Patent Application
20240172828
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
The disclosure relates to cap assemblies and more particularly pertains to a new cap assembly allowing a user to launder a cap without damaging its bill. The present invention discloses a cap wherein a panel is removable from a bill of the cap, thereby allowing the cap to be laundered.
The prior art relates to cap assemblies. U.S. Pat. No. 5,437,062, U.S. Patent Application No. 2015/0135406, and U.S. Patent Application No. 2019/0274385 teach caps comprising crowns and removably attachable bills. These prior art references do not allow for laundering of the bill, which can be damaged during washing and drying operations.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2017/0156431 teaches a cap having a crown, to which a bill is fixedly attached, and a sleeve that is removably positionable over the bill. While this prior art reference doe allow for laundering of the sleeve, the bill still is attached to the crown, which thus cannot be laundered without risking damage to the bill.
The prior art does not teach a cap comprising a crown with a bill that comprises a sleeve, which is attached to the crown, and a panel that is selectively insertable into the sleeve to provide a substantially rigid bill. The crown and sleeve of the present invention can be laundered without risking damage to the panel.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a crown and a bill. The bill comprises a sleeve and a panel. The sleeve has an upper piece and a lower piece, with the upper piece being attached to a front of the crown so that an open end of the sleeve is positioned proximate to a perimeter of the crown. The panel is selectively insertable into the sleeve through the open end so that a leading edge of the panel is positioned proximate to a closed end of the sleeve and a trailing edge of the panel is positioned proximate to the perimeter of the crown. The panel is semirigid so that the bill extends from the front of the crown. The bill is configured to shade eyes of a user upon donning of the crown. The panel is configured to be extracted from the sleeve, positioning a user to launder the crown and the sleeve and to reinsert the panel into the sleeve.
Another embodiment of the disclosure includes a method of laundering a cap comprising a provision step, which entails providing a launderable cap assembly, according to the disclosure above. Additional steps of the method entail removing the panel from the sleeve of the launderable cap assembly, laundering the sleeve and the crown, and then reinserting the panel into the sleeve.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
The panel 18 is selectively insertable into the sleeve 16 through the open end 26 so that a leading edge 30 of the panel 18 is positioned proximate to a closed end 32 of the sleeve 16 and a trailing edge 34 of the panel 18 is positioned proximate to the perimeter 28 of the crown 12. The panel 18 is semirigid so that the bill 14 extends from the front 24 of the crown 12. The bill 14 is configured to shade eyes of a user upon donning of the crown 12. With use, the crown 12 and the bill 14 become soiled and it is desirable to launder them. The panel 18 is configured to be extracted from the sleeve 16, positioning a user to launder the crown 12 and the sleeve 16 and to reinsert the panel 18 into the sleeve 16. Thus, the panel 18 is not subjected to potential damage that it might incur during the laundering process.
The crown 12, the sleeve 16, and the panel 18 may be configured as a fitted hat, a flex fit hat, a snapback hat, an adjustable hat, or the like. More specifically, the crown 12, the sleeve 16, and the panel 18 are configured as a fitness cap, baseball cap, a trucker hat, or the like.
The panel 18 comprises plastic, paperboard, or the like. The leading edge 30 is convexly arcuate and the trailing edge 34 is concavely arcuate, whereby the trailing edge 34 is substantially complementary to a curvature of a forehead of a user. As is shown in
The launderable cap assembly 10 also may include a band 36, which comprises a medial portion 38 that is attached by a lower edge 40 to the lower piece 22 of the sleeve 16. Each of opposed side portions 42 of the band 36 has an inner edge 44 that is attached to a respective opposed end 46 of the medial portion 38 and a bottom edge 48 that is attached to the crown 12 proximate to the perimeter 28. The band 36 is selectively positionable with an upper limit 50 of the band 36 on an inner face 52 of the crown 12. The band 36, which typically would comprise fabric, is configured to absorb perspiration.
The medial portion 38 of the band 36 is configured to be grasped in digits of a hand of the user, positioning the user to expose the open end 26 of the sleeve 16, to selectively extract the panel 18 from the sleeve 16, and, after laundering the crown 12 and the sleeve 16, to insert the panel 18 into the sleeve 16. The medial portion 38 of the band 36 thus covers the trailing edge 34 of the panel 18, thereby preventing the trailing edge 34 from contacting and potentially irritating the forehead of the user.
In use, the launderable cap assembly 10 enables a method of laundering a cap 54 comprising a provision step 56, which entails providing a launderable cap assembly 10, according to the specification above. A first disassembly step 58 of the method 54 is grasping the medial portion 38 of the band 36 in digits of the hand of the user to expose the open end 26 of the sleeve 16. A second disassembly step 60 of the method 54 is removing the panel 18 from the sleeve 16. A first laundering step 62 and a second laundering step 64 of the method 54 are washing the crown 12 and the sleeve 16 and drying the crown 12 and the sleeve 16, respectively. A first reassembly step 66 and a second reassembly step 68 of the method 54 are inserting the panel 18 into the sleeve 16 and folding the medial portion 38 of the band 36 toward the inner face 52 of the crown 12 to cover the open end 26 of the sleeve 16, respectively.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
