Garment hanger

Abstract

A system for displaying garments incorporating a light-weight, one-piece, molded, plastic garment hanger having a hook member, body member, and upswept arms, wherein a garment retaining clip is longitudinally positioned on either side of the hook member at a height such that an axis drawn therebetween would intersect a circle defined around a center of curvature drawn by a radius defined at the upper portion of the curve of the hook member, to provide a high rack to display ratio for garments suspended therefrom.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention is directed to the field of light-weight, molded, plastic garment hangers.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONMolded plastic garment hangers are widely used for the purpose of shipping and displaying garments. Particularly, in the garment manufacturing industry, such a hanger is often an inexpensive ship-on type whereby the garment is shipped from the manufacturer or wholesaler to the retailer while suspended from the hanger. Generally, such garment hangers are inexpensive single-piece or unitary molded plastic structures which are adapted to be either discarded at the time of sale, returned to the garment manufacturer or provided to a customer free of charge in conjunction with the purchase of the garment suspended therefrom.Garment hangers of that type may either be simply constructed as molded plastic structures incorporating a unitary or metal central hook portion adapted to be suspended from a suitable support, such as a garment rack or the li...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The U-section of the body member and upswept arms defines a vertical wall and first and second lateral webs extending therefrom. To form the E-section, a center rib is extended outwardly from said vertical wall between said lateral webs. In one particularly, preferred embodiment the first and second lateral webs extend an equal distance forwardly, from the vertical wall; and the first and second lateral webs and the vertical wall are equal in thickness. To ease parting of the hanger from its mold cavity and to reduce the mass of the hanger, without diminishing the strength of the hanger and the ability of the hanger to resist deflection, the first and second lateral webs of the U-section and the E-section may be tapered. The center rib of the E-section may also be tapered.

By molding the garment hanger in the above form, a light-weight garment hanger especially resistant to lateral deflection rather than weight-bearing deflection is provided without necessarily increasing mass size, using superior raw materials or increasing the depth of the flanges. Since it is not necessary to increase mass size of the hanger or use superior raw materials to improve the hanger's ability to resist lateral deflection, the cost of the raw materials is lower than that of hangers having similar lateral deflection capabilities. Further, using less plastic material is advantageous to the environment as well as reductive to the costs of transoceanic shipment of the hangers to manufacturers and / or retailers and the costs of shipment of hangers with garments hanging therefrom to retailers. The elevated garment engaging clips also result in space savings and advantageous marketing since a high rack to display ratio is neatly maintained.

Accordingly, it is a basic object of the present invention to provide a molded plastic garment hanger having a greater strength to weight ratio than comparable garment hangers of the same or greater weight.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an inexpensive, light-weight, molded plastic garment hanger especially resistant to twisting and lateral deflection.

Problems solved by technology

However, hangers having an I-section tend to fracture, under extreme load conditions, in the region of transition between the shoulder of the hanger and the arm of the hanger, particularly when the hanger is used to support a heavy garment.

When the hanger is used to support a heavier garment, the arms tend to bend at the transition region between the shoulder and arms and can, therefore, develop fractures or breakages in these regions.

Such problems can develop, in particular, when the hanger is molded from a less flexible material such as general purpose polystyrene.

In the intimate apparel industry, however, the hanger's ability to resist the weight of the clothing is not the greatest consideration.

The result being that the hanger is more massive than it needs to be.

While an I-section is adequate for supporting a vertical load, its resistance to lateral deflection can only be improved by the use of superior grade raw material, by increasing the wall section and by increasing the width of the flanges.

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