U.S. patent application number 12/629315 was filed with the patent office on 2011-06-02 for logo lift up cap.
Invention is credited to Concepsion P. Tualla, Isabelo L. Tualla.
Application Number | 20110126343 12/629315 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 44067749 |
Filed Date | 2011-06-02 |
United States Patent
Application |
20110126343 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Tualla; Isabelo L. ; et
al. |
June 2, 2011 |
LOGO LIFT UP CAP
Abstract
Headwear for securely placing eyeglasses and for releaseably
retaining a plurality of patches, each of the patches having a hook
and loop surface for releaseable attachment to hook and loop
surfaces facing outwardly of the cap or hat. The keepers can also
be provided with high friction surfaces facing inwardly of the cap
to resist dislodgement of temple pieces extending within the
keepers
Inventors: |
Tualla; Isabelo L.; (Suisun
City, CA) ; Tualla; Concepsion P.; (Suisun City,
CA) |
Family ID: |
44067749 |
Appl. No.: |
12/629315 |
Filed: |
December 2, 2009 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
2/209.13 ;
2/175.1; 2/195.1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A42B 1/248 20130101;
A42B 1/247 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
2/209.13 ;
2/195.1; 2/175.1 |
International
Class: |
A42B 1/24 20060101
A42B001/24; A42B 1/00 20060101 A42B001/00 |
Claims
1. In headgear comprising a hat or cap having a crown for residing
upon and covering a substantial portion of the user's head and a
brim connected to said crown for extending forward and above the
user's face when worn, the improvement comprising a pair of
keepers, each keeper being located on opposite sides of said crown,
said keepers being positioned and sized to releaseably retain
temples of a pair of glasses when lens frames of said glasses are
in contact with said brim, said keepers comprising hook and loop
surfaces facing outwardly of said crown and at least one patch
having a first side and second side, said first side having a hook
and loop surface and said second side having indicia, said first
side being releaseably attachable to each of said keepers whereupon
said indicia is visible when said head gear is being worn.
2. The headgear of claim 1 wherein said keepers further comprise
high friction surfaces facing inwardly of said crown to resist
dislodgement of said temple pieces therefrom.
3. The headgear of claim 2 wherein said high friction surfaces
comprise rubber surfaces.
4. The headgear of claim 1 comprising a plurality of patches at
least some of which having differing indicia appearing thereon.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The present invention relates to headwear such as baseball
caps and brimmed hats, and more specifically to headwear having a
means for retaining a pair of eyeglasses and for enabling a user to
releaseably apply and remove patches having logos, slogans and the
like.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Sunglasses conveniently keep sun glare out of a user's eyes
and improve a user's visibility for such tasks as driving and
playing sports. However, when a wearer enters a dimly lit building,
or when nightfall arrives, the wearer must search for a place to
put his sunglasses. It is also common for a wearer to take his
sunglasses off during an activity, set them down on a conveniently
nearby surface, and forget about them as time passes. This
forgetful habit leads to millions of sunglasses being lost annually
and also necessitates that the absent minded wearers continuously
purchase new sunglasses. This cycle of losing sunglasses and having
to purchase new ones can become expensive, as many quality brands
of sunglasses cost well over $100.
[0003] One solution to this problem is for the wearer to place the
sunglasses into a pants or shirt pocket until they are needed
again, but pocket articles, such as keys, or even the coarse
fabrics of many pant pockets can lead to scratching the sunglass
lenses.
[0004] Another solution is presented by inventions which place a
pair of keepers for retaining a pair of sunglasses upon a headwear
article, such as a baseball cap. This arrangement is represented by
U.S. Pat. No. 6,237,159 (Martin); U.S. Pat. No. 6,647,554 (Yan) and
U.S. Design Pat. No. D503,261 (Pedersen). This solution of placing
sunglasses on a hat in this manner serves the dual purpose of
keeping a pair of sunglasses in the possession of the wearer, while
keeping the lenses safe from damage U.S. Pat. No. 7,484,845
(Douglas) refines this arrangement yet further by providing for
keepers which press the sunglass lenses against the brim thus
resisting the glasses from falling from the headgear when a user
tips his head forward
[0005] All inventions which provide for keepers in conjunction with
brimmed headgear, such as baseball caps, provide patches or loops
which have a sole function, that is, to receive temple pieces of
eyewear and to thus retain the eyewear above the brim of the hat
when the glasses are not in use.
