Hat With Interchangeable Ornaments

Abstract

A hat with interchangeable ornaments such as patches or badges. The hat has a surface that is viewable and has a magnetic attachment mechanism. The ornament has a complementary magnet that attaches. The rear of the ornament is flattened with extending magnets that extend into corresponding recesses in the hat. Surfaces are provided preventing twisting of the ornament relative to the hat once the ornament is attached to the hat. This can use, two cylindrical magnets.

Description

BACKGROUND

People often have many hats. When people have hats of the same style (e.g., a baseball cap), the multiple hats often differ from other hats in their collection only by their ornamentation. The ornamentation can include, for example, badges or patches, with different kinds of logos, that are attached to and displayed on, the hat.

People discard their old hats because they are too old or worn out; or because they don't like the ornamentation, e.g., the badges or patches, that are on the hat.

For example, a person may discard a hat, because their favorite sports team has changed names, changed cities, or because they decide they don't like that sports team any more.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The inventor recognized, however, that there are a number of drawbacks with the current systems.

An embodiment describes a hat with magnetic attachments which hold, in a removable way, hat attached-ornamentation such as badges and patches. Using this combination, both the hat, and a collection of badges and patches can be interchanged to form multiple different hat-ornament combinations.

This enables the advantages that enable reusing parts of old hats to have new looks.

A hat this is old, or worn-out or smelly, can reuse its ornaments that have been purchased. The old ornaments can be used on a newly purchased hat.

Conversely, if the user dislikes, or wants a new kind of ornamentation, the user can buy a different ornamentation to wear on the same existing hat, thus avoiding the need for the hat to be thrown away.

An embodiment describes holding the ornamentation on the hat using a magnetic holding system as described herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the Drawings:

FIG. 1 shows a hat with ornament and attachment mechanism;

FIG. 2 shows additional details of the hat with the ornament; and

FIG. 3 shows the hat having the ornament attached; and

FIG. 4 shows the same hat with a different ornament attached.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present application describes a hat having an attachment part and also has parts which enable interchangeable ornamentation to be associated with and displayed on the hat.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a hat 100 with detachable ornamentation 110. The ornamentation can include any decorative item, including, for example, badges, patches, or any other item that can be placed and displayed on the hat. In this embodiment, a badge is placed on the hat. As conventional, the hat has a front surface, and a visor, and the badge can be placed on any surface of the hat.

FIG. 2 shows a close up of the hat 100, and the separated badge 110.

The hat includes a magnetic attachment mechanism 120 that holds the badge.

The badge 110 is shown with its back surface facing up in FIG. 2. That back surface is the rear surface of the badge that does not include the ornamentation thereon, but rather includes the structure for attaching the badge 110 to the hat. The back surface Includes a flattened layer 114 forming the rear side of the badge 110. The flattened surface can be flat or curved to match the curvature of the surface of the hat. First and second magnets 112, 113 have surfaces that extend above the flat surface forming the flat layer 114. Hence, those magnets form extending portions at the locations of the magnets 112, 113.

In an embodiment, each of the magnets 112, 113 are cylindrical magnets, spaced from one another. In other embodiments, the magnets 112, 113 can be of different shapes, and there can be different numbers of magnets, e.g., one magnet having a shape that prevents it from twisting, or two or three magnets.

The magnets 112, 113 mate with corresponding locations 121, 122 that are formed on the magnetic attachment mechanism 120 in the hat. In the embodiment, the locations 121, 122, are holes that are opened in the hat to expose a layer of magnetic susceptable material, e.g. a ferrous layer 130. The holes can be of a size which are slightly larger than the outer diameter of the magnets 112113, so that the magnets 112, 113 can fit into the holes, allowing the flat rear surface 114 to fit against a surface of the hat. The ferrous layer can be a thin ferrous layer that is sewn in to the material of the hat, and exposed only at the areas 121, 122 where there are openings.

In one embodiment, the locations 121, 122 may be recessed below the front surface of the hat, thus allowing the magnets 111, 112 to extend slightly below the top surface of the hat to adhere to the ferrous layer.

The pattern of the magnets 121, 122 matches the pattern of the magnets on the badge 112113. The pattern holds this badge into place on the hat surface.

In the embodiment shown, the hat uses dual cylindrical magnets that are spaced from one another. This allows the ornament to stay properly oriented on the surface once secured.

