US3373878A - Coat hanger coupler and assembly - Google Patents

Description

March 19, 1968 M. DAITCH 3,373,878

COAT HANGER COUPLER AND ASSEMBLY Filed March 22, 1966 INVENTOR. MHUP/CE .6 ,UmrcA/ 3,373,878 COAT HANGER COUPLER AND ASSEMBLY Maurice L. Daitch, 3807 Scadlock Lane,

' Sherman Oaks, Calif. 91403 Filed Mar. 22, 1966, Ser. No. 536,466 4 Claims. (Cl. 211-119) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Disclosed herein is an assembly of coat hangers of the common twisted-wire type, in combination with a coupler, likewise of wire, comprising one or more coupler bars extending through the yoke that is immediately below the twisted connection between the two hanger arms of the hanger, and which provides a support from which some of the hangers can be suspended in the event another hanger of the assembly is grasped by its supporting hook and used as a handle to support the assembly. The coupler further includes means to engage the upper sides of the hanger arms to transmit support to the coupler from one or more hangers which are directly supported from a persons hand or from some external support.

This invention relates to coat hangers of the twisted wire type and has as its general object to provide an improved device for combining several of said hangers in a coupled assembly.

When a number of garments, each on a separate coat hanger, are being handled, it is quite easy for one of the coat hangers to slip out of the grasp of the person handling the same. The invention provides a means for tying the hangers together so that this cannot happen. Also, there are many instances where it is desired to hang up a series of garments on hangers without having to separately support the books of all of the hangers. The invention provides a means whereby one of the hanger hooks can be hung upon a support (e.g. a hook provided within a motor vehicle) with several other hangers supported from the first hanger.

The invention further provides for securely clipping a plurality of hangers to a coupling bar so that they cannot inadvertently or accidentally be detached therefrom. Other objects and advantages will become apparent in the ensuing specification and appended drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a coupled group of hangers embodying one form of my invention;

FIG. 2 is a detailed sectional view of the same taken on the line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken on line 33 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 3a is a side view of a coupled assembly of hangers supported at a single end of the coupler of my invention;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a modified form of the invention;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 55 of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken on line 6-6 of FIG. 5.

Referring now to the drawings in detail and in particular to FIGS. 1-3, I have shown therein, as an example of one form in which the invention may be embodied, a plu-. rality of wire coat hangers A coupled together by a coupler B.

The hangers A can be of conventional construction embodying downwardly slanting support arms 10 bridged by a cross-bar 11; a pair of legs 12 formed as upwardly bent integral extensions of the arms 10; a twisted connection 13 between the legs 12; and a hanger book 14 formed as an integral extension of one of the legs 12 above the twisted connection 13. The legs are spaced apart and are United States Patent 0 joined at their upper ends by the connection 13 so as to provide a connecting yoke 15 defining an upwardly projecting recess.

The coupler B comprises a coupler bar 20 and a pair of resilient clip fingers 21 at each end thereof. The fingers 21 can be formed as integral extensions of a transverse connecting web 22 (FIG. 3) which is secured to a respective end of the bar 20 as by butt welding. Each of the fingers 21 includes a loop portion 24 extending in converging relation to the bar 20 and terminating in an outwarding flaring tip 25. The loop portions 23 of the fingers cooperate with the web 22 and the adjoining end portion of bar 20 to define keeper recesses in which the legs 12 of a hanger will be retained after insertion therein. The finger portions 24 approach to substantial contact with the bar 20 so as to substantially close these keeper recesses. The fingers 21 are resilient so that they can be readily sprung away from the bar 20 to permit passage of the legs 12 into the keeper recesses. The tips 25 diverge sufiiciently from the bar 20 so that the legs 12 can be engaged between them and, by applying pressure against the legs 12 longitudinally of the bar 20 toward the end thereof, the legs can be forced past the finger portions 24 into the keeper recesses, and can be removed in a similar operation in which the hanger is forced in the opposite direction.

