Patent Application
20090154142
1. Field of the Invention
The invention pertains to pom poms and, more particularly, to a glove supporting a pom pom attached to the tip of one or more fingers thereof.
Fans of athletic teams often enjoy showing their support by wearing clothing in their favorite teams' colors or bearing team-identifying indicia. When attending competitions, displays of encouragement and/or approval may be shown by displaying banners, placards, or by wearing exaggerated appendages such as large hands having a pointed finger or other such devices.
Additionally, holidays, organizations, and fundraising appeals generally have recognizable associated colors. For example, celebrants usually display red and green for Christmas, and orange for Halloween. As a further example, the color pink is associated with breast cancer awareness.
Fans and cheerleaders alike have embraced the use of pom poms for creating artistic display. Pom poms, also known as pompons, are typically ball-shaped clusters of ribbons or streamers, typically affixed to a handle to allow waving the pom pom in the air. A typical example of such a device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,079,046 for POMPON, issued Jan. 7, 1992 to Brian D. Kessler.
Pom poms are widely used by cheerleaders in elaborate displays designed to foster team spirit among the fans. Fans also widely use pom poms to display encouragement to the athletic team from the stands. Pom poms of the prior art typically have occupied the use of the user's hand, requiring that the user set down the pom pom to grasp, for example, a beverage container, camera, or other item. In crowded bleachers, this often results in the loss of or damage to the pom pom.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Several attempts to overcome the shortcomings of such handheld pom poms are found in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,369,215 for FINGER HELD POMPON, issued Jan. 18, 1983 to Matt D. Offen et al., discloses a pompon that may be slid over the thumb of a wearer. The OFFEN et al. device has a body portion upon which indicia may be displayed providing a receptacle into which the wearer's thumb or finger is inserted and retained. Movement of the wearer's finger then provides motion to the streamers attached to the body.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,234,725 for WRIST POMPON STRUCTURE, issued Aug. 10, 1993 to Catherine L. Smith, teaches an elastomeric, tubular sleeve for placement on the wrist of a wearer. Streamers are attached to the proximal end of the sleeve.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,962,086 for POMPON PET, issued Oct. 5, 1999 to James Offen, discloses a pompon structure having a pair of eyes retained on the finger of a wearer.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,447,464 for THERAPY DEVICE FOR UPPER EXTREMITY DYSFUNCTION, issued Sep. 10, 2002 to Mindy Dunlevy et al., teaches a glove having fastener strips attached near the ends of one or more fingers of a glove.
U.S. Design Pat. No. D365,896 for DUSTING GLOVE, issued Jan. 2, 1996 to Steven J. Zuegue, shows a dusting glove having clusters of fibers disposed at the fingertips of a glove structure.
U.S. Design Pat. No. D455,528 for GLOVE FOR PLAYING WITH A CAT, issued Apr. 9, 2002 to William David Mauldin, teaches a glove having elongated fingers with a cat toy attached to the ends thereof.
Published Patent Application No. WO9621498 for MULTIPLE MARIONETTE CONFIGURED LIKE A GLOVE, published Jul. 18, 1996 upon application by Fenech et al., shows small marionettes disposed at the ends of a glove structure.
Pom rings are available from www.spiritline.com as Catalog No. SL3063A. Small pom poms are attached to rings for retaining the pom pom on a finger.
None of the patents, applications, or device taken singly, or in any combination are seen to teach or suggest the novel glove-attached pom pom arrangement of the present invention.
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a glove having a pom pom freely attached to a tip of one or more of the glove fingers. The glove may bear indicia, for example, a logo displayed in appropriate team, group, or holiday colors. Indicia may, of course, include an appropriate holiday symbol, an organization logo, a logo associated with a cause or event, etc. The pom poms may be one color or multicolored. Typically, pom poms are multi-colored, consisting of strands of the team or school colors.
The gloves of the present invention serve other purposes in addition to providing a unique way to enhance celebration of a holiday or to demonstrate association with an organization or a cause. The gloves provide warmth to the wearer's hands during events held in cool or cold weather. Also, the wearer's hands are fee to hold other items, for example, beverage containers, cameras, programs, etc.
It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide a glove having a pom pom attached at the tip of at least one finger thereof.
