CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATION
This non-provisional application claims priority to and the benefit of, under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a), Taiwan Patent Application No. 112131886, filed Aug. 24, 2023 in Taiwan. The entire content of the above identified application is incorporated herein by reference.
FIELD
The present disclosure is related to a clothes hanger, and more particularly to a clothes hanger having a main body in a plate shape so that entanglement can be prevented when multiple clothes hangers are being stored, and having a plurality of protruding structures to help the clothes to lie against each other tightly and prevent clothes from over-compression.
BACKGROUND
Clothes hangers, or hangers for short, are used to hang clothes so that clothes can be stored and accessed with ease. Nowadays, hangers are widely used in homes, shops, hotels, and offices and can be viewed as among those having the highest prevalence and highest frequency of use of all household goods. While the basic form of hangers has been basically unchanged for the past few centuries, the pursuit of improved functionality, durability, and ease of use of hangers has never stopped. Hangers have evolved in material and design from the very first wooden or bamboo-made versions to the plastic, metal, and velvet-covered ones nowadays, in order to adapt to the requirements of different users and use scenarios. For example, velvet-covered hangers are commonly used with delicate clothes to prevent slipping and hanger bumps, and metal-wire hangers are relatively robust, durable, and inexpensive.
As stated above, the main function of hangers is to hang clothes. In addition to facilitating the storage of clothes, hangers help keep the clothes thereon from wrinkling. Therefore, the smoothness and neatness of clothes can be better ensured by hanging on a hanger than by folding and stacking. Moreover, hanging clothes on hangers makes effective use of three-dimensional space, which is particularly important when the storage space is limited. Besides, due to their textural or structural properties, certain clothes such as suits and coats are better protected in terms of shape and service life by hanging on a hanger than otherwise.
Despite the numerous advantages of hangers, however, there are still room for improvement in hanger design. For example, a wire hanger has a simple design and its cost is low, but the relatively small wire diameter leads to insufficient friction. As a result, clothes made of a soft and smooth material (e.g., silk or nylon) tend to slip off a wire hanger when touched or moved. In addition, one notable feature of a wire hanger is the relatively large opening at the center. When a good number of wire hangers are stacked up, therefore, the hanging hook portions and the frame portions of the hangers are often entangled, making it difficult to sort the hangers out, which is disadvantageous to hanger manufacturers when it comes to storage and transportation. To individual users, the entanglement of hangers may cause inconvenience and trouble in a busy morning or at other times when it is desired to remove clothes from hangers rapidly. If a user attempts to separate entangled hangers forcibly, the hangers not only are likely to be deformed and thus rendered useless, but also may break abruptly due of excessive force exertion and thus injure the user.
The aforesaid issues of wire hangers may shorten the service life of such hangers, and if that happens, a wire hanger user would have to discard the damaged or broken hangers sooner than expected, and may end up feeling dissatisfied and frustrated with wire hangers in general. This not only increases the user's expense, but also causes a waste of resources and environmental stress. Accordingly, one of the issues addressed in the present disclosure is to effectively improve hangers with respect to the foregoing inadequacies.
SUMMARY
To stand out in a competitive market, as a result of the research spirit striving for excellence and longtime research and experiment, a clothes hanger with an anti-entanglement mechanism is provided in the present disclosure to provide better use experience to users.
Certain aspects of the present disclosure are directed to a clothes hanger with an anti-entanglement mechanism. The clothes hanger includes a main body and a hanging hook member. The main body is in a shape of a plate, has a substantially horizontal bottom side, and includes a clothes pushing portion and at least one anti-slip portion. Each of a left side and a right side of the main body has an inclined section. The two inclined sections extend away from each other in a downward direction. A first side of the clothes pushing portion has a protruding configuration with respect to the main body, and a second side of the clothes pushing portion has a sunken configuration with respect to the main body. Each of the at least one anti-slip portion is adjacent to one of the inclined sections. A first side of the at least one anti-slip portion has a protruding configuration with respect to the main body, and a second side of the at least one anti-slip portion has a sunken configuration with respect to the main body. The hanging hook member is on a top side of the main body for being hooked to and hung on an object, and has a spacer portion. A first side of the spacer portion has a protruding configuration with respect to the hanging hook member, and a second side of the spacer portion has a sunken configuration with respect to the hanging hook member. Accordingly, as the main body has a plate shape and is therefore different from a conventional wire hanger that has a relatively large opening, hanger entanglement can be prevented when a user puts away multiple hangers, which facilitates hanger arrangement and storage and enhances convenience of use and use experience.
