Patent Application
20200068974
The present disclosure relates to a garment. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a hooded garment. Specifically, the present disclosure relates to a hooded garment including a hood and a head-engaging member for stabilizing the hood.
Generally, hooded garments may have hoods to typically cover a portion of a user's neck and head while leaving the face mostly or partly open. Users may wear hoods for many reasons including for protection from the environment as well as for aesthetic appeal.
When manipulating a hood from a non-deployed position to a deployed position, a user typically positions the hood over a portion of the user's neck and head; however, as a user's neck and head changes position, the hood may also change position which may cause the hood to fall off the user's neck and head, obstruct the user's vision, or otherwise not perform as intended. For example, if a hood is deployed on a user while the user is driving a vehicle, and the user looks around in different directions, the hood often moves forward, falls off the user's head, obstructs the user's vision, or causes other negative consequences.
Some hooded garments exist which may attempt to address this problem. For example, U.S. Patent Application Publication US 2014/0165259 to Steven Beverage ('259 Publication) discloses a hooded garment and hat combination and method of manufacturing the same. The hooded garment and hat combination includes a hooded garment including a hood having one or more fasteners, and a removable hat sized to fit on a head of a wearer. The hat includes one or more fasteners configured to mate with the one or more fasteners on the hood to retain the hat over the hood in a desired orientation on the head of the wearer.
Another example is U.S. Patent Application Publication US 2017/0079360 ('360 Publication) to Caphat Holdings PTY Ltd which discloses headwear for partially covering a hat wherein the hat has a crown and a headband region. The headwear comprises a piece of material of an irregular shape which has an aperture located closer to a side portion of the headwear material than other sides of the material. The aperture size is adjustable so as to permit the headwear material to be fixable to the hat about the headband region of the hat and to leave the crown of the hat uncovered by the material. The specification also discloses a hood for clothing having an adjustable sized aperture so as to permit the hood material to be fixable to the hat about the headband region of the hat and to leave the crown of the hat uncovered by the material while the hood is still part of the clothing such as a sweat shirt.
Another example is U.S. Pat. No. 9,320,310 granted to Judge et al. ('310 Patent) which discloses a garment comprising a cover having a lower edge attached substantially to the circumference of a neck of the garment and an upper edge that is attached to a hat. The cover having an opening for the wearer's face has a secure fitting around the wearer's head when the hat is worn by the wearer, thereby preventing wind and cold from reaching the wearer's neck and sides of the face and head and improving the wearer's peripheral vision.
While the configurations of the '259 Publication, '360 Publication, and '310 Patent appear to work well for their intended purposes, there is still room for improvement in the art, which the present invention provides as discussed in greater detail below.
A need continues to exist for hooded garments. The hooded garment of the present disclosure addresses the shortcomings of previously known hooded garments.
In one aspect, the present disclosure may provide a garment comprising a hood, the hood being configurable between a non-deployed position and a deployed position. The garment may further include a head engaging-member connected to the hood adapted to be worn around a portion of a user's head when the hood is in the deployed positioned to stabilize the hood and prevent the hood from obstructing a line of sight of the user wearing the garment.
The head-engaging member may further include an inner circumference. The garment may further include at least one adjustment mechanism operatively connected to the head-engaging member adapted to vary a size of the inner circumference.
The garment may further include at least one slot formed in the hood. At least a portion of the head-engaging member may pass through the at least one slot. In one example, the at least one slot may include a first slot and a second slot positioned along a substantially similar plane.
When the hood is viewed in the deployed position, the hood may further include a top end and a bottom end defining a vertical direction therebetween. The hood may further include a horizontal plane extending approximately midway between the top end and the bottom end when the hood is in the deployed position. The first slot and the second slot may be positioned vertically above the horizontal plane. In another example, the first slot and the second slot may be positioned vertically below the horizontal plane. In one example, the head-engaging member may be positioned vertically above the horizontal plane. In another example, the head-engaging member may be positioned vertically below the horizontal plane. In one example, the head-engaging member may extend across a face of the user.
The hood may further define an internal space. In one example, the at least one adjustment mechanism may be positioned entirely within the internal space.
