CLOTHES HANGER
A garment hanger including a continuous loop frame having a hook depending from a neck portion, a horizontal portion extending from said neck portion, a pair of garment support arms depending from said horizontal portion, a connection section joining said pair of garment support arms to a base section at an outermost section of said support arms, wherein said garment support arms have a specific shallow angle portion and a steep angle portion which prevents wrinkles and creases from forming when shirts are hung therefrom.
This application claims the benefit to United States Provisional Application filed on Jun. 27, 2011 and assigned Application No. 61/501,457, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a garment hanger, and more particularly, to garment hangers having a special frame for reducing garment deformation.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known to utilize hangers to hold clothing in a free hanging manner in order to minimize wrinkles and damage to the fabric. One typical type of clothing hangers are constructed of bent wire, which is shaped in such a manner to provide a support for many types of garments in a manner that replicates the way the garment is worn. Wire clothing hangers have typically utilized a shape which simulates a persons upper torso, including a persons neck and shoulders.
Referring to
However, the shape of the typical prior art wire hanger does not make any provision for ensuring that the garments hang in such a way to minimize wrinkles or damage to the clothing. The typical prior art hanger shape is not shaped to provide a shape which accounts for the differences between the manner in which a garment covers a human body and the manner in which a garment is suspended from a hanger. When a garment is worn, it covers a three-dimensionally shaped human body. In contrast however a clothes hanger suspends a garment in two dimensions without adding any volume or fullness within the garment. Because of this difference, folds, wrinkles and overlaps can form in the fabric when a garment is suspended on a hanger. Moreover, because a traditional wire hanger allows the shoulders to sag downward, the garment material is not held taut across the hanger. This allows the fabric to be pulled inward which creates overlaps and folds. This is especially important when garments are placed in close proximity such as when they are closely packed in a closet, packed together such as when they picked up from a cleaners or tailors or when multiple garments are carried together such as while traveling.
Additionally, it can be difficult to keep garments on the typical prior art wire hanger having two downward sloping support arms. This is because the downward sloping member that are made with either a linear shape 104 or with a bend in the wire 105 have an angle that is too steep, thus there is not sufficient support for the shoulder portion of the garment and the garment may slide off of the hanger easily.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIt is, therefore, an objective of the present invention to provide a hanger that reduces undesirable deformation of garments when the garment is supported by a hanger.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide an improved hanger, which can be economically manufactured to provide an improved performance of hanger by contacting the collar area of a shirt, for example, against the frame to prevent deformation on the body of a hanged shirt caused in the prior art.
It is a further objective of the present invention to prevent puckers or bumps in the shoulder of a garment disposed on the inventive hanger.
It is a further objective of the present invention to provide an improved hanger, which can be economically manufactured by minimizing the amount of material used to form the hanger. Specifically, less wire can be used to form the structural shape.
Another aspect of the invention provides area to hold the strap of a garment upright more so that the deformation in the body of hanged clothes can be prevented.
The above and other exemplary aspects, features and advantages of certain exemplary embodiments of the CLOTHES HANGER according to the present invention will become more apparent to a person or ordinary skill in the art from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will now be described herein below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, well-known functions or constructions may not be described in detail when they would obscure appreciation of the present invention by a person of ordinary skill in the art with unnecessary detail of the well-known functions and structures. Also, the terms used herein are defined according to the functions of the present invention as would be understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art. Thus, the terms may vary depending on user's or operator's intension and usage. That is, the terms used herein must be understood based on the descriptions made herein in view of the ordinary level of skill in the art. In all figures, the substantially same elements are given the same reference number, and overlapping descriptions are omitted.
The present invention described hereinafter provides a wire clothes or garment hanger of improved design that provides wire frame for reducing garment deformation and thus minimizing wrinkles and garment damage. The hanger according to the present invention orients the garment support arms into a substantially horizontal position. By raising the shoulders to a horizontal position, the garment shoulders are held taut across the hanger from and thus the front and back surface of the garment is maintained in a flat shape. Additionally by holding the shoulders taut across the support arms, the outermost ends of the hanger according to the present invention are shaped to restrain the garment sleeves from moving but without leaving dimples or protrusions in the fabric.
The outermost ends of the support arms are connected to the base 208 at corners 224. The support arms 210 have a rounded profile transition section 230 at the outermost ends adjacent to corners 224. In this embodiment the top rounded profile transition section may most preferably have a radius of approximately 1 inch so that there is not an abrupt transition at the end of the support arms 210 for supporting the garment. Corners 224 may be approximately right angles between the rounded profile transition section 230 and the base 208. In this way, the garment can hang naturally and have a smooth transition from being suspended by the support arm to hanging freely. The radiused profile section 230 of ensures that there is not an abrupt or extreme transition that would create a point of stress against the garment and potentially result in a dimple or crease in the garment at the outermost point of the support arms 210.
