Self-Sizing Cap

Abstract

A self-sizing baseball cap has a visor, a crown, and a hem around the bottom edge of the crown. Within the hem is an elastic band stitched in place, while a slidable woven band is separately stitched to the elastic band. The elastic bands are anchored within the hem that are then stitched to the woven band in order to secure the woven band to the baseball cap. The woven band extends outside the hem across the bottom of a semicircular opening on the back of the crown. The woven band's ability to slide allows the opening to deform in order to allow the cap to accommodate the shape and size of the wearer's head. The elastic bands hold the cap snugly against the wearer's head when in place. Thus, the cap automatically resizes to fit the wearer's head.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention pertains generally to headwear. More particularly, the present invention provides headwear with an elastic band that fits the headwear to the wearer's head. The present invention is particularly, but not exclusively, useful as a self-sizing cap.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The baseball cap is a popular form of headwear in the United States and around the world. The modern style of baseball cap features a crown with a button on the topmost portion, and a visor—often referred to as a bill—extending outward from the bottom of the front side, originally to protect the wearer's eyes from the sun.

Some baseball caps are fitted to a particular wearer, but “snapback” caps, which are resizable, are also common. A snapback baseball cap has an arc-shaped opening on the back, interrupting the perimeter, and a strap at the bottom of the opening. The strap is generally made of plastic, and includes several snaps, a desired number of which are engaged to size the cap to the wearer's head.

Fitted caps are not sizable to the wearers head, so must be purchased in the correct size. On the other hand, current adjustable caps, such as snapback caps, must be manually sized to a wearer's head, often through trial and error. Moreover, the snaps on the back of a snapback cap are prone to breakage, especially if the cap is regularly resized.

In view of the above, it would be advantageous to provide an adjustable cap that automatically adjusts to the wearer's head without the need for manual sizing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Disclosed is a self-sizing baseball cap having a visor, a crown, and a hem around the bottom edge of the crown—the approximately circular bottom edge of the crown being referred to as the “perimeter” of the crown herein.

Within the hem along the perimeter of the crown is an elastic band stitched in place and thereby held fast, which is stitched to the woven band, but is not directly fastened to the crown. The woven band, extends outside the hem across the bottom of an approximately semicircular aperture on the back of the crown.

The woven band's ability to slide allows the aperture to deform in order to allow the cap to accommodate the shape and size of the wearer's head. The elastic band stitched to the woven band holds the cap snugly against the wearer's head when in place. The interoperation between the woven band's slidability within the hem, the deformation of the crown—and specifically the aperture—and the elasticity of the elastic band result in a self-sizing of the cap, allowing it to accommodate various head sizes and shapes without the need for user-performed adjustment, such as through a strap with snaps.

In use, the cap is simply placed on the wearer's head in the same manner as a fitted cap: The aperture, elastic band, and woven band act in concert to automatically size the cap without further intervention by the wearer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The novel features of this invention, as well as the invention itself, both as to its structure and its operation, will be best understood from the accompanying drawings, taken in conjunction with the accompanying description, in which similar reference characters refer to similar parts, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a rear upper perspective cutaway view of a preferred embodiment of a self-sizing cap; and

FIG. 2 is a front lower perspective view of the self-sizing cap.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring initially to FIG. 1, a self-sizing cap is illustrated and generally designated 100. Cap 100 has a crown 102 and a visor 104 extending from the bottom front portion of crown 102. In a preferred embodiment, crown 102 is made of a number of panels 106 stitched together at seams 107. The number of panels vary between embodiments; between four and eight panels is typical, and a preferred embodiment has six panels. At the top of crown 102, where the seams 107 of panels 106 meet (when present), is a button 108. In preferred embodiments, a set of eyelets 110 provides ventilation for the cap in order to keep the head of the wearer cool. Typically, each panel 106 has an eyelet 110 nearer to button 108 at the top than to perimeter 112 at the bottom of cap 100.

Aperture 114 is an arc-shaped, approximately semicircular, opening on the back of crown 102. Aperture 114 provides ventilation for the back of a wearer's head, while also facilitating resizability of cap 100.

A woven band 116 extends along perimeter 112. Woven band 116 is located within hem 120 (shown in FIG. 2) on either side of crown 102, but extends outside of hem 120 along perimeter 112 below aperture 114. Inside of woven band 116, as shown in cutaway 117, is an elastic band 118. Elastic band 118 is secured to cap 100 on both sides of crown 102, that is, on both its right end and its left end; in preferred embodiments, at least one seam 107 between panels 106 on each side provides the stitching that secures elastic band 118 to crown 102.

