MULTIFUNCTIONAL CLOTHING HANGER
A multifunctional clothing hanger includes an integrally molded frame formed by a cross bar, connecting end pieces having a pair of ends of which a respective first end is attached at each end of the cross bar, a pair of outwardly extending arms having a pair of ends where respective first ends are connected to a respective connecting end piece and the respective second ends are attached to each other and to a hook that is used for hanging the hanger from a pole within a closet. In one embodiment, the cross bar of the hanger frame is formed with a series of U-shaped loops, while the respective outwardly extending arms are formed with a plurality of downward facing T-shaped hooks. In another embodiment of the invention, the hanger is provided with a second cross bar that is disposed a spaced distance below the first cross bar and is provided with several, spaced divider posts that are attached between and to the first and second cross bars so as to form several compartments. The various loops, hooks and compartments that are formed on the hanger allow it to have a multiplicity of uses besides just hanging a single article of clothing, such as hanging jewelry, scarves, belts, earrings, and several similarly constructed articles of clothing in a simultaneous fashion. The multifunctional hanger allows a greater utilization of often lacking storage space within a closet of a residential home.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to the field of clothing hangers that are used in association with clothing articles stored within a residential closet. More specifically, the present invention relates to a clothing hanger that is hung from a clothing rod found in a typical residential closet and which is adapted to organize a multiplicity of garments and accessories on a single hanger.
2. Description of the Related Art
Efforts are constantly being made to improve and maximize the use of storage spaces within a home and particularly the storage space within residential clothing closets. Cabinetry, shoe racks, clothing hangers, and other types of storage devices have been constructed to be mounted to and/or used within the interior of residential closets in order to maximize the space within a closet that is typically devoted for storing various types of accessories and articles of clothing that are not being worn. The present invention is directed to a multifunctional clothing hanger that is designed to maximize the use of the storage space within a residential closet.
Hanger manufacturers have produced hangers made of wire, wood, plastic, and combinations of one or more of these materials and clothing hangers have been traditionally been manufactured in one standard size or they have been comprised of specialty type of hangers that are dedicated to specific functions particular to a specific article of clothing or to a particular clothing-related industry. One example of this is found with the large, stout wooden hangers that are specifically designed for use when hanging heavy winter coats while another example is the simple, lightweight wire clothing hanger that is employed by the dry cleaning industry. Everyone has used one some form of a manufactured hanger device to hang clothing upon when that article of clothing is not being worn. One of the principal problems with known prior art clothing hanger devices is that the construction of the standard hanger does not render itself to an efficient use thereof since they are not capable of functioning in other capacities other than hanging a single, dedicated article of clothing upon it. This lack of multi-functionality in turn leads to inefficient use of the usually limited storage space that is available within a closet. Thus, it can be appreciated that when a standard hanger is holding only a single article of clothing, there will be a multiplicity of hangers being hung side-by-side within the closet, often tightly crammed together in a very tight space due to the space constraints. Such arrangement within the closet is an inefficient use of the space and does not facilitate easy viewing of an article of clothing because of the difficulty in removing the article, let alone the return of it to the closet. That type of closet arrangement is most easily understood and appreciated by women who have a passion for clothes and do not have adequate closet space to accommodate that passion. For example, it is common for women to possess several copies of the same article of clothing but in different colors, with each colored article hung upon a single, dedicated clothing hanger. Because a standard hanger isn't designed to allow several articles of the same type of clothing article to be hung on a common hanger, the practice of buying multiple articles of differing colors leads to a redundancy of hangers being used to store the same type of clothing article. Another similar type of problem with standard hangers is encountered by women who own a number of clothing articles that have very similar design features but which cannot share a hanger. For example, a women might have several types of camisoles which may or may not be of the same color but each article has a different type of shoulder strap, i.e., one strap may be of the spaghetti type while another may be of the tank top type and wherein the widths of each strap type have varying widths. In that situation, standard hangers are not designed for the efficient use of a single hanger to simultaneously accommodate several similar clothing items even when they have the same type and width of shoulder straps or to allow similar types of clothing items which may have differing types and widths of straps. Furthermore, hangers have no provision for preventing certain types of clothing articles, especially those with shoulder straps, from sliding off the hanger while in storage. Although some retail clothing stores can display clothing having shoulder straps, they do so on specialty hangers that are provided with a pair of displaced hooks and/or clips integrally formed into the hanger ends that hold the straps. However, such hangers are typically not provided to the purchaser upon checkout and these types of hangers are not available for public purchase at home goods stores. Thus, a purchaser of an article of clothing having shoulder straps is left with no good option other than storing such articles in a dresser or other storage container. This type of storage is undesirable for many reasons such as a lack of available dresser space, wrinkling of stacked items and difficulty in viewing the stacked items.