In certain embodiments, the at least one anti-slip portion includes two anti-slip portions, each of the anti-slip portions is adjacent to a corresponding one of the inclined sections, and protruding directions of the anti-slip portions are the same.
In certain embodiments, the hanging hook member is integrally formed with the main body.
In certain embodiments, a distance between the first side of the spacer portion and the main body is greater than at least one of a distance between the first side of the clothes pushing portion and the main body and a distance between the first side of the at least one anti-slip portion and the main body.
In certain embodiments, protruding directions of the spacer portion, the clothes pushing portion and the at least one anti-slip portion are the same.
In certain embodiments, at least one gravity center adjustment portion is located at a central region of the main body and can adjust a center of gravity of the clothes hanger so that the bottom side of the clothes hanger is substantially parallel to the ground when the clothes hanger is hung.
In certain embodiments, the at least one gravity center adjustment portion is a through bore.
In certain embodiments, the height of each of a left portion and a right portion of the clothes hanger that is adjacent to a left end portion or a right end portion of the clothes hanger is greater than the greatest bore diameter of the through bore, so that when a left end portion or a right end portion of another clothes hanger extends into the through bore, a maximum length of a portion of the another clothes hanger that extends through the through bore is substantially one tenth of a length of the clothes hanger in a transverse-axis direction.
In certain embodiments, the main body is provided with at least one magnet.
In certain embodiments, the surface of the magnet does not jut out of the surface of the main body.
These and other aspects of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following description of the embodiment taken in conjunction with the following drawings and their captions, although variations and modifications therein may be affected without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concepts of the disclosure.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The present disclosure will become more fully understood from the following detailed description and accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1A is a perspective front view of a hanger according to certain embodiments of the present disclosure.
FIG. 1B is a perspective rear view of a hanger according to certain embodiments of the present disclosure.
FIG. 2 is a front view of a hanger according to certain embodiments of the present disclosure.
FIG. 3 is a side view of a hanger according to certain embodiments of the present disclosure.
FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a plurality of hangers stacked up in the same direction according to certain embodiments of the present disclosure.
FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a plurality of hangers stacked up in different directions according to certain embodiments of the present disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
The present disclosure is more particularly described in the following examples that are intended as illustrative only since numerous modifications and variations therein will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Like numbers in the drawings indicate like components throughout the views. As used in the description herein and throughout the claims that follow, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise, the meaning of “a”, “an”, and “the” includes plural reference, and the meaning of “in” includes “in” and “on”. Titles or subtitles can be used herein for the convenience of a reader, which shall have no influence on the scope of the present disclosure.
The accompanying drawings are schematic and may not have been drawn to scale. The terms used herein generally have their ordinary meanings in the art. In the case of conflict, the present document, including any definitions given herein, will prevail. The same thing can be expressed in more than one way. Alternative language and synonyms can be used for any term(s) discussed herein, and no special significance is to be placed upon whether a term is elaborated or discussed herein. A recital of one or more synonyms does not exclude the use of other synonyms. The use of examples anywhere in this specification including examples of any terms is illustrative only, and in no way limits the scope and meaning of the present disclosure or of any exemplified term. Likewise, the present disclosure is not limited to various embodiments given herein. Numbering terms such as “first”, “second” or “third” can be used to describe various components, materials, objects, or the like, which are for distinguishing one component/material/object from another one only, and are not intended to, nor should be construed to impose any substantive limitations on the components, materials, objects, or the like. Directional terms (e.g., “front”, “rear”, “left”, “right”, “upper/top” and/or “lower/bottom”) are explanatory only and are not intended to be restrictive of the scope of the present disclosure.
As used herein, the term “substantially”, “approximately”, etc. refers to, for example, a value, or an average of values, in an acceptable deviation range of a particular value recognized or decided by a person of ordinary skill in the art, taking into account any specific quantity of errors related to the measurement of the value that may resulted from limitations of a measurement system or device. For example, “substantially” may indicate that the value is within, for example, ±5%, ±3%, 1%, ±0.5% or ±0.1%, or one or more standard deviations, of the particular value.
