Laundry hanger with foldable hanger arms

Description

[0001] The invention relates to a clothes hanger with foldable arms.

[0002] These types of clothes hangers are used in laundries and dry cleaners to transport garments between different processing stations. They typically consist of a housing with a hook, inside or on which two foldable arms are attached. An operating mechanism is located within the housing to hold the arms in an extended position or to fold them in. Many of these clothes hangers are also equipped with an additional clip for holding trousers, skirts, or similar items.

[0003] From CN 105 520 488 A, a clothes hanger of this type is known, comprising two hanger arms hinged to a housing and a release mechanism located on the housing. The release mechanism is movable between an upper locking position for holding the hanger arms in a folded-up transport position and a lower release position for pivoting the hanger arms into a folded-down removal position. Each hanger arm has a holding device with at least one holding element movable between a closed and an open position by means of a coupling drive. The coupling drive consists of push rods arranged between a wedge-shaped lower end of the release mechanism and the holding elements such that, when the release mechanism is pressed down while the hanger arms are still folded up, the holding elements are initially opened by the wedge-shaped lower end of the release mechanism via the push rods.However, when the bracket arms move into the folded-down position, the retaining elements also move back into the closed position.

[0004] Further clothes hangers with fold-down arms are known from FR 2 773 449 A1 and FR 2 775 174 A1.

[0005] The object of the invention is to create a clothes hanger of the type mentioned above, from which the safe removal of the laundry items is ensured.

[0006] This problem is solved by a clothes hanger having the features of claim 1. Advantageous embodiments and further developments of the invention are specified in the dependent claims.

[0007] The clothes hanger according to the invention comprises two hanger arms hinged to a housing and a release mechanism located on or within the housing. This release mechanism is movable between an upper locking position for holding the hanger arms in a folded-up transport position and a lower release position for pivoting the hanger arms into a folded-down removal position. Each of the two hanger arms has at least one holding device with at least one holding element for holding trousers, skirts, or the like, which is movable between a closed and an open position by means of a coupling drive. The coupling drive has pull elements that are coupled to the release mechanism and connected to the holding elements for their operation. The pull elements of the coupling drive can, for example, be designed as pull rods or as pull cables guided around pulleys.The retaining elements are coupled to the release mechanism via the coupling drive in such a way that, even when the hanger arms are still folded up, the release mechanism moves the retaining elements from the upper locking position to the lower release position. This opening movement of the retaining elements continues continuously as the hanger arms move into the folded-down removal position. The coupling drive ensures that the additional retaining elements can be opened not only when the hanger arms move into the folded-down removal position, but also while the hanger arms are still in the folded-up transport position. Even if a garment is not properly tensioned on the retaining elements, the retaining elements can be opened simply by pressing down the release mechanism, without the hanger arms folding down.When the release mechanism is further activated and the hanger arms fold in, the holding elements move continuously via the coupling drive into a fully open position, thus ensuring safe removal of the garments.

[0008] In a structurally simple and practical design, the holding devices arranged on the bracket arms can be designed as slot-shaped receptacles with a clamp-shaped holding element that pivots around an axis between a closed and an open position. The holding devices can also be designed as retaining clips, retaining brackets, or the like. One holding device can be arranged on each bracket arm. If required, however, two or more jointly operable holding elements can also be provided on the bracket arms.

[0009] The retaining elements are conveniently pressed into the holding position by springs and pulled into the open position by the tension elements connected to the release mechanism. These springs also exert a restoring force on the hanger arms, which automatically unfolds them after the garments have been removed. This eliminates the need for a separate unfolding step.

[0010] The pull rods are conveniently connected at their outer ends to the retaining elements via a pivot pin and a slotted hole. This allows the retaining elements to be moved manually into an open position.

[0011] The pull rods can be connected at their inner ends via a gear with teeth on both sides of a release mechanism trigger that is slidably arranged within the housing. This allows the movement of the release mechanism and the folding movement of the bracket arms to be converted into an opening and closing movement of the retaining elements.

