L. M. Leathers Sons v. Goldman

The appellant is the owner of Tufts Patent No. 2,590,738 issued March 25, 1952, described as a "Slip-Resistant Pants Guard for Coat Hangers." In the use of wire coat hangers the horizontal bar over which trousers or a skirt is folded causes a crease in the material of the folded garment. In addition to the crease, there exists the problem of preventing the garment from sliding on the bar, either longitudinally or transversely to it. If the sliding is transverse the garment falls from the hanger; if longitudinal the garment is left wrinkled where its creased edges encounter the bend of the hanger. Different types of pants guard on the horizontal bar have been used to eliminate the problem. The patent application states that none of these have proved to be completely satisfactory from the standpoint of function, application and economy. The single claim of the patent is for an article of manufacture and sale comprising an improved "pants guard" having "a film of non-sticky, permanently tacky latex material covering a sufficient area of the upper garment-contacting surface of the body (of the guard) to resist free sliding of a garment hanging thereon."