GB2157162A - Hanger for necktie or similar article of clothing - Google Patents

Abstract

A hanger for a necktie or similar elongated article of clothing has two parts, namely attachment portion 11 and a holder 12 for the tie or other article. Preferably the attachment portion is a hook, but anyway should be such that the hanger can be suspended from a rack or similar support. The holder has several straight, generally horizontal bars 16, 17, 18 for holding and gripping the tie or other article. The attachment portion is readily detachable from the holder, e.g. by providing a line of weakness between said portion and holder. The bars of the holder are interconnected in such a manner that the holder can be used as a paper clip when the attachment portion is broken off. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Hanger for necktie or similar article of clothing This invention relates to hangers for neckties and similar clothing articles of the type used in clothing stores to hold and display the articles for sale.

Neckties are generally displayed for sale in clothing stores by folding them in half and hanging them vertically so that the potential purchaser can see the full design. To achieve this, display racks are provided and the tie is held by a small hanger (often called a tie rider) which hooks or otherwise attaches to the display rack. In this way, any particular tie can easily be removed from the rack for sale and the rack can readily be re-stocked.

One disadvantage of this practice is that the tie hanger has no further use once the tie has been sold.

Purchasers do not tend to use tie hangers at home and the clothing store receives a new tie hanger from the manufacturer with each new tie. Consequently, tie hangers are usually thrown away. This represents a considerable waste of money and resources because tie hangers are generally made of good quality materials in order to impart an image of quality to the tie being offered for sale. High quality injection moulded plastics are commonly employed.

An object of the present invention is to overcome this disadvantage by providing a tie hanger having a further use once the tie has been sold.

According to the invention, there is provided a hanger for a necktie or other similar article of clothing, comprising: attachment means for enabling the hanger to be suspended from a rack or other support; a holder having a plurality of spaced bars for holding and gripping the necktie or other article; the attachment means being connected to the holder but being readily detachable therefom; and the bars of the holder being interconnected in such a manner that the holder can function as a paper clip when the attachment means is detached therefrom.

An advantage of the invention is that, after sale of the article of clothing, the attachment means can be removed and the holder can be used as a paper clip, either by the purchaser or by the sales staff.

The attachment means is generally an upstanding hook but may be an upstanding loop or a springloaded clip. The purpose of the attachment means is to enable the hanger to be suspended from a tie rack or other support, so any means of achieving this is included within the scope of the invention.

In a preferred form of the Invention, a line of weakness is provided between the attachment means and the holder so that the attachment means can be easly broken away after sale of the article of clothing.

The holder preferably comprises four generally horizontal bars formed by a single thin strip of material arranged in an open, flat coil having the shape of a conventional paper clip.

Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment wherein reference is made to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure lis a front elevational view of a hanger according to one embodiment of the invention; and Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the embodiment of Figure 1.

A tie hanger according to one embodiment of the invention is indicated generally by reference numeral 10. The hanger consists of an attachment means in the form of a hook 11 and a holder 12. At the point of attachment between the hook 11 and the holder 12, the material is very thin (see Fig. 2) forming a line of weakness 13.

The holder 12 comprises a single thin flat strip 14 of relatively resilient, i.e. springy, material arranged in the form of a flattened open coil lying in a single plane. This shape provides four horizontal bars 15, 16, 17 and 18, three of which (16,17 and 18) are used for holding a necktie in the manner described later.

The hook 11 is suitable shaped to be suspended from a narrow horizontal rod (not shown) of the type used in tie racks, e.g. a thin horizontal metal or plastic bar or wire. The highest point of the hook is located directly above the centre line of the holder 12 so that the bars 15-18 are suspended horizontally.

A tie is held by bars 16, 17 and 18 by folding the tie lengthwise in half and slipping the resulting loop of material over the bar 16. The tie immediately below the loop is then arranged in a serpentine fashion around bars 17 and 18, i.e. both sections of the tie may be caused to pass in front of bar 17 and behind bar 18, or vice versa. The nature of the holder 12 facilitates the installation of a tie in this way because the bars, being spring-like and being parts of a coil, can easily be bent out of the plane of the hanger. For example, if bars 16 and 18 are bent upwardly out of the plane of the paper, the tie loop can be slipped laterally over bar 16 and, at the same time, the double tie layers can be passed below bar 18, i.e.

through gap 19.

