U.S. patent application number 13/512588 was filed with the patent office on 2013-02-21 for adjustment mechanism.
This patent application is currently assigned to STYX MILL CLOTHING COMPANY LIMITED. The applicant listed for this patent is Gregory Owen Mitchell, Humphrey George Mitchell. Invention is credited to Gregory Owen Mitchell, Humphrey George Mitchell.
Application Number | 20130042384 13/512588 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 43901742 |
Filed Date | 2013-02-21 |
United States Patent
Application |
20130042384 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Mitchell; Humphrey George ;
et al. |
February 21, 2013 |
ADJUSTMENT MECHANISM
Abstract
An adjustment mechanism for the hood of a garment is described
along with a method of use. The hood is tightened or loosened via
pockets located on the torso of the garment. One specific
embodiment is a rainwear jacket that includes two front facing
pockets located on the chest of the wearer which conceal the
endings of a hood cord and, by opening the pockets, the cords may
be reversibly tightened and concealed by closing the pockets. The
mechanism avoids use of loose toggles or other items that may catch
on other objects. The cords are also positioned in a way that
allows for easy and wearer visible adjustment.
Inventors: |
Mitchell; Humphrey George;
(Christchurch, NZ) ; Mitchell; Gregory Owen;
(Christchurch, NZ) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Mitchell; Humphrey George
Mitchell; Gregory Owen |
Christchurch
Christchurch |
|
NZ
NZ |
|
|
Assignee: |
STYX MILL CLOTHING COMPANY
LIMITED
Christchurch
NZ
|
Family ID: |
43901742 |
Appl. No.: |
13/512588 |
Filed: |
November 29, 2010 |
PCT Filed: |
November 29, 2010 |
PCT NO: |
PCT/NZ2010/000235 |
371 Date: |
September 12, 2012 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
2/84 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A41D 2200/20 20130101;
A42B 1/048 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
2/84 |
International
Class: |
A41D 3/02 20060101
A41D003/02 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Nov 29, 2009 |
NZ |
581448 |
Claims
1. An adjustment mechanism including: (a) a garment with a torso
covering portion and a hood portion that at least partially covers
a wearer's head; (b) a cord securing portion on the hood portion;
(c) a hood cord that is received by the hood cord securing portion;
and wherein the hood cord is reversibly tightened through at least
one pocket located on the garment torso portion.
2. The adjustment mechanism as claimed in claim 1 wherein the
garment is a jacket.
3. The adjustment mechanism as claimed in claim 1 wherein the hood,
when tightened, encloses the user's head apart from a forward
facing portion.
4. The adjustment mechanism as claimed in claim 1 wherein the
cord-securing portion is a hem or channel through which the cord is
received.
5. The adjustment mechanism as claimed in claim 1 wherein the cord
securing portion is situated so as to be located at the front or
brim of the hood.
6. The adjustment mechanism as claimed in claim 1 wherein the cord
securing portion is situated so as to be located in a position
that, when tightened forms a seal around at least a portion of the
user's face.
7. The adjustment mechanism as claimed in claim 1 wherein the cord
includes at least one toggle located on the distil end or ends of
the cord.
8. The adjustment mechanism as claimed in claim 1 wherein the
distil end or ends of the cord or cords extend internally from the
hood cord securing portion though a garment collar and to a pocket
or pockets located at the front of the torso portion of the garment
when worn.
9. The adjustment mechanism as claimed in claim 1 wherein the
garment includes two pockets located on the chest of the wearer
enclosing each distil end of the cord.
10. The adjustment mechanism as claimed in claim 1 wherein the cord
or cords extend from the cord-securing portion of the hood, through
the garment collar, and then through the torso portion to the
pocket or pockets.
11. A method of reversibly tightening a hood on a garment by the
step of pulling at least one cord ending located inside at least
one pocket on the torso portion of a garment and, wherein the
garment includes a hood portion and the cord ending or endings when
pulled tighten the hood against the wearer's head.
12. The method as claimed in claim 11 wherein the garment is a
jacket.
13. The method as claimed in claim 11 wherein, the cord is situated
within the hood so as to be located in a position that, when
tightened forms a seal around at least a portion of the user's
face.
14. The method as claimed in claim 11 a wherein the cord includes
at least one toggle located on the distil end or ends of the
cord.
15. The method as claimed in claim 11 wherein the end or ends of
the cord or cords extend internally from the hood, though a garment
collar, and to the pocket or pockets located on the torso portion
of the garment when worn.
