Folding clothes-stand

Abstract

 A clothes-stand or "valet" is disclosed, suitable to receive, usually for limited periods of time, a jacket and a pair of trousers or a gown, which substantially consists of two rectangular frames whose long sides are mutually pivoted at an intermediate position, so that it can be closed when it is not in use, thus reducing the bulkiness thereof.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a clothes-stand or "valet", in particular to a clothes-stand of reduced bulkiness, suitable to be housed in small spaces.

[0002] There are clothes-stands already known and widely used on which two-pieces suits consisting of jacket and trousers or gown can be placed, usually for limited periods of time, e.g. overnight, so that they can maintain their best shape, thus preventing undesired wrinkling and creasing. These clothes-stands usually consist of a rectangular frame supported in a vertical position by a base, also rectangular, capable to assure the stability thereof, and they are provided in the upper portion with a transverse rod suitable to receive a pair of folded trousers and, spaced therefrom, a form shaped as human shoulders on which a jacket can be placed.

[0003] However, these known clothes-stands have the drawback that they have a fixed shape and therefore a fixed bulkiness, given by the presence of the rectangular supporting base and of the two spaced apart upper supports, whereby the room taken up by the clothes-stand is fixed and rather large.

[0004] Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide a clothes-stand which has the same functionality of existing models, but whose bulkiness can be reduced when the clothes-stand is not in use.

[0005] The clothes-stand according to the present invention is substantially made up of two rectangular frames whose long sides are mutually pivoted at an intermediate position, so that it can be opened and closed with a scissors-like movement. In this way, when the clothes-stand not in use is in the closed position its bulkiness is reduced as much as possible, since its transverse bulkiness becomes little more than the thickness of a single frame.

[0006] The structure and features of the clothes-stand according to the present invention will be better understood by looking at the annexed drawings, wherein:

Fig.1 shows, in a perspective view, a clothes-stand in the opened position ready to receive separately the two elements of a two-piece suit;

Fig.2 shows, still in a perspective view, the same clothes-stand of fig.1 1 in the closed position, with some details omitted for clarity; and

Fig.3 is a perspective view of an altemative embodiment of the clothes-stand of figs.1 and 2.

[0007] As shown in the figures, the clothes-stand according to the present invention includes a first frame made up of two parallel elongated bars 1 and two transverse rods 6, 6', respectively located near the lower and upper ends of bars 1, as well as a second frame made up of two parallel elongated bars 2, shorter than bars 1, a lower transverse rod 7 and a top transverse bar 5, whose cross-section is shaped as an inverted U. The frame formed by bars 1 and rods 6, 6' bears at the top a shaped member 4 which schematically resembles the shoulders of a human being.

[0008] The two described frames, with the first longer one inserted into the second shorter one, i.e. bars 1 passing inside bars 2, are mutually pivoted through pins 3 at a certain height from the base, essentially around mid-height. In this way, it is possible to carry out a scissors-like movement for the opening and closing of the clothes-stand according to the needs. In order to prevent the opened clothes-stand from going down flat to the ground, ties 8 are provided, a little above the base plane, e.g. between rods 6 and 7, which may consist of ropes, belts, chains, or any other suitable means. According to a preferred embodiment shown in fig.1, these ties 8 may consist of a rectangular piece of cloth 9 on which, once it is tensioned by the opening of the two frames, the user can place the shoes or other items.

[0009] Obviously, a jacket or a similarly shaped garment can be placed on the shaped member 4, while the folded trousers or any other garment of elongated shape can be placed on the transverse bar 5 possibly provided with longitudinal grooves and having a cross-section shaped as an inverted U.

[0010] According to another embodiment shown in fig.3, the shorter frame (2, 5, 7) is inserted inside the longer frame (1, 4, 6, 6'), the top transverse bar 5 being shorter than the inner distance between bars 1 and the elongated bars 2 being shorter than the distance between the transverse rods 6, 6'. This different arrangement allows to obtain a clothes-stand having an even smaller bulkiness in the closed position, thanks to the different mutual location of the two frames and to the reduced length of the shorter frame which can pass through the longer one.

[0011] Though the clothes-stand according to the present invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments, it is clear that changes and/or modifications can be made thereto without departing from the spirit and the scope of protection thereof. Therefore, other useful members can be provided (as shown in fig.1) such as, for example, spinning wheels at the base of the two frames, pockets or bags to receive small items usually present in the pockets of the suit, as well as other systems for locking the opened position, such as stops or side locks on the pins 3, etc. It is also obvious that in the first embodiment described above, bars 1 could be shorter than bars 2.

Claims

1. A clothes-stand including a transverse bar (5) suitable to receive a pair of folded trousers and a form (4) shaped as human shoulders on which a jacket can be placed, characterized in that it includes a first frame made up of two parallel elongated bars (1) and two transverse rods (6, 6'), as well as a second frame made up of two parallel elongated bars (2), a transverse rod (7) and said transverse bar (5) at the top, said first and second frames being mutually pivoted (3) at an intermediate height and provided with means for limiting their mutual rotation, and said form (4) being located at the top of the first frame.

2. A clothes-stand according to claim 1, characterized in that the means for limiting the rotation of the two frames consists of a rectangular piece of cloth (9) located between the transverse rods (6, 7) of the two frames.

3. A clothes-stand according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the transverse bar (5) of the second frame is shorter than the inner distance between the bars (1 ) of the first frame, and the elongated bars (2) of the second frame are shorter than the distance between the transverse rods (6, 6') of the first frame.

4. A clothes-stand according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that it includes spinning wheels at the lower ends of the elongated bars (1, 2) of the two frames.

Drawing