EP0382688A1

EP0382688A1 - Garment hanger including shoulder supports

Info

Publication number: EP0382688A1
Application number: EP90830041A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Alexander Dongas
Original assignee: Pro Plast Pty Ltd
Current assignee: Pro Plast Pty Ltd
Priority date: 1989-02-09
Filing date: 1990-02-05
Publication date: 1990-08-16
Also published as: JPH02239813A

Abstract

The present invention provides a garment hanger (10) in which the free ends of the arms (16,17) of the hanger are enveloped in a casing material (18). It is preferred that the casing material is expanded polystyrene and copolymers, blown polyethylene and copolymers, blown polypropylene and copolymers or polyurethane.

Description

The present invention relates to garment hangers including shoulder supports, and more particularly to moulded plastic garment hangers including shoulder supports.
Recently, disposable garment hangers, particularly those of moulded plastics material, have gained increasing acceptance in the garment trade. Due to improved injection moulding techniques, these plastic garment hangers can be made relatively cheaply in large numbers. This inexpensive supply of garment hangers has led to clothing retailers and wholesalers providing their garments on hangers. The garments are then purchased by the consumers together with the hanger, or the hanger is simply discarded.
One drawback encountered with such plastic garment hangers has been that, due to their narrow cross section of the arms, the shoulders of garments such as shirts and T-shirts are pulled out of shape in the shoulders. One method of overcoming this drawback is to provide attachments of the free ends of the garment hanger arms. Such attachments are disclosed in Australian Registered Design No. 102999. These attachments clip on to the free ends of the arms of the garment hanger and provide an increased surface area in the region of the arms of the garment hanger in contact with the shoulders of the garment, thereby preventing distortion of the garment. While these attachments prevent distortion of the shoulders of garments, in practice they have been found to be somewhat awkward and time consuming to fit to the garment hangers.
Accordingly there exists a need for garment hangers in which at least the free ends of the arms of the garment hanger are expanded.
The present invention consists in a garment hanger comprising a hook portion by which the hanger may be suspended, a body portion comprising a pair of arms each having a free end, the body portion being adapted to support articles of clothing, the garment hanger being characterised in that at least the free ends of each of the pair of arms are enveloped in a casing material.
It is preferred that the casing material is a moulded foam such as expanded polystyrene and copolymers, blown polyethylene and copolymers, blown polypropylene and copolymers or polyurethane. At present it is preferred that the garment hanger is first produced by injection moulding and then the casing material is moulded directly on to the garment hanger. It is preferred that the casing material envelops at least 50%, and more preferably at least 70%, of each of the arms. It will be appreciated that the casing material must envelop the portion of each of the arms upon which the shoulders of the garment will rest.
In a further preferred embodiment of the present invention the garment is formed of synthetic plastics material and, more preferably, each of the arms has a cross-sectional configuration having a non-central vertical neutral axis at least two, spaced apart, first webs positioned on the neutral axis, a second web displaced to one side of the neutral axis intermediate the webs positioned on the neutral axis, connecting webs connecting the second web with each of the first webs extend from each end of the second web toward and through the neutral axis, and flanges extending transversely of the first webs on both sides of the neutral axis.
In a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, each of the arms is provided with securing means to assist in maintaining the casing material in position.
The securing means preferably comprises hook-like structures which provided on the arms of the hanger and/or vertical webs provided in the arms of the hanger.
The casing material will generally follow the curvature and/or shape of the garment hanger. When moulded foam is used as the casing material, the shape, thickness and density of the moulded foam will be dependent on the design and shape of the garment hanger and the proposed use of the garment hanger.
In order that the nature of the present invention may be more clearly understood, a preferred form thereof will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:-

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a preferred form of the garment hanger of the present invention having shoulder supports;
Fig. 2 is a plan view of the garment hanger of Fig. 1 in which one of the shoulder supports is shown in cross-section;
Fig. 3 is a view taken from above of the hanger shown in Fig. 2;
Fig. 4 is a front elevational view of another preferred form of the garment hanger of the present invention having shoulder supports; and
Fig. 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view through 5-5 of Fig. 4.

