The present invention relates to an article of clothing for protecting the upper body (including head, neck, and face) from radiation generated by the sun or other sources, and more specifically, to hats with sun shades.
The sun as an effective source of vitamin D is well established in the literature. However, it has also been established that too much sun can be detrimental to the health of human. Skin cancer is one of the adverse effects or disease cause by exposure to too much sun or other types of radiation. There are many types of skin cancers; but, it is believed, melanoma is the deadliest or most lethal. It is also believed to be the fastest growing type of cancer in the world. It is also believed that people with certain predisposed conditions make them more susceptible and put them at greater risk to develop skin cancer than others. For those people, even minimal exposure to the sun may result in developing skin cancer. Some predisposed conditions include genetics, fair skin, red or blonde hair, and light colored eyes. Another group of people that is susceptible are those recovering or recovered from the disease. Those people need to take special precaution to prevent recurrence. In order to minimize the risk of contacting a sun born disease, such as skin cancer, all people should limit exposure of their skin to sunlight.
There are several ways to protect one's skin from the sun. Probably, the simplest and straightforward way would be not to go into direct sunlight. This way appears impractical and unnecessarily limits one's activities to those that can be performed in shade or times when the sun is not shinning. This way would be most difficult for children who like to play and ride bicycles in daylight, when the sun is shinning. This way may also be difficult for and unacceptable to fishermen and fisherwomen who, by the nature of the sport, have to practice fishing in daylight, when the sun is shinning.
Another way to protect the skin from direct sunlight would be spending limited time in the sun. Even though limited time in the sun may be effective in protecting one's skin from direct sun light, it may not be suitable for people with predisposed conditions that make them vulnerable to develop skin cancer even with limited exposure to sun light. Still another way to protect the skin from direct sun light is to cover it with clothing. Stated another way, clothing may be used to protect the skin from deleterious effect of sun light. The clothing should be practical and does not restrict activities of the wearer. Clothing that meets these criteria and provides complete protection of the upper body could not be found and is deemed unavailable. The disclosed embodiment of the present invention, set forth below, meets these criteria and provides clothing that protects the entire upper body. As used in this document, clothing should be given broad interpretation including cap, hat or any type of garment used to cover the body of wearers.
The present invention provides an article or piece of clothing that does not restrict activities of wearers and protects the upper body from direct sun light. As a consequence, a wearer may pursue activities in sun light or other source of ultra violet rays with minimum risk, if any, of contacting skin cancer. The article or piece of clothing has not been available here-before (before this invention). According to one embodiment of the present invention, the article or piece of clothing includes a hat having a crown and a bill extending outwardly from the crown. A wrap-around shoulder-length sun shade or sun screen or drapery is releasably coupled, by separating zippers, to the crown and bill of the hat. If the separating zippers are closed, the wrap-around shade or wrap-around screen is connected to the crown and bill. The wrap-around sun shade or sun screen can be detached from the crown and/or the bill by opening the associated separating zipper. The wrap-around sun shade or sun screen and associated separating zipper may be continuous or bifurcated.
In particular, bifurcated separating zippers are operably connected to the crown and bill, respectively. A first one of the bifurcated separating zippers includes two parts. A first part of the two parts is connected to the crown and a second part of the two parts is connected to a piece of fabric (termed sun shade or sun screen or drapery). The terms sun shade, sun screen, and drapery are used interchangeably in this document. The first part and second part of the first one of the bifurcated separating zippers can be integrally connected or separate (not connected). The integrally connected condition is referred as closed, whereas the separate (not connected) condition is termed open. If the respective parts of the first one of the bifurcated separating zippers are closed the sun shade or sun screen is connected to the crown and extends downwardly, from the crown, for a desired length. If the respective parts of the first one of the bifurcated separating zippers are open, the drapery is separated from the crown.
