Patent Application
20100122963
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a hanger assembly, and in particular, to a stowable sliding hanger assembly that may be installed on a partition via a sliding, pivoting rail assembly.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are currently available many types of tie racks, belt racks, valet rods (garment bag holders) and other hanger racks for hanging articles of clothing thereon. Many such racks include sliding mechanisms to allow the rack to be slid from a retracted position to a more easily accessed extended position.
Such sliding racks include the retractable valet rods described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,337,905 and 5,538,146. Other rack assemblies are known that include sliding or otherwise moveable members that may cause hanging members to be actuated. Such assemblies are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,569,450, 5,425,463, and 6,679,392, the entire content of each being expressly incorporated herein by reference.
Hanging racks are known that are varied in design and function. However, a need continues to exist to provide for a hanger assembly that may be mounted to a wall, partition or other member, such that a hanger attachment may be engaged to a sliding rail assembly to allow a user to slidingly extend the hanger attachment from a retracted position to an extended and pivoted position. While hanger assemblies are known, those that are presently available fail to provide a sliding rail assembly that has a smooth sliding action and that pivots for easy access, while also having the ability to mount one or more of a variety of hanger attachments. Various embodiments of the present invention provide for such a hanger assembly, and also provide an assembly that is esthetically pleasing, and which is particularly useful when mounted to a vertical surface a closet wall, partition, door or other member.
The art referred to and/or described above is not intended to constitute an admission that any patent, publication or other information referred to herein is “prior art” with respect to this invention. In addition, this section should not be construed to mean that a search has been made or that no other pertinent information as defined in 37 C.F.R. §1.56(a) exists.
All U.S. patents and applications and all other published documents mentioned anywhere in this application are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Without limiting the scope of the invention, a brief summary of some of the claimed embodiments of the invention is set forth below. Additional details of the summarized embodiments of the invention and/or additional embodiments of the invention may be found in the Detailed Description of the Invention below.
A brief abstract of the technical disclosure in the specification is provided for the purposes of complying with 37 C.F.R. §1.72.
In at least one embodiment, the invention is directed to a hanger assembly that comprises a sliding rail assembly and a hanger attachment. The sliding rail assembly comprises a fixed member, a sliding arm, and a hinge. The hinge has a first portion and a second portion, wherein the first portion is pivotally engaged to the second portion, and wherein the first portion is slidably engaged to the fixed member and the second portion is fixedly engaged to the sliding arm. The sliding rail assembly has a non-pivoted state and a pivoted state, wherein in the non-pivoted state the sliding arm is positioned substantially parallel to the fixed member, and in the pivoted state the sliding arm defines an angle with the fixed member. The hanger attachment is engaged to at least a portion of the sliding arm.
In some embodiments, in the pivoted state the angle is between 1 and 90 degrees. In at least one embodiment, in the pivoted state the angle is at least 90 degrees.
In at least one embodiment, the hanger attachment comprises a housing and a hanger member. In some embodiments, the hanger member is a valet rod, tie rack, belt rack, clothing rack, hanger, hook, or any combination thereof.
In at least one embodiment, the fixed member is engaged to a partition.
These and other embodiments which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed hereto and forming a part hereof. However, for further understanding of the invention, its advantages and objectives obtained by its use, reference should be made to the drawings which form a further part hereof and the accompanying descriptive matter, in which there is illustrated and described embodiments of the invention.
A detailed description of the invention is hereafter described with specific reference being made to the drawings.
While this invention may be embodied in many different forms, there are described in detail herein specific preferred embodiments of the invention. This description is an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the particular embodiments illustrated.
For the purposes of this disclosure, like reference numerals in the figures shall refer to like features unless otherwise indicated.
A first embodiment of the invention is depicted in
While slidable hanger assemblies exist in the prior art, as described above, pivoting is a key feature that until now has been overlooked. Pivoting solves a problem that until now was unrecognized. That is, previous slidable hanger assemblies allowed the hung articles to be brought out of the closet, for example, and inspected and ultimately selected. However, permitting a slidable hanger assembly to pivot allows the user to bring all the hung articles completely out of the closet and into an environment that is better lit, thereby making it easier for the user to select an article. Furthermore, the pivoting solves the problem of leaving the hanger assembly in an extended position for any period of time. It is aesthetically unpleasing to leave a prior art assembly extended from a closet. This means that the user must remember to push the assembly back into the closet each time after use. In the present invention, the pivoted assembly can remain outside of the closet if the user so desires or forgets.
The hanger assembly 10 shown in
In
In at least one embodiment, the hanger assembly may include an extendable/retractable shaft to keep the attachment in an extended or pivoted position, such as shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,310,899, the entire content of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference. In some embodiments, the shaft may be spring loaded or pressurized with gas.
Turning now to
Referring now to
The above disclosure is intended to be illustrative and not exhaustive. This description will suggest many variations and alternatives to one of ordinary skill in this art. The various elements shown in the individual figures and described above may be combined or modified for combination as desired. All these alternatives and variations are intended to be included within the scope of the claims where the term “comprising” means “including, but not limited to”.
This completes the description of the preferred and alternate embodiments of the invention. Those skilled in the art may recognize other equivalents to the specific embodiment described herein which equivalents are intended to be encompassed by the claims attached hereto.