In a particular embodiment of the present invention the garment hanger is constructed in accordance with, and may preferably be implemented, in a wire hanger having the shape and dimensions depicted in
Turning now to
In a particular embodiment of the present invention the garment hanger is constructed in accordance with, and may preferably be implemented, in a wire hanger having the shape and dimensions depicted in
Turning now to
The outermost ends of the support arms are connected to the base 408 at corners 424 where the support arms 410 have a circular profile at the outmost ends nearest the corners 424. In this embodiment the circular profile may most preferably have a radius of approximately 1 inch so that there is not an abrupt transition at the end of the support arms 410 for the garment. In this way, the garment can hang naturally and have a smooth transition from being suspended by the support arm to hanging freely. The radiused profile of the corners 424 ensures that there is not an abrupt or extreme transition that would create a point of stress against the garment and potentially result in a dimple or crease in the garment at the outermost point of the support arms 410.
Turning now to
Additionally,
While the invention has been described in connection with a presently preferred embodiment thereof, those skilled in the art will recognize that many modifications and changes can be made without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention, which accordingly is intended to be defined solely by the appended claims.
Claims
1. A garment hanger comprising:
- a continuous loop frame having a hook depending from a neck portion;
- a horizontal portion extending from said neck portion;
- a pair of garment support arms depending from said horizontal portion; and
- a connection section joining said pair of garment support arms to a base section at an outermost section of said support arms,
- wherein said garment support arms have a shallow angle portion and a steep angle portion.
2. The garment hanger according to claim 1, wherein the slope of said shallow angle portion is within a range of 16 to 23 degrees.
3. The garment hanger according to claim 2, wherein the slope of said shallow angle portion is 23 degrees.
4. The garment hanger according to claim 1, wherein the slope of said shallow angle portion is within a range of 13-19 degrees.
5. The garment hanger according to claim 1, wherein the slope of said shallow angle portion is within a range of 7-22 degrees.
6. The garment hanger according to claim 5, wherein the slope of said shallow angle portion is within the range of 10-15 degrees.
7. The garment hanger according to claim 1, wherein the length of said shallow angle portion is greater than the length of said steep angle portion.
8. The garment hanger according to claim 1, wherein the length of said steep angle portion is greater than the length of said shallow angle portion.
9. The garment hanger according to claim 1, wherein said connection section is comprised of a rounded semi-circular section and an angular section.
10. The garment hanger according to claim 9, wherein said rounded circular section has a radius of 1 inch.
11. The garment hanger according to claim 1, wherein said connection section is comprised of a semi-circular section.
12. The garment hanger according to claim 1, wherein said connection section has a square profile.
13. A method for making a garment hanger, the method comprising:
- forming a garment hanger frame from a continuous loop of wire; and
- bending the continuous loop of wire to include a hook depending from a neck portion, a horizontal portion extending from said neck portion, a pair of garment support arms depending from said horizontal portion, a connection section joining said pair of garment support arms to a base section at an outermost section of said support arms, wherein said garment support arms have a shallow angle portion and a steep angle portion.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein bending said garment support arms to have a shallow angle portion and a steep angle portion includes forming the slope of said shallow angle portion to be within a range of 16 to 23 degrees.
15. The method of claim 14, wherein bending said garment support arms to have a shallow angle portion and a steep angle portion includes forming the slope of said shallow angle portion to be 23 degrees.
16. The method of claim 13, wherein bending said garment support arms to have a shallow angle portion and a steep angle portion includes forming the slope of said shallow angle portion to be within a range of 13-19 degrees.
17. The method of claim 16, wherein bending said garment support arms to have a shallow angle portion and a steep angle portion includes forming the slope of said shallow angle portion to be within a range of 7-22 degrees.
18. The method of claim 13, wherein bending said garment support arms to have a shallow angle portion and a steep angle portion includes forming the slope of said shallow angle portion to be within a range of 10-15 degrees.
19. The method of claim 13, wherein the length of said shallow angle portion is greater than the length of said steep angle portion.
20. The method of claim 13, wherein the length of said steep angle portion is greater than the length of said shallow angle portion.
Type: Application
Filed: Jun 27, 2012
Publication Date: Dec 27, 2012
Inventor: William CHOI (Palisades Park, NJ)
Application Number: 13/534,403
International Classification: A47G 25/14 (20060101); B21F 45/00 (20060101);