The present device relates to hangers which are employed to hold clothing and support the clothing in an elevated position by engagement of the hanger to a mount. More particularly, the disclosed device includes such a hanger having angled garment support arms and a removably engageable base member adapted for engagement to the garment for wrinkle removal and prevention.
Clothing hangers have been employed to hold and store clothing for many decades. Conventionally, such clothing hangers have a pair of angled garment support arms which engage at one end with a hook, and at the opposite end with one end of a horizontally-disposed base member. Conventionally, such hangers are employed to support and hold clothing in a free hanging elevated position. Such is done in order to minimize the wrinkles imparted to the fabric of the clothing so supported.
Conventionally, wire and wooden and metal hangers are formed to a generally triangular shape and have a hook located at an upper end which is adapted to removably engage the hanger to a horizontal member or pole. The pair of downward sloping clothing support arms are situated to contact the interior of a shirt or the like in a manner similar to the contact of the shoulders of a wearer of such clothing. The support member is horizontally disposed between engagements at opposing ends with the distal ends of the support arms.
In use, a garment normally worn on the torso of a user is engaged to the two sloping support arms, and the hook of the hanger is then engaged upon a pole such as that positioned in most closets. The support member is employed to support a pair of pants or the like, over a top surface of the support member.
However, conventional garment hangers are only designed to provide two-dimensional support to a garment such as shirts or pants. Such poses at least two concerns, in that the body of a wearer of a shirt, blouse or pants is generally three dimensional. However, the thin hanger configuration, with the support arms and support member formed within the same plane, can actually over time, impart wrinkles to a shirt hung upon the thin sloping support arms. Further, if a garment is hung upon the hanger in a wrinkled condition, the best conventional hangers can accomplish over time, is to maintain that wrinkled condition and give the user hope that some of the wrinkles might dissipate over time while the garment hangs.
The device and method herein disclosed, provides a de wrinkling support member engageable to the garment and which may also be engaged with the clothing hanger which is configured to aid in both the prevention of new wrinkles, and the elimination of wrinkles in hung clothing. Through the provision of the removably engageable support member, which is adapted for engagement to a garment such as a shirt, blouse, or other clothing while it is supported on the sloping hanger arms, the device herein provides great utility to the user for wrinkle removal and abatement.
The forgoing examples of hangers employed for support and elevated storage of clothing, and the limitations related therewith, are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. The disclosed examples and background does not imply any limitations on the invention described and claimed herein. Various other limitations of the related art in clothing hangers are known, or such will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading and understanding of the specification below and the accompanying drawings.
The device and system herein disclosed and described provides a solution to the shortcomings in prior art of garment wrinkles and clothing hangers and achieves the noted objects herein, through the provision of a garment engageable support member for de wrinkling. The support member can be provided for use with garments on any hanger, or can be provided in combination with a clothing hanger having the support member which is removably engageable to a first position, in-between the distal ends of the sloping support arms. If provided in a combination with a hanger, in this first position the support member is configured to support pants, belts, or other clothing items generally stored with horizontal support underneath.
The support member alone, or in the removable engagement with the distal ends of the sloping arms, is adapted for locating to a second position, where it is removably engageable upon the garment or clothing being supported by the sloping arms of a clothes hanger. Of course for convenience, the engaged hanger and support member configuration is preferred since it keeps the support member in position for use but provides clothing support when not in use.
In all modes of the device, the support member has a first member component which is removably engageable on both sides of a garment sandwiched therebetween with a second member component. In a particularly preferred mode of the device herein, the removable engagement of a side of first member component to a biased engagement against a side of the second member component is a magnetic attraction therebetween.
Using this magnetic attraction between the first and second member components, both may be positioned on opposite side surfaces of a garment being supported in an elevated position by the sloping arms of a hanger. The magnetic attraction will communicate through the layers of the garment and hold a side surface of the first member component tightly biased against or toward a side surface of the second member component, in an engaged position, with the garment in a sandwiched biased engagement therebetween.
Preferably, the support member components are formed of a heavy material such as steel, stainless steel, or other components which will impart the force of their mass or weight to the engaged garment when the two member components are in an engaged position thereon. The weight of the biasly engaged support member is currently an aggregate weight of the engaged two components between six to sixteen ounces. Over time, the force of gravity on the mass or weight of the engaged support member will act to elongated the fibers of the garment to which it engages.
Further over time, the engaged support component will act to remove or significantly reduce any wrinkles in the garment to which it is operatively engaged at or adjacent a lower end. In the preferred mode of the device, where the hanger provides a mount at lower ends of slanted portions, subsequent to use for de wrinkling, the support member can be disengaged from the clothing, and re engaged in-between the distal ends of the sloping arms. This provides a convenient storage position where it may remain until re engaged on clothing, or for support of pants or the like on the hanger. The combined hanger and support member is preferred since it renders the support member handy and not easily lost, especially when the device is taken on travel.
