Hanger for use with a hinge

Aug. 17, 1965

3,200,435

G. T. HEMMETER ETAL

HANGER FOR USE WITH A HINGE

Filed May 14. 1963

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ATTORNEYS

3,299,435

Patented Aug. 17, 1965

United States Patent Office

3,200,435

HANGER FOR USE WITH A HINGE

George T. Hemmeier, Los Altos Hills, Calif. (4125 Black Point Road, Honolulu, Hawaii), and William L. Madsen, Mountain View, Calif. (960 Elm St., San Jose, Calif.) Filed May 14, 1963, Ser. No. 280,198

Claim. (CI. 16—137)

Our invention particularly relates to a device which can be temporarily or permanently installed in a room having a door and is useful for hanging of various objects.

Under many circumstances the means for hanging or supporting garments, shoes, towels and other items in a room such as a hotel room or even in some rooms of a house is strictly limited. There is often very little opportunity to compactly hang up and store items of clothing, shoes, towels and other similar objects. Usually when space is ample, these items are accommodated through use of built-in equipment, such as clothes hooks, shoe racks, towel bars, etc.

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a means for providing either temporarily or permanently an additional means for affording support to shoes, garment hangers and the like, particularly immediately adjacent to the place of use of such garments, such as in a bedroom, a bathroom, a hallway door, and so forth.

An object of the invention is to provide a hanger for use with a door hinge in such a fashion that the door hinge is effective as a support for a number of shoes, garments or the like.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a hanger for use with a hinge which can easily and readily be installed without deleteriously affecting the operation of the hinge.

Another object of the invention is to provide a hanger which can be used with a hinge in such a fashion that very elementary tools or no tools at all are requisite for its installation or subsequent removal.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a hanger for use with a hinge of such configuration that no damage results to the surroundings.

Another object of .the invention is to provide a hanger for use with a hinge which is simple and elementary in construction, yet is effective in operation and use.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a hanger for use with a hinge which is of such configuration that it can easily be packed in order to be utilized temporarily in a number of different places, yet which can be permanently installed in one location if desired.

Other objects together with the foregoing are attained in the embodiments of the invention described in the accompanying description and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is an elevation of a portion of a room door and its surroundings showing a hanger pursuant to the invention in use in connection with the door hinge;

FIGURE 2 is a cross section, the plane of which is indicated by the line 2—2 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a view similar to FIGURE 2, but showing an installation in a door of opposite hand; and

FIGURE 4 is an isometric view of a different form of hanger used for shoes.

In the usual location of use, there is provided a door frame 6 of the customary sort with which a door panel 7 cooperates. The door panel is designed to be swung about a vertical axis by reason of a hinge comprising two portions 8 and 9 which are interfitted and are normally held for relative rotation by the customary hinge pin, not shown. One of the portions 8 is secured to the door panel 7, while the other portion 9 is secured to the door frame 6. The relationship is such that the hinge axis is out of or is displaced from the general vertical plane of the door panel 7.

Pursuant to the invention, the hinge pin normally provided is first removed from its location within the interfitted members 8 and 9. In place of the removed pin, there is inserted a rod 11. This is bent to afford a vertically extending portion 12 of such a length and diameter as to serve as a substitute or replacement for the removed hinge pin. The portion 12 acts as a pivot pin or hinge pin, working smoothly with the members 8 and 9.

The rod 11 has a bend 13 between the vertical portion 12 and a horizontal portion 14 which is of a length somewhat short of the width of the door panel 7, but is long enough to accommodate a reasonable number of hooks or other comparable devices. Preferably, the portion 14, being relatively straight, is not quite radial relative to the hinge since it is interposed between an offset 16 and a rather sharply inturned end 17.

The offset 16 begins radially of the hinge but is bent so that with the inturned end 17 the portion 14 is spaced a substantial distance from the door, so that the customary hooks which rest on the portion 14 do not come directly into contact with the door. This prevents marring of the material of the door panel. For the same reason, the inturned end 17 is conveniently capped by a rubber tip 18 so that it can swing against and abut the panel 7 without any damage.

In use, a number of garment supporting devices, such as hangers with hooks, are simply dropped over the rod and depend therefrom. The rod is adequately strong to retain this extra weight which is transmitted to the hinge members 8 and 9. These are of sufficient strength to take this load.

In some instances, the offset portion 16 is in a different direction with respect to the vertical portion 12. This is so that the device can more readily be utilized with doors of the opposite hand. As particularly shown in FIGURE 3, when the hinge 21 is of the opposite hand, then the offset 22 is opposite or is in mirror symmetry with the offset 16 and the inturned portion 23 is likewise in an opposite direction from that of the inturned portion 17. Otherwise, the device of FIGURE 2 and the device of FIGURE 3 are substantially the same.

As another form of device, the hinge members 24 and 26 sometimes project substantially from the door panel 27. In this case the rod 28 need not be provided with any offset portion nor any inturned portion, but can, if desired, and particularly to fit a hinge of this character, be provided with a reduced vertical portion 29. This results in a shoulder 31 to hold the rod in the hinge construction and to serve as a thrust bearing for the weight imposed upon the hinge by the load on the rod. This rod is also provided with a soft tip 32 to avoid marring. At appropriate intervals along its length the rod is provided with relatively shallow grooves 33 extending circumferentially. Wire hooks 34 of a customary shoe hanger configuration can be spaced apart, each in its own groove 33, and hence shoes can be supported over these hooks and therefore cannot bunch up in any one location. This shoe hanger construction is as shown in FIGURE 4. Wire hooks of proper configuration as shown in FIGURE 4 can be installed on pin hangers formed as shown in FIGURES 1, 2 and 3.

Any of these forms of device can be packed readily with customary luggage and can be installed temporarily in a room merely by slipping out the previously provided hinge pin and slipping in the vertical portion of the hanger. A reverse operation permits restoration of the door and hinge structure to its original condition. If desired, the installation can be left permanently. In this fashion, there has been provided a hanger for use with

3,200,435 a hinge effective to augment the hanging and storage capacity of a room.