The hood may further include an outer portion. In one example, the at least one adjustment mechanism may be connected to the outer portion of the hood.
In another aspect, the present disclosure may provide a method of stabilizing a hood while driving a vehicle. The method may include providing a hooded garment including a hood, the hood being configurable between a non-deployed position and a deployed position, and a head engaging-member connected to the hood, deploying the hood into the deployed position, engaging the head-engaging member with a portion of a user's head, driving the vehicle, moving the user's head in a first direction, preventing the hood from obstructing a line of sight of the user while the user's head moves in the first direction. The method may further include moving the user's head in a second direction and preventing the hood from obstructing the line of sight of the user while the user's head moves in the second direction. In one example, the vehicle may be a truck; however, the vehicle may be any suitable vehicle.
In another aspect, the present disclosure may provide a garment including a hood configurable between a non-deployed position and a deployed position and a head engaging-member connected to the hood. The head-engaging member may be adapted to be worn around a portion of a user's head when the hood is in the deployed positioned to stabilize the hood and prevent the hood from obstructing a line of sight of the user wearing the garment.
A sample embodiment of the disclosure is set forth in the following description, is shown in the drawings and is particularly and distinctly pointed out and set forth in the appended claims. The accompanying drawings, which are fully incorporated herein and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate various examples, methods, and other example embodiments of various aspects of the disclosure. It will be appreciated that the illustrated element boundaries (e.g., boxes, groups of boxes, or other shapes) in the figures represent one example of the boundaries. One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that in some examples one element may be designed as multiple elements or that multiple elements may be designed as one element. In some examples, an element shown as an internal component of another element may be implemented as an external component and vice versa. Furthermore, elements may not be drawn to scale.
Similar numbers refer to similar parts throughout the drawings.
Referring to
With reference to
With continued reference to
With continued reference to
For example, and not meant as a limitation, the head-engaging member 16 may be sewn to the hood 12 at different areas of the inner portion 12i of the hood 12 and the head-engaging member 16 may be sewn along a portion of the head-engaging member 16 between the top edge 16a and the bottom edge 16b instead of along the top edge 16a and the bottom edge 16b. In another example, the hood 12 may include an inner layer and an outer layer where the head-engaging member 16 may be connected only to the inner layer so the stitches are not viewable from the outside which would disrupt the aesthetics of the hood 12. In another example, the head-engaging member 16 may be adhered to the inner portion 12i of the hood 12 utilizing an adhesive or any other suitable adhering mechanism.
The head-engaging member 16 may be positioned vertically above the first horizontal plane P1 in the upper half of the oval opening 12k. In one example, the head-engaging member 16 may be a strap or band made of an elastic material; however, the head-engaging member 16 may be any suitable head-engaging mechanism and be made of any suitable materials. In one example, the strap or band may have a width W between about approximately 0.1 inches and 1 inch. In another example, the strap or band may have a width W between about approximately 0.25 inches and about 0.5 inches. In another example, the strap or band may have a width W of at least approximately 0.25 inches. Although the strap or band has been described as having certain widths W, the strap or band may have any suitable width.
In this embodiment, the at least one adjustment mechanism 18 may be connected to the outer portion 12h of the hood 12 by sewing the at least one adjustment mechanism 18 thereto; however, the at least one adjustment mechanism 18 may be connected to the hood 12 in any suitable manner. In this embodiment, the at least one adjustment mechanism 18 may be positioned entirely outside of the internal space 12j of the hood 12.
In this embodiment, the at least one adjustment mechanism 18 may be operably connected to the head-engaging member 16 by sewing the at least one adjustment mechanism 18 thereto; however, the at least one adjustment mechanism 18 may be connected to the head-engaging member 16 in any suitable manner. The at least one adjustment mechanism 18 may be configured to vary a size of an inner circumference 16c of the head-engaging member 16 to accommodate various head dimensions of various users. In this embodiment, the at least one adjustment mechanism 18 may utilize a hook and loop fastener; however, the at least one adjustment mechanism 18 may utilize any suitable adjustment mechanism, including, but not limited to, snaps, buttons, magnets, and buckle fasteners.
