The coat hanger consists of a triangle and a hook, with a stem between the two. Click the hanger down on the hook like you would a "clicky" pen. Upon this click, a rod inside the stem , that moves down to the midpoint of the large triangle, pushes a lever that releases the connecting rod (located at this midpoint) of the two halves of the triangle.The two halves swing in with the connecting rod assembly moving upwards while the edges of the triangles move downwards (all edges are moveable). Click the hook again and it pushes the connecting rod back down on the two triangles, extending them and locking them in "hanger" position.