leading to the possibility of a further uncontrolled flexure.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, which may be used independently of, or in conjunction with the first aspect, the upper upwardly bowed bar of a garment hanger of the kind described has a larger radius of curvature than that of the lower upwardly bowed..IiAr. As a result the ends of the bar are vertically spaced much closer than their central portions, approaching a more stable curved triangular configuration in each half of the hanger.

3 If the outer ends of the two bars approach one another quite closely, there may be insufficient room for all or even part of the gripper teeth to be accommodated between the ends of the bars, and in that case the grippers may be provided on the underside of the lower bar at its outer ends.

An example of a garment hanger incorporating both aspects of the present invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawing, which is a front 10 elevation.

The illustrated hanger consists essentially of a single integral moulding of plastics material incorporating a suspension part 1,, in the f orn of a disk which is arranged to bear promotional material, and which is is provided with a socket 2 into which a screw threaded end of a shank of a metal hook 3 is arranged to be screwed.

The part 1 is connected to the upper end of a pair of straight divergent legs 4, each of which is rigid with and passes through an upper upwardly bowed bar 5 and is 20 connected at its lower end to a lower upwardly bowed bar 6. The curvature of the bar 5 is less than that of a bar 6 so that the ends of the bars converge and are connected. The ends of the bar 5 continue to form downwardly curved shoulders 9, which may be used to support, additionally, a 25 separate top or jacket.

Grippers 7, formed with teeth 8. for engaging inside a garment waistband, are formed by triangular portions on the undersides of the ends of the bar 6.

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Claims (2)

1. A garment hanger of the kind described, wherein the suspension part is connected to the narrow end of a downwardly flared tension part which is connected to both the bars.

2. A hanger according to claim 1, wherein the f lared part is provided by a pair of divergent straight legs.

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