GB2308295A - Hook for garment hanger - Google Patents

Abstract

A hook for a garment hanger is separately formed from the hanger body 1 into which it is mounted via an elongate slot 8. The body 15 of the hook has a tongue 30 with an elongate wedge formation whose edge 35 forms a hook engaging with a lug 29 of the hanger body, which may be a hollow plastics moulding. The hook is thus held non-rotatably and cannot easily be removed.

Description

GARMENT HANGER This invention relates to a garment hanger.

Garment hangers are well known in which the hanger has a body with a support in the form of hook extending, in use, in an upwardly direction when hanging the garment hanger on a bar rail, for example. The support or hook in this instance is a flat non-rotatable hook which is an integral moulding with the body and arms of the hanger.

Such hangers are relatively expensive to manufacture because, in use, the mould for manufacturing the hangers includes retracting side cores and is arranged so that the hangers are moulded on their side together with the integral support or hook, thereby taking up a considerable space in the mould. Moreover, with garment hangers having a hollow body the difficulty arises because of re-entrant mouldings that the moulded product are made utilising the retracting side cores to produce two body parts in the mould. The body parts are joined leading to a joining ridge appearing on the top surface of the end product.

In one practical form of mould for producing say four hangers each with a mould hook in a given size of mould would require a 250 tonne press and retractible side cores to achieve the moulding up to a satisfactory quality of moulding. However, in addition to two moving cores on one side of the mould allowing the mould to be opened and the hook released involves a great number of moving parts. The more moving parts increases the press tonnage as a rule and also increases the accuracy required to manufacture. Moreover, the possibility of producing a vertical mould to, with the lock mechanism would require multiple movements on the cavity. Such movements increase the cost, the accuracy required and increase the size of mould to uneconomic proportions.

Any increase in product/mould would multiply tool costs by a factor of ten and multiply the press size by a factor of four.

A similar problem occurs when the garment hangers are packaged for transportation to various retailers, or clothing manufacturers, because the overall length of the body of the hanger and its hook take up a great deal of space and make it awkward to pack a plurality of hangers into a given space.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a garment hanger in which the above mentioned disadvantages are substantially reduced.

According to the present invention there is provided a garment hanger comprising a hanger body, support means separate from the hanger body and means for fixing the support member in a non-rotatable manner on the body of the hanger.

In one preferred embodiment of a garment hanger according to the present invention there is provided an aperture located centrally of, in use, a top elongate surface of the hanger body for receiving the support means therein. The hanger body is conveniently a hollow injection mould body of plastics material.

Preferably, the aperture is of a T-shaped configuration in the plane of the said top surface of the hanger body. Conveniently, the upright of the Tshape extends in the elongate direction of the said top surface, along the longitudinal axis thereof.

The non-rotatable support member conveniently has, at least in part, a T-shaped cross-section complementary to that of the said T-shaped aperture for receiving and locking the support means against rotation relative to the hanger body. The thickness of the support member is preferably thinner than the transverse width of the hanger when viewed from the top of the hanger in use.

Preferably, at least one lug extends from the aperture inwardly of the hanger body. Conveniently, there are two such lugs, each located on a respective one of two opposed elongate sides of the aperture of the top surface of the hanger body. The lugs can be arranged to extend at an angle to a central axis perpendicular to a plane of the top surface in which the aperture lies.

The lugs conveniently are of a semi-circular cross-section with flat surfaces extending longitudinally in a diametrical plane thereof, the flat diametrical surface of each lug facing inwardly of the hanger body. A free end of each lug remote from the aperture terminates in an end face extending in a direction transverse to the direction in which the flat diametrical surface of the respective lug extends.

Preferably, the support means comprises a hook with at least a base portion thereof located, in use, in the region of the aperture in the hanger body and having a cross-section which is complementary to the crosssection of the aperture in the top surface of the hanger body so that the hook is insertable in the hanger body with a fixed orientation, and is non-rotatable relative to the body. Conveniently, the hook of a T-shaped cross-section and the cross-member of the T-shaped cross-section of the hook extends along the inner surface of the hook.