Likewise, the second one of the bifurcated separating zippers includes a third part connected to the bill and a forth part connected to a second piece of material which forms a second part of the wrap-around sun screen or sun shade or drapery. If the third part and the forth part of the second one of the bifurcated separating zippers are closed, the second piece of material (also termed sun screen or sun shade or drapery) extends downwardly for a predefined length, from the bill. When respective parts of the first one and the second one of the bifurcated separating zippers are closed, the associated sun shades or sun screens form a wrap-around sun shade or wrap-around sun screen to protect the upper body of the wearer. Likewise, the wrap-around sun shade or sun screen can be detached from the crown and bill of the hat by opening the respective parts on each of the bifurcated separating zippers. By detaching the wrap-around sun shade, the remaining crown and connected bill can be worn as a regular/conventional hat or cap. In addition, either the first part or the second part of the wrap-around sun shade may be detached, resulting in a partial removal of the wrap-around sun shade from the hat. The hat and non-removed part of the wrap-around sun shade would shield the head and portion of the upper body which is covered by the non-removed part of the wrap-around sun shade.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the separating zipper and associated sun shade are continuous. In particular, the part of the separating zipper that is attached to the crown and bill of the hat is continuous. Likewise, the part of the separating zipper connected to the sun shade is also continuous. The close and open configurations of the separating zipper as set forth above are equally applicable to this embodiment. As a result, the continuous sun shade may be connected or disconnected from the hat.
This invention provides an article of clothing that can be configured to provide complete blocking and/or partial blocking of the sun from contacting the upper body of a wearer. This versatility is a benefit because a wearer can configure the single article of clothing to suit his or her needs. This freedom to configure a single article of clothing to meet a desired need could not be found in the prior art.
These and other features and advantages of the present invention will be better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:
With reference now to
Still referring to
Referring again to
The wrap around drapery is bifurcated into two sections, namely: partial wrap drapery 12 and partial wrap drapery 14. The separating zipper is also bifurcated, including zipper 16 and zipper 18. The partial wrap drapery 12 is connected to the backside and lateral sides (only one of which is shown) of hat 10 by separating zipper 18. The partial wrap drapery 14 is connected to bill 22 by separating zipper 16. Depending on the design of the hat there may be a nominal offset between respective ends of zipper 16 and zipper 18 on both sides of the hat. Notwithstanding, at these junctures the ends of partial drapery 12, supported by separating zipper 18, and the ends of partial drapery 14, supported by separating zipper 16, are substantially in contact to block sun light.
The construction of separating zipper 16 and separating zipper 18 is identical. Therefore, the description of one is intended to cover the other. The separating zipper 18 is a conventional zipper which can be purchased off the shelf. This type of zipper is available in different lengths. The construction and operation of this type of zipper is well known. Therefore, a detailed description is not warranted. Suffice it to say separating zipper 18 consists of two mating parts and a sliding button or lever to close or open (separate) the parts. With reference to
In operation, the spindle (not shown) on the mating part (not shown) of separating zipper 18, connected to partial drapery 12, is inserted into the receptacle (not shown) on 18a (
With reference to
Referring again to
The partial wrap drapery 12 is fabricated from a material or fabric, such as organic cotton, that blocks ultraviolet rays present in sunlight and light generated from other artificial sources. It is believed that these ultraviolet rays could cause skin cancer. The material should be opaque to block lights from the sun or other artificial source from contacting the skin. For example, an organic cotton material could be used. Alternatively, the ultraviolet rays blocking component could be embedded, coated, partially embedded, or partially coated onto a substrate the combination forming the material. The partially wrap drapery 12 should be sized with one dimension, termed length, sufficient to extend from one side of the crown 20, across the backside of the crown to the other side of the crown. Another dimension, termed width, could be shoulder length, extending from the lower edge (rim) of the crown 20 to the shoulder of the wearer. A set of typical measurements for the partial wrap drapery 12 is length approximately fourteen inches and width (measured from the rim at the backside of the crown down the back of the wearer) is approximately twelve inches. Other measurements can be used without departing from the teachings of the disclosed embodiment.
Referring again to
The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present invention have been presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the described embodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain the principles of the embodiments, the practical application or technical improvement over protective clothing found in the marketplace, or to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodiments disclosed herein.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20150089709 A1 | Apr 2015 | US |