Patent Application
20230100098
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The disclosure relates to non-wrinkling garment hanging devices and more particularly pertains to a new non-wrinkling garment hanging device for allowing a person to store garments, such as sport coats or other similar articles of clothing within a suitcase, such that the article of clothing is not wrinkled. More specifically, the device herein allows a sport coat to hang, in a folded configuration, within a suitcase when the suitcase is placed in an upright orientation.
The prior art relates to methods of folding clothing and devices for holding clothing articles within a suitcase such that the clothing articles are not easily wrinkled while being positioned within a suitcase. However, these methods and devices do not adequately prevent wrinkles to garments including, but not limited to, sport coats which are often removed and stowed during traveling and which cannot easily be pressed while traveling.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a garment supporting assembly including a base having a top side, a bottom side, a first end, and a second end. A vertical support is attached to and extends upwardly from the base. A top member is attached to and is positioned above the vertical support. The top member is positioned above the base and is elongated along a line that is orientated parallel to a line extending through first and second ends. The top member is configured to support an article of clothing such that the article of clothing is draped over the top member. The garment supporting assembly is positionable in a suitcase such that the base is positioned on a first wall of the suitcase, the top member is positioned adjacent to a second wall of the suitcase located opposite of the first wall, and a portion of the article of clothing is positioned between the top member and the second wall.
Another embodiment of the disclosure includes a garment supporting assembly comprising a base having a top side, a bottom side, a first end, and a second end. The base is elongated from the first end to the second end. A vertical support is attached to and extending upwardly from the base. A top member is attached to and is positioned above the vertical support. The top member is positioned above the base and is elongated along a line that is orientated parallel to a line extending through first and second ends. The top member is configured to support an article of clothing such that the article of clothing is draped over the top member. A suitcase has a plurality of walls including a first wall and a second wall positioned opposite from each other. The suitcase is elongated from the first wall to the second wall, wherein the first wall defines a bottom wall when the suitcase is standing upright. The garment supporting assembly is removably positioned in the suitcase such that the base is positioned on the first wall of the suitcase and the top member is positioned adjacent to the second wall such that the article of clothing is positionable between the top member and the second wall.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
A vertical support 34 is attached to and extends upwardly from the base 14. The vertical support 34 is secured to the base 14 in a rigid manner and a connection between the vertical support 34 and the base 14 may be an integral one. The vertical support 34 may include a panel or may include a single leg or post. As is shown in the Figures, the vertical support 34 may comprise a pair of legs 36 that are laterally spaced from each other.
A top member 38 is attached to and is positioned above the vertical support 34. The top member 38 is positioned above the base 14 and is elongated along a line that is orientated parallel to a line extending through first 22 and second 22 ends. The top member 38 will typically be directly above and aligned with the base 14 to further support the garment supporting assembly 12 remaining in a vertical orientation. The top member 38 is configured to support an article of clothing 40 such that the article of clothing is draped over the top member. The article of clothing 40 may comprise different types of articles but in particular will include items such as a sport coat for which wrinkling is to avoided. The top member 38 has an upper surface 42, a bottom surface 43, a forward edge 44, a rearward edge 46, a first lateral edge 48 and a second lateral edge 50, wherein the top member 38 is elongated from the first lateral edge 48 to the second lateral edge 50. The upper surface 42 is convexly arcuate from the forward edge 44 to the rearward edge 46 to further minimize wrinkling to the article of clothing 40. A distance from the first lateral edge 48 to the second lateral edge 50 is greater than 8 inches and a distance from the forward edge 44 to the rearward edge 46 is most generally at least 1 inch and less than 5 inches.
The system 10 utilizes a conventional suitcase 28 having a plurality of walls including a first wall 52 and a second wall 54 positioned opposite from each other. The suitcase 28 is most typically elongated from the first wall 52 to the second wall 54. The first wall 52 defines a bottom wall when the suitcase 28 is standing upright. The suitcase 28 is conventional and therefore will have a front wall 56, rear wall 58, and a perimeter wall 60 extending between the front 56 and rear 58 walls. The perimeter wall 60 of a conventional suitcase typically includes a break 62 to allow access to an interior of the suitcase 28 and is closable with a zipper 64. The garment supporting assembly 12 is positionable in the suitcase 28 such that the base 14 is positioned on the first wall 52 of the suitcase 28 and the top member 38 is positioned adjacent to the second wall 54 of the suitcase 28. The article of clothing 40 is placed on the top member 38 before the garment supporting assembly 12 is placed in the suitcase 28 such that the article of clothing 40 is positioned between the top member 38 and the second wall 54.
With respect to measurements, the garment supporting assembly 12 may be sized to match a size of the suitcase 28 in which it is positioned. The vertical support 34 will most often have a height such that a distance between the bottom side 18 of the base 14 and the upper surface 42 of the top member 38 is 3 inches or less than a distance between the first 52 and second 54 walls. Even more typically, the upper surface 42 is positioned within 2 inches of the second wall 54 when the base 14 is positioned on the first wall 52. Since most suitcases provide a distance from 19 inches to 30 inches between first 52 and second 54 walls, the garment supporting assembly 12 may have a height from 16 inches to 28 inches. Though smaller distances are acceptable, the distance between the first 48 and second 50 lateral edges may typically be within 4 inches of a width of the suitcase measured between its first 64 and second 66 lateral walls.
In use, an article of clothing 40, such as a sport coat, is draped over the top member 38 in a folded configuration that reduces the risk of wrinkles to the sport coat. The garment supporting assembly 12 is then placed in the suitcase 28 as stated above and shown in the Figures. The suitcase 28 can be filled with clothing and personal articles, either before the placement of the sport coat in the suitcase 28, in a conventional manner. When the suitcase 28 is then stood upright, gravity will cause the article of clothing 40 to hang properly to prevent wrinkles from forming therein.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
