Patent Application
20200146376
This invention relates, generally, to dress ties and bow ties and, more particularly, to methods for tying a dress tie or bow tie correctly, with proper end lengths, on the first attempt.
Most fashion experts agree that the necktie originated in the 17th century, during the Thirty Years War in Central Europe. During that war, King Louis XIII of France hired Croatian mercenaries, who wore a piece of cloth around their neck as part of their uniform. Not only did these early neckties serve to tie the top of their jackets, they also had quite a decorative effect—one which King Louis was quite fond of. In fact, he liked it so much that he made these ties a mandatory accessory for Royal gatherings, and—to honor the Croatian soldiers—he gave this clothing piece the name “La Cravate”—the name for necktie in French to this day.
The early cravats of the 17th century have little resemblance to today's necktie, yet it was a style that stayed popular throughout Europe for over 200 years. The tie as we know it today did not emerge until the 1920s but since then has undergone many (often subtle) changes.
During the latter part of the 19th century, the four-in-hand knot came into fashion for use with Cravats. Cravats tied in this manner were worn during the first decade of the 20th century. The second decade of the 20th century saw a decline in formal cravats and ascots as men's fashion became more casual with haberdashers putting a stronger emphasis on comfort, functionality, and fit. Towards the end of this decade neckties closely resemble the ties as we know them today. The 1920s were an important decade for men's ties. A New York tie maker named Jessie Langsdorf invented a new way of cutting the fabric when constructing a tie, which allowed the tie to spring back into its original shape after each wearing. This invention triggered the creation of many new tie knots. Though the four-in-hand knot is still used for tying modern neckties, its use has been eclipsed by knots such as the Windsor and half-Windsor knots. The Windsor knot, which was invented by the Duke of Windsor (later known as Edward III), as become the standard knot for men's neckties. In fact, it is the only knot approved for use by the Royal Air Force. Because of the number of wraps required to make the knot, judging where to begin the knotting process and how much slack to have before the knot is begun can be difficult.
As the wearing of clip-on, pre-tied dress ties and bow ties is considered, by many, to be gauche and tawdry, as well as evidence of a lack of style and good taste, hand-tied dress ties and bow ties are likely to be with us for a very long time.
When a young man learns to tie a dress tie for the first time after graduating from the clip-on ties of childhood, he learns that he is very lucky if the tip of large end of the tie is even with the center of his belt buckle and the small end of the tie is shorter than the large end on the first try. Even for someone who is adept at tying a dress tie, it is not infrequent that he will need to tie it at least twice in order to obtain the proper proportions of small and large end lengths. What makes the tying process so frustrating is that not only do dress ties vary somewhat in length, but they also vary in width and thickness, with thickness being a function of the quality and thickness of backing material used, as well as the thickness of the cloth from which the tie is manufactured. Another variable is that some ties tend to stretch over time. Width, thickness and length all play a part in the equation for the proper tying of a dress tie.
Although most good quality dress ties incorporate a backing fabric, it does not possess a high degree of dimensional stability because none of the fibers run the length of the tie. Instead, tradition seems to control the orientation of the backing fabric, as there are always two perpendicular sets of fibers, both of which are diagonally oriented with respect to the centerline of the necktie. Thus, a conventional dress tie can be stretched some ten centimeters simply by holding each end and gently pulling the ends in opposite directions. In addition, such dress ties will gradually stretch at least five centimeters over their useful lives. During the nearly 100 years that dress ties have been popular, thousands of haberdashers and manufacturers have plied their trade in the manufacture of countless neckties. Yet, not one of these entities has ever oriented the backing fabric so that one set of fibers runs the entire length of the tie. If this were such a useful and obvious idea, one would assume that at least one of those thousands of entities would have oriented the backing fabric in that manner. Yet, the present inventor is not aware of even a single reference that shows backing material fibers oriented in such a way.
The present invention provides a system enabling a wearer to tie a dress tie so that the ends thereof are of optimum length on the first try after a short, one-time practice session. By optimum length, it is usually assumed that a dress tie is properly tied when the tip of large end of the tie is even with the center of a wearers belt buckle, and the small end of the tie is shorter than the large end. The first part of that system is to create a dress tie that has very few variables. Thickness, width and length must be constant for a particular line of dress ties. For example, a tie manufacturer might have several lines (e.g. wide and narrow) and several sizes (e.g., long, medium and short) of dress ties, but each size in each line, regardless of the outer fabric design, must be consistent in thickness, length and width and must not stretch with use. In order to accomplish these objectives, each tie must have the same shape, must use a dimensionally-stable internal backing fabric, and the outer fabric—with different prints for different ties—must consistently be of the same weight. When these variables have been eliminated, it is still necessary to provide position markers on the tie itself so that a wearer can tie any dress tie in his collection in an identical manner. The present invention provides a method for creating position markers on the tie so that a user can begin the tying process the same way every time. Identical series of equally-spaced markers are sewn on each of the manufacturer's ties of the same size. A preferred way of creating the markers is to embroider equidistant raised dashes or dots or both on the front side or on the back side or on both sides of the tie. The markers can also be created with an elastomeric compound, such as RTV silicon rubber, applied directly to the tie's decorative fabric. Because the markers are raised, a blind person could easily learn to correctly tie such a tie in only one attempt after a one time practice session of several attempts. Use of this invention does not imply that a wearer of such a tie will need no practice. Once the user has determined the optimum beginning position for beginning the knot, he can repeat the task over and over on different ties of this same type in his collection and properly tie each tie with a single attempt. One simple way of correctly positioning the tie to begin the knot is to wrap the tie around the neck and have the two ends intersect at a 90-degree angle, with the appropriate mark designating the optimum starting point for the knot on the large end at the point of intersection. An alternative technique is to have the markers on the small end of the tie and start the tying process with the small end at a predetermined height, as indicated by the position of the markers. For example, the wearer of the tie may decide to align a particular marker with the top button of his shirt, and then begin the tying process. Of course, in such a case, it would be assumed that the wearer would tie the knot with similar slack each time so that the results would not significantly vary. Using either technique, all identically-made and identically-marked ties in a single line of ties can be properly tied with only one attempt. Narrow ties and wide ties would need to be marketed as separate lines, as they would tie differently. The key to the invention is the use of the dimensionally-stable backing fabric, the standardization of length, width and thickness of each tie in the marketed line, and the use of uniformly positioned markers that would enable a wearer to tie each tie in the line the same way each time, using the markers as a guide to beginning the tying process.
The present invention provides a system enabling a wearer to tie a dress tie so that the ends thereof are of optimum length on the first try after a short, one-time practice session. By optimum length, it is usually assumed that a dress tie is properly tied when the tip of large end of the tie is even with the center of a wearers belt buckle, and the small end of the tie is shorter than the large end.
The invention will now be described in detail with reference to the attached drawing figures. It is to be understood that the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale and that they are intended to be merely illustrative of the invention.
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Although only three embodiments of a dress tie incorporating both a dimensionally-stable backing fabric and a series of position markers on the ties surface have been shown and described, it will be obvious to those having ordinary skill in the art that changes and modifications may be made thereto without departing from the scope and the spirit of the invention as hereinafter claimed.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 14874381 | Oct 2015 | US |
| Child | 16732299 | US |
