The fascinating history of metal hangers

The average wire hanger measures 17 inches lengthwise and 44 inches when straightened. It’s been this way, more or less, for a long time: While most first-generation devices have faded away to make room for more modern iterations, the malleable wire hanger has endured, with startlingly few modifications, for well over a century. By simply contorting its shape, it can be used to unlock a car door or clear a congested drain. Beyond clothes and household shortcuts, though, the wire hanger’s pliable design and relative ubiquity have fostered a close and complicated relationship between it and the human body.

The hanger was born out of necessity. For most of the 1800s, clothes were folded and stored in wardrobes, trunks, cupboards, and boxes. But as the skirt-and-bustle combination became more popular later in the century, companies to develop alternative means for preserving pleats and averting crease. In 1869, O.A. North patented an adjustable metal hook that is generally credited as the forerunner to the clothes hanger. 

But the modern coathanger owes its existence to the impromptu creation of Albert J. Parkhouse of Michigan in 1903.

After turning up to work late, Parkinson purportedly struggled to find a spare hook to hang his coat. Not to be defeated, he picked up some spare wire, bent it into a large oblong, twisted both ends at the centre into a hook and promptly hung up his hat. Instant storage.

Here's where it gets interesting.

Metal Hanger 

As legend has it, Parkhouse's employers, the Timberlake Wire and Novelty Company, were so impressed with his inventive use of scrap metal that they took it for themselves.Metal hangers have developed a lot

Back in those days, companies were allowed to take out patents on any of the inventions made by their employees, regardless of their lack of involvement.

As such, attorney Charles l. Patterson applied for the patent of Parkhouse's clothes hanger on January 25, 1904, and U.S. patent #822,981 was granted and assigned to John B. Timberlake.

Patterson listed himself as inventor on the patent application, and Timberlake Wire — and subsequently John B. Timberlake — made a fortune from the product.

Parkhouse, on the other hand, didn’t see a cent.

The simple design of the coathanger has undergone very little changes since these early days. While materials used to make it have improved ,Slowly appear Plastic Coat Hanger

On top of their indispensable practicality, the coathanger has also become an iconic cultural artefact. How many other household items have the honour of being the (rumoured) inspiration for Australia's most famous bridge? 

Besides. The wire is versatile, and wire clothes hangers are often used as cheap sources of semi-tough wire, more available than baling wire for all sorts of home projects. The use of wire clothes hangers for use as makeshift welding rod has been common for nearly 100 years. Similarly, many similar do-it-yourself and children's projects use wire hangers as holders of various types, from keeping a brake caliper from hanging by the brake line during auto repair work to securing a gate on a birdcage.