Ganging hook for garment hangers
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to garment hangers and more particularly for hangers specifically designed to serve the dual purpose of both transportation and display of the garments under situations in which more than one hanger is necessary to display the garment and to transport it, necessitating the hangers to be ganged during both transport and display. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     In the case of a number of garments, the garment consists of at least two separate pieces, each of which has to have its own support. An example of this is a coordinated blouse and skirt or slacks or pants and sweater or a dress or slacks and a jacket. In some cases, it may be desirable to transport and display two or more garments of the same design but of different colors. In all of these cases, each separate garment requires a separate hanger to support it. In many cases, the hangers may have to be of different types, such as a hanger suitable for displaying a blouse used with a hanger capable of supporting a skirt or a pair of slacks. For this purpose, it has long been a practice to utilize hanger structures in which two hangers are ganged together with one being suspended from the other. In other cases, attachments have been designed with the attachment constructed to be temporarily or permanently connected to a supporting hanger. These arrangements have not been satisfactory because they have normally required the hangers to be of such a design that they have no utility other than as ganged hangers for simultaneous multiple garment display and transport. When hangers of conventional construction have been modified to permit ganging, they have either involved difficult and complex means of attaching one garment hanger to the other or they have been unsatisfactory in transportation becuase the vibration and jostling incident to transportation causes the hangers to become disconnected, allowing one of the garments to fall to the floor or the bottom of the transport container. This same lack of security of attachment has also been a serious problem at the point of display unless the hangers are carefully handled. It is also an important requirement of any solution to this problem that the cost of the hangers must be kept as low as possible to meet the necessities of the garment manufacturing and merchandising field. 
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     In practicing the invention utilizing a garment hanger having a molded plastic body, a dependent extension of the body is provided in vertical alignment with the body&#39;s supporting hook. This dependent extension consists of front and back walls separated by a chamber having a vertical height greater than the thickness of the hook provided on the secondary hanger to be secured to the main hanger. The chamber is open at both ends and is accessible by means of a horizontal slot in the front wall of the chamber. This slot is spaced above the bottom of the chamber creating a retaining lip designed to trap the hook of the secondary or auxiliary hanger which is thereby supported from the primary hanger. The whole dependent extension is molded integral with the body of the primary hanger, eliminating all necessity for secondary parts or any sub-assembly. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a front view of a hanger incorporating this invention; 
     FIG. 2 is an enlarged, framgentary front view of the auxiliary hanger support of the hanger illustrated in FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along the plane III--III of FIG. 2; 
     FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the plane IV--IV of FIG. 2; 
     FIG. 5 is fragmentary front elevation view illustrating a pair of hangers ganged together utilizing this invention; and 
     FIG. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along the same plane as FIG. 3 illustrating a modified form of this invention. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     The numeral 10 identifies a hanger having a one piece molded body 11 supported at its center from a conventional hook 12. The hook is fabricated from wire stock and is connected to the hanger by insertion into the boss 13 removal from which is prevented by the anchor clip 14. The body 11 is of the general I-beam construction having upper and lower flanges 15 and 16 joined by a vertical web 17. All of this structure is conventional, particularly, in the field of one piece, integral molded, plastic garment hangers. 
     The ganging element, which is the subject matter of this invention, is the box-like hook anchor 20 which depends from the lower flange 16 below and in vertical alignment with the support hook 12. As is best seen in FIGS. 2, 3, and 4, the auxiliary hook anchor 20 has a downwardly extending web or rear wall 21 and a front wall 22 to retain a hook. These walls are joined by a bottom wall 23 to form a generally J-shaped structure (FIG. 3) with the wall 21 forming the primary portion thereof and an upstanding lip-like portion of the front wall 22 and the bottom wall forming the reversely bent portion thereof. These walls are generally parallel and extend parallel to the longitudinal dimension of the hanger body and are spaced apart front to rear to form an internal chamber 24. This chamber has a front to rear width which is at least equal to that of the thickness of the hook 12a of the auxiliary hanger 10a which the hook anchor is designed to support. Also, the vertical height of the chamber 24 is substantially greater than that of the material thickness of the auxiliary hook 12a to be introduced into it. The lateral width of the front wall 22 is substantially less than that of the rear wall 21. This arrangement permits the rear wall to have an access opening 25 to permit an extension on the molding die to pass through it to form the chamber 24 and the inner face of the front wall, thus, eliminating the necessity for any movable sections in the mold used to manufacture the hanger. 