Another shortfall of the standard hanger is that it is designed to fulfill one basic function, to hang clothes. On occasion, a user might consider using a standard hanger for hanging a belt on the hanger hook that engages about the closet pole but this type of use is not typical and is sometimes impossible because the size and type of the belt buckle can interfere with the hook of the hanger seating properly on the closet pole. Still another shortfall of the standard hanger is that they cannot accommodate the storage of accessories which complement an article of clothing. In many instances, and with women's clothing in particular, there are specific pieces of costume jewelry, earrings, belts and scarves that were sold with the clothing article as a matched set or there might be several articles of clothing that go well with a particular accessory and it would be preferred if the set as a whole or the accessories that match several clothing articles could be attached directly to the hanger that is holding the clothing. Not only does that arrangement reduce wasted time in hunting down the matching accessory in another location or locations, it also increases the efficiency of use of all available storage space within a house or apartment. However, there is no known presently available hanger that is constructed specifically for accommodating the attachment of clothing accessories in addition to the article or articles of clothing that match the accessories. Therefore, it would be desirable and efficient to store a multiplicity of these types of accessories, as well as the clothing article(s) which they complement, on a single hanger.
Inventors have proposed various methods to modify a standard hanger in an attempt to overcome such difficulties but none of these previous attempts have adequately solved the problem of allowing multiple strapped garments to be hung and sufficiently retained on a single hanger or to accommodate various types of accessories that are worn with the article(s) of clothing to be attached to the same hanger. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,749,093 to Harris, a standard hanger was modified for use as a dedicated belt hanging device. This patent discloses several embodiments each which show various types of prongs that are attached to the bottom member of the hanger and oriented to project away from the plane of the hanger body. to hold a multiplicity of men's belts. A matched number of the prongs are oriented to project in opposite directions from each other in order to provide balance to the hanger when several belts are simultaneously hung on the prongs. However, there are two major shortfalls of this design. One is that the projecting prongs require additional closet space to avoid the neighboring hangers and their articles of clothing from being entwined with or damaged by the prongs, while the other is that the hanger is not capable of retaining accessories such as earrings and decorative pins. A similar hanger design is presented in U.S. Pat. No. 3,945,543 to Lazaroff and like the Harris hanger, it too is provided with prongs on the bottom member of the hanger. However, these prongs are limited in number and vertical extent and the spacing between prongs restricts the size of the article that can be attached to the hanger as well as the number of articles that can be hung from a single hanger. The hanger disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,062,556 exemplifies the typical hanger used by retail clothing stores for hanging clothing articles that have straps. However, the problem with this type of hanger is that only a limited number of articles can be simultaneously hung from it at a time. Furthermore, article attachment clips are prone to fatigue breakage after repeated opening and closing of the clip. Moreover, this hanger also has no provision for retaining the various accessories previously mentioned herein. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,592.343 to Swett et al., a men's travel tie hanger is disclosed which is designed to carry a plurality of men's ties and men's accessories such as belts, tie clips and tacks and cuff links. Because of the construction of the hanger, it does not lend itself to be a suitable device for hanging articles of clothing and is capable of only holding a very limited number of clothing accessories.
All hangers previously developed do not adequately address the disadvantages mentioned herein, whereas the hanger of the present invention solves these and related problems in a manner not disclosed or disclosed in the known art.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIt is a principal object of the present invention to provide a clothing hanger of the type that is used within a residential closet and which has a multitude of additional, functional uses other than the known, typical use of suspending thereon, a single article of clothing. The object is met in the present invention by providing a multifunctional hanger that can be used for simultaneously hanging on a single hanger, a plurality of clothing articles and clothing accessories, such as belts, scarves and jewelry in the form of earrings, necklaces, and bracelets. The multifunctional hanger that will be described in greater detail herein is comprised of a cross bar member having a pair of ends that are connected to two identical connecting end portion members, one connecting end portion at each end of the cross bar; two identical and oppositely extending side arm members, one extending side arm associated with and connected to one of said connecting end portions and the other extending side arm associated with and connected to the other connecting end portion, with each extending side arm having a respective and common distal and proximate ends and wherein the distal ends of each extending side arm are connected to a respective connecting end portion while the proximate ends are co-joined to each other; and an upper portion member having an attachment hook for removably suspending said hanger from a closet clothing bar, whereby the upper portion is connected to the extending arm portions at the point where those arms co-join. This embodiment provides a means for suspending and retaining multiple articles of clothing and accessories on the cross and a supplemental means for suspending and retaining multiple clothing accessories is also provided on each of the extending side arms, thereby increasing the utility of the hanger compared to a hanger commonly available. One aspect of this embodiment is that all of the members which contribute to form the hanger frame all lie on a common plane and are of a uniform cross section. Advantageously, since all members lie on the same plane, snagging of a hanger component on an adjacent hanger's garments or accessories is minimized, if not eliminated, and the uniform cross section provides stability and integrity to the frame. In one aspect to this embodiment, the means for suspending and retaining multiple articles of clothing and accessories is comprised of a series of identical, U-shaped loops formed across the lateral extent of the cross bar, while in another aspect of this embodiment, the U-shaped loops are replaced with solid posts. In yet another aspect of this embodiment, a vertical stabilization bar is incorporated into the structure of the hanger frame to add further strength to the hanger frame. The stabilization bar is located at the midpoint of the hanger and it interconnects the cross bar with the two extending side arms at the point where the two side arms co-join.
