What's It Wednesday: Such a simple invention
You might want to hang around for this.
Hangers are one of those things that most of us come in contact with daily. But no one thinks about them.
Who came up with the idea?
In the 15th century, the word “hanger” referred to a person who did just that – hung things, including people. Now, “hangers” can refer to wallpaper hangers but more often, a “hanger” is that item that everyone has in their closets. A common item no one thinks much about.
Prior to the 1900s, clothing was hung on pegs or hooks similar to the wooden pegs used by the Shakers for hanging chairs or the metal hooks found in school lockers. In the 1840s, coat racks, hat stands, and coat trees offered convenient places for guests to hang their apparel.
The invention of the hanger was inspired by O A. North. North, an inventor from Connecticut, received US Patent #85756 on Jan 12 1869, for his design of an improved clothes hook. The design included a rounded triangular wire piece on which a coat or shirt could be hung above the hooks.
North’s design led to other patents, but most of the patents in the late 1800s were improvements on coat hooks or hanging devices that still relied on a hook.
The “birth” of the wire hanger in the shape we know it, occurred by happenstance.
One day in 1903, Albert J. Parkhouse arrived for his job at the Timberlake Wire and Novelty Company in Jackson Mississippi only to find that all the coat hooks were full. He took a piece of wire and shaped two ovals and then twisted them together with a bent hook shape at the top. He used this wire to hang his coat from a rod. John B. Timberlake, the company owner thought the design was a great invention. It allowed more coats to be hung at a time from one rod. It was common at that time for a company to hold the patents on employees’ designs. On January 25, 1904, Charles I. Patterson, the company attorney, applied for a patent for the clothes hanger designed by Parkhouse. In 1906, U.S. patent #822,981 was awarded to The Timberlake Company under Patterson’s name.
Since then, over 200 coat hanger design patents have been granted including one received by G.E. Rideout in 1907. It looks very similar to this folding hanger in our collection.
In 1932, Schuyler C. Hulett invented a “new” hanger by mounting a cardboard tube between two wire arm sections. These tubes supported the garment to prevent wrinkling. It is a design still used today by dry cleaners for hanging pants.
Gerhard Wieckmann filed a patent in 1965 for a new hanger that was wooden but still had a wire hook. The wooden frame made for a sturdier hanger and was developed to reduce creases in garments.
A patent for a plastic hanger was filed in 1967 by J.H Batts. The hope was that the plastic design would lower cost yet increase durability.
Whoever, thinks about hangers?
Well, in 1991, Frank Marcesca, NYC Gallery owner, needed an exhibit to fill a vacancy in his exhibit calendar. According to the January 24, 1991 New York Times, Frank Marcesa contacted his friend, Harris Diamant, artist, sculptor, collector, and fellow gallery owner. The result was an exhibition of 170 vintage clothes hangers collected by Diamant. The 3-week exhibit at the Ricco-Maresca Gallery, attracted hundreds of people, daily.
"I know, I know," Frank Maresca said. "I can't think of anything more lowly and taken for granted and thought less of than a hanger. There is probably nothing more popular than clothing. And there is probably nothing less popular than hangers. I guess you could say they are the handmaidens to fashion. But there's more to hangers than you think."
The whole thing was funny,” Maresca says. “I mean, who ever gave a moment’s thought to a hanger?”
Indeed. Who thinks about hangers? How many different hangers do you have in your house?
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Resources
Andover Center for History and Culture Collections
Henkerman - History of the Clothes Hanger
Who Invented the Clothes Hanger?
Vox.com Wire Hangers history of use
New York Times article: Hangers that hold History Not Clothes