Certain aspects of the present disclosure are directed to a hanger having an anti-entanglement mechanism. The spatial configuration of each element in the present disclosure may be defined by three axes that are perpendicular to one another, namely a transverse axis (the X axis), a longitudinal axis (the Y axis), and a vertical axis (the Z axis), such as the three axes shown in FIG. 1A. The transverse-axis direction of an element is defined as the leftward-rightward direction of the element, the longitudinal-axis direction of the element is defined as the forward-rearward direction of the element, and the vertical-axis direction of the element is defined as the upward-downward direction (top-bottom direction) of the element. In certain embodiments, referring to FIG. 1A to FIG. 3, the clothes hanger 1, hereinafter referred to as the hanger 1 for short, includes a main body 11 and a hanging hook member 13. The main body 11 is in the shape of a plate and each of the left side and the right side of the main body 11 has an inclined section 111. The two inclined sections 111 extend away from each other in a downward direction. The main body 11 has a substantially horizontal bottom side, that is, the bottom side of the main body 11 extends in a direction that is substantially parallel to the transverse axis (the X axis).
With continued reference to FIG. 1A to FIG. 3, the surface of the main body 11 has a clothes pushing portion 113 and at least one anti-slip portion 115. In certain embodiments, both the clothes pushing portion 113 and the anti-slip portion(s) 115 are integrally formed on the main body 11 and are arranged along the longitudinal-axis (Y-axis) direction of the main body 11. One side (e.g., the front side) of the clothes pushing portion 113 has a protruding configuration with respect to the surface of the main body 11, and the other side (e.g., the rear side) of the clothes pushing portion 113 has a sunken configuration with respect to the surface of the main body 11. When the clothes pushing portion 113 is arranged in a configuration that it extends from the rear side of the main body 11 forward beyond the front side of the main body 11, the clothes pushing portion 113 has a protruding configuration as can be seen in a front view of the main body 11 (see FIG. 1A) and a sunken configuration as can be seen in a rear view of the main body 11 (see FIG. 1B). In addition, an opening 114 is formed between the clothes pushing portion 113 and the main body 11 as can be seen in a side view of the main body 11. Accordingly, when a piece of clothes is hung on the hanger 1, the clothes pushing portion 113 will keep a distance between the front inner side and the rear inner side of the piece of clothes, and when it comes to hang-drying of clothes, this distance helps increase the speed at which clothes can be dried.
In certain embodiments, with continued reference to FIG. 1A to FIG. 3, the clothes pushing portion 113 can be in a configuration that it extends from the front side of the main body 11 rearward beyond the rear side of the main body 11. In this configuration, the protruding configuration and the sunken configuration referred to in the previous paragraph will swap positions. In certain embodiments, the clothes pushing portion 113 and the surface of the main body 11 can have a closed configuration such that the opening 114 does not exist. In certain embodiments, the clothes pushing portion 113 can be a separate element that is assembled to the main body 11, with the main body 11 having a through hole corresponding in position to the clothes pushing portion 113 such that the clothes pushing portion 113 in the form of a separate element still has such features as the protruding configuration and the sunken configuration on two opposite sides of the main body 11.
In certain embodiments, with continued reference to FIG. 1A to FIG. 3, the hanger 1 has two anti-slip portions 115, and each anti-slip portion 115 is adjacent to one of the inclined sections 111. One side (e.g., the front side) of each anti-slip portion 115 has a protruding configuration with respect to the main body 11, and the other side (e.g., the rear side) of each anti-slip portion 115 has a sunken configuration with respect to the main body 11. When an anti-slip portion 115 is in a configuration that it extends from the rear side of the main body 11 forward beyond the front side of the main body 11, the anti-slip portion 115 has a protruding configuration as can be seen in a front view of the main body 11 (see FIG. 1A) and a sunken configuration as can be seen in a rear view of the main body 11 (see FIG. 1B), with an opening 116 formed between the anti-slip portion 115 and the main body 11 as can be seen in a side view of the main body 11. Accordingly, when a piece of clothes is hung on the hanger 1, the side of each anti-slip portion 115 that protrudes from the main body 11 will push slightly outward, and thus slightly deform, the portion of the clothes that is adjacent to the anti-slip portion 115, thereby retaining the portion of the clothes. In doing so, the anti-slip portions 115 increase the friction between the hanger 1 and the clothes to prevent the clothes from slipping off the hanger 1.
