EP0703744B1

EP0703744B1 - Clothes hanger

Info

Publication number: EP0703744B1
Application number: EP94916455A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Gustav Wegscheider
Original assignee: Karner-Batts AB
Current assignee: KARNER-BATTS AB
Priority date: 1993-05-13
Filing date: 1994-05-11
Publication date: 1999-04-14
Anticipated expiration: 2014-05-11
Also published as: SE9301645L; DE69417886T2; DE69417886D1; SE9301645D0; WO1994026155A1; EP0703744A1; AU6810394A; SE500575C2

Abstract

A clothes hanger has a central piece (2), a suspension hook (3) connected to the central piece, two end pieces (4, 5) which are displaceable in the central piece and whose respective outer ends have a grip portion (6, 7) for engaging an article of clothing, a spring (8) so arranged in the central piece that a first end thereof is applied against a first abutment (9) connected to the central piece and that a second end thereof is applied against a second abutment (10) connected to one end piece, cooperating first stop lugs (11, 12) provided on the central piece and on said one end piece for restricting the degree of projection of the end piece from the central piece, and a motion-transmitting means (19, 20, 21) which, when said one end piece is displaced, brings about a corresponding displacement of the other end piece. The first abutment (9) can be displaced in the longitudinal direction of the central piece (2) and locked in a plurality of positions (13-17). The stop lug (11) on the central piece is arranged on the first abutment. As a result, the spring (8) and said one end piece (4) will, when the first abutment is displaced between said positions, also be displaced in the central piece, thereby enabling the clothes hanger to be adapted to different-sized articles of clothing.

