AU676446B2 - Garment hanger - Google Patents

Description

-1I- P/1001 Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT

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ORIGINAL

Name of Applicant: Actual Inventors: Address for service in Australia: Invention Title: SPOTLESS PLASTICS PTY LTD Stanley GOULDSONa~nd Roland HARMER CARTER SMITH BEADLE 2 Railway Parade Camberwell Victoria 3124 Australia Garment Hanger The following statement is a full description of this invention, inctuding the bcst method of performing it known to us 2- FIELD OF THE INVENTION: The present invention is directed to the field of light-weight, molded, plastic garment hangers.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION: Molded plastic garment hangers are widely used for the purpose of shipping and displaying garments.

Particularly, in the garment manufacturing industry, such a hanger is often an inexpensive ship-on type whereby the garment is shipped from the manufacturer or wholesaler to the I retailer while suspended from the hanger. Generally, such garment hangers are inexpensive single-piece or unitary molded plastic structures which are adapted to be either discarded at the time of sale, returned to the garment manufacturer or provided to a customer free of charge in conjunction with the 15 purchase of the garment suspended therefrom.

Garment hangers of that type may either be simply constructed as molded plastic structures incorporating a unitary or metal central hook portion adapted to be suspended from a suitable support, such as a garment rack or the like, 0 or with a hanger body portion having arms extending in S' opposite directions from the base of the hook portion so as to facilitate a garment to be suspended therefrom. When needed for specific use, the opposite or distal ends of the body portion or arms may be members to enable the attachment of various kinds of.garments thereto, such as underwear, slips, brassieres, swimwear, multiple garments, and the like.

3- Most molded plastic garment hangers are strengthened by arms which are of an I-shaped cross-section ("I-section") having a central web and upper and lower flanges defining the upper and lower surfaces of the hanger arms. A hanger with an I-section is more specifically described in Australian Patent No. 54 4211 (AU-B-21403/83) and U.S. Patent No. Des. 283,854.

The I-section of the arms is substantiall" symmetrical about the horizontal neutral axis of said section. The channel or I-section extends through the transition region between the arms and shoulder of the hanger. A typical example of such a hanger having an I-section is that set forth in U.S. Patent Nos. 4,623,079 and 4,629,102.

Garment hangers having an I-section are widely used as intimate apparel hangers because such hangers are simple to manufacture molds for and easy to mold. However, hangers having an I-section tend to fracture, under extreme load conditions, in the region of transition between the shoulder of the hanger and the arm of the hanger, particularly when the hanger is used to support a heavy garment. When the hanger is 2 used to support a heavier garment, the arms tend to bend at the transition region between the shoulder and arms and can, therefore, develop fractures or breakages in these regions.

Such problems can develop, in particular, when the hanger is molded from a less flexible material such as general purpose polystyrene.

In terms of forces applied to a hanger when a garment is hung, hangers having an I-section are the strongest resisting the weight of the garment. The maximum rigidity is concentrated in the direction of minimum loading. In the intimate apparel industry, however, the hanger's ability to resist the weight of the clothing is not the greatest consideration. With that class of clothing the bending moment due to elastic waistbands and the method of loading the garment is usually as high, if not higher, than the loading due to garment weight. The result being that the hanger is more massive than it needs to be.

To provide acceptable resistance to lateral deflection when a garment is hung on such a hanger, it is necessary to maintain the width of the body and arms of the hanger above a pre-determined minimum which is dependent upon the weight of the garment and the maximum wall section allowable for effective molding. The type of raw material plastic) is also relevant. While an I-section is PI I~ 4 adequate for supporting a vertical load, its resistance to lateral deflection can only be improved by the use of superior grade raw material, by increasing the wall section and by increasing the width of the flanges.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION: Accordingly, it is a basic object of the present invention to provide a molded plastic garment hanger having a greater strength to weight ratio than comparable garment hangers of the same or greater weight.

The present invention provides a light-weight molded plastic hanger comprising a hook member and arms extending from said hook member, at least a portion of each arm having a modified M-shaped cross-section comprising top and bottom flanges, a central curved web positioned between said flanges and connected to said flanges by a pair of curved webs extending in the opposite direction to said central curved web.

oe For further reinforcement a plurality of integral ribs may be integrally molded at various locations on the hanger.

oBRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS: The foregoing and other objects of the invention may now be :more read,. ascertained from the following detailed description of e• preferred .mbodiments thereof, taken in conjunction with the Saccompanying drawings; in which: S. Figure 1 illustrates a front elevational view of a lightoeeoso weight, molded, one-piece plastic hanger pursuant to the inventive 0.

concept; Figure 2 illustrates a reverse view of Figure 4, showing further modification thereof; Figure 3 illustrates an enlarged sectional view taken along line 10-10 of Figure 1; Figure 4 is an enlarged sectional view similar to Figure 3 showing a preferred form of the cross-section of Figure 3; DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS: The Figures illustrate several garment hangers of the present invention. While the invention will be described and illustrated with respect to several intimate apparel hangers, it is understood tnb dmw 0 19710 21 Deceber t995

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5 that the invention is equally applicable to other types of garment hangers.

