U.S. patent application number 11/074302 was filed with the patent office on 2006-01-19 for three-piece swimwear hanger.
Invention is credited to Andrew Appell, Joseph Pluchino, Erlon Stein Ritzmann.
Application Number | 20060011670 11/074302 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 35598402 |
Filed Date | 2006-01-19 |
United States Patent
Application |
20060011670 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Pluchino; Joseph ; et
al. |
January 19, 2006 |
Three-piece swimwear hanger
Abstract
A garment hanger for hanging multiple garments in a garment set
includes a hook member, a body member extending downwardly from the
hook member, and first and second support arms extending outwardly
from the body member. Each of the first and second support arms
also includes an elongated slot accessible at a surface of its
respective arm. First and second resilient clips extend downwardly
from the support arms, and a central member is positioned between
the first and second resilient clips. First and second resilient
jaws extend downwardly from the central member, and are positioned
below the first and second resilient clips. An additional jaw
member is positioned between said first and second resilient jaws
and extends downwardly from the central member.
Inventors: |
Pluchino; Joseph; (Mount
Olive, NJ) ; Ritzmann; Erlon Stein; (New City,
NY) ; Appell; Andrew; (Woodmere, NY) |
Correspondence
Address: |
KATTEN MUCHIN ROSENMAN LLP
575 MADISON AVENUE
NEW YORK
NY
10022-2585
US
|
Family ID: |
35598402 |
Appl. No.: |
11/074302 |
Filed: |
March 3, 2005 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
60549693 |
Mar 3, 2004 |
|
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|
Current U.S.
Class: |
223/85 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A47G 25/48 20130101;
A47G 25/16 20130101; A47G 2025/1485 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
223/085 |
International
Class: |
A41D 27/22 20060101
A41D027/22 |
Claims
1. garment hanger comprising: a hook member; a body member
extending downwardly from said hook member; first and second
support arms extending outwardly from said body member, each of
said first and second support arms including an elongated slot
accessible at a surface of said arm; first and second resilient
clips respectively extending downwardly from said first and second
support arms; a central member, said central member being
positioned between said first and second resilient clips; first and
second resilient jaws extending downwardly from said central member
below said first and second resilient clips; and a jaw member
positioned between said first and second resilient jaws and
extending downwardly from said central member.
2. The garment hanger of claim 1, further comprising: a side sizer
positioned between said hook member and said body.
3. The garment hanger of claim 1, wherein said elongated slots of
said first and second support arms are each accessible at an upper
surface of a respective one of said first and second support
arms.
4. The garment hanger of claim 1, wherein each of said first and
second resilient clips includes an edge profile having at least one
portion that is wavy.
5. The garment hanger of claim 4, wherein said edge profile has a
rounded portion at a free end of each respective resilient
clip.
6. The garment hanger of claim 1, wherein movable members in each
of said first and second resilient clips are movable forward and
rearward relative to a plane defined by said first and second
support arms.
7. The garment hanger of claim 1, wherein said first and second
downwardly extending resilient jaws extend outwardly from a
vertical axis of said garment hanger.
8. The garment hanger of claim 1, wherein said first and second
downwardly extending resilient jaws each outwardly-separating teeth
for gripping a garment held therebetween.
9. The garment hanger of claim 1, wherein said jaw member further
includes outwardly-separating teeth fro gripping a garment held
therebetween.
10. The garment hanger of claim 1, wherein said garment hanger is
configured for displaying a swimwear garment set including a top, a
bottom and a skirt.
11. The garment hanger of claim 10, wherein said elongated slots
are configure to hold a neck strap of the top, said first and
second resilient clips are configured to hold a waistband of the
bottom, and said first and second resilient jaws and said jaw
member are configured to hold the skirt.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] The present application claims priority under 35
U.S.C..sctn. 119(e) from U.S. Ser. No. 60/549,693, entitled
"Three-Piece Swimwear hanger," filed on Mar. 3, 2004. U.S. Ser. No.