     The front wall 22 has a horizontal slot-like passage 30 intermediate the upper wall or dependent finger and lower walls of the internal chamber 24 and extending lengthwise of the hanger body. The vertical height of the slot 30 is such that the hook 12a of the auxiliary hanger 10a can be passed through it into the chamber 24. In a preferred construction, the front wall along the lower edge of the slot 20 has an inwardly directed lip 31 which creates a gap between the inner face of the lip and the back wall 21 which is slightly less than the thickness of the hook 12a of the of the auxiliary hanger. The resilience of the plastic is such that this hook may be caused to pass this lip by springing the front wall out slightly and allowing it to return to its normal position after the hook is seated in the bottom of the chamber 24. This arrangement traps the hook against unintentional displacement from the chamber both during transport and when the hangers are being handled at the point of display such as would occur while the hangers are being handled by a salesperson or a customer. At the same time, the resilience of the material is such that, if it is desired to disconnect the auxiliary hanger from the primary hanger, this can be done simply by applying enough force to cause the hook, once again, to pass the lip 31. 
     An alternative to providing the lip 31 would be to make the vertical height of the slot 30 slightly less than the thickness of the material of the hook whereby in order to either introduce the hook into the chamber or cause it to be removed from the chamber sufficient force has to be applied to spread the walls of the opening to allow the hok to pass through. 
     It will be seen that this invention provides a simple, inexpensive and positive means of ganging the garment hangers for vertical display and transport. It will be understood that the invention is not limited to simply ganging two hangers together. In fact, number of hangers can be supported in a vertical column, provided the total weight of the garments does not exceed the strength of the hook anchor 20 of the primary hanger. The invention eliminates all necesssity for any accessory part or for any assembly in the manufacture of the hanger. It, also, does not adversely affect the aesthetic appearance of the hanger, an important feature when the hangers are used for display at the point of sale. The invention does not require any change of materials from those conventionally used for hangers of this type and does not add any significant usage of material in the molding of the hanger. 
     FIG. 6 illustrates a modified hook anchor 20a in which the opening 25 through the rear wall of the hook anchor is eliminated and the chamber 24a is created by longitudinally movable members in the mold. While this is a more expensive approach from the standpoint of mold design and may also be more expensive in that it can increase the length of the molding cycle, there are occasions when this type of arrangment may be desirable. This Figure also illustrates the narrowed slot 30a as a substitute for the lip 31. The modification illustrated in FIG. 6 operates in a manner similar to that illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 5. It will also be recognized that while the invention has been illustrated and described with the slot 30 in the front face of the hanger, in the case of hangers wherein the front and back faces of the hanger body are different, it is entirely feasible, if so desired, to arrange the slot 30 or 30a in the back face of the hook anchor if the customer so desires. Such a change has no effect upon the cost of hanger manufacture or on the function of the hanger so made. 
     Irrespective of whether the slot is in the front or the back of the hook anchor or the hook is of the type illustrated in FIGS. 3 or 6, the hangers can be manufactured of any suitable polymer, such as styrene, ABS or polypropylene. Other polymers having the desired strength and resilience can also be used. 
     Having described a preferred embodiment of the invention, together with a modifcation thereof, it will be recognized that other modifications can be made without departing from the principles of the invention. Such modifications are to be considered as included in the hereinafter appended claims, unless these claims by their language expressly state otherwise.