Single hand operated collapsing hanger
OwnerKyle L. Baltzinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A garment hanger with particular ease of use advantage when removing or hanging crew neck or turtleneck type shirts or blouses. The hanger provides an easily manipulated and intuitive mechanism for collapsing the garment support portions of the hanger, thus allowing for simple passage through the narrow neck hole of a garment. The hanger further provides an easily manipulated and intuitive mechanism for returning the folded garment support portions to their extended and supportive positions, which can be done with the hanger enveloped within a garment, thus providing an improved means for hanging some shirts or blouses without the need to feed a hanger up through the bottom opening of the garment.
Claims20
A latch mechanism comprising:
- a first body movable in a first direction relative to a second body;
- a latch member secured to the first body and rotatable relative to the first body about a latch axis which is transverse to the first direction, the latch member configured to rotate only in a second direction relative to the first body when latching the latch mechanism and when unlatching the latch mechanism, wherein the latch member is configured to selectively allow or restrict movement of a plunger attached to the second body based upon a relative rotational position of the latch member relative to the first body, thereby selectively permitting or preventing relative movement of the first body in the first direction relative to the second body, wherein the latch member is configured to allow movement of the plunger and movement of the first body in the first direction relative to the second body in response to significant force of the plunger acting upon the latch member.
A garment hanger comprising:
- a central portion;
- a first wing including a first garment-supporting upper surface, the first wing extending away from the central portion in a first direction;
- a second wing extending away from the central portion in a second direction opposite the first direction, the second wing including a second garment-supporting upper surface;
- a first lengthening member including a first end and a second end and an extended garment-supporting upper surface between the first end and the second end, the first lengthening member pivotably mounted to the first wing and pivotable relative to the first wing between a retracted position in which the first end is closer than the second end to the central portion and an extended position in which the second end is closer than the first end to the central portion;
- and
- a blocking feature at the first end of the first lengthening member which interrupts a plane of the first garment-supporting upper surface when the first end of the first lengthening member is closer to the central portion.
A collapsing garment hanger comprising:
- a central frame including a hook member for supporting the hanger;
- a first wing extending away from the central frame in a first direction, including a first end pivotably attached to the central frame and a second end away from the central frame, the first wing including a first garment-supporting surface and a first cam surface opposite the first garment-supporting surface between the first end and the second end;
- a second wing extending away from the central frame in a second direction opposite the first direction, the second wing including a second garment-supporting surface;
- a shuttle attached to the central frame, the shuttle slidable relative to the central frame between a first position and a second position, such that movement of the shuttle from the first position to the second position causes the first wing to move from a collapsed position to an extended position via contact of the shuttle with the first cam surface of the first wing, wherein the first shuttle moves along a line from the first position to the second position, wherein the line is between the first end and the second end of the first wing.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.