In some preferred embodiments, woven band 116 terminates on each side with stitching 119 to the end of an elastic band 118. Thus two elastic bands 118 are used, one at each end of woven band 116, rather than woven band covering a center portion of an elastic band. The appearance and functionality are otherwise similar. Specifically, stitching 113 serves the dual purposes of securing two panels 106 together and attaching elastic band 118 to crown 102. Each of the left and right ends of woven band 116 is secured to an elastic band 118 with stitching 119, but is otherwise slidable within hem 120. Securing woven band 116 to elastic band 118 with stitching 119 allows woven band 116 to move freely within hem 120 as elastic band 118 stretches to fit the head of a wearer. Elastic band 118 will always be located within hem 120 and will not be visible to a wearer of cap 100. In addition, elastic band 118 anchors woven strap 116 to cap 100.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a bottom perspective view of cap 100 is shown, illustrating hem 120 around the perimeter 112 of crown 102. As illustrated, hem 120, but not woven band 116, is interrupted by aperture 114. Elastic band 118 (shown in FIG. 1) extends underneath woven band 116, and therefore is also not interrupted by aperture 114. Further, elastic band 118 is secured to crown 102 by stitching 113. Woven band 116 slides freely within hem 120, which allows cap 100 to fit over a wearer's head. More particularly, the sides of the fabric of crown 102 around perimeter 112 can move based on the flexibility of the fabric; as aperture 114 expands or contracts, the portion of woven band 116 within and without hem 120 is adjusted accordingly. At the same time, the elasticity of elastic band 118 secures it firmly to the wearer's head.

In use, cap 100 is placed over a wearer's head. Crown 102 deforms, usually only slightly, particularly around aperture 114 to fit around the wearer's head. Elastic band 118 holds woven band 116 of cap 100 snugly around the wearer's head, securing it in place, thus providing an automatic sizing mechanism.

While there have been shown what are presently considered to be preferred embodiments of the present invention, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made herein without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.

Claims

1. A self-sizing cap, comprising: a crown comprising a hem along a bottom perimeter;an elastic band having a first end and a second end, the first end secured inside the hem by stitching on a first side of the crown, and the second end secured inside the hem by stitching on a second side of the crown; anda woven band around and secured to the elastic band,wherein the woven band is slidable within the hem.

2. The self-sizing cap of claim 1, wherein the elastic band is concealed by the hem and the woven band during use.

3. The self-sizing cap of claim 2, wherein a portion of the woven band is visible along a bottom of an arc-shaped aperture on the crown.

4. The self-sizing cap of claim 3, further comprising a visor attached along the bottom perimeter of the crown opposite the aperture.

5. The self-sizing cap of claim 1, wherein the crown comprises a plurality of panels stitched together.

6. A self-sizing cap, comprising: a crown comprising a hem along a bottom perimeter;a woven band having a first end and a second end;a first elastic band having a first end and a second end, the first end secured inside the hem by stitching on a first side of the crown, and the second end secured to the first end of the woven band by stitching; anda second elastic band having a first end and a second end, the first end secured inside the hem by stitching on a second side of the crown, and the second end secured to the second end of the woven band by stitchingwherein the woven band is slidable within the hem.

7. The self-sizing cap of claim 6, wherein the first elastic band and the second elastic band are concealed by the hem.

8. The self-sizing cap of claim 6, wherein the crown comprises an aperture, and wherein a portion of the woven band is visible along a bottom of the aperture.

9. The self-sizing cap of claim 8, wherein the aperture is arc-shaped.

10. The self-sizing cap of claim 8, wherein the visible portion of the woven band is increased or decreased as the first and second elastic band fits it snugly against a wearer's head.

11. The self-sizing cap of claim 8, further comprising a visor attached along the bottom perimeter of the crown opposite the aperture.

12. The self-sizing cap of claim 11, wherein the crown comprises a plurality of panels stitched together.

13. The self-sizing cap of claim 12, wherein the panels meet at a top of the crown, and further comprising a button where the panels meet.

14. The self-sizing cap of claim 12, further comprising an eyelid on each panel of the plurality of panels.

15. A self-sizing cap, comprising: a plurality of panels stitched together to define a crown having a hem along a bottom perimeter;a visor attached to the crown along the bottom perimeter;an aperture open along the bottom perimeter of the crown opposite the visor;a woven band located across the aperture and having a first end and a second end, the first end and the second end movably anchored to the cap; andmeans for sizing the cap to a wearer's head.

16. The self-sizing cap of claim 15, wherein the means for sizing the cap to a wearer's head further anchors the woven band to the cap.

17. The self-sizing cap of claim 15, wherein the means for sizing the cap to a wearer's head is concealed during ordinary use of the cap.

18. The self-sizing cap of claim 17, wherein the means for sizing the cap to a wearer's head comprises one or more elastic bands.

19. The self-sizing cap of claim 17, wherein the means for sizing the cap to a wearer's head comprises: a first elastic band secured inside the hem by stitching on a first side of the crown and secured to the first end of the woven band by stitching; anda second elastic band secured inside the hem by stitching on a second side of the crown and secured to the second end of the woven band by stitching.

20. The self-sizing cap of claim 17, wherein the means for sizing the cap to a wearer's head comprises an elastic band passing through the woven band and having a first end and a second end, the first end secured inside the hem by stitching on a first side of the crown, and the second end secured inside the hem by stitching on a second side of the crown.