Hanger and system for suspending articles such as greeting cards

Abstract

A hanger for suspending an article such as a greeting card from an elongated suspender such as a string or wire. The hanger basically comprises a block having an elongated recess for receiving an string or other similar elongated suspender. The block also has a pair of spaced, preferably resilient, legs which define a gate between the legs. The gate comprises an opening through which a suspender may be placed in the recess and has a minimum width which is less than the maximum cross sectional width of the recess. Adhesive is adhered to at least one side of the block, preferably alongside one of the legs, and a removable cover such as a peel off film is provided for exposing a surface of the adhesive when the block is to be attached to an article to be hung.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS, IF ANY

None

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION AND PRIOR ART

The present invention relates generally to a simple and inexpensive manner of hanging articles such as greeting cards, photographs and other similar articles from elongated suspenders such as strings, wires or thin rods. While the invention is primarily intended for light household use, in its broader aspects, the hanger and system disclosed herein can be used for suspending X-ray pictures for viewing and for various other purposes.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

It is the primary objective of the invention to provide an easy to use inexpensive system for displaying articles such as greeting cards and the like from a string or other elongated suspender.

SUMMARY

Disclosed herein is a hanger for suspending an article such as a greeting card from an elongated suspender such as a string or wire. The hanger basically comprises a block having an elongated recess extending there through for receiving an string or other similar elongated suspender. The block has a pair of spaced legs which define a gate between the legs. The gate comprises an opening to the string receiving recess and has a narrowest width which is less than the maximum cross sectional width of the recess. Adhesive is adhered to at least one side of the block, preferably alongside one of the legs, and a removable cover, such as a peel off film, is provided for exposing a surface of the adhesive when the block is to be attached to an article to be hung.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 of the drawings comprises a perspective view of the presently preferred embodiment of a hanger.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing use of the hanger to suspend a greeting card from a suspender string.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 depicts a hanger for suspending an article such as a greeting card or picture from an elongated suspender S such as a flexible string, wire or rod of generally circular cross-section.

FIG. 2 depicts an article such as a greeting card C suspended from a suspension string S using the block 10. Although the presently preferred form of the hanger is a block 10 of generally rectangular configuration, as used herein the term “block” is not intended to mean or be limited to a shape necessarily having square comers or flat sides. The block 10 has front and rear sides 12, 14, lateral sides 16, 18 and a top 19.

An elongated recess 20 extends entirely through the block from the front side 12 to the rear side 14 and is preferably located such that the ends of the recess 20 are generally centrally located in the respective front and rear sides 12, 14 of the block 10. Recess 20 may have a variety of cross-sectional configurations such as round, square, triangular or, as depicted in the preferred embodiment, cruciform. The cruciform cross-section conveniently provides internal projections in the form of edges 22, 24, 26, 28 for engaging the suspender S such as a string. If the suspender S is compressible such as a string, the projections may partially compress or bite into the string to assist in preventing the block 10 from sliding on or rotating about the string.

The block 10 has a pair of spaced legs 30, 32 which extend inwardly from a first side of the block (the lower side as viewed in FIG. 1) and the legs 30, 32 are preferably tapered as shown such that the legs converge together to form a gate 40 which opens to the recess 20. The gate 40 has a minimum or narrowest width w_g which is less that a maximum cross sectional width W_g of the recess 20.

A layer of tacky adhesive 50, such as a hot bond adhesive available from 3M Corporation, is firmly adhered to at least one side of 18 of the block and a cover 60, such as a removable peel off film, is provided over the adhesive so that the cover 60 may be removed to expose a surface of the adhesive for attaching the block 10 to an article to be hung. In the alternative, the cover may comprise a continuous strip of plastic, rubber or other suitable material to which multiple blocks 10 are adhered. The maximum width W_g of the gate 40 at the ends of the legs 30. 32 is greater than the maximum cross-sectional width W_R of the recess 20 (W_g) W_R). In the preferred embodiment, the narrowest width w_g of the gate is the same as the minimum width w_r of the cruciform cross-section recess 20.

