Hat assembly

Abstract

A hat configured and patterned to be associated with a helmet of selected sports team is provided with a facemask configured to regain its initial shape upon removing an external force sufficient to deform the portion.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The invention generally relates to clothing, and particular to a hat assembly having a shape memory structure.

[0003] 2. Description of the Prior Art

[0004] Although always popular, sporting events in general have recently gained new, higher levels of popularity. Without diminishing the cultural trends well explaining the increased popularity, the latter is also a result of a previously unheard of commercialization of the sport and, particularly, of a favorite team and/or athletes playing on this team.

[0005] A myriad of jerseys, footwear and other sports accessories flood gigantic sports stores and small shops. Fans, from the very young to the very old, fashion colors of favorite sports teams throughout small towns and big cities. Merchandising uniforms has become a large and lucrative business, whereas wearing these attributes has turned into a fashion statement.

[0006] While some sports have uniforms including basketball shoes, jerseys and trunks, other sports, in addition to the standard attributes, feature a headgear. The hockey and football associations mandate that players wear helmets. However, to the best of the applicants' knowledge, hats imitating helmets have not yet found their way to the stores. As a consequence, sport organizations do not use available resources to raise their revenue, and the fans loose an alternative way of expressing their unflagging support for a favorite sports team.

[0007] It is, therefore, desirable to provide a method of advertising directed to increasing revenue of a selected sports team by manufacturing hats imitating the helmets of the selected sports team. Also, a hat configured so as to preserve its similarity with a helmet for a prolonged period of time is desirable as well.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0008] The inventive hat and method of manufacturing meet these needs by patterning hats to obtain a striking similarity with the helmets of favorite sports team. To maximize such a similarity, the inventive hat has a facemask characterized by shape-memory qualities. Accordingly, when an external force applied to the facemask is removed, it is capable of returning to the desired initial position.

[0009] In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a hat in the form of the helmet is configured to have a hat component imitating a protective facemask including at least one rib covered by fleece. The rib can be made from polymeric material, but the invention is not limited to any particular material as long as the facemask is capable of returning to the desired position.

[0010] It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide a method of manufacturing and selecting hats allowing the fans to be associated with their favorite sports team.

[0011] Still another object of the invention is to provide a hat formed with a shape memory portion configured to allow the hat to assume the desired initial position after an external force applied to this portion has been removed.

[0012] Yet another object of the invention is to provide a method of manufacturing and advertising the inventive hat.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] The above and other objects, features and advantages will become more readily apparent from the specific description accompanied by the following drawings, in which:

[0014] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a hat manufactured in accordance with the present invention;

[0015] FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the reinforcing structure of the inventive hat shown in FIG. 1 and taken along lines II-II; and

[0016] FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the inventive hat.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S)

[0017] Referring to FIGS. 1-3, a hat 10 mirroring a helmet is generally made from a soft material 12 and has a facemask 14 visually repeating the pattern of the protective facemask of the helmet and capable of assuming the desired position after having been deformed. In particular, as better illustrated in FIG. 2, the material 12 can be any soft material 12 including wool, cotton, synthetic or any possible combination of these materials. The softness of the material 12 is desirable because the hat 10 is intended to have a single “fit all” size. Preferably, the material 12 is fleece typically providing the user with the feeling of comfort.

[0018] As is known, football, hockey and baseball all have a protective mask or facemask configured to minimize facial damage. In accordance with the invention, the facemask 14 has a composite structure including a shape memory material, such as a relatively rigid plastic or wire or mesh having a resiliency modulus substantially higher than the rest of the material 12. Accordingly, a reinforcing rib 18 made of shape memory material is capable of returning to its initial position every time after an external force sufficient to deform the mask 14 has been ceased.

[0019] Structurally, the mask 14 has a sleeve 16 made of the soft material 12 sown over the rib 18 or bonded therewith. The reinforcing rib 18 may have a variety of shapes and cross-sections including, but not limited to a tubular shape or a flat shape. The length of the rib 18 is slightly shorter than a length of outer sleeve 16 to allow the opposite ends of the rib 18, coupled to the end regions of the sleeve 16, to provide a tensile force sufficient to have the sleeve conform to the desired shape.

[0020] While the mask 14 may have various configurations, in general, at least one frontward curved sleeve 16 extends between the opposite sides of the hat 10 and is attached thereto. Advantageously, multiple reinforced sleeves 16 have their ends attached to the opposite sides of the hat while having their central portions spaced apart and interconnected by cross pieces 34 configured similarly to the sleeves 16.