16. The method as claimed in claim 11 wherein the garment includes
two pockets located on the chest of the wearer enclosing each
ending of the cord.
17. The method as claimed in claim 11 wherein the cord or cords are
retained between a garment liner and the garment exterior layer.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The invention relates to an adjustment mechanism. More
specifically, the invention relates to a mechanism and method of
adjusting, tightening and loosening a hood on a jacket or other
item of clothing with a hood.
BACKGROUND ART
[0002] Existing designs of hoods incorporate a hem or channel on
the hood peak that houses a cord such as elastic or cotton. The
cord may be tightened to hold the hood in place on the wearer's
head or loosened for a more relaxed fit.
[0003] Designs for this cord arrangement range typically entail the
cord emerging from the hood or collar, typically around the neck
region of the wearer. The cord may have toggle adjustment
mechanisms at this emergence point to assist with fixing the cord
in place against the hood or collar. The user adjusts the tightness
of the hood across their forehead and/or cheeks by pulling the
emerging cords and thereby constricting the hood opening. If
toggles are present, the constricted hood may be held in place by
adjusting the toggles along the cord to the tightened position.
Where toggles are not present, the cords may be tied together under
the user's chin to hold the hood in place or otherwise tied
off.
[0004] A potential drawback of existing designs described above is
that the cord emerges from the hood or collar and hangs on the
exterior of the garment. The cord can therefore be caught on other
items, for example, a pack, other carried equipment, or trees or
other undergrowth through which the user moves. The amount of cord
that may be caught on other objects increases when the hood is
tightened, which is far from ideal as that is when the user
typically has the least vision e.g. with the hood in a constricted
position across the users face. In many cases this loose cord may
simply be a nuisance although, items that can catch can result in
the item of clothing being damaged e.g. ripped, or can even result
in the user being snagged and thrown off balance.
[0005] A further drawback of the above designs is that the toggle
adjustment mechanisms are typically small in order to avoid bulk
this means that they may be cumbersome and difficult to use,
particularly when the user is already wearing gloves and/or other
equipment.
[0006] A yet further drawback is that the cords in the tightened
position are not aesthetically pleasing with the cord either
dangling around the users face or, if tied off, may be
uncomfortable and constrict movement of the users head.
[0007] It would therefore be useful to have an alternative design
that minimised the risk of catching, yet still allowed for easy
adjustment by the user when the garment is worn, and is
aesthetically pleasing.
[0008] It is an object of the present invention to address the
foregoing problems or at least to provide the public with a useful
choice.
[0009] All references, including any patents or patent applications
cited in this specification are hereby incorporated by reference.
No admission is made that any reference constitutes prior art. The
discussion of the references states what their authors assert, and
the applicants reserve the right to challenge the accuracy and
pertinence of the cited documents. It will be clearly understood
that, although a number of prior art publications are referred to
herein, this reference does not constitute an admission that any of
these documents form part of the common general knowledge in the
art, in New Zealand or in any other country.
[0010] It is acknowledged that the term `comprise` may, under
varying jurisdictions, be attributed with either an exclusive or an
inclusive meaning. For the purpose of this specification, and
unless otherwise noted, the term `comprise` shall have an inclusive
meaning--i.e. that it will be taken to mean an inclusion of not
only the listed components it directly references, but also other
non-specified components or elements. This rationale will also be
used when the term `comprised` or `comprising` is used in relation
to one or more steps in a method or process.
[0011] Further aspects and advantages of the present invention will
become apparent from the ensuing description that is given by way
of example only.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
[0012] The invention broadly relates to an adjustment mechanism and
method of reversibly tightening a garment hood onto a wearer's
head.
[0013] For the purposes of this specification the term `hood` and
grammatical variations thereof refers to a head-covering portion of
a garment.
[0014] The term `garment` refers to shirts, vests, jackets and the
like with a hood portion. One embodiment may be a rainwear jacket
where the hood provides rain and wind protection to the user's
head.
[0015] The term `torso portion` refers to the body-covering portion
of the garment below the neckline.
[0016] According to a first embodiment there is provided an
adjustment mechanism including: [0017] (a)a garment with a torso
portion and a hood portion that at least partially covers a
wearer's head; [0018] (b) a cord securing portion on the hood
portion; [0019] (c)a hood cord that is received by the hood cord
securing portion; and wherein the hood cord is reversibly tightened
through at least one pocket located on the garment torso
portion.
