Coathook rack

Abstract

A rack for supporting clothes and/or personal items is shown. A mounting rails 201 is fitted with garment supports 202. A plurality of extending members 203, 204 are also fitted with garment supports 205, 207. A second rail 207 is substantially parallel with the mounting rail 201 such that the second rail encloses the extending members 203, 204 and the garment supports 205, 202, 206

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a rack to support clothes and/or personal items.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Systems for hanging up coats, hats and related personal items are known and often take the form of a row of wall mounted hooks. A disadvantage of these known systems is that the number of garments that may be supported is limited. Furthermore, when a garment is being supported by a hook and a further garment is placed on a neighbouring hook it is likely that part of the new garment will partially rest on the previously hung garment. Consequently, if the previously hung garment is then removed there is a possibility that it will cause the neighbouring garment to remove from its hook thereby causing the neighbouring garment to fall on the floor.

With typical hook spacing, garments placed on a row of hooks may be more or less obscured by overlapping garments on adjacent hooks. Thus, finding a particular garment can cause some difficulty and will take time. Furthermore, an exposed row of hooks presents a potential safety hazard, particularly in areas used by children.

FIG. 1 (Prior Art)

A conventional coat hook rack is illustrated in FIG. 1. A mounting rail 101 is attached to a wall. Metal coat hooks 102, 103 and 104 are attached to rail 101 at regular intervals. Clearly, the intervals are chosen so as to maximise the number of coats or similar articles that may be supported by the rail. This tends to result in a degree of overlapping such that, in this example, coat 105 obscures part of coat 106. Consequently, if coat 106 is removed there is a likelihood that this action will also result in the unintentional removal of coat 105.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a rack to support clothes and/or personal items, comprising: a mounting rail fitted with garment supports; a plurality of extending members also fitted with garments supports; and a second rail substantially parallel with said mounting rail such that said second rail encloses said extending members and said garment supports.

In a preferred embodiment, the members extend from said supports at a substantially perpendicular angle. Preferably, the rail fitted with garment supports has extending members and garment supports fixed alternately along its length. In a preferred embodiments, the extending members have garment supports fixed on each side in a position at 90° to the garment supports are fixed to the mounting rail.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a conventional (prior art) coathook rack;

FIG. 2 shows a coathook rack embodying an aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 3 shows the embodiment of FIG. 2 in use;

FIG. 4 shows the embodiment of FIG. 2 in greater detail;

FIG. 5 shows a horizontal view of the embodiment of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 shows an alternative configuration;

FIG. 7 shows a second alternative configuration;

FIG. 8 shows a third alternative configuration;

FIG. 9 shows a forth alternative configuration; and

FIG. 10 shows an alternative mode of construction.

DESCRIPTION OF THE BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

FIG. 2

A coathook rack embodying an aspect of the present invention is shown in FIG. 2. A mounting rail 201 is fitted with garment supports 202, substantially similar to the support hooks of the prior art. However, in addition, there is a plurality of extending members 203, 204 that are also fitted with garment supports 205, 206. In addition, a second rail 207 runs substantially parallel with the mounting rail 201 such that the second rail 207 encloses the extending members 203, 204 and garment supports 205, 202 and 206.

FIG. 3

It can be seen that the arrangement embodying an aspect of the present invention as shown in FIG. 2 allows coats, substantially similar to those illustrated in FIG. 1, to be supported over a similar sized span of a support wall but in a manner which allows easier access to each individual garment. Thus, in the configuration of FIG. 3, relatively little additional space is required compared to the configuration of FIG. 1. However, the configuration provides for a more efficient storage of garments and also facilitates the removal of a garment with adjacent garments.

FIG. 4

The rack of FIG. 2 is shown in greater detail in FIG. 4. As previously stated, the rack has a substantially horizontal rail 201, preferably with holes 401 for wall mounting. In this embodiment, vertical supports 402 are also provided, also having holes 403. A second horizontal rail 207, running substantially parallel with rail 201, is in this embodiment provided with a bend or curve at its end 404. The extending members 203, 204 etc are fixed between the rails, substantially at 90° and at regular intervals. On each side of the extending members there is a hook such as hook 205 and a similar hook 202 extends from the main rail 201.

FIG. 5

A horizontal view of the configuration shown in FIG. 4 is shown in FIG. 5. Thus, between each extending member 204 there are provided three hooks, namely hooks 205, 202 and 206.

FIGS. 6 to 9

Alternative configurations of hooks are shown in FIGS. 6, 7, 8 and 9. In the embodiment of FIG. 6, an extending member 601, has a perpendicular hook 602 and a second hook 603 extending substantially at 450.

In the embodiment of FIG. 7 two hooks 701 and 702 extend perpendicular from an extending member 703.

In a preferred embodiment the mounting rail 201, the extending members 203, 204 and the garment supports 202, 205 are fabricated in metal, such as mild steel.

FIG. 10

An alternative configuration is illustrated in FIG. 10 in which the rack 1001 has been moulded in a plastics material, such as nylon. Wall support member 1002 is similar to the metal configuration but includes an additional brace 1003.

Claims

1. A rack to support clothes and/or personal items, comprising:

a mounting rail fitted with garment supports;

a plurality of extending members also fitted with garments supports; and

a second rail substantially parallel with said mounting rail, such that said second rail encloses said extending members and said garment supports.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the members extend from said supports at a substantially perpendicular angle.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the rail, fitted with garment supports, has extending members and garment supports fixed alternately along its length.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the extending members have garment supports fixed on each side in a position at 90° to the garment supports fixed to the mounting rail.

5. Apparatus according to claim 1 fabricates from metal components.

6. Apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said metal components are welded.

7. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said components are fabricated as a plastics moulding.

8. A method of supporting cloths and/or personal items, wherein:

a first item of clothing is hung from a first garment support attached to a mounting rail;

a second item of clothing is hung from a second garment support attached to an extending member, wherein a plurality of extending members extend from said mounting rail; and

a second rail runs substantially parallel with the mounting rail, such that said second rail encloses the extending members and the garment supports.