Any selected number of additional hangers can be supported loosely upon the coupler bar 20, with the latter received in their respective yokes 15. Since the bar 20 will engage in the apex of each yoke 15, the latter will establish riding engagement with the bar 20, with its respective hanger thus loosely supported and balanced on the bar.

The coupling connection between the several hangers will hold them in assembled array so as to prevent the possibility of one or more of the hangers dropping away from the others and depositing its load upon the ground.

Referring now to FIGS. 4, 5 and 6, the hangers A thereof are connected by a coupler B1 embodying a pair of ad-. jacent coupler bars 30 integrally joined at the one end by an eye 31 and integrally joined by loops 32 at their opposite ends to a pair of retainer bars 33 spaced laterally outwardly from the bars 30. The retainer bars 33 at their free ends are provided with inwardly bent arms 34 termi-. nating in upwardly projecting fingers 35 which are receivable in the eye 31 and thus are latched to prevent spreading of the retainer bars 33.

Referring now to FIG. 6, the retainer bars 33 are po-. sitioned to lie above the hanger arms 10 while the coupler bars 30 are engaged within the recesses or yokes 15, the legs 12 being engaged between the coupler bars 30 and the outer bars 33. The coat hangers of FIG. 3 are restrained against either downward or substantial upward displacement relative to one another, and thus even though one of the central coat hangers should be grasped for the purpose of lifting the'assembly, the several hangers would remain secured in their proper relationship to one another.

The coupler of my invention is useful in maintaining a couple-d assembly between several coat hangers when loaded with garments for insertion in a garment bag, for hanging in a group upon a hanger rod in a closet or for packing in a suitcase. The coupled assembly of hangers can be suspended in horizontal array as disclosed in FIG.

1, with the coupler B extending horizontally and the hangers in leveled relation to one another, and with the hanger hooks all supported on a support rod (e.g. in a closet). Alternatively, the assembly can be supported on the hook of a single hanger at one end of the assembly (e.g. the one seen in the foreground in FIG. 1) and the other hangers of the assembly can then be permitted to shift downwardly, with the coupler B 'fulcruming about its end which is coupled to the directly supported hanger,

its other end swinging downwardly about the fulcrum axis provided by the latched connection between the hooks 21 and the legs 12 of the directly supported hanger, untll the downwardly shifting hangers with their respective loads, come to rest against the load of the directly supported hanger. The hanger as indicated in FIG. 3A at the remote end of the assembly from the directly supported hanger will then be positively supported in the hooks 21 of the free end of the coupler B. It will be understood in this connection that the remote hanger of the series seen in FIG. 1 will normally be latched into the hooks 21 at that end of the coupler, such remote hanger being omitted from FIG. 1 for clarity of illustration. The intermediate hangers, with their loads, will be suspended from the downwardly slanting coupler bar 20 and will come to rest (resisting the tendency to slide downwardly to the free end of the coupler) supported by the abutting engagement between their respective garments. Their yokes will be maintained in straddling relation to the coupler bar by the downward pull of their respective loads.

The invention further provides the possibility of releasing from the assembly the hanger that is at the free end of the coupler when the assembly is in the pendant relation just described, suspended by the hanger at the opposite end of the assembly. For example, it is possible, with the assembly thus suspended (e.g. from the background end of coupler B1 as seen in FIG. 4) to release the latch fingers from the loop 31 at the free end of the coupler and to release the hanger at that end of the assembly by one hand while holding back the remaining hangers with the other hand; and then to re-latch the fingers 35 in the eye 31 to close the coupler, permitting the next hanger of the assembly to become the end hanger of the assembly.

