Patent Application
20190365003
This invention relates to a method and apparatus to aid in evenly rolling shirt sleeves or pant legs and maintaining the sleeves or legs in a rolled position.
Shirt sleeves may be rolled by simply folding the bottom edge, hem, or cuff up onto the sleeve one or more times to temporarily shorten the length of the sleeves. Pant legs may similarly be rolled. Frequently, normal arm and leg movements cause the fabric to unroll partially or completely, requiring repeated re-rolling to maintain the sleeves or pant legs in a rolled up position. There are a couple of known devices to aid in maintaining sleeves in a rolled up position. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,775, 846 discloses a sleeve holder comprising an elastic band, covered with fabric and having with hook and loop connectors at the ends to allow the band to open and close. The user rolls up his or her sleeves to the shoulder, places the one end of the opened band through the collar/head opening of the shirt, around the rolled up sleeve to connect to the other end of the band. The sleeve holder in the '846 patent is externally visible outside of the shirt, making it unsightly. It also effectively turns the shirt into a sleeveless style shirt, when some users may only want to roll their sleeves up to the mid-forearm, elbow, or mid-bicep area.
Another example is found in U.S. Pat. No. 7,650,650, which discloses a shirt with built-in securing members to secure the sleeves in a rolled up position. The securing member may be stitches, which would make the rolled sleeve permanent and not adjustable between a down and rolled up position. Other permanent securing members disclosed are adhesives and rivets. The securing member may also comprise snaps or hook and loop fasteners, buttons, or zippers to allow adjustment of the sleeves between a rolled up and down position. The '650 patent also discloses an elastic “snugging member” that may be disposed between layers of fabric in a rolled up sleeve to reduce the diameter of the sleeve, making it conform more to the user's arm. But the securing and snugging members are specific to one shirt and do not allow use of a single device with multiple shirts.
There is a need for a device that can be used with multiple different shirts and different styles of shirt sleeves (or even pant legs) interchangeably to maintain a sleeve (or pant leg) in a rolled position, that is not externally visible in use, allows for evenly sized rolls, and allows adjustability in the amount of roll applied for placement of the bottom of the roll on any portion of the arm (or leg).
A rolled clothing apparatus according to preferred embodiments of the invention allows a user to roll his or her sleeve or pant leg to a desired position, to achieve evenly sized rolls, to maintain the sleeve or pant leg in the rolled position without unrolling through normal arm or leg movement, is not externally visible, is comfortable to wear, and is interchangeable with different shirts and pants and different styles of sleeves and pant legs. A rolled clothing apparatus according to preferred embodiments of the invention also allows a user to roll neck garments, such as a shirt collar, turtle neck, or a muff to a desired position. A single rolled clothing apparatus according to one preferred embodiment may be configured to use interchangeably between different types of clothing (such as a shirt, pant leg, and shirt collar) and/or interchangeably between different users. According to another preferred embodiment, a single rolled clothing apparatus is specially configured, based on size, shape, band material, and/or covering material, for one type of use (such as for a pant leg) and/or one type of user (such as for a man) and multiple different special configurations are available to accommodate different uses (such as shirt sleeve) and different users (such as a woman or a child). According to another preferred embodiment, a set of rolled clothing apparatuses are provided, with each of a plurality of the apparatuses comprising a characteristic (such as band material, covering material, color, pattern, size, use type, or user type) that is different the characteristics of the other apparatuses in the set.
According to one preferred embodiment of the invention, a rolled clothing apparatus comprises a band made of flexible material that is placed near a bottom edge of a shirt sleeve or pant leg and allows the sleeve or leg to be folded up over the band as many times as desired to achieve the desired position of the sleeve or pant leg on the user's arm or leg. Most preferably, the band comprises a first material, preferably one or more layers of bistable spring strips (similar to a “slap” or “snap” bracelet), that is flexible and changeable between a substantially flat orientation to a substantially coiled or circular orientation. The band is preferably substantially rigid in a width direction (perpendicular to the length of the band) such that the band does not collapse on itself or fold or substantially bend width-wise The first material may be made of metal or other flexible material.
According to another preferred embodiment, the band optionally comprises a covering, substantially or completely encasing the first material. The covering is preferably made from one or more materials different from the first material, such as silicone, fabric, leather, plastic, rubber, and/or latex. Various colors or patterns of coverings may be used for aesthetic reasons or to coordinate with clothing, although such is not necessary since the covering will not show once the band is rolled within the sleeve or pant leg at least twice.
