The Wire Garment Hanger: A Triangle That Carries a Coat

Patterson's hanger is of "the type in which the entire suit—coat, vest, and pants—are supported from a single device." The upper frame "is preferably formed of a single piece of wire": a front strand bent down either side of centre, looped at 6 6, rear strands carried up parallel to it and bent inward to form an offset 9. "The ends of the wire are then bent upwardly, twisted together, and one of them bent to form the hook or supporting device 10." Offsetting the hook lets the coat hang "without wrinkling or straining the collar thereof." Shoulder-supports 11 are a strand of wire "helically coiled about the looped portion" in a helix of gradually increasing then decreasing diameter. He notes earlier coiled hangers whose coil the garment's pressure pushed out of place; his are secured to the frame, and with one end left loose they can slide to fit "narrower or wider garments". The lower part 2, a sheet-metal loop with a clamp 15, holds the trousers and folds up for packing. The patent names Patterson. The often-told story that Albert J. Parkhouse bent the first wire hanger at Timberlake's works in 1903 is not in the patent.

Cut about 1.1 m of galvanised steel wire, 2.5 mm thick. Mark the centre. Bend the two shoulder arms down from the centre, loop each end round a 20 mm former with round-nose pliers, bring the wire back as the bottom bar, and twist the two ends together three turns at the centre with flat-nose pliers. Bend one end into the hook and cut the other short; file the cut end smooth. Hang a heavy coat on it and measure how far each shoulder end drops. Then cut the bottom bar with the cutters so each arm is held only at the hook, and measure again — compare with the notebook. Wind 30 cm of finer steel wire tightly round a 12 mm dowel into a coil, slide it over one shoulder loop, and hang a damp cotton shirt overnight: compare the shoulder with and without the coil.

**US 822,981**, "Garment-Hanger", was filed on 25 January 1904 and granted on 12 June 1906 to **Charles Lewis Patterson** of Detroit, assignor to **John B. Timberlake** of Jackson, Michigan. Its claims are for the wire frame with enlarged, coiled shoulder supports, some adjustable along the frame. **Honest limits.** The notebook's coat weight, arm angle and contact length are examples; a real hanger's joints are neither perfectly rigid nor perfectly pinned.