It is another object of the invention to provide a glove having indicia provided on at least one major surface thereof.
It is an additional object of the invention to provide a glove having a pom pom displaying the color or colors of an athletic team, school, group, cause, or holiday being supported or celebrated.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a glove having pom poms attached at the tips of multiple fingers so that independent movement of the fingers of a wearer's hand can selectively move each of the respective pom poms.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a glove having lights and/or bells in addition to pom poms attached at the tips of one or more fingers or the thumb.
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 present invention provides a glove having a pom pom attached at the tip of one or more fingers or the thumb thereof.
Referring to
Glove 100 has a body 102 having a proximal end open to receive a hand, not shown, of a wearer, not shown, in a conventional manner. Body 102 has a central region 104, particularly on a back, outward-facing (i.e., opposed to the palm) surface upon which suitable indicia may be placed when desired. Such indicia may include, but is not limited to, a school or team logo, a corporate logo, advertising, holiday symbol, organization or event logo, or any other indicia. Typically, indicia will include school or team colors.
Indicia may be applied to an outer surface of body 102 of glove 100 using any known method or material. Indicia may be painted or printed on body 102 of glove 100. In other embodiments, indicia may be an appliqué applied to glove 100. If glove 100 is knitted, the indicia may actually be knitted into the fabric from which glove 100 is formed. It will be recognized that indicia is optional and that any optional indicia may be placed on glove 100 in areas other than central region 104. Consequently, the invention is not limited to having indicia only on region 104, as shown for purposes of disclosure. Rather the invention comprehends indicia placed anywhere on glove 100.
Finger regions 106a, 106b, 106c, and 106d and a thumb 108, extend outwardly from body 102. A pom pom 110 is shown attached to glove 100 at attachment points 112 disposed at the distal ends of finger regions 102a . . . 102d and thumb 108. More than one pom pom can be attached to a particular finger or thumb region, and consequently, the invention is not limited to a single pom pom on each finger region and thumb region.
Pom poms 110 are attached to glove 100 at attachment points 112 using any suitable means. In the embodiment chosen for purposes of disclosure, a single loop of yarn has been used. This allows maximum amount of movement of pom poms 110 relative to fingers of a wearer, not shown, inserted into finger regions 106a . . . 106d and thumb 108 of glove 100. It will be recognized by those of skill in the art that numerous other methods and/or materials may be selected for attaching pom poms 110 to glove 100 at attachment points 112. The particular attachment means forms no part of the present invention. Consequently, any suitable method or material may be used in addition to the attachment method used for purposes of disclosure.
While five pom poms have been shown for purposes of disclosure, it will be recognized that fewer or more than five pom poms may alternatively be attached to glove 100.
Pom poms 110 are each typically provided in two or more colors representing a particular school or team. Alternatively, however, pom poms may be a single color.
Referring now to
Referring now to
In still other arrangements, one or more light sources 118 may be disposed on portions of glove 100 other than, or in addition to, fingers 106a . . . 106d and/or thumb 108.
It will be recognized that light sources other than LEDs may be used to implement light sources 118. Light sources 118 may be clear or colored, and may be a single color or multiple colors. One or more colors of light sources 118 may be included. The color(s) of light sources 118 may be the same as, complementary to, or completely distinct from the color(s) of pom poms 110.
Light sources 118 may, of course, be attached to pom poms 110 as well as to fingers 106a . . . 106d or thumb 108 of glove 100.
It will also be recognized that any combination of bells 116 (
In use, one or more gloves 100 are donned by a wearer, not shown. The movement of the wearer's fingers cause respective pom poms 110 to move responsively thereto. By independently moving his or her fingers in a particular sequence, various patterns of movement of pom poms 110 may be created. When included, bells 116 and/or light sources 118 may be activated by the wearer of glove 100 to provide audible augmentation and/or additional visual augmentation to the display provided by pom poms 110.
Since other modifications and changes varied to fit particular operating requirements and environments will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the invention is not considered limited to the example chosen for purposes of disclosure, and covers all changes and modifications which do not constitute departures from the true spirit and scope of this invention.
Having thus described the invention, what is desired to be protected by Letters Patent is presented in the subsequently appended claims.
