Hanger history

On June 1, 1861, 18-year-old engineering student James Edward Hanger left his family, forgoing his studies at Washington College (now Washington & Lee University), to join his brothers as a soldier during the early days of the Civil War.

The original wire hanger, on the other hand, has been attributed to a little known OA North of Connecticut in the USA in 1869.

He patented his limb in 1871.

In 1903, to appease fellow workers who constantly complained about lack of hanging space for coats, he bent a piece of wire into two ovals with the ends twisted together to form a hook.

Patterson applied for the patent of Parkhouse's clothes hanger on January 25, 1904, and United States patent #822,981 was granted and assigned to John B. Timberlake.

In 1906, a tailor from Grand Rapids in Michigan became the first retailer to display his wares on his wishbone-inspired hangers.

Considered by many to be the father of modern prosthetics, Hanger died in 1919.

In 1932, Schuyler C. Hulett mounted cardboard tubes on the wire sections which supported the clothing in order to prevent excess wrinkling.

During this period, orthotists, who made external braces and support devices, joined those who created the artificial limbs, forming the American Orthotics and Prosthetics Association in 1950.

First, in 1965, Gerhard Wieckmann patented a new hanger design with a wire hook and wooden frame.

The second was in 1967, when J.H. Batts patented an inexpensive molded plastic hanger.

But it was during the 1980s that technology development became 'truly fantastic,' as an October 1980 Business Week article claimed, as scientists and engineers explored how to link prosthetic devices directly to the brain.

In 1985, Celltech moved into a different area of the communications field, buying three radio stations, in Lincoln, Nebraska and Brainerd, Minnesota.

From Cell Phones to Artificial Limbs: 1986--89

Sequel's first acquisitions, in 1987, were Capital Orthopedics of Bethesda, Maryland, for which it paid an estimated $1.5 million, and Greiner and Saur Orthopedic Appliances Corporation of Philadelphia, paying $680,262.

In 1988, the company named the founder and head of its Capital subsidiary, Ivan Sabel, president and chief operating officer.

The company continued making acquisitions, and in 1989, bought J.E. Hanger, Inc. of Washington, D.C., one of the surviving branches of the business started by the Civil War amputee.

For example, according to a 1991 Washington Post article, when Sequel did not meet agreed upon 'internal rates of return,' its top managers had to turn over shares of their personal stock in the company to Chemical.

In 1994, it went through a major restructuring.

By 1996, the O & P industry was generating $2 billion in sales.

Then, in 1999, it bought its bigger competitor, NovaCare's O & P division, for $420 million in cash and assumed debt.

Despite growing business at its local patient care centers, Hanger's sagging stock prices, the big interest payments on its debt and costs associated with integrating the NovaCare O & P division resulted in a 2001 restructuring plan aimed at cutting costs and increasing marketing efforts.

In 2018, just 25.9 million wire hangers were imported from China, or less than 1 percent of the pre-tariff total.

8 Tips to maintain and store your Tactical Gear October 5, 2021 No Comments