[0006] It is also well recognized that a significant appeal to
those in the market for headgear is the application of indicia to
the cap to enable a wearer to express one's personal preferences,
such as a strong allegiance or affiliation to a local sports club.
Without such indicia, sales of caps would be but a fraction of what
the market currently enjoys
[0007] One drawback to current headgear is that once a logo has
been applied thereto, it is basically applied for the life of the
cap. If the user wishes to change affiliations or no longer feels
it appropriate to wear a cap displaying the particular indicia or
logo, oftentimes the cap is discarded or put in storage, never to
be worn again. This happens even though there is nothing wrong with
the cap and, as a piece of functioning headgear, it may be as good
as the day it was purchased.
[0008] It is thus an object of the present invention to provide
headgear in which various distinguishing logos or indicia can be
releaseably applied thereto enabling a user to change such indicia
routinely.
[0009] It is yet a further object of the present invention to
provide a cap containing keepers for sunglasses and other eyewear
and which provides a user with a dual purpose of presenting a
surface capable of releaseably accepting and retaining patches
displaying distinguishable indicia thereto.
[0010] These and further objects of will be more readily
appreciated when considering the following disclosure and appended
claims
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0011] The present invention is directed to headgear comprising a
hat or cap having a crown for residing upon and coveting a
substantial portion of the user's head and a brim connected to said
crown for extending forward and above the user's face when worn,
further comprising a pair of keepers, each keeper being located on
opposite sides of said crown, said keepers being positioned and
sized to releaseably retain temples of a pair of glasses when lens
frames of said glasses are in contact with said brim, said keepers
comprising hook and loop surfaces facing outwardly of said crown
and at least one patch having a first side and second side, said
first side having a hook and loop surface and said second side
having indicia, said first side being releaseably attachable to
each of said keepers whereupon said indicia is visible when said
head gear is being worn.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
[0012] FIG. 1 is a side perspective view of a cap or hat embodying
the present invention.
[0013] FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view of a keeper taken along
line 2-2 of FIG. 1 for use in practicing the present invention.
[0014] FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the cap or hat of FIG. 1
showing the alternative application of various patches on the
keeper of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0015] Novel features which are characteristic to the invention, as
to organization and method of operation, together with further
objects and advantages thereof will be better understood from the
following description considered in connection with the
accompanying drawings, in which preferred embodiments in the
invention are illustrated by way of example. It is to be expressly
understood, however, that the drawings are for illustration
description only and axe not intended as definitions of the limits
of the invention. The various features of novelty which
characterize the invention are recited with particularity in the
claims.
[0016] There has been broadly outlined the more important features
of the invention in the summary above and in order that the
detailed description which follows may be better understood, and in
order that the present contribution to the art may be appreciated.
There are, of course, additional features of the invention that
will be described hereinafter and which will form additional
subject matter of the claims appended hereto. Those skilled in the
art will appreciate that the conception upon which this disclosure
is based may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of
other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several
purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that
the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions
insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the
present invention.
[0017] The present invention is directed to novel headgear, and in
this regard, reference is made to FIG. 1. Headgear 10 is shown as a
six panel hat, three of said panels, identified as panel members
11, 12 and 13 are visible as drawn. Panel 12 that would reside at
the side of a user's head and proximate a user's ears is shown
bisected by phantom line 14. These various panels constitute the
crown of cap or headwear 10 which further includes brim 16
connected to the crown for extending forward and above a user's
face when worn. Keepers 20 are located on the sides of headgear 10
and, ideally, forward of bisecting line 14 noting that keeper 20
has its counterpart on the opposite side of headgear 10 as a mirror
image of that shown in FIG. 1. The eyeglass keeper 20 retains
eyeglasses 30 having frames 24 containing lenses 26 and a pail of
hinged temples 28 extending rearwardly of frames 24 terminating in
an end piece 38 as temple pieces 28 pass through keeper 20. In
doing so, the bottom edge 24a of frame members 24 resides upon brim
16 thus retaining sunglasses 30 upon headgear 10 as shown.