The support means or hook preferably comprises a tongue at a base of the hook which extends in an opposite direction from the base than the direction in which the hook extends. Conveniently, the tongue is tapered inwardly at least on one major side thereof from the base of the hook towards the free end of the tongue.

A locking flange preferably extends outwardly perpendicularly from the inwardly tapered major surface, for engaging, in use, with the free end of a respective lug on the hanger body to lock the hook in the hanger body against removal therefrom in an opposite direction to the direction of insertion of the hook into the body.

Conveniently, the tongue is tapered on both sides thereof and one or both major surfaces can be provided with a locking flange. The, or each locking flange also tapers towards the free end of the tongue.

Therefore, there has been disclosed a hanger which readily lends itself to a modified form of moulding technique in which for a 250 tonne press which produced say four hangers with multiple movement and joining of a number of body parts a mould with a much reduced number of mould parts can be used to mould eight hangers with the same 250 tonne press without the hooks, thereby advantageously increasing the out of the press using a more economical mould.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a partial side elevational view of a garment hanger in accordance with the present invention; Fig. 2 is a partial top view of the hanger of Fig. 1 without a support hook; Fig. 3 is an enlarged side elevational view of a separate support hook prior to insertion into the body of the garment hanger of Fig. 1, Fig. 4 is a partial sectional view along the line III-III in Fig. 1, and Fig. 5 is a partial diagrammatic bottom view of the garment hanger of Fig. 1.

Referring more specifically to the drawings, Fig. 1 is a partial side-elevational view of a garment hanger in accordance with the present invention having a body 1 and a support hook 2 for supporting the garment hanger on a bar (not shown) for example, to hang with the orientation shown in Fig. 1. Any reference herein to the garment hanger being "in use is to be taken as reference to the particular horizontal orientation as shown in Fig. 1.

The body 1 of the garment hanger represented in the drawings is of a hollow cross-section as can be seen in Fig. 4, and has a central label area 3 and an elongate arm 4, 5 extending in each of two opposite directions, respectively, from either side of the label area 3. The body 1 is open on its underside 6 and has a closed top surface 7 which is substantially flat with rounded edges. An elongate slot 8 of T-shaped crosssection extends centrally in the plane of the top surface 7 with the vertical part of the 'T" extending in a longitudinal direction of the garment hanger as represented by longitudinal axis 9 in Fig. 2. Crossmember 10 of the "T" extends transversely of the longitudinal axis 9 for a very much shorter length than the length of the part of the T-shaped aperture extending along the longitudinal axis.The aperture 8 extends completely through the top surface 7 to the hollow interior of the garment hanger body.

The hook 2 shown in Fig. 3 is of a flat planar body 15 having an inner edge 16 and outer edge 17. A transverse outermost flange 18 extends along inner edge 16 from a base region 19 of the support hook 2 to outer tip 20 of the support hook. Outermost flange 18 extends perpendicularly outwardly from each of two opposed planar surfaces 21, 22, respectively, of the flat planar body 15 forming the hook 2. The outward extension of the flange 18 is illustrated in Fig. 4 in which extensions 23, 24 are shown as extending outwardly from the planar surfaces 21, 22 of the flat planar body 15.

Elongate lugs 25, 26 extend inwardly from opposed sides of the elongate slot 8 and in Figs. 3 & 5 are each supported relative to the body 1 by a transverse web 27 extending between each lug 25, 26 and the respective inner wall of the body 1. The lugs 25, 26 are each semi-circular in cross-section with a flat elongate diametrical surface 25a, 26a. The web 27 extends in each case from semi-circular surface 25b, 26b to the body 1 of the garment hanger. The elongate lugs 25, 26 extend inwardly towards one another at their innermost ends 28, terminating in a perpendicularly extending transverse end surface 29.

A tongue 30 extends outwardly from the base area 19 of the hook 2 in an opposite direction to the direction in which the hook 2 extends by a very much shorter distance than the hook 2. The tongue 30 has substantially flat planar opposed major surfaces 31, 32 which as seen from Fig. 4 taper inwardly towards one another from the base 19 to a free end 33 of tongue 30.

