Hanger assembly for vehicle use

Abstract

A hanger assembly includes a flexible gripping member and a hanging member. The gripping member has two gripping portions adapted for gripping two headrest rods of a headrest of a car seat, and an intermediate segment provided with two insert holes. The hanging member includes a hanger body and a leg unit having left and right shanks that are insertable removably into the insert holes to thereby couple the hanging member to the gripping member.

1 . A hanger assembly adapted for mounting detachably on a car seat that includes a headrest unit having a headrest body and two headrest rods extending downward from the headrest body, said hanger assembly comprising: 
 a gripping member formed from a flexible material, and including left and right gripping portions opposite to each other in a longitudinal direction and adapted to respectively grip the headrest rods in a state of use, an intermediate segment interposed between said left and right gripping portions and including a major wall surface which extends in an upright direction transverse to the longitudinal direction, and a mounting wall surface which extends in a transverse direction relative to both the upright and longitudinal directions, said mounting wall surface having an insert hole unit that extends in the upright direction, said intermediate segment being bent to enable said gripping portions to be placed in the state of use such that said insert hole unit is moved away from the headrest rods; and    a hanging member adapted for hanging an article of clothing, and including an elongated hanger body which has left and right end portions opposite to each other in the longitudinal direction, and a middle portion interposed between said left and right end portions, and a leg unit extending downwardly from said middle portion in the upright direction to terminate at at least one engaging end that is insertable removably into said insert hole unit to thereby connect said hanging member to said gripping member.    
   
   
       2 . The hanger assembly as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein said leg unit includes left and right shanks which extend in the upright direction to terminate respectively at left and right ones of said engaging ends, which are spaced apart from each other in the longitudinal direction, said insert hole unit including two insert holes for receiving said engaging ends, respectively, said intermediate segment having two inner peripheral wall surfaces respectively defining said insert holes, which extend from said mounting wall surface in the upright direction.  
   
   
       3 . The hanger assembly as claimed in  claim 2 , wherein said major wall surface has left and right ends opposite to each other in the longitudinal direction, each of said left and right gripping portions including a gripping wall which extends integrally from a respective one of said left and right ends outwardly and in the longitudinal direction and which bends inwardly to cooperate with the respective one of said left and right ends to define a gripping space adapted to accommodate the respective one of the headrest rods, said gripping wall terminating at a snap end which is spaced apart from the respective one of said left and right ends to define a clearance that is of a dimension slightly smaller than that of the respective one of the headrest rods and that is communicated with the gripping space, said gripping wall being configured to impart said snap end with a biasing force which urges said snap end to move toward the respective one of said left and right ends such that, when a respective one of said gripping portions is being fitted onto a respective one of the headrest rods, said snap end is forced to move away from the respective one of said left and right ends against the biasing force thereof so as to enlarge said clearance.  
   
   
       4 . The hanger assembly as claimed in  claim 3 , wherein each of said left and right gripping portions includes a guiding wall that extends from said snap end to be away from the respective one of said left and right ends and that cooperates with said major wall surface to define an access opening communicated with said clearance and having a dimension greater than that of said clearance.  
   
   
       5 . The hanger assembly as claimed in  claim 4 , wherein said hanger body is formed by bending a bendable wire into an open-ended straightened loop which has left and right bent portions to serve as said left and right end portions, and two terminal ends that are spaced apart from each other in the longitudinal direction and that form a part of said middle portion, said left and right shanks being integrally formed with and extending from said terminal ends, respectively.  
   
   
       6 . The hanger assembly as claimed in  claim 5 , wherein said left and right engaging ends are configured to be in a splined engagement with said inner peripheral wall surfaces of said intermediate segment of said gripping member, respectively.  
   
   
       7 . The hanger assembly as claimed in  claim 5 , further comprising a friction unit which is configured to be retained and shiftable in said straightened loop so as to be shifted to be adjacent to one of said left and right bent portions to thereby help prevent slippage of the article of clothing from said one of said left and right bent portions.  
   
   
       8 . The hanger assembly as claimed in  claim 4 , wherein each of said inner peripheral wall surfaces of said intermediate segment of said gripping member is provided with a plurality of teeth, said hanger assembly further comprising two adaptors, each of which includes a tubular body having upper and lower ends opposite to each other in the upright direction and insertable into a respective one of said insert holes, an outer wall surface provided with a plurality of teeth for engaging said teeth on said inner peripheral wall surface of the respective one of said insert holes, and an inner wall surface radially opposite to said outer wall surface and confining an engaging hole for receiving a respective one of said left and right shanks of said leg unit, thereby connecting said hanger body to said intermediate segment of said gripping member.  
   
   
       9 . The hanger assembly as claimed in  claim 4 , wherein said hanger body is a tubular body having two tubular end portions, said hanger assembly further comprising a friction unit that includes two anti-slip members fitted respectively into said tubular end portions to help prevent slippage of the article of clothing from said hanger body.