Patent Application
20130025019
The present invention relates to a support for supporting eyeglasses on apparel such as shirts.
People must from time to time remove and store eyeglasses. Glasses may for example be ordinary corrective glasses which are being removed for diverse reasons, may be sunglasses which obstruct vision at low light levels, or may be reading glasses which are ineffective when viewing things at a distance. Removal may be temporary, so that it becomes necessary to have the glasses readily at hand for when the time comes to replace them.
People typically place removed glasses on an environmental surface, or rotate them such that the lenses are supported on the top of the head of the user, or put them in a pocket. Each of these solutions to the problem of what to do with removed glasses has its advantages and disadvantages. Significant disadvantages include inconvenience of retrieving the glasses, forgetting where they have been placed, or subsequent loss such as might occur with glasses not secured when suspended from a breast pocket or stowed on the head.
There remains a need for a convenient, practical way to store glasses that have been temporarily removed.
The present invention meets the above need by providing anchorage of removed glasses on apparel. Apparatus which accomplishes this is advantageously arranged so as not to stretch or deform the apparel, to locate the anchorage at a convenient location, and to securely engage eyeglasses by insertion of the arms. To this end, a loop is affixed to the apparel. The loop may be permanently fixed to the apparel, or alternatively, may comprise a detachable component. The anchorage is preferably located at any point below the collar and along the placket at the neck.
A significant advantage of the invention is to provide an immediately usable, convenient place to suspend eyeglasses by an arm thereof when temporarily removing the eyeglasses, and when there is an intent to replace the eyeglasses on the head shortly after removal.
It is an object of the invention to provide improved elements and arrangements thereof by apparatus for the purposes described which is inexpensive, dependable, and fully effective in accomplishing its intended purposes.
These and other objects of the present invention will become readily apparent upon further review of the following specification and drawings.
Various objects, features, and attendant advantages of the present invention will become more fully appreciated as the same becomes better understood when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the several views, and wherein:
The shirt 10 may have a torso encircling component 18 having an interior surface 20, an exterior surface 22, and front panel 24 and a rear panel 26. The torso encircling component 18 defines therein a neck opening 28, a torso opening 30, a right arm opening 32, and a left arm opening 34. The right arm opening 32 may include a right sleeve 36. The left arm opening 34 may include a left sleeve 38. The neck opening 28 may include a collar 40 as well as the placket 16. Obviously, different types or styles of shirts may omit some of the above features, or alternatively have the features in forms different from the form shown and described herein.
The component of the shirt 10 which provides anchorage for the eyeglasses 12 may be described as a closed loop 42, which is disposed on the exterior surface 22 of the front panel 24 of the torso encircling component 18. The closed loop 42 may comprise a flexible strip of material which is affixed to the front panel 24 such that the closed loop 42 may present a bottomless receptacle for receiving an arm 44 of the eyeglasses 12 when the eyeglasses 12 are installed in engagement with the closed loop 42 (this is shown in
According to one aspect of the invention, the closed loop 42 may be affixed to the front panel 24 in any location readily accessible by hand for installing the arm of the eyeglasses 12 therethrough, as shown in
While it would be possible to anchor the closed loop 42 at one point to the front panel 24, this could result in the closed loop 42 being hard to spread open sufficiently so as to facilitate insertion of the arm 44 therethrough. Therefore, the closed loop 42 is preferably formed from a flexible strip of material having a first end 46 and a second end 48 each affixed to the front panel 24 (
When affixed as shown in
Attachment of the strip of material at spaced apart points maintains the opening formed between the strip of material and the front panel 24 open such that it is easy to insert the arm 44 through this opening when suspending the eyeglasses 12 from the closed loop 42 for temporary support on the shirt 10. Attachment of the strip of material may be by first and second stitches 50, 52, although other forms of attachment are possible.
It should be understood that the strip of material which cooperates with the front panel 24 to form the completed closed loop 42 terminates at the points of attachment such as at the first end 46 and second end 48, just beyond respective stitches 50 and 52, such that the closed loop 42 is an entity unto itself and is not a continuation or part of other structure associated with the shirt 10 for another purpose.
When installed on the front panel 24 of the shirt 10 as seen in
It should be noted at this point that orientational terms such as upwardly and downwardly refer to the subject drawing as viewed by an observer. The drawing figures depict their subject matter in orientations of normal use, which could obviously change with changes in body posture and position. Therefore, orientational terms must be understood to provide semantic basis for purposes of description, and do not limit the invention or its component parts in any particular way.
The closed loop 42 may be located between two and six inches below the neck opening 28 and may be centered on the shirt 10 with respect to right and left sides of the shirt 10. More particularly, the closed loop 42 may be located about four inches below the neck opening 28.
As depicted in
Thus far, the invention has been described such that the closed loop 42 is permanently attached to the shirt 10. It would be possible to make part of the closed loop of the invention removably attachable to the torso encircling component 18. This is shown in
Of course, a removably attachable closed loop may utilize fasteners other than clips. For example, a removably attachable closed loop may utilize snaps, buttons, hook and loop fastener material, hook and eye, and other types of fasteners, although these may require that complementing components be affixed to the front panel 24 of the shirt 10.
While the present invention has been described in connection with what is considered the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the present invention is not to be limited to the disclosed arrangements, but is intended to cover various arrangements which are included within the spirit and scope of the broadest possible interpretation of the appended claims so as to encompass all modifications and equivalent arrangements which are possible