Once the tie has been positioned in this way, it has little tendency to fall off the hanger even when made of quite slippery material, such as silk. The serpentine manner in which the tie passes around bars 17 and 18 produces a "friction lock", i.e. the two halves of the tie are squeezed both against themselves and againse the bars of the hanger.

Bar 16 is provided with two projections 20 and 21 adjacent each end on each side of Section 22 which, in use, is occupied by the tie. These prevent the tie loop from slipping off the ends of the bar. The hanger thus holds the tie securely but the tie can be easily removed, when desired.

As will be seen from Figure 1, the shape of the folder 12 is the same as that of a conventional paper clip. Thus, once the tie has been sold and removed from the hanger, the hook 11 can be broken off and the holder 12 can be used as a paper clip. Thus, the hanger has a secondary use and need not be thrown away. Although the hook 11 serves no further purpose, it represents only a small part of the hanger and therefore it is not particularly wasteful to throw this part away.

The line of weakness 13 should be such that the tie hanger can be used for its primary function without the hook 11 becoming detached, but should be sufficiently weak for the hook to be snapped off by hand when required without too much difficulty.

Although the holder 12 shown in Figure 1 has the shape of a conventional paper clip, alternative shapes may be employed provided the holder may serve both to hold a tie securely and to act as a paper clip. For example, more or less bars may be provided and other means of attaching the bars together may be employed. Moreover, the bars may be of different vertical widths or horizontal lengths and the connecting pieces between the bars need not be semicircular as shown.

To function effectively as a tie hanger the holder 12 must normally have at least three spaced bars to provide the serpentine "friction lock". To function as a paper clip, the holder should be composed of at least two elements lying generally in a single plane, the elements being connected together at one end and free at the other so that they can be bent out of the plane to allow for the insertion of one or more sheets of paper or the like. The elements must be sufficiently resilient to tend to return to the plane and thus grip the sheets. Any holderfulfulling these requirementsmay be used in the present invention.

Although the use of the line of weakness 13 is the preferred way of making the hook 11 detachable from the holder 12, other means can be employed.

For example, the lower end of the hook may be of inverted "T" shape in cross section, and the upper edge of bar 15 may be provided with upstanding flanges along each side of inwardly turned inverted "L" shape to hold the hook. The hook may then be removed by sliding it horizontally out of register with the flanges. Such alternatives are not however preferred because they increase the complexity and cost of the hanger without providing additional benefits. By employing the line of weakness 13, the hanger may be manufactured all in one piece.

The hanger is preferably made of a resilient plastic material, e.g. by injection moulding. Other materials can alternatively be employed, e.g. metal or wood, provided the hook can easily be removed by hand and provided the material is sufficiently flexible and resilient to make an effective paper clip.

Although the hanger is primarily intended for neckties, it can be used for similar articles, such as cravats, flexible belts, thin scarves, ribbons or the like.

It will be appreciated from the above that certain modifications can be made to the embodiment shown without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the following claims.

Claims (8)

1. A hanger for a necktie or other similar article of clothing, comprising: attachment means for enabling the hanger to be suspended from a rack or other support; a holder having a plurality of spaced bars for holding and gripping the necktie or other article; the attachment means being connected to the holder but readily detachable therefrom; and the bars of the holder being interconnected in such a manner that the holder can function as a paper clip when the attachment means is detached therefrom.

2. A hanger according to claim 1 wherein a line of weakness is provided between the attachment means and the holder to enable the attachment means to be broken away from the holder by hand.

3. A hanger according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the holder comprises four generally straight bars forming parts of a single thin strip of resilient material arranged as a flattened open coil provided in a single plane.

4. A hanger according to any preceding claim wherein the attachment means is a hook.

5. A hanger according to any preceding claim wherein at least one of the bars has a small upstanding projection adjacent each end to prevent the tie or other article from accidentally slipping laterally off the bar.

6. A hanger according to any preceding claim which is made from a material selected from the group consisting of plastic, wood and metal.

7. A hanger according to any preceding claim made from injection moulded resilient plastic.

8. A hanger substantialy as herein described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.