[0012] The release mechanism, which interacts with both the pull rods and the pull cables, can advantageously include a lower locking section that holds the lever arms in the folded-up transport position when the release mechanism is in its upper locking position. The lower locking section of the release mechanism can have lateral contact surfaces for contact with stop surfaces on the inner ends of the lever arms, which are rotatably mounted within the housing.

[0013] A retaining clip for securing trousers or similar items can be attached to the lower side of the housing. However, the clothes hanger can also be used without the additional retaining clip.

[0014] In a cost-effective version, the ironing arms can be made of plastic. However, the ironing arms can also be made of metal or another suitable material.

[0015] Further features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment with reference to the drawing. The drawing shows: Figure 1 a partially cut-out front view of a first embodiment of a clothes hanger with unfolded hanger arms; Figure 2 a bar arm of the in Figure 1 clothes hanger shown in an unfolded transport position with a retaining element in a closed position; Figure 3 the ironing arm of Figure 2in an unfolded transport position with manually opened retaining element; Figure 4 the ironing arm of Figure 2 in an extended transport position with a holding element opened via the release mechanism; Figure 5 the ironing arm of Figure 2 in a folded-in removal position and with the holding element open; Figure 6 a second embodiment of a clothes hanger and Figure 7 a third embodiment of a clothes hanger.

[0016] In Figure 1 A first embodiment of a clothes hanger according to the invention is shown in a partially cutaway front view. As can be seen from Figure 1As can be seen, the clothes hanger contains a housing 1 in which two hanger arms 2 are pivotally arranged about a pivot axis or pivot pin 3 between a folded-up transport position and a folded-down removal position. In the illustrated embodiment, the housing 1 consists of two housing halves connected to each other by screws or the like. The two housing halves can also be glued or welded together. An upwardly projecting hanger hook 4 is arranged in the housing 1, which serves to attach the clothes hanger to a conveyor or transport device. In the embodiment shown in the drawing, the hanger hook 4 is bent from a steel wire and fixed at its lower end inside the housing 1.

[0017] The housing 1 contains a release mechanism 5, which is movable between an upper locking position for securing the bracket arms 2 in a folded-up transport position and a lower release position for pivoting the bracket arms 2 into a folded-down removal position. The release mechanism 5 comprises a release 6 slidably guided within the housing 1 and a pin-shaped actuating element 7 projecting upwards from the housing 1, by which the release 6 can be pressed downwards. The release 6 is slidably guided within the housing 1 between an upper locking position and a lower release position by means of the pin-shaped actuating element 7, which is rigidly connected to the release 6.

[0018] The trigger 6 comprises a widened lower locking area 8 with lateral contact surfaces 9 and a slimmer upper actuation area 10, which has toothing 11 on both sides, as described in more detail below. The lower locking area 8 of the trigger 6 is designed such that, in the upper locking position of the trigger 6, it holds the two ironing arms 2 in the folded-up transport position and prevents them from folding down in this locked position. Only when the trigger 6 is pressed downwards into the release position via the pin-shaped actuating element 7 does the trigger 6 release the two ironing arms 2, allowing them to fold into the removal position either by their own weight or by a corresponding force, in particular by the weight of the garment.

[0019] In the illustrated embodiment, the two bracket arms 2 are made of two plastic housing halves connected to each other by screws, pins, or other fastening elements 12. However, they can also be made of metal or another material and manufactured in a different way.

[0020] As can be seen from the figures, the two bracket arms 2 have a stop surface 14 at their inner ends 13, which are rotatably mounted within the housing 1. In the folded-up transport position of the bracket arms 2, this stop surface runs parallel to the lateral contact surfaces 9 of the release mechanism 6. The release mechanism 6 is designed such that, in the upper locking position of the release mechanism 6, the two bracket arms 2, in the folded-up transport position, rest with their stop surfaces 14 against the contact surfaces 9 of the release mechanism 6. This prevents the bracket arms 2 from folding down. Only in the lower release position of the release mechanism 6 do the lateral stop surfaces 14 of the release mechanism 6 lie below the lateral contact surfaces 9 of the bracket arms 2, allowing them to fold down.