A wedge shaped flange 34 having a surface 35 projects substantially perpendicularly from the major surface 32 of tongue 30. The remainder of the wedge 34 extends inwardly from the outer edge 36 of surface 35 to free end 33 of the tongue 30.

The hook 2, tongue 30 and the body 1 of the garment hanger are made of substantially rigid plastics material although the body of the garment hanger is made sufficiently thin of such plastics material to be slightly flexible.

One end of the transverse flange 18 in the region of the base 19 of the hook 2 is arranged to terminate on tongue 30 in the region of the junction of the tongue with the base region 19. The extension beyond planar surf aces 21, 22 of the hook body 15 by the transverse flange 18 is arranged to be of a depth which will allow, once the support hook 2 is inserted into the aperture 8 in the top surface 7 of the body 1, the flange 18 to be inserted into the cross portion 10 of the T-shaped aperture 8.

In use, the body 1 of the garment hanger and the hook 2 are manufactured independently of each other and when the point arrives that the either the manufacturer, the retailer, or indeed the final customer using the garment hanger to hang clothes upon it, inserts the hook 2 into the body 1, a garment hanger will be formed having a fixed body and arms and a fixed hook very firmly attached in place within the body 1, non-removable therefrom and non-rotatable thereto.

The insertion and locking of the hook 2 within the body 1 is effected by inserting free end 33 of the tongue 30 into the elongate aperture 8 with the hook 2 aligned in an appropriate manner so that the transverse flange 18 will engage within the cross-portion 10 of the aperture 8. As the tongue 30 is pushed further into the aperture 8 the lugs 25, 26 are forced apart and move with the resilience of the web 27 and relatively thin resilient walls of the body 1. Once the tongue 30 has been inserted between the lugs by an amount which is sufficient that the end face 35 of the wedge 34 extends beyond end face 29 of the lug 26, the lugs snap back towards the surfaces 31,32 of the tongue and the end face 29 of the lug 26 engages the surface 35 of the wedge 34 to lock the tongue within the body of the hanger against movement in any direction.

Once locked into the body the hook is nonrotatable and non-retrievable without substantial forcing of the lugs 25, 26, from tongue 30 which is likely to break the lugs.

Advantageously, such construction as has been described above provides a considerable advance in the number of garment hangers that can be manufactured for a given mould size and given press tonnage than has previously been possible. In this latter respect, the moulds instead of being prepared with the hangers lying on their side in the plane of the mould (horizontal moulding) the moulds are now prepared in such a manner that the garment hangers are moulded side by side standing on top of one arm with the remainder of the hanger extending in a vertical direction having been rotated through 90 relative to the plane of the mould (vertical moulding).Therefore, for a given size mould and press tonnage to produce garment hangers with horizontal moulding, the vertical moulding technique uses a smaller number of covers in the mould and produces 5 times the amount of garment hangers than horizontal moulding in one moulding operation.

Consequently, production costs can be considerably reduced, five times as many hangers can be manufactured in a much shorter time, the packaging of the hangers is much improved because the hooks having been formed separately can be transported separately within the same box within spaces which would otherwise remain unoccupied, thereby allowing a greater number of hangers to be located within a given size box. Furthermore, the insertion of the hook into the body of the hanger is always assured in a firm and secure manner. Because of the orientation of the flange 18 and the aperture cross portion 10, it is impossible for the hook to be located on the hanger in an opposite orientation. Therefore the label area on the hanger always points in the same direction when the hanger is hung upon a bar with all the hooks pointing in the same direction for example, thereby improving the display and information which is provided to the customer in retail outlets.

Conveniently, the invention as hereinbefore described can be applied to any shape or form of hanger in which the hook is non-rotatable relative to the body of the hanger.

In one alternative construction of a garment hanger in accordance with the present invention the Tshaped cross-section of the aperture can take any shape provided the hook 2 and body 1 always remain in one chosen orientation one relative to the other.

