Two-piece shower curtain hook with two curved bodies

Abstract

A shower curtain hook includes a hook member having a large curved body for supporting the hook member on a shower curtain rod, and a small curved body; and a mounting plate secured to a shower curtain, the mounting plate being releasably secured to a tail of the hook member so that the shower curtain may be hung on the shower curtain rod by resting a plurality of shower curtain hooks on the shower curtain rod by a single operation.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of Invention

The invention relates to shower curtain hooks and more particularly to a shower curtain hook comprising a hook member including a large curved body for supporting the hook member on a shower curtain rod, and a small curved body; and a mounting plate secured to a shower curtain, the mounting plate being releasably secured to a tail of the hook member so that the shower curtain may be hung on the shower curtain rod by resting a plurality of shower curtain hooks on the shower curtain rod by a single operation.

2. Description of Related Art

Conventionally, shower curtain hooks are a one-piece construction made from hard plastic (e.g., polypropylene). One-piece shower curtain hooks are not favored because a shower curtain tends to slip off the shower curtain hook. Further, the installation of a shower curtain on a shower curtain rod by means of shower curtain hooks involves many times of resting a shower curtain hook on the shower curtain rod. It is time consuming and tedious.

There have been numerous suggestions in prior patents for two-piece shower curtain hook. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,586,375 discloses two-piece shower curtain hook assembly. Thus, continuing improvements in the exploitation of two-piece shower curtain hook are constantly being sought.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore one object of the invention to provide a shower curtain hook comprising a hook member including a depending tail, a large curved body for supporting the hook member on a shower curtain rod, and a small curved body; and a mounting plate secured to a shower curtain, the mounting plate being releasably secured to the tail so that the shower curtain may be hung on the shower curtain rod by resting a plurality of shower curtain hooks on the shower curtain rod by a single operation.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of two-piece shower curtain hook according to the invention;

FIG. 1B is another perspective view of the two-piece shower curtain hook of FIG. 1A but viewed from a different angle;

FIG. 2A is a view similar to FIG. 1A with the mounting plate being detached;

FIG. 2B is another perspective view of the two-piece shower curtain hook of FIG. 2A but viewed from a different angle;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a shower curtain secured to the two-piece shower curtain hook to be hung on a shower curtain rod;

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 with the shower curtain rod inserting through the hook member for installation;

FIG. 5 is a top view of a shower curtain being hung on a shower curtain rod by means of the shower curtain hooks of the invention;

FIG. 6 is a front view of FIG. 5; and

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a portion of FIG. 6 showing the installation of the shower curtain on the shower curtain rod by means of the shower curtain hooks of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 7, a two-piece shower curtain hook in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention is shown. The shower curtain hook is formed by injection molding using polypropylene in this embodiment. The shower curtain hook comprises the following components as discussed in detail below.

A hook member 1 has a longitudinal section of rectangle and comprises an upright depending tail 11 (from point a to point b), the tail 11 having two protuberances 14 longitudinally formed on one surface, a first curved body 12 (from point b to point c), a second curved body 13 (from point c to point d), the second curved body 13 being smaller than the first curved body 12, and a spherical head 3 formed at the point d.

Moreover, a neck 15 is defined between the points b and c, a first channel 16 is defined by the first curved body 12, and a second channel 17 is defined by the second curved body 13 respectively.

A mounting plate 2 of rectangle and is fixedly secured to a shower curtain f or formed integrally therewith. The mounting plate 2 comprises two holes 21 longitudinally formed on one surface. The holes 21 are adapted to tightly put on the protuberances 14 by snapping so as to secure them together (i.e., securing the shower curtain f and the hook member 1 together). Alternatively, the holes 21 and the protuberances 14 are replaced by hook and loop fabric fasteners in other embodiments.

An assembly of the invention will be described in detail below. A shower curtain rod A has one end secured to a wall W by means of a mounting bracket S, and the other end secured to another wall W′ by means of another mounting bracket S1. The hook member 1 is rested on the shower curtain rod A by inserting the shower curtain rod A through first channel 16. Further, a person may do the insertion a plurality of times in a single operation so as to permit a plurality of shower curtain hooks (e.g., 1′1, 1′2, 1′3, 1′4, 1′5, . . . , 1′N) to rest on the shower curtain rod A.

For detaching the shower curtain hook (e.g., one of the hooks (1′1, 1′2, 1′3, 1′4, 1′5 , . . . , 1′N)) from the shower curtain rod A, a person may simple pulling the point c away from the point b until the neck 15 elastically enlarges sufficiently to permit the shower curtain rod A to clear the first channel 16 via the neck 15.

While the invention herein disclosed has been described by means of specific embodiments, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention set forth in the claims.

Claims

1. A shower curtain hook comprising:

a hook member including a depending tail terminating at one end, a first curved body extending from the tail for supporting the hook member on a shower curtain rod, and a second curved body extending from the first curved body to terminate at the other end; and

a mounting plate secured to a shower curtain, the mounting plate being releasably secured to the tail.

2. The shower curtain hook of claim 1, wherein the first curved body is larger than the second curved body.

3. The shower curtain hook of claim 1, wherein the tail includes at least one protuberance longitudinally formed on one surface, and the mounting plate includes at least one hole longitudinally formed on one surface, the at least one hole being adapted to releasably securely to the at least one protuberance.

4. The shower curtain hook of claim 1, wherein the tail includes a hook and loop fabric fastener formed on one surface, and the mounting plate includes a corresponding hook and loop fabric fastener formed on one surface, the corresponding hook and loop fabric fastener being adapted to releasably securely to the hook and loop fabric fastener.

5. The shower curtain hook of claim 1, wherein the hook member further comprises a spherical head formed at the other end.

6. The shower curtain hook of claim 1, wherein the mounting plate is fixedly secured to the shower curtain.

7. The shower curtain hook of claim 1, wherein the mounting plate is formed integrally with the shower curtain.