In another embodiment of the invention, all of the features of the first embodiment are retained with the exception of the physical construction of the two extending side arms. In the first embodiment, the side arms co-join together and are on a same horizontal plane after they are co-joined. In this embodiment, the two side arms are still co-joined but they do not lie on the same plane.
In a final embodiment, all of the features of the first embodiment are retained, however, a second cross bar is incorporated into the hanger frame. The second cross bar is disposed below the first cross bar in a parallel fashion to the first cross bar. The second cross bar is provided with at least two divider columns that interconnect between the first and second cross bars, thereby forming defined open sections between the two cross bars. Each open section allows a user to suspend a multiplicity of scarves on the second cross bar within each section.
The features and advantages of the present invention will be further understood upon consideration of the following detailed description of several embodiments of the invention taken in conjunction with the drawings, in which:
Referring now to the characters of reference in the drawings and more particularly to
As a means to add further structural integrity to either of the hanger frame types presented in
From the foregoing general description, it is seen in the drawing figures that the two oppositely extending arms 80A,80B have respective distal and proximate ends 82,84. The distal ends 82 of each of extending arm 80A,80B are attached to respective second ends 66 of a connecting end portion 60A,60B, while the respective proximate ends 84 of each extending arm 80A,80Bb, are attached in an abutting, end-to-end relationship with respect to each other and are also attached to base 110B of the upper portion 110. The structural configuration of base 110B is seen to comprise an angled offset component and a triangularly shaped strengthening gusset. A first end of the angled offset component is attached to top surfaces 87a,87b at a point where the extending arms 80A,80B are co-joined together, while the other end is attached to a bottom of the extended middle section of upper portion 110. The strengthening gusset extends between and joins the angled offset component of base 110B to the extended middle section of upper portion 110. The gusset also is anchored to the top surface 87b of the hanger frame, thereby strengthening the entire upper portion 110. As seen from the drawing figure, the angled offset of base 110B effectively displaces the extended middle section of upper portion 110 in a lateral direction to the right of the midpoint 25 of hanger frame 10. However, this displacement is intentional because it dictates that the arcuate midpoint of attachment hook 110A, identified in
An important aspect of the invention is that the hanger 10 of the invention is formed of a molded plastic material or the like so that the hanger frame is formed as one continuous and uniform hanger frame of uniform cross section. By forming the frame in this fashion, clothing articles, especially delicate ones, will not become caught and snagged upon any part of the hanger. Thus, because of this feature, it should be understood that all of the above-described connections between the various members and their components will be integral with each other so as to maintain that uniformity. The same will be true with respect to all additional structural components of the hanger that will be described immediately below.
Again referring to
In another embodiment of the invention, another type of means for suspending and retaining the various articles of clothing and accessories is envisioned where one opposed leg from two adjacent U-shaped loops are effectively melded into each other to form of combined legs in the form of a post, as best seen when viewing
Turning again to
Now turning attention to only
No matter the number of U-shaped loops or T-shaped hooks so formed as part of the hanger frame or their dimensional sizes, it is to be understood that in a preferred aspect of the invention, all such loops and hooks will lie on the same plane and will not project outside of the plane of the frame that forms hanger 10. In other words, each of the structural loops and hooks, as well as all of the other structural components of hanger 10, i.e., the connecting end portions 60, the hook portion 110, the oppositely extending side arms and the stabilization bar 120, if one is provided, all lie on the same plane. An exception to that condition is found with the two aspects of the invention that are respectively shown in
In a final embodiment of the invention shown in
Since all embodiments and types of the clothing hanger 10 that were presented and described through
Having observed the structural details of hanger 10, attention may now be directed to
In any event it can be appreciated that the hanger of the present invention has many practical applications and uses. For instance,
While the multifunctional hanger has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it should be appreciated that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments and is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the claims. Modifications and variations of the present invention may be made without departing from the novel aspects of the invention as defined in the following claims.