60/549,693 was filed by at least one inventor common to the present
application, and is hereby incorporated by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present invention relates to a garment hanger in
general, and more particularly to a hanger capable of accommodating
and displaying multiple garments at the same time.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] Swimwear is often presented and sold in a multi-piece
garment set (including, for example, a swimwear bottom, top and
skirt or cover). Prior art hangers for displaying such
multiple-piece garment sets tend to be very long and/or high to
accommodate the presentation of multiple pieces in the set. Thus,
there exists the need for a swimwear hanger that can display
multiple pieces in less space than has been achieved by prior art
hangers, without sacrificing garment control and/or
presentation.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0004] As taught herein, the present invention provides a garment
hanger suitable for hanging multiple garments in a garment set
together for storage and display. The inventive hanger comprises a
hook member, a body member extending downwardly from the hook
member, and first and second support arms extending outwardly from
the body member. Each of the first and second support arms also
includes an elongated slot accessible at a surface of its
respective arm. First and second resilient clips extend downwardly
from the support arms, and a central member is positioned between
the first and second resilient clips. First and second resilient
jaws extend downwardly from the central member, and are positioned
below the first and second resilient clips. An additional jaw
member is positioned between the first and second resilient jaws
and extends downwardly from the central member.
[0005] As applied to a swimwear set, for example, the elongated
slots may be used to hold the neck straps of a top for positioning
the top, the first and second resilient clips may be used to hold
the waistband of a bottom for positioning the bottom, and the first
and second resilient jaws and jaw member may be used to hold and
position a skirt. In this manner, the garments in the garments set
may be compactly displayed by overlapping the garments in a manner
that maintains relatively complete view of each garment from at
least one of a front side and a back side of the hanger.
[0006] The features of the present invention taught herein enable
the inventive hanger to have a reduced size and profile over prior
art designs for multiple garment hangers. In other words, the
horizontal distance between the ends of the hanger arms and the
overall height of the hanger are reduced over prior art designs,
without sacrificing garment control and/or presentation.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
[0007] A more complete understanding of the invention may be
obtained by reference to the appended drawing in which:
[0008] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the three-piece swimwear
hanger of the present invention;
[0009] FIG. 2 is a front elevation view thereof;
[0010] FIG. 3 is a rear elevation thereof;
[0011] FIG. 4 is a left side elevation thereof;
[0012] FIG. 5 is a right side elevation thereof;
[0013] FIG. 6 is a top view thereof;
[0014] FIG. 7 is a bottom view thereof;
[0015] FIG. 8 is a front elevation view thereof shown with a
swimwear piece being held therein;
[0016] FIG. 9 is a front elevation view thereof shown with an
additional swimwear piece being held therein;
[0017] FIG. 10 is a front elevation view thereof shown with yet an
additional swimwear piece being held therein; and
[0018] FIG. 11 is rear elevation view of the hanger of FIG. 10.
[0019] In the various figures, like reference numerals wherever
possible designate like or similar elements of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0020] The following detailed description is of the best mode or
modes of the invention presently contemplated. Such description is
not intended to be understood in a limiting sense, but to be an
example of the invention presented solely for illustration thereof,
and by reference to which in connection with the following
description and the accompanying drawings one skilled in the art
may be advised of the advantages and construction of the
invention.
[0021] As shown for example in FIG. 2, the hanger 100 of the
present invention generally comprises a support hook 10 with two
outwardly extending support arms 20a. 20b on opposite sides of the
hanger 100 as is know in the art. A side sizer 11 extending between
the support hook 10 and a web 12 between the support hook 10 and a
hanger body 21 may be provided as is also known in the art (see,
e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,687,887 to Bond et al.) to allow a customer
to easily ascertain the size of the garment being held on the
hanger.
[0022] An elongated slot 22a, 22b is provided on each arm 20a, 20b
for accommodating a garment string, such as neck strap 210 of top
200 as shown, for example, in FIGS. 10 and 11. Such slot is usually
provided on an upper surface of the support arm 20a, 20b as shown
for example in FIG. 2.
