The present application relates to garment hangers, and relates particularly, but not exclusively, to garment hangers moulded from plastics material.

Garment hangers are known in which a notch is formed in each of two arms of the hanger for receiving garments having straps, such as tops. A hanger of this type is shown in Figure 1, and comprises a body 2 having arms 4, 6, each of which is formed with an integrally moulded notch 8 for receiving a strap 10 of a garment 12.

For cost reasons, there is a growing tendency to use a particular type of hanger for more than one type of garment, as a result of which the hanger shown in Figure 1 may often be used for supporting garments 14 without straps, as shown in Figure 2. However, this causes the disadvantage that the garment 14, when lying on an upper surface of the hanger arms 4, 6, causes notch members 16 defining the notches 8 to be depressed downwardly, as a result of which the garment 14 can become marked at region 18, which detracts from the aesthetic presentation of the garment.

Figures 3A to 3E illustrate the manufacture of prior art garment hangers by means of injection moulding. Referring firstly to Figures 3A(i) to (iii), a conventional hanger 20 of inverted U-shaped cross section as shown in Figure 3A(iii) is formed by bringing together two components 22, 24 of an injection moulding tool together along an axis A to form a mould cavity 26.

Figures 3B(i) to (iv) illustrate how this process can be used to manufacture a hanger 28 having a notch 8 as shown in Figures 1 and 2. As a result of this process, several hangers 28 can be produced by means of a single moulding tool 30, as shown in Figures 3D(i) to (iii). However, such hangers 28 suffer from the drawback that the notches 8 tend to be short, with no facility to prevent compression of the notch 8 when a garment 14 not having straps is mounted to the hanger, as shown in Figure 3B(iv). This therefore can result in the problem of marking of the garment 14, as discussed above in connection with Figures 1 and 2.

This problem is alleviated by producing a hanger 32 having a notch 8 defined by a wider upper member 34 of the hanger, as shown in Figure 3C(iii). This hanger 32 is produced by means of an injection moulding tool 36 having a lower part 38 and an upper part consisting of two side cores 40, 42. The side cores 40, 42 are brought together along axis B, and the upper and lower parts of the tool 36 brought together along axis A. However, because the side cores 40, 42 move relative to each other in the direction of axis B, this significantly limits the number of hangers 32 which can be moulded in a single tool 36.

A further example of the prior art is disclosed in International Patent Application Publication No. WO98/57572.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention seek to overcome the above disadvantages of the prior art.

According to the present invention there is provided a garment hanger according to claim 1.

By having support means for preventing downward movement of the upper surface of at least some of the notches, this minimises the risk of marking of the garment, and thus improves presentation of the garment.

By providing at least one removable member defining part of a notch, this provides the advantage of assisting in manufacture of the hanger, since it is no longer necessary to use side cores as shown in Figures 3C and E to manufacture the notch, as a result of which a large number of hangers can be moulded by means of a single injection moulding tool.

At least one upper surface of a respective said notch may be provided with a high friction surface.

This provides the advantage of assisting in retaining a garment on the hanger.

At least one said friction surface may comprise rubber material.

Preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only and not in any limitative sense, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:-

• Figure 1 is a schematic view of a garment with straps mounted to a prior art garment hanger;
• Figure 2 is a schematic view of a garment without straps mounted to the hanger of Figure 1;
• Figures 3A to 3E are schematic side cross sectional views of injection moulding processes for manufacturing prior art garment hangers;
• Figure 4 is a front view of a notch of a hanger of an embodiment not according to the present invention, in the moulded and in use positions thereof;
• Figure 5 is a schematic view of a garment without straps mounted to a hanger having the notches of Figure 4; and
• Figure 6 is a front view of a notch of a hanger of an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to Figure 4, a hanger has hanger arms (of which only one arm 106 is shown in Figure 4), the hanger arms being of inverted U-shaped cross-section and formed of plastics material by injection moulding. The hanger arm 106 has a notch 108 defined by an integrally moulded upper member 116, and a corresponding notch is provided in the other hanger arm. As will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art, the notch 108 is formed by means of side action cores in an injection moulding tool used to mould the hanger.

The notch 108 is provided with an integrally moulded stepped portion 118, which acts as a support to prevent downward movement of the corresponding upper member 116 when a garment 114 (Figure 5) is mounted to the hanger. In order to enable the notch 108 to be manufactured, the upper member 116 is moulded in a slightly elevated position as shown in the upper part of Figure 4.

Referring now to Figure 6, in which parts common to the embodiment of Figures 4 and 5 are denoted by like reference numerals but increased by 100, a notch 208 is defined by a removable upper member 216 having a resilient clip portion 218 for resiliently engaging a corresponding recess (not shown) in the hanger arm 206. The upper member 216 is also provided with a rubber overmoulded upper surface 220 to create a high friction area to assist in retaining the garment 114 on the hanger.

By forming the notch from a separate upper member 216, a large number of hangers can be simultaneously moulded in a single injection moulding tool, since the use of side cores, which require more space in an injection moulding tool, is avoided.

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the above embodiments have been described by way of example only and not in any limitative sense, and that various alterations and modifications are possible without departure from the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.