Description

This invention relates to a clothes hanger having a central piece, a suspension hook connected to the central piece, two end pieces which are displaceable in the central piece and whose respective outer ends have a grip portion for engaging an article of clothing, a spring so arranged in the central piece that a first end thereof is applied against a first abutment connected to the central piece and that a second end thereof is applied against a second abutment connected to one end piece, cooperating first stop lugs provided on the central piece and on said one end piece for restricting the degree of projection of the end piece from the central piece, and a motion-transmitting means which, when said one end piece is displaced, brings about a corresponding displacement of the other end piece. The invention further concerns a clothes hanger equipped with one spring for each end piece, as defined in preamble of claim 3.
Such clothes hangers are often used for hanging up skirts, in which case the end pieces are pressed against the waistband by the action of the spring. Since the end pieces can be displaced in the central piece, the hanger may be adapted to different-sized skirts. Such a hanger, which is equipped with one spring for each end piece, in known from WO-A-86/04797. However, such a hanger may actually be used for only a few skirt sizes, and the manufacturer is thus compelled to produce hangers of many different sizes in order to meet the demand of the ready-made clothing industry, as well as of wholesalers and shops. Thus, there is a demand for a skirt hanger that can be adjusted to different ranges of skirt sizes. A range of sizes is meant to encompass a few neighbouring sizes.
Efforts have previously been made to meet this demand. Thus, WO 90/10408 teaches a hanger that can be used for the whole range of sizes from 8 to 20. In this hanger, the one end piece has a sawtooth portion engaging a spring-loaded locking means. When the hanger is to be adjusted to a certain size, the end piece is pulled outwards without being affected by the locking means or the spring. However, the degree of insertion of the end piece is restricted by the locking means to the distance of displacement thereof in the central piece. Also, this hanger has the disadvantage that the user may alter the hanger setting by pulling the end piece. Furthermore, the hanger is disadvantageous in providing a fairly small distance of displacement of the end piece when setting the hanger, and in having the locking means arranged on the upper side of the central piece so as to increase the risk of inadvertently changing the setting.
The effective range of the hanger is determined by the length of the central piece and the maximum degree of projection of the end pieces. Within this range, the spring or springs operate along essentially the entire spring curve. When the spring or springs are compressed, the spring force is so considerable that the cloth of the article of clothing may be stretched, which of course is undesirable. When the spring or springs are extended, the spring force is less considerable, and there is even a risk that the article of clothing may fall off the hanger. Even though the conventional skirt hanger in theory should be adaptable to a plurality of skirt sizes, it is actually restricted to but a few.
The basic object of the invention is to provide a hanger that can be adjusted to different size ranges for articles of clothing, there being no risk of resetting as a result of careless handling.
Another object of the invention is to use the spring in such a manner that the spring force is the same for all size ranges.
This object is obtained through the arrangement according to claims 1 and 3. Preferred embodiments of the clothes hangers are set out in dependent claims 2 and 4.
The invention will be described in more detail below with the aid of an embodiment, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which
Fig. 1 is a partly sectional side view, taken along line I-I in Fig. 2, of an inventive skirt hanger which is so set as to be suited for the largest skirt sizes,
Fig. 2 is a bottom view of the skirt hanger in Fig. 1,
Fig. 3 is a view of the skirt hanger in Fig. 1, but shows the hanger so set as to be suited for smaller sizes, the end pieces being pressed against the central piece against the action of the spring, and
Figs 4a, b and c are views from different sides of a first abutment intended for the spring and displaceable in the central piece.
Fig. 1 shows a clothes hanger 1 having a box-like central piece 2 with a top 37, side walls 38, 39 (Fig. 2) and a bottom 40. The central piece is composed of two identical halves which, after mounting of the components described below, such as end pieces, gear wheels, springs and abutments, are joined by gluing or ultrasonic welding at the top 37 and the bottom 40. Alternatively, the two halves may be screwed together. A suspension hook 3, by means of which the clothes hanger is to be suspended from the clothes rack (not shown), is fixedly connected to the top 37 of the central piece. Guide strips 22, 23 and 24, which extend perpendicularly from the side walls 39 and 40, are arranged inside the central piece. These guide strips are intended to guide the end pieces 4 and 5 in the central piece. A gear wheel 19 is rotatably mounted in the middle of the central piece and adapted to engage the end pieces, as will be described in more detail below.
As appears from Fig. 2, the bottom of the central piece has a guide slot 29 extending from the middle of the central piece 2 a distance towards the opening where the end piece projects from the central piece. The length of the guide slot determines the number of skirt sizes for which the hanger may be used. The guide slot has five broad portions or recesses 13-17 constituting the setting positions of a first abutment 9, which will be described further below.
The end pieces 4 and 5 consist of an inner part 27 and 28, respectively, and an outer part 25 and 26, respectively. The outer parts 25 and 26 are each connected to a grip portion 6 and 7, respectively, as appears from Fig. 3. Each end piece has a rack portion 20 and 21, respectively, on its inner part. The rack portions are adapted to engage the gear wheel 19 in such a manner that a displacement of one of the end pieces, either inwards or outwards, will result in a corresponding displacement of the other end piece through the transmission composed of the rack portions 20 and 21 and the gear wheel 19.
The first abutment 9 can be displaced in the guide slot 29 for adjusting the skirt hanger to different size ranges. The structure of the first abutment is illustrated most clearly in Fig. 4. Thus, the first abutment 9 consists of an abutment portion 30 constituting the one abutment for a compression spring 8 arranged in the central piece. A guide portion 31 of the abutment is formed with guide grooves 33 which are adapted to accommodate the bottom 40 on both sides of the guide slot 29 in order to enable the displacement of the abutment in the longitudinal direction of the central piece. The abutment is locked by means of a locking portion 32 with an elastic tongue 34 and a locking lug 35, as well as an operative means 36. When the locking lug 35 is located opposite to any one of the recesses 13-17, the elastic tongue 34 presses the locking lug down into this recess, and the abutment can no longer be displaced in the guide slot 29. By pressing the operative means 36 inwards towards the bottom 40, the locking lug 35 is pushed upwards to a level above the bottom and thus releases the abutment 9, which then can be moved to another setting position.
A second abutment 10 is arranged on the inner part 27 of the end piece 4. The second abutment consists of a plate which projects perpendicularly from the inner part 27 and which, when the end piece is inserted into the central piece 2, is located opposite to the abutment portion 30 of the first abutment 9. The plate 10 constitutes the second abutment of the spring 8. A first stop lug 12 on the end piece projects from the inner part 27 in order to engage a stop lug 11 on the abutment portion 30 of the first abutment when the end piece 4 is in an outer end position. The cooporation of the two stop lugs 11 and 12 prevents further projection of the end piece.
In order that the spring 8 be operative along the flat part of its spring curve, a second stop lug 18 is arranged on the inner part of the end piece between the second abutment 10 and the first stop lug 12. When the end piece 4 is inserted into the central piece and the spring 8 thus is compressed, the compression of the spring is restricted by the engagement of the stop lug 18 with the stop lug 11 on the first abutment.
The fairly small effective range of the end piece is compensated for by the fact that the first abutment can be displaced in the central piece. Figs 1 and 3 show, respectively, the outer limit and the inner limit of the effective range of the skirt hanger. In the illustrated embodiment, the distance between these two limits is 105 mm. In a conventional hanger with a fixed abutment in the central piece, the distance between the outer and the inner limit is 80 mm at the most. By displacing the first abutment between the setting positions 13-17, five different size ranges can be set. Each range is 35 mm broad, and neighbouring ranges overlap by approximately half the range width.
As mentioned in the foregoing, the end piece 5 is synchronised with the end piece 4 via the transmission 19, 20 and 21. Consequently, the end piece 5 does not require any spring and stop lug arrangement.
By simply operating the first abutment 9, the hanger can be adjusted to different size ranges without any risk of the setting being subsequently altered by mistake as a result of tampering with the end pieces, as is the case in the hanger according WO 90/10408 described by way of introduction.