Furthermore, one lug can be a flat wall extending into the hollow body 1 from the aperture 8 whilst an opposed lug tapers inwardly towards an innermost edge of the wall. The tongue 30 can then have one major surface which is parallel to the planar surfaces 21, 22 of the hook body 15 so that when the tongue 30 is interlocked in the body 1 the surface of the tongue parallel to hook body surfaces 21, 22 is adjacent the inner wall and the tapered surface with wedge 34 is adjacent the inwardly tapered lug for effecting locking of the hook relative to the body 1 as previously described herein.

Although the embodiment described above has been described with reference to a fairly rigid plastics material, less rigid plastics or alternatively much more rigid plastics materials can be utilised to manufacture the hanger and separate hook with the particular invention as described. The plastics material is preferably polyvinyl chloride. The plastics material can be polyvinyl chloride or polystyrene for example.

Other plastics materials can of course be used but will considerably increase costs.

Claims (22)

CLAIMS:

1. A garment hanger comprising a hanger body, support means separate from the hanger body and means for locking the support means in a non-rotatable manner relative to the body of the hanger.

2. A hanger as claimed in claim 1, comprising an aperture located centrally of, in use of the hanger, a top elongate surface of a hollow hanger body for receiving the support means therein.

3. A hanger as claimed in claim 2, wherein the aperture is of a pre-shaped interlocking cross-section in the plane of the said top surface of the hanger body.

4. A hanger as claimed in claim 2 or claim 3, wherein the support means comprises at least a base portion thereof located, in use, in the region of the aperture in the hanger body.

5. A hanger as claimed in claim 4, wherein the support hook has a cross-section which is complementary to the cross-section of the aperture in the top surface of the hanger body.

6. A hanger as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, comprising at least one lug extending inwardly of the hanger body.

7. A hanger as claimed in claim 6, wherein there are two lugs, each located on one of two opposed elongate sides respectively of an aperture in the top surface of the hanger body.

8. A hanger as claimed in claim 7, wherein the lug or lugs are arranged to extend at an angle to a central axis of the hanger perpendicularly to a plane in which the aperture is arranged to lie.

9. A hanger as claimed in any one of claims 6 to 8, wherein each lug is of a semi-circular cross-section with a flat surface extending longitudinally in a diametrical plane thereof.

10. A hanger as claimed in claim 9, wherein the flat diametrical surface of each lug faces inwardly of the hanger body.

11. A hanger as claimed in any one of claims 6 to 10, wherein a free end of each lug remote from the aperture terminates in an end face extending in a direction transverse to the direction in which the flat diametrical surface of the respective lug extends.

12. A hanger as claimed in claim 3, wherein the aperture has a T-shaped cross-section.

13. A hanger as claimed in claim 12, wherein the upright of the "T" extends in the elongate direction of said top surface, along a longitudinal axis thereof.

14. A hanger as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the non-rotatable support means has, at least in part, a T-shaped cross-section for locking the support means against rotation relative to the hanger body.

15. A hanger as claimed in claim 14, wherein the support means is a hook and a cross-member of the Tshaped cross section of the extends along the inner surface of the hook.

16. A hanger as claimed in claim 15, wherein the hook comprises a tongue at a base thereof which extends in an opposite direction from the base than the direction in which the hook extends.

17. A hanger as claimed in claim 16, wherein at least one major surface of the tongue is tapered inwardly from the base of the support member towards the free end of the tongue.

18. A hanger as claimed in claim 16, wherein opposed major surfaces of the tongue are both tapered inwardly towards the free end of the tongue.

19. A hanger as claimed in any one of claims 16 to 18, wherein one major surface of the tongue includes a locking flange extending outwardly from the said one major surface for engaging, in use, a free end of a respective lug on the hanger body to lock the support member in the hanger body.

20. A hanger as claimed in claim 18, wherein both major surfaces are each provided with a locking flange.

21. A hanger as claimed in any one of claims 16 to 20, wherein each of the locking flanges tapers towards the free end of the tongue.

22. A garment hanger substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as illustrated in, the accompanying drawings.