A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the reproduction of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
This application claims benefit of the following patent application which is hereby incorporated by reference: Ser. No. 61/962,901 filed Nov. 19, 2013 for Headwear Quick Access Pocket.
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
The present invention relates generally to headwear such as caps, hats, and visors. Such headwear can be worn during sporting, recreational, or leisure activities. During such activities, a user of the headwear often is limited in the ability to store personal items on the user's person. It would be convenient if the user could store such items on headwear.
More particularly, this invention pertains to headwear that includes a pocket to store personal items. While there are current solutions that include pockets at different positions on headwear, these solutions are inadequate as the pockets are inconveniently placed and oriented on the headwear such that it is difficult for the user to access the pocket. In some current solutions, the headwear has to be removed entirely from the user's head in order to gain access to the pockets.
What is needed, then, are improvements in headwear that can provide a quick access pocket for a user to store and quickly access personal items on the headwear.
One aspect of the present invention is a headwear apparatus which includes a crown. A visor extends outward from the crown, the visor having an outer peripheral edge. An outer visor layer covers at least a portion of the visor. A visor pocket can be defined between the outer visor layer and the visor, the visor pocket including an opening defined in the outer visor layer. The visor pocket can be oriented with the opening positioned toward the outer peripheral edge of the visor. In some embodiments, the opening in the visor pocket is located proximate the outer peripheral edge of the visor such that the opening and the visor pocket can be quickly located and an object can be inserted into the pocket.
In another aspect of the present invention, the headwear apparatus includes a crown and a visor extending outward from the crown. The visor can have an upper surface and an outer peripheral edge. An outer fabric can cover at least a portion of the upper surface of the visor. A visor pocket can be defined between the upper surface of the visor and the outer fabric, the visor pocket including an opening defined in the outer fabric. The visor can be oriented with the opening positioned toward the outer peripheral edge of the visor.
Another aspect of the present invention is a headwear apparatus including a crown and a visor extending outward from the crown, the visor including an outer peripheral edge. An outer visor layer covers at least a portion of the visor. A fastener connects the outer visor layer to the visor, the fastener forming a visor pocket between the outer visor layer and the visor. An opening is defined in the outer visor layer, the opening extending into the visor pocket. The visor pocket is oriented with the opening positioned toward the outer peripheral edge of the visor. In some embodiments, the fastener is a stitch.
One objective of the present invention is to provide a quick access pocket on a headwear apparatus.
Another objective of the present invention is to be able to store items of different shapes and sizes on a headwear apparatus.
While the making and using of various embodiments of the present invention are discussed in detail below, it should be appreciated that the present invention provides many applicable inventive concepts that is embodied in a wide variety of specific contexts. The specific embodiments discussed herein are merely illustrative of specific ways to make and use the invention and do not delimit the scope of the invention.
To facilitate the understanding of the embodiments described herein, a number of terms are defined below. The terms defined herein have meanings as commonly understood by a person of ordinary skill in the areas relevant to the present invention. Terms such as “a,” “an,” and the are not intended to refer to only a singular entity, but rather include the general class of which a specific example may be used for illustration. The terminology herein is used to describe specific embodiments of the invention, but their usage does not delimit the invention, except as set forth in the claims.
As described herein, an upright position is considered to be the position of apparatus components while in proper operation or in a natural resting position as described herein. Vertical, horizontal, above, below, side, top, bottom and other orientation terms are described with respect to this upright position during operation unless otherwise specified. The term “when” is used to specify orientation for relative positions of components, not as a temporal limitation of the claims or apparatus described and claimed herein unless otherwise specified. The term “lateral” denotes a side to side direction when facing the “front” of an object.
The present invention relates generally to a headwear apparatus having a quick access pocket. One embodiment of the present invention is shown in
A visor pocket 20 can be defined between the outer visor layer 16 and the visor 14. The visor pocket 20 can include an opening 22 defined in the outer visor layer 16. The visor pocket 20 can be oriented with the opening 22 positioned toward the outer peripheral edge 18 of the visor 14. A personal item or object 24 can then be inserted through the opening 22 in the outer visor layer 16 such that the object 24 can be retained in the visor pocket 20. The orientation of the visor pocket 20 with the opening 22 positioned toward the outer peripheral edge 18 can allow a user to place an object 24 in the visor pocket 20 more efficiently, without the need to remove the headwear apparatus 10 from the user's head. One advantage of having a pocket 20 located on the visor 14 is that the process of inserting an object 24 into the visor can generally be seen from the periphery of a user's field of vision while the user is wearing the headwear apparatus 10.
In some embodiments, the opening 22 defined in the outer visor layer 16 can be located proximate the outer peripheral edge 18 of the visor 14. As such, the opening 22 defined in the outer visor layer 16 and extending into the visor pocket 20 can be more quickly and efficiently located by the user when inserting an object 24 into the visor pocket 20.
