Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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Hanger for necktie or similar article of clothing
This invention relates to hangers for neckties and
similar clothing articles of the type used in clothing
stores to hold and display the articles for sale.
Neckties are generally displayed for sale in clothing
stores by folding them in half and hanging them vertically
so that the potential purchaser can see the full design.
To achieve this, display racks are provided and the tie is
held by a small hanger soften called a tie rider which
hooks or otherwise attaches to the display rack. In this
way, any particular tie can easily be removed from the
rack for sale and the rack can readily be re-stocked.
One disadvantage ox this practice i8 that the tie
llanger has no further use once the tie has been sold.
Purchasers do not tend to use tie hangers at home and
the clothing store receives a new tie hanger from the
manufacturer with each new tie. Consequently, tie hangers
are usually thrown away. This represents a considerable
waste of money and resources because tie hangers are
generally made of good quality materials in order to
impart an image of quality to the tie being offered
for sale. High quality injection moulded plastics are
commonly employed.
An object of the present invention is to overcome this
disadvantage by providing a tie hanger having a further use
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once the tie has been sold.
According to the invention, there is provided a hanger
for a necktie or other similar article of clothing, compris-
ing: a holder having a plurality of spaced bars for holding
and gripping the necktie or other article; attachment means
for enabling the holder to be suspended in a generally
horizontal attitude from a rack or other support; the
attachment means being connected to the holder but readily
detachable therefrom; and the bars of the holder being inter-
connected in such a manner that the holder can function as apaper clip when the attachment means is detached therefrom.
An advantage of the invention is that, after sale of the
article of clothing, the attachment means can be removed and
the holder can be used as a paper clip, either by the
lS purchaser or by the sales staff.
The attachment means is generally an upstanding hook but
may be an upstanding loop or a spring-loaded clip. The
purpose of the attachment means is to enable the hanger to
be suspended Erom a tie rack or other support, so any means
of achieving this is included within the scope of the
invention.
In a preferred form of the invention, a line of weakness
is provided between the attachment means and the holder so
that the attachment means can be easily broken away ater
Yale o the article of clothing.
The holder preferably cornprises four generally horizon-
tal bars forrned by a single thin strip of material arranged
in an open, flat coil having the shape of a conventional
paper clip.
Other features and advantages of the invention will
be apparent from the following detailed description of
a preferred embodiment wherein reference is made to the
accompanying drawings, in which:
Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of a hanger according
to one embodiment of the invention; and
I:', Fig. it a side elevational view of the embodiment
of Fig. 1.
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A tie hanger according to one embodiment of the
invention is indicated generally by reference numeral 10.
The hanger consists of an attachment means in the form of
a hook ll and a holder 12. A the point of attachment
between the hook 11 and the holder 12, the material is
very thin (see Fig. 2) forming a line of weakness 13.
The holder 12 comprises a single thin flat strip 14 of
relatively resilient, i.e. springy, material arranged in
the form of a flattened open coil lying in a single plane.
This shape provides four horizontal bars 15, 16, 17 and
18, three of which (16, 17 and 18) are used for holding a
necktie in the manner described later.
The hook 11 is suitably shaped to be suspended from a
narrow horizontal rod (not shown) of the type used in tie
racks, e.g a thin horizontal metal or plastic bar or wire
The highest point of the hook is located directly above
the centre line of the holder 12 so that the bars 15-18
are suspended horizontally.
A tie is held by bars 16, 17 and 18 by folding the
tie lengthwise in half and filipping the resulting loop of
material over the bax 16. The tie immediately below the
loop is then arranged in a serpentine ashion around bars
17 and 18, i.e, both sections of the tie may be caused to
pass in front of bar 17 and behind bar 18, or vice versa.
The nature oE the holder 12 facilitates the installation
of a tie in this way because the bars, being spring-like
and being parts of a coil, can easily be bent out of the
plane of the hanger. For example, if bars 16 and 18 are
bent upwardly out of the plane of the paper, the tie loop
can be slipped laterally over bar 16 and, at the same
time, the double tie layers can be passed below bar 18,
i.e. through gap l9.
Once the tie has been positioned in this way, it has
little tendency to fall off the hanger even when made of
quite slippery material, such as silk. The serpentine
manner in which the tie passes around bars 17 and 18
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produces a "friction lock", i.e. the two halves of the tie
are squeezed both against themselves and against the bars
of the hanger.
Bar 16 is provided with two projections 20 and 21
adjacent each end on Mach side of Section 22 which, in
use, is occupied by the tie. These prevent the tie loop
from slipping off the ends of the bar. The hanger thus
holds the tie securely but the tie can be easily removed,
when desired.
As will be seen from FigO 1, the shape of the holder
12 is the same as that of a conventional paper clip. Thus,
once the tie has been sold and removed from the hanger, the
hook 11 can be broken off and the holder 12 can be used as
a paper clip. Thus, the hanger has a secondary use and
need not be thrown away. Although the hook 11 serves no
further purpose, it represents only a small part of the
hanger and therefore it is not particularly wasteful to
throw this part away.
The line of weakness 13 should be such that the tie
hanger can be used for its primary function without the
hook 11 becoming detached, but should be sufficiently weak
for the hook to be snapped off by hand when required with-
out zoo much difficulty.
although the holder 12 shown in Fig. 1 has the shape
of a conventional paper clip, alternative shapes may be `~
employed provided the holder may serve both to hold a tie
securely and to act as a paper clip. E'or example, more or
less bars may be provided and other means of attaching the
bars together may be employed. Moreover, the bars may
be of different vertical widths or horizontal lengths and
the connecting pieces between the bars need not be semi-
circular as shown.
To function effectively as a tie hanger the holder 12
must normally have at least three spaced bars to provide
the serpentine "friction lock". To function as a paper
clip, the holder should be composed of at least two
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elements lying generally in a single plane, the elements
being connected together at one end and free at the other
so that they can be bent out of the plane to allow for the
insertion of one or more sheets of paper or the like. The
elements must be sufficiently resilient to tend to return
to the plane and thus grip the sheets. Any holder ful-
filling these requirements may be used in the present
invention.
Although the use of the line of weakness 13 is the pre-
ferred way of making the hook 11 detachable from the holder
12, other means can be employed For example, the lower
end of the hook may be of inverted "T" shape in cross
section, and the upper edge of bar 15 may be provided with
upstanding flanges along each side of inwardly turned
inverted "L" shape to hold the hook. The hook may then be
removed by sliding it horizontally out of register with
the flanges. Such alternatives are not however preferred
because they increase the complexity and cost of the hanger
without providing additional benefits. By employing the
line of weakness 13, the hanger may be manufactured all in
one piece.
'rhe hanger is preferably made of a resilient plastic
materlal, eg by injection moulding. Other materials can
alterrlatively be employed, eg metal or wood, provLded
the hook can easily be removed by hand and provided the
material is sufficiently flexible and resilient to make
an effective paper clip.
Althouyh the hanger is primarily intended for neckties,
it can be used for similar articles, such as cravats,
flexible belts, thin scarves, ribbons or the like.
It will be appreciated from the above that certain
modifications can be made to the embodiment shown without
departing from the scope of the invention as defined by
the following claims.
