Patent Application
20140069966
1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a garment hanger, and more particularly, to garment hangers having a special frame for reducing garment deformation.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known to utilize hangers to hold clothing in a free hanging manner in order to minimize wrinkles and damage to the fabric. One typical type of clothing hangers are constructed of bent wire, which is shaped to provide support for many types of garments in such a manner as to replicate the way the garment is worn. Wire clothing hangers have typically utilized a shape that simulates a person's upper torso, including a person's neck and shoulders.
The typical prior art wire hanger shape is triangular with a hook located at the top for attaching the hanger to a pole, two downward sloping support arms that simulate the shape of a person's shoulders, and a base section between each of the support arms that provides structural rigidity to the two downward sloping members. The downward sloping support arms may have either a linear shape or may have a bend in the wire such that the downward sloping member has a shallow angle portion closely adjacent to the base section and a steep angle portion near the top of the support arms closer to the hook.
However, the shape of the typical prior art wire hanger does not make any provision for ensuring that the garments hang in such a way as to minimize wrinkles or damage to the clothing. The typical prior art hanger is not shaped to account for the differences between the manner in which a garment covers a human body and the manner in which a garment is suspended from a hanger. When a garment is worn, it covers a three-dimensionally shaped human body. A clothes hanger, in contrast, suspends a garment in two dimensions without adding any volume or fullness within the garment. Because of this difference, folds, wrinkles and overlaps can form in the fabric when a garment is suspended on a hanger. Moreover, because a traditional wire hanger allows the shoulders to sag downward due to the downward slope of the support arms, the garment material is not held taut horizontally across the hanger. This causes all of the fabric to be pulled inward which creates overlaps and folds. This becomes particularly problematic with thin wire hangers when garments are placed in close proximity, such as when they are closely packed in a closet, packed together when they are picked up from the cleaners or tailors or when multiple garments are carried together such as while traveling.
Additionally, it can be difficult to keep garments on the typical prior art wire hanger having two downward sloping support arms. This is because the downward sloping members that are made with either a linear shape or with a bend in the wire have an angle that is too steep. Thus, there is insufficient support for the shoulder portion of the garment and the garment may slide off of the hanger easily.
It is, therefore, an objective of the present disclosure to provide a hanger that reduces undesirable deformation of garments when the garment is supported by a hanger.
It is another objective of the present disclosure to provide an improved hanger, which can be economically manufactured to provide an improved performance of a hanger by contacting, for example, the collar area of a shirt against the frame to prevent deformation on the body of a hanged shirt caused in the prior art.
It is a further objective of the present disclosure to prevent puckers or bumps in the shoulder of a garment disposed on the inventive hanger.
Another aspect of the disclosure provides an area on the hanger to hold the garment more upright so that the deformation in the body of hanged clothes can be prevented.
An exemplary embodiment of the garment hanger includes a hook, a neck portion connected to the hook, a pair of symmetrical garment support arms extending from the neck portion, and a base section perpendicular to the neck portion and connected to the pair of symmetrical garment support arms. The pair of symmetrical garment support arms include a first edge extending substantially perpendicularly from the neck portion, a second edge angled acutely downward from the first edge towards the base section, a third edge connected to the second edge and angled obtusely away from the base section, a fourth edge connected to the third edge and angled obtusely away from the base section to become substantially parallel with the base section, and a fifth edge connected to the fourth edge and angled downward towards the base section to become connected to the base section. The neck portion, pair of symmetrical garment support arms and base section form a closed loop utilizing one continuous piece of wire.
Another exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure is a method of forming a garment hanger, the method including twisting a first end of one continuous wire frame around a section below a second end of the wire frame forming a neck portion and a closed loop, bending the second end of the one continuous wire frame forming a hook, forming a pair of symmetrical support arms each extending from the first and second ends of the wire frame, respectively, and bending each support arm at five points along the wire frame forming five edges and a base section, wherein the base section is perpendicular to the neck portion, the first edge of the five edges extends substantially perpendicularly from said neck portion, the second edge is angled acutely downward from said first edge towards the base section, the third edge is connected to the second edge and angled obtusely away from said base section, the fourth edge is connected to said third edge and angled obtusely away from said base section to become substantially parallel with said base section, and the fifth edge is connected to said fourth edge and angled downward towards said base section to become connected to said base section.
The above and other exemplary aspects, features and advantages of certain exemplary embodiments of the clothes hanger according to the present disclosure will become more apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described herein below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, well-known functions or constructions may not be described in detail when they would obscure appreciation of the present disclosure by a person of ordinary skill in the art with unnecessary detail of the well-known functions and structures. Also, the terms used herein are defined according to the functions of the present disclosure as would be understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art. Thus, the terms may vary depending on a user's or operator's intension and usage. That is, the terms used herein must be understood based on the descriptions made herein in view of the ordinary level of skill in the art. In all figures, the substantially same elements are given the same reference number, and overlapping descriptions are omitted.
The present disclosure described hereinafter provides a wire clothes or garment hanger of improved design that provides a wire frame for reducing garment deformation and thus minimizing wrinkles and garment damage. The hanger according to the present disclosure orients a section of the garment support arms into a substantially horizontal position, adds an additional edge, and, inter alia, has particular dimensions not found in the prior art. By raising the shoulders to a horizontal position and adding an edge to the hanger, the garment shoulders are held taut across the hanger and thus the front and back surface of the garment is maintained in a flat shape. Additionally, by holding the shoulders taut across the support arms, the outermost ends of the hanger according to the present disclosure are shaped to restrain the garment sleeves from moving but without leaving dimples or protrusions in the fabric.