In some embodiments, the outer visor layer 16 can made from an elastic material such that the outer visor layer 16 can be stretched to cover the visor 14. As such, the outer layer 16 can be resilient to deformation when an object 24 is inserted through the opening 22 into the visor pocket 20. The outer visor layer 16 can then resiliently retain the object 24 in the visor pocket to help prevent the object 24 from falling out of the visor pocket 20. The resilience of the outer visor layer 16 retaining the object 24 within the pocket can help eliminate the need for a cumbersome closure mechanism such as buttons, zippers, clasps, hook and loop assemblies, or flap covers. As such, the object 24 can quickly and efficiently be selectively inserted into and removed from the visor pocket 20, while the object 24 can be prevented from falling out of the visor pocket 20 unintentionally. However, in some embodiments, the object 24 can be further secured in the visor pocket 20 by an additional pocket fastener, including but not limited to, buttons, zippers, hook and loop assemblies, or flaps closing the pocket. An elastic material may also be employed at the opening 22 of the pocket 20 to further help secure an object 24 in the pocket 20.
The outer visor layer 16 can include, among other things, any suitable fabric material, including but not limited to, cottons, nylons, felts, polyesters, elastanes, denims, wools, leathers, or silks. The fabric material may also have elastic properties such that outer visor layer 16 is resilient to deformation as previously described.
The visor 14 can be made from many different types of materials, including but not limited to, plastic, cardboard, paper, metal, or fiberglass. Such materials can provide structure or rigidity to the visor 14 such that it can retain a consistent shape. The visor 14 can also be made from a rigid but pliable material such that the shape of the visor 14 can be altered by the user. This can allow a single style of visor 14 to be manufactured while allowing the user to tailor their particular visor 14 to their preferences. For instance, the headwear apparatus 10 could be manufactured with a “basketball style” straight visor, which could then be bent by the user if they preferred to a “baseball style” curved visor 14, similar to the visor 14 shown in
The visor 14 in some embodiments can also have a rough or textured outer surface. A rough or textured outer surface can provide a source of friction such that when an object is inserted into the visor pocket 20, the friction produced by the rough or textured outer surface of the visor 14 can help prevent the object 24 from falling out of the visor pocket 20. A rough or textured outer surface can be a byproduct of the material chosen for the visor 14, or the rough or textured outer surface of the visor 14 can be formed during the manufacturing process. The visor may further comprise a recess located proximate the visor pocket 20. The recess may be shaped substantially the same as the pocket 20 or the object 24 and/or otherwise be configured to hold the object 24 in place.
In some embodiments, as shown in
In some embodiments, as shown in
The inner fabric 30 can include, among other things, any suitable fabric material, including but not limited to, cottons, nylons, felts, polyesters, elastanes, denims, wools, leathers, or silks. The fabric material may also have elastic properties such that the inner fabric 30 is resilient to deformation as previously described.
The crown 12 shown in
The headwear apparatus 10 of
A detailed view of the visor pocket 20 of
As can be seen from
As can be seen in
In some embodiments, the visor pocket 20 can be oriented with the opening 22 positioned toward the left edge 36 of the visor 14, as shown in
The ability to adjust the orientation of the visor pocket 20 such that the opening 22 is positioned or directed toward different edges 36, 38, 40 along the outer peripheral edge 18 can allow the headwear apparatus 10 to be tailored to the preferences of the user. For instance, if a user is right-hand dominant, then the user may prefer the visor pocket 20 oriented such that the opening is positioned towards the left edge 36 of the visor 14 such that the user can insert objects more efficiently into the visor pocket 20 with the user's right hand. Similarly, if the user is left-hand dominant, then the user may prefer the visor pocket 20 oriented such that the opening is positioned toward the right edge 40 of the visor 14 such that the user can more efficiently insert objects into the visor pocket 20 with the user's left hand. A visor pocket 20 oriented such that the opening 22 is positioned toward the front edge 38 of the visor 14 can be accessible to both a right-hand dominant and a left-handed-dominant user.
In some embodiments, as shown in
As previously discussed, the visor pocket 20 can be formed in a number of different shapes and sizes. For instance, in
As shown in
In
In some embodiments, the headwear apparatus 10 can further include a crown opening or slit that can be used to store or hold various objects. In some embodiments, more than one crown opening can be formed on the crown 12. For example, the crown 12 could have an opening on each lateral side 46 generally facing the visor 14 such that the temples or arms of glasses or sunglasses or other objects, such as a golf tee, could be placed in the opening and held securely, for instance when the lenses of the glasses are positioned on the upper surface of the visor 14. As with an opening on the visor 14, the opening on the crown 12 could include a stich surrounding the opening and/or a stich that defines the opening. In another embodiment, there may be multiple openings in each lateral side of the crown. A hollow tube may connect the openings such that objects can be placed, either fully or partially, in a pocket having multiple openings. The openings can face various directions and be configured to hold multiple items such as golf tees, pens, pencils, glasses and sunglasses, etc.
A view of the back of the headwear apparatus 10 of
A bottom view of another embodiment of the headwear apparatus 10 of the present invention is shown in
A top view of another embodiment of a headwear apparatus 10 of the present invention is shown in
Thus, although there have been described particular embodiments of the present invention of a new and useful Headwear With Quick Access Pocket it is not intended that such references be construed as limitations upon the scope of this invention except as set forth in the following claims.
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61962901 | Nov 2013 | US |