[0021] Turning to FIG. 3, the inventive hat 10, besides the facemask 14, has a main portion 20 sown from multiple segments 22, 24 and 26 overlapping one another along the inner side of the hat 10. The central segment 24 may have at least one outer strip 28 attached thereto while being stretched over the central segment 24. Many sports teams have helmets painted in a variety of colors. Basically, the hat may have as many segments of material 12 as colors carried by the team's sportswear. Since hats are particularly appropriate in a cold weather, the hat 10 has a pair of warmers 30 attached to the outer or inner side of the hat and designed to provide additional thermal protection to the ears of the user. To complete its imitation of the helmet, the hat may be provided with a strip 38 provided with an attaching element, such as Velcro, and configured to close the hat 10.

[0022] The design of the hat 10 may vary to copy the helmet of hockey and football players, baseball catchers and car and motorcycle race drivers. Overall, the inventive hat 10 would be most attractive to sports fans. Accordingly, a method of manufacturing starts with selecting the desired team, and following the selection of the player's position, preparing the hat 10 in accordance with the inventive structure, as disclosed above.

[0023] While many modifications may be easily foreseen by one of ordinary skill, the scope of the invention is limited to and defined by the appending claims.

Claims

1. A hat comprising at least one portion configured to have a reinforcing rib made from a shape memory material and a sleeve made of a soft material and surrounding the reinforcing rib, whereas the at least one portion assumes the desired initial position upon removing an external force applied to and sufficient to deform the reinforcing rib.

2. The hat of claim 1, wherein the soft material is selected from the group consisting of fleece, wool, cotton, and a combination thereof

3. The hat of claim 1, wherein the reinforcing rib is selected from mesh material or plastic.

4. The hat of claim 1, wherein the hat has a main portion configured to extend complementary to the head of a user and shaped to have opposite sides configured to cover the ears of the user, the at least one portion being a facemask extending between the sides of the central portion and spaced frontward from the face of the user.

5. A hat, comprising: a body made from a soft material and having a shape of sports helmet when the hat is in use; and a face mask including at least one part having opposite ends attached to spaced-apart locations of the body of the hat and a central portion extending frontwards from a face of user, the at least one part including: an inner reinforcing rib made from a shape memory material and capable of deforming in response to an external force applied to the at least one part and of assuming an initial shape thereof upon removing the external force, and an outer sleeve surrounding the reinforcing rib and made from the soft material extend complementary to the reinforcing rib.

6. The hat of claim 5, wherein the soft material is selected from the group consisting of fleece, wool, cotton and a combination thereof.

7. The hat of claim 5, wherein the reinforcing rib is selected from mesh material or plastic.

8. The hat of claim 5, wherein the reinforcing rib is curved in the initial position thereof.

9. The hat of claim 5, further comprising at least one second reinforcing rib having opposite ends thereof coupled to opposite ends of the at least one reinforcing rib and attached to the body of the hat, central portions of the at least one and second reinforcing ribs being spaced apart and bridged by at least one cross rib.

10. The hat of claim 9, wherein the body of the hat is sawn from a plurality of segments having at least one central segment, the segments being code-colored to indicate colors of a selected sports team.

11. The hat of claim 10, wherein the body of the hat has two spaced regions generally juxtaposed with ears of the user and each configured to have a respective patch made from the soft material an attached to an inner or outer side of a respective region.

12. The hat of claim 11, wherein the patches each attached to the outer side of the body and provided with a logo of the selected sports team.

13. A method of manufacturing a hat, comprising: selecting a sports team from a group consisting of hockey, football and baseball; shaping a body made from a soft material so that the shape of the hat substantially imitates a helmet of the selected sports team; forming at least one hat component imitating a facemask of the helmet by providing an inner reinforcing rib made from a shape memory material and capable of deforming in response to an external force applied to the rib and of assuming an initial shape thereof upon removing the external force, and surrounding the inner reinforcing rib by an outer sleeve made from the soft material, so as the outer sleeve extends complementary to the inner reinforcing element.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the soft material is selected from the group consisting of fleece, nylon, wool, cotton and a combination thereof.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the inner reinforcing rib is selected from metal wire or polymeric material.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein forming the body includes a step of coupling together as many segments made from the soft material and coupling the selected segments to form a decorative color-coded pattern associated with the selected sports team.