The coupler B1 of FIGS. 46 is adapted to function in the same manner as the coupler B of FIGS. 1-3, with the exception that the coupler B1 provides for retention against upward displacement of a hanger, the retainer bars 33 providing this function in overlying the hanger arms 10. The upward limit of displacement of the hanger relative to the coupler is illustrated in FIG. 6, where the retainer bars 33 are shown directly engaging the hanger arms 10. Normally, the hangers which are not directly supported by engagement of their hooks 14 on a hanger bar, will be supported by engagement of their yokes 15 upon the coupler 30 as shown in FIG. 4. While there is only a single hanger shown in FIG. 4 in order to more clearly disclose the coupler B1, it will be understood that the hanger assembly of FIG. 4 will embody a number of hangers arranged along the length of the coupler bars, with one end hanger having its legs 12 engaged in the loops 32 at one end of the coupler and the other end hanger having its legs 12 abutted against the transverse arms 34 at the other end of the hanger, as more fully shown in FIG. 5.

The coupler of my invention is proportioned to lie entirely below the books of the assembly of hangers so as not to interfere with the operations of hanging the assembly onto a hanger bar or other support, removing it therefrom, grasping the hooks in the hands while handling the assembly, etc.

I claim:

1. In combination: a plural in-line assembly of wire coat hangers each having a pair of adjacent, laterally spaced legs joining respective hanger arms to a common connection to a supporting hook and defining with said connection a recessed yoke; a coupler comprising a coupler bar receivable in said yoke and operative as a support engagement of their yokes thereon; and coupler means on an end of said bar extending transversely and engageable with the yoke legs of an end hanger of the assembly to retain said end hanger coupled to said bar, the intermediate hangers of the assembly being retained between the end hangers, said coupler being proportioned so as to lie entirely below the hanger hooks of the assembly, thereby facilitating the grasping of the hanger hooks in handling the assembly, said coupler means comprising at each end of said bar a pair of loops joined to the respective end of the bar and disposed on opposite sides thereof so as to define eyes in which the yoke legs of the hanger are receivable, said loops having end portions in opposed relation to respective sides of the bar to define restricted passes through which said yoke legs can be passed by springing said end portions away from the bar.

2. A coupler as defined in claim 1, wherein said end portions are in the form of reversely curved yieldable fingers having end portions diverging away from the bar and adapted to be engaged by said yoke legs with a wedging action causing said fingers to spring away from the bar in response to pressure applied to said legs in a direction parallel to said bar, whereby to provide a spring latching action of said coupler means.

3. In combination: a plural in-line assembly of wire coat hangers each having a pair of adjacent, laterally spaced legs joining respective hanger arms to a common connection to a supporting hook and defining with said connection a recessed yoke; a coupler comprising: a coupler bar receivable in said yoke and operative as a support on which a row of hangers can be suspended by riding engagement of their yokes thereon; and coupler means on an end of said bar extending transversely and engageable with the yoke legs of an end hanger of the assembly to retain said end hanger coupled to said bar, the intermediate hangers of the assembly being retained between the end hangers, said coupler being proportioned so as to lie entirely below the hanger hooks of the assembly, thereby facilitating the grasping of the hanger hooks in handling the assembly; said coupler embodying two of said coupler bars, an eye integrally joining said two coupler bars at one end thereof; a pair of outwardly, laterally extending loops at the opposite ends of said coupler bars; a pair of retainer bars extending back to said eye as integral extensions of said loops and in generally parallel relation to said coupler bar; and latch means on the ends of said retainer bars and engageable in said eye to latch the ends of said retainer bars to said eye.

4. A coupler as defined in claim 3, said latch means comprising fingers extending in adjacent parallel relation from the ends of said retainer bars and engageable in said eye to latch the ends of said retainer bars to said eye.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,089,882 3/1914 Thomas 248-303 X 1,663,176 3/1928 Reyher 211124 1,880,963 10/1932 Kraft 22392 2,122,324 6/1938 McDermott 211119 X 2,747,746 5/1956 Laughton 21 l1 13 3,191,770 6/1965 Zuckerman 223 X FOREIGN PATENTS 231,537 10/ 1960 Australia.

CHANCELLOR E. HARRIS, Primary Examiner.

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