Picture hanger with spacer elements for alignment during stacking

Claim 1

A picture hanger produced from elongated strips of connected picture hangers adapted to be coiled around a feeding reel associated with an assembly machine which receives said strip for further processing and for automatic attachment of the picture hangers to a picture frame assembly, said picture hanger comprising: a substantially planar body portion having a top edge, a bottom edge, a left edge and a right edge; a cut-out adjacent to but spaced from said top edge for receiving therethrough a hanging support member to suspend said hanger and any frame assembly to which the hanger is attached; an integrally formed reinforcing rib extending generally between said left edge and said right edge and extending in a first direction from the plane of said body portion, said rib being located between said cut-out and said top edge; a first pair of protuberances extending from the plane of said body portion in said first direction; and a second pair of protuberances extending from the plane of said body portion in a direction opposite to said first direction; an integral barrel-like living hinge extending between said left edge and said right edge, said hinge extending from the plane of said body portion in said first direction, said hinge enabling said hanger to be compatible with the assembly machine; said reinforcing rib, said first pair of protuberances, said second pair of protuberances, and said hinge functioning as spacing means to permit proper stacking of the hangers as the strip is coiled around the feeding reel.