[0021] Additional retaining devices 16 for holding trousers, skirts, or the like are arranged at the outer free ends 15 of the two hanger arms 2. In the illustrated embodiment, the retaining devices 16 are designed as slot-shaped receptacles 17 with a retaining element 18 movable between a closed and an open position. The retaining elements 18, designed here as clamps, are rotatably mounted on the hanger arm 2 about an axis 19 parallel to the axis of rotation or pivot pin 3 of the hanger arms 2, or about a pin, and are pressed into the closed position by a spring 20. In the closed position, the clamp-like retaining elements 18 bear against an inner clamping surface 22 of the slot-shaped receptacles 17 with retaining teeth 21. The spring-loaded retaining elements 18 allow trousers, skirts, or other garments to be pressed against the inner clamping surfaces 18 of the receptacles 17 and thus held securely in place.The inner clamping surfaces 18 may also be provided with serrations for improved retention. The clamp-like retaining elements 18 have a nose-shaped projection 23 extending downwards from the ironing arm 2 for manual actuation of the retaining elements 18. The clamp-like retaining elements 18 can be moved by hand into the open position against the force of the spring 20 via the nose-shaped projection 23, thereby allowing laundry items to be inserted into the holder or the clamping holder to be released and the laundry items held by the retaining devices 16 to be removed.

[0022] For the automated opening of the clamp-like retaining elements 18, these are coupled to the release mechanism 5 via a coupling drive 24 in such a way that the retaining elements 18 open from the locked position to the release position by the movement of the release mechanism 5 even when the bracket arms 2 are still folded up, and the opening movement of the retaining elements 18 continues continuously as the bracket arms 2 move into the folded-down removal position.

[0023] The in Figure 2 coupling drive 24 of the in more detail shown Figure 1The clothes hanger shown contains two pull elements arranged within the hanger arms, which in the illustrated embodiment are designed as pull rods 25. The pull rods 25 are connected at their outer end to the respective retaining element 18 and at their inner end to the release mechanism 6 such that the retaining elements 18 are opened from their upper locking position to their lower release position by a downward movement of the release mechanism 6. In the embodiment shown Figure 1 and 2 In the illustrated embodiment, the tie rods 25 are pivotally connected at their outer ends to the clamp-like retaining elements 18 via a first pivot pin 26, and at their inner ends to a gear 28 that is rotatable relative to the bracket arm 2, coaxially with the pivot pin 3 of the bracket arms 2, via a second pivot pin 27. The two gears 28 are each rotatably arranged within a bracket arm 2 about a pivot axis 29 and mesh according to Figure 1each with the toothing 11 on the two outer sides of the trigger 6. The two pivot pins 26 and 27 are offset to the axis 19 of the retaining elements 18 and to the axis of rotation 29 of the gears 28, so that by turning the two gears 28 the retaining elements 18 can be moved from the holding position to the open position via the pull rods 25 by a kind of crank mechanism.

[0024] The first pivot pins 26 arranged on the retaining elements 18 are slidably guided within an elongated hole 28 of the rod-shaped pull elements 25. This allows the clamp-like retaining elements 18 to be opened manually via the projections 23 without moving the pull elements 25 and without rotating the gears 28.

[0025] A retaining clip 31 for securing trousers, skirts, or the like is arranged on the lower side of the housing 1. The retaining clip 31 consists of two clip halves 32, which are pivotably mounted relative to each other in the housing 1 about a transverse axis of rotation 33 and are biased into a closed position by a spring 34. A release element 35 for opening and closing the two clip halves 30 of the retaining clip 31 is arranged on the retaining clip 31. The retaining clip 31 can be opened by manually pushing up the release element 35 and closed by pushing down the release 6 with the aid of the actuating element 7. The release element 35 is arranged such that the clip halves 32 of the retaining clip 31 are already opened when the release 6 is still in a locked position and prevents the clip arms 2 from folding down. This allows the retaining clip 31 to be opened even with the clip arms 2 still extended.