[0018] Uniquely, keepers 30 are shown in cross section along line
2-2 in FIG. 2. As shown, keeper 20 is provided with a hook and loop
surface 19 which faces outwardly of the crown of headgear 10 (panel
12). As a preferred embodiment, keeper 20 is further provided with
a high friction surface 18 facing inwardly of the crown of headgear
10 to resist dislodgement of temple pieces 28 therefrom. Ideally,
high friction surface 18 is comprised of rubber, although any other
high friction coating or layer can be used herein while remaining
within the spirit and scope of the present invention.
[0019] As stated previously, one of the principal reasons why users
opt for headgear such as shown in FIG. 1 is to display logos or
indicia which advertise or promote a user's preference, such as an
allegiance or affiliation with a local sports team. Alternatively,
many such caps are produced by a company or corporation which puts
their own messaging, such as its corporate logo thereon, and
provides them to employees to enable the employees to advertise the
company whenever the headgear is being worn Whatever the reason,
having patches displaying such preferences represents a strong
motivation for using headgear of this variety.
[0020] Logos or indicia can be placed upon headgear in several
ways. Traditionally, patches displaying indicia or logo are
permanently sewn to the crown of the cap. When this occurs, if
one's affiliation changes, the cap ceases to be of interest as a
piece of headgear to be worn regardless of its functionality.
[0021] It is thus proposed that the keepers 20 which have been
applied to headgear 10 for the purpose of retaining temple pieces
28 of eyeglasses 30 be provided with yet another function to thus
increase their value while yet not increasing the manufacturing
costs in the production of headgear 10. This is accomplished by
providing hook and loop surface 19 to the outside surface of keeper
20 to enable it to selectively and releaseably receive a patch
thereon. In this regard, reference is made to FIG. 3.
[0022] As noted previously, an important aspect of the present
invention is to enable one to take advantage of keepers 20.
Pursuant to the present invention, these keepers perform a dual
function, that is, to both receive and retain the temples of a pair
of glasses as well as releasably receive patches enabling a user to
selectively exchange these patches to display different logos or
indicia on headwear 10 thus dramatically increasing the appeal of
this product to consumers. Graphically, this is shown in FIG.
3.
[0023] Turning to FIG. 3, keeper 20 is shown positioned forward of
bisecting line 14. Keeper 20 is shown having a hook and loop outer
surface 19 for receipt of any of patches 51, 52 and 53. Patch 51
has outer surface 51a showing a first logo. Patch 51 is selectively
and removably appended to surface 19 through the use of its own
hook and loop surface 51b. Once a user, for any personal reason,
wishes to remove patch 51 from keeper 20, it can simply be pulled
from the keeper thus releasing the hook and loop surfaces from one
another and replacement patch 52 inserted upon keeper 20 by
engaging hook and loop surface 19 with hook and loop surface 52b.
Outer surface 52a is shown having a second logo displayed thereon.
Similarly, patch 52 could be removed by simply applying thumb and
forefinger pressure to a corner of patch 52 thus disengaging the
complimentary hook and loop surfaces and patch 53 placed upon
keeper 20 by engaging hook and loop surfaces 53b and 19 A third
logo is shown on outer surface 53a. As will be quite apparent to
anyone contemplating the present invention, virtually any logo, be
it a team emblem or message can be employed while remaining within
the spirit and scope of the present invention.
[0024] The above disclosure is sufficient to enable one of ordinary
skill in the art to practice the invention, and provides the best
mode of practicing the invention presently contemplated by the
inventor. While there is provided herein a full and complete
disclosure of the preferred embodiments of the invention, it is not
desired to limit the invention to the exact construction,
dimensions, relationships or operations as described Various
modifications, alternative constructions, changes and equivalents
will readily occur to those skilled in the art and may be employed
as suitable without department from the true spirit and scope of
the invention. Such changes might involve alternative materials,
components, structural arrangements, sizes, shapes, forms,
functions, operational features or the like.
[0025] Therefore, the above description and illustrations should
not be considered as limiting the scope of the invention, which is
defined by the appended claims.
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