Field of Search:
223/85,88,91,90,89 248/339,340 211/113,119
Claims:
I claim
1. A wire hanger for garments comprising a pair of symmetrically disposed shoulder-supporting runs having their adjacent end portions bent upwardly and twisted about each other to hold them together, one of said end portions being bent into a hook substantially within the vertical plane defined by said shoulder-supporting runs and the other one being bent into a loop located laterally of said plane, being returned to and wound about said first mentioned end portion, and formed into a hook located on the other side of said plane.
2. A wire hanger according to claim 1 wherein said loop and said last mentioned hook lie in a common vertical plane disposed substantially at right angles to said first mentioned vertical plane.
3. A wire hanger according to claim 1 wherein said shoulder-supporting runs, and the bent end portions thereof are all made from a continuous length of wire.
4. A wire hanger according to claim 1 wherein said loop is spaced from said first mentioned end portion.
5. A wire hanger according to claim 1 wherein said last mentioned hook is spaced from said first mentioned end portion.
Description:
The present invention relates to garment hangers. More particularly the present invention relates to garment hangers that are made from wire. Usually such wire hangers comprise a central horizontal wire run over which trousers, belts, etc. may be folded for support, and the opposite ends of said horizontal run are bent backwardly to form two symmetrically ascending runs for the support of the shoulders of jackets, coats and dresses. The ends of said shoulder runs are usually bent upwardly and twisted about each other to hold them together, and one or both of said end portions are bent into an open hook by means of which the hanger may be suspended from a rod or peg.
Wire hangers of the type described are frequently used in dry cleaning establishments and laundries where an operator may have to handle several items at the same time, each requiring a separate hanger. It is cumbersome and requires a certain amount of skill and strength for an operator to hold the hooks of several loaded hangers in one hand, and there is the ever present danger that one or the other may slip from the operator's grip and freshly laundered or drycleaned garments may thus be soiled again. It has, therefore, been proposed to provide hangers of the type described, with lateral projections in the form of pegs, hooks or loops from which the hooks of other hangers may be supported so that the operator may carry several hangers from the storage place to the counter while holding on to the hook of only a single wire hanger.
It is an object of my invention to provide a wire hanger of the type described, that is of simple and inexpensive construction.
Another object of the invention is to provide a wire hanger of the type described, that is easy to manufacture.
More particularly, it is an object of my invention to provide a wire hanger equipped with means for suspending at least two additional hangers from opposite sides of the original hanger, whose manufacture requires manipulation and reformation of only one of the upwardly extending end portions of its shoulder runs and leaves the other one unchanged, i.e. formed in the customary manner into the main hook by which the hanger is suspended from a rod or peg.
These and other objects of the present invention will be apparent from the following description of the accompanying drawing which illustrates a preferred embodiment thereof and wherein:
FIG. 1 is a perspective of a wire hanger embodying the invention;
FIG. 2 is an end elevation of its neck portion, i.e. the part above the upper ends of its shoulder-supporting runs;
FIG. 3 is a front elevation of a modified embodiment of the invention; and
FIG. 4 is a front-elevational detail view, partly in section, of the embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 3.
In accordance with the invention one of the upwardly extending terminal portions of the shoulder-supporting runs of a wire hanger is formed into an open hook in the customary manner while the other, after having been twisted about the first one in the usual fashion, is formed into a loop disposed at one side of the hanger in a plane substantially at right angles to the plane defined by the shoulder runs, is then returned to and wound a full turn about said first mentioned terminal portion and formed into a hook on the other side of the hanger substantially within the same plane in which the loop on the other side of the hanger is located.
Having first reference to FIG. 1, the embodiment of the invention shown therein is made from a single continuous length of soft wire 10 bent to define a relatively shallow isosceles triangle with rounded corners 12a and 12b between the horizontally disposed base run 14 and the symmetrically ascending sides or shanks 16a and 16b. The base 14 may serve as a support over which trousers, belts, ties and like garment articles may be folded, and the symmetrically ascending sides 16a and 16b are usually intended to serve as shoulder supports for jackets, coats and/or ladies dresses. At the upper ends of the ascending shoulder runs 16a and 16b both the wires are bent upwardly and twisted one about the other as shown at 18 to hold the sides of the triangle together. Above area 18 one of the upwardly extending end portions of wire 10, say end portion 20a, is bent into a hook as shown at 22 by means of which the garment hanger may be suspended from a peg, rod or wall hook in the conventional manner. The other end portion 20b, however, is bent out of the vertical plane defined by triangle 14, 16a and 16b, and is formed into a loop 24 that may lie in a vertical plane substantially at right angles to the plane defined by the wire triangle. After forming the loop 24, the free end of the terminal portion 20b of wire 10 is coiled about the other terminal portion 20a of the wire in at least one complete turn or convolution as shown at 26, whereupon it continues to the other side of the plane defined by triangle 14, 16a, 16b and is bent to form a closed or almost closed hook 28 located symmetrically opposite the loop 24.
When the operator of a cleaning establishment has more than one loaded hanger to carry to the counter, or to transfer to a more conveniently located clothes stand, he simply engages the hooks of other garment hangers into the loop 24 and/or the hook 28 as indicated in phantom lines at 29 and 30 in FIG. 1. By spacing the loop 24 from the vertically extending terminal portion of wire run 20a as shown at 25 in FIG. 2, and by spacing the hook 28 from the vertically extending terminal portion of wire run 20a as shown at 27, additional spaces may be provided for the suspension of other auxiliary garment hangers.
The clothes hanger of my invention is of the simplest construction and it is easy to manufacture, its production requires special manipulation of but one of the terminal portions 20a or 20b of wire 10, while the other is simply formed into a hanger hook 22 in the conventional manner, as has been pointed out hereinbefore.
It remains to point out that while the exemplary embodiment of the invention as illustrated in FIG. 1, is made from a single length of wire 10, i.e. the central support bar 14 and the symmetrically ascending shoulder support bars 16a and 16b are made from a single piece of wire, the principles of my invention, as far as the provision of extra loops 24 and/or hooks 28 is concerned, may readily be applied to hangers of the type wherein the central support bar is formed by a rod of wood or a tube of cardboard, such as shown at 31 in FIGS. 3 and 4, whose opposite ends are suitably supported from the appropriately formed lower ends 32a and 32b of the shoulder runs 16a and 16b, respectively. In this instance the shoulder support runs 16a and 16b are, of course, formed by separate lengths of wires.