[0023] A pair of resilient clips 30a, 30b extending downwardly from
an area near the slots 22a, 22b is provided to accommodate a
garment piece, such as the waistband 310 of a swimwear bottom 300
as shown in FIGS. 9-11. Each downwardly-extending clip 30a, 30b has
a sinusoidal (wavy) edge profile 31 and a circular end profile 32
for efficient gripping without imparting sharp edge impressions in
the garments. The clips 30a, 30b move forward and rearward relative
to the hanger 100 as shown in FIG. 2 for example (i.e., into and
out of the paper).
[0024] A pair of outwardly-extending resilient jaws 40a, 40b
extending downwardly and at an angle from the bottom of the hanger
100 is provided to accommodate a garment piece, such a swimwear
skirt 400 as shown in FIGS. 9-11. Such jaws have
outwardly-separating teeth 41 provided to grip the garment held
therein.
[0025] A further single downwardly-extending jaw 50 is provided
along a central member 51 of the hanger (at a position along
central member 51, for example, that is in alignment with the
hanger hook 10, for example, as shown in FIG. 2) for gripping a
garment such as the same garment being gripped by the pair of
outwardly-extending resilient jaws 40a, 40b discussed above (see,
e.g., FIG. 9). Such single jaw 50 could work in conjunction with
the above-described pair of outwardly-extending jaws 401, 40b to
securely grip a single garment at multiple locations.
[0026] As shown in the FIGS. 9-11, the hanger 100 of the present
invention allows a customer to clearly view all garments without
having to move or remove garments from the hanger. Prior art
hangers capable of holding multiple garments have usually been
designed so that some of the smaller garments are hidden by the
larger garments. However, with the hanger of the present invention,
even the smallest garment, such as the swimwear bottom 300 shown in
FIG. 11, is in plain view. For example, the swimwear bottom 300 and
skirt 400 are shown most clearly in FIG. 11, while the top 200 is
shown most clearly in FIG. 10. Thus, a consumer is only required to
twirl or flip the hanger 100 around to view the front and back of
the hanger 100 to view the entirety of the multi-piece garment 200,
300, 400 held thereon, such that movement and/or removal of
garments is not necessary to view all pieces.
[0027] Furthermore, the positioning and orientation of the clips
30a, 30b, slots 22a, 22b and jaws 40a, 40b, 50 as described above
and shown in the drawings enables easy access to a consumer.
Removal of any garment simply requires a forceful tug from the
clips/jaws 30a, 30b, 40a, 40b, 50, or movement of a strap from the
slots 22a, 22b. Accordingly, operating pinching clips (which may be
difficult for some people to operate), removing tape, dismantling
the garment or the like is not necessary for using the hanger of
the invention.
[0028] In addition, the orientation and positioning of the clips
30a, 30b, slots 22a, 22b and jaws 40a, 40b, 50, and the manner in
which garments are secured thereto, enables the hanger to have a
reduced size and profile. In other words, the horizontal distance
between the ends of the hanger arms and the overall height of the
hanger can be reduced without sacrificing garment control and/or
presentation. Prior art hangers for displaying multiple garments
tend to be very long and/or high to accommodate the presentation of
multiple pieces. Of course, such orientation and positioning of the
holding members such as the slots, clips and jaws, may be modified
as required by the user and/or manufacturer but without departing
from the scope and requirements of the present invention.
[0029] While the present invention has been described at some
length and with some particularity with respect to the described
embodiments, it is not intended that it should be limited to any
such particulars or embodiments or any particular embodiment, but
it is to be construed so as to provide the broadest possible
interpretation and to effectively encompass the intended scope of
the invention. Furthermore, the foregoing describes the invention
in terms of embodiments foreseen by the inventor for which an
enabling description was available, notwithstanding that
insubstantial modifications of the invention, not presently
foreseen, may nonetheless represent equivalents thereto.
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