Hanging device

Description

The present invention relates to a hanging device. More specifically, it relates to a hanging device for articles of clothing.

Existing hangers for articles of clothing, which are made of plastic or metal, are not biodegradable and disposal of such hangers is damaging to the environment.

Hangers made of paper or cardboard are also known but are generally not sufficiently strong to support heavy items of clothing and usually require some further strengthening member such as a traditional wire hanger. Furthermore, the shape and material of existing paper or cardboard hangers also means they are not suitable for carrying printed matter.

The present invention sets out to provide a hanger which alleviates the problems described above.

In one aspect, the invention provides a laminated cardboard hanger, a major surface of which carries printed matter.

A hanger which is made of cardboard can be made from recycled material and is itself recyclable and biodegradable.

Preferably, the cardboard hanger comprises at least one corrugated layer.

The presence of a corrugated cardboard layer improves the strength of the hanger.

More preferably, the corrugated cardboard hanger has a vertical flute.

Preferably, the cardboard hanger comprises at least one layer of Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), Polypropylene (PP) or Polyethylene (PE).

Preferably, the hanger can support a dispersed weight of at least 5 kg.

More preferably, the hanger can support a dispersed weight of at least 7 kg.

In a second aspect, the present invention provides a method of manufacturing a hanger comprising the steps of:

cutting a template;
applying adhesive to the template along pre-determined gluing lines;
folding the template to form a hanger.

The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a hanger constructed in accordance with the present invention before the hanger is folded;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the hanger of FIG. 1 after the hanger is folded.

Referring to the Figures, the hanger 1 is made of a laminated material comprising a layer of corrugated fibre board. The corrugated fibre board has a vertical flute. That is, in use, the flute of the corrugation runs from the top to the base of the hanger 1. The corrugated fibre board is known as E flute corrugated board and has a top liner of thickness 250 gsm and a middle liner and reverse liner of thickness 140 gsm. Further layers can be laminated together to improve the strength of the hanger but the optimum number of layers has been found by the Applicant to be two. The hanger is die-cut and creased to form fold lines on a flat bed machine. The hanger 1 comprises a fold line 2 at the mid point between hanging portions 3a and 3b. The hanger also comprises a cut-out portion 5 and an aperture 6. The cut-out portion 5 includes a fold line 7 running parallel to the fold line 2.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, to form the hanger, adhesive is applied along adhesive lines 9a, 9b and 9c. A specially adapted straight line gluing machine is used to apply both a holt melt adhesive and a cold melt adhesive. For example, the hot glue can be Pafra 8172 and the cold glue can be Pafra 8698 (available from W. H. Leary Limited). The hanger is folded along fold line 2 such that hanging portion 3a meets hanging portion 3b and cut-out portion 5 meets aperture 6. Cut-out portion 5 is folded along fold line 7 to form a smooth edge along the fold line 7 for hanging items, such as trousers, without the risk of fibre migration onto the trousers.

The hanger 1 can be used in a litho printing process, for example, a four colour process with additional pantone colours. A litho varnish can be applied to finish the hanger 1.

The above described embodiment has been given by way of example only, and the skilled reader will naturally appreciate that many variations could be made thereto without departing from the scope of the present invention.