As is shown in Fig. 1, the garment hanger 10 comprises a hook portion 12 and a body portion 14, the body portion 14 comprising a pair of arms 16 and 17. Each of arms 16 and 17 is enveloped in a moulded foam 18.
As shown in Fig. 2, the moulded foam 18 envelops the free ends 24 and 25 of arms 16 and 17 respectively. The arms 16 and 17 are also provided with vertical webs 20 and hook 22 which assist in maintaining the moulded foam 18 on arms 16 and 17.
As is most clearly shown in Fig. 1, the provision of moulded foam 18 enveloping arms 16 and 17 results in an increased surface area from which the garments are suspended, thereby decreasing the amount of distortion of the shoulders of the garment.
Fig. 4 shows a garment hanger 10 in which the body portion 14 and arms 16 and 17 have a preferred cross-section. As is more clearly shown in Fig. 5 the cross-sectional configuration of the body portion 14 comprises first webs 26 and 27 positioned on the neutral axis and a second web 28 displaced from the neutral axis. Webs 26 and 27 are connected to the second web 28 by connecting webs 29 and 30 which extend from the ends of section web 28 through the neutral axis and across the width of the cross-section. Also provided are flanges 31 and 32 which extend perpendicular to webs 26 and 27, respectively, through the neutral axis and across the width of the body portion 14.
In addition, third webs 33 and 34 are provided on the neutral axis. Flanges 35 and 36 which extend perpendicular to webs 33 and 34, respectively, through the neutral axis and across the width of the body portion 14 are also provided.
As would be appreciated by a person skilled in the art, the moulded plastic garment hangers typically have a cross-sectional width of approximately 4 mm in order to enable rapid production of the hangers. It is a result of this narrow cross-sectional width that the shoulders of garments are pulled out of shape in the shoulders. In contrast, the present invention provides garment hangers in which the cross-sectional width of the free ends of the hanger enveloped in the casing material is typically in the order of 20 mm. Such a large increase in the surface area in the region from which the garments are suspended results in a dramatic reduction in the distortion of the shoulders of the garment.
It will be recognised by persons skilled in the art that numerous variations and modifications may be made to the invention as broadly described above without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as broadly described.

Claims

1. A garment hanger (10)comprising a hook portion (12) by which the hanger may be suspended, a body portion (14) comprising a pair of arms (16, 17) each having a free end, the body portion being adapted to support articles of clothing, the garment hanger being characterised in that at least the free ends of each arm of the pair of arms (16, 17) are enveloped in a casing material (18).

2. A garment hanger as claimed in claim 1 in which the casing material is a moulded foam selected from the group consisting of expanded polystyrene and copolymers, blown polyethylene and copolymers, blown polypropylene and copolymers and polyurethane.

3. A garment hanger as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 in which at least 50% of each of the arms is enveloped in casing material.

4. A garment hanger as claimed in claim 3 in which at least 70% of each arm is enveloped in casing material.

5. A garment hanger as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4 in which each of the arms has a cross-sectional configuration having a non-central vertical neutral axis, at least two, spaced apart, first webs (26, 27) positioned on the neutral axis, a second web (25) displaced to one side of the neutral axis intermediate the webs positioned on the neutral axis, connecting webs (29, 30)connecting the second web with each of the first webs which extend from each end of the second web toward and through the neutral axis, and flanges (31, 32) extending transversely of the first webs on both sides of the neutral axis.

6. A garment hanger as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5 in which each of the arms is provided with securing means to assist in maintaining the casing material in position.

7. A garment hanger as claimed in claim 6 in which the securing means are hook-like structures (22) provided on the arms of the hanger and/or vertical webs (20) provided in the arms of the hanger.

8. A garment hanger substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to any one of Figures 1 to 5.