Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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GARMENT BAG
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to garment
protectors and, more particularly, to garment bags
for carrying articles of clothing which are suspended
from a garment hanger.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional garment bags are usually made
of plastic sheet material and include a zipper for
closing an elongated access slot defined in the front
panel of the bag. Such garment bags are of relatively
expensive construction.
Accordingly, efforts have been made to
design garment bags which are free of zippers or
similar closure devices. For instance, United States
Patent No. 2,874,827 issued on February 24, 1959 to
Neely and United States Patent No. 5,078,668 issued
on January 7, 1992 to Endres each disclose a front-
loading garment bag having a front elongated slit
opening which is normally covered by a flap. The flap
must be pulled back to allow one to insert a garment
hung on a hanger into the envelope structure of the
garment bag with the hook end of the hanger being
inserted in an opening provided at a top end of the
bag.
Other types of closure flaps have also been
developed to close the access opening of a wide
variety of bags. For example, United States Patent
No. 3,429,498 issued on February 1969 to Dorfman and
United States Patent No. 3,782,622 issued on January
l, 1974 to Montgomery each disclose an end-loading
bag comprising a top access opening which can be
closed by a fold-over flap. The end-loading bag is
provided with a carrying handle which can be
integrally connected to the fold-over flap or the
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front panel of the bag. Although such an end-loading
bag is effective for enclosing and carrying various
articles, it is not adapted for transporting a
garment hanging from a hanger as evidence by the fact
that the structure thereof precludes the hook end of
the hanger from extending outside of the bag to
suspend the bag and its content on an appropriate
support structure.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an aim of the present
invention to provide a new garment bag which is
adapted to protect a garment suspended from a hanger
having a hook end.
It is also an aim of the present invention
to provide such a garment bag which is relatively
simple and economical to manufacture.
It is a further aim of the present
invention to provide a garment bag which allows a
garment hung from a hanger to be easily placed into
the garment bag and removed therefrom.
Therefore, in accordance with the present
invention, there is provided an end-loading garment
bag for carrying articles of clothing suspended from
a garment hanger having a hook end, comprising
opposed first and second elongated panels having
respective top, bottom and side edges, the first and
second panels being joined at the side edges thereof
and at one of said top and bottom edges to form a
garment receiving container having an open end to
provide access thereto. The first panel includes a
flap portion at one end thereof for closing the open
end of the garment receiving container. The flap
portion is folded over in opposed relation to an
outer surface of the first panel and has opposed side
edges thereof secured to side edges of the first and
second panels. The flap portion is reversible over an
outer surface of the second panel to close the open
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end of the garment receiving container. The second
flap consist solely of a sheet of flexible material.
An opening is defined at a top end of the garment bag
for allowing the hook end of the hanger to extend
therethrough.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Having thus generally described the nature
of the invention, reference will now be made to the
accompanying drawings, showing by way of illustration
a preferred embodiment thereof, and in which:
Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of a
garment bag with a suspended suit shown therein in
broken lines in accordance with a first embodiment of
the present invention;
Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the garment
bag;
Fig. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view
of the garment bag; and
Fig. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view
of the garment bag when a suit is disposed therein.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring now the Fig. 1, there is shown a
garment bag 10 suited for protecting garments, such
as a suit S, hanging from a conventional coat hanger
H having a hook end h.
The garment bag 10 is provided in the form
of an envelope and may be formed from a flexible
sealable plastic film, such as linear low-density
polyethylene. The garment bag 10 comprises a single
rectangular sheet of plastic material folded at 12 to
form front and back rectangular panels 14 and 16. The
front and back panels 14 and 16 are secured together
along longitudinal side edges 18, as by heat sealing,
to form a garment receiving container having an
access opening 20 and a closed bottom end
corresponding to fold line 12. Alternatively, the
garment bag 10 could be composed of two distinct
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panels sealed together at the bottom and at the sides
thereof.
As seen in Figs. 2 and 3, the back panel 16
is greater in length than the front panel 14 and has
a top portion 22 which extends beyond the top edge 24
of the front panel 14. The top portion 22 is folded
over an outer surface of the back panel 16 along a
transverse fold line 26 to form a closure flap 28
which can be folded over the outer surface of the
front panel 14 to close the access opening 20. The
closure flap 28 is secured, as by heat sealing, to
the side edges 18 of the front and back panels 14 and
16 to ensure that the closure flap 28 will remain by
itself in position once folded over the outer surface
of the front panel 14.
The closure flap 28 is defined by the fold
line 26 and the free terminal edge 30 of the rear
panel 16. The fold line 26 and the terminal edge 30
are parallel and spaced by a distance of about 7
inches to about 10 inches. According to a preferred
embodiment of the present invention, the distance
between the fold line 26 and the terminal edge 30 is
equal to 9 inches. The fold line 26 is located at
least 3 inches above the top edge 24 of the front
panel 14 and is in parallel relation with respect
thereto. The length of the garment bag 10 varies
depending on the type of garment to be contained. A
typical length will vary from about 36 inches to
about 60 inches. The width of the garment bag 10 is
preferably in the order of 25 inches.
As seen in Fig. 1, the closure flap 28, in
its closed position, extends downwardly over the
outer surface of the front panel 14 past the top edge
24 thereof to completely enclose the suit S in the
garment bag 10.
As seen in Figs. 1 and 2, an opening 32 is
defined in a central portion of the fold line 26 to
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allow the hook end h of the hanger H to pass
therethrough.
In use, the garment bag 10 with the closure
flap thereof in its open position, as seen in Figs. 2
and 3, is slipped over the suit S via the access
opening 20. It is understood that the suit S is
supported by the hanger H which, in turn, is
suspended from an appropriate support structure while
the garment bag 10 is being slipped over the suit S.
Thereafter, the hanger H is removed from the support
structure and the closure flap 28 is folded over the
outer surface of the front panel 14 by turning the
flap 28 inside out, as indicated by arrow 34 in Fig.
4. At the same time, the hook end h of the coat
hanger H is passed outwardly through the opening 32,
thereby allowing the covered suit S to be hung from
an appropriate supporting structure.
According to another embodiment of the
present invention, which is not illustrated, the
access opening and the fold-over closure flap are
provided at the bottom of the bag instead of at the
top thereof. However, it is understood that the
opening for receiving the hook end h of the hanger H
would still be provided at the closed top end of the
bag.
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