In certain embodiments, with continued reference to FIG. 1A to FIG. 3, each anti-slip portion 115 can be in a configuration that it extends from the front side of the main body 11 rearward beyond the rear side of the main body 11. In this configuration, the protruding configuration and the sunken configuration referred to in the previous paragraph will swap positions. In certain embodiments, the anti-slip portions 115 and the surface of the main body 11 can have a closed configuration such that the openings 116 do not exist. In certain embodiments, the hanger 1 can have only one anti-slip portion 115. In certain embodiments, each anti-slip portion 115 can be a separate element assembled to the main body 11, with the main body 11 having a through hole corresponding in position to each anti-slip portion 115 such that each anti-slip portion 115 in the form of a separate element still has such features as the protruding configuration and the sunken configuration on two opposite sides of the main body 11. In certain embodiments, the protruding directions of the anti-slip portions 115 can be the same or different from each other. Preferably, the clothes pushing portion 113 and the anti-slip portion(s) 115 protrude in the same direction so that when a user desires to store a plurality of hangers 1, the hangers 1 can be stacked up in the same direction as enabled by the structural design of the clothes pushing portion 113 and the anti-slip portions 115, with the front sides of the clothes pushing portion 113 and anti-slip portion(s) 115 of each hanger 1 inserted into the rear sides of the clothes pushing portion 113 and anti-slip portion(s) 115 of an adjacent hanger 1 (if any) respectively, thereby allowing each two adjacent hangers 1 to lie against each other tightly and securely.
With continued reference to FIG. 1A to FIG. 3, the hanging hook member 13 can be on the top side of the main body 11. Depending on actual product requirements, the hanging hook member 13 and the main body 11 can be integrally formed, or be separate elements assembled to each other. The hanging hook member 13 is configured to be hooked to and thereby hung on an object 2 (see FIG. 4) such as a clothes hanging rod, a hanging hook on the back of a door, or a vertical laundry pole. Preferably, after the hanging hook member 13 is hooked to and thereby hung on the object 2, the hanger 1 stays horizontal (i.e., with the bottom side of the hanger 1 being substantially parallel to the ground) and will not turn to one side (that is, the hanger 1 will not be hung in such a way that it is noticeably tilted to the left or right as a whole). To better keep the hanger 1 hanging horizontally, at least one gravity center adjustment portion 110 can be located at a central region of the main body 11. The gravity center adjustment portion 110 is used to adjust the center of gravity of the hanger 1 so that the bottom side of the hanger 1 will be substantially parallel to the ground when the hanger 1 is hung via the hanging hook member 13. In certain embodiments, the gravity center adjustment portion 110 is a through bore and is adjacent to the clothes pushing portion 113. However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto, and in certain embodiments, the gravity center adjustment portion 110 can be a groove, a protrusion block, etc., and even can be an independent component that is additionally fixed to the main body 11.
In certain embodiments, with continued reference to FIG. 1A to FIG. 3, the surface of the hanging hook member 13 is integrally formed with a spacer portion 15. The spacer portion 15 can be arranged along the longitudinal-axis (Y-axis) direction of the main body 11. One side (e.g., the front side) of the spacer portion 15 has a protruding configuration with respect to the surface of the hanging hook member 13, and the other side (e.g., the rear side) of the spacer portion 15 has a sunken configuration with respect to the surface of the hanging hook member 13. When the spacer portion 15 is in a configuration that it extends from the rear side of the hanging hook member 13 forward beyond the front side of the hanging hook member 13, the spacer portion 15 has a protruding configuration as can be seen in a front view of the hanging hook member 13 (see FIG. 1A) and a sunken configuration as can be seen in a rear view of the hanging hook member 13 (see FIG. 1B). In addition, an opening 151 is formed between the spacer portion 15 and the hanging hook member 13 as can be seen in a side view of the hanging hook member 13. The design of the spacer portion 15, however, is not limited to the above. In certain embodiments, the spacer portion 15 can be in a configuration that it extends from the front side of the hanging hook member 13 rearward beyond the rear side of the hanging hook member 13. In this configuration, the protruding configuration and the sunken configuration referred to above will swap positions. In certain embodiments, the spacer portion 15 and the surface of the hanging hook member 13 can have a closed configuration such that the opening 151 does not exist. In certain embodiments, the spacer portion 15 can be a separate element assembled to the hanging hook member 13, with the hanging hook member 13 having a through hole corresponding in position to the spacer portion 15 such that the spacer portion 15 in the form of a separate element still has such features as the protruding configuration and the sunken configuration on two opposite sides of the hanging hook member 13.
With continued reference to FIG. 1A to FIG. 4, when a plurality of hangers 1 are hooked to and thereby hung on the object 2 in the same direction, each two adjacent hangers 1 can be arranged relatively close to each other due to the fact that their spacer portions 15 protrude in the same direction, which allows a user to store clothes densely (with the dashed-line frames in FIG. 4 indicating the positions of the clothes) in a limited space (e.g., the space in a wardrobe). Referring to FIG. 5, when a plurality of hangers 1 are hooked to and thereby hung on the object 2 in different directions, the distance between each two adjacent hangers 1 whose spacer portions 15 face each other (i.e., protrude in opposing directions) will be greater than that when the same two hangers 1 are hung in the same direction. This greater distance can prevent the clothes on the hangers 1 from over-compression and deformation (with the dashed-line frames in FIG. 5 indicating the positions of the clothes), is effective in maintaining the integrity of the clothes, and makes it easier for a user to arrange clothes and pick the desired piece of clothes.