Block 10 may be made of plastic or rubber or any other suitable material. Preferably, the legs 30, 32 of the block are resilient to permit the legs to spread slightly when the block 10 is pressed onto an elongated suspender S such as a string. The suspender S need not be radially compressible provided that the resiliency of the legs 30, 32 is such as to permit the maximum diameter of the suspender to pass through the minimum width w_g of the gate 40. If the suspender S is compressible, such as a string, the internal projections such as the edges 22, 24, 26, 28 of the cruciform cross-section will readily dig into the string to prevent sliding of the block along the string and rotation of the block 10 around the axis of the string. In the presently preferred embodiment, the hanger block 10 is made of P.V.C. and has a Shore D durometer hardness of about 90. Also, as depicted, the adhesive 50 and cover 60 is provided on a side 18 of the block which is adjacent one of the spaced legs 30, 32 which define the gate 40. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the adhesive 50 and cover 60 preferably should be provided on a side of the block which is flat and that while placement of adhesive and cover on a single side of the block is presently preferred, the adhesive and cover could be provided on more than one side of the block 10 to facilitate its use in hanging articles such as greeting cards and the like in the desired orientation from suspenders S which may be arranged generally horizontally as depicted in FIG. 2, vertically, or at any other suitable angle.

It will now be evident that one or more articles such as cards and photographs may easily and quickly be hung from a single string S as seen in FIG. 2 (not drawn to scale) which may be suspended across a room or doorway, etc. by affixing one or more hanger blocks 10 to a rear face side of each card or photograph to be hung by first exposing the adhesive by peeling off a peel off cover 60 or by removing a block from a common strip or sheet forming a cover 60 to which a number of blocks are adhered for shipping and then pressing the block or blocks 10 onto the card or other article to be suspended. The blocks 10 and attached articles may then be suspended from the string S by simply pushing the block onto the string which passes between the preferably resilient spaced legs 30, 32 through the gate 40 into the string receiving recess 20 which, of course, is dimensioned dependent on the diameter of the string S from which the articles are to be hung to ensure that a snug fit ensues to prevent the hanger or hangers 10 from slipping or sliding to an undesired position.

Persons skilled in the art will readily appreciate that various additional modifications can be made from the presently preferred embodiment thus the scope of protection is intended to be defined only by the limitations of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A hanger for suspending an article such as a greeting card from an elongated suspender such as a string or wire comprising a block having:

an elongated recess in said block for receiving an elongated suspender,

a pair of spaced legs defining a gate between said legs, said gate opening to said recess and having a narrowest width less than a maximum cross sectional width of said recess,

adhesive adhered to at least one side of said block and

a removable cover over said adhesive to expose a surface of said adhesive for attaching said block to an article to be hung.

2. The hanger of claim 1, wherein said gate has a maximum width greater than said maximum cross sectional width of said recess.

3. The hanger of claim 2, wherein said recess has internal projections for engaging a suspender string.

4. The hanger of claim 1, wherein said recess has a cruciform cross section providing internally projecting edges for engaging a suspender string.

5. The hanger of claim 4, wherein said gate has a maximum width greater than a maximum width of said cruciform cross section.

6. The hanger of claim 5, wherein said spaced legs are tapered inwardly to said narrowest width of said gate and said narrowest width of said gate is a minimum width of said cruciform cross section.

7. The hanger of claim 1, wherein said spaced legs taper inwardly from opposite sides of said block to said recess.

8. The hanger of claim 7, wherein said legs are resilient.

9. The hanger of claim 8, wherein said block is made of plastic.

10. The hanger of claim 9, wherein said hanger is made of PVC having a Shore D hardness of 90.

11. The hanger of claim 1, wherein said adhesive and cover is on a side of said block adjacent one of said legs.

12. The hanger of claim 1, wherein said block is rectangular.

13. The hanger of claim 12, wherein said adhesive and cover is on a flat side of said block.

14. The hanger of claim 9, wherein said recess extends between ends which are generally centrally located on opposite sides of said block.

15. The hanger of claim 1, wherein said recess has a cross section configured for receiving a suspender having a circular cross section.

16. The hanger of claim 15, wherein said gate has a maximum width greater than a minimum width of said recess.

17. A system for suspending an article such as a greeting card comprising the hanger of claim 1 and a suspender string, wherein said narrowest width of said gate is less than a nominal diameter of said string.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein said recess has internal projections for engaging said string.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein said recess has a cruciform cross section providing string engaging edges.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein said gate has a maximum width greater than a maximum width of said cruciform cross section.