[0020] According to a second embodiment there is provided a method
of reversibly tightening a hood on a garment by the step of pulling
at least one cord ending located inside at least one pocket on the
torso portion of a garment and, wherein the garment includes a hood
portion and the cord ending or endings when pulled tighten the hood
on the wearer's head.
[0021] In one embodiment, the garment is a jacket. Alternatively,
the garment may be a shirt or other item of clothing that includes
a hood. It should be appreciated that the adjustment mechanism of
the present invention may be applied to a variety of garments, the
main requirement being that the garment include a hood portion.
[0022] In the above embodiments, the hood, when tightened, encloses
the user's head apart from a forward facing portion to allow the
user to see and/or breathe. Partial head covering may also be
possible without departing from the scope of this
specification.
[0023] In one embodiment, the cord-securing portion is a hem or
channel through which the cord is received. The cord may be free to
move within the hem or instead may be fixed to the hem via a stitch
or other means at one or more points. In order to have the cord
constrict the opening against the user's face, the cord must be
sufficiently free to move within the hem so as to bunch up the hood
thereby constricting the size of the hood opening against the
user's face.
[0024] In one embodiment, the cord-receiving portion is situated so
as to be located at the front or brim of the hood. In a further
embodiment, the cord receiving portion is situated so as to be
located in a position that, when tightened forms a seal around at
least a portion of the user's face. The hood opening, when
constricted via the adjustment mechanism, results in the hood being
pulled against the users forehead and cheeks to form the seal.
[0025] In one embodiment the cord used may be elasticised although
non-elasticised cords e.g. cotton, may also be used without
departing from the scope of the invention. An advantage of using
elasticised cord is that a tighter seal may be established against
the user's face than may be the case when a non-elasticised cord is
used.
[0026] In one embodiment, the cord includes at least one toggle
located on the distil end or ends of the cord. Toggles in the
context of this specification refer to a device that locks the cord
in place against the garment to fix the cord in a tightened or
loosened position. In one embodiment, the toggle may be a plastic
cylindrical shape with a spring-loaded constriction that locks
against the cord and is sufficiently large so as to be held against
the garment fabric and not be carried through into the hem or other
aperture(s). In preferred embodiments, the toggle or toggles are
sufficiently large to be easily adjusted by the user when wearing
gloves and/or other equipment.
[0027] In one embodiment, the distil end or ends of the cord or
cords extend internally from the hood cord receiving portion though
a garment collar and to a pocket or pockets located at the front of
the torso portion of the garment when worn. It should be
appreciated that this position is preferable for adjustment as the
wearer can easily reach the cord distil ends and the cord ends are
within the wearer line of vision. By contrast, neck based
adjustment mechanisms used in the art are more difficult to reach
and the tightening process is difficult to view visually by the
user as the toggles are away from the wearer's line of sight. In
addition, as the distil end or ends of the cord or cords are
received within a pocket or pockets, they may be concealed within
the pocket or pockets. This avoids the cord (or toggles if used)
being caught on other objects. Concealing the cord or cords is also
more aesthetically pleasing as the cord endings and any toggles if
used are not visible once adjusted and the pocket closed.
[0028] In one embodiment, the garment includes two pockets located
on the chest of the wearer enclosing each distil end of the cord.
To use the adjustment mechanism, the user unzips the pocket or
pockets and pulls the cord endings. Pulling the cord or cords
tightens the hood without need to tighten any cords around the neck
region of the user.
[0029] In one embodiment, the cord or cords extend from the
cord-securing portion of the hood, through the garment collar, and
then through the torso portion to the pocket or pockets. The cord
or cords may also be enclosed between a garment liner layer and a
garment exterior layer. Guiding regions may also be used between
the liner and garment outer layer to retain the cord in a preferred
position.
[0030] It should be appreciated from the above description that
there is provided an adjustment mechanism that allows a hood to be
reversibly tightened, is easy to access, is easy to use when the
garment is worn, and which overcomes aesthetic issues in the art by
concealing the cords, cord endings and toggles if used.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0031] Further aspects of the present invention will become
apparent from the following description that is given by way of
example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings in
which:
[0032] FIG. 1 illustrates a front elevation of a jacket embodiment
using the adjustment mechanism;
[0033] FIG. 2 illustrates a front elevation of a jacket embodiment
using the adjustment mechanism with two front pockets unzipped
exposing the cord endings and adjustment toggles;
[0034] FIG. 3 illustrates a front elevation of the front of the
jacket embodiment with the hood in a tightened configuration;
[0035] FIG. 4 illustrates a front elevation of the front of the
jacket embodiment with the hood in a tightened configuration and
with the cord concealed within the pockets;
[0036] FIG. 5 illustrates a detailed elevation of the hood showing
the exterior of the hem or channel that the cord passes
through;
[0037] FIG. 6 illustrates a detailed elevation of the hood interior
showing the cord transferring from the hood channel to the collar
of the jacket; and,
[0038] FIG. 7 illustrates a detailed elevation of a cord ending
including a toggle and guide as the cord emerges from a front
pocket.