Claims
1. A multi-functional hanger having a peripheral frame, comprising:
- a cross bar member having a pair of ends;
- two identical connecting end portion members, each connecting end portion having respective and common first and second ends, said first ends of each connecting end portion attached to an end of said cross bar;
- two identical and oppositely extending side arm members, one extending side arm associated with one of said connecting end portions and the other extending side arm associated with the other connecting end portion, each extending side arm having respective and common distal and proximate ends, said distal ends of each extending side arm connected to a respective second end of said connecting end portion and said proximate ends of each extending side arms co-joined to each other;
- an upper portion member having an attachment hook for removably suspending said hanger from a closet clothing bar, said proximate ends of each of said oppositely extending arms attached to said upper portion and to each other,
- wherein said cross bar member is provided with a means for suspending and retaining multiple articles of clothing and accessories and each of said extending side arm members is provided with a supplemental means for suspending and retaining multiple clothing accessories, and
- wherein all of said members of said hanger frame lie on a common plane and are of a uniform cross section.
2. The multi-functional hanger of claim 1, wherein said means for suspending and retaining associated with said cross bar member is comprised of one of one of a group consisting of a series of identical, adjacent loops that are laterally spaced from each other and a series of identical, adjacent posts that are laterally spaced from each other.
3. The multi-functional hanger of claim 2, wherein said means for suspending and retaining associated with each of said extending arm members is comprised of a series of hooks that are laterally spaced from each other.
4. The multi-functional hanger of claim 3, wherein one of said hooks is in substantial vertical alignment with said arcuate midpoint of said attachment hook of said upper portion and said midpoint of said cross bar.
5. The multi-functional hanger of claim 2, wherein one of said means for suspending and retaining that is associated with said cross bar member is in substantial vertical alignment with said arcuate midpoint of said attachment hook of said upper portion and said midpoint of said cross bar.
6. The multi-functional hanger of claim 5, further including a vertical stabilization bar disposed at the midpoint of said cross bar and which is interconnected between said cross bar and said hook that is in substantial vertical alignment with said arcuate midpoint of said attachment hook of said upper portion.
7. The multi-functional hanger of claim 6, further including a second cross bar having a pair of ends, said second cross bar disposed below said first cross bar, wherein one end of said second cross bar is connected to said first end of said connecting end portion and the other end of said second cross bar connected to said second end of said connecting end portion.
8. The multi-functional hanger of claim 4, wherein each hook extends in a downward direction from said extending arm members.
9. The multi-functional hanger of claim 8, wherein each of said hooks has an inverted T-shaped configuration defined by a pole connected to a transverse arm, said pole perpendicularly connected to said arm at a midpoint thereof.
10. The multi-functional hanger of claim 9, wherein said transverse arm is provided with at least one pair of spaced passageways, each of said passageways identical in size.
11. The multi-functional hanger of claim 10, wherein each of said passageways is equidistantly spaced from said midpoint of said transverse arm.
12. The multi-functional hanger of claim 11, wherein each of said hooks extends in a downward direction from said extending arm members by a uniform extent.
13. The multi-functional hanger of claim 12, wherein each of said hooks extends in a downward direction from said extending arm members and wherein a first group of hooks extends a longer and uniform extent from said extending arm members then that of a second group of hooks that also extend a uniform extent from said extending arm members.
11. The multi-functional hanger of claim 12, wherein said cross bar is on a first horizontal plane and said co-joined extending side arms are on a second horizontal plane, wherein said second horizontal plane is one of angularly displaced from and parallel to said first horizontal plane.
12. The multi-functional hanger of claim 13, wherein said cross bar is on a first horizontal plane and said co-joined extending side arms are on a second horizontal plane, wherein said second horizontal plane is parallel to said first horizontal plane.
13. The multi-functional hanger of claim 7, wherein said second cross bar further includes a plurality of identical divider columns laterally spaced from each other, each divider extending between and interconnecting said first and second cross bars.
14. The multi-functional hanger of claim 13, wherein said second cross bar is provided with at least two divider columns and no more than three divider columns.
15. The multi-functional hanger of claim 2, wherein each loop extends in the same direction and a like extent.
16. The multi-functional hanger of claim 15, further including a series of identical cross bar segments, a respective cross bar segment disposed between and connected to adjacent loops.
17. The multi-functional hanger of claim 16, wherein each said cross bar segment defines an extent of lateral separation between loops.