In a particular embodiment of the present disclosure, the neck portion 200 is connected to the support arms 210 at an angle that is preferably approximately 90-110 degrees. In this embodiment, each of the support arms 210 includes a first edge 10 that connects to the vertical diverging support section 204 of the neck portion 200. The first edge 10 is substantially orthogonal to the base section 300 and neck portion 200, which means that it can be parallel to the base section or be at a downward slope of up to preferably 20 degrees from a line orthogonal to the neck portion 200. The garment support arms 210 provide the section of the hanger contacting a garment when a garment is placed and supported. In order to minimize the wrinkling of a garment hanging from the hanger according to the present disclosure, the angles and dimensions of the garment supporting sections where the garment is draped are selected such that the front and back garment surfaces will be substantially flat when the garment is placed on the hanger, without any folds or overlapping of the fabric. The slope angles of the support arms hang the garment so that the front and back surface are substantially flat by, for example, raising the shoulders of the garment into a horizontal position. Furthermore, the first edge 10 provides support to the collar of the garment to ensure that the collar does not sag and to maintain the garment in a substantially upright position.
Additionally, the shape of the outermost edge 50 (alternatively referred to as the “fifth edge”) of the support arms 210 are selected to minimize or eliminate deformation of the garment at the outermost edges 50. Additionally, the outermost edges 50 are shaped to keep the garment form sliding on the hanger and thus keep the sleeves from moving. Thus, the garment support arms 210 are selected to provide uniform and consistent support to the garment consistent with the garment shape.
In a particular embodiment of the present disclosure, the fourth edge 40 of the support arms 210 is positioned at a distance of approximately 1 inch from the base section 300, the distance being measured by a line that runs perpendicular from the base section and intersects a point along the fourth edge. Given that the fourth edge 40 is substantially parallel to the base section 300, the length between the base section 300 and the fourth edge 40 will be substantially the same measured at any point along the fourth edge. In an embodiment where the fourth edge is sloped downward up to 10 degrees, but is still considered substantially parallel with the base section 300, the distance between the fourth edge 40 and the base section 300 will decrease very gradually as you move further towards the outermost fifth edge 50 of the support arms 210. In a preferred embodiment, the distance between the fourth edge 40 and the base section 300 will be less than 1 inch measured at any point along the fourth edge, including at connection point 32 where the fourth edge 40 meets the third edge 30.
In a particular embodiment of the present disclosure, the first edge 10 is approximately 1-2 inches in length, but preferably 1.5 inches in length. The second edge 20 of the support arms 210 is approximately 1-2 inches in length, but preferably 1.5 inches in length. Therefore, the first and second edges 10, 20 are preferably approximately equal in length. The third edge 30 is approximately 2.5-3.5 inches in length, but preferably 3 inches in length. The fourth edge 40 is approximately 2.5-3.5 inches in length, but preferably 3 inches in length. Therefore, like the first and second edges 10, 20, the third and fourth edges 30, 40 are preferably approximately equal in length.
In a particular embodiment of the present disclosure, the garment hanger is constructed in accordance with, and may preferably be implemented in, a wire hanger having the shape and dimensions depicted in
Wire hanger frame 1 is one continuous wire that is shaped into the inventive hanger by bending and twisting the wire at particular points along its axis. The order in which the one continuous wire 1 is shaped into the inventive hanger according to the description that follows is for exemplary purposes only.
According to an exemplary method of manufacturing the inventive hanger, one continuous wire frame having an approximate length of 3 feet having a first end 102 and a second end 104 is formed into one continuous closed loop. The wire frame 1 is formed into a closed loop by taking the first end 102 and twisting it around a section of the wire frame approximately 3.75 inches below the second end 104 of the wire frame 1. Twisting the first end 102 around the lower section of the second end 104 forms a twisted neck portion 202 that prevents the wire frame from opening.
The hook 100 is formed by bending the second end 104 of the wire frame 1 in a manner forming a semicircular loop that is adapted to hang from a horizontal bar and also bear the weight of an article of clothing hanging from the garment hanger.
A base section 300 is formed by straightening a 17-18 inch long portion of the wire frame so that the base section is perpendicular to the neck portion 200 with an approximate distance of 5.5 inches between the bottom of the twisted neck 202 and the base section 300. The base section 300 is also formed in such a manner as to create two symmetrical support arms 210 that connect the base section 300 to the vertical diverging support section 204.
The individual legs of the vertical diverging support section 204 both stem from the first and second ends 102, 104 of the wire frame and are bent at connection point 2 where the vertical diverging support section 204 meets the first edge 10. The first edge 10 is substantially perpendicular to the neck portion 200 and vertical diverging support section 204. The second edge 20 is created by bending the wire frame 1 at connection point 12 where the first and second edges 10, 20 meet. The second edge 20 is angled acutely downward away from the vertical diverging support section 204, neck portion 200, and hook 100. The third edge 30 is created by bending the wire frame at connection point 22 where the second and third edges 20, meet. The third edge 30 is angled obtusely away from the second edge 20 of the wire frame 1 and having a shallow slope towards the base section when the garment hanger is being hung by hook 100. The fourth edge 40 is created by bending the wire frame 1 at connection point 32 where the third and fourth edges 30, 40 meet. The fourth edge 40 is angled in such a way as to be substantially perpendicular to the neck portion 200, having up to approximately a 10 degree slope downward towards the base section 300 when the garment hanger is hung by hook 100. The fifth edge 50 is formed by bending the wire frame 1 at connection point 42 where the fourth and fifth edges 40, 50 meet. The fifth edge 50 connects to the base section 300 at point 52 forming a complete loop.
The inventive hanger as shown in
While the disclosure has been described in connection with a presently preferred embodiment thereof, those skilled in the art will recognize that many modifications and changes can be made without departing from the true spirit and scope of the disclosure, which accordingly is intended to be defined solely by the appended claims.
