![Jefferson closet ideas included this three-tier turning-spoke system for hanging his most used clothing](https://monticello-www.s3.amazonaws.com/files/old/styles/body_image/public/uploaded-content-images/BedChamber22_Smalling2017.jpg")
Claims that Thomas Jefferson invented the clothes hanger are unfounded, although he did have a "convenient contrivance" for hanging clothes in his closet at Monticello. His grandson-in-law called it a "turning machine."[1] Another guest reported: "In a recess at the foot of the bed was a horse with forty-eight projecting hands on which hung his coats and waistcoats and which he could turn round with a long stick, a knick-knack that Jefferson was fond of showing with many other little mechanical inventions."[2]
