The present disclosure relates generally to a sweatband device, and more particularly, to an interactive sweatband device configured to adhere to a person's skin, such as a user's forehead, and retain perspiration without circumscribing the user's head.
Strenuous activity, such as aerobic exercises, generally causes a person to perspire extensively. In particular, a person's head and scalp generates a significant amount of perspiration that may condense into droplets of perspiration that generally travel down the person's face and/or into a person's eyes. Sweatbands known in the art generally include a thick absorbent material, such as terry cloth, that completely circumscribe a user's head, wrist, and/or other body part. Such known sweatbands are generally cumbersome and may not be suitable for use with protective headgear, such as cycling helmets, batter's helmets, football helmets, and/or the like. Therefore, it is readily apparent that there is a recognized unmet need for an improved sweatband device that is suitable to effectively absorb, divert, and/or otherwise collect a user's perspiration, while also being suitable for a variety of activities (e.g., indoor aerobics, football, cycling, etc.) in a variety of conditions (e.g., temperature, humidity, precipitation, etc.).
Example implementations of the present disclosure are directed to an improved device for absorbing perspiration and/or preventing perspiration from entering a user's eyes. Additionally, some implementations of the present disclosure are directed to an improved device for manually removing perspiration from a sweatband device and/or diverting perspiration from the sweatband device to an area on the user's face so as to prevent the perspiration from entering the user's eyes, impeding vision, and/or increasing a user's comfort level when exertion causes the user to perspire.
According to one example aspect of the present disclosure, an interactive sweatband device is provided that may include a center portion having a first end and an opposing second end. The sweatband device may further include a first wing portion extending from and operably engaged with the first end of the center portion and a second wing portion extending from and operably engaged with the opposing second end of the center portion. The sweatband device may define a front surface and an opposing back surface. Additionally, the sweatband device may include an outflow channel that extends along and is defined by at least one of the front and opposing rear surface of the sweatband. Additionally or alternatively, the outflow channel may extend from the first wing portion to the second wing portion. In some aspects, the center portion, the first wing portion, and the second wing portion may include a hydrophilic material. Further, the center portion may include an indicia that is disposed on at least one of the front surface and the opposing rear surface. Additionally, the first wing portion and the second wing portion may be angled downward from a horizontal axis of the center portion.
According to some aspects of the present disclosure, the sweatband device may further include an adhesive material that is configured to adhesively secure the sweatband to a user's forehead. According to one example aspect, the adhesive material may be disposed proximate the back surface of the sweatband. In another example aspect, the adhesive material may be disposed proximate the front surface of the sweatband. Further, the adhesive material may be configured to adhesively secure the sweatband to an interior surface of a head protection device, wherein the adhesive material is disposed proximate the front surface and the rear surface of the sweatband.
In some aspects, the first wing portion may define a first end and an opposing second end, and the second wing portion may define a first end and an opposing second end. The outflow channel may extend from the first end of the first wing portion to the second end of the second wing portion. Additionally, the outflow channel may define a bottom outflow channel surface, a first side outflow channel surface, and a second side outflow channel surface. At least one of the bottom outflow channel surface, the first side outflow channel surface, and the second side outflow channel surface may include a hydrophobic material.
Example aspects of the present disclosure may further provide for a method for manufacturing a sweatband device. The method may include heating a hydrophilic material to a first temperature, applying an amount of pressure to the hydrophilic material, heating the hydrophilic material to a second temperature, shaping the hydrophilic material into a sweatband device that includes a center portion, a first wing portion, and a second wing portion, and providing an outflow channel to at least one of a front and rear surface of the sweatband device. Additionally, the method may further include providing an adhesive material to at least one of the front and rear surfaces of the sweatband device. In some aspects, the method may include providing a hydrophobic material to at least a portion of the sweatband device. Additionally or alternatively, the method may include applying an amount of pressure to deform the hydrophobic material from having an initial width to a subsequent width that is smaller than the initial width.
The features, functions and advantages discussed herein may be achieved independently in various example implementations or may be combined in yet other example implementations further details of which may be seen with reference to the following description and drawings.
Having thus described example implementations of the disclosure in general terms, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, and wherein:
Some implementations of the present disclosure will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which some, but not all implementations of the disclosure are shown. Indeed, various implementations of the disclosure may be expressed in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the implementations set forth herein; rather, these exemplary implementations are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the disclosure to those skilled in the art. As used herein, the term “and/or” and the “/” symbol includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. Further, unless otherwise indicated, something being described as being a first, second or the like should not be construed to imply a particular order. It should be understood that the terms first, second, etc. may be used herein to describe various steps, calculations, positions and/or the like, these steps, calculations or positions should not be limited to these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one operation, calculation, or position from another. For example, a first position may be termed a second position, and, similarly, a second step may be termed a first step, without departing from the scope of this disclosure. Additionally, something may be described as being above something else (unless otherwise indicated) may instead be below, and vice versa; and similarly, something described as being to the left of something else may instead be to the right, and vice versa. As used in the specification, and in the appended claims, the singular forms “a”, “an”, “the”, include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout.