BEST MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
[0039] The invention is now described with reference to a detailed
description of an embodiment of the adjustment mechanism and a
related method of use.
[0040] Referring to FIG. 1, a front elevation is shown of a jacket
1 including an embodiment of the adjustment mechanism. The jacket 1
includes a hood portion 2 which, when worn, covers the wearer's
head (not shown). A torso portion 3 is also included. In the Figure
shown, the hood portion 2 is in a loosened configuration.
[0041] The hood 2 includes a channel or hem 4 through which a cord
5 passes. Each cord ending 6,7 is concealed in two front facing
pockets 8,9 located around the chest region of the wearer (not
shown) when the jacket 1 is worn.
[0042] Referring to FIG. 2, the jacket 1 is shown with the two
front pockets 8,9 in an opened position and the cord endings 6,7
and toggles 10,11 exposed.
[0043] FIG. 3 shows the same view as FIG. 2 however, the cord
endings 6,7 have been pulled via the pockets 8,9 which in turn has
tightened the hood 2 of the jacket 1 as illustrated by the bunching
of material 4A observed in FIG. 3 around the forward facing portion
of the hood 2. The toggles 10,11 have been moved to retain the cord
endings 6,7 in a tightened position.
[0044] FIG. 4 shows the same hood 2 tightened view as FIG. 3 but
with the cord endings 6,7 concealed within the two front pockets
8,9. As should be appreciated, this looks aesthetically cleaner
than the case where the cord endings 6,7 are exposed and prevents
the cords, cord endings 6,7 and toggles 10,11 from being caught on
external objects.
[0045] FIG. 5 shows a detailed view of the hood 2 exterior and the
exterior of the hem or channel 4 through which the cord (not shown)
may pass. In the embodiment shown the cord passes through the front
of the hood 2 although set back slightly from the edge to allow a
peak 12 to extend forwards from the hood 2 even when the hood 2 is
in a tightened configuration.
[0046] FIG. 6 shows a detailed view of the hood 2 interior
illustrating one embodiment to transfer the cord 5 from the hood 2
portion into the torso 3 portion, in this case via eyelets 13,14
between the hood 2 and collar 15 of the jacket 1. The cord 5 then
extends into the torso 3 portion of the jacket 1 between a liner
(not shown) and outer portion 3.
[0047] FIG. 7 illustrates a detail view of one cord ending 7
emerging out of an opened front pocket 9. As shown, the cord ending
7 emerges from the top of the pocket 9. A guide loop 16 may be used
as shown in FIG. 7 to retain the cord ending 7. The embodiment
shown also uses a toggle 11 that is a spring loaded cylinder that
fixes to a point on the cord adjustable by the user.
[0048] The adjustment mechanism is used to tighten the hood 2 by
the wearer unzipping the front pockets 8,9 and pulling on the cord
endings 6,7 until the hood 2 is tightened around the wearers face
(not shown). The wearer may set the degree of tightness although an
aim is to form an approximate weather seal between the hood 2 and
the wearer's face, in particular, the seal on wearer's forehead
and/or cheeks. Once tightened, the toggles 10,11 may be moved to a
point proximate the guide loop 16 to retain the cord 5 in the
tightened position. The excess cord 5 and toggles 10,11 may then be
tucked into the pockets 8,9 and the pockets 8,9 closed, for example
, via a zip or Velcro.TM. closure. The method may be performed by a
wearer using gloves or other movement restricting clothing or
equipment as fine motor skills movements are not required. Also, as
the pockets 8,9 are located around the chest of the wearer,
adjustment can be completed within the wearer's field of vision
further easing the adjustment process. Finally, as the cord 5 is
fully concealed within the jacket 1 there are no parts that may be
caught on other objects thereby avoiding potential damage to the
jacket 1 or snagging on other objects.
[0049] Aspects of the present invention have been described by way
of example only and it should be appreciated that modifications and
additions may be made thereto without departing from the scope of
the claims herein.
* * * * *