Supports: racks – Specially mounted – Wall or window
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-13
2001-02-20
Chin-Shue, Alvin (Department: 3634)
Supports: racks
Specially mounted
Wall or window
Reexamination Certificate
active
06189708
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a device that suspends articles in a wall opening such as a door or a window, and which may also be used to suspend articles from open floor joists, such as are present in an unfinished basement or the like, or from open rafters, such as are present in an unfinished attic or the like.
2. Description of Related Art
It is often necessary or desirable to hang articles, such as clothing, towels or the like, in an opening such as a window or doorway. In particular, after laundering such articles, it is often necessary or desirable to suspend them for a period of time to dry. An opening such as a doorway or window is an ideal place to hang articles for drying because, in general, there is a relatively high airflow through such openings, and the suspended, wet articles will not contact a wall surface and cause moisture damage to the wall surface.
Doorways and windows are typically surrounded by a decorative trim, or molding. The top trim member across a doorway or window is sometimes used to suspend hangers holding clothing articles or the like. However, this arrangement is unstable, and the hangers can easily become dislodged.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It would be advantageous to provide a device that stably suspends articles in an opening such as a doorway or a window.
In one aspect, this invention provides an article suspending device that suspends an article, such as a clothing article or the like, in an opening in a wall such as a doorway or the like. The article suspending device includes an article suspending portion that lies in a first plane, at least one stand-off portion connected to the article suspending portion and having at least a section that extends away from one side of the first plane, and at least one mounting leg having a connection end that is connected to the at least one stand-off portion. The at least one mounting leg extends in a direction skew to a longitudinal axis of the article suspending portion and lies in a second plane that is perpendicular to the first plane. The at least one mounting leg has a shape such that a fastener can protrude from the at least one mounting leg directly into the wall. The at least one stand-off portion does not extend in a direction away from the other side the first plane, and the connection end of the at least one mounting leg is spaced from the first plane by at least a distance equal to a width of a trim member that is typically mounted over a doorway or other wall opening.
In another aspect, this invention provides an article suspending device that includes a tubular article suspending portion that lies in a first plane, at least one tubular stand-off portion connected to the article suspending portion and having at least a section that extends away from one side of the first plane, and at least one tubular mounting leg having a connection end that is connected to the at least one stand-off portion. The at least one mounting leg extends in a direction skew to a longitudinal axis of the tubular article suspending portion and lies in a second plane that is perpendicular to the first plane. The at least one tubular stand-off portion does not extend in a direction away from another side of the first plane.
In yet another aspect, this invention provides a method of providing an article suspending device above an opening in a wall. The method includes providing an article suspending device that has an article suspending portion that lies in a first plane, at least one stand-off portion connected to the article suspending portion and having at least a section that extends away from one side of the first plane, and at least one mounting leg that extends in a direction skew to a longitudinal axis of the article suspending portion and lies in a second plane that is perpendicular to the first plane. The method further includes mounting the article suspending device on the wall above the opening such that the at least one mounting leg extends in an upward direction and the hanger holding portion is spaced from the wall and substantially horizontal. The method may further include hanging a hanger on the article suspending member.
These and other features and advantages of this invention are described in or are apparent from the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments.
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Chin-Shue Alvin
Oliff & Berridg,e PLC
Purol Sarah
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