Referring again to FIG. 1A to FIG. 3, in certain embodiments, the protruding direction of the spacer portion 15 can be identical to the protruding directions of the clothes pushing portion 113 and the anti-slip portion(s) 115. For example, the spacer portion 15 protrudes forward of the front side of the hanging hook member 13 and forward of the front side of the main body 11, and the clothes pushing portion 113 and the anti-slip portion(s) 115 protrude forward of the front side of the main body 11 and of the front side of the hanging hook member 13. This configuration allows the rear side of the main body 11 and the rear side of the hanging hook member 13 to be flat so that not only can the hanger 1 be placed on a flat surface (e.g., the top of a bed, a tabletop, or the ground), but also a plurality of hangers 1 can be easily stacked up for storage. In certain embodiments, to ensure that the spacer portion 15 can effectively prevent clothes from over-compression and deformation, a distance between a side (e.g., the front side) of the spacer portion 15 that faces away from the main body 11 and the main body 11 can be greater than at least one of a distance between a side (e.g., the front side) of the clothes pushing portion 113 that faces away from the main body 11 and the main body 11 and a distance between a side (e.g., the front side) of each anti-slip portion 115 that faces away from the main body 11 and the main body 11, as shown by the imaginary line L in FIG. 3. This configuration prevents the clothes on two adjacent hangers 1 from being pressed hard against each other should the clothes pushing portion 113 of either of the hangers 1 push the corresponding clothes outward excessively.
In certain embodiments, with continued reference to FIG. 1A to FIG. 3, the main body 11 is provided with at least one magnet 14 to make it easier for two adjacent hangers 1 arranged in the same direction to be in close proximity to each other, and to keep the distance between two adjacent hangers 1 arranged in different directions. When two adjacent hangers 1 are arranged in the same direction, the magnets 14 of the hangers 1 will be attracted to each other such that the hangers 1 are brought close to each other by the mutually attracting forces of the magnets 14. When two adjacent hangers 1 are arranged in different directions, the magnets 14 of the hangers 1 will repel each other such that the hangers 1 are driven away from each other by the mutually repelling forces of the magnets 14. The magnet 14 of each hanger 1 can be fixed on the main body 11 by adhesive bonding, mechanical engagement, or other methods. In certain embodiments, the surface of the magnet 14 does not jut out of the surface of the main body 11, which prevents the magnet 14 from being damaged by or falling off upon collision.
According to the above, with continued reference to FIG. 1A to FIG. 3, the main body 11 of the hanger 1 can be in the shape of a plate and does not have the large opening of a conventional wire hanger. Accordingly, when a user desires to put away a plurality of hangers 1, the plate shape can prevent the hangers 1 from entanglement, facilitating the arrangement and storage of the hangers 1 and providing enhanced convenience of use. In addition, when the gravity center adjustment portion 110 of the hanger 1 is a through bore, it is preferable that the height of each of the left and right sides of the hanger 1 is greater than the greatest bore diameter P1 of the through bore to prevent the hanger 1 from extending into the through bore of another hanger 1. However, when the left and right sides of the hanger 1 have a tapered design, each of the left and right edges of the hanger 1 (i.e., each of the left and right end portions of the hanger 1) may be able to extend into the through bore of another hanger 1. To prevent a plurality of hangers 1 from being entangled with one another, the height H1 of each of the left and right portion of the hanger 1 that is adjacent to the left or right end portions of the hanger 1 can be designed to be greater than the greatest bore diameter P1 of the through bore. In this way, even if the left or right edge of a first hanger 1 extends into the through bore of a second hanger 1, the maximum length of the portion extending through the through bore will be substantially one tenth of the length of the first hanger 1 in the transverse-axis direction, and a user still can separate the first hanger 1 from the second hanger 1 easily in order to store the hangers 1.
The foregoing description of the exemplary embodiments of the disclosure has been presented only for the purposes of illustration and description and is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure to the precise forms disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching.
The embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain the principles of the disclosure and their practical application so as to enable others skilled in the art to utilize the disclosure and various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. Alternative embodiments will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which the present disclosure pertains without departing from its spirit and scope.
Patent Application
20250064240
