The present invention is related to garment having air ventilation openings and, more particularly, to a garment having air ventilation openings with an opening biased tending to open the air ventilation openings to facilitate increased air circulation.
Outerwear garments typically have openings such as vents, pockets, and access openings that may be opened or closed. A vent, for example, may be opened or closed by a wearer to adjust the ventilation of the garment. In foul or cold weather, for example, the wearer may keep the vent closed to prevent wind and rain from entering the garment. In warmer weather or during strenuous exercise where the wearer's body temperature is elevated, the wearer may choose to open one or more vents to allow airflow into and out of the garment. The vents also allow moisture to escape from the interior of the garment through the vent.
The vents are typically constructed as an opening in the garment (such as a slit) that may be selectively opened or closed with a closure mechanism. Common closure mechanisms that are used include zippers, hook and loop closures, buttons, snaps, and the like. The vents also often include a mesh panel spanning the opening forming the vent to allow air and moisture to flow through the vent but block snow, leaves and other items from entering the garment.
When the wearer opens a vent, however, the opening forming the vent is often only a slit in the garment that is either attached such as by a zipper in a closed configuration or unattached in an open configuration. When the vent is in an open configuration, for example, the opening of the vent may be rather small if the edges of the slit are not separated from each other. The area of the vent is able to vary depending, for example, upon the motion of the wearer.
In one attempt to solve this problem, for example, a defined vent region is provided over which a cover element such as a flap can be selectively positioned to control the effective vent area of the vent. The flap has a size and shape corresponding to the size and shape of the vent region. Thus the vent may be opened by folding the flap away from the vent region or closed by covering the vent region.
Thus, it would be desirous to design a ventilation opening for a garment that facilitated airflow.
The present invention provides a garment such as a jacket, pants, shorts, an anorak, a pullover or the like including an opening. The garment comprises an inner surface, an outer surface and an opening extending from the inner surface to the outer surface along at least a portion of the garment. The garment further comprises a closure mechanism for opening and closing the opening and a bias member attached to the garment for biasing the opening towards an open configuration. The closure mechanism overcomes the biasing of the bias member when the opening is in a closed configuration.
A garment of the present invention comprises one or more openings. The openings, for example, may comprise a vent for allowing air to flow between the exterior and the interior of the garment. In another embodiment, the opening may comprise an opening for accessing a pocket of the garment in which a wearer may store items such as keys, wallets, gloves or other items. The opening may also comprise an opening for allowing access to the interior of the garment without removing the garment, such as, for example, a fly or an opening adjacent to pockets in other garments worn underneath the garment.
The opening 22 shown in
The bias member 28, for example, may comprise one or more elastic members disposed along or generally adjacent to one or both of the sides 30 and 32 of the gap 24. The bias members 28 may be located on the outer surface of the garment 20, located on the inner surface of the garment 20 or located between the outer surface and the inner surface of the garment 20. For example, a garment 20 may comprise an inner liner and an outer liner. In such an embodiment, the bias members 28 may be disposed between the inner and outer liners. The bias members 28 may also be disposed at least partially within a protective layer, such as a sleeve, a channel or the like. The bias member(s) 28 may also assist in inhibiting loose fabric from the garment from fouling the tines of zipper 26.
As shown in
By biasing the sides 30 and 32 away from each other, the opening 22 is held in an open configuration to prevent the sides from coming together during normal wearing conditions. As shown in
The opening 22 may also comprise a mesh panel 42 spanning at least a portion of the opening to allow air and moisture to flow through the vent but block snow, leaves and other items from entering the garment. In this case, placing the bias members 28 internal to the zipper 26 but external to mesh panel 42 allows the bias members 28 to assist inhibit the mesh panel 42 from fouling zipper 26.
As shown in
The closure mechanism, such as zipper 226, overcomes the resilient forces of the bias members 228, aligns the two sides 230 and 232 of the opening 224 and thus closes the opening 224 of the vent 222. When the closure mechanism is opened, however, the resilient forces impacted by the bias members 228 push the sides 230 and 232 away from each other and thus bias the sides 230 and 232 of the vent 222 in an open configuration.
While the bias members 228 of the vent 222 are shown extending generally perpendicular to a centerline 240 of the opening 224 of the vent 222, the bias members 228 may also be attached to the garment 220 at any other angle from the centerline 240 of the opening 224 sufficient to bias the sides 230 and 232 of the opening 224 away from each other. The resilient members may comprise, for example, springs or other known resilient members known in the art. In one embodiment, for example, a spring may be inserted into a sleeve of material and attached to the garment 220 so that the spring is compressed when the vent is in a closed configuration and will impart a resilient force to bias the sides 230 and 232 of the opening 224 apart from each other.
In this embodiment, a wearer may adjust the size of the opening 324 by adjusting the position of the cord 338 in the cord lock 340. By pulling the cord 338 through the cord lock 340, a wearer may pull the sides 330 and 332 of the opening apart from each other by causing first end 320f and second end 320s to move towards each other in a pinching type movement. The wearer may also adjust the size of the opening 324 by releasing the cord 338 back through the cord lock 340 and into the sleeve 342.
While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to a preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various other changes in the form and details may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
This patent application claims priority to U.S. Provisional application 60/524,998, filed Nov. 24, 2003, titled the same, incorporated herein by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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60524998 | Nov 2003 | US |