Claims

A clothes hanger having a central piece (2), a suspension hook (3) connected to the central piece, two end pieces (4, 5) which are displaceable in the central piece and whose respective outer ends have a grip portion (6, 7) for engaging an article of clothing, a spring (8) so arranged in the central piece that a first end thereof is applied against a first abutment (9) connected to the central piece and a second end thereof is applied against a second abutment (10) connected to one end piece, cooperating first stop lugs (11, 12) provided on the central piece and on said one end piece for restricting the degree of projection of the end piece from the central piece, and a motion-transmitting means (19, 20, 21) which, when said one end piece is displaced, brings about a corresponding displacement of the other end piece,
characterised in that the first abutment (9) is displaceable in the longitudinal direction of the central piece (2) and lockable in a plurality of positions (13-17) along the longitudinal direction of the central piece (2), and that the stop lug (11) on the central piece is provided on the first abutment such that said spring (8) and said one end piece (4), upon displacement of the first abutment between said positions, also are displaced in the central piece, thereby enabling the clothes hanger to be adapted to different-sized articles of clothing.
A clothes hanger as set forth in claim 1,
characterised in that a second stop lug (18) is arranged on said one end piece (4) between the first stop lug (12) and the second abutment (10) to restrict the degree of insertion of the end piece into the central piece (2).
A clothes hanger having a central piece, a suspension hook connected to the central piece, two end pieces which are displaceable in the central piece and whose respective outer ends have a grip portion for engaging an article of clothing, two springs so arranged in the central piece that each spring is applied with a first end against a first abutment connected to the central piece and with a second end against a second abutment connected to a respective end piece, and cooperating first stop lugs provided on the central piece and on the end pieces for restricting the degree of projection of the end pieces from the central piece,
characterised in that each of said first abutments is displaceable in the longitudinal direction of the central piece and lockable in a plurality of positions along the longitudinal direction of the central piece (2), and that the stop lugs on the central piece are arranged on the respective first abutments such that said springs and said end pieces, upon displacement of the first abutments between said positions, being also displaced in the central piece, thereby enabling the clothes hanger to be adapted to different-sized articles of clothing.
The clothes hanger as set forth in claim 3,
characterised in that a second stop lug is arranged on each end piece between the first stop lug and the second abutment to restrict the degree of insertion of the end pieces into the central piece.