In an alternative embodiment, the patch can be held on by a single square or rectangular magnet, which by virtue of the mating of the edges of the magnet also allows the badge to be held and oriented, and the edges do not permit twisting of the badge. Other shapes can also be used, however it is preferred that the shape is one that prevents the badge from being twisted once permanently attached to the hat.

FIG. 3 illustrates the hat 100 with the badge attached thereto. The badge 110 has a first ornamentation shown as 300, which has a first design thereon. It should be understood that this can be interchanged for a second design 400, such as shown in FIG. 4.

The previous description of the disclosed exemplary embodiments is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the present invention. Various modifications to these exemplary embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A hat with an interchangeable ornament, comprising: a hat having a surface that is viewable from an outside surface thereof, the surface including a magnetic attachment mechanism, on the outside surface, the magnetic attachment mechanism including a magnetic susceptible material located in a recess below a surface of the hat; andan ornament, adapted for attaching to the hat, the ornament being formed with an ornamental part on a front surface thereof, and a flattened surface on a rear surface thereof, flat surface having an extending magnetic portion, the magnetic portion being sized to connect to the magnetic attachment mechanism,wherein the magnetic attachment mechanism and the ornament have surfaces preventing twisting of the ornament relative to the hat once the ornament is attached to the hat.

2. The hat and ornament as in claim 1, wherein the recess in the magnetic attachment mechanism and the magnetic portion in the ornament are each cylindrical.

3. The hat and ornament as in claim 2, wherein there are two spaced cylindrical portions collectively forming the magnetic portion, and there are two spaced cylindrical recesses forming the magnetic attachment mechanism, wherein the two spaced cylindrical portions and the two spaced cylindrical recesses, collectively operate to form the surfaces that carry out the preventing of the twisting.

4. The hat and ornament as in claim 1, wherein the ornamental part is a badge.

5. The hat and ornament as in claim 1, wherein the ornamental part is a patch.

6. The hat and ornament as in claim 1, wherein the flattened surface of the rear surface of the ornament sits flat against a surface of the hat adjacent the magnetic attachment mechanism, with the extending magnetic portion in the recess being held by the magnetic susceptible portion.

7. The hat and ornament as in claim 1, wherein the recesses include holes that are open in the hat to expose a ferrous layer as the magnetic susceptible portion.

8. The hat and ornament as in claim 7, where the ferrous layer is sewn into a material of the hat at the area of the magnetic attachment mechanism, and is exposed only at areas of the recesses.

9. A method of interchanging an interchangeable ornament on a hat, comprising: forming a hat with a surface that is in a location that can be seen when wearing the hat, the surface including a magnetic attachment mechanism;forming a magnetic attachment mechanism including a magnetic susceptible material located below a surface of the hat, in a recess;magnetically attaching a first ornament to the hat, the first ornament including a first ornamental part on a front surface thereof, and a flattened surface on a rear surface thereof, the flattened surface having an extending magnetic portion, the magnetic portion being sized to connect to the magnetic attachment mechanism,using surfaces on the magnetic attachment portion and on the first ornament to preventing twisting of the first ornament relative to the hat once the ornament is attached to the hat;removing the first ornament, and magnetically attaching a second ornament to the hat, the second ornament including a second ornamental part on a front surface thereof, and a flattened surface on a rear surface thereof, the flattened surface having a second extending magnetic portion, the second magnetic portion being sized to connect to the magnetic attachment mechanism; andusing surfaces on the magnetic attachment portion and the second ornament to prevent twisting of the second ornament relative to the hat once the second ornament is attached to the hat.

10. The method as in claim 9, wherein the recess in the magnetic attachment mechanism and the magnetic portion in the ornament are each cylindrical.

11. The method as in claim 10, wherein there are two spaced cylindrical portions collectively forming the magnetic portion, and there are two spaced cylindrical recesses forming the magnetic attachment mechanism, where the two spaced cylindrical portions and the two spaced cylindrical recesses collectively operate to prevent the twisting.

12. The method ornament as in claim 9, wherein the ornamental part is a badge.

13. The method as in claim 9, wherein the ornamental part is a patch.

14. The method as in claim 9, wherein the flat surface of the rear surface of the ornament fits sits flat against a surface of the hat adjacent the magnetic attachment mechanism, with the extending magnetic portion in the recess being held by the magnetic susceptible portion.

15. The method as in claim 9, wherein the recesses include holes that are open in the hat to expose a ferrous layer which forms the magnetic susceptible portion.

16. The method as in claim 15, where the ferrous is sewn into a material of the hat at the area of the magnetic attachment mechanism, and is exposed only at areas of the recesses.