The support member can be enhanced with additional components such as a vibrator which will vibrate the support member components while engaged on a garment, which will impart vibration in a standing wave to the garment fibers to aid in de wrinkling. In another mode, an electro magnet may be employed for the magnetic engagement between the first and second member components. In this mode, using a controller to impart timely flux adjustment and gravity, the engaged member components can be made to progress across the garment in an ironing fashion. Further, the support member can also be made with separable halves which biasly engage against opposing sides of the garment when mounting, and can be held in such a biased engagement by springs attached to a hinge or pivot.
With respect to the above description, before explaining at least one preferred embodiment of the clothing hanger disclosed and described herein in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangement of the components in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The wrinkle eliminating hanger invention herein described and shown is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways which will be obvious to those skilled in the art. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception upon which this disclosure is based may readily be utilized as a basis for designing of other clothing hanger devices which remove or mitigate wrinkles, and for carrying out the several purposes of the present disclosed device. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent construction and methodology insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
As used in the claims to describe the various inventive aspects and embodiments, “comprising” means including, but not limited to, whatever follows the word “comprising”. Thus, use of the term “comprising” indicates that the listed elements are required or mandatory, but that other elements are optional and may or may not be present. By “consisting of” is meant including, and limited to, whatever follows the phrase “consisting of”. Thus, the phrase “consisting of” indicates that the listed elements are required or mandatory, and that no other elements may be present. By “consisting essentially of” is meant including any elements listed after the phrase, and limited to other elements that do not interfere with or contribute to the activity or action specified in the disclosure for the listed elements. Thus, the phrase “consisting essentially of” indicates that the listed elements are required or mandatory, but that other elements are optional and may or may not be present depending upon whether or not they affect the activity or action of the listed elements.
It is an object of this invention, to provide a biasly engaged support member which will engage upon a garment and impart force to de wrinkle the garment over time.
It is an object of the present invention to provide the biasly engageable support member alone, or in a combination with a clothing hanger which is configured for use in conventional closets and the like.
It is an additional object of this invention to provide such a clothing hanger device, which is employable to remove wrinkles in the support clothing through the provision of a support member which will engage with the fabric of the garment on the hanger and act to remove or mitigate wrinkles in the garment.
These and other objects, features, and advantages of the disclosed clothing hanger invention, as well as the advantages thereof over existing prior art, which will become apparent from the description to follow, are accomplished by the improvements described in this specification and hereinafter described in the following detailed description, which fully discloses the invention, but should not be considered as placing limitations thereon.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein and form a part of the specification, illustrate some, but not the only or exclusive examples of embodiments and/or features of the disclosed clothing hanger device. It is intended that the embodiments and figures disclosed herein are to be considered illustrative of the invention herein, rather than limiting in any fashion. In the drawings:
In this description, the directional prepositions of up, upwardly, down, downwardly, front, back, top, upper, bottom, lower, left, right and other such terms of direction or position, refer to the device as it is oriented and appears in the drawings and are used for convenience only, and such are not intended to be limiting or to imply that the device has to be used or positioned in any particular orientation.
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The removable engagements 18 of the opposite ends of the support member 12, with the distal ends of the angled support arms 14, can be any removable engagement 18 adapted to the task herein, such as cooperative connectors, hook and loop fabric, magnets, or other removable engagement of both ends of the support member 12, which will hold the assembled support member 12 in a fixed position such that weight of clothing or other supported items can be supported.
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It should be noted than any of the different depicted and described configurations and components of the de wrinkling hanger device in different drawn figures, can be employed with any other configuration or component shown and described as part of the device herein. Additionally, while the present invention has been described herein with reference to particular embodiments thereof and steps in the method of production, a latitude of modifications, various changes and substitutions are intended in the foregoing disclosures, it will be appreciated that in some instance some features, or configurations, of the invention could be employed without a corresponding use of other features without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims. All such changes, alternations and modifications as would occur to those skilled in the art are considered to be within the scope of this invention as broadly defined in the appended claims.
Further, the purpose of any abstract of this specification is to enable the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the public generally, and especially the scientists, engineers, and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application. Any such abstract is neither intended to define the invention of the application, which is measured by the claims, nor is it intended to be limiting, as to the scope of the invention in any way.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/370,714 filed on Aug. 4, 2016, which is included herein in its entirety, by this reference thereto.
Number | Date | Country | |
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62370714 | Aug 2016 | US |