According to another preferred embodiment, the band or covering may also be fully or partially covered in or made from a raised, textured, slip resistant, or slightly adhesive material to aid in positioning it on the sleeve or pant leg and gripping the fabric for the initial roll.
According to another preferred embodiment, the band may be covered or made from smooth, slightly slippery, or non-slip resistant material to prevent it from being caught on or snagging delicate fabrics during placement, rolling, or removal. A middle portion of the band may be made from a raised, textured, slip resistant, or slightly adhesive material to aid in positioning the band, while the other portions of the band are configured to not stick to or grip the fabric.
According to another preferred embodiment, the band may be completely or partially covered with one material, such as fabric or silicone, and have one or more other, different materials, such as a different fabric, disposed on a portion of the surface of the one material or covering the portions of the band not covered by the one material.
According to another preferred embodiment, one end of the band does not connect to the other end of the band when in use. The two ends may be spaced slightly apart, may abut each other, or may overlap.
According to yet another preferred embodiment, each end of the band or covering may comprise a fastener configured to connect the two ends together once in place around a sleeve or pant leg to aid in securing the band. Such fasteners may include snaps, hook and loop tape, hook and eyelets, magnets. According to yet another preferred embodiment, a plurality of longitudinally spaced apart fasteners may be included on the band or covering to allow for adjustment of a circumference of the apparatus when in a coiled orientation.
According to yet another preferred embodiment, one or both ends of the band or covering may comprise a recessed area or a connector, such as a hook, or both. The recessed area and connector configured to connect to or releasably engage with a button that may be present on the cuff of a shirt to aid in positioning and securing the band to the shirt prior to rolling.
These and other features, objects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood from a consideration of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and appended claims in conjunction with the drawings. Although the discussion of the preferred embodiments will focus on use of the apparatus with rolled shirt sleeves, the invention may be used with pant legs, jacket sleeves, neck related clothing items, and the like, as will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art.
The apparatus of the invention is further described and explained in relation to the following drawings wherein:
Referring to
Ends 20 and 22 are preferable arcuate, but other shapes, including squared off ends, may also be used. It is preferred that band 12 not have sharp corners at ends 20, 22 to avoid damaging the clothing with which band 12 will be used or to avoid damaging any optional covering material that may be used with band 12. When deformed to a coiled or circular orientation, ends 20, 22 may be spaced slightly apart, may abut each other, or may overlap, depending on the length of band 12 and the size of the user's arm, leg, or neck. Band 12 will function adequately if the ends 20, 22 are spaced apart, abut, or overlap, but it is preferred that if they are spaced apart the gap between the ends 20, 22 not be more than around 40% of the user's arm, neck, or leg measurement. Most preferably, for children the gap is not more than 6 cm for an arm or 8 cm for a leg. Most preferably for adults, the gap is not more than 12 cm for an arm or 15 cm for a leg.
The overall length of apparatus 10 is preferably around 10 to 30 cm in length, depending on the desired use. The overall length of apparatus 10 may be shorter for use with children's or women's clothing and longer for use with men's clothing, for example. Band 12 may be slightly shorter than this overall length if a covering 112 is used. Having a longer band 12 allows greater flexibility of use between different users (with different sized body parts) and between different types of clothing, so it is most preferred that band 12 be around 20 to 30 cm long for adults and around 10 to 20 cm long for children. Since ends 20 and 22 may overlap each other in a coiled orientation during use, any excess length of band 12 that is greater than the size of the body part with which apparatus 10 is being used is not problematic; however, it is preferred that the overlap not be more than 50% of the total length of apparatus 10.
According to yet another preferred embodiment, each end 20, 22 of band 12 may comprise a fastener configured to connect the two ends together once in place around a sleeve or pant leg to aid in securing the band. Such fasteners may include snaps, hook and loop tape, hook and eyelets, magnets. When band 12 is made from bistable spring bands, the ends will effectively be held together (into a coiled orientation, though the ends will not necessarily touching or overlapping) when the band is deformed into a coiled or circular orientation, such that it is not necessary to have fasteners. Fasteners are preferred when band 12 is made from other flexible material that will not hold a coiled or circular shape without the ends 20, 22 being fastened together. One or more fasteners may be spaced apart along a portion of the length of band 12 near one or both ends 20, 22 to allow for adjustment in the circumference of the circle formed when the fasteners are connected to allow band 12 to be used by different users (such as a child or adult) or different sized body parts (such as a sleeve roll being smaller than a pant roll).