[0026] As from Figure 1 As can be seen, a spring 41 is housed in the housing 1, arranged around the pin-shaped actuating element 7. The spring 41 is clamped between an inner annular surface in the housing 1 and an annular collar on the actuating element 7. The spring 41 presses the release 6 into its upper locking position via the actuating element 7. This ensures that the release 6 remains in an upper locking position even when the retaining elements 18 are in an inwardly pivoted position, for example, when holding a garment. This prevents unintentional movement of the release 6 into the release position and unintentional folding of the ironing arms 2.

[0027] The following section explains how the clothes hanger described above works, using the following examples: Figures 1 to 5 explains: In Figure 1The clothes hanger is shown with the hanger arms 2 extended and the release mechanism 5 in the locked position. In this position, the release mechanism 6 is fully raised and engages with its widened lower locking area 8 in the space formed between the two stop surfaces 14 of the hanger arms 2. In this raised locked position of the release mechanism 6, the two hanger arms 2 are prevented from folding down by their stop surfaces 14 resting against the two lateral contact surfaces 9 of the release mechanism 6. When the release mechanism 6 is in its uppermost locked position, the two gears 28, which engage with the toothing 11 of the release mechanism 6, are also in a Figure 2The recognizable, outwardly pivoted position and the rod-shaped pull elements 25 connected to the gears 28 are pushed outwards. In this position, the clamp-shaped retaining elements 18, which are pressed into the closed position by the springs 20, are completely closed and lie according to Figure 2 with the first hinge pins 26 at the outer ends of the elongated holes 30.

[0028] In the Figure 1 In the position shown with the ironing arms 2 extended and the release mechanism 5 in the locked position, the clamp-shaped retaining elements 18 for fastening a garment can be opened by hand via the nose-shaped projections 23, whereby the first hinge pins 26 can move within the elongated holes 30 to the inner end of the elongated hole 30, as shown from Figure 3 as is evident.

[0029] When the trigger 6 is pressed via the actuating element 7, the gears 28 are driven via the teeth 11 provided on the trigger 6 according to Figure 4 turned inwards so that the clamp-shaped retaining elements 18 are positioned over the rod-shaped tension elements 25 according to Figure 4 The opening process of the retaining elements 18 begins even while the folding of the bracket arms 2 is still blocked by the trigger 6. When the trigger 6 is in the lower release position and the bracket arms 2 fold into the lower removal position or are pressed downwards by a corresponding force, the bracket arms 2 move relative to the then stationary gears 28, so that the retaining elements 18 are opened further and, with the bracket arms folded down, reach the fully open position, as shown in Figure 5 shown.

[0030] The retaining elements 18 are pressed into the holding position by springs 20. These springs 20 also exert a restoring force on the ironing arms 2, which automatically unfolds the folded ironing arms 2 after the garment has been removed. This eliminates the need for a separate unfolding step.

[0031] In Figure 6Figure 1 shows a partial view of another embodiment of the clothes hanger according to the invention. This embodiment differs from the clothes hanger described above only in that two holding devices 16 are provided on each of the hanger arms 2, arranged side by side. The two holding elements 18 of each holding arm 2 are connected to the corresponding gear 28 via a common pull rod 25. Otherwise, the design and construction correspond to the clothes hanger described above, so that corresponding components are also provided with the same reference numerals. The advantage of several holding elements on the hanger arm is that the garment can be hung by the waistband to allow for more even drying.

