Supports: racks – Special article – Stacked articles
Reexamination Certificate
2001-03-16
2003-02-18
Stodola, Daniel P. (Department: 3634)
Supports: racks
Special article
Stacked articles
C211S106000, C211S181100, C223S085000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06520349
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a hanger caddy operable in two positions for storing hangers and for release of stacked, stored hangers.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Millions of plastic garment hangers are removed from clothing each day at point-of-sale in retail stores. These hangers must be dealt with in the back rooms of the stores through a process of untangling, sorting by style and organizing them for re-use. This is a serious problem because of labor intensiveness, cost of broken hangers ($0.25 to $1.00 each) due to tangle, storage space and retail efficiency. In addition, new federal and state regulations against discarding plastic hangers into the nation's landfills, makes recycling for all retail stores a necessity.
Successful hanger management is thwarted by the multiplicity of hanger styles used in retail stores. Previous attempts to sort and organize all hangers have failed because no one hanger management system will accept and sort all hangers.
At present, to sort hangers, boxes of various materials and sizes are used at point of sale. Hangers removed by sales clerks are thrown into these boxes. When full, the boxes of hangers are removed to the back of the retail establishment, the hangers untangled and sorted for re-use. This method is the most frequently used system and the most costly from the standpoint of labor costs, efficiency and broken hanger expense.
A hair-pin fixture sorting method uses a metal fixture consisting of two metal hoops, one shorter than the other. The hanger hook is placed in the tallest hoop and hanger arms are placed between the two hoops. This method makes no attempt to align hooks or separate hooks by style. This system is only slightly superior to the box sorting method because of tangling of hangers, broken hangers still exist and re-sorting is still necessary.
The bar sorting system uses three to six bars approximately 24 inches long. Each bar is designated for a specific hanger type and sortation results to some degree, dependent completely on employee discipline. In operation, serious problems develop if foam rubber hold downs unlock in which case all hangers can fall off the bars during transfer from a bar rack at a point of sale to a rolling rack for transfer to a back room. Bars must be held horizontal and hangers tend to swing out of alignment and frustrate easy loading on rolling racks. This system is the most expensive hanger management system mainly because it has a very elaborate racking system required to hold hangers, its many plastic pieces and foam rubber parts that require replacement.
It has been determined that the critical distance for a hanger is the center of the hanger hook to the shoulders or arms of the hanger. Since this distance varies by style, retail chain dedicated hangers and manufacturer, a number of hanger fixtures are required and designed to accept each particular hanger type. This clearly is unacceptable, costly, confusing and unworkable because of space requirements.
Hanger standardization then would seem to be the only real solution; however, this solution would have to be industry-wide. This apparently will not happen in view of the large investment in the present inventory of retail hangers which would have to be scrapped and replaced with new standardized hangers at a substantial cost. Since the problem remains, the problem to be solved must be how to bring order and efficiency to the tangle and confusion of the costly hanger management problem.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A detailed examination of the multiplicity of hanger styles reveals a startling consistency in the midst of all this confusion. The swivel metal hook on the garment hanger, on 99 percent of all hangers, is standardized.
With this fact in mind, the present invention includes a fixture that aligns the hanger hook in only one direction. In addition, a “glide rod”, a “guide rod” and a “hook guide rod” loosely hold the hanger hooks in a predetermined position on the hanger stacker fixture.
The hanger caddy of the present invention allows hangers to be sorted by style if desired or to be used for acceptance of all styles on one caddy fixture. In the later instance, the various hanger styles can easily be removed when the fixture is hung horizontally by its base, unfastening the top hold clamp and swinging the “hook guide rod” up for clear and easy removal of one or several hangers from the glide rod.
The present invention is designed to accept all garment hangers for the purpose of collecting, organizing and sorting garment hangers for efficient recycling and re-use. These hangers include plastic and metal hangers as well as wood hangers which use a swivel metal hook. Most non-swivel hangers are also accommodated.
The present invention is essentially an efficient hanger management system for both small and large clothing stores and chain stores. Since no other system now offers this capability, this system is truly unique.
The metal fixture of the present invention consists of ⅝″ metal rod construction through-out, having a base configured in a pie-shape to allow four fixtures to occupy approximately a 15″×15″ space which is very space efficient for a retail store.
Two upwardly extending, parallel vertical guide rods extend from the base providing support and stability to the fixture. One of the guide rods guides an arm of the hanger, whereas the other guide rod guides the base of the hook of the hanger.
A glide rod located between the two guide rods, extends 29″ vertically from the base. The top 4 ½ inches of the glide rod become the “neck” of the fixture, providing a projection for the hook of the hanger to easily grab or hook the “glide” rod which after release of the hanger by the employee glides down to the base with one of the arms of the hanger contacting one of the guide rods while the base of the hanger hook contacts the other guide rod.
The top of the glide rod bends back parallel and downwardly 4 ½″. The glide rod is then bent at a 90 degree angle and is welded to a hoop to form a support for the fixture.
A second rod, one of the two “guide rods”, extends upwardly from the base approximately 25 ½ inches where it bends 90 degrees to form the hoop encircling the glide rod, which serves as a carrying handle and a support for the fixture and is connected to the downward projection of the glide rod. The right side of the hoop bends back parallel to the other leg of the hoop and downwardly at 90 degrees to form an axis or pivot connection with the other of the two guides rods, the “hook guide rod”.
The hook guide rod forming the other of the two guide rods extends approximately 25 ½″ from the base. At the base, the hook guide rod is pivotally connected to the bottom of the glide rod. The opposite end of the hook guide rod is pivotally connected to the hoop carrying handle allowing the hook guide rod to swing or pivot away to an open position through 300° of rotation, providing free access to the glide rod for removal of hangers.
The hook guide rod allows easy and efficient access to the hangers that are stacked or gathered on the fixture. It also allows the holding of the hangers in place by engaging the hanger hook and thus holding hangers securely on these fixtures no matter what hanger style is involved.
The tie-down strap or clamp is necessary to secure the hook guide rod in place in a closed position and prevent it from pivoting. This strap or clamp would be secured at all times until the fixture is ready to be placed in a horizontal position and unloaded. A wall mounted bracket is used to hang the fixture from two hooks designed to attach to the base on opposite sides of the glide rod. The strap or clamp would then be disconnected or released and the hook guide rod would be swung up and out of the way giving open access to the hangers.
It should be noted that the bottom axle of the hook guide rod will have a “stop protrusion” that will engage with the toe of the glide rod to maintain the hook guide rod in the open po
Stodola Daniel P.
Tran Khoa
LandOfFree
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