Band 12 preferably has an arcuate shape across its width, such that top surface 32 is concave and bottom surface 34 is convex (best seen in
Referring to
Cover or covering 112 preferably comprises a first end portion 116, a second end portion 118, and a middle portion 114. Middle portion 114 is preferably narrower in width (as shown in
The tapered shape of covering 112 aids in conforming to the curvature of the user's body. Band 12 (with or without covering 112) may also have a shape similar to covering 112 as shown in
Band covering 112 also preferably has an arcuate shape across its width, such that top surface 132 is concave and bottom surface 134 is convex (best seen in
Covering 112 may comprise any number of materials differing in color, pattern (which may be printed or woven), texture, wording (if words are imprinted or woven into the covering) or nature (with woven cloth fabric, silicone, paper, adhesive backed tape or other materials, rubber, plastic, and leather each being of a different nature than the others, for example). Different materials may be used for aesthetic reasons, for branding purposes, to provide instructions for use (such as identifying which side of apparatus 10 should be placed against the fabric to be rolled when making the first roll, since band 12 will only coil in one direction), or to coordinate with clothing.
Optionally disposed on a bottom surface 134 of covering 112 is embossed or raised material 126. According to one preferred embodiment, raised material 126 differs from the one or more other materials on bottom surface 134 in color, pattern, texture, or nature. According to another preferred embodiment, raised materials 126 is the same as one or more other materials on bottom surface 134 in color, pattern, texture, or nature. Raised material 126 may be configured in one or more stripes, dots, zig-zags, or other patterns in a vertical (longitudinal) or horizontal orientation on surface 134. Raised material 126 is preferably textured or made from slip-resistant materials (such as rubber or silicone), or a slight adhesive material to provide some grip against the fabric, to aid in positioning band covering 112 and maintaining apparatus 10 in the correct position while the first and second rolls are being made. Raised material 126 also visually aids the user to know which side of apparatus 10 should be placed against the fabric to be rolled when making the first roll. Most preferably, raised material 126 extends over substantially the full length of band covering 112. Raised material 126 may also be disposed directly on bottom surface 34 of band 12, if no covering 112 is used.
Disposed in end 122 is an optional, but preferable, recessed area 124. Recessed area 124 may be a simple arcuate U- or V-shaped notch in end 122, to allow insertion of a button when apparatus 10 is being used with a shirt sleeve having a buttoned cuff. Insertion of a button into recessed area 124 aids in aligning apparatus 10 and maintaining apparatus 10 in the correct position while the first and second rolls are being made. Recessed area 124 is preferably substantially V-shaped with a flattened interior end 131 and comprises a pair of first facets 128 and a pair of second facets 130 disposed nearer top surface 132. The opening of recessed area 124 is preferably around 2 mm to 20 mm wide and narrows to around 1 mm to 6 mm wide near end 131. First facets 128 are preferably each angled in a direction from top surface 132 toward bottom surface 134 and inwardly (tilted) toward a central longitudinal axis of cover 112. One of the second facets 130 is preferably disposed inwardly from each of the first facets 128. Second facets 130 are also preferably each angled in a direction from top surface 132 toward bottom surface 134 and inwardly (tilted) toward a central longitudinal axis of cover 112. The angle α1 of each first facet 128 from an axis substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of covering 112 as shown in
Similarly, a connector or hook 140 as shown in
Referring to
After the first roll is made, band 12 is disposed between two layers of fabric, with one side edge still exposed (although it may be hidden by the fabric layers and not be very visible). The user then repeats the folding step by holding the outermost side (or bottom edge) of band 12 between the fabric layers and bringing it upwards again to make the next roll, creating another new outermost edge (e.g. 144-2 and then 144-3) of the clothing item and disposing the band between three layers of fabric, then four layers of fabric, etc. A first roll being folded into a second roll is shown in in
Those of ordinary skill in the art will also appreciate upon reading this specification and the description of preferred embodiments herein that modifications and alterations to the apparatus may be made within the scope of the invention and it is intended that the scope of the invention disclosed herein be limited only by the broadest interpretation of the appended claims to which the inventors are legally entitled.