[0032] During a Figure 7In the further embodiment of a clothes hanger shown in partial view, the pulling element of the coupling drive 24 is designed as a pull cable 37 guided over a deflection pulley 36. The pull cable 37 is attached at its first end 38 to the release 6 and at its second end 39 to the retaining element 18. The deflection pulley 36 is rotatably arranged within the hanger arm about an axis 40 coaxial with the pivot axis of the hanger arm 2. In this embodiment as well, the retaining elements 18 open from the upper locking position to the lower release position by the movement of the release 6, even while the hanger arms 2 are still folded up, and the opening movement of the retaining elements 18 continues continuously as the hanger arms 2 move into the folded-down removal position. Reference symbol list

[0033] 1 Housing 2 Bow arm 3 Pin or pivot 4 Bow hook 5 Release mechanism 6 Release 7 Actuating element 8 Locking area 9 Contact surface 10 Actuating area 11 Toothing 12 Mounting element 13 Inner end 14 Stop surface 15 Outer end 16 Holding device 17 Receptacle 18 Holding element 19 Axle 20 Spring 21 Holding toothing 22 Clamping surface 23 Attachment 24 Coupling drive 25 Pull rod 26 First pivot pin 27 Second pivot pin 28 Gear 29 Pivot axis 30 Slotted hole 31 Retaining clip 32 Clip half 33 Form spring 34 Pivot axis 35 Release element 36 Pulley 37 Pull cable 38 First end of pull cable 39 Second end of pull cable 40 Axle 41 Spring

Claims

1. Clothes hanger comprising two hanger arms (2) foldably arranged on a housing (1) and a release mechanism (5) arranged on or in the housing (1), which mechanism is movable between an upper locking position for holding the hanger arms (2) in a folded-up transport position and a lower unlocking position for pivoting the hanger arms (2) into a folded-down removal position, at least one holding device (16) having at least one holding element (18) movable between a closed position and an open position by means of a coupling drive (24) being arranged on each of the two hanger arms (2), characterized in that the coupling drive (24) coupled to the release mechanism (5) and connected to the holding elements (18) for their drive comprises pull elements (25; 37) and in that the holding elements (18) are coupled to the release mechanism (5) via the coupling drive (24) in such a way that the holding elements (18) open from the upper locking position to the lower unlocking position by the movement of the release mechanism (5) even when the hanger arms (2) are still folded up, and the opening movement of the holding elements (18) continues continuously as the hanger arms (2) move into the folded-down removal position.

2. Clothes hanger according to claim 1, characterized in that the holding devices (16) arranged on the hanger arms (2) are designed as slot-shaped receptacles (17) with a holding element (18) that can pivot about an axis (19) between a closed position and an open position.

3. Clothes hanger according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the holding elements (18) are pressed into the holding position by a spring (20) and pulled into the open position by the pull elements (25; 37) connected to the release mechanism (5).

4. Clothes hanger according to any of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the pull elements (25; 37) are designed as pull rods (25) or as pull ropes (37) guided around pulleys (36).

5. Clothes hanger according to claim 4, characterized in that the pull rods (25) are connected at their outer ends via a first pivot pin (26) and an elongated hole (30) to the holding elements (18).

6. Clothes hanger according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that the pull rods (25) are connected at their inner ends via a gear (28) with teeth (11) on both sides of a release (6) of the release mechanism (5) which release is slidably arranged within the housing (1).

7. Clothes hanger according to claim 6, characterized in that the release (6) which is slidably guided within the housing (1) between an upper locking position and a lower unlocking position is slidable by an actuating element (7) which projects from the housing (1).

8. Clothes hanger according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that the release (6) includes a lower locking region (8) which holds the hanger arms (2) in the upper locking position of the release (6) in the folded-up transport position.

9. Clothes hanger according to claim 8, characterized in that the lower locking region (8) of the release (6) includes lateral contact surfaces (9) for contacting stop surfaces (14) on the inner ends (13) of the hanger arms (2) rotatably mounted within the housing (1).

10. Clothes hanger according to any of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that a holding clip (31) for clamping pants or the like is arranged on the lower side of the housing (1).

11. Clothes hanger according to claim 11, characterized in that the holding clip (31) includes a release element (35) for opening the holding clip (31).

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