CLOTHES HANGER

PORTE-VETEMENTS

English Abstract

A clothes hanger has a pair of parallel hanger bars with opposed faces, a springinterconnecting the hanger bars and resiliently urging the bars towards one another for
gripping engagement with an article of clothing between the opposed faces and a hook
extending upwardly from the spring for use in suspending the hanger.

The spring has a pair of legs extending downwardly from the spring, transversely of the
hanger in opposite directions and into engagement with the hanger bars, whereby the hanger
bars can be separated from one another against the action of the spring by manually pressing
the legs towards one another.

Finger guard attachments extend around and along the legs for facilitating the pressing
together of the legs by a user's fingers, the finger guard attachments each comprising
bead-like members threaded onto a respective one of the legs into juxtaposition with one another.

French Abstract

Cette invention concerne un porte-vêtement à pince formé de deux planchettes disposées face à face et d'un ressort appliquant aux dites planchettes une force élastique de rapprochement pour pincer entre elles un article vestimentaire à suspendre dans un placard, ledit ressort se terminant en partie supérieure par un crochet. Le ressort comporte deux branches se prolongeant vers le bas puis de côté dans des directions opposées pour se fixer aux planchettes de façon que celles-ci puissent être écartées l'une de l'autre contre la résistance du ressort en poussant lesdites branches l'une vers l'autre. Chacune des branches comporte des protège-doigts rapportés pour faciliter le pinçage du ressort d'une main, les protège-doigts prenant la forme de boules enfilées sur lesdites branches pour former une série d'éléments juxtaposés.

Claims

-4-
CLAIMS

1. A clothes hanger, comprising

a pair of parallel hanger bars having opposed faces;

a spring interconnecting said hanger bars and resiliently urging said bars towards one
another for gripping engagement with an article of clothing between said opposedfaces;
a hook extending upwardly from said spring for use in suspending said hanger;

said spring having a pair of legs extending downwardly from said spring,
transversely of said hanger in opposite directions and into engagement with saidhanger bars, whereby said hanger bars can be separated from one another against the
action of said spring by manually pressing said legs towards one another; and

finger guard attachments extending around and along said legs for facilitating the
pressing together of said legs by a user's fingers.
2. A clothes hanger as claimed in claim 1, wherein said finger guard attachments each
comprise a plurality of bead-like members threaded onto a respective one of said legs
into juxtaposition with one another.

Description

CA 02211311 1998-01-27


CT OT~F~ T-TAN(~TFR~

The present invention relates to clothes hangers and, more particularly, to the type of clothes
hangers which have a pair of hanger bars urged towards one another by a spring for gripping
engagement with an article of clothing between the hanger bars.

One such clothes hanger is disclosed in French Patent Application No. 2,222,982 in the name
of Albert Alby, in which there is illustrated and described a clothes hanger with a spring
having a pair of legs extending downwardly into engagement with the hanger bars. The
arrangement is such that the hanger bars can be separated from one another, to release the
article of clothing, by m~nll~lly pressing the legs towards one another against the action of
the spring.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel and improved clothes hanger of the
above-described type inwhich the user's fingers, when pressed against the legs ofthe spring,
are protected from discomfort and/or injury.

According to the present invention, the legs of the spring are provided with finger guard
attachments extending around and along the legs for facilitating the pressing together of the
legs by a user's fingers.

The finger guard attachments preferably are in the form of a plurality of bead-like members
arranged adjacent one another along each of the legs.

The present invention will be more readily apparent from the following description of an
embodiment thereofwhen taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:-

Figure 1 shows a plan view of a hanger embodying the present invention;

Figure 2 shows a view in side elevation of the hanger of Figure l;

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Figure 3 shows a view in end elevation of the hanger of Figure l;

Figure 4 shows an underneath plan view of the hanger of Figure l;

Figure 5 shows a view in perspective of the hanger of Figure 1 in use;

Figure 6 shows a view in perspective of the hanger of Figure 1 in an opened or released
condition; and

Figure 7 shows a view in end elevation of the hanger of Figure 1 in its opened or released
condition.

As illustrated in the drawings, a hanger indicated generally by reference numeral 10
comprises a pair of hanger bars indicated generally by reference numerals 12. Each hanger
bar 12 comprises an outer bar-shaped member 14 provided, at its inner side, with a lining 16,
and the two hanger bars 12 have mutually opposed faces 18. Each hanger bar 12 has an
arcuate intermediate portion 20 between a pair of slightly tapered end portions 22, as shown
in Figure 6.

The hanger bars 12 are resiliently urged towards one another by the action of a coil spring
indicated generally by reference numeral 24. The coil spring 24 is provided with two legs
26 which extend downwardly from the spring 24, and have end portions 28 which extend
transversely of the hanger 10, in opposite directions, into engagement with the bar-shaped
members 14. The coil spring 24 is provided with a hook 30, by means of which the hanger
10 can be suspended in conventional manner from another hook, a bar or some other support
(not shown).

The spring 24 and its legs 26 are, in the present embodiment, made of stainless steel, but may
alternatively be of any other suitable material, and the legs 26 are each provided with a finger
guard attachment indicated generally by reference numeral 32. Each of the finger guard

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hments 32 comprises a plurality of bead-like members 34, which are threaded onto the
legs 26 into juxtaposition with one another, as shown, for example, in Figure 3. These finger
guard ~ chments 32 form enlargements on the legs 26 and facilitate engagement and
pressing together of the legs 26, by the fingers of a user, and thus counter-act discomfort
and/or injury of the user's fingers by the pressure of the user's fingers on the legs 26. This
is of advantage, in particular, for elderly, incapacitated, young or otherwise weak users.

Figure 5 shows the hanger 10 in use and, more particularly, shows the hook 30 in suspending
engagement with a line 36. Also, Figure 5 shows a broken-away portion of an article of
clothing 38 being gripped between the opposed faces 18 ofthe hanger bars 12 by the action
of the coil spring 24 urging the opposed faces 18 of the hanger bars 12 towards one another.
This article of clothing 38 may, for example, be the ends of a pair of pants or a skirt, as will
be readily apparent to those skilled in the art.

Figures 6 and 7 show the hanger bars 12 pressed away from one another against the action
of the coil spring 24, by pressing the legs 26 towards one another.

The finger guard attachments 32 may be made of any suitable material but, in the present
embodiment, are made of durable, solid, rigid plastic material. The finger guard attachments
32 may, alternatively, be made of wood, metal, foam, leather or resin, for example.

As will be apparent to those skilled in the art, various modifications may be made in the
above-described embodiment of the present invention within the scope of the appended
claims.

Representative Drawing