Weatherguard Jersey

Abstract

A garment usable as an outer jersey having pockets with heating elements embedded therein for maintaining the hands of the wearer sufficiently warm.

Description

This invention relates generally to a garment usable as a jersey and, more particularly, to such a jersey having pockets which are embedded with heating elements to maintain the hands of the wearer comfortably warm.

In cold and sub-zero weather, it is not uncommon for the participants of outdoor sports to seek warm shelter for their hands by either placing them temporarily inside some portion of their clothing or by swiftly rubbing them together. As an alternative, gloves or mittens have been provided for the jersey of especially the quarterback in football who may at least have his hands covered by placing them in the pockets or mittens to insulate them from the cold outside while the play of the game is not proceeding. Although the wearer of such a jersey may welcome the provision of such pockets or mittens, they have been found to be substantially inadequate in sufficiently warming the wearer's hands in the short time available for using the pockets during the course of the game. The design of these pockets or mittens has been therefore vastly improved upon by the present invention by simply providing them with embedded heating elements electrically attached to a power source which is also worn by the player on his hip pad, for example, customarily provided for football or other like contact sports. This is the principal object of the present invention.

Another object of this invention is to provide such heated pockets wherein the wire means used to electrically interconnect the heating elements with the power source is extended through an aperture in the garment directly behind the pocket wall so as to lie completely within the interior of the garment.

A further object of the instant invention is to provide such a jersey garment wherein the wire is capable of being disconnected at a terminal just inside the jersey aperture so as to ensure easy application and removal of the jersey from the wearer.

A still further object of this invention is to provide such a jersey garment wherein the heating element in each pocket is disposed between a pair of insulated inner and outer walls and the terminal is provided with an insulator cap so that the jersey may be washed without exposure of the wire elements.

A still further object of this invention is to provide such a jersey garment wherein the power source comprises a battery which is mounted in a socket formed in the hip pad of the wearer.

Other objects, advantages and novel feature of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view in plan showing the jersey garment in accordance with the present invention in combination with an outer lower garment worn by the player;

FIG. 2 is a detailed view partly broken away showing the elements forming the heated pocket of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the pocket taken substantially along the line 3--3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the pocket taken substantially along the line 4--4 of FIG. 2 and further showing one end of a wire cable;

FIG. 5 is a view of the battery power source mounted in a socket within the hip pad taken at line 5--5 of FIG. 1; and,

FIG. 6 is a side view of a male terminal and a sectional view of an insulator cap for covering the terminal.

Turning now to the drawings wherein like reference characters refer to like and corresponding parts throughout the several views, there is shown a jersey J of conventional form having a pair of pockets 10, each being conveniently secured to the front portion of the jersey as by rivets 11 and by being threaded along three sides as at 12. Each pocket is provided with a heating element 13 embedded within a soft fabric 14 disposed between a pair of spaced insulating sheets 15 of either rubber or plastic or some other suitable material. The heating element 13 is mounted as shown in FIG. 2 so that it will evenly disperse a quantity of heat throughout the surface of walls 15 when it is electrically heated through its power source. Insulated wires 16 of each heating element are extended through a slot 17 (see FIGS. 2 and 4) provided in the jersey J directly behind each pocket wall so that the electrical connecting means may lie wholly within the jersey and not be exposed to the other players. Each of the wires 16 terminate in a terminal connector 18 having a pair of conventional male connectors to be united with complimentary female connectors 21 provided in a female terminal 22 secured to one end of an insulated wire cable 23. The other end of each cable 23 is simply secured to the respective poles 24 of a pair of electrical power sources in the form of dry cell batteries 25 each mounted within a socket 26 provided in the outer wall of opposite sides of a hip pad 27 which is buckled about the hip of the wearer in any conventional fashion.

When the player who intends wearing this jersey begins dressing with his equipment, he simply places the two batteries 25 within each respective socket 26 and thereafter secures the wire cables 23 to each of the respective poles 24, as by the screws 28, and thereafter pulls his jersey over his equipment already secured to his upper torso so that he may then simply extend each wire cable 23 upwardly beneath the lower portion of his jersey and, lifting it slightly, simply snap the female terminals 22 onto the male terminals 18 for supplying current to the heating elements 13 in each pocket. He may then put on his football pants 29 so as to completely cover the sockets 26 and the batteries 25 therein after which the lower portion of his jersey may then be tucked within his pants garment. As soon as the two respective connectors 18 and 22 are snapped together, current is supplied from the battery 25 to the heating elements in each of the pockets thereby heating the walls 15 of each pocket an adequate amount depending upon the number of heating coils provided therebetween, whereafter the player may simply insert his hands through the openings O of the pockets to warm them up when needed. Removal of the jersey from the body of the wearer is not hampered in any way by reason of the batteries 25 or the wire cables 23 since the terminals 18 and 22 may be simply detached from one another by simply reaching under the bottom of the jersey after it has been loosened from beneath the pants garment. When it becomes necessary to launder or dry-clean the jersey, a terminal cap 21 of molded polyurethane or similar substance may simply be snapped over each of the male terminals 18, in a manner as shown in FIG. 6 of the drawings, so that the aqueous washing solution or cleaning agent will not corrode or otherwise destroy the effectiveness of the male connectors 19 of the male terminal.

From the above, it can be seen that a simple, yet highly effective and economical technique has been devised for adequately warming the hands of a football or similar type player engaged in outdoor sports during cold and inclement weather conditions. The wire cables 23 with their snap-on connectors facilitate easy connection of the heating elements 13 with the batteries 25 after the jersey J is drawn over the body of the wearer. Also, since the batteries are located within sockets which may be easily provided at either side of the hip pad and since each of the wire cables 23 remain wholly unexposed to the outside, it can be seen that such paraphernalia will go unnoticeable and will not interfere in any way with the wearer during the play of the game. The batteries 25 are of such a small dimension and, by reason of the wearer's pants garment, the open side of the sockets 26 remain closed and the batteries are protected by the normally heavy fabric texture of the pants garment worn by the player. If the jersey happens to be pulled out from within the pants garment an amount greater than the length of cables 23 during the course of play, no harm to the wearer will ensue since the terminals 18 and 22 will simply disconnect. Live current from the battery will thereafter not affect the player since the disconnected live terminals 22 are female ones with their female connectors 21 depressed in the outer periphery of the terminal element. The heated pocket jersey of the present invention may also be used by others than players of outdoor sports, for example, by the spectators confined out of doors. The batteries may then be simply placed in the wearer's pockets or otherwise strapped around some portion of the wearer's torso. Also, the pockets may be simply designed as a mitten comprising a piece of fabric attached along opposite sides and opened at both ends for insertion of the wear's hands. Furthermore, the sockets 26 may be designed slightly narrower than shown in FIG. 5 so as to snugly receive the batteries 25 and thereby further ensure against any dislodgement thereof during the course of play.

Obviously many other modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in the light of the above teachings. It is, therefore, to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A heated pocket football jersey having at least one pocket attached thereto, said pocket comprising a patch of material having a pair of spaced walls of insulating material between which is provided a soft fabric containing a series of heating elements embedded therein, said patch of material secured on three sides to said jersey electrically conducting lead wire means interconnecting said heating elements from said pocket to an electrical power source, said power source being disposed within an outwardly open socket provided on a football pad of the wearer, said open socket being closed by a portion of the jersey said wire means extending through an opening formed in the jersey directly behind said pocket, and said wire means comprising a connector terminal located near said opening and an elongated wire cable electrically connected at one end to said terminal and at its other end to said power source.

2. The garment according to claim 1 wherein a pair of said pockets is provided for said jersey.