Apparel apparatus – Garment hangers – Skirt or trousers
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-22
2001-07-17
Mohanty, Bibhu (Department: 3741)
Apparel apparatus
Garment hangers
Skirt or trousers
C223S091000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06260747
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an apparatus configured to support garment, particularly trousers and towels.
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
Most garment hangers comprises of a hook, two supporting arms, extending in opposite directions from a medial portion, and a horizontal supporting bar connecting the two remote ends of the supporting arms to form a triangular frame. While the two supporting arms are configured to support the shoulder portion of a shirt or jacket, the supporting bar is used for hanging a pair of trousers or towel. The disadvantage of a single supporting bar is that the trousers wrap over the supporting bar tends to slip and fall during movement. In order to hang the trousers, the user is required to dress the trousers through the center hole of the triangular frame and then properly align the trousers on the supporting bar. This operation is quite inconvenient. It is the objective of the subject invention to provide a cost effective improved design of trousers supporting bars to facilitate putting the trousers onto the hanger and to provide reliable non-slipping function.
The prior art is replete with various configurations of garment hangers with dual supporting bars structured for hanging trousers and to provide non-slipping function. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2.226,786; 2,244,355; 2,340,320; 2,347,949; 2,420,196; 3,201,016; 3,402,866; 4,895,283; 5,040,707 and 5,137,191 exemplify such constructions.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to a garment hanger configured with two supporting bars for supporting trousers or towels. The design objective of this invention is to provide a cost-effective solution for an easy to use and non-slipping trousers supporting hanger.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the trousers supporting hanger comprises two supporting bars. The first supporting bar is a horizontal stationary bar, which is part of the hanger frame. Usually the hanger frame is also connected with a hook or an alternate suspension member. The second supporting bar is a movable bar configured to comfortably supporting a pair of trousers or a towel. On one end of the stationary supporting bar is a first vertical supporting portion connected to the upper part of the hanger frame. This portion is connected to a terminal end of the movable supporting bar by a design which allows the movable bar to swing, or rotate freely about the vertical supporting portion as the axis of rotation. When an user holds the hanger frame with one hand and slightly tilted the hanger forward, the movable supporting bar will swing by the gravitational force. The other terminal end of the movable supporting bar then becomes an open end ready to receive a pair of trousers. The freely rotational trousers supporting bar is difficult to manage with one hand operation. In order to facilitate the operation, it is a secondary objective of the invention to provide a structural design to limit the angle of the swing, stopping the movable bar at a convenient rotational angle for the user to dress the trousers onto the movable supporting bar. With this stopper, the user is not required to hold the movable supporting bar, while be able to manage the position of the movable supporting bar with the hand that holds the hanger frame. This design set free the other hand of the user to fetch the trousers and align it properly onto the movable supporting bar.
Once the trousers are properly positioned onto the movable supporting bar, the user may lift up the open end of the movable supporting bar and bring it to a locking position located proximate to the other terminal end of the fixed supporting bar. There are various kinds of locking and release design suitable to serve this purpose. It is another objective of this invention to introduce a simple, low cost and easy to operate lock and release mechanism for the two supporting bars to engage or disengage. It is yet another objective of the invention to provide a low cost design enabling the two supporting bars to hold the trousers and prevent it from slipping during movement. In a preferred embodiment, the stationary supporting bar comprises a second supporting portion connected to the hanger frame. This second supporting portion is structured to provide an upper portion and a lower portion in the shape of a step. The upper supporting portion provides a span wider than the length of the movable supporting bar and therefore allowing the movable supporting bar to move around, or swing to a wide open position to receive a pair of trousers. The lower supporting portion provides a span shorter than the effective length of the movable trousers supporting bar, thus restraining the movement of the movable supporting bar. At the end of the open end terminal of the movable supporting bar is provided with a latch, a slot or any mechanical design enabling the movable supporting bar to engage the lower supporting portion of the stationary supporting bar.
Another characteristics of the preferred embodiment is that once placed in a locking position, the two ends of the movable supporting bar are restrained from moving except into the upward direction. With this design, the trousers supporting bars is self adjusted to support trousers or towel of different thickness. The free vertical movement of the trousers supporting bar also helps to create a pressure to clamp the trousers with the two supporting bars, with the movable supporting bar on top of the trousers, and stationary one at the bottom. The pressure formed is defined by the weight of the movable supporting bar and also the gravitational weight of the trousers. The higher the force pulling the trousers in the downward direction, the higher is the pressure inserted onto the movable supporting bar to hold the trousers in position. The locking and release design allowing free vertical movement is thus a preferred characteristic to support the non-slip function. It is therefore anticipated that the preferred embodiments of the invention comprise the following characteristics, such as the freely rotational supporting bar, free vertical movement of the rotational mechanism, the easy to operate lock and release mechanism combining with the free vertical movement at the locking mechanism, and the stopper helping to control the position of the movable supporting bar in the unlock position, just with the hand holding the hanger frame. All these elements contribute to a cost effective and better-performed trousers supporting hanger.
Although detailed embodiments of the invention have been disclosed, it is recognized that variations and modifications, all within the spirit of the invention, will occur to those skilled in the art. It is accordingly intended that all such variations and modifications be encompassed by the appended claims.
REFERENCES:
patent: 835481 (1906-11-01), Taylor
patent: 1792236 (1931-02-01), Olson
patent: 2104305 (1938-01-01), Marble
patent: 3411680 (1968-11-01), Lundeen
patent: 3435999 (1969-04-01), Mantell
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