With continued reference to
In operation, a user may manipulate the hood 12 of the hooded garment 10 from the non-deployed positioned to the deployed positioned 14. The head-engaging member 16 may engage at least a portion of the user's head 13 to stabilize the hood 12, which, in this example, may be a user's forehead and corresponding circumferential parts of the user's head 13 (i.e. a side and rear of the user's head 13). The at least one adjustment mechanism 18 may be adjusted to vary the inner circumference 16c of the head-engaging member 16 to configure the head-engaging member 16 to properly fit around the portion of the user's head 13.
For example, if a user desires to decrease the inner circumference 16c of the head-engaging member 16, the user may unhook the at least one adjustment mechanism 18 (i.e. the hook and loop fastener) and pull the head-engaging member 16 through the first slot 20a and/or the second slot 20b in a generally transverse direction towards the rear end 12f of the hood 12. This causes the inner circumference 16c of the head-engaging member 16 to decrease. In another example, if a user desires to increase the inner circumference 16c of the head-engaging member 16, the user may unhook the at least one adjustment mechanism 18 (i.e. the hook and loop fastener) and pull the head-engaging member 16 through the first slot 20a and/or the second slot 20b in a generally longitudinal direction towards opposite slots 20a, 20b. This causes the inner circumference 16c of the head-engaging member 16 to increase. Once the user determines the correct inner circumference 16c for the head-engaging member 16 to properly fit around the portion of the user's head 13, the user may reengage the at least one adjustment mechanism 18 (i.e. the hook and loop fastener).
Referring to
In operation, the hooded garment 100 operates in a substantially identical manner to hooded garment 10, except that the head-engaging member 116 engages a portion of the user's chin, cheek, and neck instead of the user's forehead and corresponding circumferential parts of the user's head 113.
Referring to
Therefore, in this embodiment, the at least one adjustment mechanism 218, as well as the head-engaging member 216, may be positioned entirely within the internal space 212j of the hood 212. Further, since the head-engaging member 216 and the at least one adjustment mechanism 218 are located entirely within the internal space 212j, this embodiment does not include at least one slot.
In operation, the hooded garment 200 operates in a substantially identical manner to hooded garment 10, except that the head-engaging member 216 does not pass through any slots.
Referring to
Further, in this embodiment, instead of having a first and second slot, the hood 312 may include a single slot 320a positioned near the rear end 312f of the hood 312.
In operation, the hood 312 of the hooded garment 300 may be manipulated from the non-deployed positioned to the deployed positioned 314. The crown portion 316d of the head-engaging member 316 may engage at least a portion of the user's head (not shown) to stabilize the hood 312, which, in this example, may be a user's forehead, corresponding circumferential parts of the user's head, and top area of the user's head. The at least one adjustment mechanism 318 may be adjusted to vary the inner circumference 316c of the head-engaging member 316 to configure the head-engaging member 316 to properly fit around the portion of the user's head.
For example, if a user needed to decrease the inner circumference 316c of the head-engaging member 316, the user may unhook the at least one adjustment mechanism 318 (i.e. the hook and loop fastener) and pull a portion of the head-engaging member 316 through the single slot 320a in a generally longitudinal direction towards the first side 312c of the hood 312. This causes the inner circumference 316c of the head-engaging member 316 to decrease. In another example, if a user needed to increase the inner circumference 316c of the head-engaging member 316, the user may unhook the at least one adjustment mechanism 318 (i.e. the hook and loop fastener) and pull a portion of the head-engaging member 316 through the single slot 320a in a generally longitudinal direction towards the first side 312c of the hood 312. This causes the inner circumference 316c of the head-engaging member 316 to increase. Once the user determines the correct inner circumference 316c for the head-engaging member 316 to properly fit around the portion of the user's head, the user may reengage the at least one adjustment mechanism 318 (i.e. the hook and loop fastener).