Implementations of the present disclosure provide for an interactive sweatband device configured to prevent perspiration from flowing into a user's eyes. In some aspects, the interactive sweatband device may be further configured to absorb an amount of perspiration and redirect the flow of perspiration from the forehead of a user to another area on the user's face, such as the user's temples. According to some aspects, the sweatband device may be a disposable device so as to prevent the spread of an infection. In another aspect, the sweatband device may be a disposable device that may include recyclable materials. As shown in
Referring to
As shown in
According to some aspects of the present disclosure, the first wing portion 20 and the second wing portion 30 may be angled from the center portion 10. For example, as shown in
Referring to
According to one aspect, the center channel 41, the first wing channel 42, and the second wing channel 43 may, in part, form the outflow channel 40. Additionally, the center channel 41, the first wing channel 42, and the second wing channel 43 may be configured to fluidly communicate with one another. Aspects of the present disclosure may include a sweatband device 1 that is configured for a user to interact with to remove a desired amount of perspiration from the sweatband device to a desired location, such as, for example, a user's temples. This continued removal of perspiration from the sweatband device 1 extends the amount of time the sweatband device suitable absorbs the user's perspiration. In some aspects of the present disclosure, when perspiration absorbed by the sweatband device 1 accumulates, one may urge the perspiration to flow from the center portion 10 to the first and/or second wing portion 20, 30 via at least one of the center channel 41, first wing channel 42, and/or second wing channel 43. For example, applying pressure to the center portion 10 and moving the applied pressure from the center portion to either the first end 11 and/or second end 12 of the center portion 10 may cause perspiration to enter the center channel 41 and flow towards either of the first or second wing channels 42, 43 in accordance with the movement of the applied pressure. The accumulated perspiration thereby moves from the center portion 10 into the center channel 41 and then towards the first or second wing channels 42, 43 respectively. In some aspects, as shown in
Referring to
According to another aspect of the present disclosure, the sweatband device 1 may include a hydrophilic and/or absorbent material suitable to absorb a fluid, such as, for example perspiration. The absorbent material may be any natural or synthetic material which will absorb perspiration. Woven and non-woven fabrics are suitable. Examples of suitable natural materials include cotton fabrics like terry cloth or flannel and pulp based fabrics. Suitable synthetic materials may include polyesters, polypropylenes, a combination of meltblown polymers and absorbent staple fibers such as cellulose, and/or the like. According to some aspects, the sweatband device may include polyvinyl acetate and/or other like materials. Combinations or blends of natural and/or synthetic materials may be used. The absorbent material may further include laminated absorbent articles to provide for absorbent material layer or layers.
According to one aspect of the present disclosure, the sweatband device 1 may further include a hydrophobic material 50, as shown in
Additionally, the sweatband device 1 may include a suitable adhesive material 60, as shown in
Preferably, the adhesive material is a pressure sensitive adhesive that is hypo-allergenic, non-toxic, non-irritating to skin, adherent to skin when exposed to perspiration, readily removable from skin, and has a sufficient internal strength so that it will leave minimal adhesive residue on the skin when the sweatband device is removed. The adhesive material may or may not be permeable to fluids, such as for example, a user's perspiration, water, and/or the like. Examples of suitable adhesive materials include acrylate, polyolefin-based, polyurethane, natural or synthetic rubber polymer, silicone, and styrene-isoprene-styrene block pressure sensitive adhesives. In some aspects, the adhesive material may be configured to be impermeable to fluids and/or hydrophobic so as to urge fluids away from the adhesive material.
Referring to
The method may further include applying an amount of pressure to the hydrophilic material 602. For example, the method may include applying an amount of pressure to decrease the width of the hydrophilic material from a second width to a third width. In some aspects, applying pressure to the hydrophilic material may decrease the width of the hydrophilic material by approximately between 45-55%. According to another aspect, applying pressure to the hydrophilic material may decrease the width of the hydrophilic material by approximately between 40-60%. For example, applying pressure to hydrophilic material may cause the hydrophilic material having a second width of approximately 3.0 mm to decrease in width to a third width of approximately 1.5 mm.
Additionally or alternatively, the method may include heating the hydrophilic material to a second temperature 603. In some aspects, the hydrophilic material may be heated to the second temperature concurrently with the pressure being applied to the hydrophilic material in step 602. In some aspects, the pressure being applied to the hydrophilic material and the heating of the hydrophilic material to the second temperature may deform the hydrophilic material from a second width to a desired third width, as described herein.
As shown in
In some aspects, the method may further include providing an outflow channel to at least one of a front and rear surface of the sweatband device 605. For example, the outflow channel may be provided to the rear surface of the sweatband device. In one aspect of the present disclosure, the outflow channel may be formed by engaging a channel preform with the sweatband device and/or hydrophilic material so as to form the reciprocally shaped outflow channel. As is depicted in
The method may further include providing an adhesive material to at least one of the front and/or rear surface of the sweatband device. For example, an adhesive aerosol and/or an adhesive substrate may be applied to at least a portion of the sweatband device such that sweatband device may adhere to the user's skin. Additionally, the method may further include providing a hydrophobic material to at least a portion of the sweatband device. For example, the method may include providing a hydrophobic material to at least a portion of the outflow channel of the sweatband device. In some aspects, the method may include providing the hydrophobic material to at least a portion of the outflow channel of the sweatband device such that the hydrophobic material is disposed proximate at least one surface of the outflow channel in spaced intervals.
Many modifications and other implementations of the disclosure set forth herein will come to mind to one skilled in the art to which the disclosure pertains having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing description and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is to be understood that the disclosure is not to be limited to the specific implementations disclosed and that modifications and other implementations are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims. Moreover, although the foregoing description and the associated drawings describe example implementations in the context of certain example combinations of elements and/or functions, it should be appreciated that different combinations of elements and/or functions may be provided by alternative implementations without departing from the scope of the appended claims. In this regard, for example, different combinations of elements and/or functions than those explicitly described above are also contemplated as may be set forth in some of the appended claims. Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20190116897 A1 | Apr 2019 | US |