In an embodiment of the present invention, as illustrated in Figure 1, 2 and 3, the plastic garment hanger 10 has a central hook portion 12 which is integrally molded with the hanger body 14, the latter of which includes a pair of coplanar oppositely directed upswept arms 16 and 18 ending with a clip end portion 20 and 22 for suspending one or more garments, the body member 14 and upswept arms 16 and 18 being molded with a M-shaped cross-section ("M-section"). The M-section has a first curved web 64 and a second curved web 66 joined in midsection by a third curved web 68. The configuration of the M-section of the hanger illustrated in Figure 4 is moire readily observed by the enlarged cross-section view in Figure 3. Similar to the U-section and E-section, described in greater detail in parent Application No 662993 (AU-B-44362/93), the contents of which are incorporated herein by cross-reference, the mass of a hanger having an M-section configuration is reduced in terms of thickness and weight thereby reducing material and shipping costs as well as producing a hanger having a greater strength to weight ratio as compared to other comparable hangers.

iiiii As illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, when the body member 14 and upswept arms 16 and 18 are of a M-section configuration, the upswept arms can be reinforced by a plurality of integral ribs 62 which extend into spaces 72, 74 and 76 (shown in Figure 3) on both sides of the upswept arms 16 and 18 to form a solid cross-section (not shown). The integral rib 62 can be about 0.5mm to 1.5mm in width and, preferably about 1.00mm in width. The integral rib 62 adds further

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"reinforcement to the hanger to reduce flexing due to the weight or compression force of the garment hanging therefrom.

25 It will be noted that the hook member 12 in Figure 1 can be reinforced by flange 70 which can also extend from the reverse side of the hook member 12, as is illustrated in the reverse view in Figure 2. Flange 70 provides additional reinforcement and stabilisation to hanger Figure 2, where again like numerals refer to like parts of the hanger, illustrates a molded plastic garment hanger of the present tnb.PJD 019710 Is October 1996 -6 invention having a stabilising bar 78 that extends longitudinally from an inner lower edge 80 of the reinforcing web 44 of the vertical clip 46 of each clip end portion. The stabilising bar 78 can extend parallel to the body member of the hanger and, in a preferred embodiment, along the same plane as the body member 14.

As illustrated in Figure 4, in which like reference numerals refer to like parts, the design of the M-shaped cross section may be modified to improve the moldability of the section. The crosssection illustrated in Figure 4 is particularly preferred since it greatly simplifies the molding operation.

Other hanger configurations may be adopted, for example as described in the patent application referred to above.

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oeee ees *4 ee ***Ste tnb dmw I19710 21 Decmbcr 1991 -e -7 From the foregoing illustrations it is readily apparent that the present invention is directed to a lightweight molded plastic garment hanger for high volume injection molding. Through its configuration and cross-section, a hanger is produced that is lighter than comparable garment hangers without sacrificing strength and resistance to lateral deflection. Producing such a light-weight hanger lowers the overall cost of production (since less raw material is required), cost of shipping the hangers alone or the hangers with garments hanging therefrom and, further, Is environmentally advantageous, particularly when hangers of this type are molded in hundreds of millions of units each year.

The inventive plastic hanger can be formed, of d3. styrene which provides a clear, virtually transparent hanger for maximum display of intimate apparel garments, such as bras and panties, to be suspended therefrom. In the alternative, a the hanger can be molded from polypropylene; preferably, H.I.

styrene polypropylene; polypropylene; polyvinylchloride; ABS or other suitable thermoplastics and mixtures thereof. For additional reinforcement, K resin can be added to the plastic material.

While there have been shown and described what are considered to be the preferred embodiments of the invention, it-will, of course, be understood that various modifications and changes in form or detail can be readily made without departing from the spirit of the invention. It is therefore intended that the invention not be limited to the exact form and detail herein shown and described nor to anything less than the whole of the invention herein disclosed as hereinafter claimed.

The claims form part of the disclosure of this specification.

Claims (5)

1. A light-weight molded plastic hanger including a hook member and arms extending from said hook member, at least a portion of each arm having a modified M-shaped cross-section having top and bottom flanges, a central curved web positioned between said flanges and connected to said flanges by a pair of curved webs extending in the opposite direction to said central curved web.

2. The hanger of claim 1, wherein said flanges and said curved webs are configured such that said cross section has a substantially central vertical neutral axis, said pair of curved webs being disposed on the opposite side of said neutral axis to said central curved web and said flanges.

3. The hanger of claim 1 or 2, wherein said modified M-shaped cross-section is substantially as described with reference to Figure 3 of the accompanying drawings.

4. The hanger of claim 1, 2 or 3, further including a body member attached to said hook member, said arms including first and second upswept arms which extend upwardly and outwardly from said body member, with said first upswept arm attached to a first end of said body member and said second upswept arm attached to a second end of said body member, each of said upswept arms ending with a clip end portion.

5. The hanger of any preceding claim, wherein said hook member defines at an upper portion thereof a curve having a radius and centre of curvature for at least a portion thereof, said upswept arms positioning a garment retaining clip longitudinally on either side of said hook member at a height such that an axis drawn therebetween would intersect a circle defined around said centre of curvature by said radius. The hanger of claim 1 or 2, wherein said modified M-shaped cross-section is 25 substantially as described with reference to Figure 4 of the accompanying drawings. DATED: 27 November 1996 ooe 0 5 CARTER SMITH BEADLE Patent Attorneys for the Applicant: SPOTLESS PLASTICS PTY LTD tnb dMwlU 9710 e2 :7 November 1996 I I I ABSTRACT A garment hanger having a greater strength to weight ratio than comparable garment hangers of greater weight. More particularly, a light-weight, one-piece, molded, plastic garment hanger 10 having a hook member 12, body member 14, and upswept arms 16, 18, the body member and upswept arms being molded with an M-shaped (68-76) cross- section, comprising a central curved web positioned between said flanges and connected to said flanges by a pair of curved webs extending in the opposite direction to said central curved web. o0# 0e00 $**oo 2 S' o t O S So tnbdmw 19710 2! ccrbct|99} 91