Referring to
In this embodiment, the hood 412 may further include a horizontal imaginary plane P3 defined by a topmost point 428 of the peripheral edge 412g. In this embodiment, the head-engaging member 416 may be positioned entirely above the horizontal plane P3. Further, in this embodiment, the head-engaging member 416 may be positioned entirely within the internal space 412j.
In operation, the hood 412 of the hooded garment 400 may be manipulated from the non-deployed positioned to the deployed positioned 414. Head-engaging member 416 may engage at least a portion of the user's head 313 to stabilize the hood 412, which, in this example, may be a user's forehead, corresponding circumferential parts of the user's head (not shown), and top area of the user's head. As the head-engaging member 416 is made out of an elastic material, the head-engaging member 416 may be configured to fit various head dimensions of various users without having to adjust a size of the head-engaging member 416 by configuring an inner circumference 416c of the head-engaging member 416 to properly fit around the portion of the user's head.
Although the hood of the various embodiments has been described as being fixedly secured to the hooded garments, it is to be entirely understood that the hood may be removably secured to the hooded garments.
The teachings of some of the embodiments of the present disclosure, and without limiting the present disclosure in any manner whatsoever, are different than the teachings of the '259 Publication, '360 Publication, and '310 Patent. For example, amongst other things, the teachings of the present disclosure utilize a head-engaging member connected to an inner portion of a hood while the teachings of the '259 Publication, '360 Publication, and '310 Patent teach headwear positioned over the hood, a hood positioned partially over a cap, and a partial hood connected to a construction helmet. Further, the present disclosure, in some embodiments, and without limiting the present disclosure in any manner whatsoever, addresses the problem of a hood changing positions on a user causing various problems while the teachings of the '259 Publication, '360 Publication, and '310 Patent address problems including retaining a hat in a desired orientation, protection from the sun or wind, and protection from the wind or cold.
Also, various inventive concepts may be embodied as one or more methods, of which an example has been provided. The acts performed as part of the method may be ordered in any suitable way. Accordingly, embodiments may be constructed in which acts are performed in an order different than illustrated, which may include performing some acts simultaneously, even though shown as sequential acts in illustrative embodiments.
While various inventive embodiments have been described and illustrated herein, those of ordinary skill in the art will readily envision a variety of other means and/or structures for performing the function and/or obtaining the results and/or one or more of the advantages described herein, and each of such variations and/or modifications is deemed to be within the scope of the inventive embodiments described herein. More generally, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that all parameters, dimensions, materials, and configurations described herein are meant to be exemplary and that the actual parameters, dimensions, materials, and/or configurations will depend upon the specific application or applications for which the inventive teachings is/are used. Those skilled in the art will recognize, or be able to ascertain using no more than routine experimentation, many equivalents to the specific inventive embodiments described herein. It is, therefore, to be understood that the foregoing embodiments are presented by way of example only and that, within the scope of the appended claims and equivalents thereto, inventive embodiments may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described and claimed. Inventive embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to each individual feature, system, article, material, kit, and/or method described herein. In addition, any combination of two or more such features, systems, articles, materials, kits, and/or methods, if such features, systems, articles, materials, kits, and/or methods are not mutually inconsistent, is included within the inventive scope of the present disclosure.
An embodiment is an implementation or example of the present disclosure. Reference in the specification to “an embodiment,” “one embodiment,” “some embodiments,” “one particular embodiment,” or “other embodiments,” or the like, means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiments is included in at least some embodiments, but not necessarily all embodiments, of the invention. The various appearances “an embodiment,” “one embodiment,” “some embodiments,” “one particular embodiment,” or “other embodiments,” or the like, are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiments.
Additionally, any method of performing the present disclosure may occur in a sequence different than those described herein. Accordingly, no sequence of the method should be read as a limitation unless explicitly stated. It is recognizable that performing some of the steps of the method in an different order could achieve a similar result.
In the foregoing description, certain terms have been used for brevity, clearness, and understanding. No unnecessary limitations are to be implied therefrom beyond the requirement of the prior art because such terms are used for descriptive purposes and are intended to be broadly construed.
Moreover, the description and illustration of various embodiments of the disclosure are examples and the disclosure is not limited to the exact details shown or described.