18. The multi-functional hanger of claim 7, wherein each of said loops has a U-shaped configuration defined by a base interconnected to a pair of opposed legs.
19. The multi-functional hanger of claim 2, wherein each post extends in the same direction and a like extent.
20. A multi-functional hanger having a peripheral frame, comprising:
- a first cross bar member having a pair of ends;
- a second cross bar member having a pair of ends, said ends of said second cross bar corresponding with said ends of said first cross bar, said second cross bar disposed below said first cross bar and parallel thereto;
- two identical connecting end portion members, each connecting end portion having respective and common first and second ends, said first ends of each connecting end portion attached to a corresponding first end of each of said first and second cross bars;
- two identical and oppositely extending side arm members, one extending side arm associated with one of said connecting end portions and the other extending side arm associated with the other connecting end portion, each extending side arm having respective and common distal and proximate ends, said distal ends of each extending side arm connected to a corresponding second end of each of said connecting end portions and said proximate ends of each extending side arm connected to each other;
- an upper portion member having an attachment hook for removably suspending said hanger from a closet clothing bar, said proximate ends of each of said oppositely extending arms attached to said upper portion and co joined to each other,
- wherein said first cross bar member is provided with a means for suspending and retaining multiple articles of clothing and accessories and each of said extending side arm members is provided with a supplemental means for suspending and retaining multiple clothing accessories; and
- wherein said second cross bar member is provided with a plurality of divider columns laterally spaced from each other, each divider column extending between and interconnecting said first and second cross bars; and
- wherein all of said members of said hanger frame lie on a common plane and are of a uniform cross section.
21. The multi-functional hanger of claim 21, further including a vertical stabilization bar disposed at the midpoint of said cross bar and interconnected between said cross bar and said hook that is in vertical alignment with said midpoint of said cross bar.
22. The multi-functional hanger of claim 22, wherein said second cross bar is provided with at least two divider columns and no more than three divider columns.
23. The multi-functional hanger of claim 23, wherein said means for suspending and retaining associated with said cross bar member is comprised of a series of adjacent identical loops that are laterally spaced from each other.
24. The multi-functional hanger of claim 24, wherein each loop extends in the same direction and a like extent.
25. The multi-functional hanger of claim 25, further including a series of identical cross bar segments, a respective cross bar segment disposed between and connected to adjacent loops.
26. The multi-functional hanger of claim 26, wherein each said cross bar segment defines an extent of lateral separation between loops.
27. The multi-functional hanger of claim 27, wherein each of said loops has a U-shaped configuration defined by a base interconnected to a pair of opposed legs.
28. The multi-functional hanger of claim 28, wherein one of said cross bar segments is centered about a midpoint of said cross bar and is in substantial vertical alignment with an arcuate midpoint of said attachment hook.
29. The multi-functional hanger of claim 29, wherein said means for suspending and retaining associated with each of said extending arm members is comprised of a series of hooks that are laterally spaced from each other.
30. The multi-functional hanger of claim 30, wherein one of hooks is in substantial vertical alignment with said arcuate midpoint of said attachment hook of said upper portion and said midpoint of said cross bar.
31. The multi-functional hanger of claim 31, wherein each hook extends in a downward direction from said extending arm members.
32. The multi-functional hanger of claim 32, wherein each of said hooks has an inverted T-shaped configuration defined by a pole connected to a transverse arm, said pole perpendicularly connected to said arm at a midpoint thereof.
33. The multi-functional hanger of claim 33, wherein said transverse arm is provided with at least one pair of spaced passageways, each of said passageways identical in size.
34. The multi-functional hanger of claim 34, wherein each of said passageways is equidistantly spaced from said midpoint of said transverse arm.
35. The multi-functional hanger of claim 35, wherein each of said hooks extends in a downward direction from said extending aim members by a uniform extent.
36. The multi-functional hanger of claim 36, wherein each of said hooks extends in a downward direction from said extending arm members and wherein a first group of hooks extends a longer and uniform extent from said extending arm members then that of a second group of hooks that also extend a uniform extent from said extending arm members.
37. The multi-functional hanger of claim 36, wherein said first cross bar is on a first horizontal plane and said co joined extending side arms are on a second horizontal plane, wherein said second horizontal plane is one of angularly displaced from and parallel to said first horizontal plane.
38. The multi-functional hanger of claim 37, wherein said first cross bar is on a first horizontal plane and said co-joined extending side arms are on a second horizontal plane, wherein said second horizontal plane is parallel to said first horizontal plane.
Type: Application
Filed: Mar 3, 2014
Publication Date: Sep 3, 2015
Inventor: KIMBERLY SUT (GARY, IN)
Application Number: 14/195,240